ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 281, 28 March 1879, Page 2

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

(From the Home News.)

A very extraordinary case is down for trial next term, and its importance may be gathered from the fact of the SolicitorGeneral, with Messrs Dart and Everitt, of the Chancery bar, having been retained as counsel for the plaintiff. It is in its present phase a simple action of ejectment, wherein Sir Stanhope Chandos Hoskyns Beade. seventh baronet of his lino, seeks to recover landed estates in Oxon, Berks, and Gloucestershire, valued in the bulk at £200,000, together with Shipton Court, the ancient residence of his family, and a number of heirlooms, such as pictures, plate, jewellery, &c. The story is in every respect a romance. The last baronet, Sir John Chandos Beade, was not only eccentric, but of dissipated habits. He was accustomed to drink with his servants, .and when in his cups was extremely violent./ In the year 1843 he had in his employ a butler named Sinden, and a footman—one Joseph Wakefield —a native of Leeds. It was announced one summer night that the butler, a man under forty, was dead, and almost immediately afterwards he was buried, no less than forty nails being driven into his coffin. A fortnight later it was hinted abroad that the poor man had met with foul play, and had, in fact, being done to death by his master, the baronet. Upon this the body was exhumed, and the coroner's jury returned an open verdict, the chief witness being Joseph Wakefield, who deposed that the man fell down when in a state of inebriety and died from the consequence of the fall. Shortly after this occurrence the baronet severed himself from all society, including his son, who died during his lifetime, and his daughter, an epileptic patient; and until his death in 1868 lived in absolute seclusion, his only associate being the aforementioned Joseph Wakefield. After his death, his will .was proved, wherein he bequeathed generally all his possessions to Joseph Wakefield, who has since assumed the name of Beade, and has during the past ten years received a considerable sum in rents, the mansion itself bringing in £500 a year. The present baronet, who is the great nephew of his predecessor in the title, has already proved his claim to the baronetcy by a suit in Chancery, and now seeks to recover the estates which formerly appertained to bis family. Sir Chandos Beade is a relative of Mr Charles Beade, the celebrated novelist.

The King of Bavaria is building a new palace, which will be one of the most magnificent in Europe. It is situated in the Bavarian Alps, on the Island of Herreawerth, in the middle of the Lake Chiemsee. The plan of the construction is on the model of the Palace of Versailles, a central portion and two wings. In the ground courtyard are to be placed colossal statues of warriors and statesmen of the Kingdom. The gardens, to be laid out in the French style, will be supplied with mythological statues, bronzes, &c, as well as fountains and' waterworks. The immense . building will not be completed for fifteen years, and will cost some 40,000,000fr. Several hundred workmen are already employed on the works. The King&as also decided that a large lighthouse, with a revolving lantern, shall be fixed at one of the extremities of the island, so as to light up the lake and the forest, which is full of deer and game of all' sorts. The Chateau of Chiemsee will be the most sumptuous of all the royal residences of Germany. Before its terrace spreads a magnificent panorama of the mountains of Bavaria and the Tyrol, and to the east the Gaisberg of Saltzburg and the chain of Bhsttenstein.

With South Africa in commotion and the supremacy of English rule threatened, and with no imaginary dangers, it is perhaps a little premature to discuss the chances of opening up the centre of the continent as a market for our goods. But Mr Stanley set the ball rolling after his recent exploration, and now Manchester has taken the matter up, meaning business, as it always does when it is a question of trade. We export annually hundreds of millions of yards of calico to India—why should we not send the same or more to Central Africa ? It is true that clothes, in general terms, are not as yet the fashion there, but habit will do a great deal; and if the demand for cotton clothes will not be very brisk at first, at least rum will find a ready sale. Bum which goes well to the head has long stood high in Africa as a circulating medium, and to extend its consumption is apparently the mission of the white man. The questionable blessings of civilization may be said therefore to be almost within the African's grasp. Five hundred miles of railway is mere child's play if their construction is certain to develop trade ; with the same great object in view the lake and river systems in Central Africa may well be utilised to the utmost, and even at lavish expense. No doubt this endeavor to create new markets is in every way commendable, especially at a time of deplorable commercial'depression ; but is it certain that we should hold our own even in these new fields ? Shall we long continue at the head of trade ? that is the question.

It is more than probable that the severe measures which the Russian Government has adopted with the Nihilists will throw the great majority of those who have any liberal instincts whatever into the arms of that powerful organisation. A state of siege such as that now in course of establishment at St. Petersbargh does indeed enable any one to govern so long as he can rely upon] the army and the police; but let that basis once be shaken, and the whole framework comes down with a single shock. That the Nihilists have a footing even in the secret police is clear from many circumstances; that they keep up an active propoganda in the army our readers have heard for years past; and it is not likely that their leaders would exhibit such boldness as they have shown lately if they were not satisfied with thsir underground workings, as we believe they have every reason to be. The memorial presented to the Czarewitoh by the students of St. Petersburg is both temperate and politic. It is a direct appeal to the heir to the throne to intercede with the Government, of which he must one day be the bead, in favor of reasonable liberty in place of tyranny and the most galling oppression. The sure way to convert the natural generosity of youth into a dangerous and narrow fanaticism is to treat every little outburst against a too rigorous discipline as direct rebellion against the State, That Power which dogmatic Eadieals have worshipped as capable of civilizing others has now to learn how to civilize and liberalize herself. It will be no easy. task ; and the attempt at rigid repression

but end in a general overturn. This •Cfearewitch himself is said to undera'dj and unquestionably the only hope ihis dynasty lies in the capacity of one nore of the ieigning family to discern signs of the times. Meantime it is, haps, as well for the " capitalists of Jstern Europe" wlio were so earnestly reated by M. Greig to come to the rescue Batsian finance, that they postponed r anees until the question as to whether Nihilist or the third Department is to re the upper hand can be settled. A litical crisis and a bankrupt exchequer not afford the best security for a eign loan. The Rev. J. Montague Seaton.of Chasera Vicarage, near Walsall, writes to the pere as follows :—" A fine old fellow— >arishioner of mine— has just passed ay, and his name is not unworthy of a little notice. James Robinson, aged ;hty-nine, was a private in the 2nd ttalion Coldstream Guards, and was Bsent at the storming of Bergen-op-otn, where, while assisting one of his icess up a scaling ladder, he was mnded in the neck. At Waterloo he i&ft his ground in the famous attack oh b Farm of Hougomont, which, it will be nembered, was garrisoned by the light mpanies of the Coldstream and Ist and d Guards. In the desperate defence of is npst he was again wounded. Robinn, supposed to be among the slain, was undnext morning, with his face buried Jhis hands, under an oak tree, to which, his agony, he bad crept for shelter, Iter receiving a bullet in his left eye. us bullet found a lodgment in his jaw>ne, where it remained to his death. The rfy inconvenience, besides the loss of his r e, which seems to have resulted from s wound was, as he used to say, ' a perstual noise in his head, as of a waterill. . He never tired of dwelling on the cid#nte of the battle-field, the whole of hich to'the very last were pictured before imin vivid outline. Such a true and )ble specimen was he of a British soldier, iat it was his proud boast of never havlglffid an extra drill, of never having eeninthe ' awkward squad,' or having ad a black mark against his name. For iany years in the enjoyment of excellent ealth he kept to his own corner by the reside till, the other day, on this bleak lannock Chase, he took his last cold and led, as a good and weather-beaten old oldier should die, to use his own words, in the simple faith of a little child.'" Mr Henry Vincent, who has been known Qrjthe last thirty-five years as a popular ecturer, died on Dec. 28 in London, at the ge of sixty-four. Mr Vincent was in his rounger days a compositor, and was one if the earliest of the Chartist leaders. He vas arrested at Newport in 1839 on a jharge of sedition and was subsequently xied and sentenced to two years' imprisonnent. He afterwards gave up popular igitation, became a lecturer on political, social, and historical subjects, and frequently preached on Sundays in Nonconformist chapels. He occasionally spoke at political meetings, and some years ago contested the city of York as a Radical candidate.