English News.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 186, 1 February 1878, Page 7

English News.

"Father Ignatius" has commenced at Brighton an eight days' " mission" to the " upper classes." Dr Rowley, rector of Willey, died suddenly in the pulpit while preaching on Sunday. He was in his 82nd year. Jn Locana a child with two heads, fbur arms, two legs, two hearts, and two pair of lungs, was born a short time ago, and is said to be doing very well. A batch of young farm labourers in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex are being got together for emigration to New Zealand, and try their fortunes in that Colony. The Liverpool Courier says that, at a fancy ball in the town one piquant lass did not miss the humour of the event by figuring as the most artistic " Colorado Beetle" yet seen on this bide of the Atlantic. A native grain merchant at Mnrree, N.W.P., India, who had hoarded up immense quantities of grain in hopes of the continuance of the famine, committed suicide because of the fall in prices caused by the recent rains. A remarkable case, of presence of mind was that exhibited by a burgular at; Prompton Plains, New Jersey, the other day. A baby in the cradle showed symptoms of awakening, when the robber instantly rocked it to sleep again. It is said that application is to be made to the United States Congress this session for a. grant of 00,000 dollars for tbe survey of a line of railway from Liberia, to the interior of Africa. The object of this scheme is said to be the opening of the Soudan to civilisation and commerce. The Golos claims tbe complete autonomy of Bulgaria, Bosnia, and the Herzegovina, and also demands that a portion of Armenia, including Kars, Batoum, and Adrahan, shall lie ceded to Russia ; also the opening of the Dardanells exclusively for Russian war vessels. Iliraham Pasha, fourth son ot the Khedive of Egypt, who is in England pursuing Lis studies with a view of entering the Royal iYlilitary Academy at Woolwich, was entertained at the Royal Artillery Mess, Woolwicb, a few days since. He is about 17 years of age, nnd well acquainted with the Eng- , lish language.

The Paris Le Temps, alluding to a report that active intercourse is going on between Paris and London with a view to the establishment of an understanding on tlie Eastern question, says it i=- perfectly certain that the French Government does not intend departing from its attitude of reserve to play an active part in Eastern affairs.

Tlie consumption of horseflesh as food is still increasing in Paris. According to a return by the Paris Committee for promoting the use of this flesh for food, the Paris butchers sold to the rmblic during the third quarter of 1877, 443,310 kilos, against 373,410 kilos in the corresponding period of 1876, showing the increased consumption of 69,900 kilos.

A despatch from Salt Lake City says : — A passenger train on the Utah Central Railroad, coming* south at noon, when near Farmington was lifted from the track, and turned upside down by the wind. Two passenger cars and a baggage car were turned over, and the fires from the stoves were scattered over the floors, but were extinguished before any damage was done. Several persons were badly hurt, but it is thought none fatally.

The Leipziger Tagblatt publishes the following pseudo-regulations as issued by tbe police of that city. Let our countrywomen mark and ponder it : — 1. All persons wearing a long train or other habiliments which drag on the ground and raise dust on the side-walks or promenades of the city of Leipzig are liable to a fine of from five to fifty marks. 2. The persons wearing such dresses and causing such inconveniences to others on the public road, etc., are to be immediately taken to the policeoffice. In the absence of a policeman anybody is authorised to arrest them,and to conduct them to the said office. 3. Every week the official paper, the Leipziger Tagblatt, will publish the names of the convicted offenders? The last of what was so long;-- known as the Table Rock at Niagara has now broken off and fallen into tbe river. The mass weighed nearly sixty tons, and up to 1876 over 4,000 names of visitors had been carved upon it. The part which has fallen composed only half of the original rock, the rest having fallen before. On Saturday, Ist January, 1829, a surface of the rock, supposed to be the sige of half an acre, forming the bed of Maiden Walk, broke loose, and was precipitated into the immense chasm below. The crash was heard for a distance of five miles, and the effect in the immediate neighbourhood resembled the shock of an earthquake. The water running under the bank is supposed to have caused thelast fall, and the shock when the rook struck the water was . distinctly felt three miles from the fall. Several of the trees which stood on the rock are now seen standing in the river, as erect as when in their original places on- the. ; rock. Where the rock shelved off from the bank, at a distance of 20 feet from tbe top, can be seen the root ofa tree, estimated to be 2 feet io diameter. It attracts considerable attei_tiori;7 , 7? .§

A Connecticut man-says that on his way to church on a recent Sunday night he passed six boys, all under fourteen, who were drunk.

Dr Bard wick c has received information of the discovery of the skeleton of

a woman and five children in the cellar ot a house in Hat and Mitre Court, Clarkenwell, London.

A new industry is said to be extending in Paris. It consists in the manufacture ot a cloth, much lighter and warmer then wool, from the feathers of domestic and other birds. The material is waterproof, and takes dye readily. James M'Donogh, petty sessions clerk of Dunrnore, Galway, has been shot dead near Dalgan Police Station, near Tuam. He was "an inoffensive man, and the crime, attributed to agrarianism, has created a panic in the neighbourhood.

John Waters, butcher, of Chester-

field, was charged with stealing two cows and seven sheep in August last. He was committed for trial. Prisoner avowed that it was through horse-rac-ing that he was tempted to commit the crime. He had both won and lost a fortune by- betting.

At the last meeting of the Board of Guardians at Lampeter au old woman applied for relief whose age was 99 years 11 months and one week. The old woman looked hale and hearty, and was evidently in the full possession of all her faculties. -Her ground of application for relief was that she did not now " feel able to support herself."

A large and enthusiastic meeting, presided over by the Mayor, was held in Limerick, in favour of Sunday closing. There was a large attendance of Catholic and Protestant clergymen, and resolutions in favour of Sunday closing were carried by an immense majority, notwithstanding the opposition raised by the Vintners' Association.

An amusing story is circulating in Paris among* the English residents to tbe effect tbat Marshall M'Mahon has spent, in what the Americans would call his Presidential campaign, all his own money, as well as the money of the Marechale, and has been compelled to borrow other sums off userers at interest which he is unable to repay, that none of his friends will lend him any more money, and that he is in hourly danger of the fate of Theodore, King of Corsica, whom Smollett's hero meets in a debtors' prison;

With a view of reducing the cases of infanticide, France is almost decided to return to the practice of Foundling Hospitals. Instead of the basket to receive the little stranger, and a bell to announce when a " deposit" has been made, it is proposed to adopt the Italian system, where a monk with bandaged eyes, sits behind the wicket, and takes in the babes. It is reported that on one occasion a mother brought her baby aged six years : the monk guessing his age -by his squalling, as well as by touch, objected that the foundling was " too advanced ;" the mother offered to take three children, aged two years each, in exchange.

What is democracy coming to ? There is a young man on board the training-ship at Dartmouth who will, if Mr Bradlaugh is not too many for him, and death spares him, be one day the King", of England. In times past the bump of veneration would have caused all about him to regard him with awe. He would have led a dignified, if somewhat lonely, life. But reverence is dead. The sailors on board the Britannia call the Royal youngster " Sprat," and his brother they have already named " Herring." What is more, " Sprat " and •• Herring " seem to like it, and their papa is said to have laughed heartily when he heard of it.

We (Yorkshire Post) are able to confirm on the best autborit}-" the strange story already told respecting Lord Fitzgibbon. Lord Fitzgibbon, an officer of the Bth 'Hussars, who was reported missing after the celebrated charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, is said to have escaped recently from Siberia-, where he has been held a prisoner since the Grimean war. We are aware that his family have been communicated with, and inquiries have been instituted among the officers of his regiment, who, it is said, will have no difficulty in recognising a long-lost friend. , Lord Fitzgibbon was the only son of Lord Clare, at whose death the title became extinct.

A truly shocking discovery has just been made in Paris. The centre of civilisation, the city par excellence of luxury and refinement, the " ville lamiere," as disciples of'the Hugo school love to call it, has not an ounce of honest butter within its fortifications. From the Boulevards to the Halles — from Tortoni's to the Bastille — a cry of alarm has been raised, which has at length penetrated through the walls of the Institute, and reached academical ears. 'Lumps of butter have been confiscated and submitted to searching investigation by science, the result being to establish pretty clearly that the chemist has more hand in the butter Paris diurnally eats than the cows. The *' beurre fin," as it is ironically termed, is lard in its Sunday best, flavoured with certain chemical salts or acids, and coloured with saffron ; whereas that known as household or kitchen butter is vaguely proved to be grease of some inferior quality ; whilst that "trompe Vceil " margarine, which looks so nice and tastes so nasty, is a s>b-ftanc-T&f .whicli clarified tallow and 7"dogvs fat" are' the component ptirts^?^

The Marquis of Norraanby was mentioned as the next Governor-General of Canada, but the Duke of Manchester has been appointed.

Jn Queen Victoria's crown there are 1363 brilliant diamonds, 1273 rose diamonds and 147 table diamonds, one ; iarge ruby, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 4 small rubies, aud 22? pearls.

What is fashion coming to ? A correspondent of Tbe Queen is informed that the best plan for keeping bands soft is to cover them with cold cream at night, and sleep in large white kid gloves.

The Agence Russ'e, a St. Petersburg paper, says that tbe English give encouragement to Turkey ; but the convening Parliament early will compnl Russia to hut:ry on to Constantinople, precipitating what it was intended to avoid, .

What appears to be bydrophbobia has broken out among the deer in Cassiobury Park. Watford, the seat of the Earl of Essex, and forty-five have been killed. The animals foam at the mouth, fight, and run I heir heads against the trees, injuring themselves so much as to cause death.

Mr Gladstone, says the London Times, is a person to be pitied. He has attained such an elevation among his countrymen that his simple acts are studied for the discovery of the inner significance. If he has an attack of influenza, some one more wise than his neighbour will ask, like Talleyrand, " What does he mean by it ?"

Some idea may be formed of the depression in tbe South Wales iron and coal trade when it is stated that in ttie parish of Merthyr alone there are standing unoccupied the extraordinary number of 1000 houses. The late tenants may now be found in the county of Monmouth or located in the finlds of Rbondda Valley. '" So extensive an. emigration has not taken place for. years.

The Empress of Austria is evidently well satisfied with her bunting experiences in England. When the mail left it was announced that she intended to pay another visit chiefly for the purpose of another season's hunting. One English paper says :— There is a rumour in the neighbourhood of Northampton that the Empress of Austria has taken Cottesbroke House for tbe coming season, and that she will have a large stud of hunters there.

Receutly there arrived in London four Laplanders and seven reindeer brought from Kautokino through the enterprise of Mr Farini. The Laplanders, with their dogs, an Arctic fox, two. sledges, a tent, a variety of dresses, and two of the reindeer, are located at the Westminster Aquarium, while the Zoological Society has offered free accommodation for the remaining five reindeer at its gardens in Regent's Park. They go through certain performances, such as catching the -emdeer and harnessing it to a sledge, tentbuilding, thread-making, and singing, to illustrate the simple kind of life thoy lead.

A dreadful murder has just been committed at Lugo, Italy. M. Valenti, 60 years of age, cashier in the municipality, was found dead in his office at half-past nine in the morning. He had no fewer than twenty-five wounds on his body, and in addition his hands were terribly cut, showing that a severe struggle had taken place. The object of the crime was robbery, as the day was that for paying accounts, and some 40,000fr. were in the safp, and tho money was carried off. At the moment this dreadful scene was being enacted^ the building was full of people, police, bersaglicri, &c. Several arrests havo been made. ./ The Standard, referring to tbe letters of the Bishop of Truro and Mr Bright, says: — It may be ' well to note Mr Bright's historical mistake. Wesley , was not a Dissenter. The good work which he accomplished in Cornwall he accomplished as an English Churchman. To the day of his death he never ceased to protest against separation from the Church, to which many of the younger and more ardent spirits in the. Wesleyan Connection were eagerly pressing forward. His legacy to bis followers was the dictum that " When they forsook the Church of England God would forsake them." He believed in the authority of the Church . and in most of'the essential doctrines' which distinguish her from Nonconformists, fn one department of education Sweden is far in advance of all other • countries* and sets a worthy example tothe world. Its schools are seminaries of. science, and the pupils pay no feesEach school has a carefully selected library of works in English, French, and German, besides the vernacular, with well-appointed and well-kept tr_n-' scums and. collections of apparatus for illustrating the fundamental facts of natural philosophy and.chemistry, with preserved specimens of plants and animals, botanical a> d physiological models and skeletons. Every pupil is indoctrinated in the principles' ol physical^ * chemical, 'and biological science, and has facilities afforded bini of acquiringproficiency in modern languages? , It issurely "time : th ! at7tbe ; antiquated super.-" "'*■ stitions in regard to educational matters, which7.--.cling'--to-f ! pe6p!e.bf-the:-;Kngli.s.h?.-_'^' race, should be dissipated; Precious^?? time and energies are wasted on, acquire-? 7 mehts which scholars regard 'with loath-: 7 ing, and what little the^earois! mit^ 7 ;A ;aJrardeii:to ; &^