Englsh News.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 193, 22 March 1878, Page 6

Englsh News.

The Ray. George Gilfillan married sixteen couples last Hog*manav. Jeff Davis' daughters are at school in Germany, A man reputed to he 114 } r ears of age has jusr, died af Trieste. A telegram from B,oue says it is calculated that about 200,000 strangers attended Victor Emanuel's funeral. In honour of the Spanish Royal marriage an amnesty will be granted to all political, press, and ordinary offenders. A telegram from the Hague says a marriage between the Prince of Orange and the Princess Beatrice of England, is contemplated. A man in Louisiana has had four Avives go off and leave him. The fifth he swopped for an old shot-gun, and now he has got something that won't go off. The proprietors of the Daily News have presented Mr Archibald Forbes with 2000 guineas and a silver cup in recognition of bis valuable services as Avar correspondent on the staff ot that journal. At HartAvich, three lads, named Gilbert, Smith, and Martin, Avere each sentenced to seven days' imprisonment with hard labour, for playing pitch-and-tops on Sunday— law not providing for a fine. The King and Queen of Naples have, for some years, passed the hunting season in Northamptonshire. The Queen has hunted, the King has remained at j home. But this year the King hunts, and the Queen remains in London. — Truth. At Canton, in the State of. New York, a youth named Van Dyke, aged nineteen years, has just been hanged for the murder of his wife, whom he married on the Monday and shot on the following Saturday morning. He spent bis last night enjoying himself with his friends and others at the gaol, smoked fourteen cigars, and chatted freely till midnight. At t*Avo he went to sieep, and slept about four hours. He appeared about the same next morning as previously, with the exception that toAvard noon he grew serious, and did not have much to say. Just before the execution tbe Sheriff read the death warrant to Van Dyke, and asked.him if he had anything to say. He spoke loudly, and said he desired to say to one arid all to beware of bad. company arid Avhisky. Bad company had' led many a man to ruin, he said. He; was then executed, and. his body was after- • wards placed in a coffin and forwarded * to his mother. i

Mr Gladstone has completed his 68th year. Professor Bell's telephonic apparatus is being manufactured' in large quantifies for Government, and private order, at Silver's Rubber Works, Woolwich. Maria Harding*, a dressmaker, was at Richmond Petty Sessions sentenced to seven days' hard labour for stealing &n egg, ofthe value of three halfpence. The affair has caused some excitement in the district. At, a church fair in Pittsburg* they had a slave market. Young* girls disguised in sheets were put on the block and knocked down to the highest bidders, the money going* to the church treasury and goods never beingdelivered. Prince Louis Salem Kyrburg, son of a mediatised German Prince, Avas condemned by default, in a Paris Court to three months' imprisonment for removing' from his lodgings, during- a distress for debt, a bottle chased with silver and other articles. Sir John Astley, Bart , M.P,, in consideration of the very bad seasons Avhich have done so much damage to agriculturist, has returned 10 per cent to his Lincolinshire tenants whose rentals are over £200 per annum, and 15 per cent to those under that amount. The Duke of Connaught, who Avas recently the guest of the Mayor of Cork, has just sent his Worship a hundred pounds to distribute amongst local charities. Tne Mayor, in announcing* the donation, observes that the Duke has by his acts since he came to Ireland established a strong* claim in the affection of the people. An important personage has lately died at Siam in the shape of one ofthe King's white elephants, and, according to custom, it was buried Avith the hir-riiest funeral honours. One hundred Buddhist priests, we are told, officiated at the ceremony, nnd the body Avas conveyed to its last resting-place accompanied by a procession of 30 State barges. — Allan's Indian Mail. In a series of promenade concerts to ho given in the Waverley Market, Edinburgh, no fewer than 560 performers are engaged to apppar in the course of the week, including five of the most celebrated military bands in the British army, 10<J pipers, several Volunteer band.*, a host of vocalists, and a company of snake charmers and Indian jugglers. Experiments have been made at the Roupel Park Estate, London, with a tree-felling machine. It. is worked by steam supplied by a vertical boiler, and can be moved from tree to tree by three men. It cuts the timber close to the ground, nnd went through an elm 2it 9in* across the cut in less than four minute?. In one case a brick was found in the middle ofthe trunk, but this was cut through easily. Five trees were felled in 35 minutes, including the moving* ofthe machine. A. Avriter in Truth says : — T hear from St. Petersburg* that the Czar is seriously indisposed — weak, ancl so thin that, he sits on pillows to prevent the bone? from coming* through the skin. He is depressed, too, with a presentiment, of his approaching* death. No Romanhoff has livpd beyond sixty, and he will be sixty in April When his sister died, some two years aero, f.he reminded him of this, and told him he must be prepared to go before he was sixty. They say her words made a g*reat impression on him then, and now that he is not Avell they constantly recur to him. An accident ofa very extraordinary character occurred at the terminus of the Dublin and Meath Railway at Athboy. The 3 : .40 special train of empty waggons which comes ever}* Wednesday morning* for the conveyance of cattle to Dublin by return, rushed past the station full speed, broke the terminal buffers on the opposite side of the turn table to pieces, dashed through a high stone Avail, and crossing* the road, went clean through a cottage on the opposite side, the greater part of tbe house and furniture being shivered to atoms. The house was occupied by a driver of the Meath line, and both he and his wife were asleep in bed. They were unhurt, having their bedroom Avail thrown in a heap at their bedside, and awaking fo see close by them one of the most powerful ofthe company's engines. The driver of the special held to his place to the end, but the stoker and guard jumped off when at, the station, the latter having his shoulder blade broken. A grievous quarrel has broken out between the ex-Queen Isabella of Spain and her son's Government in Madrid. Ths Queen objected to her son's betrothal to the daughter of the Duke de Montpensier, and finding remonstrances useless, began to cultivate Don Carlos, even dining* with him, and signifying to her friends that she regarded him as jof her own house. The Spanish Govern- ! ment, extremely irritated, applied to France for the expulsion of Don Carlos, which was granted, and the Queen actually wrote to the Figaro to complain, and mourned in her letter over the sacrifices bhe had made for her son. Thereupon the Government of Madrid informed Queen Isabella that her pension would be stopped, and that she would not'be allowed to return to Spain. Her Majesty is said to be furious*, and it is feared that many of her partisans, who are ' still numerous, { especially among enrages clericals will desert the Alfonsis Government.

There are Sheffield over 209 angling clubs, comprising • more than 8000 members. Prince Ibrahim, son of the Khedive, and his attendant, Mustapha Pasha, have been elected honorary members uf the Reform Club. The Royal Family of England are showing the same courtesies to the Imperial ex'les of France as they formerly did to the Royal exils. The Prince Imperial of'Frar-ce has paid his -first visit to Sandringham as the guest, for a few days of the Prince and Princess of Wales and family. Dr Cornelius Fox writes to the Sanitary Record — **' There can be no question in the mind ofanyoiiewho has taken an interest in sanitary subjects but that scarlet fever poison is disseminated by letters, for proofs of this accident have been repeatedly afforded. The outbreak of this disease in a village post-office has presented itself to my notice on two occasions, and in both cases the disease has spread. The Morning* Advertiser hears pn trustAvorthy authority that official information has been received at St. Petersburg, from General Kooropatkine, Governor of Semipalaf.insk, to the effect that the Chinese troops have massacred at the Kasgarian town of Manas upwards of 15,000 men, women, ancl children, The massacre was attended Avith atrocities of the most frightful description. Gone are the palmy days of the prize ring, remarks the Mirror of Literature ; cockfighting is no more ; and in England, at all events, bull -baiting has been a thing of the past* ; but the national instinct of this and the sister island still asserts itself, for the champion bull-fighter in sunny Spain is an Irishman, with brogue complete, and the majority of the best untadors are nor, Spaniards, but Englishmen. ■The Liverpool horoug-h engineer, Mr George F. Deacon, has drawn up a report npon the proposal of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board to build a railway supported on pillars on the roadway along the line of docks. The engineer is of opinion that the proposed height ofthe railway of 16ft Gin, is insufficient for so important a line of traffic, and at the next meeting of the Town Council it Avill probably be decided to oppose the" Dock Board Bill in Parliament, so as to obtain the insertion of certain protective clauses. A gentle Chinese youth, measuring already eight feet six, and who, report says, is still growing rapidly, has left the Celestial Empire bound for Paris, where during next spring's Great Exhibition, he hopes to make capital out of his superabundant inches. YanoShan, the youthful gajnt in question, although not yet nineteen years of age, overtops considerably his predecessor Chang, another interesting point about him being that his head, eschewing the example set by tbe other members of his body, retains its normal size. At a meeting* of the Liverpool Select Vestry it was resolved to memorialise the Home Secretary to introduce a bill shortening* the hours of sale at publichouses. Mr Pathbone M.P., said Avhat he thought should be done Avas the carrying* out of an efficient measure for stopping the public-house from doing* a drunken trade. There was an instance of this kind at Lot.on, where the magistrates, through stringent action on the psrt ofthe police,* shut up one-third of the public-houses, and reduced crime and drunkenness by one-fourth. Reports from the Island of Sylt, on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein. state that the storm-flood, which caused such serious damage along the Continental shores of the German Ocean last autumn, has laid bare some remains nf the vilag'e Eidum, which perished in the year 1436 by the sea suddenly breaking over it and covering it up. Stone foundations of former dwellings, garden Avails, and Avooden remains of various kinds are now seen there, also numerous well-openings, built of massive pieces of dried and baked peat. It is also stated that numerous old coins and utensils have been found there, as well as a well-preserved, carved, and engraved metal bracelet. The municipality of Madrid refuses to forego its customary circenses on the occasion of the Royal marriage. Thero have been inordinate preparations for a bull-fight, which the young King and the new Queen will not consent to honour. A " French Lion" — whatever that may be — and .12 Spanish bulls were in readiness for the occasion, with Don Pablo Mesa, the greatest matador of any time or country. But Royalty refuse the show, whereat the great men of Madrid are sadly, out of countenance, together with, it. may be assumed, the " gentlemen bulls" from Seville. The poor beasts condemned to this .sport j were not even to be killed— they Avere I merely to be transfixed ''with small harpoons, goaded by innumerable arrows, lacerated with barded lancets, and gored Avith half-sharpened swords, to gratify the Majesty of Spain. The Majesty of Spain, however, outgrown its former traditions of brutality, will not accept these compliments at the hands of the "egg throwing multitude." It is infinitely to the credit of King Alfonso that he refused to pollute the beginning of his reign by' one of these abominable carnivals. A bull fight,, at the best, is an exhibition of and- cowardice displayed'" at their Ayorst, notwithstanding [[ the mock, gallantry of the hi eh' and' the sham heroics' of tbe horses.

■"' ' ''*•'" i i i— mm It has been resolved that Princesstreet, Edinburgh, shall be paved with j granite. Earl Rosebery will shortly be married to Miss Hannah de Rothschild, daughter of the late Baron Meyer de Rothschild. Tom Fat, a Japanese servant, has been committed for trial at Portsmouth for forging Lord Charles Beresford's name to a cheque for £50, A telephone has already been placed in the House of Commons to enable the editors of one of the principal liondon newspapers to hear by word of mouth the latest news of Parliamentary debates. ' Lord Kinnaird has objected to the expenditure of £100 by the Perthshire Commissioners for a public analyst, on the ground that it was just for' the purpose of getting good whisky for toddy for gentlemen in the country. The character of " Capital" was assumed by the Avife ofa prominent New York banker at a recent fancy ball. Her skirt Avas covered with £1.00 United States Treasury notes, and her. bodice and sleeves were £200 bonds. She is said to have been worth about £60,000 as she stood.