THE SUEZ MAIL.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2598, 15 June 1871, Page 2

THE SUEZ MAIL.

THE STATE OF PARIS, Of the actual condition of Paris, a lively account—the most vivid I have seen—is given by a lady correspondent of the Spectator, who describes a visit she made to that city on Easter Sunday. But few traces of the siege were visible at first, and there was but little to indicate the violence of the revolution. The streets were for the most part empty and silent, though towards the centre of the city there were groups of patriots “ seated on the kerbstone, their guns against the wall behind them,, with, in many instances, a loaf stuck on the bayonet point.” The shops were shut; not a bell wspj ringing, though the churches were open. The Madeleine was uninjured ; nothing there had been removed but by the hands of the priests themselves ; women were at prayers; over the great door, in the stone wall, the inscription had been cut, “Liberty Fraternity Egalitd.” The church of Our Lady of Victories was full— “ a solemn devout crowd, every woman in plain black dress, every face grave, anxious, grieved, but not one frightened, no, not oue,” although the reverberation of cannon set the heavy doors dapping, and echoed in the great wind. ws. There wasj the Place Yenckme, and filled with what realities and what phantoms I I saw it last.on the loth August, 18t>9, decorated for the Emperor's fete, aud filled with the glittering Imperial troops, I saw it now, a wide, empty waste, hounded by the symmetrical barricades, dotted with slouching, ungainly figures, whose clothes and arms encumber them, aud with busy, silent, groups, strengthening the wall with steady industry. My friend points out the cannon, shows me how they arc pointed against fall avenues of approach, sh.>ws me where the ground has been turn lied, and guns placed, as it seemed to me with a design to cut off the enemy’s feet, satisfactorily

at once. Visiting afterwards a famous lad y, “who gives me the history of the past of Paiis and her anticipation of its future in such brilliant style, her epigrams bristling like bayonets along the lino of her narrative, that though horrified, I am excessively amused, and carry away the drollest impressions of ‘ LEmpiro Cluseret.’ But her manner changes when I ask what I shall tell her friends in London ? And she says, ■ Tell them to fear everything and to hope very Itue. We are a degraded people, and we dc-erve what wc have got and are going to got.’” One curious little incident speaks a volume : returning through the streets “I notice that all the clocks are stopped. ” From other sources we learn that barricades have been constructed of formidable strength and in great numbers along the boulevards, and across every dangerous street. It would appear impossible for any army to enter without frightful bloodshed. WRECK OF THE QIJ i'EN T OF THE THAMES. The steamer Maitland arrived on the 4th inst , and brought news of the wreck of the steamer Queen of the Thames, bound fr in Melbourne to London. Bhe was totally wrecked at Struys Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope, on the night of the 17th of March. The vessel was then 20 days out. They saw land in the evening, and a. fixed light, which the captain mistook for the lighthouse on Cape Agulhas. About 11 at ninght the shore was seen, about half a-milo distant. Mr Goyder, surveyor-general of South Australia, says in his evidence before the court of inquiry that he anticipated danger from the proximity of the vessel to the shore. Before midnight the vessel struck heavily on a reef. The sea was then calm, and the weather clear. The boats were launched. The purser and two sailors were drowned. All the others reached the shore safely. Some of the crow acted in a ruffianly manner, and plundered the passengers’ luggage. Mr Moore chartered a steuucr aid conveyed the passengers to Cape Town. The vessel and cargo were sold for L 16,000, The purchasers chartered the steamer Bismar-k, and obtained two cargoes of wool, which was all wet, some being heated. The vessel’s hull drifted over the reef on to a sandbank. It held well together, and there was a possibility of floating her off. The majority of the passengers proceeded to England in the steamer Briton. The resident magistrate he’d an inquiry, and acquitted the officers of blame. The Government being dissatisfied with this finding, orlered a new inquiry before sir Thomas M’Lear and the captain of the .Sirius. Captain Mac Donald, however, refused to give evidence, on the ground of a previous acquittal. The Cape A rtjus, in a "leader, implies that the Queen of the Thames was lost through wilful ignorance or recklesness.

THE POPE. The Pope is stated to be suffering from dropsy, and it was generally feared in Rome that Ills malady would have a fatal termination. Prince Sigismondo Chigi, the official guardian of the Conclave, has been called to the Vatican, and installed there to await the course of events. It was rumoured, however, that the conclave of cardinals would meet at Malta whenever called upon to elect a successor to the reigning Pontiff. Fio Nino was elected on the Kith June, 1816. and it is a remarkable fact that no Pope of Rome has ever occupied the papal see for the full term of •tweißy-five years. Two have filled it for twenty-one years, two for twenty-two, and three for twenty-three years each. In April last Pio NinoJ only wanted two months to comptcte the full term of a quarter of a ceptury, HOME TOPICS. Mr Bruce has made a perfect mess of his Licensing Bill, which gives great dissatisfaction :—The principle of the bill appears to he to check intemperance and limit, publichouses. which in itself is very good, and so far he has with him the red-hot teetotallers and permissive people, who' mildly pat him on the back, and tell him to go a little further. A portion of the licensing power is taken away from the magistrates, seeing that at a certain point it is given to the ratepayers to record their votes, if they consider the house unnecessary. Then, at the end of ten years, all existing licenses expire naturally, and are put up to auction for the highest bidder. The result of this will be—1. That the victuallers’ trade, in which millions sterling are embarked, has only a ten years’ lease, and thus .the publicans will be positively ruined, 2. That the highest bidders will naturally be the grant brewers, and thus, what is now somewhat 1 a monopoly, will be one more than ever. The Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill was again thrown out in the Lords, who will have none of it, and this time by an increasing majority. Although there are a large number of people whom the passing of the bill will considerably relieve, the great hulk of society is against it, and it is singular to notice the pertinacity with which the measure is brought forward year after year. There was au amusing indignation meeting at St. James’s Hall to censure the lords, and Mr Chambers, M.P, took the chair, but he soon found that he had made a mistake, for his audience were nothing but a packed set of Republican roughs, who insisted on turning out the lords and b'shops, dethroning the Queen, dividing the land, and picking,everbody’s pocket generally. I imagine that Mr Chambers, with all his love of notoriety, will think twice before he gets up another indignation meeting. Nor is it only in the political world that troubles abound, 'i he Church, too, has her own griefs. Along with the external troubles that have befallen the Papacy, there are not wanting signs of impending struggles from within. Dr Dollingcr, one of the great lights of the Catholic Church, has been excommunicated, because, apparently, ho was unable to acquiesce in the newly-found infallibility of the Pope; and Germany watches with eagerness the possible advent of a second Luther. In England, the attitude of the Ritualistic party is'n source of much disquiet to the heads of the Church ; and it may be that a serious schism is hot far off. Emboldened by these internal distractions, and mindful of the great Irish precedent, the Nonconformist bodies have opened the campaign against their ancient and still powerful enemy. A great conference, at which 700 delegates attended, gave their adherence to a motion by Mr Miall, the wellknown Nonconformist leader, for the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England. Eighty-nine members were found to follow Mr Miall into the gallery, and smaller minorities than this have often swelled into majorities.

'there are no causes celebfes to chronicle this mouth, and very few swells in the Bankruptcy Court, the theatrical profession oc cupying that august chamber at present. Poor old Buckstone is there, for one—l am

sure np bankruptcy judge couJd have the heart to detain him—and Mr. Maitland accompanies, having been pulled down by his brief tenancy of the Lyceum. I suspect that like all we do, the run upon theatres has not been a successful one. Mr. Millbanke, who prosecuted Major Hope Johnstone the other day for playing tricks with some of his bills, also takes the benefit of the act ; but, considering that he will shortly come into LIOI.OOO a-year, it looks like an act of supererogation. Mr. Torpey, of jewel renown, has been caught in the most silly and seductive manner. Like all these clever simpletons, he returned to England, and his wife must needs visit him, unaware that she was c instantly attended by a body of detectives, who soon broke up the interview. Another arch-swindler, Mr Adcock, of Worcester, who has managed to extract at least LIOO,OOO from his creditors, midland people, is still “ wanted, ” and I should not be th least surprised if you in Australia were unawares entertaining an angel in his shape. In the Civil Courts there have been an unusual numbers of breaches of promise—some of them of unusual character ; while at Kingston, M. and Madame Otto Goldsemidt (n 6 Jenny Lind) have been obliged to vindicate their character of having separated on account of the bad propensities of M. Goldschmidt for gambling. This was proved to be a scandal, and three papers were let in for L7OO a-piece—a rather harsh proceeding, seeing that the report was a copy from an American paper, and an apology was immediately offered. Who would not be a succesiful-artist, one like Mr FaeJ, for instance, whose picture, “ When the Day is Done,” was. sold the other day at Gambart’s sale, for 1,300 guineas. Jt certainly is a lovely painting—and so is the price. The whole of Mr Gam* hart’s collection fetched the modest sum of LIS.OJO. Who would not be a painter, or if not, a song writer ? A lot of musical copyrights were sold at Cramer’s la-t week, and amongst them Arditi’s song, “11 Baeio,” which realized 7.16 guineas merely for the privilege of publishing. Somebody must have a great deal more money than is good for th m. The Easter Monday review took place, as usual, at Brighton, and with the exception that several O' rps marched down by road, there was nothing particular to characterise it. The men did their evolutions well, but they had immensely critical visitors, -for evorybo iy was fresh from disc.ussing military matters (volunteers included) in the House ; and the e were great numbers of German officers. . .Their risibility must have been a good deal tried. At the same time, they know the stuff of which the force ij.made, supposing it was never wanted for action. The month’s obituary contains a good many -well known names. Ireland has tost a good man in Sir Maziere Br.idy, who identified himself with many improvements in that country’s - le.al and social condition. Mr Bdsie Chatterton was celebrated as a good harpist, although rather out of date. Amongst the retirements of the day is that of Professor Sedgwick, who has served lus country and the University of Cambridge faithfully for fifty-three years, and is obliged to retire from shear old age. Our Loudon “Beds” made a demonstration last Sunday in Hyde Park, in favor of the Commune. It was a pitiful affair, and not worth a line, except that the bar» statement of the fact may mislead.people abroad. There were not more than 300 in the procession out of the three millions cf the metropolis, and these were mostly youths; but they voted au address of sympathy, after the fashion of the “three tailors of Tooley s‘recti,” ip which “we, the people of Lon: dou,” assure our Parisian friends that we have “a profound admiration for the grandeur of their enterprise,” and send t icm “paternal greeting in the name of the Universal Republic.” All this nonsense should be taken for what it is worth. But more serious is the movement for the formation of republican clubs. There is a current setting in that direction, which may some day have power to sweep away the few vest ges which remain to us of special monarchical pomp and privilege. A member of Parliament spoke at Nottingham the other day in earnest advocacy of constitutional reform.