SUEZ MAIL.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2654, 19 August 1871, Page 2

SUEZ MAIL.

The Solicitor-General Ins conducted the cross examination of the Ticbbonrne claimant with great severity, as if sincerely indig* nant, and lias laid himself open to some censure, though handling the subject with great ability. The txamination-in-chief, by Mr Giffard, occupied more than three days, and the cross examination, not yet finished, has --though with frequent interruptions, through the claimant’s illness—run over eight days. There was a painful sensation when he was questioned as to the contents of a scaled packet left behind him by Sir JKoger, and swore after protesting against taking the responsibility of such a public declaration that it related to his cousin, a lady then in court, whom he maintained he had seduced before he left England. The crosa-evamination, which covered the whole period of his life, revealed the most astounding ignorance and forget felness, supposing him to be a man who once received a partial education. Of the years spent in Paris he retains but the most m agre recollection, and shrinks from committing himself to a single fact. Of Stoney burst he is almnst equally ignorant ; he did not know Greek from Latin—thought Caesar wrote in Greek, and when shown a Virgil, said that was written in Greek; he had leamt mathematics, but never heard of the Pons Asinorum ; physiology, he said related to the “ formation of the head.” Lotus deo semper, he another day translated as “ the laws of God for ev.r," Of chemistry, he remembered that “nitro-rauriatic acid will dissolve gold and when questione d whether he learnt that at Stoneyhurst or at Omto diggings, ansswered promptly, “At Stoneyhurst.’ The claimant has shown great astutcnccs in baffling the lawyers ; once he ventured to chal* lenge the the impartiality of the judge. The expenses of the trial will sink a fortune ; they have been stated in court to be “ hundreds a day.” The claimant is at present iq the Bankruptcy Court, and a joint* stock company has been formed to furnish funds for tne prosecution. A few days ago a portion of the picture gallery of the Crystal Palace was exclusively devoted to the exhi ition of the sketches of New Zealand scenery, painted by M. Nicholas Chevalier. Art critics here have pronounced very highly of them, and fully endorsed the good opinion long since formed by Australians of M. Chevalier as a landscape painter. A g ntleman who has just returned from England states that the publication of the Battle of Dorking in Blackwood's Magazine has created a profound sensation amongst all classes’. Tne author is not, as was at first supposed, Colonel Hamley, but his brother, a young engineer officer. The general in command at the battle is meant for Lord Stratlmairn, and fc-ir Harry Tombs is the artillery officer killed by a cannon-ball. The gentleman, who is himself well up in military afiairs, says that the English and Scotch volunteers arc, as a body, as much inferior in drill and knowledge of the rifle to our men as they are to the best regiments of regulars. If such be the case, we do nos wouder at the panic. The lady student who carried off the chemieal prize at the University of Edinburgh was the highest of 240 candidates. Having been declared ineligible to receive the prize on account of her sex, Sir Titus Salt sent her LIOO, hut she declined to accept it, ;