SUEZ MAIL NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 3169, 17 April 1873, Page 3

SUEZ MAIL NEWS.

It is not often that a King vacates his throne with so much dignity as the ex-ruler of Spain has done, or that a people parts from its Sovereign with so many expressions of respect and esteem as the Spaniards have done in bowing out Amadeus the First and Last. The brave young Savoyard, in renouncing the crown, said, with a touch of manly pathos : —“ In laying it down I do not lay down my love for Spain—as noble as she is unfortunate —and 1 carry with me no other sorrow than that of having found it impossible to do all the good for her my loyal heart desired.” To this message the Sovereign Cortes both branches of the Legislature constituting one Chamber for the nonce—replied by complimenting the King on his noble language, his uprightness, his honor and his loyalty; and by “unanimously declaring” that he had faithfully, very faithfully, kept the oath he took when he accepted the crown. Evidently the old stately courtesy of the Spanish grandee has not yet died out of the land of the Cid. A FEARFUL STORM. Some of the north-western states of America have been visited with a snow simoom, which has had no parallel in modem times, and which literally turned the whole of Minnesota into a polar region. The morning of the 7»h of January was bright and balmy ; but about noon the thermometer fell 50 degrees of Fahrenheit in a few minutes, and before 2 o’clock p.ra., a killing ffost, a fierce wtyrlwiud, and a blinding snow storm came on with the startling suddenness of a tropical typhoon ; so that, according to the New York correspondent of the Standard , “the frost did its terrible work with the 'swiftness and certainty of fire. It seemed the mocking reverse of the vast conflagration that had incinerated the great lake region of the West “many months ago.” The storm lasted for 53 hours, and the thermometer at Memphis, in Tennessee, which lies in the same latitude north as W»gga Wagga, N S. W., does south, jnarked the extreme depression of sdcg. below zero. According to the latest Recounts, upwards of 700 persons were frozen to death, besides an immense number of horses and cattle. Over an immense expanse of country the snow lay from 20ft to 30ft iu depth, and the hurricane moved at the rate of a mjfe a minute. In the Susquehanna, an ice gorge two miles wide and eight miles long, resembling an enormous glacier, gave people a vivid idea of what the country was liltd duping the glacial epoch. LITERARY (JOSSII*. Novels, or rather good novels, are not in the ascendant just now, though Miss Braddon has just brought out a new one, “ Milly Darrell,” which I have not yet seen. The best of the month are“Seeta,” by Colonel Meadows Taylor, a very interesting story of Indian life; “Bright Morning,” by Miss Grant; and “Never Again,” by Dr Mays; this latter being really an American story republished in England. It is very good, and full of quaint racy descriptions. “Another World,” by Hermes (a nom-de-plume), is one of the class of allegorical novels of which Lord Lytton’s “ Coming Race ” set the fashion.' Those who are fond of travels will do well to get Augustus Here’s

“Wanderings in Spain,” charmingly and characteristically written, and also “The Looshai Expedition ” by Mr Woodthorpe, which takes us into new and unknown countries, “ Brief and Papers,” by Two Idle Apprentices, is a pleasantly written work of legal anecdote ; while for more solid work wc have Mr Sydney Owen’s “ India on the Evr of the British Conquest.” “Our New Masters.” i.e., the British workman, by Mr Wright, and “Biographical and Critical Kssays,” by Mr Hayward : essays are in general rather dry reading ; hut these, which are rtsurnAs of papers that appeared in the quarterlies, are both pleasant and instructive, For statistical or reference books, I can recommend the use of the “ iStatcs'oan’s Yearbook,” which is complete and exhaustive, and for those who are interested in the Education question, the “Oxford Ten Years Book.” Periodical literature is somewhat dull, to quote the trade reports. The Japanese, who are by far the most go a-head nation of the day, are starting a weekly paper in London called the Great Western Times, which is under the charge of Mr Summers, the professor of Chinese at King’s College.— Argus Correspondent. THE MONTH’S OBITUARY. The deaths of the month embrace poor old Dr Sedgwick, the Nestor of geologists, to whom we arc indebted more than anybody for real correlation of the silurian rocks of Great Britain. Nearly to the last of his long life did the venerable professor continue to lecture, and with him the type of a great geological school has gone from us. Oxford, too, has just lost one of its professors, Canon Ogilvie, professor of theology, a deeply-read man, although not one who has been conspicuous of late years in theological history or discussion. Mr J. Milnes Giskell was an old politician, who would have been famous as a debater axd a statesman, if he had not retired from the stage in deep disgust when the late Sir Robert Peel changed his tactics. He felt it as a personal wound, and nothing could ever induce him to become a public man again. Archdeacon Hose was brother of a former well-known principal of King’s College, and was the author of many excellent religious works. Dr Pierson was a composer of sacred music, who, if he had lived, would have been one of our foremost oratorio writers. Major Knox was the proprietor of the Irish Times. Mr Lewis was a solicitor in London who has figured more co spicuonsly than any other as engaged ft r the defence in criminal cases, while Mr Le Fanu was a novelist, whose stories were always clever, though too deeply dyed in the sensational. AN EVENTFUL MARRIAGE. From the Home News we learn that the marriage of Miss A, llothschild, daughter of Sir Anthony Rothschild, of Aston Clinton, near Tring, with the Hon. Eliot Constantine Yorke, equerry toH.R.H. the l >uke of Edinburgh, aod fourth son of the Earl and Countess of Hardwicke, was solemnised in the parish church at Wimpole on February 12, the ceremony of marriage having been previously performed before the RegistrarGeneral. The bride was given away by Viscount Royston, her mother occupying a position on the left of the communion table. The church was simply but appropriately decorat'd, the embellishments including some Hebrew characters signifying “Long life and happiness,” and Maltese and other crosses. Breakfast was served in the large dining-room of the hall, decorated with portraits of political colh agues of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, and the slipper having been thrown, the bride and bridegroom left the mansion for Royston station, to proceed to Worthpark, near Crawley, Sussex, the seat of Mr Joseph Montetiore, prior to departing for the Continent. THE NORTHFLEET RELIEF FUND. Up to February 21, L7.00U had been collected, and the committee resolved that the fund should be divided in the following manner, the form and manner of giving the amounts to be afterwards arranged Mrs Knowles, LI,000; Mrs Gloack, widow of first officer, and family, LSOO ; Airs Hlyth, widow of second officer, and mother, L3OO ; Mrs Stevens, widow of carpenter, Lb’oo ; Dr Kunde’s relatives in Pomerania, L 10 0; eighteen seamen’s relatives, L 15 0; fourteen widows and twenty five children, and placing out of five orphans, L 1,940; relatives of married couples and single men, 12,640; eighty six survivors and tcu seamen (including allowances, &c.), Lixon’s case, and hono rarium of twenty guineas to the pilot, L9OO ; general expenses, recovery of the dead, burials, and local expenses, Ll5O ; testimonials to the officers and men of the Princess cutter, steamtug City of London, and lugger Mary, L 15 0; office expenses, advertising, and contingencies, LSOO. MISCELLANEOUS, From the telegrams published in the Indian papers, we find that Lord Ossington, the late Speaker of the House of Commons, but better known as Mr John Kvclyu Denison, died on March 7 ; and that Charles Knight, the publisher and author, has also passed a»vay. The name of Charles Knight will lie best known in connection with the Popular History of I'd ylaiul, and Half Hours W'th the Best Authors. lie had attained to the advanced age of 82 years at the time of his death, having been born in 1791, A footing has been obtained in the West Indies by the United States, the Government of San Domingo having ceded to an American company, with a capital of L 5,000 sterling, the bay and peninsula of Samana, with the adjacent islands and reefs. The ratification of the bargain has occasioned great satisfaction at Washington, where it is accepted as a confirmation of the wisdom of the President’s efforts to annex the whole island.