NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Evening Star, Issue 3734, 10 February 1875, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN. Mention is made of the death at Chelsea of Detective Field, a once well-known police officer. He was one of the oldest- members of the police force, from which he retired in 1851 with a goo>l-service pension. His zeal was well attested by, among other thing*, his discovery of the >myth forgery at Bristol! Be accompanied Dickens in many rambles •bout London, and is said to have, been the original of the acute, matter-of-fact, imperturbable “Inspector Bucket” in “Bleak House.” Crimea of violence have not been so numerous of late, and the flogging of some of the convicts at f .ewgate is exercising a beneficial influence over those who need the curative properties of the lash to check their propensity to cruelty. A newly born infant was thrown out of a railway carriage on the Metropolitan District Railway, on the 13th December Marvellous to relate, it was picked up without having sustained any serious it jury, but had no men been at work in the tunnel at the time, it must have certainly perished. Ibe Irish news agency reports a disgraceful case of sacrilege near Dublin a young lady, named Long, was interred in a vault m FingJaa graveyard. Next day it was diaCWed that or had

effected an entrance, had forced ooen the suite of coffins, and hiving plundered the corpse of some jewellery, propped it up in a fitting posture, and so left it. Not a drop of rain has fallen in the Crimea for four months ; all the surface of the earth is a movable mass of dust, and no winter wheat is yet sown. The death at Mui ich is aunounced of a rival of U e famous Cardinal Mezz >fanti, the Abbe I!Filter, who spoke, it is said, nearly eighty languages. J A real Gipsy band has appeared, called .zigaues, consisting <[ twelve members, natives of Hungary, and dressed in national cos ume. Lot one of the executants can read music, but tiny have a wonderful memory, and learn their parts by hj ariim them played on the piano. Their chef .3 a remarkably handsome man, aged ihi ty His subalterns are under twenty-three ears He directs them while executing hims If the principal parts. Their programme includes, amongst the most applauded pieces, ihe Fisherman s song, and some new polkas and waltzes by Strauss. It is proposed to form an association of clearing bankers, having for its ohj. ct tin withd'awal of eight millions sterling from the Bank of K'ngU d, and the retention of that sum in bank notes, so as to he more immediately available or more profitable to the members of the association than it is now found to be in the till of the hank of England.

The Bishop of Manchester (Dr. Fraser), speaking recently at a temperance meeting at Manchester, said he thought a man might be just as temperate in the use of tobacco as of spirits He profoundly respected total abstainers, aod admi ted there might ho oases in whicu total abstinence was the only remedy ; hut, on the other hand, he did not believe alcoholic beverages were poisonous, or even mbehievou., when used within reasonable limits. He himself was not a total abstainer, but be gave the word temperance a wider area of seR-restraint than did seme teetota’ers The 4 Weekly Review’ crila attention to the consecration of a church called St. Jcha the Divine, at Kensington, and condemns the proceedings as a scandal to • Church professing to be Protestant. The Bishop of Winchester officiated. The procession in the church consisted of thirty choir hoys in surplice and black coss.-ck ; U eniy choir men in the same < os*nine ; one hundred and eight clergymen in surplice aod hoods ; the Bishop and his attendants. It may be as well to state that St. John’s is intended to he very High Church, indeed ; everything Romish that is not expressly prohibited is to he produced. Meu and women are to he separated ; the services will be intoned ; the preacher is costumed in the Romish fashion ; there are fumes of burnt w >od ; there will be a decorated altar ; the ministers will adore the bread and wine, for they hold the doctrine of transubstantiation. A t the luncheon after the consecration (the Bishop presiding), the Kev. David Elsdaie, the incumbent of the new church, said, “.They had bad a stately procession, but be hoped in the daily offices that woukl bo held iu the Church they would have mauv stately processions and many Catholic prayers When the Church was first designed, it was intended to ha e had a second altar ; but though they had yielded to the wish of the Bishop's legal adviser in lemoving it, he still thought it would not he an illegal structure.”

Although Brummy hasn't turned up yer, London has had a real man and Ji.;ht. A drunken fiend in the shape o a man was found lying on the ground wonying to death a poor little dog, the screams ot which were terrific. A beggar cut a pi-or worn m’s throat because she insulted him by onL offering him twopence, man nearly tore his wife in pieces, then wanted to open her head with a screw driver ; sentence (two years’) stigm itised iu Lancashire as a “sin and a shame.’ Bendigo, the ex-champion prize-fighter of England, has taken to preaehing, and cue of hie recent addresses, delivered in the London Cabmen’s Mbsiou Hall, attracted a tremendous audience. Bendigo, who is now sixty-three years old. told his hearers that hj “- was ihe younuest of twenty-one children, and his father dying when he was thirteen] he was put in the workhouse. He began fighting when he was sixteen years of age, and left it off when he was orty Thirtysixycarsago he fought “Leaf Bourke” for the championship and won it, and afterwards fought Ben Gaunt. Two years ago, after spending his time alternately in the police cells, the prize-ring, and the public house, he was converted as if by a miracle Ever since be has been the happiest man alive, and he should be happier still if he could only learn to read the Bible for himself. London society is kept alive by the appearance in the free religious pulpit of a lovely woman, Mrs Anne Hesant, who has mustered the best culture and society of Europe onlv to be divorced by her husband for ref using to join the English Church and partake of the sacrament. Another lady of heretical opinions, the wife of a clcrgcman of the Church, although never out of her mind, has been found in a private insane asylum, where she had been incarcerated since eptember 1870, and whence all her letters and appeals had been suppressed. She is now out, and has so interested Sir Chas. Ddke, Lord Roseberry, and others, that an association has been formed to push the reform of the lunacy laws.

The greater part of the views of Mr Martin’s “ Life of the I'rince Consort ” have ttia said, been supplied by Her Maj sty from her private portfolio, and the touches of more than one royal pencil w-il be found iu the work. The Zurich Cremation Society now counts upwards of 600 members, and it has lately given evidence of a resolve to bring its views to a practical bearing. It has already accepted a contract for the construction of a furnace for consuming bodies. The Hev. Henry Solly, who is widelyknown by his writings on “Working Mon’s Clubs and Institutes,” is about to publish a book which is pretty sure to create a sensation. It is'a work of fiction, and its title is “ Gerald and his friend the Doctor; a Record of the Experiences of Certain 'Voting Men. Its object is stated to be to show up “ one or two of our social sins,” without any compunctions as to the naked and hideous truthfulness of-the deacr ption of the seen s depicted. The ‘Manchester Guardian’s’ Lo don correspondent, who has seen tinbook, says that its “ pages abound with the coarsest ta k of the coarsest minds. The ex pariment is a bold one, and its expediency 11, to my mind, more than questionable.” On the subject of Mr Vogel’s Polynesian scheme th ■ London ‘Gnpbic’ wrote very eulogistically, predicting, among other things, that the scheme “must immensely? aid the enterprise of the missionary ; and may end m making New Zealand queen of a brilliant circle of independent, s.” The Dublin correspondent of the ‘ Times ’ writing recently, says Messrs Moody and oau&ey, who are at present in this City, and drawing every day several thousands of i/ v-u- l l° miU ri t l on 3 services in the exhibition Palace, were entertained lately at a public breakfast in the Sbelbourne Hotel, at which a large number of o'er-? vmen and laymen of all the Protestant churches—Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, and other—were present, and manifested a spirit of cordial brotherhood. H is right to say that there has been no hostile feeling shown by the - oman Catholic in. habitants, but rather a respectful interest ia tbfelr jfroOeedwgß, which are wholly dennd

of any polemical element. The * Nation ’ to-day, alluding to a rumor that some op osition was to be re organised, strongly r*.pudiates the suggestion, and, writing in good spirit, calls upon its co-reliAonista to hold lirmly their religious convictions am. oujoy and allow the fullest ■ qualify ; not t excite a religious war, but to ’let Protestant and Catholic work and pray to l<e p tb teachings and heorjis of tbs I'uxley.i am. Tyndalls Ur from the shores of Ireia id.'” The 4 Christia . ’ says We have never before seen such si.hts in Dublin as we have Sfen this last we"k, night after nignt, at th Exhibition Palace. It is estimated to hold 10, t 0 persons. Every t i„ht it is filled, and the attention and silence is worn! rtul. How many f milies are rejoicing i.i pro iigals returned, drunkards reclaimed, blasphemers silenced, the care ess aroused, the lost re i-tored, sinners converted, and, in a word, Jesus received into the hearts and homes o’ many ! It is very observable, too, bow previously existing prejudice has abated, or entirely disappeared, at Fast in the case of tbom who mmifest any respect for religion. The great characteristics of Mr Moody’s preaching, as Professor Blackie, of t dinburgh, lias wed expressed it, are “ directness, earnestness, and natura ! neas,” or, as a beloved brother in Dublin described it, “ He does not wait for the end of his sermon to make the application, but the Bible in Lis hand is a quiver, and every passage to which he refers is an arrow, which the Holy Ghost accompanying, be shoots home straight to the hearts of bis hearers.” Our Roman Catholic brethren, as a rule, have acted a noble part. They have been respectful, and to a certain extent sympathising. In this week’s number of the ‘"Nation’—an organ at once of National (as it is called) and Ultramo tane principles -an article has appeared, entitled, 41 Fair Play !” which is exceedingly c.-ed table, and which indicate.he advent »f anew day in Ireland It would surely be. a bright and b i ssed d-y for onr couivry if this spirit of mutual >e pect nnd toleration Were everywhere honestly acted out among us Mr Moody nevemakes controversial reference to others. His sm e-ss attracting the f vorable attenrionof ■ ur brethren of a diff.rent faith has been un.'xamoled iu the history of our City •• nc very rnar e ( fea ute in the m iwm- nt is the number of men that are influenced. Many people have remarked the large proportion of them that a’e inquiring ” In an account of che a -rival of the Prince and Princess of Wales at Hampton .-tatioa on Monday week, the B.rmmg.iam 4 Pos ’ says :— 44 On the Prince and Princess alight ing, they exchanged warm greetings witlTthe ivirl of Aylesford, and at once hurried off amid the ohesrs of the spectators, through the station to the carriages. Here, however au unexpected incident took p ace. Certain able-bodied females, who would place thornselves in the from. row. anxious to obtain a good look at the Princess, elbowed their way through the policemen and railway porters and confronted her Koval Highness in an eminently cool and un dushing stile The Princess was, however, equal ”to the occasion. for she politely ex' ended her hand to the obtrusive ladies, shook hands with several of them right heartily, and then entered the carnage and drove off amidst cheers which we eh artier than ever, the school chddreu part to the utmost of their ability.”

iue Marquis of Bristol has introduced a new scheme of hiring laborers upon his Suffolk (state. he has increased va-es two shilling, per we. k-namely, to fifteen shil-Inn.-s for ordinary laborers, and seventeen shillings f..r housekeeper., all the year round with cottage rent free. He has ah Ji hed the plan ot giving harvest money, and will pay threepence per hour overtime instead, and from 8 a.tn. to 4 80 p m in winter; a mouth's notice to be given on either side. Ihe schem, is received with much favor by the men and they have readily signed the contracts Advertising tends to become a dearer indulgence daily. Such prices are now asked in London for hoardings that men of small pockets have no chance. Per contra , the possessors of empty houses iu a .me districts continue to keep them empty because it pays them better to adow the frontage to be covered with placards. The mines of Laurium in Greece, as is well known, are in a great measure composed of scoria, or the refuse of ancient , V TT miU< e ’ wor^ by Greek miners about 1,600 years ago. On clearing away a ma«s of this refuse lately, a large number of seeds of a paparoracea of the Glacium genus were found, which must have been buried there for at least 1,500 years, ho:posed to the in Huence of the sun’s rays, they rapidly took root, flourished, budded, and blossomed; inoir yeliow corollas beirg beautiful in the extreme. This interesting flower, unknown to modern science, is particmarly and fr >- fluently described in the writings of Pliny and Dioscorides, and have been thus again resuscitated, after having disappeared from the surface of the globe for more than fifteen cen. tunes.