NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Evening Star, Issue 3953, 26 October 1875, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

On the 12fch August Captain Webb starred from over with the intention of swimming to France, but failed in the endeavor. After battling with the wind and waves for ten miles he entered the lugger which acoompanied him. On the 24th, with favorable weather, the attempt was renewed, and the astonishing feat was accomplished in 21 jh., being two hours under the time occupied by Captain Boyntou, He landed at Calais at 11 a.m. on tbe 25th, and though at first unable to stand, he rapidly recovered, and walked into town and went to bed. He was attended by a lugger and two row boats, one keeping in front to direct his course and supply refreshments. A diver and several pressmen went in the lugger. Captain Webb hj is since been feted wherever he goes. Ou returning home to his native town of Trowbridge, Salop, where his father is a surgeon, Captain Webb was received with acclamation, and made a sort of triumphal entry by torchlight. '1 his week he baa been in London, where he has found locomotion difficult. On his visiting Lloyd’s he made the circuit of the rooms amid such enthusiastic demonstrations as were never known there before. A similar scene afterwards occurred at the Stock Exchange and the theatre. Captain Webb is twenty - six years of age. He was trained on board tbe Conway, lying in the Mersey, and since his boyhood has served in various parts of the world. His courage as a swimmer has been often tested. Two years ago, when the wind was blowing half a gale, he leaped from one of tbe Cunard ships into the Atlantic to save a man who had fallen from the yard, 'ihe man was apparently stunned, and sank like a stone. Captain Webb was left far behind by the splendid steamer, then going at the rate of fifteen knots an hour, but was recovered by tbe lifeboat after he had been in tbe water half an hour and five minutes, in such a sea as few men could have encountered successfully. For this deed he was presented by the passengers with i 100, and received the three medals he now wears—that of the Liverpool Humane Society, the silver medal of the Royal Humane Society, and the first gold Stanhope medal of the same society. I he first we heard of him this year was that he had swam down the river Thames twenty miles, from Black wall to Gravesend, whioh seemed then a prodigious feat; next, that he had swam along the coast from Dover round to Ramsgate; other experiments were privately na ie. He first attempted to cross the (Jhanuel a few weeks ago, and was not successful.

By the Amended Pacific Islanders Act, Fiji is included in the Australasian group. The Act is to be proclaimed in each Col my by the Governor within six weeks after a copy has been received, and to take effect immediately after such proclamation. 'ihe k dgathood of Major Richardson, Speaker of the Legislative Council of .New Zealand, has been gazetted. On the 7th August Lord Carnarvon received a deputation of representatives of the Colonies, who advocated the establishment of a Colonial Museum in London. His lordship said he had been in correspondence with several Colonies on the subject, and be was not without hope of overcoming existing difficulties. Offers to the amount of nearly LIO.OOO had been received, but fully t 30,000 would be required. The Treasury shuws reluctance to assist adequately, and it is understood that Victoria and Canada hang back. Lord Dunmore’s shorthorns, sold in thirty-nine lots, have fetched nearly 25,0(10 guineas, two bulls realising 3,000 and 4 000 guineas respectively. Mr Bushby, of Australia, was among the buyers. Cardinal Manning, in receiving a deputation of Maltese res dents in London, who congratulated him on his elevation to his new dignity, delivered an address, the chief topic being the warlike tendency in Europe, aud the probability of a sanguinary war from which the Papacy is to emerge with renewed vigor and g'ory. Mr Gladstone, having quoted from his speech in the pi eface of his new volume of tracts, showing that Vaticanism meditated blocdshed on ths earliest suitable occasijn, the Cardinal disavowed such an interpretation, but the incident has tended to discussions on the prospects of a gigantic religious war. The *( fficial Gazette’ of Lisbon has published the award of Marshal Mac Mahon in favor of Portugal’s claim to the Bay w of

Lorenzo Marquesas. The Press regard this decision as an additional reason against England submitting her claims to arbitration. A great nueting at Port Elizabeth has pronounced in favor of the conference proposed by Lord Carnarvon. The Colonial Press, teo, generally support the confedera tion scheme. On the arrival of troops at the diamond fields, several of the ringleaders in the recent outbreak were arrested. The reports of disturbances in Zulu Land were much exaggerated for political purposes, and the alleged massacres are denied. In an action brought by the Mersey Docks Board against the Gas Company, to recover compensation for the burning of the Liverpool landing stage, a verdict for plaintiffs, who claimed L 20,000, was paid. The Brighton Aquarium Company have lost no time in availing themselves of the act passed in their favor. They have decided on re-opening the aquar urn on Sundays, under the same conditions as before the prosecution was instituted. Messrs W. G. Grace and Lipscome met with an accident when returning from a match at Tunbridge Wells. Their dog-cart came in collision with a costermonger’s cart. The cricketers escaped, but their houses were killed. The Royal mail steamer Hoyne, on the voyage from Lisbon to Southampton, was wrecked off Brest on the 14th ult. She was a nearly new vessel. She ran on the rocks during a fog. The passengers and crew were saved in boats, except two firemen, who were drowned. The mails and L 20.000 in specie have been recovered. Several men were put in irons for stealing gold and jew llery. The vessel has become a total wreck. The circulation in France of Mr Gladstone’s book on Vatican Decrees is discountenanced by the Government. The announcement that large bodies of German Catholics are about to traverse France on a pilgrimage to Lourdes has excited considerable sensation, and both Governments have interdicted all processions and ostentatious display. M. Thiers is in Switzerland, where he has found a cordial reception. He was to have an interview with Piince Gortschakoff in reference to the Russian policy towards Western Europe. The Inundation Fund amounts to nearly 20 millions of francs. A new wet dock, named after the Queen, and a graving dock, were opened at Dundee by the Earl of Strathmore. The total cst of the labor will be nearly a million sterling. Parliament was prorogued on the 13th August, the Queen’s message being read by the Lord Chancellor on the previous Friday. Lord Hartington reviewed the session in a strain of masterly criticism, exposing the audacious pretensions of Mr Disraeli in bis Mansion-house speech, and showing that nearly everything meritorious in the measures passed was due to liberal manipulation. He declared that the session had discredited Par'iament, and been little or no benefit to the country. The Premier made a clever defence, scattering brilliant epigrams and planting several home thrusts, and winding up with a glowing eulogy of the fidelity and devotion of his colleagues. Mr Plimsoll having made serious charges against the Board of Trade in regard to the treatment of unseaworthy vessels, Sir Charles Adderley has taken up the attack upon the implicated officials, and challenged him to prove his allega’ions, Mr Plimsoll declares that early next session he will move for a committee to inquire into the administration of the Act relating to merchant shipping. _ Meanwhile Sir Charles has deputed Captain Murray (the professional adviser to the marine department of the Board of Trade) and Mr Traill to visit tbe principal ports of the United Kingdom, to report on tbe appointments necessary for the ensuing year under the provisions of the new act.