MAIL ITEMS.

Evening Star, Issue 4027, 22 January 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAIL ITEMS.

There is a rumor going about that the Marquis Bute intends to rejoin the Anglican communion. It is quite untrue. A certain “ Captain Montagu,” who falsely represented himself as a survivor of the Balaclava charge, has been arrested as a madman. The peculiarity of the case is the arrest. ihe Government are already preparing for eventualities in the East. Lord JS apier, of Magdda, has been appointed Governor and Commander-iu-Chief of Gibraltar, with a \new to proceed to Egypt immediately upon any emergency arising. Theodore Tilton (says a late New York paper) received one vote in Brooklyn for Secretary of State ; Elizabeth Cady Stanton one for Sheriff; and Pope Pius one for Charity Commissioner. A minister of one of the parish churches iu the island of Skye occupies the pulpit which his father, grandfather, and greatgrandfather have tilled in succession, and he is training a son to be his successor.

Rumor has it that the old, old story #f the poet falling in love witli a high-born lady, making an oilier and being rejected by her, has recently been acted over again, the principal characters being well known in the literary and fashionable worlds. As a sign of the improvement of the condition of the Hebrews in Russia, the fact that the Czar has given a commission iu the army to a young Hebrew named Frehmanu is worthy of mention. Frehmanu is the first Hebrew that has been made a Russian army officer.

One of the heaviest losers by “Turks ” is a celebrated vendor of the pills and ointment which have long been known as the only efficacious remedy for all the ills that flesh is heir to. The “ professor,” whose benevolence is as great as his notoriety is worldwide, has “dropped” L 150,000, and philosophically writes it off his ledger as a “ had debt.”

Mr Carlyle declines with scorn the degree of LL.D., conferred by Harvard University. American universities, he says, are ‘ * semblances,” their degrees the “silliest sham feathers,” and that he should be asked to join in heading your long line of D.D.’s and LL.D. ’s, ‘ ‘ a line of pompous little fellows hobbling down to posterity on the crutches of two or three letters of the alphabet, passing on into the oblivion of all universities and small potatoes,” is more than he can bear. There is a tender touch about this advertisement, which we clip from the ‘New York Herald, ’ that commends it for preservation : —“ Will the parties who broke into my place on the night of October 7, 1875, and stole goods, consisting of watches and jewellery, negotiate for their return ? I will give a greater reward for them than any one individual.— CL Fredericks, 129, Bleecker street.” Observe how delicately Mr Fredericks refers to the operators as “parties,” and though later on he uses the ugly word “ stole,” that is probably only because he is not familiar with Shakespeare, and does not know that the wise call it convey. A singular event in the history of colonisation is likely to happen before long. The Mormons of Utah are contemplating emigration to the Valley of the Jordan in Palestine. Two years ago they sent four of their elders to spy out the land, and to ascertain whether the Turkish Government would oiler any opposition to the movement. How far they succeeded has not been made known, but the idea of a Mormon settlement was spoken of with favor in the official journal of the pashalic of Syria. That the scheme is likely to be acted upon has been vouched for by the Rev. Dr Manning, the general editor of the publications of the Religious Tract Society, who has recently returned from a visit to Salt Lake City, where he had an interview with the chief saints. RECENT SECESSIONS TO ROME. The ‘Morning Post’ says:—“We fear that the boast which a Roman Catholic divine recently made with regard to secessions to Rome is not altogether without solid foundation. A well-informed correspondent, professing to supply us with facts and figures, provides the following list of recent seceders. It certainly deserves consideration by our rulers, both in Church and State ;—The Rev. W. M. Huuuybuu, M. A., and the Rev. Verney Cave Brown-Cave, M.A., both of All .Saints, Margaret street; the Rev. J. R. Madan, M.A., president of the Missionary College, Warminster ; the Rev. CL R, Burrows, 8.A., of Liverpool; the Rev. Alfred Newdigate, M.A., vicar of Kirk Hallam, Derby ; the Rev. Willis Nevins, of Southampton ; the Rev. H. J. Pye, rector of Clifton-Campville ; the Rev. George B. Yard, M.A. (brother of Canon Yard, ju-t elected Proctor in Convocation) ; the Rev. John Higgins, 8.A., curate toPredendary Clarke, of Taunton; the Rev. Septimus Andrews, M.A., student of Christ Church and vicar of Market Harborough ; the Rev. C. H. Moore, M.A., student of Christ Church ; W. M. Adams, 8.A., Fellow of New College; Rev. W. C. Robinson, M.A., also Fellow of New College, Oxford ; the Rev. F. Down, and F. M.Wyndham, of St George’s in the East ;the Rev. George Akers, of Mailing, Kent; the Rev. Gordon Thompson, of Christ Church, Albany street; O. Moncrieff Smith, of Cheltenham; the Rev. Reginald Tuke, of St. Mary’s, Soho; the Rev. M. Tylee, of Oriel College : the Very Rev. Dr Fortescue (brother-in-law of Archbishop Tait); the Rev. W. Humphrey, of Dundee; the Rev. T. H. Grantham, of Sliford ; the Rev. Lord Francis G. G. Osborne, of Elm; and the Rev. R. S. Hawker, of Morwenstow. THAT SEA-SERPENT AGAIN. The Zanzibar correspondent of the ‘Western Morning News,’ writing under date of October 20, says:—“ The barque Pauline has arrived at Zanzibar with coals for her Majesty’s ships. When off Cape St. Roque, South America, a sight was presented that made the crew aghast—nothing less than the great sei'pcant engaged in conflict with a whale. It had wound itself twice round the whale, and was twirling it with tremendous velocity, lashing the water into foam. The noise could be distinctly heard , on board, and after battling for some time both disappeared. The ser-. peuts length can be imagined It had two coils around a full-sized sperm whale, with 30ft clear at each end. Its diameter was from 3ft to 4ft. They saw it twice afterwards. Once it came very close to the vessel, and raised itself about 60ft out of the water, as if to attack them. I have questioned men and officers, trying to hud out any discrepancy between their statements, but am a convert to the belief that it was seen. ” Another naval officer writes to the ‘ Western Morning News ’ to precisely the same effect; and the officers of her Majesty’s ships on the station are said to be convinced of the truth of the story. ENOLAND’S LATEST LITTLE WAR. The following is the origin and progress of the disturbances at ‘ Penang The war was commenced by the Malayan natives, who murdered the British Resident (Mr Birch) whilst ho was bathing in the river at Perak. The cause of this outrage is not definitely known. Home attribute it to political motives, and others to private revenge ; but whatever may have been the cause it was a most cowardly and brutal murder. The history of the Straits Settlements has been of a turbulent character. There are very few Europeans resident there, and the natives do not appear to be very desirable company. They are both indolent and treacherous. The tin mines, which form the chief source of wealth, are worked by

Chinese. Prior to the year 15?74 there were i frequent wars of supremacy, hut during the first month of that year Abdullah, the rightful heir, was appointed Sultan by the British powers. For some time the affairs of the country prospered, and everything went smoothly; hut Sultan Ismail, the Pretender, busied himself to create discontent, and it is believed instigated the people to engage in a war for their religion (Mahommedanism). The result was, that the people became discontented, and as every man was fully armed, the native police force was simply helpless. This state of things could not continue long, and broke into rebellion in a manner only too familiar to us in this country, in the murder of a helpless man. About forty armed natives rushed upon the British resident, Mr Birch, when he was bathing, and stabbed him to the heart with a kind of long dagger, called a “kriss.” When the body was recovered it was greatly mutilated. Mr Birch had been stabbed seven times in the chest, and his feet was cut off. The natives having built a stockade in ambush, set the body in a conspicuous position to act as decoy, and awaited the appearance of Europeans. About eighty of the Native police and some of the 80th Regiment who had left Penang under the charge of Captain Elliot, saw the body, and went towards it, but were suddenly upon by the natives in ambush, and were repulsed with loss. Two men were wounded, and Captain M. Junes, of the Royal Engineers, and a Sikh were killed. It is not unlikely that the result of the war will be the annexation of the Malayan Settlement to the British Crown. SCENE IN A SYNAOOQUE Considerable commotion was caused on October 29 in the neighbourhood of Duke place, by the dissemination of the report that the assassination of the Rev, the Chief Rabbi, Dr Adler, had been attempted by a lunatic, a Christian, in the Great Synagogue. It appears that as the Rev. Mr Keizer was about to commence the afternoon service, an individual, whose name is at present unknown, drew a pistol from his pocket, taking aim at the Chief Rabbi. This is, however, contradicted by a statement that he determined upon firing at the Rev. Mr Keizer. But it is not altogether clear against whom he intended to direct his fire. With great presence of mind one of the congr,e-, gation rushed towards the madman, wrenched the pistol from his hand, and the culprit was immediately seized. The revolver had six chambers loaded, and a considerable number of bullets were found in his pockets. On beingj-emoved in custody, he asserted that he had been “deputed to kill nil the Jews.” The offender has but recently left a lunatic asylum, of which he had been an inmate for some time, and we are informed that he has been handed over to his friends, who will doubtless see that he is debarred from doing serious mischief It is somewhat strange, however, that the matter has not been brought under the notice, of a police magistrate. A correspondent informs us that the pistol was not capped, and that the man did not intend to iujureany person. It is stated also that he has been a regular attendant at the Central Synagogue, and for many years frequently called upon the Rev. A. li. Green. His former delusion was that he had been authorised to teach to the world a new religion, a compound of Judaism and Christianity. Acting under the impression, probably an erroneous one, that the Chief liabbi’s life had been attempted, the Rev. 1. Cohen offered up prayers in the new Synagogue, and numerous pecuniary ofterings were made by the congregation. SALE OF A WIFE. Among the lower classes in Lancashire there still lingers a belief that a man may legally sell his wife ; and such a sale actually did take place very recently at Blackburn, near Preston. Henry Duckworth, an occasional porter at the railway station there, was drinking in a public-house with a number of other men, when his wife, a comely buxom woman about thirty years of age, entered and asked him for some money. Duckworth said to her, “I wish somebody would buy thee,” upon which William Robinson, a machine maker, about twentythree years of ago, remarked, “I’llbuy her ” Duckworth at once made a bargain with him, and articles of sale, of which the following is a copy, were drawn up and signed : —“November 4th, 1875.—This is to certify that I, Henry Duckworth, do hereby sell my wife for fourpence to William Robinson. Witness my hand (signed), Henry Duckworth.— Witnesses : James Mourne, Michael Clarxe, Wm. Robinson.” The buyer then regaled the company with two quarts of ale, and he and the woman went home to his house together. The next afternoon they again visited the public-house, where they met with Duckworth, and all seemed very comfortable together. She declares that she will not leave Robinson, and Duckworth says he is quite satisfied with the bargain.