MAIL ITEMS.

Evening Star, Issue 4057, 26 February 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

MAIL ITEMS.

Mr James Adam is lecturing in Old and New Deer, Aberdeenshire.

On.dit that a Scottish nobleman, just come to his.title, is to marry the Princess Thyra of Denmark.

Mr W. A. Ryder, a merchant of Bicester, has been presented with a piece of plate by a number of anti-vaccinators at Banbury, in recognition of bis having gone to prison for seven days rather than vaccinate his child. The ‘Glasgow Citizen’ says an historical figure has just passed away—Lady Louisa Stuart, the last descendent of the. Royal family of Scotland,'having died at Tracpiair House, near Peebles, in her 100 th year. At the Fishmongers’ Company dinner the Duke of Cambridge took occasion to ; deliver a rather important speech. He said that as there was a possibility of a warlike state of affairs arising before we were many weeks older, he wanted to induce the country to give the army more money. He knew military men were always supposed to treat money as a panacea, but it was really the fact that the right men could not be obtained for recruits without better pay. Every kind of labour had ■increased in cost, and wages in *the army must increase too. He deprecated Conscription, both because it was inadvisable in itself, and because “it would never go downf” in this country, and maintained that an Englishman, though willing to do good service to the State, fiked to know that he, was also doing well for himself. He must, therefore, if wanted for the Army, be fairly paid. The Duke justified the smallness of the’ sum now available fot the men by saying that every shot fired by the 81-ton gun cost £25. '

% James Grant, the famous novelist, has become a pervert t T Romanism. The ‘ Now York Herald.’ publishes a letter from Dr. Hayes, the well-known Arctic explorer, in which he states his opinion that the chances of success of Captain Nares’s expedition are “ exceptionally good, ” The Astronomer-Royal has received the following telegram from Professor Foerster, of Berlin:—“ New planet discovered by Palisa on November 22, R.A., sh. 54m. ; declination, 19 deg. 37 min. N.; motion, south ; twelfth magnitude.” The Good Templar * Watchword ’ of December 8 says the Marquis and Marchioness Townshend are about to join the Order, their signatures being attached to an application for a charter for a new lodge to be instituted at Raynham, Norfolk, of which lodge his lordship will probably become the Lodge Deputy. A Suez telegram states that the marquis has actually joined the cause. Earl Cowper, who inherited extensive estates in and around the town of Melbourne, Derbyshire, from the late Lady Palmerston, has given instructions to his agent to an-' nounce that, taking into consideration the extremely wet and unfavorable season, a return of 10 per cent, will be made upon their respective rents for the current year. A Scot abroad, hailing from Wanganui, has promised LSOO to the National Lifeboat* Association for the purpose of establishing a lifeboat on the Scottish coast. He desires that the boat shall be named the “ Peep o’ Day.” It is to be hoped that so good “ a Scot abroad ” may find himself heartily at home wherever he goes. Margaret Chapel, Bath, has been turned into a “skating rink.” It was sold some time ago by auction, and was knocked down to the lessee of the theatre, and any day there may be seen there crowds of skaters whirling away to the sound of the organ. Skating balls and concerts are held, and a short time ago there was a grand feast of lanterns. “In fact,” the correspondent says, “it is ojie of the favorite places of amusement.”

_ Mr Benjamin "Whitworth, M.P., is responsible for the following startling statement: I am connected with a great many working men in various ways, and am sorry to say that the high wages in 1872-73, instead of being a blessing has been a curse to them as a rule. They have certainly spent 50. per cent, more in drinking, and thus not only injured their health and their reputation, but seriously endangered, the industry of the country into the bargain.” During the year 1874-5, the first year of the introduction of savings banks into French schools, the results of the experiment were highly satisfactory. In the city of Bordeaux there were forty-six schools furnished with sayings banks, with 3,753 scholars as depositors, who had at their credit a sum of 21,225f,, being an average saving of 6f. per scholar in six months, a result highly satisfactory when it is considered that almost the whole of this sum came by voluntary contributions of cents from children of the lowest and poorest class. In ‘Punch,’ Mr Tenniel has achieved another stroke. He has seldom given us anything better or more suggestive than Mr Disraeli, with the key of India in his hand, passing on his route the Sphinx, which; with a face of antique, weird, and yet vulgar mystery, winks at him approvingly as he goes. “We understand one another, you and I,” sneers the face ; “ you, who are so like me, though so little and so new.” There is no trace in the picture of that London vulgarity of spirit which would caricature the pyramids, if it only could, and yet there is all amid its suggestiveness the true taint of the sordidness of the modern world.

Brince Bismarck, whose health is quite restored, has made an important speech in the German Barliameut, declaring that he would never consent to govern Germany through a “college,” of Ministers, whose corporate responsibility reduced the authority .of their president, the Chancellor, to nothing. He could do nothing of his own motion. He also expressed his preference for indirect taxation, which the taxpayer could adjust to his means and opportunities, and for a severe income tax on all persons enjoying more than L3OO a year. He is in favor also of equal succession duties on land and personalty. The Duke of Modena, Archduke Francis of Austria, is dead. He "was remarkable for tbe unflinching “legitimacy” of bis opinions, for his large fortune, which he used principally to help Don Carlos, and for a shadowy claim to the throne of Great Britain, as the eldest, representative of the Stuarts. He dies childless and intestate, and his great fortune, amounting to nearly L 7,500,000, will, it is stated,, he divided into three shares, one going to the Comtesse de Chambord, who is already rich, another to the mother of Don Carlos, and a third to a niece of the Archduke. It is not likely that hip inheritance will bring the. Comte de Chambord nearer to the throne b| France, but Dbp . Carlos-p sharj? may be an additional cement to him to retire from a hopeless contest.

Tte celebrated case was finally decided in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the Bth December last. Tie owner? of the Stormbird, '.. it will be remembered, appealed against the decision of the New Zealand Vice-Admiralty Court, which was to the effect that the appellants were entitled to no salvage, but were liable in L6OO demurrage, and there was np decision as to towage. No coats of the appeal were given ; but the costs in the Court below, of the demurrage question, were to be those of the appellants, so far as they cOhld be separated. Sir Robert Philimore, Sir Montague Smith,, and Sir Robert Collier, were the presiding judges. The respective counse! were, Dr Deane, Q.C!, a*d Mr Webster for the Stormbird ; Mr Butfe Q 0 Mr Cohen, Q.C., and Mr Clarkson for the respondents. , ''l Mr B. L. Farjeon’s new Christmas story is entitled “An Island Pearl,” and exhibits the excellencies and imperfections <of this promising young writer to perhaps a greater extent than usual. The story is interesting, and the characters well conceived • that the conception is not always carried out, students of Mr Farjeon’s work will easily understand. There is, ot course, the inevitable Farieonesque improbably good mother and' impossibly good son. The development of the idiosyncrasies of this same son is a psychoWical study of a kind not hitherto met with in Mr Farjeou s writings, “An Island Pearl will have more than usual interest ror Australian readers, inasmuch as one of the chief incidents of the book is based upon the terrible catastrophe of the General Grant.

The Brodick Castle has been the subject of a case m the Admiralty Court. It was a cause of salvage. In October last the Brodick Castle, a full-rigged ship of 1,780 tons, was on a voyage from Loudon to Auckland, with twelve cabin passengers, 300 emigrants, a wiTi ° f - meil > and a general cargo. While in latitude 47deg. 58miu. north, and longitude 6deg. 30min. west, on the .11th of October the maiutopmast suddenly broke short off, and other spars were carried away. Onthe l2thand 13th the ship received other and on the 16th she lost her main and nuzen-masts. and her foretobgallant mast and foretop-masthead, and was rolling buiwarks under. Several of her offipers had been disabled, and one of her crew killed ■ln this condition she was seen from jo# board the Cleveiand, an iron screw-ship. \*hich imately went to Her assistance; and towed $ Falmouth by 4 p. w , of lath.

The Cleveland, in rendering the assistance, was delayed about five days, and suffered some damage to her gear and engines. The value of the property saved was about L 77,200. His Lordship was of opinion that a very valuable service had been rendered both to the ship and the lives of those on board, and that the service was attended with some risk to the Cleveland. He therefore awarded L 3,500 and costs.

An apparatus for washing smoke, and so depriving it of its character of a nuisance, is in operation at a factory at Menilmontant, Paris. A fine shower of water, travelling, in the direction of the smoke, and at five times its velocity, is projected into the chimney, where it mixes with the smoke, taking up the soluble gases and precipitating the impurities carried up with the smoke by the draught. The foul water is discharged into a cistern, where'it is. collected, and a , fine black paint is got from it. An extraordinary accident happened to a man named Dicman, who resides near Raglan, The Riponshire ‘ Advertiser ’ relates that the man was returning home from a ball held at the Prince’s Hotel, and while resting under a tree that had been set on fire, it fell upon him, breaking his arm in two places, and pinning him to the ground. He called out for assistance, but failed to secure it, and after toiling for some twelve hours he managed to extricate himself from the fallen timber. During this time the fire smouldered up to him and burnt a large hole in the back of his coat, but, fortunately, did not do him any personal injury. The Paris correspondent of the ‘Daily News ’ furnishes that journal with an illustration of the way in which the clerical crusade is being carried on in France against civil rights generally, and civil burials in particular. A Republican journalist recently deceased wished to be buried without the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, from which he dissented. The mayor of the city se#t for his relatives, and asked them what they meant by promoting a “seditious demonstration.” They meekly replied they wished to do nothing of the sort, and desired that the funeral should be performed as privately as possible; whereupon the Mayor announced his intention of consuliing the Prefect. Accordingly that functionary sent one of his emissaries to the servivors, who remonstrated with them on the impropriety of “affronting the religious convictions of all honest folk;”: and wound up by.observing, that as a funeral without religious rites' was merely a sanitary measure, he should undertake the business himself, and would send four porters and as many policemen to fetch the coffin away at five o’clock in the morning, and should allow only three relatives to attend it to the Cemetery. Against such a proposition strong protests were uttered by the survivors, which were met by the curt exclamation, “We wautno.sacriligious riots here. We have a garrison and police, and know how to use them,” The incident got wind, and a crowd of people gathered round the house during the night, to testify their resentment against the tyrannical conduct of the authorities, but a ( battalion of infantry' and four troops of cavalry were actually called out to disperse the assemblage, and about 2 o’clock in the morning a squad of police agents broke into the room where the Corpse was, pitched the coffin into a dust-cart, covered it up with some sacks, and set off with it at a brisk trot for the cemetery, without the attendance of a single mourner. But, we are told, “ in all Catholic circles throughout the city, a pleasant hilarity was caused when it was learned how adroitly the prefect had outwitted the -‘Reds.’” As for the relatives, they were summoned before the Procurator-General, who “roundly warned them that he had half a mind to prosecute them as accessory to the riots wherewith the city had been disgraced. For this once he would let them off, but let them be careful how they behaved henceforth—an admonition which the relatives understood to mean that they had better for the future keep clear of civil burials, and indeed of all ceremonies to which priests were not .in-, vited.” When the clerical reactionaries thus abuse the power they have obtained under the Marshalate, can we wonder at the French elections going in favor of the Republicans in the towns, as we learn from a recent telegram. ;

FEARFUL TRAGEDY.

A terrible tragedy occurred at Montroiige, in France, recently. Very early one morning a policeman, having just finished his duty, returned home to No. 134,. Avenue d’Orleans. Going to bed where his wife was sleeping, he drew his sword, and with a single stroke nearly cut off her head, and afterward ran the weapon through her body. He then proceeded to the room where his daughter, twelve years of age, was in bed, and killed her in the same manner. His son, somewhat younger, was awakened: by the noise made, and seeing his father approach with haggard eyes, holding the blood-stained sword, hid himself .under the bed-clothes. The murderer , then drew out a revolver and .fired a shot,' which struck the poor boy and wounded him dangerously. The detonation alarmed the neighbors, who, at once gave notice at the neighboring police-station that something ..unusual was going on. Meantime the man had fled,, but traces of blood put the police on his track, and he was discovered in a neighboring closet, where he attempted to cut his throat with a razor. He was seized “and' taken to the Cochin Hospital, where his son was also cared for. These dreadful acts are due to aii attack of madness. The man had received in the Italian campaign a sabre cut which cleft his skull, but until lately he felt no bad effects from it. No expectation is entertained of saving the life of either father or son.

ANOTHER COLLISION WITH AN IRONCLAD. : By the . mail comes the intelligence than an English ironclad has been in collision with a merchant vessel, and, strange to say, has got the worst of it-. . The ‘ Home News ’ states that H.M.’s iron.turret-ship Monarch, in! Company with the Minotaur, flagship of the Channel Fleet, left Spithead on November 27, and after passing the Shambles the signal was made to set all plain sail to take advantage of a fresh breeze from the eastward. The Monarch was four cables astern of the Minotaur, J< both going at about twelve knots an hour, under sail and steam.' When they arrived below the Start, about three, o’clock the next' morning, the Monarch’s look-out man reported to the office? of the watch, Lieut. Henry J. Oldfield, that a large vessel was right aboard. She could be distinctly seen, her lights burning brightly.. She was working on the wind, whilst the Monarch was going right before it. Lieutenant Oldfield, however, kept the Monarch on her course, thinking that the ship would clear, or that the merchantman would go off a point or twO and thus save herself. The officers of the Norwegian sailing vessel, which was named the Haldeu, relying on the rule of the road that the steamers must always give way to sailing vessels, kept straight on, and struck the Monarch. Her jibboom caught the foremost cutter’s davit, which snapped off, and then the bowsprit of the merchantman cut the cutter clean in two. The bowsprit was caught in the after davit and broken, and the Haldeu rebounded. At this moment Lieutenant Oldfield gave orders to put the Monarch’s beam “hard aport.” The order was instantly carried out, and the effect was to drive the port quarter of the; ironclad against the bow of the Haldeu, a second time the vessel collided with greater violence than before, and the result was more disastrous, , Plates were indented and j tom be t

fore the vessels cleared, and the inside lining in the captain’s cabin of the Monarch was broken. The repairs to the Monarch will occupy three weeks. Her damage is as follows Four top side frames broken, one three-eighths iron plate in wake of frames broken, and two other plates bulged* in. The blow completely smashed the internal linings in the locality of the injury, and thus the captain’s cabin was affected. It is a singular coincidence that Lieut. Oldfield, the officer of the watch when the Monarch was struck, is nephew Of Captain Oldfield, of the Steam Reserve, concerning whose proceedings on board the Iron Duke- in common with others, an inquiry is to be opened. ( late London telegram states that the Admiralty having heard the evidence respecting the collision between the Monarch and Haldere, has decided that no one is sufficiently blameworthy ■ to be courtmartialled), AN ELOQUENT DEFENCE* AND ITS REWARD, ' At the County Sessions of Elizabeth (U-S.'), Anna Connett, a handsome girl, was indicted for burglariously entering a house with intent to steal money. She was defended by W. B. Masson, an old Californian lawyer, who wound up his speech with this peroration : “ Jurymen, you have arraigned before you a child just bursting from the bud of infancy and opening into the blossom of youth, who, for five years, has been a constant attendant at church and at Sunday school, and a follower of Him who has said, ‘Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ Gentlemen of the jury, I leave the child in your hands ; it is for you to say whether her presence shall gladden the hearts of her father and mother, the music of her voice be again heard in the song of the Sabbath School, her joyous laugh be again blended with that of her associates and companions, or whether all the bright possibilities of her young life shall be blasted in a moment by a .verdict that shall consign her to a felon’s dodm.” This was irresistible, and the jury, half of whom been in tears while he was speaking, returned a verdict of “Not Gufity.” What followed is told by the • Chigago Post’ in the thorough Yankee spice The spectators burst into tumultuous applause, and a throng, including attorneys and the clerk, gathered around the girl with congratulations. Among them was Mr Masson ;■ and as the child, was holding the band oh her defender the,mother said : “Why don’i; you kiss him, Anna, he’s done so well for you ? ” The child looked around at the . audience, and though half abashed by the multitude of faces, suddenly turned and exclaimed: “I don t care, I willand she threw her arms about the lawyer’s neck and kissed: him again and again. ' i

A DYING ACTRESS ON THE STAGE. A New York correspondent says Miss Charlotte Crampton, once the most popular of American actresses, died in LomsvUle a few days ago, of yellow jaundice, in her 59th? year. Her life had been crowned with strange adventures, and her death was in harmony with her life. She died immediately after playing the Queen in “Hamlet,” and Mr M'Cullough, .who was .playing Hamlet with her, thus describes her last appearance: —“She wa|dying, nay, almost dead at the time. were rigid, and her features so convulsed that only the eyes andlips moved. Her disease made her face a dark saffron color ; she looked almost as dusky as Othello, and her eyes, dilated and with something fearfully weird in their expression, positively froze one’s bloo.d. She had to be led to the but once on the stage was completely herself, except for that dreadful rigidity which marked . her in many respects already dead. Yet not a line or even a word of the part did she miss. In this, her last appearance before her beloved footlights, she was as perfect in her lines as when in the prime Of her career, only the mobility, the ease, the motion were lacking, but these were things of the past, and had their being in the fullness of that vital spark which was fast ebbing away. When the last scene closed, and she passed through the entrance, one of the ballet girls made a movement, to assist her down the steps that led to the dressing rooms. This kindly offer was rejected with a dignified gesture, and with eyes fixed in death, features rigid, and limbs nearly paralysed, the once favorite actress slowly dragged herself from the theatre for ever.” .

AN IMPORTANT DECISION,

A decision of the utmost importance to mercantile men has been given m the English Court of Appeal. The decision is regarded by the ‘ Economist 1 as “most unfortunate,” and will da much, in the opinion of that paper, unless the law. is altered by Act of Parliament* to destroy the. utility of the system known as “ crossing cheques.” The decision, was given in a case Smith y. The' Union Bank, the foots of which were that the plaintiff had received a cheque on the Union Bank from Mills and Co., and endorsed it and ; crossed, it “ London and County Bank ” ; but the cheque was stolen, , and coming into the hands of a bona fide holder for value, a customer of the London and Westminster Bank, was presented through that company tb the Union Bank and paid, notwithstanding the crossing. The plaintiff;- as holder, sued the Union Bank for paying thebhequC, contrary to' the statutes 19th and 20th Viet., cap. 25, and-21st and 22nd Viet., cap. 79, on the ■ subject, of crossed cheques. The Court, however, have held that the'holder is not entitled to sue. The crossing, they say, was intended for the drawer’s benefit, and as he was not indemnified, his payment of the cheque having been a good payment, he cannot 1 sue, nor • can any other person. The Legislature had not said that anyone taking the cheque was to take it at his peril, and as the cheque was finally in the hands of a lawful holder whom the Union Bank had paid, they could not be sued for doing so. ft follows from this that aqy holder of a cheque 1 endorsing it beqsea to be protected by the crossing, If it has been stolen from him and gets into the hands of a bhnd fide holder for value, and is presented thorough any bank, the paying bank is justified, and he has no, redress. Now this judgment, however well founded legally and technically, is entirely contrary to mercantile usage and the common sense of the matter., The understanding is that the crossing is imperative—that the cheque is notto be paid except to the particular banker named upon it, and pace the Court of Appeal, this is intended for the benefit of all concerned, and not merely, for the drawer. Indeed, as the crossing is necessarily to the banker of the holder who receives the cheque, it is primarily as much for his benefit, and not merely for the benefit of the drawer, that the crossing is made. " , AN' ELECTIONEERING JOKE. It is generally imagined that life in a Provincial town is as a rule frightfully dull; but : a case which came before the Potteries Stipendiary Police Court shows that in Stoke-upon-Treut, at least, there is a gentleman whose inimitable waggishness must be a never-failing source of delight and amusement to its - inhabitants, Mr Williams, a surgeon of Stokes, summoned Mr William | Myatt for having done that which was calculated to lead to a breach of the peace. Mr Myatt, according to the statement of Mr Williams’s counsel, is famous for his “ love of perpetrating practical jokes,” and not very long ago was fined for being chief mourner at a mock funeral, which led to his losing actuation which he held officer. " At t%. lafo, , V ■. (• •: • • ; .',■■■ •; 1 .

at Stoke, Mr Williams was a defeated candidate. Mr Myatt’s irresistible tendency to fun prompted him to circulate a report that Mr Williams, after his defeat, had committed suicide by casting himself headlong into the canal. Mr Williams, seeing a crowd by the canal side, and inquiring what was the matter, was told that “ they were dragging for him.” The dragging operations were being carefully conducted under the .immediate superintendence of Mr Myatt himself. This absurd proceeding on the part of Mr Myatt might, it was urged* have led to a breach of the peace. The magistrates, however, decided that the affair was only an electioneering joke* and dismisaed the case, on Mr Myatt solemnly: promising the joke should not be repeated..

PURCHASE OF THE SUEZ CANAL SHARES. The London correspondent of the ! New York Herald ’ writes on the 4th December: —“ A strange account of the history of the purchase of the Suez Canal shares is in circulation, and I hope, for the credit of journalism, that it is true. The individual to whom the Government and the nation is indebted for the suggestion .of purchase is no other than Mr Grephwood, the editor of the ‘Pall Mall Gazette.’ Information reached him privately that the shares were to be sold, and then he wrote the decisive article which set all minds upon our right policy in the direction of Egypt. Ho thought it important to further enforce his views, and he obtained a private interview with Lord Derby, who listened attentively and eannestly, but doubted whether his colleagues would consent to buy the shares and rescue the . Khedive from bankruptcy. ‘Embody your views in a memorandum, and I will lay them before the Cabinet tomorrow,’ was Lord Derby’s final answer, Mr Disraeli saw the importance of the suggestion at once, overcame the reluctance of one or two of his colleagues, and the matter was decided. Lord Derby subsequently conveyed to the editor of the ‘Pall Mall Gazette’ by letter his warm thanks for the wise .suggestion made. The story is hot im-, probable, and if true it is one that sheds a new lustre upon the Press, and cannot fail to enhance the high general appreciation in which the ‘Pall Mall Gazette’ is held.> There is a romantic daring about it which is quite Eastern in its character.’ - ■

THE CHARWOMEN OF THE HORSE OF COMMONS. The charwomen of .the House of Commons have recently been made the subject of a cruel joke, ThOre weTe'three vacancies, and the candidates were required to present themselves for examination, in order to prove how zealously the Conservatives were obey* Liberal traditions. Of course none of them couldpass the Civil Service Commis*. sioners. How could they? Mrs Jones could scrub, but she could not parse; Mrs Brown was able to say how mapy bans of soap would be required for so many hundred yards of flooring, but she had Bet yet been able .to tell how ..many miles it was to the sun ; whilst Mary Aim Robinson, spinster, was well up in scrubbing brushes, but had not yet made the acquaintance of William Rufus. The- Civil Service Commissioners gave up in despair. Hence a recent notification in the ‘ London Gazette,’ m which the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Secretary-of State for War, and the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies intimate that, with the concurrence of the Lords of the Treasury, the employment of a charwoman in each of their departments is added to schedule B of the Order in Council of June 14, 1870: The joke tells in two ways. '

CHIT-CHAT. .(From-.the World.) " , lam assured on excellent authority that, in connection with their recent purchase,her Majesty’s Government have under consideration a proposition for widening the Suez Canal. • • -

It has been proposed to institute a new Order, to be called the “Order of the Iron Fleece,” which .will be bestowed on those commanders and. captains ■ in-the navy who shall have served for five years continuously on board any of our ironclads without being drowned. Among the gallant officers of our splendid fleet this distinction will, we doubt not, be much coveted. -

Lhave heard that a most complihaentajpy telegram has been received 1 by the; Prince Minister from Prince Bismarck. apropos of the Suez Canal purchase. , 'lt is, curious to remark that sender and receiver have the worst health of any two men in Europe. Also, that when Prince Bismarck is said to be very ill, there is generally' something very startling about to occur. Mr Disraeli has been sadly ailing of late. Miss Elizabeth Thompson has been plani. mng her picture, the, “ of the Six Hundred, w which she-intends to' make as like the reality; as may be,; She has given up the notion pf tramelling herself' with an attempt to supply portraits. of the. survivors.

A renegade Mahometan is as uncommon.' a sight as a bankrupt follower of the Prophet, is a commOn one; Ibut it. seems that ia an Islamite even in the camp, of Don Carlos. This worthy rejoices in the name d! AlHwm Effendi, and is aaicUto. belong to one of l the “first families” in Jerusalem. He was converted to Catholicism at Pome some years ago, Afterwards he joined the Pontifical; Zouaves, and now wears the uniform of T>v\ Carlos. He Was said to have been the son. of the Turkish OOvemor ofJerusalem, but thisis contradicted. • '