NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 622, 16 June 1876, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

LONDON LETTER,

(From a correspondent of the Press.')

London, April 21st, 1876.

Iq consequence of the breaking down of the P. and O. steamer Surat, off Lisbon, the mails per Australia .and New Zealand via Brindisi, are made up in London this day instead of on the 14th instant, and the despatch of my letter has been thus delayed for one week.

Parliament adjourned for the Easter recess on the 13th instant, after a most lamentable waste of time over the Royal Titles Bill, which for several weeks has proved a sad pbstructiou to the despatch of public business. Like a rolling snowball, the longer its passage through the House the more weighty and difficult to move it seemed to become. In the House of Lords it met with even a more determined opposition than from the Commons, ninety-one peers voting against it, while only 137 supported the Ministry. A motion for reconsidering the Bill before it receives the Royal assent now stands in Mr Fawcett’s name, and in the meanwhile meetings hostile to it are being held in numerons places in the metropolis and throughout the provinces. That the masses are against it there is no doubt; but the fact is the people have got hold of an idea, fostered by those who know better, that the title Empress is to be substituted for that of Queen, and not merely an addition which would appear now and then on the face of some Indian state document and nowhere else, which was all Mr Disraeli meant when he proposed the measure. Had the Bill passed quietly through without a division, as he expected, the title of Empress would never have obtained any more prominence than this ; but the party opponents have made a mountain of a molehill, and if the Bill receive the Royal assent it will be their fault if the public persist in dubbing her Majesty Empress. The Opposition and not the Government will have put the word into the mouths of the people. Outsiders see moat ®f the game or at all all events take the most dispassionate View of it, and it is a significant fact that the leading journals at Paris, Beilin, and St Petersburg!! express astonishment at the bitter and furious opposition the measure has met with. While this uusesmly discussion was going on in Parliament—for unseemly it was in many instances, prejudice and party feeling having carried numerous membfcis considerably beyond the bounds of propriety and Parliamentary usage—the subject of it all quietly betook herself to Germany, where under 'the title of Countess of Bosenau—taken from the Chateau of Rosenau, the birth-place of Prince Albert—she has been for some weeks sojourning at Coburg. . Ifor thus absenting herself from thecountry during the Parliamentary session, her Majesty has been seriously taken to task, both m and out of Parliament. The preceding is certainly without precedent; and though in these days of telegraphy and steam, Coburg is really not much farther than Balmoral, still the step is regarded by even the most loyal of Her Majesty *8 subjects as ill-advised, more particularly at this juncture when so many of the members of the Royal family are out of the country. In fact, I never, during'Her Majesty’s reign, recollect her occupying so unfavorable a position as at the present. In the first place an impression, just or unjust I know not, has got abroad that the Royal Titles Bill emanated from herself ; then there is this absence from her dominions while Parliament was sitting, a step no English monarch has ever taken ; and finally the wretched Alberta-Mhtletoe collision has just been raked up bj the member for Glasgow. His motion, which was nothing more nor less than a demand for a new enquiry, on the ground that the Admiralty had disgracefully shielded the officers of Her Majes'y’s yacht from blame, was negatived, I am happy to say, by 157 against 65. Her Majesty returns home this day, and the Prince of Wales is expected early next month. Enthusiastic receptions are in preparation for him, and the Poet Laureate is composing an ode of welcome to him. Mr Tennyson’s last effort in his official capacity was, I think, when the Princess of Wales arrived in this country. The Duke of Edinburgh has returned from Russia and will shqrtly assume command of H.M.S. Sultan.

Lieutenant Cameron, the gallant young explorer of Africa, arrived at Liverpool on the 2nd instant. Compared with the reception given to Mr H, M, Stanley, or Captain Boyton with his waterproof suit; or Sergeant Bates who carried the American flag through the wild and desolate regions lying between Berwick and London, his reception seems somewhat lukewarm. Cameron’s feat is not only in itself one of the most magnificent instances on record of pluck and endurance, but it is also of the greatest value geographically, commercially, or politically; and yet the Press has devoted'to this lasting exploit, about one-twentieth of the comment and description it has bestowed on the doing of the sixteen lads who rowed a few days ago from Mortlake to Putney. The Geographical Society have conferred upon him the gold medal of the year, which is looked upon as the “ blue riband ” of geographical discovery, and scientific men are not backward in testifying to the value of his researches ; but, as I have said before, there has hot been anything like a national welcome. I hope that one of the first acts of Her Majesty on her return home will be to publicly mark her senselof the great services he has performed. He has traversed on foot Africa from Zanzibar on the east to Benguela on the west, a distance of 2953 miles, passing through a vast tract of country in which no European had ever before set his foot, and which has been always supposed to be a great desert, and been marked as such on the maps. Now, however, thanks to Cameron, our geographers will be able to fill in this blank space with the lofty mountains and numerous rivers he has ascertained to in this supposed desert. The astounding number and the scientific accuracy of his observations place him, according to the opinions of the most eminent geographers of the day, first amongst all explorers in this respect. Cameron is only in his thirty-second year, and intends to pr< ceed again to Africa to prosecute his geographical researches. An attempt to raise the ill-fated Vangard is about to be made, and if it be successful the triumph of engineering skill will not test with England. The Xiords of the Admiralty out of 450 tenders .have selected *hat of a French civil engineer, with whom the contract has now been entered into. The proposed method of raising the vessel is as foil- w* .-—Caissons of . ten feet in diameter and eleven feet in length are to be attached to the vessel by means of such holdfasts as

port-holes, &c, and also by chains under the bottom. In the interior of the ship 2000 air balloons will be placed, each having a lifting power, in water of one ton. As soon as the ship rises from the bottom the contractor intends drawing her into shallower water, and when there is about sixty feet between the level of the sea and her keel he will lower a,floating dock and catch her. Such a method has never been tried before, and the difficulties are enormous. The first, and perhaps most important operation—that of attaching the caissons to the ship—will have to be performed nineteen fathoms under water, at which depth it is very dark, and electric .as well as submarine lamps are to be used, . When the last attempt to raise the Vanguard was abandoned in November, she was eight feet six inches in the sand, and she is of course now buried considerably deeper in the sand drift. The preliminary arrangements are being already made, and the work will commence in earnest in the beginning of next month.

One of those fearful atrocities which periodically happen in our very midst as if to remind us that with all our much vaunted civiliazation there are still many of us who are little removed from the brute beasts, has just been perpetrated in Lancashire. A barber of the name of Fish, living at Blackburn, enticed a little child, named Emily Holland, into hia house, and carried herin his arms up to a room above his shop. Having placed a gag in her mouth he outra’ged her, and then cut her throat with a razor. At this, point hearing some customers below, he wiped his razor, and going down to his shop shaved three or four men with it. After this he returned to the scene of his monstrous crime upstairs, and after smashing up the skull of his poor little victim into fragments with a hammer, he dismembered the body and wrapped up the portions in a piece of newspaper for removal at a more fitting time. The skull and the arms he placed on the fire, and locking up the premises, spent the evening in jollity at a music hall. On hia return, finding that the fire had got low, and that the temains had not been consumed, he wrapped them also in a piece of newspaper, and placed them in a recess in the chimney, where these damring proofs of his guilt were found by a dog, half retriever, half bloodhound, which was employed by the police. The town of Blackburn has been in the wildest state of excitement ever s : nce the occurrence, and when fish was being conveyed to the cells, it required all the efforts of the police to save him from being lynched by the crowd. Under pressure brought upon him by the Roman Catholic chaplain of the prison, the wretched man has made a full confession. We are very fond of talking with sublime pity of the “benighted savage,” and we expend a good many missionaries and a great deal of money in attempts at his regeneration, but such acts as the one I have described above seem to say to us, “ Physician, heal thyself.” Thaßjiovers of scandal, •( particularly of BcandlPin high life, which is always racier to the vitiated moral palate, have been enjoying a highly spiced dish. The Marquis of Blandford, the eldest son of the Duke of Marlborough, taking advantage of the Earl of Aylesford’s absence in India with the Prince of Wales, has eloped with the wife of that nobleman. Lord Blandford is himself a married man, his wife being one of the daughters of the Duke of Abercorn, one of the most lovely, accomplished, and fascinating women in London. I recollect her well in Dublin a few years ago, at the Castle balls, one of the most charming girls I ever saw.; Lord Aylesford has returned home, and I suppose the matter will be settled in the Divorce Court, unless, as is quite possible, so accustomed are we becoming to this sort of thing, the wives and husbands arrange the matter amicably amongst themselves after a time. I say it advisedly, morality in society in London, especially amongst what certain people call the “ upper ten,” is now at a fearfully low ebb. Easter Monday was, as usual, observed as a gener 1 ligh holiday. There was an attempt to revive the Easter Monday Volunteer Review at Trinig, a place in Hertfordshire, about th 4 rty miles from London, which proved a failure. The most strenuous exertions could not put more than 7000 men in the field, and the manoeuvres, though the papers do not say so, were a farce as far as instruction of the volunteer was concerned. Of course the irrepressible Kenealy was not going to let a day like Easter Monday slip past without improving the occasion, and a gathering of about 20,000 persons of the “ down - with • everything - and-everybody ” order was held in Hyde Park under his auspices. The temper and good taste of the meeting may be gathered from the inscription on one of the glorious Kenealy banners, in which the members of Parliament, with the exception of the member for Stoke (Kenealy), are termed “ The braying asses of St Stephen’s.” The Palian opera season commences tomorrow night at Drury Lane, with Christine Nillson as Margherita in Gounod’s “ Faust,” At thg same theatre Rossi, the celebrated Italian tragedian, is to perform Hamlet on the off nights, and we are shortly to have Salviti again as Hamlet and Othello. Tennyson’s “ Queen Mary,” after having been cut by about one-half of its characters and lines, has been put upon the stage at the Lyceum, and is a success, because it is Tennyson’s. Irving plays the part of Philip of Spain. Spelling bees not only continue to be the rage, but the mania has taken another form, that of musical bees. Brinley Richards, the composer of *• God bless the Prince of Wales,” was referee at one of these latter, but the promoter of a subsequent musical bee was not so fortunate in obtaining the services of a musical celebrity. Mr Sims Reeves, the well known tenor, was solicited to act as referee, aud sent the following pithy reply:— “ Dear sir,— I look upon spelling bees as an amusement for idiots, and beg to decline having anything to do with the one in ques lion, or any other. —Your obedient servant, T. Sims Reeves." DEATH OF LORD LYTTELTON. {Times, April 21.) We regret exceedingly to have to report the melancholy death on Wednesday of this learned and philanthropic nobleman. , Yesterday afternoon Dr Hardwicke, the coroner for Central Middlesex, opened an inquiry in the drawing room at 18, Park crescent, Regent’s Park, into the circumstances connected with the death. Mr Forster, of the firm of Messrs Frere and Co, solicitors, of 28, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, appeared to watch the case on behalf of the relatives. The Rev B. Stuart Talbot was the first witness called, and said he was a clerk in

Holy Orders and Warden of Keble College, Oxford. The deceased was his father-in-law, and was fifty-nine years of age. Witness was slaying at his lordship’s house. On Monday last, and for the last few weeks, the deceased had been suffering from depression of spirits, and an attendant had been engaged to look after him. Dr Andrew Clark and Dr Monro had been .attending him. He did not witness the sad catastrophe on Tuesday because he was out, but on his return he was told that his lordship had fallen down the staircase. He immediately went to see the deceased, found him quite insensible, and had him removed to an anteroom, where he remained with him until his death on Wednesday morning. Thomas Barnes said he was an attendant upon the deceased; He was engaged from the Institution at New House, Clapton. He first began to attend the deceased ou the 30th of March last. His Lordship was suffering from great depression of spirits, and Dr Andrew Clark and Dr Monro were in daily attendance. On Monday last the deceased passed a very restless night; he slept from 12 to 4 o’clock, but after that seemed frequently to wake up. About 8 o’clock on Tuesday morning witness began to shave the deceased, and when he had finished one side of his face his Lordship asked him to stop for a time while he walked about the room. Witness acceded to his request, and after his Lordship had paced the room twice he suddenly darted to the bedroom door, opened it, and rushed out, closing it after him, Witness immediately rushed after him, and was just in time to see the deceased about two or three steps down the staircase. He had his hands on the handrail, rolled his body over, and fell to the bottom of the well of the staircase, Witness ran to the deceased, lifted him up, and found him quite insensible. The butler and housemaid were quickly summoned, and Dr Andrew Clark was sent for. The Coroner—Did the deceased precipitate himself over the handrail, or wis it an accident ?

Witness—My decided impression is that he threw himself over. The deceased had repeatedly told me that he wished to die ; he was tired of his life.

The Coroner—Did you think he was out of his mind ?

Witness—That was my opinion, I have had seven years’ experience.

The Coroner—Has the deceased ever attempted to destroy himself before ? Witness—His Lordship asked me a few minutes before I shaved him to let him have the rezor, but I said, “ No. my Lord, I cannot.”

By Mr Forster—l did not lose sight of the deceased for more than half a second when he rushed from the room.

Dr Andrew Clark, physician, said he resided at 16 Cavendish square. He had attended the deceased for nine or ten years. Of late he had suffered from melancholia, he should think for about four weeks. Witness had had Dr Monro with him in consultation. They both agreed as to the necessity of the deceased having an attendant, and cutioued the family to take every possibly precaution and keep him under strict surveillance. He was summoned to the ;house on Tuesday night, and found the deceased in the arms of his attendant, quite unconscious. Seeing the deceased had sustained serious injuries of a surgical nature, he at once sent for Sir James Paget. The 1 deceased lingered until midnight, and died very early on Wednesday morning On examination, it was found that, his Lordship had sustained a severe fracture of the pelvis. The immediate cause of death was a fainting of the heart caused by the shock. The heart, from the first, never could have recovered its action.

In answer to the jury, Dr Clark said his Lordship had for years been liable to the malady of melancholia, which was a depression without a delusion. It would last from five or six weeks to three months, but he had always got better after .a little treatment. In the present instance the milady was more obstinate, and that led him to caution the family. It was of that sort which led to insanity, and, in point of fact, the deceased was* insane. . ,

Sutton Howe deposed to being butler to the]deceased. He had been in hia service for three years and nine months. He left Hagley hall, Stourbridge, on the 29th of March, and had been waiting upon the deceased ever since at the town house. He was taking a cup of coffee up to the deceased when he heard him fall in the front hall. He at once called for assistance, and went off for Dr Andrew Clark. The witness Barnes here added that the deceased often asked him why he did not go to sleep at night. Sometimes his Lordship would whisper to him in the night to see if he was asleep. The Coroner—Could you not have locked the bedroom door ?

Witness.—Yes, but I did not feel justified in doing so. The Coroner having summed up the evidence to the jury, after a short deliberation, they returned a verdict of “ Suicide while of unsound mind,” and the proceedings terminated.

The deceased, George William Lyttelton, Lord Lyttelton, Baron of Frankley, county Worcester, in the Peerage of Great Britain, Baron Westcote of Balamare, county Longford, and a baronet of England (creation 1618), was the eldest of the three sons of William Henry, third Lord Lyttelton, by Lady Sarah Spencer, eldest daughter of George John, second Earl Spencer, who was governess to the Boyal children of Her Majesty and Prince Albert. He was born March 31st, 1817, and was educated at Eton, and afterwards entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Chancellor’s Medallist and Senior Classic in 1838, when he was bracketed with Dr Vaughan (Master of the Temple and late Head Master of Harrow), and was made LL.D. in 1862, His great attainments, especially as a Greek scholar, are well known. He was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from February to July, 1846, having previously unsuccessfully contested the election of High Steward of Cambridge University in 1840. His Lordship was appointed Principal of Queen’s College, Birmingham, in 1845. Among other distinctions for his learned acquirements he was made an hon D.C.L. at Oxford in 1870. The late Lord was created a Privy Councillor in 1869, and the same year was made a Knight 'Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. He had been a Fellow of the Society since 1840, and was a Fellow of Eton College, and Lord Lieutenant and Custus liotulorum of the county of Worcester. The latest official appointment his Lordship held was that of Chief Commissioner of the Endowed Schools, an office he relinquished

the year before last, on that commission being amalgamated with the Charity. Commission. The late Lord Lyttelton was High Steward of Bewdley, and succeeded his father in the Barony in April, 1837. He married, first, in 1839, Mary, second daughter of the late Sir Stephen R. Glynne ; and secondly, in 1869, Sybella Harriet, daughter of Mr George Clive, of Perrystone, Herefordshire, and widow of Mr Humphrey F. Mildmay, of Shoreham, Kent By his first marriage he leaves a surviving family of ten children ; and a youthful family by his second wife. He is succeeded by his eldest son, Hon Charles George Lyttelton, born in 1842, who represented East Worcestershire in the House of Commons from 1868 till the last dissolution of Parliament, when he was defeated by Mr Henry Allsopp and Mr Thomas E. Walker,. He is an officer in the Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. GENERAL SUMMARY. ( Argus .) The Prince of Wales reached Suez on the morning of March 26th, and was received at Cairo in the evening by the Khedive, the Crown Prince, and several high functionaries. The Russian Grand Duke Alexis was also present. The Ghezgireh Palace was assigned to the Prince during his week’s stay. He left Cairo for Alexandria on the Ist instant, and proceeded immediately on board the Serapis, where he gave a banquet of forty covers. On Monday, the 3rd, he sailed for Malta, arriving there on the 6th, and there he was entertained until the 11th, when he departed for Gibraltar, which he reached on the 15th. A week has been spent on the rock in levees, picnics, illuminations, balls, races, and athletic sports. Lisbon is the next resting place, where preparations are being made for a splendid reception. Among the recently reported strikes are those of 1000 dock laborers at Liverpool; 20C0 men and boys at Britannia Ironworks, Middlesborough ; 2000 colliers at Clay Cross Pits, in resistance to a reduction of 15 per cent. Extensive strikes are expected throughout Warwickshire. The operative house painters of Bath have been out, but their emploj-ers have made concessions. Three thousand stoae-cutters and masons of Nantes struck last week. A fresh dispute has occurred in the Oldham cotton trade, owing to a demand for an advance, which the employers cannot grant. In Sheffield trade is so depressed that many leading firms contemplate a reduction of wages. In the county of Durham eighteen collieries are unworked, and 10,000 men have been idle for months. By the end of the present week 15,000 colliers will be on strike in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire against the threatened reduction of 15 per cent. The Czar’s contemplated journeyinga for the purpose of recruiting his health gave rise to rumours of abdication. He will stay a few days at Berlin, en route to Ems and Jugenheim. On returning to Russia he will be present at military manoeuvres, and will hold reviews at places, and then proceed to Livadia with the Empress. During the summer the Imperial family will entertain the Danish King, the Emperor of Brczil and the Piedmontese Prince and Princess, Don Carlos proceeds to Siyria and has informed the Austrian Government of his intention to take up his residence there. He has paid a visit to Woolwich Arsenal, The Empress of Austria has returned to Vienna. The ex-King and Queen of Naples remain till the end of the hunting season. On April 6th Mr Dixon’s Bill for amending the Elementary Education Act was discussed, and lost by a majority of 121 votes. On the 6th the Lords read the Irish Judicature Bill a second time. All the important clauses of the Oxford University Bill were passed. In the Commons several amendments against the increase of income-tax were defeated, and the Budget and resolutions were passed. On the 7th there were long discussions on petitions presented against the Monastic Institutions Bill, and on the defects in the Public Fchools Act, and on the construction of a central arsenal. On the 10th April the proposed vote of censure on the Admiralty for the course pursued in regard to the Mistletoe accident was negatived. On the 11th, after a debate on the Suez Canal arrangements, the House of Commons adjourned till the 24th inst. The capital needed to test the practicability of the Anglo-French tunnel scheme is being rapidly collected. Two companies have been organised. That in France has secured its moiety of subscriptions—£Bo,ooo. The Pandora is preparing for a voyage to Smith's Sound, under Commander Allan Young, to fetch home any which may have been deposited there by Captain Nares. The truce granted to the Abyssinian king has been broken and fighting renewed, and the Abyssinian army again defeated. Incited by Weston’s pedestrian triumphs, Joseph Spencer undertook to walk 110 miles in 24 hours in the Agricultural hall, but was compelled to give in after accomplishing about 74 miles in 2lh 15min. On the 10th Spencer commenced the feat of walking 3000 miles in 60 days. Three more deaths have occurred from the Bolton milk epidemic, bringing the number of victims to eighteen. The latest death is that of the owner of the dairy from which the mischief proceeded. INDIA AND THE BAST. CEYLON, May 16. The proclamation of the Queen’s assumption of the title of Empress of India has been received with the same .acquiescence all over the East that distinguished the reception of the news of Mr Disraeli’s proposal. The intelligent native press generally prefers the title of Empress to Queen, and Anglo Indians as well as natives cannot understand the fuss made over the matter in England. For many years medals have been struck, memorials forwarded, and books written in India all with the title of Empress, every one being in ignorance of the title not being assumed in 1858, Lord Lytton, the new Viceroy, has made a very favorable impression so far. His opening speech gave general satisfaction. Lord Northbrook and suite called at Colombo in the Senesserim, en route home, on April 21st. Lord Northbrook was the guest of Governor Gregory till the 23rd, visiting Kandy. It is now rumoured that Sir William Gregory may remain here till 1878. Sir William Robinson, of the Madras service, is spoken of as his successor, but it is not very likely.

The depreciation of silver and the exchange difficulty continue to excite attention in India. Planting enterprise in tea, coffee, and cinchona, and also railway extension are making great strides in India. Ritualism is growing apace in Ceylon, the new bishop and his imported colleagues being advanced High Churchmen. The agitation for disendowment is likely to bear fruit soon. A Victorian wine agency has been opened at Galle, and frozen meat is expected to be supplied to Colombo. A great burst of the south-west monsoon occurred on May 4th and 6th. Twelve inches of rain fell in twenty-four hours, and several natives were killed by lightning. LATE TELEGRAMS. Constantinople, April 22. The Porte has ordered the formation of a camp on the frontier of Montenegro, and threatens to occupy that province unless neutrality is observed. London, April 24. Her Majesty the Queen has arrived at Windsor Castle from her visit to the Continent. Vienna, April 24. An address has been sent from the insurgents to the great Powers expressing their readiness to submit to the Porte if Count Andrassy’s scheme of reforms is locally executed, with the guarantees which they (the insurgents) demand. The Porte, in an interview with Sir George Elliott and General Ignatieff, the British and Russian ambassadors, declared that Turkey has no intention to declare war against Montenegro. Constantinople, April 25. The foreign Ministers of all the great Powers have advised the Porte to abstain from taking action against Montenegro, and have promised to unite in their efforts to pacify that province. The Porte has accepted their promises, but in the meantime military preparations continue. St Petersburg, April 25. The official Gazette, in confirming the news from Constantinople relative to the advice of the foreign Minioters to the Turkish Government, declares that the great Powers are firmly unanimous in adopting a pacifying tone in regard to the Eastern question. Berlin, April 26. At to-day’s sitting of the Reichstag Prince Bismarck denied that Herr Delbouck’s resignation was owing to his opposition to the scheme for transferring the German railways to the Empire, but to ill-health. London, April 27. In the House of Commons this evening Mr Disraeli refused to delay advising Her Majesty to proclaim the title of Empress. An adjournment of the House was then moved, and a stormy debate ensued, in which Mr Fawcett took the lead. Party re criminations were freely indulged in. The Marquis of Hartiugton declined to assist Mr Fawcett’s motion on the ground of the uselessness of doing so. Her Majesty the Queen has given her assent to the Royal Titles Bill. London, April 28. The proclamation declaring the Queen to be Empress of India was issued to-day. After recital the proclamation declares that so far as may be convenient on all occasions and in all instruments wherein the style and titles of Her Majesty are used, excepting charters, commissions, letters patent, grants, writs of appointment, and similar instruments not operating beyond the United Kingdom, the following addition to the style and titles pertaining to the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom and its dependencies shall henceforth be made in the Latin tongue “ Indies \lmpcratrix ,” in English, “ Empress of India,’ The proclamation further states that all coinage shall continue to be lawful without the additional title until the Queen’s pleasure is further declared. Her Majesty has been pleased to confer a baronetcy on Sir Bartle Frere. The total amount tendered for the new Indian loan of ' £4,000,000 was £8,600,000. Tenderers at £lO2 8s will receive about 73 per cent of the above in full. May 1. The Rev Dr Mylne was consecrated to-day as Bishop of Bombay, the ceremony being performed at St Paul’s Cathedral by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Vienna, May 1. The Turks have succeeded in relieving Niksic, the insurgents being defeated in the engagement. Telegraphic communication with the United States is for the present interrupted in consequence of the breakage of the AngloAmeiican cables, Madrid, May 5. The Cortes has voted religious toleration in Spain, notwithstanding the opposition of the Holy See. Paris, May 6. M, Picard hag issued a circular enjoining upon the newly-elected prefects their duty towards the Republic. LATE SPECIAL TELEGRAMS. London, May 15, The Liberal papers, in receiving the proclamation of the title of Empress, sharply criticise the absence of words limiting the title to India only, as promised by Mr Disraeli, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in replying to Sir Henry James, said that the proclamation covered all the pledges made lay Government ; and Mr Disraeli, in answering Sir Charles Dilke, said that the employment of the Imperial title was necessary for the commissions of officers of the army on account of the employment -of troops in India, otherwise the proclamation completely covered all- exceptions enumerated in Sir Vernon flarcourt’s question of the 3rd of April, The Lord Chancellor refuted Lord Selborne’s charge that the proclamation in any way violated the solemn pledges made to localise the title. In the House of Commons, on the 3rd of May, Mr Disraeli, in the name of the Queen, denied the assertion of Mr Lowe, that two former Prime Ministers were ever request d to propose a new title for the Queen, and Mr Lowe next evening apologised for and re'tracted the statement, A discussion took place in the House of Commons on the 11th May, on the motion of Sir H. James, that the proclamation was inadequate, and -would not prevent the use of the title in her Majesty’s dominions other than India. After an animated debate, in which Sir Vernon Harcourt and the Marquis of Hartington supported and t Mr Disraeli and Mr Gathorne Hardy opposed ’ Sir H. James’s motion, the vote of censure against the Government was rejected by 334 against 226.

la the House of Commons, Mr B. Cochrane asked for the production of papers relating to Khokand. Mr Disraeli Raid that none existed, but England’s policy was frankness and firmness. The' entente cordiale with Russia was never better. Russia had not regarded the title of Empress as a menace, and she had an equal right to conquer in Central Asia as England had in India. In replying to Mr Wolff, the Chancellor of the Exchequer declined to discuss the question of the neutralising of the Suez canal, even were the project mooted. The fact of England holding so many shares would greatly facilitate an arrangement for the reduction of the tax. The Government Merchant Shipping Bill was passed through committee in the House of Commons, The Khedive has signed a contract with a group of French financiers for consolidating all debts into bonds bearing interest at 7 per cent. The bonds are issued at 80 to par, and are redeemable in sixty-five years. The Prince of Wales, after being magnificeutly feted in Spain, arrived at Portsmouth on the 11th May. The Princess and children boarded the Serapis in the Solent. Great enthusiasm was shown in the metropolis. The Queen met the Prince at Buckingham Palace. The streets were draped with flags along the whole route, and there was a general illumination, with a grand gala at the Opera in the evening. The Two Thousand Guineas stakes was won by Petrarch, with Julius Caesar second, and Kaleidoscope third; the One Thousand Guineas by Camelia, Allumette second, and Seine third. The Empress of Germany has arrived at Windsor. The British exports for April show a decrease of four and a half millions. Prince Bismarck’s scheme for transferring the German railways to the Empire has been voted by the Reichstag. The American Government has resolved to abrogate the extradition clause in the Ashburton treaty of 1862, in consequence of the English Government refusing the unconditional extradition of Winslow, an American subject, now held in London on a charge of forgery. Severe rioting has occurred in Salonica between the Turks and the Christians. The French and German consuls were murdered in the Mosque. The great powers are sending ironclads to the Gulf of Salonica. The Porte has reinforced the garrison, and premised the French and German embassies fall reparation. Count Andrassy has arrived at Berlin for the purpose of conferring with Prince Bismarck and Prince Qortschakoff on the Eastern question. The Czar has also started for Berlin. The opening of the Philadelphia Exhibition took place with great ceremony. The House of Commons adopted, by 224 against 167, a resolution by Mr Smith for stopping the Sunday liquor sale in Ireland. The Government opposed the motion. A serious riot has occurred in Bulgaria amongst the Christians. Turkey is uneasy, and the Mahometans are excited. Berlin telegrams are unanimous in affirming the pacific character of the conference, as there is an identity of views existing between Austria, Germany, and Russia. LONDON, May 16. The Berlin conference has terminated. The views of Russia were embodied in a memorandum read on the 13th by Prince Gortschakoff to the English, French, and Italian embassies, who referred the matter home. REUTER’S CARLE MESSAGE, VIA GALLE. London, May 9. The mails have been delivered, the Queensland on April 24tb, San Francisco on the Ist, and Brindisi on the 6th. The Skerryvore arrived at Philadelphia on the sth with the Australian exhibits. The Kashgar, coal laden, from Newcastle to Bombay, is reported burnt. The crew saved. Mr Prebendary Moorhouas is to be the new Bishop of Melbourne. Mr Daintree has been gazetted a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, The wool sales closed on the 6th. The catalogues contained 230,000 bales, half being Port Phillip, and there was taken for export 130,000 bales. The biddings were animated throughout. There is an average fall, as compared with the series of February, of 10 per cent since the Easter holidays. Good washed fleece ruled somewhat dearer : others receded a halfpenny to twopence. Adelaide greasy was specially weak. Four series are fixed, the next to commence on June 20th, when the arrivals will exceed 300,000 bales. -■ Wheat is dull. Adelaide, 50a to 51s ; New Zealand, 48s to 50s. Copper is quiet ; Australian, £B4 to £BS. Tin is steady ; Australian, £72 to £73, Arrivals—Fitzroy, Hydaspes, Martha, Rydall, Corinth, St Osyth, Scythia, Waimea Auckland, Outalpa, Orient,] Leonardo Sceptre.