The Globe. TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1607, 15 April 1879, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1879.

A Communist who has escaped from Now Caledonia may possibly bo, to some people, an interesting object. He has perchance fought for what he considered a principle, and, having been worsted, has suffered the ponalty of defeat; he may have burnt palaces or murdered an Archbishop on aesthetic principles; but anyhow ho has played a part, however small, in a great historic drama; he has made a hazardous oscapo moreover, and has thrown himself on the mercy of tho country where he lands. The Australians, therefore, havo always received escaped Communists with a certain amount of welcome, and, having made "lions" of them for a few lleoting days, have allowed them to settle quietly in the land or to depart in peace. But our neighbours are beginning to find out that the vicinity of Now Calodonia does not only furnish thorn with "lions." Other and more dangerous boasts are apt to escapo from that sultry spot. Quito lately eleven refugees escaped, landed in Queensland, and travelled from colony to colony, subject only to such surveillance as tho police might care to placo over them. These eleven worthies were not Communists, but, according oven to their own account, men who had been convicted of murder, burglary, &c, &c. Our neighbours do not see tho point of receiving visitors of this description. They fancy they have enough criminals of their own without

I importation. Tho native grown article, as may bo soon by tlio Kollys, is healthy and flourishing, and no foreign varieties are required. Tho Australians are beginning to think that Now Caledonia is rather too near. The dangers of the passage across are not, after all, so great as wore at first imagined. It is being suspected that sufficient vigilance is not exorcised by the French to prevent escape, and that tho French authorities, after all, may not be very sorry to get comfortably quit of some of their desperadoes. " Why," says the " Sydney Morning Herald," " when escaped con- " victs from a foreign penal settlement " land npon our shores, should it follow, " as a matter of course, that they should " have their liberty? " It certainly is a part of British policy not to surrender persons charged with political offences. But, taken at their best, those refugees are men who have escaped from a place where they aro undergoing legal detention or punishment, and tho very act of breaking looso is an offence against tho criminal law, while somo aro folons pure and simple. Tho law of extradition is at present only put in forco on tho motion of tho authorities of tho country to which tho offender belongs. But tho New Caledonian authorities tako very good care not to move in tho matter. Ought not it therefore to bo obligatory on tho French Consuls to make application for tho extradition of tho fugitives ? So the matter rests at present. Our neighbours are beginning to soo that it is possible to have too mucli of a good thing. Romantic rofugoes aro very well in thoir , way; but, when a few murderers and such like criminals aro thrown into the bargain, it is found that too much may bo sacrificed to sentiment.

A SOMEWHAT startling telegram will bo found in another column. An aeronaut is doscribod as having ascondod from Melbourne to a groat height; tho balloon collapsed, and yot tho occupant escaped unhurt. Tho particulars of this affair will, no doubt, bo sufficiently thrilling. Possibly tho intropid navigator instantly oponod his umbrella, and, using it as a parachute, doscended at his easo. There was a story in a magazine somo timo ago, which hitherto, wo havo always thought, presented a picturo of tho acmo of aoronautic romance. A man makes a first ascont in a balloon alono with an aeronaut, whom, after thoy havo ascended to a great height, ho discovers to bo his deadliest onomy, and a lunatic to boot. This individual immediately proceeds to throw out all tho ballast, and attacks his fellow traveller with several pistols and a largo number of knives. Tho novico, however, happens to bo ono of thoso powerful men of whom we road, and ho finally succeeds in throwing tho maniac overboard. But truth is stranger than fiction, and this Melbourne story certainly caps that of the magazine.

Some interesting news has lately been received from tho celobratod Captain Barry, the astute immigration agent whom Sir George Grey has despatched to England armed with letters of introduc-CaptaW-wiiurß 'ffiftT instance, in describing his journey ho says—" Our ornings is spread, and tho boat steoms very fast, makes good breses. I stumble across some fine sites; it puts me in mind of the early stages of my boyhood. I have seen something in my lifetime. On board these stemers it liks one. Her name is the Aconcagua." Captain Barry, speaking of himself, says —" I am in first class elth, and as happy as a May-bird. I have gained flesh since I loft Now Zealand. I Avaid at the butcher's place, and was 2 stoon never. I am still sticking to tho heriss, who occupys tho next cabin," and so on ad infinitum. Tho captain's descriptivo powers aro quite unique. He is evidently determined not to lot tho grass grow under his feet, because in a provious lettor he had stated that "ho had taken up with an horiss at Sydney" —another one it is to be presumed. Sir George's letters are evidently not without their influence on the fair sex. Tho bearer of such important missives from the Premier of New Zealand must evidently be a man of great standing and of wide culture. If the gallant captain does not know how to spell " opportunity" literally, ho, at all events, knows how to do it metaphorically.