MISCELLANEOUS.

Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 360, 5 May 1868, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Roman fortifications are bling busily proceeded with. Another buried city had been discovered in Sicily. The Ministry of Greece have resigned. Bulgaria has formed afresh cabinet, and indirectly promises assistance to Crete. Brigandage waa reviving. Judgment has been declared by the Supreme Court at Natal against Dean Green, who is thereby ejected. Bishop Colensohas been declared trustee of all /jhurch buildings, and also to have the ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The judgment further sets aside the Privy Council judgment, Natal not being a Crown colony. The immigrant agent in Ohio states that more French and Italians were naturalised last year than ever. He attributes *his to the disturbed condition of politics, and the increased military exactions in those countries. There have been active reactionary intrigues in Sicily. The bank of Russia has issued a return, ahowing that the bullion in bank is 100,000,000 of ronbles, and the credit jiotes circulating 657,000,000. Mr Kortwright, Her Majestys Consul at Philadelphia, in his report which was presented to Parliament in November last, thus speaks of the trade in petroleum : — " The trade in petroleum for 1866 has increased to immense proportions. The principal sources of this extraordinary product seem to be confied chiefly to Venango county in this state (Pennsylvania) and West Virginia ; and large as the trade is, it would be still more extensive were it not for the high prices charged by the railways for its transport to the coast. The price of the oil at the wells is only 2dol (6s 7d) per barrel, hardly remunerative ; whereas the cost of transportation to Philadelphia and New York is 4dol (13s 2d), or double it« value at the wells, leaving the profits chiefly to the earring trade. This anomalous state of things has induced a proposal to be made, which, though feasible, will be attended with great expenditure, viz., to lay a vast oil pipe from the wells to the sea-coast ; and bo extensively is the article entering into the various branches of manufacture, and •o important is it becoming as a substitute for fuel, that, bold as the project is, it is not impossible to be realised." The exports for 1866 he states at 75,000,000 gallons, and the home comsumption 30,000,000 gallons. The value of this annual product he put at L 7,263,000 sterling; truly, a gigantic branch of native industry, and one worthy of a mode of transit peculiarly its own. Horse-eating has become an institution in London, and those who do not like the idea are made exceedingly uncomfortable by the discussions on the taste of horse cutlets, horse oil. and horse sausages. A great equine banquet was given the other day at the Langham Hotel, and it seemed as if the promoters were determined to defy prejudices, for $py handed round

photographs of the slain animals, and had models of the. heads brought in, triumphantly, as tho peacock used to be borne in at festivals of the olden time. Sir Henry Thompson, the great surgeon, was present, and made a speech in favor of horse-meat, and comparing beef tea with horse tea, declared that the latter was quite as good and nourishing as the former. Nevertheless, we incline to believe that hippophagy will not make much progress in England. There is a feeling that horses were not meant to be eaten by man, and a hundred objections to the practice suggest themselves, and will be too potent for the advocates of the practice. An Akron, Ohio, newspaper publishes the following, which apparently " means business:" — "As there is a gang of scoundrels hanging around our city, [ watching an opportunity to break into i some house, store, or shop, those in favor of forming a Vigilance Committee, to hang such fellows upon our lamp-posta, are requested to meet at the office of the Mayor, on Saturday, Jan. 25, 1868, at six o'clock p.m." The following singular advertisement appears in a Glasgow paper : — Matrimony. — I beg to intimate that I want a respectable woman to become my wife. She must have a good character, and be a good writer ; not less than 30, and not more than 40 years of age. Having been ill-used by a few of the fair sex, I now wish to settle down in life. This is the last time any woman -will have this offer — if they dont apply now they will lose the chance. Having published three volumes of my life, and having travelled through the three kingdoms, and a part of the United States and Canada, there is no donbt but I will make a very interesting husband. Apply by letter, enclosing carte de visite, or personally, to A Northern paper suggests the following to the consideration of the Stafford Ministry as " a new way to pay old debts :" — The anti-liquor licence movement, which is creating such a stir in the United States, has spread into Canada. The Hon. Malcom Cameron has proposed, sarcastically, that the Ligislature should abolish all licenses, or adopt the alternative of licensing the drinker, instead cf the sellers, of spirituous liquors— no youth under seventeen to obtain a licence to drink anything stronger than ale or cider, and the licence to be five dollars ; those over that age to be permitted to drink all kinds of intoxicating liquors ad libitum, and to pay a license of fifteen " They could raise a large revenue for themselves without actually taking from the Province the publicans' licensee. Captain Sherrard Oaborne has recently i "written to the Time* commenting upon two remarkable feats recently performed by Arctic steam whalers. In one case Captain Wills, of the Dundee, reached within 660 miles of the Pole, in the other, the Nile, re-discovered an extensive land, sighted by Killet in H.M.S. Herald in 1850. The Nile approached it more closely, and traced it further North than the Herald. Both vessels as they n eared the Pole got into waters free from icebergs. Captain Osborne therefore suggests the sending out of an expedition with steam vessels to discover the Killet Land, and to ascertain whether it is inhabited. The first instance of failure in the Crown prosecutions against the Fenian agitators occurred on Feb. 21. The jury empannelled for the trial of Messrs. Martin, Sullivan, and others, on the charge of taking part in an illegal procession in Dublin — viz., that in honor of the men executed at Manchester, were unable to agree on a verdict, and were therefore discharged. Ten of the jury are said to have been in favor of a verdict of guilty, and two for acquittal. The articles of impeachment of President Johnson are eleven. The Ist, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, sth, 6th, 7th, Bth, and 9th, are for attempting unlawfully to remove Mr Stanton, Secretary of War, from office and appointing Lorenzo Thomas to fill his place ; article 10 accuses the President of giving certain unauthorised instructions to W. H. Emory, a Major-General in command of the Department of Washington ; article 11 is Butler's addition, which accuses the President of attempting to bring into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, aud rej roach, the Congress of the United States and the several branches thereof, to impair aud destroy the regard and respect of all the good people of the United States for the Congress and legislative power thereof, which all the officers of the Government ought inviolately to preserve and maintain, and to excite the odium and resentment of all the good people of the United States against Congress, and the laws. by it duly and constitutionally enacted : and in pursuance of his said design and intent, openly and publicly, aud before divers assemblages of the citizens of the United States convened in divers parts thereof, to meet and receive said Andrew Johnson as the Chief Magistrate of the United States, did on the 18th day of August, in the year of our Lord 18G6, and on divers other days and times, as well before as afterward, make and deliver with a loud voice, certain intemperate, inflammatory, and scandalous harangues, and did therein utter loud threats and bitter menaces, as well against Congress as the laws of the United States, duly enacted thereby, amid the cries, jeers, and laughter of the multitude then assembled and in hearing, which are set forth in the several specifications annexed to the article.