ENGLISH NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 649, 17 March 1870, Page 4

ENGLISH NEWS.

The Prince of Wales, though only 28 years of age, is becoming very bald. Mr Moffat, the African missionary, is expected shortly to return to England. A new detective department is being organised in connection with the Irish constabulary force.. It is estimated. that; the fetes at the opening of the' Suez Canal have cost the Ithedive L 1,320,000. A London Society for the Promotion of Hebrew Literature has been, formed. Mr. N, Hartog is honorary secretary. The title of Mra Stowe's new book is " The True Story of Lady Byron Established," I 1 contains about. three hundred pages. „ : '; •" : ■No- expense was spared >by the. defendants in the great trial of the directors of Overend, Gurney, and Company. Ther costs were fully LIQQQ a day. It is asserted that the proprietors of the Times are taking seriously into consideration the expediency of reducing its price to twopence, A serious attempt is. b ( eing made to establish a Chamber of: Commerce for the City of London as a' general means of commfimqatiQn on, questions affecting trade, The Prince of Wales is reported to be highly indignant with the Duke of. Manchester for 'asserting that his pecuniary difficulties prevent him from visiting the Irish capital. i Queen {Isabella has again opened, her little Court for the winter season, and receives twice a week the Spanish colony of Paris. The Mappel says :— " We underhand thafcjall tlie'Spanish; Republican refugeSa, have' received orders ib quit Paris in 36 .hours, and to take up.their residence at Tours or Nantes, according ; to their choice," .. . '.'■■■ On the occasion of the festival of the Immaculate Conception, held at Marseilles on December 9 v aband, numbering about IQQO or . 1500 persons, 'traversed, the itreeta, 3honting.out against the iUuminatioris, singing the " Maraeillaiae," and breaking the. gas?lampa in front of the Bishop's^ palacei and the hotel o£ the' Prefect, Upwards o| sixty arrests were made. The Marquis of Bute, it ia reported, .tuok with him frjom!. Scotland to.Epm^ a '. magnificent BilVer. cross .of .Gothic workmansliip, adorned with Scottish stones, ; aud; pxes,ented it to the Pope, ; wh.o directed, that it waa to be used as a professional cross of the^Council. The oross waa made by a Veil-known Catholic jeweller in i Glasgow, There is a rumor, however, that the Marquis, disgusted at sorne. of the goings on in connection with the (Ecumenical CounciJr has left the " Eternal; City," and ». meditating a return to the Church of ' his Fathers. : Prince Galitzin, known in Russia as a clever amateur musician, went lately to Koslow, near the Black Sea, to superintend the sale of the qorn arising from his last harvest. Having transacted the business, he. returned, to.. the,. hotel with a large ' sum pf money. ; In the .evening, three priests, with long grey' beards, were seen to enter his. apartment. About an hour after, one ;6f the seryants, going into the Prince's room, Vfoupdj him lying on the floor assassinated. Scattered about the room lay the robes. and beards} whigh had been thrown aside by tlie mur-

derers. to enable them to escaps unnoticed.

Comte Paul Demidoff— whose name i 3 j well known in connection with an extensive institution he founded in memory of his wife, whose loss he has never recovered— recently, during a journey in Russia, chanced to be in a place where a terrible epidemic broke out, and among the inhabitants*; Instead o£ flying it with other foreigners, he betook himself to nursing the sick and relieving those who were reduced to' want ; in all the poorest neighborhoods, in the crowded hospitals, everywhere, the young man was seen pursuing untiringly his work of kindness and charity. An extraordinary \death by drowning occurred in the River Mersey on December 7. Thomas Bellis, a young man residing at Tranmere, was in a small boat, in company with Samuel Jonea, mate of the Anna Ooppock schooner, which was lying in the river. They intended to row to the schooner and pass the night there, but in crossing Tranmere slip, where the current is very strong, .the boat capsized, Jones, who is a good swimmer, would ' have been able to save hia friend, but Bellis's dog, which had accompanied them in the boat, got on his master's back, and every time Jones stretched out his hand to support Bellis the dog flew at himjayageiy and bit liim. The result was that Bellis was drowned, . f Mr picken's new story, of which the first portion will be published in March, will, it appears, be completed in twelve monthly parts, instead of in. twenty, hitherto the invariable limit of hia stories published in this way. Readers not curious in calculation are perhaps not aware that such novels as "Nicholas Niekleby" and v D.avid Copperfield" contain considerably more than twice the amount of reading of an ordinary three vo^ime fltory. Twelve monthly parts, even if they have no more pages than usual, will comprise a story much longer than the longest of Scott's novels ; so that it will only be as compared with himself, that .Mr, Dickons will fall short of what may be called full measure.' It is announced that the parts will be illustrated this time by Mr Charles Allston Collins, Mr Dickens's son-in-law, who, though he began life as an artist, in the footsteps of his distinguished father, is best known to the public as an essayist and novelist. It is reported that of the many applications filed in the American Patent O&'ceabout 14,000 will probably be granted during the year. Some of the inventions mentioned in Harper's Weekly are curious — an application of the " Lord's Prayer," repeated in a loud voice, to cure stammering ; a weight to be attached to a cow's i tail to prevent her switching it while being milked. A lady has patented a haircrimping pin, which may be also used as paper-cutter, skirt-supporter, child's pin, bouquet-holder, :shawl-fastener, or bookmark. A philanthropist has applied for protection to a "snorers' friend," a luxurious contrivance to be attached to church pew-backs, so that in certain familiar exigencies one may sleep in peace and comfort. — Pall Mall Gazette. In the Almanack des Fideles Amis de Pie IX. is the following story : — " A lad ■of -sixteen arrived, lately at Rome, and eagerly petitioned for an audience with the Pope. When it had been granted and he found, himself, in the presence of his Holiness, he made this simple speech — M had a swelling in my leg ; the doctors told me I must have it cut off. A p*ious lady, just "come from Rbine, gave me a new but most successful remedy — it was a bit of one of your stockings. I applied it to the swelling, oonvinced that I should be restored to health-rrfor our Saviour refuses nothing to His Vicar. In a few days, I was completely cured. I have come to thank you and to enlist in ybur army.' The best part of the story is the Pope's answer, who, it is wellknown, is afflicted with swellings of his legs. 'It is extraordinary,' said Pitta IX., ' that my. stockings have cured you ; they do not produce the same effect on me who wear them.' "—Spectator. A dreadful accident occurred, on Dec. 21, on the Great North of Scotland Railway^ near Huntly, some 40 miles; from Aberdeen. Tlfe storm of the past' week I rendered it. necessary to keep portions of • the line clear by the use of a light unow 1 plough. Mr Bate, one of, the. inspectors of way, a driver, and three firemen were employed on two engines with the plough attached at this work. Suddenly, when proceeding along an embankment, the engines sprang, as it were, from the rails over to the opposite sides of the line, dragging tender and" plough with; them. One of the engines was greatly damaged, being crushed into the tender, while the second; engine,, after rolling over twice, alighted ou its wheels, having only sustained a breakage of the funnel. On assistance coining quickly to hand, Mi? Bate^ the driver, and two of the firemen were found : to . have : been killed. The fifth man escaped with some slight-bruises. The cause of the calamity is, as yet, unknown. The rails have been ascertained !to be perfectly sound, and the traffic ha& been' continued without interruption-. : Since the election of 6'Donovan Rossa for. Tipperary, a number.of letters have been addressed to him at the Chatham Convict Prison from Ireland,; and else.;-, where,. with the Jetters. "M,P.'' after his name. Under the prison regulations, however, no convict, is permitted to write or receive letters from any person except at intervals of several months- unless in very particular instances— and then only if they have borne a good character since the last ■period of their writing or receiving letters. Every letter addressed to a convict is also read, either by the governor^ chaplain, or some other dinciai, 1 . before the; convict has it handed _ to. hini, .and in the case of . O'Donovan Rossa,. the prison- regulations. have,nqt been .departed from.. .It would seem that "Ross* was soon in possession of the .information, that, he had been elected, although no official communication was made to him on the subject. The whole of tlie" Benian convicts now undergoing their sentences of penal servitude at Chatham .'are 'kept, as. much as possibly during the hours of labour, from the other convicts, and, excepting in certain instances, are always employed within the prison walla, and not on the dockyard extension works* The principal work performed by O'Donovan Rossa is that of darning the convicts' stockings, in which he.ia stated to be an expei'thand, ■ •'-• The Fenian Brotherhood in America have recently issued an address, countersignedhy John Siwagei chief officer of the" organisation, .congratulating their brothers across the Atlantic on the steady and important ad vancemejitr of the cause. The: disestablishment of the Anglican •;

Church is alluded, to as a cause of con gratulation, while the land of Ireland is said to belong to the people, hence the actual cultivators alone should hold it. "There, are, " the writer says, "three first-class grievances oppressing the , Irish pftople, any, one of which would justify a revolutionary war :— Firstly, landlordism ; secondly, maladministration of justice ; thirdly^ excessive taxation. It is; useless to look to legislation for any amelioration of the- present system, so long as the laws are ill-admiuistered. The magistrates are, with few exceptions, taken from one creed and one class. The creed is the Protestant, in a country where n've-aixthi fof the people are Catholic ; the class is the landlord, in a country where the ' rights of tenanta' involve the liberty to live. The administrators of justice are all appointed by the Crown. So are all the public prosecutors ir criminal cases. The sherifts have unlimited power, which they never scniple to exercise, of packing juries. The magistrates act under the direction of the police officers, and- all are directedby. the Irish Miuister of Police, otherwise the Under-Secretary, who is generally conspicuous for hia ignorance of laws and Irish affairs. The English Exchequer is replenished with revenues taken but of Ireland, in defiance of express laws and covienattts, and- by the products of taxes' vastly'ln^excess of Ireland's ablfrty to pay. " " A strange story (says tlw Lexington Statesman) is current among the colored people, and is exciting some oj,,(jhem quite too much for their happiness. It is as follows :— Sometime ago (not long, however), a child died, and its body was duly coffined and taken to the burying-ground. There it was deposited alongside of the newly opened grave. After the "service at the grave" a negro man took hold ot the coffin to hand it down into the grave, but, to his astonishment, he could. not move it. He. called to his assistance another atoub fellow, and the two tried, but failed to budge the coffin. Two more came to their help, arid the four had no pow«r over it than they would over a mountain of granite. The coffin clung tight to the ground as if glued. This astonishing turn of affairs called for an explanation, and "it was determined, to open the coffin ancT see what was inside of it. It was done, and behold the child was found to be alive. Further examination developed the fact that there waa. ; printed upon the bottom of its feet these words, "There has been no preacher in Heaven for eleven hundred years." The negroes say that the. Lord didinot intend to let that child be buried alive, and so took this, method of preventing it It is our opinion that some designing scamp has been playing upon the credulity of these people for sinister purposea. A few days ago, aays the. New Orleans. Picayune, an old lady and a young one found themselves, in Court, charged with disturbing the peace. The officer's statement was clearly given, and diaplayed an equal culpability in both. It waß evident, however, that the Court inclined a favor--able judgment to the youngest, and the scales of justice were rapidly tipping in her favor. "Why did you abuse this young lady ?' the JlVlagistrate demanded of th c old one. "I. had a right to, " was the calm reply. "What was she doing?" " Keeping company with a very improper character." «• And what is that to you ?" "She's my daughter." "Oh, indeed, and you think the peiraon was an improper character?" "I 'do, sir." "Do you know who he was ?" " I don't know his name. I've seen him frequently prowling around after night." And then, aa if actuated by a sudden impulse, the old lady adjusted her apectaclea, peered cautioualy at the Court from under her great sup-bonnet, and then exclaimed—"Good lack! good lack! Why, you're the man !" "Me!me !" exclaimed the astonished Court. "Me! woman, did you see me V Again the spectacles were adjusted, and the curious gaze prolonged, while the old lady nodded her head at intervals. "Yes, yes, it's the same ugly face. : I'm sure, of it ; but I'll forgive you this time; I'll forgive you." And the old lady hobbled aw£y, leaving the Court : gasping with astonishment, and unable to interpose an objection to her departure. Stories abou^.th^l opening of the Suez Canal are now 'plentiful. It is stated that her Majesty the Empress of the French was so overcome by the fatigue of the preliminaries that when the moment for the opening ceremony to commence arrived she waa fast asleep. Great was the embarrassment of the atteudanta— great the dilemma in. which atood the officials — until, at length, M. de Lesaeps, completely, at his wit's . end, and, mindful of naught so much as of his own responsibility,^ came himself on board her. Majesty's yacht to enquire the cause of the delay in answer to> the signals indicative of the hour; having arrived for proceeding to the business of the day. Hefound the whole of the personnel in sad': embarrassment; owing to the protracted: repose., of the Empress, and the, strict orders. to ; leave it undisturbed; wher£uppn.;.M, deLess^ps,. urged by the neces^' sity of the moment, undertook- to break through; the ; or<Jerß, and- Awhile the bystanders . stood i> iighast at his audacity, knocked: at the'^oor of the ; cabin where her Majesty had retired, and called loudly for admittance. .Her Majesty:was,greatiy bffe&ded, . and. i^ie telegram .wHi'oliiHwasidespatched to the Emperor by her Maj^aty; ; in ; the fii^V of . indignan^ emotwnvisv said to have caused the greatest anxiety^:: ; — As if : it' were • decreed that! every/; isouyenir.bf thisidwlland profitless expedition were to,be:obUterated, the sale of all i jthe dre;s^eswiDrn,'by her Majesty on the! occasion took place on Saturday last. The exhibition in the long; ironing-room on the Sous Sol of the Tuileries towards the flower-garden was faaote brilliant thanusual... The rpse-colored satin dress in which her Majesty was attired on the. oc^ casion of her viait to the Siiltane Valide, divested of its point lace and jewelled* clasps, was. the 'object disputed for with, the greatest eagerness. It was knocked down to a dialer commissioned ■from Vienna for the.^pm of 112 f. ;-TJSe; 'dres-i ses were no less than 250 in niinibe'iy: .and; some of them sold fora mero^tipMl^. 5 A : !beautiful muslin 1 costume, full!!l*injmfed ■ with broad Valenciennes lace^yent? fpi;: '40f, and many others in the li^ig^qfioß*, 1 tion. Some of- them had jie^irabeßn? worn at all, and none of thegadkoortttmes: ;more than once. The hata an&%i£mMt iwere generally put up .in, one. or two lota; v and aold for a mere trifle;. , The profits of ;the sale do not go to the femmes-de-cham-\bre. f as it has qf^n. been reported, but to ;the orphan school founded by her Majesty, aud are reckoned upon 1 to furnishf, the; clothing ' of the -6n)hariß for the whole ;}"ear, ' .- ' ; :