ENGLISH MAIL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1100, 6 February 1872, Page 2

ENGLISH MAIL NEWS.

; ■ Jv - / ♦ ."; ; ,■: • ; In^cpnyersation with one of the editorsrf the Dehats M. Thiers admitted the possibility of- the Pope taking refuge in France, and the President of the Republic expressed his readiness to extend hospitality to his Holiness in case the Italians ghould render it impossible for him to remain in Borne. M. Thiers had at first the intention of preparing the chateau at Avignon for T the , Hply r " Father, but it appears that ihe old ; property '.■of the Popes . is too nowadays , to be ?a^ pleasant Papal residence, and so orderswere given to prepare the chateau of Pau, which recently sheltered; the ex-Queen of Spain. M. Thiers evidently thinks that when Italy knows that France is ready to receive . the ,head of the Church, the Italians will think twice before driving him from the Vatican. : - Electricity has achieved a new triumph. Already employed to restore •' vigor aridl nimbleness to the gouty limbs of decrepit' boiis vivdnis, the recent discoveries of'Br Bernier, a French ' physician, show electricity to be a sufficient! remedy. 'for the evil effects of excessive drinking on the human nose. The, doctor maintains that by application of ah electric current to noises even of the most Bacchic hue, the; flesh 'may be made "to come agairi as the flesh of a little child," and supports Bis assertion by a' case' performed on a female patient of his .own, a woman of high rank. "Knights of the burning lamp," who have still some regard for personal appearance, will appreciate Dr Bemier's discovery, as it promises them immunity from the dreaded outward testimony to their pet vice.-' ; « There is one : danger, however, -in the discovery — namely, its tendency, if confirmed,* to* -'encourage the growth' of secret intemperance. 1 . ;; ; / .;-:.-; .;-■• The crisis in Austria cannot be said to have ended,! though' Count Ahdrassy, Premier in Hungary, has consented to accept the seals of the Foreign Office, and although Baron Kelleraperg has succeeded in forming: a ministry for the Cis-Leithan-States. This statesman, who was for many years i Governor of. Bohemia, ; was known there a* a moderator between the factions,- and will '■■ riot, it is supposed, pursue an extreme course. The latest rumor is that the Emperor is dissatisfied with his new advisers, and greatly pressed by the Ultramontane nobles arid members of his family, all of whom are more or less Federalist, not for the sake of justice to the Sclav races, but in the hope of reestablishing the Concordat. The ' only foundation for this rumor, however, seems to be the dismissal of ; Count Beustj which can hardly be explained^ except as a : concession to Ultramone! dislike.- The Count was : a/Protestant, and though not active in religious affairs, '-was warmly^opposed to the Concordat. ~ A/riew Grand Vizier of Turkey is sending up Turkish stocks by diarriissing pecu^ lators. That is very like brushing away gorged -inosquitoes-r-the fresh ones only bite the harder. As the Vizier cannot control the Caliph, and the Caliph does not . in,the, least 'snow that, his resources are riot limitless, all- the improvements he can make will dot help' the Turkish Treasury. . He. will" save LlOOjOOOjin .tlie iriorning by v turning out cheats, and L/ 1,000,000 spent in^e^vejoing for' a new palace, a new fleet, 6t ariew*whim. The accounts from Persia are still most disastrous. The BusMre correspondent of Messrs Gray, Dawes, and Co, infqrms them, from careful observations, that more than two-thirds of the carrying animals of the country have died, and in Fars and Bushire scarcely a dozen asses are left alive. As to human beings,; he writes, "the details are too horrible for details s here." He waits for rain/: but according to a missionary in Ispahan, a renewal of distress is expected in winter, and one-fourth of the Mohammedan population of Ispahan is already |dead. As however he adds that he trusts good people at home will send :hiro; L2OO to enable him to purchase the -freehold -of the house in which- he; 'lives, it is to be hoped, both for his sake and the Persians', that he is 'exaggerating. . o ?; Three Jjudgeships of the four created by the Act for strengthening the Judicial Committee have been filled up. Sir Montague Siriith, one of the Common Law Judges' * takes orie ; Sir James Colville, formerly Chief .Justice, another ; and Sir Egbert Collier" th,e, third. As the Act limited the choice of the Crown to. judges, .the appointment of; Sir lipbert involves a rather ignoble shuffle from the Attorney-iGeneralship to the seat vacated by Mr Justice Smith and then to" the : Judicial Committee, and has created some surprise in the public mind. We believe the defence for the step is, that no judge could be found toaccept the appointment, for reasoris explairied elsewhere ; but it . is a doubtful one, and we feel inclined to warn Lord Hatherly thatj as Lord Ormbrid said, "an Act of Parliament is no light thing. " The Solicitor-General, of course, takes the Attorney-Generalship, as of right, and Mr Jessel has been selected as his successor— the first time, we Relieve, a Jew who has not abandoned his race has obtained that great legal prize. ; ' Mr Charles Reade has had a little difficulty with the Times. A- recent novel of hits, "A Terrible Temptation,'* was reviewed in that journal in a style of which Mr Reade did not approve^ and he wrote a letter after his own fashion saying so. The Times answers his letter, and he; writes again \ but his letter was riot in- ' sorted. This Mr Reade calls foul play. The editor ", has snotthe, cpurage to face"; his last lines, ". mild as they are." He; accordingly published them elsewhere. As an illustration of how Mr .'Reade writes; when .heUia more, than; usually: V mild," wo give an extract from this unappreciated letter :—" Your reviewer now hangs to tliis chimera by one thread. ' Ours,' saysj he, fare public duties; his are private. '[ So much for young gentlemen writirig; about literature with no knowledge of the! business. ' Private )' Why, my English' circulation is larger thari; that of the; Times; and in the United Slates threepublishers have already sold 370*000; copies of this novel— which, I take it, is! about 30 tunes the circulation of the; Times in the United States, and nearly/ rix times its English circulation; Writing for so vast a variety of human beings^ for! more than fine great nation, and for more bhan. one generation, I cannot afford to! idopt novel and narrow views of my great \vt ) I cannot 'cbri'serit' to make myself, by? artificial contraction, smaller thm the. journalists. Thewerlclis big enough foil i few creators as well as a host of commentators. I . do not howl because 200 C journalists ( deal, in their leaded type, witl lunacy, prisons, trades' unions, divorce/ nupder, anonyma, and Qthep great facta ,

;..■"■■■'... ■ -r • . ■ . <■ and those who aspire to represent so large a body of sensible men should bridle their egotism, discourage theirpitiable jealousy, and cease to howl because five or six masters of fiction have the judgment and the skill to weave the recorded facts and ' published characters of this great age into the forms of art." The Directors* of tlonvM Pif£iol«Tltf?? their report just issned, calhattention to a letter from a prisoner inf'We4tern'Aiastralia which, , seems . to. afford strong cvi- , dence that the fear of capitaTpunisttmen^ : does operate on thY minds of men who are not . controlled by higher feelings. The following is an extract from this letter, which was addressedby a convict in Freemantle Prison to a" friend jn Manchester, and is dated 13th September, 1869 :-r" And Jack, .my dear , fellow,^ they top a lag out here for slogging £: screw. That piece of rope is a rare check^ on a man's temper. There have been,; several prisoners hanged, since I have been ; hefei" There Has been^ ' as 'the 'directors point out, a large'- increase in ' the number of male convict prisoners; in owing to the cessation. of ' trans? < iportation to Western Australia. It is, ■they add, a questiori of great Juygencjr to .decide how these' m6n shall be 'disposed iof, for the existing prisons are' '^ftil^^ ,and cannot be added to further j and itime does pot admit of a decasion on >the Btibject being [delayed; ; !? -The puinbeprare increasing ! rapidlyi and, in fact; In the . '■! 'middle i of July last there were under"? sentence, of penal, servitude in England ;85T5 male cpnyicts, or 634 more than the ; ; average number in the convict 'prHonß;* last year. Under these circumstances^ it Us interesting to observe the effect which, jthe presence of a large criminal class hair ; taken upon the moral and social condition |of the inhabitants of Western Australia in ;prder that we may judge the effect it is i.Hkely to take on ourselves. ; ißythe^ I account given in the report of tie^; Corrip-* . . troller-Generalof convicts in that colony,, ,'also just printed, it seems thatthe ticture . has its dark side; "It is impossible," he isays, "but that the tone of morality should have been ,'mulch'; lo^wered jby the" continual and daily contact arid familiarity of the population of all ages and se,xea wiiji criminals and' crime. ",'/,*' On^ I^e other harid,''he adds^ f 4t is butjust f^o- ■ say that life is absolutely safe and proIperty comparatively secure ; a state of (things owing in' part, possibly, to a judicious administration v.of the convict i system, butcer&inly to' 'the repression i, : arid detection of crime by a vigilant auji' ':- ; I active police, and by the rigid enforcement of laws necessarily "severe as applied :to the criminal class." ,r ; r