English and foreign Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 824, 22 September 1870, Page 3

English and foreign Items.

1 THE MASSACRE AT TIENTSIN, [Shanghai Courier, June 27 .J Very serious news has reached us to-day by the Dragon. The Chinese have risen against the French. An official despatch, the very brevity of which is a significant j commentary on its contents, says that the French Consulate, the residence of the Sisters of Mercy, and the French Cathedral, were burning at the time the despatch was being written. The French Consul, Mons. Fontanier, all the Sisters of Mercy, and several other Frenchmen (missionaries) had been murdered. The steamers Appin and Manchu were detained, well armed, to afford some protection to foreign ers. Mr Lay, H.B.M.'s Vice-Consul, was collecting all the foreigners together. In addition to the above official information, there is a rumour that Count Rochechouart, the French Minister, and some Russians had been killed at Pekin. immediately on the receipt of this news, H.M.S. Dwarf got up steam, and Mr Medhurst, H. B. M.'a Consul, considerately issued a circular, giving those who have connexions in the North an opportunity of writing by her* She left at four p.m. Meanwhile some degree of protection would have been afforded to the foreigners at Tientsin by H.M.'s gunboat Opossum, which started for Tientsin immediately the Dragon arrived there (?), on the night of the 23rd instant. The French gunboat Flamme leaves to-morrow morning and Messrs Eussell and Co. have placed the S.S.N.S. Shantung at the disposal of the French authorities as a transport. In view of the departure of the Dwarf, leaving the foreign community here without British protection, Sir Ed. Hornby, as the last commandant of the Shanghai Volunteers, has issued a circular calling on all resident members of the corps to hold themselves in readiness should their services be re quired. Meanwhile we have the protection of the French gunboats Aspic and Scorpion, and the Zebra has been sent for from Nagasaki. No explanation is given of the cause or origin of these dreadful occurrences.

The following is from the correspondent of the Courier ;- Tientsin, June 22. The account given in the Evening Courier of June 16, of the proceedings at Nankin, would be an accurate description of the preliminary part of our troubles here connected with missionary matters. The same story of kidnapping children, of the missionaries purchasing them, and taking out their eyes for medicine, &c, the same knowledge of the authorities of what was going on, the same (apparent) indifference on their part to the probable consequences, were conspicuously displayed here for some time before the massacre. Threatenings of this kind had become so i frequent that to a certain extent they came !to be treated like the cry of " Wolf! wolf!" in the fable so that when the sad reality did come no one was prepared. The first intimation we had of trouble to our friends in the city was the sight of fire, which proved to be caused by the burning of the French Cathedral and Consulate adjoining, and the premises of the Sisters of Mercy some half-mile nearer the foreign settle* ment. Almost immediately after news reached us of the murder of three foreigners ; and a little later we heard of the terrible deaths of no less than fifteen to eighteen foreigners, all of whom were French, and including the consul, Fontanier ; M. and Madame Thomassin, who had only arrived a day or two before en route for Pekin ; the Chanceller, M. Simon j a Jesuit father, M. Chevrier; and saddest of all, the poor Sisters of Mercy, niue in number. To them, indeed, no mercy was shown ; the cruel outrages upon them are horrible even to relate; their clothes are said to have been torn off them, their bodies stabbed and ripped open, their breasts cut off, and their eyes dug out. To crown all, the Chinese report this morning that all that is left of them are two charred masses, some distance apart, and quite impossible to be recognised. Truly a crown of martrydom have they received from the ungrateful people in whose service and for whose welfare their lives were being spent here. M. and Madame Chalmaisin, French, are also said to have been killed while attempting to reach the foreign settlement. Three Russian subjects, Mr and Mrs Protopopoff and Mr Basoff, met with the same fate on the other side of the river, close to the Salt Stacks, which are near the foreign settlement, while on their way from the city to the settlement. The above took place about two o'clock p.m., on the 21st. To show that the attack was premeditated aud threatened, I may mention that my workmen, two miles or more from the scene of action, said to me on seeing the fire, that Englismen had nothing to fear, for the attack was only on the French. Whether the Chinese apprehended immediate retribution or not I cannot say, but hardly a man was to be seen in the settlement after the first fire took place. On the following day labour was partially resumed. ——

In its telegraphic summary, giving the latest known on the subject, the China Alail of the 21st July says ;—" The Tientsin massacre absorbs attention. (Scarcely anything else is noticed. Great anxiety is felt as to what Napuleon will do in this crisis. General uneasiness exists at nearly every treaty port, and trade is very much affected. Universal feeling points to war undertaken by the united powers. Further details have fully confirmed the horrible murder and maltreatment of trie Sisters of Mercy, and one (named Louise) is said to be a British subject. The mandarins are conclusively proved to have connived at, if

not assisted in, the massacre. The eonditffc of Mr J. A. T. Meadows, 0. 8. Yiee-Coa-sul, Consul for Denmark, Netherlands Vice-Consul, and employe of Chung How, has been severely criticised ; and the. factf of his name being coupled with that of Chung How in the mission to Paris has been regarded as an insult to the French Emperor. Two French gunboats have arrived, and others are expected, in Hongkong."

Thb "Anglo-Australian" in the European Mail writes: —With regard to New Zealand flax, I may mention that Dr Featherston has just visited the manufacturing districts both in Scotland in the north of England, with a view of ascertaing to what purpose it may be applied, and the result of his inquiries has been satisfactory. He has gathered that bright and clean will be largely used by British rope-makers at about £3O. An extensive market for the article is likely to open in America. Spinners will not use ordinary sorts, but prepared native will fetch from £4O to £6O for any quantity. Hope manufactured from the flax is selling at £37, but it is not suitable for blocks when the tackle is sub-, ject to damp. It is, however, very serviceable for running gear. I hear that 800 tons of New Zealand flax were re-exported from Liverpool to Canada the other day. At present there is a steady demand for fine clear parcels, but low common are neglected, and one may expect to see single figures the quotation for this description before long, so over-stocked is the market. I have recently been shown the design of a new machine intended for dressing New Zealand flax, the fibre of which may do, it is thought, for paper. It is hardly fine enough for sheeting. The agent for Canterbury was kind enough to show me the other day a specimen of paper manufactured from the body of wood in the Forest of Dean. Certainly, judging from that, New Zealand flax might be profitably used for the same purpose.—The New Zealand Loan Bill has. been shaped in a form to make it as agreeable as possible to the colonists ; and the Commissioners deserve gratitude for the able manner in which they have carried their point. Dr Featherston will probably return to the colony in about two months. He and Mr Dillon Bell have been endeavoring to get the Government to constitute New Zealand a distinct Commodore Station, in the expectation that this country would then advance or guarantee money for the purposes of docks. I wish them every success in their efforts to this end, but fear they will be disappointed. Mr Childers* illness has interfered with the negotiations on this subject.—A new mail steamship company is about to be started, for the purpose of regular and reliable communication between San Francisco and the Australian Colonies. 1 hope to give full particulars about it in my next letter. The present steamers running on this route are far too small and ill-provided, and no sort of confidence is felt in them.—lt has afforded topic for comment in respect to the South Australian Loan of £30,000, competed for on July 13, that though the amount tendered for was £48,000, the whole sum wag below the minimum fixed by the Agent-General—via. £llo—so that no allotment took place.