TNTERESTING HISTORICAL EVENTS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 349, 1 April 1911, Page 7

TNTERESTING HISTORICAL EVENTS.

Colonel Wade forces the Khyber Pass. By Friday, July, 26, 1839, during the first oC the numerous wars bet.\ve:n the English and the Afghans, Colonel Sir Claude Martine Wade had succeeded in getting his troops though the Khyber Pass, a narrow entry from the North-West of India into that country. It would be only ah out ten miles long if straight, but twists so much as to lengthen the distance to about thirty-three miles. The ;.date cliffs which form its sides rise perpendicularly to a height of from 600 ft. up to 1,970 ft., while the passage varies in width from •!50ft. down to as narrow as 10ft. The official despatch sent to England by the Earl of Auckland, then Governor-General of India, states that "it was not upon record that the celebrated Khaibar Pass had ever previously been forced." The occasion of the invasion was a dispute as to possession of the Afghan throne, as a consequence of which Dost Mohammed Khan lost it, and Suva Shah gained it, though only for a short time. Consequently Wade was supported by about 4,000 Afghans as well, as 5,000 Mohammedans from the Pnnjaub, beside? 380 of the East India Company's regular troops ; but the conducting of such a large number through sc narrow a passage seems scarcely conceivable or credible. For bis brilliant achievement Wade, who died in 1861, received a knighthood and other honours. The Capture of Gibraltar. On July 24, 1704, the Marquis de Salines, the Governor of Gibraltar, surrendered the garrison to the famous British admirals. Sir George Rooke and Sir Cloudesley Shovel. Sir George Rooke had been sent with a strong fleet to the Mediterranean, to assist the Archduke of Austria ; but was so tied down by instructions as to be unable to effect any enterprise of importance. Unwilling to return to England with a powerful squadron without having achieved something, he called a council of war, and it was determined to attack Gibraltar, then held by the Spanish. On July 21 the fleet reached the bay, and 1,800 men were landed on the isthmus. On the 23rd the. ships began a brisk cannonade on the New Mole, and in five or six hours drove the enemy from the guns. Captain Whitaker, with the armed boats, was ordered to take possession of the Mole ; but Captain Hicks and Jumper, whose ship lay nearest, pushed ashore before the others came up. On their landing, the Spanish sprang a mine, which blew up the fortifications and killed forty and wounded sixty men. Being then joined by Captain Whitaker, Captain Hicks advanced and took a small bastion near the town. At this point the Marquis de Salines surrendered, and the British colours for the first time waved over the Hock No. sooner were the Spaniards acquainted with the loss of this important fortress than every effort was made to regain it, and they nearly succeeded in doing so in October of the same year, when 150 men landed during the night ; but they were all either killed or taken prisoners. Several attempts have since been made at recapture, both by the Spaniards and French, but with no better success. The greatest of all was the memorable siege of 1.780, which lasted over three years. As a coaling station, Gibraltar is of the utmost importance to Great Britain, besides commanding the entrance to the Mediterranean. There are. over 6,000 troops continually stationed on the Rock, which is now confidently regarded as impregnable. Disestablishment of the Irish Church. The Church of Ireland was separated from the Church of England, disestablished, and partially disendowed by the Irish Church Act of 1869, which received the Royal assent on July 26, and came into force on January 1, 1871. The supreme governing body is the General Synod, which consists of two archbishops, twelve bishops, 208 clerical and 416 lay representatives. There are twenty-one diocesan synods, subject to the General Synod, and these, in their turn, are assisted by smaller elected bodies called diocesan councils. The property of the Church is held, and the funds administered, by a representative body of financial trustees, composed of the archbishops and bishops, thirteen clergymen, and twenty-six laymen. In 18S1 the Irish Church numbered nearly 7,000,000. The Book of Common Prayer, slightly altered by the General Synod, is used by the Church of Ireland, the Thirty-Nine Articles remaining unchanged. By the Act of 1569 the entire Church property was vested in the Church Commissioners, who paid over to the representative body about seven and a half millions of " commutation money," charged with annuities to the then existing clergy, which amounted to nearly £600,000 per annum, and also a sum of £500,000, as compensation for private endowments. Since the disestablishment the Church of Ireland has made great advances in every way, and has in no way suffered on account of its being separated from the Church of England.