JOTTINGS FROM THE EUROPEAN MAIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 307, 29 December 1870, Page 2

JOTTINGS FROM THE EUROPEAN MAIL.

The Ironclad ship Cerberus is on her way to Melbourne, having sailed on Ist November. The number of war vessels taken by the French of which we have received trustworthy accounts is by no means great. They are said to be thirty-two in all. Rinderpest has already broken out among the herds of cattle collected in the French capital. The manufacture of guns of very large calibre is carried on with great activity. Some are being made with a range of 9,000 metres. A " War Sausage Manufactory " has been established near the Lutzower Platz, in Berlin. In five immense long sheds, 60,000 sausages are made daily, composed of peas and salt meat. Ten tons of ham and bacon are worked up daily, with twenty tons of peasmeal ; 1000 workmen are constantly employed, and 180 women and children have enough to do to tie the ends of the sausages. Public opinion in Germany is being embittered owing to' the duration of the war ; and unless peace be soon concluded

on the terms offered by Count Bismarck, many projects, of which a very small minority would have approved a few weeks ago, will receive the warm support of the majority. There is now great danger, a correspondent says, that GermaDy may be led to increase her demands and enlarge her schemes by the prolonged resistance of France. A very successful attack was made by the French on October 28, upon the Prussian lines before Paris. We have as yei; only the German account of the affair. On the day mentioned the French advanced against the force stationed at Le Bourget, east of St. Denis. They drove in the outposts, and so completely dispersed the enemy that they were able to occupy and hold the place untill the 30th. On fthe latter day the Prussians, in great force, attacked the French, and after a very hot fight, succeded in recovering tha position. How to find bread for 1871 is now a | question of the highest importance ia France. Various suggestions ou this poiut are made by several Freuch journals. It is proposed that the land should be occupied by crops of the first utility, such as wheat, oats, potatoes, and beans, setting aside for the present all produce of secondary importance as |food. In the south, tobacco and the mulberry occupy a great part of the soil. These should be given up for this year, and the ground sown with wheat. Russia, and the War. —The following summary of political events is translated verbatim from the Bourse Gazette : — " 'In every recent war with Germany, * says Count Bismarck, 'France has been the aggressor,' and threfore, according to him, Germany ought to avail herself of her present unlooked-for success by despoiling her prostrate enemy of several thousand'millions of francs, depriving her of her fleet, stripping her of two or three extensive provinces—in a word,-reducing her strength to such a degree as to annihilate the bare possibility of her again plunging into war for a very long time to come. This declaration is something more than a stroke at France —it is a menace hurled in the face of the whole world. If it be absolutely necessary for Prussia to secure herself, once and for ever, towards the west, it is equally so that she should do the same on the east, north, and south; and hence the real meaning of the Prussian Chancellor." George TFraxqjs Train at Marseilles.—George 0i Train, the : American, has arrived at Marseilles from San Francisco. * ' present at' k meeting held at the Alhambra, where be made an energetic speech. *Ht~om surprised," he said, '!tp.see'!half a'million Of Prussians in France, but I am still more astonished to see the nonchalant apathy with which France accepts the cruel outrage of thie barbarian invasion. You are discussing a loan in property, but if you let things go on you will have no property left." He drew a picture of the misfortunes of France, and offered to have a hundred thousand rifles brought over from America, as well as powder, bullets, and cartridges. The battle must be fought man against man. A good army must be formed in the south, and then advance oa Paris. He advised that not an inch of territory or a stone of a fortress should be ceded. After the fortes were taken the enceintes should be defended; after the enceintes, the ramparts; after the ramparts, the barricades; after the barricades, the breasts of living men; and then a mine to hurl the iuvader into eternity. This speech was frantically applauded. George Francis Train says he is preparing to stand as a candidate for the American Presidency in 1872.

Mr. Fox and his Constituents. — ] It would appear;* says the Post, ihat the nominal head of the Government is by no ■means so sure of being returned to the new Parliament for Rangitikei as is generally . imagined. , Ay well-informed ■correspondent, residing in that district, informs us that for various reasons his popularity with the settlers has materially -declined. First and foremost, the manner •in which" he has allowed himself to sink into a subordinate position in the Government when he ought to he paramount, has told sadly against him. The conespondent of the Scotsman «oys : — All is famine and desolation in the. rear of the Prussian armies. They have •swept the country like a flight of locusts, •and from their own acts a most awful retribution must await them if they get a •repulse. The French troops need not trouble themselves to. kill them, but simply to leave them to retire over the desolation they created, when, if such a catastrophe arrives. I shall be much surprised if any reach the frontier. An inquest of more than usual interest took place recently at the Devil's River, "Victoria, on the body of a groom, named Lawrence Bourke, aged 27. It seemed tbat he had been in the habit of taking large doses of chlorodyne, having taken four bottles of it in this way. One or two witnesses who were called, slated they -also had been in the habit of taking large doses of chlorodyne, but had not sustained .-any injury frorii the practice. The medical testimony was to the effect that death was ■caused by inflammation of the bowels, •aggravated by the use of chlorodyne, and the delirium tremens, from which the deceased had suffered, was also ascribed to the use of this drug. The Coroner, in summing op, remarkedthat "chlorodyne was a deadly drug, which paralysed the brain, and, like the use of opium, after •feeing commenced, was increased until -madness was produced. He believed many cases of madness attributed to alchol arose from taking chlorodyne, of which he •understood there was a large consumption in Melbourne." Mk. Vernon Hakcourt, M.P. for Oxford, in addressing* the electors there lately, -spoke of the approaching marriage of the Princess Louise to the .Marquis of Lorn, aud said :— "lt so happens that the young -nobleman who is fortunate enough to have secured the affections of the Princess is a great personal friend, and indeed a relation -of my own,, I happened to be staying at the house of his parents at the time that' the announcement, of the fact, though then a secret, was firsi ibade .1 jhapp^nV' consequently, to "knowthat it is a .marriage of the purest affection, and I am sure that a «natfer so interesting, both in its political •and ifs historical importance, is one which vriVL secure the hearty sympathy and approval; bf the English ' people. ; ' That a daughter of the Royal family should be bestowed; upon a subject of the Crown is -an event which T believe has not hap-i-pened in the history of England for two hundred years., I do not believe there is any man in England who willregret that the Crown should be. guided by a wise ■policy, and thus have brought itself into a 4i more close, and immediate relation with •the people of this country." — An American citizen of the name of •Goldsmith has crinceived the idea of building a town in the air. The town is to be ■supported by captive balloons, and Mr. "Goldsmith has begun with a house. Four ■balloons are fastened to - this terrestial -piant by means of ropes, and betweeu -them they sustaiu a wooden house. According to the inventor, the advantages •of the system are obvious. Thus every householder may double his accommodation •or his revenue by having a second house •over the one he now occupies. Then, ;all •open ground and the beds; of rivers may &aye houses floating over them free of rent, The purity of the air. breathed in these high regions is insisted on as a great ■advantage. Patients suffering from in•fectious diseases may thus be removed out ! ■of harm's way. Again, what a. precious •resort thy style of house must be for the author, the mathematician, or the musician, who is worried by the noise of cabs, and •-the doubtful harmony of brass.band.s rand barrel organs. Consider also the delightdful seclusion of a tete-atete dinner, enjoyed in a restaurant, hoisted 800 yards into the -air, far away from the i postman's knock. Moreover, a house exalted, on high will have no area' to 'invite the loving glances -of policeman, 'with hearts beating for "Molly and.;mutt'cn.> : . The' prospect which •has . been opened -Yout , b*jU, this, ihventive American is boundless.