THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 219, 15 September 1877, Page 2

THE WEEK.

The proceedings of our well conducted House of Representatives have been unusually tame this week. During the whole of that time not a single charge of roguery or corruption has been made by any one of the members against another, or, if it has the wires have forgotten to make us acquainted with the ;fact, and they are not of ten guilty of such an act of omission. Indeed, we have had the reverse aide of the picture presented to us within the last day or two, Mr Ormond having completely changed his tone and substituted apologies for accusations, although by so doing he does not appear to have pacified his ancient enemy Sir Geoige, who in . replying to the apology contented himself with remarking that he regarded with equal contempt the charges made against hirn and their author Whereupon Mr Ormond must have felt somewhat small, and perhaps some of those who were present were of opinion that Sir George might have been more graceful in hia reply I fear that we must not be too sanguine in expecting decent behaviour in the House for the futupe, merely because the members have refrained from misconducting themselves for a whole week. We know now that it contains flint and steel and gunpowder, indeed every requisite for a grand explosion. If this occurs we need not be at all surprised* if it does not, we may be very much so. ' I never see the published list of tenders for any public work without wonderiu«how those who send them in are guided in making their calculations. If a small piece of road is to be formed or a little bridge to be built the probability is that although the highest tender may be only £150, there will be a difference of at least £100 between it aud the lowest. When the work to be done Js of larger importance, the discrepancy may be expected to be greater in proportion. Take the latest instance in this district— the Motueka Bridge. One man says he can do it for £5000, while four or five others range upwards to "£9OOO. If the offer of the latter had bee'n accepted would he have cleared £^000 on the transaction, or is the one who has secured the job going to lose that amount? Either event would seem to be a possibility at least. It is never well to make too certain of anything, even if ifc be only a seat in a City Council. An instance of this has been afforded in Nelson within ttie last few days. It is said that just as the nomination list was about to close with ouly nine names the exact number of Councillors to' be elected the gentleman who on Thursday night was found to be the furthest from the head of the poll was guilty of the transcendental folly of going to another gentleman and persuading him to allow himself to be nominated just for the fun of the thing so as to ensure a contest. Of course T. H. felt perfectly sure that tha ratepayers would on no account deprive the counsels of the Council of bis experience and ability, or he would never have courted defeat in that way, but he is older now than he was then, and will know better another time. Being in a somewhat cynical mood the other eveuing I found an occupation, which in my then frame of mind proved peculiarly congenial, in perusing first a little bit of the Csrar's proclamation to the Bulgarians, and then an extract or two from the news by the last mail as furnished by the correspondents of the London journals. I daresay His Imperial Majesty is an excellent Christian, indeed I am constrained to believe so by the fervent spirit of piety that is breathed in every line of his proclamation, andi cannot help thinking how miserable a man be must be rendered by the hideous cruelties of which his Christ.au soldiers have been guilty, indeed I should not wonder if to this cause was owing the illness by which he was i attacked, as we were told the other day, at Ployes.i, and not to the reverses with which his troops had met, as was reported to be the case. But the extracts from the proclamation, and tho reports of what has occurred to which I have alluded, if placed in juxtaposition will speak for themselves, so that I will proceed to quote them without further remark. For instance:— THE CZAR'S ADVICB. "Bulgaria! You are passing through a memorable period. Give the world an p* ampte of Christian love," j

THE RUSSIAN IDEA OP "CHRISTIAN LOVE." " The correspondents of seventeen newspapers at Shurala-French, Belgian, German, Amencan,and English-have signed a minute intimating that they have felt it their duty to report the many acts of cruelty committed ;. in Bulgaria against, the inoffensive Mussulman population. They declare that they have with their own eyes seen, both at Kasgrad and Shumla, women, children, and old men wounded by lance and sword-thrusts not to speak of injuries from firearms which might be attributed to the accidents of legitimrte warfare." THE CZAR LECTORES TIIE BULGARIANS. "It is painful for me to evoke the memory of crimes and acts of violence of which several among you have been guilty towards defenceless Christians. Acknowledge now the justice of God which overtakes you. and bow to His Will." ' THE CZAR'S TROOPS ILLUSTRATE TIIE LECTURE "In all, 4763 men, women, and children were wantonly killed by the Russians in one ' day, while the inhabitants of the village of Tianesi Kerni who had taken refuge iu a mosque were burned alive." THE CZAR'S PRO-USES. "Your existence and your property, the lives and honor of your families will be sacred to us Christians." HOW THEV WERE KEPT. "JAt Lundja, a mixed village, 100 houses were destroyed and 250 men and 400 women perished. Villages abandoned on the approach of the Russians were given to the flames altogether, and nearly 5,000 houses destroyed ." THE RUSSIAN CZAU's PRATER. "With humility I pray our Lord to graut us the victory over the enemies of Christianity, and to send down His b.essine upon our just cause." THE RUSSIAN ARMY'S "AMEN." " The Russians have adopted one uniform system— to seize defenceless villages, and after destroying them wi.h cannou shot, to massacre the unarmed inhabitant, and to carry off the women for the purpose of outraging their persons, when they are no. killed at first." Now isn't this a world of humbug— humbug in social life, humbug in political life, humbug in the high places of the earth ? And not only do we humbug each other, but where we are most successful is in humbu"'lng ourselves. When His Imperial Majesty the Czar of All the Russias solemnly assured the Bulgarians that he was acting in the interests of Christianity alone, and that 'Vengence will not guide our acts," it is quite probable that he believed himself to be sincere, but what a course of self humbugging he must have gone through before the deception could have been rendered so complete. j*