Clippings.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 233, 26 February 1876, Page 7

Clippings.

THE BREMERHAVEN ATROCITY. The San Francisco Bulletin publishes the following particulars relative to Thomassen, the confessed perpetrator of this crime, and also gives an account of a similar atrocity attempted some twenty years ago. THE DYNAMITE PLOT. Bremen, December 15. William K. Thomassen, who attempted to commit suicide after the Mosel disaster, has made a full confession of the dynamite affair. Thomassen was bom in New York. He married a New Orleans lady, by whom he has four children, the youngest being quite a baby. During the war, from 1862 to 1865, he lived in Virginia. He was engaged in running the blockade, by which he became wealthy. Since the year 1866 he has resided in Bremen and in Leipsic, and lately at Strehlen, near Dresden. He appears to have lost his money in speculations lately, and being embarrassed went twice to America during last summer. The last time he went without telling his faftiily where he was going, somewhat to their consternation and surprise. When he returned here he wrote to his bankei'S stating that he had made arrangements enabling him to pay certain claims in December, the present month. He was held in high esteem by the American colony here. His house has been searched again, bot nothing was discovered having reference to the terrible schemes to which he has confessed. The origin of the story that the. case of dynamite which lately exploded with such fearful effects at Bremerhaven was intended to explode on board the steamship Mosel at sea, for some purpose not explained, can no doubt be traced to an attempt to burn when at sea two cases of soi disant silks on board the Vanderbilt steamship Ariel, sailing, in 1856, from the same port of Bremerhaven. Captain Ludlow, who then commanded the Ariel, received, as he passed the lighthouse on his way to sea, a telegram from the agents, Messrs. Ruppel and Son, saying simply, “Stop the ship.” He intended paying no attention to this quasi absurd demand, but on the representation of the European agent of the line, who happened to be on board, he. did stop the ship, and the two went to the lighthouse, where they soon received the news from the Bremen agents that two cases declared as silks, of which the marks were, given, were stored in the after-hold, and which, instead of silks, were filled with combustibles, and a clock-work arrangement to set them on fire when the ship was at sea. On searching the cases were found, and were as described above. They were sent to Bremen, where they served to convict the guilty parties, who soon afterwards were found and arrested. It seems the mechanic employed to make the boxes and clockwork became consciencestricken, and at the last moment “ peached ” on his employers, who proved to be a father and son, whose motive was, after insuring these cases heavily in Vienna and elsewhere, to recover the amount of insurance. The father committed suicide soon after arrest, and the son is now in prison in Bremen for life. The mechanic lives now on tstaten Island. GAMBLING ON THE ENGLISH STOCK EXCHANGE. (From the YovTc Herald, December 7.) Edward James Barry, clerk to Messrs. Duncan, Ewing, and Co., of Liverpool, charged with extensive embezzlements, has been tried at the Liverpool Assizes and found guilty. The case of Barry has caused an unusual amount of excitement, especially among the members of the Liverpool Stock Exchange. The prisoner is a nephew of the senior partner of the firm by whom he was employed, and he enjoyed their complete confidence. About two years since Barry began to speculate on the Stock Exchange, and his transactions being on the whole unsuccessful, he found himself m so great a financial dilemma that he absconded last March, leaving defalcations to the amount of £22,556. Barry, being a man easily to be identified, was captured in Jamaica and brought to England, but he succeeded in again escaping at Plymouth, and wandered about the country for several days before he was recaptured and taken to Liverpool. In the course of the trial it appeared that Barry’s purchases on the Stock Exchange amounted to the modest sum of £3,032,711, and his sales to £3,020,820 ; thus his losses, on this head, were £11,891. The counsel for the prisoner ui-ged that “ye vampires” of the Stock Exchange had “ sucked his blood.” and induced him to enter upon a course of embezzlement to cover his losses. The recorder, however, sentenced him to penal servitude for .five years. It is our purpose, in referring to this case, to draw attention to the remarks made by Mr. Aspinall, Q.C., the learned recorder, who has

boldly and fearlessly denounced gambling on the Stock Exchange. The comments of the recorder were so timely and so impressive that they must command attention and consideration from the public. Mr. Aspinall said there had recently been vigorous legislation on the subject of bettinghouses, and the law was strongly enforced, its justification being that the existence of such houses was a dangerous temptation to clerks and servants. The jury would be better able than he was to say whether, if the practices referred to were allowed, there would be much difference between a bettinghouse and the Liverpool Stock Exchange. It was possible that the governing body of that institution were awaiting the termination in Barry’s case with a view to subsequent inquiry ; but should it in the end appear to the public that clerks and others in similar positions were liable to be exposed to temptations of the kind he had indicated, and that no effectual check upon such doings was to be obtained from the comparative private organisation of the Stock Exchange, the Legislature would probably think it necessary to deal with the question by some public enactment not dissimilar to that which has been directed against the betting-ring. The system of Stock Exchange gambling is obviously pernicious in the extreme, and we are told, on authority, that of the many millions of stock which are ostensibly held in England but a very small proportion indeed belongs to bona fide holders, the greater portion being in the hands of speculators, and when actual scrip is not attainable an imaginary allotment serves the gambler’s purpose equally well. We have only to refer to the Honduras loan of 1870 to demonstrate the iniquity of this jobbery—a single jobber bought and sold the whole loan, £2,500,000, once over, and “ one broker had on the balance of his dealings £600,000 nominal scrip which he had purchased, and which he delivered to a person named on the first settlement of thestock, receiving from him the pricehe paid for it.” The time has arrived —now that public attention has been earnestly directed to the subject—for the Stock Exchange itself to sweep away the abuses that have been so energetically denounced by Mr. Aspinall. The recorder’s charge has been termed sensational, and it has been denied that clerks are inveigled. A Liverpool contemporary says, “It is easy for a Judge to echo any virtuous indignation which he may happen to find buzzing around him.” It is argued that “anything suspicious” the Stock Exchange will not hesitate to inquire into, “ but in Barry’s case there was nothing suspicious. On the contrary, there was considerable readiness in meeting all demands, and the amounts in question were comparatively small, until the final difficulty and flight took place.” The “ flight” was the very thing. Barry gambled, and he found facilities for gambling ; he left defalcations to the amount of £22,556, and he is now a convict. Mr. Aspinall may be censured for his outspoken candor, but he has done the State some service by exposing a system which is altogether pernicious, and which has dragged many a man, whose prospects and character were once high, down to the lowest depths of degradation and misery. NINETEEN HAYS IN AN OPEN BOAT. (From the Standard, September 27.) The steward of the Forest Queen has furnished us with the following narrative of the rescue of himself and his five companions « The barque Forest Queen, John Sammons, master, left Portland, Oregon, United States, on the Bth March, with a part cargo of wheat. We dropped down the Columbia River to Oak Point, where we took on board about 800 barrels of salmon and 600 cases of canned salmon, and at Astoria a small deck-load of spars. We sailed from Astoria on the 13th of March, the barque then making very little water, and we had very favorable weather while running down the N.E. trades; on the Line calms, and after we crossed Venables, until we got into the S.E. trades. We made Hermit Island (Cape Horn) sixty-two days after leaving Astoria. The following day the wind increased (N.E.) to a gale. We reduced sail to lower foretopsail and storm staysail. The barque labored a good deal, and began to leak, requiring two hours in each watch at the pumps to get a suck. The gale lasted for about five days, during which time we were driven to the southward considerably. We tided to heave-to several times, but found we could not do so with safety. The third day of the. gale the deck-load shifted, and while we were endeavoring to replace it the captain was jammed between two spars, and died about an hour after we got him clear. His backbone was broken ; he was crushed almost in two. He was insensible, and never spoke. During the gale we lost the foretopmast, maintopgallantmast, and flying . jibboom, and one boat was stove in by the sea, and a boy named John Carmichael was washed off the poop with the same sea that stove the boat in. The gale broke after the fifth day, and we made more sail, but were unable to steer a course. On the weather moderating, however, we repaired as much as possible, and the vessel being then very leaky, the crew asked the mate to put into the which he refused to do, saying the leak would “take up” as soon as we had better weather. Until we were in the latitude of the River Plate we experienced a succession of bad weather, when we were struck by a “pampero, which threw the barque on her beam ends, shifting the deckload of spars to leeward, and part of the hold caro-o We tried our best for three days to rio-ht her, threw overboard part of the spars at risk of life, several of the hands being badly hurt, and also started 400 barrels of salmon and 500 bags of wheat. On the fourth day the mate told the ship’s company that the best thing we could do was to take to the boats, and I got up bread and some canned provisions, and put a considerable quantity on a metallic life-boat, also some in a small life-boat and the

ffig. We were obliged to launch the boats to windward on account of _ the spars being thrashing about on the lee side, and the metallic life-boat was stove in, and sank alongside. We tried to get some more provisions up from the lazarefctef but it was full of water, and on the 22nd of July, at 3.30 p.m., we left the vessel, the mate (George Hughes), carpenter (John Hendricksen), cook, and five seamen (Dutchmen!, in the small life-boat, and the second mate (John Taylor), four seamen, and myself in the gig*. In the life-boat they had two bag 3 of bread, a case of preserved meat, and four breakers of water ; in our boat we had about one bag of bread, part of which was uneatable on account of being damaged by salt water, and two breakers, (about nine gallons) -of water. We made sail (a very heavy sea running), and steered N.E. On the fourth day after leaving our vessel we had to reef our sail so as to keep in company with the life-boat, as we drew ahead of her while carrying whole sail. It blew very hard on the fourth night, and we were obliged to shake out the reef and keep the boat befoie the wind to avoid being overtaken by the sea. All hands were occupied in bailing, the boat being frequently half full of water. In the morning we found we had lost sight of the life-boat, and it was our opinion that she must have capsized during the night, because she was slow, and had a small sail which did not enable her to keep before the sea. Tor four days we had very bad weather, and were obliged to keep the boat going free in order to keep her clear of water. Two of the men grumbled a good deal at the second mate, because he refused to give them more than the allowance of water, viz., half-a-pint a day, which we had agreed to restrict ourselves to, and they made an attempt to get possession of the breaker, but the second mate and myself had to repulse them by violent measures. In the affray, one of the men made an attempt to stab the second mate, who was compelled to knock him down with a stretcher, and he was insensible for two or three hours. There were, as I have stated, six of us in'the boat, but only two of the four resorted to violence, though the other two grumbled a .great deal, and would probably have assisted the rebellious had they succeeded in mastering us. The boat during the fray was nearly capsized. This took place about two o’clock in the afternoon, and, strange to say, almost directly they had eaten the bread and drunk the water we had served out to them. The determination of the mate brought the other man to his bearings, and he promised better conduct. The following day, on overhauling a small dirty bag which had been thrown into the boat, we found a line and some books, and there being some bonito (fish) playing about, we succeeded in catching one weighing about 71bs., which was divided into shares and eaten with considerable relish, raw as it was. We tried next day to catch some more, but could not succeed, owing to the boat having too much way on her. Another dispute took place this day relative to the allowance of bread, one man alleging that his share was so soaked in sea-water that it was uneatable. To prevent any further disagreement the second mate arranged that the portions of broad should be placed on a thwart, and one man with his back turned to them should call out who should have each share as it was touched by the second mate or myself. This day we found a few nails in a locker in the stern sheets, and we stretched a piece of canvas clear of the bottom of the boat, which enabled two men to lie down and get a little sleep with some slight degree of comfort, if the word could be properly applied to men. in our miserable state. We also divided into two watches, the second mate having charge of one aad lof the other. At this time, as nearly as I can judge, we had run about 500 miles, steering N.E. (nearly) the greater part of the time, and we judged we ought to be in the track of vessels to and from the River Plate, but a settled feeling of despondency came over all except the second mate, who showed great pluck all through. He was a small man, and the only Englishman amongst us. About this time two other men and myself were attacked with diarrhoea, which weakened us still more, and it was only the plentiful use of a bottle of white pepper, mixed with our allowance of water, which checked it. All of us were In a wretched condition from the sores with which we were covered, from the chafing and sea water. Charles Middleton, a seaman, who had his leg injured before he left the vessel, was in a frightful state, his right leg being one wound from the ankle up to the knee. John Henck, one of the men who fought about the water, proposed drawing lots for the death of one of us, but was beaten severely by the other men for proposing such a thing, as we still had one day’s allowance of food. This wa,s on the thirteenth day after leaving the vessel. We were all now getting very weak, and when it fell calm, and we had to pull her head on to the sea, one or two were hardly able to hold an oar. A shower of rain fell, and we saved a little in the sail, and had an extra allowance in consequence, and we also succeeded in catching another fish, which only weighed but one pound, and was hardly a mouthful each. I had the head for my share, John Hansen about this time became delirious, and had to be lashed to the bottom of the boat to keep him from jumping overboard. On the fourteenth day we saw a vessel to the N.E. We got out the oars and tried to pull, but we were all so weak we were unable to make much headway, and as night closed In we lost sight of her. This day we consumed the last food we had. On the following day John Hansen died,. about meridian. We wrapped the body in a piece of canvas, and put it in the bow of the boat. The fresh water still held out ; but on the eighteenth day we almost gave up hope. The second mate and myself took turns at steering, which was harder on account of being obliged to steer with an oar, the rudder having been carried away. That evening the question was ,seriously debated as to eating a part of the corpse which was still in the boat, and was rapidly decomposing. The following day, John

Henck, seaman, proposed drawing lots to enable one to die in order to satisfy the hunger of the others. This proposal was not entertained, and in the afternoon we sighted a sail to leeward. We eased off the sheet and ran down to her, and about 7 p-m* alongside. We were so weak that we were unable to get up over the side, and some of her hands had to come down into the boat to help us up. The name of the vessel was the Hitterdal, of Arendahl, Norway, from Callao to Stettin, with a cargo of guano. The second mate, who had kept his spirits till this time, now beo-an to sink fast, and I am sorry to say that he did not receive _ the attention which his case needed. I applied to the master of the barque for stimulants, &c., which I knew his case required, but was refused. On the fifth day after we were picked up the second mate died, after having made an official statement, which he gave to the master of the barque. "We made Scilly Eight on the 14th September, and on the 17th, being then about 40 miles from Ostend, I eot on board a Ramsgate fishing sloop and, was landed at Ramsgate on the 23rd. The United States consular agent declined to interfere in my case, as the vessel was sailing under the Nicaraguan flag, and I was obliged to walk to Dover, where I was received with every kindness at the Sailors’ Home, to the superintendent of which institution, Mr. Hatch, I take this means of returning my most sincere thanks for the very hospitable manner he received me. I was forwarded to London by him. The owners of the barque are the 3?ort Gambell Mill Company, Port Gambell, Pujet Sound, West Territory, U.S.A. The barque I do not think was insured, the cargo was. — James Madison, late steward barque Porest Queen. ’ TURKISH EXTRAVAGANCE. In England, the richest country in the world, the Prime Minister receives £SOOO per annum ; in Turkey the Grand Vizier draws £30,000 a year, while the civil list, and the salaries of all the high officials are vastly more than those of the Queen and Ministers of Great Britain. Mr. T. Brassey, the honorable member for Hastings, who is on a cruise in his yacht, the Sunbeam, has sent Home for publication a series of letters, relating to. his voyage. Dating from Constantinople, he writes, relative to the Government of Turkey : “ The authorised civil list of the Sultan is about £1,200,000, and by means of more or less arbitrary grants, it is actually little less than £2,000,000 a year. All along the shores of the Bosphorus vast palaces and elaborate Tcioslcs occur in succession at a distance little more than a mile apart. Some of these buildings are furnished in the most costly style. The daily dinner of the Sultan —he always dines alone — consists of ninety-four dishes; and ten other meals are prepared in case it should be. bis fancy to partake of them. He has eight hundred wives, attended and guarded by three hundred and fifty eunuchs. For this enormous household forty thousand oxen are yearly slaughtered ; and the purveyors are required to furnish daily two hundred sheep, one hundred lambs or goats, ten calves, two hundred hens, two hundred pairs of pigeons, and fifty green geese. Between the profligate luxury of the establishment of the sovereign and the miserable poverty of too many of his subjects, the contrast is truly melancholy. The incomes of the principal Ministers of State are such as would grievously shock the radical reformers of our country. The salary of the Grand Vizier is £30,000 ; of the Minister of Finance, £II,OOO ; and so in proportion for the other principal Ministers. —English paper. THE ELEMENTS OF WAR IN EUROPE. (From the New York Times, November 26.) It is not many months since Europe had. a very narrow escape from war.. People did net quite appreciate the magnitude of the danger till it was over, but there can be no question that for a few days the question of peace or war between France and Geimany depended chiefly on the will of one man the Emperor of Russia. The renewed good, understanding between Berlin and Paris, which was credited to the friendly intervention of England, Russia, and Austria, was really brought about by a plain intimation on the park of the Czar that he could not be depended on to stand by a peaceful spectator while France was humiliated to an extent which would remove all future danger of her disturbing the peace of Germany. So Prince Bismarck was reduced to the necessity of accepting with the best grace he could the assurances made on behalf of France, that there was nothing menacing in the rapid reorganisation, of hex’ army, and nothing in her general policy calculated to give her neighbors the slightest uneasiness. ~ . ~ It would be absurd to assume that the German Empire can regard with equanimity the prospect that her vanquished foe must resume at no distant date her position as a military power of the first order. A householder could hardly be expected to sleep soundly over-night who knew that his neighbor over the way was busily engaged in making preparations to break into his premises. It would not mend matters that his neighbor set up a claim to be the rightful owner of a portion of his property, and that he had expressed an intention to regain, by force what had been forcibly taken from him. Germany, naturally enough, preferred to seize the first opportunity which presented itself of cheating her neighbor out of a revenge which must one day be exacted, by reducing. that neighbor to a position where her alliance would not be sought by any other foe of the Empire, and where her hostility in any form would be a matter of comparative indifference. The present Emperor of Russia is well known to be a strong friend of Germany, just as the heir to his throne is understood to have antipathies likely to place him in opposition to German policy. It does not matter on what grounds the. Emperor Alexander was compelled to baulk Prince Bismarck of the opportunity of making united Germany once and for all secure against French aggression.

Whether he gave expression to his own opinion that Russia could not afford to see Germany raised to the position of virtual dictator in the politics of Continental Europe, or whether he deferred to the sentiment entertained among his people to that effect, the result was the same. The northern Empire emphatically pronounced m favor oi retaining France as a possible ally in the future, and of giving her a chance of creating such a military establishment as would make her alliance worth having. That was equivalent to saying that the friendship between the two empires must always be tempered by a certain amount of distrust, and that the peace maintained between them must always be an armed one. It is well to bear in mind these facts when considering the extent to which Germany and Russia are likely to co-operate in disposing of the Eastern question. It is plain that this question must remain an open cause of disturbance till the inevitable solution comes in the dismemberment of European Turkey. That question continues to perplex diplomatists and to disturb every money market hi Europe as much as it did a month ago. The baseless rumor of Parliament being convened in special session to consider the question set the London Stock Exchange in a flutter, and the report of a British squadron being ordered to the Mediterranean helped still further to depress the market. Stories like these would do no harm, in fact would not be invented at all, did there not exist a feeling, of unrest on the subject which all the official and semiofficial assurances that there, is no cause for alarm cannot allay. Mr. Disraeli gave some satisfactory assurances about the maintenance of peace at the Lord Mayor’s dinner, but he accompanied these with the admissions that the state of affairs in Turkey had become more critical, and that he chiefly relied on the forbearance of the great Powers immediately interested in the question. THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN: CAUSE OF THE NAVAL PREPARATIONS. New York, December 2.—A Washington special says there seems to be an apprehension that the country is to be plunged into war with Spain by an unstisfactory termination of. the negotiations which Secretary Fish and. Minister Cushing have been conducting with the Spanish Government during the past two months. All the information that can be obtained leads to the belief that these negotiations are proceeding favorably, and at the same time our relations with every other foreign power are of the most friendly character, our only serious troubles being upon the Rio Grande, at a point inaccessible to the navy. Naval officers are, therefore, convinced that Robeson s extensive preparations must be iu view of something likely to happen in regard to our attitude towards Spain, and they very naturally look towards Cuba for an explanation. But there has been no recent occurrence in Cuba to call for a naval demonstration on the Island. Americans have been ill-treated. there, but no very aggravated case of this land has recently occurred, so that the present state of affairs on that island, considered in connection with the favorable progress of our negotiations at Madrid, seem. to cause the theory of war with Spain arising out of the existing state of affairs to be promptly dismissed. One theory alone remains, and that is that the President intends. either to recognise the belligerency of Cuban insurgents or recommend Congress to take special action in the matter ; and this is the theory held by many naval officers. If this were the purpose of the President, they say the present extraordinary naval preparations might easily be explained, supposing that the treaty with Spain remains unmodified. Such a recognition would give a chance to cruisers under the twelfth article of the treaty to visit and examine all vessels bearing the American flag. It is not believed in naval circles that Spain would consider the recognition of Cuba by the United States a casus belli, but it is believed that officers of her naval vessels would seek to exercise the right above noticed, and that they might be tempted to do so in an offensive manner, or in cases not contemplated by the terms of the treaty. In order to prevent this, and give assurance that American commerce shall not suffer from the action of the Government, our naval officers think the present preparations are making. They may or may not be well founded, but it is a fact that others besides them are beginning to suspect something of this kind. “ SIR LUCIUS ” IN A HURRY. On Thursday, the 2nd December, Mr. Charles Wyndham left Brighton for the Crystal Palace to play Sir Lucius O’Trigger in “The Rivals.” The performance commenced at three o’clock, and was not concluded till a quarter to six. . Mr. Wyndham was now in a dilemma, knowing that he had to catch the five minutes to six express from the Low Level Station (which, is ten minutes’ walk from the Palace) to Brighton, in order to appear, at eight o’clock, as Bob Sackett, at the Theatre Royal. . He dared not disappoint the Brighton audience,, and having no time to change Sir Lucius O Trigger to Mr. Charles Wyndham, he at once crammed his private attire into a bag, rushed through the crowd to the train, and just managed to seat himself in a first-class carriage before the guard blew his whistle for the start. Great was the surprise of the other five occupants of the compartment on seeing a gentleman of the last century, with crimson velvet coat and vest, white breeches, silk stockings, gorgeous knee buckles, and powdered hair (Mr. Wyndham generally preferring this to a court wig), with a fashionable overcoat of the present day. There was a general buzz. Was he a mountebank or a madman ? The mysterious stranger, caring little for the curiosity he had excited, enveloped himself in his rug and sank to sleep. At Brighton he jumped out of the tram into a carriage, and dashed out of the station before the passengers had time to ask the guard

what the vision signified. Soon afterwards Sir Lucius was transformed into Bob Sackett, declaring of each fair damsel he encountered, “ The more and more I see her, the more and more I love her.” — Era. BIGOTRY AND PRIESTCRAFT IN SOUTH AMERICA. The Valparaiso and West Coast Mail records in its issue of 2nd October a shocking case of desecration of a tomb. A little more than a month ago, it is stated, there died at Serena a gentleman named Mr. James Wallace, son of Mr. Samuel Wallace, the proprietor of the gasworks in that city. The deceased being a Protestant, the body had to be conveyed by rail to the Protestant cemetery at Guayacan, and, as the station is situated at some distance from the city, application was made in the proper quarter for the hire of a hearse, hut the request was only granted after considerable delay, the ecclesiastical authorities being evidently quite indisposed to permit the use of the vehicle. Permission was, however, at last obtained, and the body was conveyed to the station, and from thence to the cemetery. On the 21st ult. some boys entered the cemetery, and while wandering about among the graves they came upon the lid of a coffin, on which was "a brass plate, upon which Mr. Wallace’s name and age were inscribed. Near to the place where they discovered the lid was an open grave, and on looking into it they saw a lidless coffin, and in it a dead body exposed to view. They immediately gave information of what they had seen, and the relatives and friends were soon on their way to the cemetery. On arriving there they found in close proximity to the open grave a spade and a crowbar, and the lid of the coffin bore evidence that the latter instrument had been used in wrenching it from its place. It is conjectured that the body had lain exposed for fully three weeks, as, on the 2nd of the month, two ladies who went to the cemetery for the purpose of laying some flowers on a sepulchre noticed an opon grave in the very spot where Mr. Wallace was buried. On the outside of the cemetery wall, right opposite to the grave, there was drawn a cross, which clearly indicated the motive for the desecration. The body was at once lifted, and, after being enclosed in a new shell and coffin, was taken onto Valparaiso by steamer, and it was subse.quently re-interred in the Protestant cemetery. A reward of 500 dollars has been offered for the discovery of the perpetrators of the dastardly deed. “ The desecration of the remains of Mr. Wallace,” remarks the journal from which we take the foregoing particulars, “ will, we doubt not, be the death-knell of bigotry and priestcraft in Serena, for since that occurrence the society of which he was a member has received such a large accession of membership in that city as must before long work out very great and salutary changes in that part of the country.” HORRORS IN CUBA. Says a Havana letter : Spanish affairs in Cuba are in a desperate strait, and before January the insurgents expect to strike a blow that will secure their independence. The reinforcements of soldiers lately arrived are in a wretched condition to attempt a campaign against acclimatised soldiers. Most of them have no interest at stake in coming to Cuba, preferring to remain in Spain and take part in the civil war that harasses that country, as their interests and there homes are there. The soldiers are badly fed. Their clothing and arms are good and sufficient, but the food that was adapted to their constitution and for their nourishment in Spain is totally unfit for them in their new quarters. Again, the majority of these men that are sent out to Havana are desperadoes, cut-throats, and swash-bucklers of the regular army. There are hundreds of them in Cuba that are under constant surveillance by their own commanders, who regard them distrustfully. In every skirmish that takes place a great many of them go over to the insurgents, preferring the country and guerilla life to being immured in wooden martello towers, or between the damp walls of sickly towns full of pestilence. Spain, in concentrating her West Indian squadron in Spanish waters, is merely a chained dog that shows his teeth to outside dpgs not chained, in hopes that this will intimidate ; but let the outside element attack, and it would be her policy to retire into her stronghold, where she would be in a manner impregnable. TORPEDOES IN HAVANA HARBOR. It is said on authority that in forty-eight hours, should unpleasant complications occur with the United States, not a single harbor in the whole island would be safe to enter. The Spaniards have been preparing themselves for these emergencies for a long time. The United States, on her part, is assisting them as much as possible by furnishing them with the war material. Carlos Garcia, the insurgent leader, has been in Havana several times during the last month, but be is never more than fourteen or fifteen miles outside the city limits. At any rate, Count Valmeseda does not care to reside in his country residence any longer, preferring the palace. General Concha and Brigadier Llorent narrowly escaped assassination about a year ago. That was attributed to parties in Havana, but Calixto knows who was at the bottom of it. Garcia has destroyed a great deal of property, several small villages besides, among them Guanabacoa, the latter of considerable importance, and not quite a league from Havana. The flames were distinctly seen from the roof of the Hotel San Carlos in Havana, and his staff continue to give the Spanish ambulance corps plenty of work to do in taking care of and looking after the wounded. The Spanish losses cannot be short of 100 a day. Hundreds of persons have been incarcerated during the last sixty days, many of them secretly murdered, not alone by the bullet, but by starvation and drowning, for their bodies have been found in the bays and rivers and lagunas. The dungeons beneath the Moro, supposed to hold 1600 prisoners, are crowded-

to repletion. The common prison opposite the Moor, and in full view of the CaptainGeneral’s palace, is also. The head-quarters of the Chief of police ditto, with the exception that an extremely wealthy class are held here just so long as they can pay three or four doubloons a day to j revent their being sent to the Cabanas and death. Suspected people—and everybody is suspected now—cannot leave the island without paying the ransom of a slave to some official with influence at court to get him off. To at their mandates means confiscation, if nothing worse. It is the same thing all over the island. There is no need to particularise one individual town or city. They are. all prisoners, and the Spanish authorities their jailors. Dead, they are pitched into trenches. Men have lost their toes and fingers to prevent their serving in the rebel service. Men suspected -of conveying information have lost their tongues —torn from their mouths. Women have been violated, without regard to age or condition, by officers, and then given oyer to the savage brutality of a soldiery notoriously licentious, and then left to die. Others have been suspended by the ankles head downward, and a slow fire applied under their heads, have been slowly but surely driven mad with the heat, and then left to die. From Santiago we also have advices that FREEMASONS Suffer here the most. The outskirt of the city is a charnel-house. The chapparrals outside the city are filled with ragged, starving, homeless wretched Cubans. It is a common affair in this section of the country for the Spanish element to hunt these miserable wretches down with bloodhounds. When the Juniata was lying here at the time of the Virginius massacre, these brutalities were indulged in continually, and the Americans cognizant of the facts were powerless to act. In Batabano and the Isle of Pines there are several English and Americans imprisoned, with no means to communicate with the outside world. People know of it in Cuba, but you cannot get them to swear to the affidavits. It would result in their being imprisoned or sent to the galleys for life.