MAIL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4214, 22 September 1874, Page 3

MAIL NOTES.

EUROPEAN. A horrible double murder is reported from Mitchelstown, county Limerick. The victims are a farmer in poor circumstances, named Fleming, and his wife. Erom what is known of the case, the police authorities do not believe that the murders had their origin in agrarian crime, but that robbery was the impelling motive. On July 21, in a train proceeding from Dublin to Cork, two emigrants fought over a game of cards so, fiercely, that they bit each others’ faces and shoulders. A woman who was in the carnage at the time got out of the window on the step, and was held there by a passenger from the window. The men were taken into custody at the Limerick Junction. At noon on July 13, Prince Bismarck, while driving out in the country in the direction of Saline, was fired at and slightly wounded by a shot which glazed his right wrist. The perpetrator was at once arrested, and was nearly lynched by an infuriated crowd. Soon after the attack. Prince Bismarck appeared in the public gardens, and met with an enthusiastic reception. The Musical Society and the town band of Ivissingen wore subsequently brought to the Prince’s residence by the inhabitants and visitors, and executed a serenade under his windows. The Prince appeared at the balcony and expressed his thanks for the marks of sympathy extended to him. He pointed out that the attempt was not aimed at his person, but at the cause which he represented, and concluded his speech by proposing cheers for the German Empire and the allied princes. The people responded by repeated cheers for Prince Bismarck. A thanksgiving service for the Prince’s escape has been celebrated in the Protestant Church. Kulhnaun, the perpetrator of the attempt, ia stated to have openly confessed at the preliminary examination that his intention was to assassinate the Prince. An interesting presentation of a medal to ones’ of the 42ucl (Black Watch) Highlanders recently took place at Southsea Common, in the.presence of a large number of persons. After a brigade drill, in which the 42nd, 58th, and the 15th regiments took part, the men formed three sides of a square, when the Lieu-tenant-General (Sir Charles Hastings Doyle) called for Private Thomas Adams, of the 42nd Highlanders, to whom it had been decided to award a medal for distinguished services in the Ashautee war. The Lieutenant-General read the correspondence which has taken place upon the matter, and also some remarks made-by Mr. Stanley in a New York journal. Those remarks were to the effect that Adams literally led the 42nd into Coomassie, whilst he himself became quite a target for leaden and iron slugs, but notwithstanding that he bounded on “like a hound well set.” Sir Hastings Doyle said Private Adams was one of the bravest men in the British army, and he ought to be one of the proudest in it. He (Sir Hastings) would give all he possessed to be in his shoes. Not only was Adams a brave soldier, but he' was one of the best behaved men in the regiment. He was, he might say, a brave man, belonging to a proverbially brave corps, and the 42ud ought to be proud of him. He then handed the medal to Adams, who having come to the shoulder was about to rejoin the ranks, when the Lieutenant- General called to him, “Here, my friend, give me your hand.” Adams returned, and Sir Hastings Doyle, taking his hand, said, “ I am proud to have the honor of shaking hands with a man like you. I hope you will live long to wear the medal; and I know that if you are ever on the field of battle again you will act just as bravely as you did, at Coomassie,” The men then re-formed and returned to their quarters. Adams, who is a marksman, is quite a young fellow. Admiral Keppel and his colleagues, who formed the court-martial for the trial of Admiral Randolph, have brought a difficult and important inquiry to a conclusion, which, so far as it goes, will be hailed with general satisfaction. Admiral Randolph was Commander of the Plying Squadron last spring. On the evening of May 10, while off Cape Zaffarano, he gave crders to heave-to for a few hours, and next morning two of his ships—the Narcissus and Endymion—took the ground. The charge upon which the Admiral was arraigned was, that he negligently hazarded the ships by laying them to, and keeping them hove-to off a lee shore. The Court fully acquitted the gallant officer, and returned him his sword with many compliments. This result, we have said, is so far satisfactory; but it leaves the responsibility for a very unpleasant accident to be ascertained. Somebody, it is evident, was very much to blame. The coast off which the Squadron was on the evening of May 10, is a most safe and accessible anchorage; the weather was fine, and the lights were such as ought to have made it impossible to mistake the ships’ positions. And yet, after the ships had been, hove-to, at a distance of fifteen miles from the coast, the two ships took the ground. The Court-martial has decided that, taking all things into consideration, the ships were not negligently hazarded by the orders which Admiral Randolph gave. Having said so much, they were obliged to add that the accident happened, because the orders he left were not acted on. The Admiral had himself said, that after he gave his orders, the wind shifted, blowing the ship’s head for four hours in a dangerous direction; but that he was not informed of it—nor were the lights when seen, reported to him. The Court-martial adopted this view of the case, and it is one which must evidently make a further inquiry indispensable. An interesting ceremony has taken place in the Lutheran parish church of Weimar. The African explorer, Dr. Schweinfurth, some time since brought home, with him a negro boy— Allagabo Timm —a lad about sixteen years of age, and as black as can be. The lad has, in due course, been converted to Christianity, and was publicly bajitised on the day named by the Rev. Mr. Hess, a clergyman of note in the Grand Duchy. The boy’s sponsors were the reigning Grand Duke of Saxo-Weimar Eisenach, the hereditary Grand Duchess, his master, Dr. Schweinfurth, and that gentleman’s friend, Herr Seidel. The ceremony naturally attracted a number of witnesses. This is the second instance of a negro being baptised in the Weimar parish church, as the parish register shows that the same sacred rite was performed over a black convert, about 200 years ago. The murder of Mrs. Hayes, near the Limerick Junction, ia the tragic end of a family feud, but partakes of an agrarian character. The farm is situated on the property of the late Lord Derby, which was sold to Mr. V. B. O’Connor, lately deceased. Mrs. Hayes was the daughter of a farmer named Tracey, who left the farm in a complicated way by will to one or other of her two brothers in the event of either failing to carry out certain conditions. This led to an estrangement and a jealous feeling between them, which sometimes found vent in acts of violence. The younger brother (William Tracey) is undergoing imprisonment at present for a savage assault committed on his brother’s wife. He succeeded, after considerable litigation, in ousting the elder brother (Thomas Tracey), and getting possession of the farm by an ejectment process. The unfortunate woman who was murdered took the side of her younger brother, and this exposed her to the bitter resentment of those who sympathised with the elder. Some arrests have been made, but as yet there is no direct evidence against any person. A curious incident occurred on the last night of the opera at Drury Lane on July 18. At the end of the opera, when, amid a hurricane of applause, Mdlle. Albani was called before the curtain, a gentleman in the grand tier threw a bouquet and a box at the prima donna, the latter of which unluckily struck her with considerable force in the centre of the forehead. The author of this calamity was observed to throw up his arms with a gesture of despair when he saw the lady place her hands on her forehead, and instantly retire to her private room, where some simple remedies were applied with good effect. Perhaps it should be added that the restoration was a little assisted by the discovery that the guilty box, when opened, contained a tiara of splendid diamonds. A stone ginger-beer bottle loaded with gunpowder and nails, and with a lighted fusee attached, was thrown on July 4th into the bedroom of five brickmakors in a lodging-house at Miles Platting, near Manchester. A loud

explosion followed, the force of which threw two men out of bed. The bed, which was overturned, was set on fire, but the flames were soon put out. The only lodger injured was a lad named Lines, who was rather badly scorched. The five men who were in the room are brickmakers employed in turning out machine-made brides under a contract for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, and their doing so is known have given great offence to the hand-brickmakers in the neighborhood. FOREIGN. The North German Gazette, in an article on the shooting of Captain Schmidt [who was the correspondent of a Vienna journal] by the Carlists, says that it did not need this occurrence to determine the opinion of Germany upon the Carlists and their mode of waging war. A movement founded upon coarse fanaticism, and seeking its real allies only in Ultramontane plots and conspiracies, could not meet with any sympathy in Germany. The Imperial Government, in harmony with the feeling of indignatiou, and in the interest of the whole of European civilisation, will seek and find means to make the Carlist bands understand that the execution of a captured German subject cannot remain unpunished. A tricolor flag on the summit of Metz Cathedral, which has been a constant eyesore to the Germans, has just been removed, a reward of a 100 thalers having been offered for the feat, which was attended with considerable danger. After gaining the top of the Gothic tower two balls had to be scaled to reach the flagstaff. A native of Brandenburg, accustomed to perilous enterprises, undertook the task, providing himself with two planks for scaling the balls. On surmounting the first he staggered, aud everybody expected him t» fall, but he reached the flagstaff, lowered the emblem of French rule, and substituted a German flag of black, white, and red. In four hours he was again at the bottom, and was cheered by the Germans, while a troop of soldiers who had witnessed the operation returned to their quarters. General Concha had a magnificent State funeral on July 2. The coffin was borne on an artillery waggon, aud upon it lay the marshal’s hat, sword, baton, and sword, and a splendid funeral crown brought by the Corporation of Bilbao, and having inscribed upon it, “ The people of Bilbao to the memory of the illustrious Marquis del Duero.” Marshal Serrano and all the Ministers and high officers of State followed. Three fine chargers belonging to the deceased general attracted much notice. The one on which he was wounded had on the saddle and stirrups he rode in, draped with black crape. The Spanish brigands who captured Mr. Haselden, an Englishman, now demand a ransom of £IO,OOO. Mr. Haselden’s family offered half that sum, and the gentleman was released. Mousignore de Merode is dead. The deceased belonged to a Belgian family of distinction, and was born on March 15, 1802. Early in life he served as an officer in the Belgian army, and in that capacity went through two campaigns in Africa. He afterwards took orders, aud became the private chamberlain and cupbearer of the Pope. Don Carlos has issued a manifesto, in which he states that he has now a considerable and well-disciplined army, and says : —'“Faith in the strength of my rights has given me the right of strength. I have promised to save Spain or die for her, aud I keep my word. " I intend to subject the rebels, and bestow real liberty on the land. I shall give satisfaction to Spain’s religious sentiments and her love for the legitimate monarchy ; but Catholic unity does not imply religious espionage, nor does the monarchy imply despotism. I shall not molest those who have purchased Church property. I desire to hear the voice of the people through their legitimate ' representatives assembled in the Cortes. I call friends and enemies towards me ; but if the rebellion continues I shall stifle it by an explosion of cannon, and those who do not accept conciliation to-day will have to submit to the law of the conqueror to-morrow.”