NEWS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5044, 24 May 1877, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

THE POPE’S HEALTH, ETC. The following telegrams appear in au American exchange :—Home, *23rtl March.—A circular to the bishops has been issued from the Vatican, counselling patience and abstention from provocation during the expected period of increased persecution. During the last few days the Pope has been somewhat indisposed, but there is no immediate cause for alarm. He was carried from his room to hold the Consistory of Tuesday, and received one ambassador the day before. With this exception all audiences have been suspended. It is stated that the Pope still entertains the idea of reassembling the Vatican Council. He has a new set of queries submitted to all cardinals, so that they may decide if the delay in solving some of the questions which the previous Council left undetermined be not calculated to injure the Church. It is said if the cardinals reply in the affirmative the Council will reopen in November. 2Gth March.— Amid feverish excitement and unremitting labor at the Vatican relative to the Consistory, the Pope has fallen ill again. It is certain that after the secret Consistory od the 12th inst. he fainted and had to quit reading the allocution. These fainting fits have recurred, and the Pope has remained unconscious longer each time. He does not like his illness to be perceived, and makes a strong effort to hide it. The moment he gets back to his own apartments he sinks into a chair and remains motionless, with his eyes closed like a corpse. The recent excitement has told upon him, and indeed on several occasions during the spring, ■which is always a dangerous season for him, his life has been almost despaired of. His physicians regard the fatiguing receptions of pilgrims with great apprehen-ion. The Pope’s advisers are endeavoring to get Prance and Austria to revive the Roman question. It is hoped to induce Italy so far to recognise the Pope’s temporal power as to cede the Leonine city to the Holy See, where all religious orders expelled from Rome could find an asylum. March 27th. —La Liherte of Paris reports that the Pope’s limbs continue powerless, and general paralysis may set in at any moment ; but his mind is not at all affected. London, March 24th. —-The Times' correspondent at Rome telegraphs: —The Vatican is in consultation with the Governments with which it has diplomatic relations to prevent the pilgrimages, expected on the occasion of the Pope’s Episcopal Jubilee, from giving rise to any circumstance which might create a misunderstanding with the Italian Government, and give Italy iTounds to attribute a political character to the pilgrim movements. March 27th.—A despatch from Rome announces the arrival of congregations to counsel the Pope to fulminate the great excommunication against Victor Emanuel, should the Clerical Abuses Bill pass. THE SEW FRF.HS LAW IS FRANCE. Proposes to abolish all pecuniary deposit—some 30,000 franca, before a political journal can be started ; and in the case where a newspaper be fined, and fails to pay the amount within a fortnight, the journal will be suppressed, and the proprietors, all of whom must be duly registered, will be tried for any offence committed by the ordinary common law. Absolute impunity for the Press is not expected, nor has it ever been, save by extreme Republicans, that have, happily, little weight in Prance. In the noisy t Lssagnac affair, the question is not one of liberty of the Press, but of preventing a Deputy to indulge in a misdemeanor by sheltering himself under his rights of representative. As long as laws exist, to be respected, they must be obeyed. STANLEY’S EXPLORATIONS. The following amusing “ skit” has been published;—ln a recent African letter Mr. Stanley details the following interview with a noted African chief -.—Old Ramlmater disputed our passage through his kingdom. He demanded as the price of passage through his territory, 40,000 casks of rum and a hundred white •wives. I was obliged to parley with the old fellow, and after six days of incessant palaver reduced his demands to a pint of gin and a worn-out razor. “Yours arc a wonderful people,” said old Rarnlmster, as he smacked his lips over the fee he had exacted. His Cabinet, who were with him, waited in vain for a drop. Rami mater noting signs of impatience among them, and divining the cause, had them killed on the spot. “Cabinets ,he remarked, “ must be taught to know rbfir n'lace I always kill mine when they act contrary to my wishes, and salt them down There is always plenty of good material at hand to form now Cabinet*. Besides, my policy in this matter keep* down aspirants for rnv place. Karnbnster had been a great fighter lie had lost all his iimhs in battle, legs and arms ho had none, nose and ears were bitten off, and one eye was gouged out. “ My bones are whitening on many a battle-field, he said once, proudly, “ yet with one of your former great statesmen I can, with propriety, say, ‘I still live.*” He has recently conquered the neighboring province of Yum-yum, and annexed it to his own kingdom, having killed all the inhabitants and salted (hem down for the wint.-r’s provision. “It is my way of living on the enemy,” he remarked. He had heard of the duel. “ I trust that the report that James Gordon Bennett is coming here is true,” he said; “X would marry him to my two eldest daughters amt give him the Kingdom of Polo. i>o yon think he would chief would probably like Polo bettor than the girls. “ And possibly better than his father-in-law, too,” said the mutilated old wretch.

“ But he need not fear me ; X would confer <>n him complete and thorough matrimonial sovereignty. Besides, there is no mother-in-, law ; I ate her six months ago. She was a’ rare woman ; she was tender ; X fattened her up to XOO pounds. We still have some of her corned in the royallarder. Tell your chief that if he comes and marries into our family he can for a time live on his mother-in-law, if not with her.” A NEW RELIGIOUS COMMUNION. The Whitehall Review is responsible for the following extraordinary statement :—We make public the astounding fact that a section of members of the Church of England have taken measures for founding what will be nothing else than a new Anglican Communion. This resolution has been come to, as need hardly be said, in consequence of the action taken by the Anglican prelates, under the Public Worship llegnlation Act—a measure which not only ‘Ritualists' so called, but High Churchmen, such as Wayland Jovce, Prebendary Irons, and West, of Wrawby, regard with the most extreme disfavor. The intelligence which we now% for the first time, make known to the community at large, will, we venture to predict, induce a feeling of surprise, if not of consternation, in the minds of Churchmen of all shades of opinion, in comparison with which the alleged “ Intrigue with Rome”—the circumstances of which were published, with more or less accuracy, in January, 1876 sinks into insignificance. How, it will be asked, is this “New Communion” to be established in this country ? By what machinery will it be set in motion ? What will be its reason of existence—what its standing point ? We proceed to answer these questions seriatim. In the first place, a brand-new archbishop, with a very ancient title, is to be consecrated by one or more foreign prelates. Secondly, two suffragans, each with titles from old English sees, are to be consecrated simultaneously, but (as we are given to understand) independently, and are to begin their conjoined labors in England, in the HighChurch interest, in July next. We have the names of the sees in our possession, but we withhold their publication for the present. The difficulties attendant upon the consecration of the archbishop and his suffragans (as far as regards any interference with existing jurisdictions, whether Popish or others) will be surmounted by the ingenious plan of consecrating them upon the high seas. The new prelates, as it is asserted, have either been already consecrated or they will be consecrated very shortly. We now come to another phase of this extraordinary but perfectly veracious story of the creation of a new communion in England and the valid consecration of three new prelates without the sanction of, or the least reference to, the British Legislature or the Established Church. The new communion is reported to be founded on the faith of the undivided Church before the schism of East and West, with all reasonable and obvious dogmatic deductions therefrom. In other words, the formularies of this new ecclesiastical body, based upon the dogmas and rites of the Latin and the Greek Churches, will be acceptable to both. A bx-ief “Sacramentary” has been officially drawn up containing the order for the administration of the Seven Sacraments. We have been allowed to inspect this “ Sacramentary,” or “ Manual of Essential Rites,” which contains exact and express directions for the administration of the Seven Sacraments. Without entering into details, which we are not yet at liberty to do, it may be said that the manual contains instructions for the use of the chrism or prayer-oil as in the Greek and Roman Churches. The ceremonial, judging by the contents of the “ Sacramentary” (which, however, is called by another name, derived from the Greek), will, we think, be exceedingly expressive and elaborate, and by after additions —not essential—even imposing. The three creeds of the undivided Church and of the Church of England—viz., the Apostles’, the Athanasian, and the Nicene—will continue to be used in the new Communion. Finally, and this may be a sort of cold comfort to some of the Anglican bishops, the new communion will be non-aggressive and conservative—not destructive ; while its chief pastors will only

claim jurisdiction over those who are ready to render them obedience. In these days an undue trenching on liberty of conscience is always dangerous. A schoolmaster’s rod does not suit grown-up men. The bishops might have remembered that in addition to 12,000 benificed parsons there are no less than 8000 unbeneficed clergymen—to whom we suppose the new spiritual intruders will look for support. A DEPOSED EASTERN STATESMAN. Ismail Pasha, late the Egyptian Finance Minister, was a remarkable man. Originally one of the lowest grooms in the stables of the Khedive of Chosbra, his first step on the ladder of fortune was gained by marriage with a liberated slave from the harem, who speedily initiated him in all the mysteries of that institution, and showed him how by an artful use of harem influence a clever man might raise himself to almost any eminence in the State. Ismail profited by his wife’s advice, cultivated the harem through her, and found himself eventually the most powerful subject in the kingdom. He amassed an enormous fortune, and hi-* expenditure was lavish beyond even Oriental extravagance. His harem was one of the largest and most celebrated in the Fast. It consisted of 309 women, all young and beautiful —for I-mail would have no woman in his harem over the age of thirty—and two corps dc ballet, one of French, the other of Hindu girls. JR very night he was conducted to his chamber by twenty young girls, clothed in fantastic and magnificent attire, blazing with gold and jewels, each carrying in her hand a gilded taper-stick, and each taper giving out a different colored light. Immediately after his death his harern was bought up by the rich Beys and Pashas, and fabulous prices were said to have been paid for some of the beauties. His jewels are computed to be worth 3,250,000d015., and as everything is forfeited to the Khedive, that astute ruler will make a good thing out of the death of his Finance Minister. A MARQUIS THRASHES A MONEY-LENDER. Lord Marcus Eeresford, M.P., has thrashed a m-uiey-lender. The story is fully reported in the papers. He is the member for Sonthwick. Xlis opponents were Mr. Lahouchere and George Odger. Lord Eeresford is in pecuniary difficulties, and he would not stand paying GO per cent, and being called a liar into the bargain. So lie ■went to the usurious solicitor, locked him in his room, ami thrashed him. The little prank cost him about £IOOO. THE FRENCH WINK CROP OF 1870. The French wine crop of last year is estimated at 920,655,000 gallons, or as nearly as possible half of what it was in 1875, (1,839,901,000 gallons). During the last twenty years the total has varied between the minimum of 843,840,000 gallons in 1856, and the maximum as given above for the crop of 1875* The average for the last ten years (1867-1876) ha* been 1,193,958,000 gallons. The particulars given as to the quantity of wine made in the different departments show how extensive are the ravages caused by the phylloxera. Thus, in the department of the Vauchiso, the average product of which is about 9,800,000 gallons, only 1,100,000 gallons were made last year. The same is the case in the adjacent department of the Gard, the average production being 41.000,000 gallons, while last year it was less than 5,400,000 gallons. Though the year of 1875 was so extraordinarily an abundant one, the department of the Herault made only 198,000,000 gallons, whereas in 1869, which was not nearly so abundant a year, the total of the crop exceeded 320,000,000 gallons. There is a marked decrease, too, i the other wine-growing departments in the basin of the Rhone, and also, though to a less degree, in the department of the Charerite, the Charente-Inferieure, and the Gironde. The departments which produced the most wine in 1876 were the Herault, 14 1,230,000 gallons ; the Charente-Tnfcrteure, 63,240,000 gallons ; the Aube, 55,720,000 gallons ; the Gironde, 43.142.000 gallons ; the Charente, 28,060,000 gallons ; the Yorme, 27,412,000 gallons ; the Saone-et-Loire, 25,620,000 gallons ; the Loireluforieure, 22,102,000 gallons; the Bny-de-Horno, 22,100,000 gallons; the Vienne, 22.028.000 gallons ; the Pyrenees Orientates, 20.516.000 gallons, and the Cote d’Or, , 20,592,000 gallons. The quantity of cider

uiiuleii. 1876 is estimated at VA.i, 7,000 gallons, or 2 16,802,000 gallons less than m 16, a when it attained 401,601,000 gallons, and much below the average of the last ten 3’ears, 240,046,000 gallons. CUI.IJEHY EXPLOSION. The Liverpool Post of March 9 says; —Yesterday morning an explosion of damp took plaee'hi the Worcester new pit, near Swansea, worked for the Landore Siemens Steel Company by which seventeen or eighteen men lost their lives. The number of men who went down yesterday morning is not exactly kn°"’ u > the overman being among the killed. About 7 o’clock a te; rible explosion was heard all over the district, and an exploring party, winch immediately went down, found that the disaster had occurred in the great slant, where the roofs had been much damaged, and all the men who were working there had succumbed to the damp. Sixteen bodies were successfully brought up and conveyed to their cottages, most 3 of them being married men. The explorers labored unceasingly to recover the bodies of the six others who were believed to be in the pit ; but, up to last evening, unsuccessfully. The men in the other workings escaped unhurt. The pit is a comparatively new one, having been worked about five years only, and this explosion caused great consternation, inasmuch as' the district has for many years been free from damp. The cause of the calamity is not known, as those whose duty it was to examine the workings yesterday momins ;u *e dead; but there is too much probability iu~the rumor that the great Welsh flannel fair at Llaugafellach on Tuesday and Wednesday had affected the sobriety of some of the poor fellows who have lost their lives. The pit is only sixty yards deep, but some of the workiM.TS extend a great distance underground. Every assistance was afforded by the managers of neighboring mines. The village of Forest Each is a scene of desolation. GOSSIP ABOUT THE NEW AMEKICAN CABINET. The New Yorlc correspondent of an American paper writes : —Grant’s last - Cabinet was a moneyed affair, some of the Ministers being worth more than Hayes and all his Cabinet combined. Fish, Chandler, and Cameron are rich. The salary of Fish was but a small per centage of his living expeuses. The income of himself and wife is put down at two hundred thousand dollars a year. _ Some of Hayes’ Cabiuet are rich, unless it is Evarts, and as he owns a farm in Vermont, he can, of course, become au exceptionally wealthy man. He has a very large income from his practice, and he accepted a seat in the Cabinet only upon condition that he be allowed to retain it. There is no statute of 1756, heretofore overlooked, as in Seward’s case, to prevent this, and we expect to see the Secretary of State journeying to New York about once a month to look after his law cases. He says his salary alone would cut but a sorry figure in meeting iris family expenses. You remember a few years ago Mr. Evarts was spoken of as Governor of New York, but declined. He could not afford it, because a term as Governor would break up his law practice. The moment the Cabinet were appointed they were set upon by boardinghouse-keepers, real estate agents, and those with “furnished houses to Jet.” who are ever on the look-out for good paying tenants. The man who considers favorably the first offer will pay a heavy per centage for his haste, as by taking plenty of time for inspection and consideration a house can be had in Washington nearly as cheap as in Cinoiuuatti. Furnished houses have been made a speciality uutii there are more of them than tenants who are able to pay the prices. I was amused with the ease with which Judge Key got rid of bores who came with “ furnished houses” to rent. They would dwell upon the convenience of location, beauty of neighborhood, modern style of furniture, and so oil. Then the Judge would quietly reply, “ ‘Well, I should want the house pretty well furnished, as I have nine children.” The appalling picture of nine children tearing up and down through a “ furnished house ” usually had the desired effect, and the bore with a house to rent would bow himself- out.

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS DON’T PAY. The number of miles of railway in Russia guaranteed by the State is 4190. The amount guaranteed was £3,994,113, the amount actually paid under the guarantee in 1872 was £1,995,055, so that in that year the loss to the State in the working of the railways was very nearly £2,000,000. The total length of railways in Russia was 13,324 of companies’ linos, and 8707 of State lines. The cost of constructing the companies’ railways has been £220,224,000. This would give au average cost of something like £II,OOO per mile. The total number of passengers carried over the State railways was 839,000 or less than about 100 per mile during the year. This solitude of 8700 miles of State railways in Russia is traversed by about 2000 persons per day, or say one person for every four miles of line. On the companies’ railways, which have been constructed with a view to the public convenience rather than for strategic purposes, the total number of passengers carried was 19,702,000, which gives only about 1500 passengers per mile. A comparison with an English raihvaj' carrying the maximum of railway passengers affords a curious contrast with the passenger traffic on the railways owned by public companies in Russia. The number of passengers per mile per annum on the eight miles of Metropolitan Railway, for instance, are about 7,000,000 ; on the 13,324 miles of Russian railway the number per mile was about 1500. The receipts from the 870/ miles of State railways in Russia was £158,7*24, or something less than £lB per mile per annum. The expenses wore £115,925, or about 10s. per mile less than the gross receipts. In the working of these railways, the number of passengers, employes, and others who were killed was 285, and wounded, 332. If these statistics, as published by the Board of Trade, are correct, railways in Russia are assuredly not among the institutions which add largely to the public revenue, or administer greatly to the progress and prosperity of the country. THE EIGHT HOUR LAW IN AMERICA. The Chicago Journal's Washington special of April 17 says : —The Supreme Court having decided that the law declaring eight hours a day’s work for Government employes, is merely a direction by the Government to its agents, and not a contract with laborers, the Secretary of the Treasury will issue an order announcing its decision, and directing officers not to pay hereafter ten hours’ wages for eight hours’ work. The order given by President Grant that eight hours shall constitute a day’s work, will he revoked, and no additional pay bo allowed those who work longer than eight hours. THE YACHTING VOYAGE ROUND THE WORM).

15y .‘i emncidmico n*»t Ic-s remarkable than it is significant (say* the Nome News) it is proposed to make u pleasure voyage round tho world ju.-t throe hundred .years after the circumnavigation of the globe by the first Knglishrnau who accomplished the feat—Sir 7'Vamds Dnike—and one hundred years after the departure of Captain Cook on his last and fatal enterprise. It was in 1077 that Drake started mi Ids journey from Falmouth to Plymouth via the Cape of Good Hope ; it was in 1777 that Cook first sighted the islands where his glorious career crime to .an ignominious end; and” now in 1577 another expedition on circumnavigation bent is to sail from Kngland ; not, however, under the hard conditions which the early navigators had to face, but in circumstances which will make a minimum of the peril and the maximum of the pleasure. In lirlef, it is proposed to despatch a first-class steamship of not less than two thousand tons burden, and fitted with all the comforts that modern art and science can suggest, on a voyage round tho globe, commencing in August next, and ending about April or May of tho year of grace, 187 S. The novelty of such a pleasure trip, its unprecedented character, and tho interest which must always attach to such an expedition, entitle it to most particular attention. Scarborough,' Norway, Switzerland, and other of the fashionable holiday resorts are thus likely this year to find their attractions superseded in a good many quarters by those of Abyssinia and Japan, tho bright islands of tho Pacific, or the even yet unhackneyed mountains, plains, cities, and up-country ranchos of Mexico and Peru. Certainly a lounge round tho world in a luxurious floating craft, without the trouble of so much as packing or

unpacking a solitary portmanteau on the way, is as tempting a programme as ever was set before a free man. It is none the less tempting that the alteration of the date of starting from April to August allows the traveller not only to thoroughly enjoy the London season, but to have at least a few days on the moors before he goes. A good many, doubtless, who care comparatively little about an August trip to Spain, will even be able to wait for the opening of the partridge season and join the yacht at Marseilles. It is considered certain that berths will be well occupied before the vessel quits European waters. Full particulars of the trip may be had of the agents Messrs. Griudlay and Co., 55, Parliamentstreet, Loudon. EDUCATION IN FRANCE. The Paris correspondent of the San Francisco Bulletin writes: —“ What is the cause of the deadly hostility of the French bishops against the Constitution legally established I The Church is said to be the natural enemy of republicanism, but this cannot account for the something like a common attack made by the Episcopacy and the united Monarchists against the public opinion of the country, that presents a form of government opeu to all who honestly accepts it. Time will show whether France be destined to take a leaf out of Bismarck’s code for bringing recalcitrant bishops to a sense of their duty. The prelates’ peace of mind will not be promoted by the rumored intentions of the Budget Commission, to reduce their fat incomes, to remunerate the starving curates, and from the cutting down of pluralities to add a trifle to the education estimates. Under the Restoration, the Government .applied annually the sum of 50,000 francs for primary education, about a Cardinal-Senator’s salary under the Second Empire ; it allocated also 5000 francs for the repairs of school-houses. Guizot, who did something for national education, and that something was the only estimable act in his doctrinaire career, secured one million for primary education; he boasted that universal suffrage would never rule in France, and, three days after his fall, it succeeded its rival monarch. Louis Philippe. To-day universal suffrage is occupied to find the means of expending 250,000,000 of francs on national education, for there are needed, according to a ministerial report, 17,000 school-houses to accommodate pupils, and there are nearly 20,000 scholars unprovided with educational apparatus. The millions will be found, for it is only by education and enlightenment that the faults of democracy can be corrected, and the nation protected from dynasties that have kept the masses in the deplorable educational poverty just officially revealed to astonished France. Extremes meet ; it is singular to see a sort of despotism, like Prussia, making, relatively, as great sacrifices for popular instruction as for manhood armaments.

The London Miller calls attention to the rapid decrease of acreage of wheat in Great Britain. The number of acres in 1876 was 3,124,000, a decrease of 11 per cent, as compared with 1874, and 22 per cent, as compared with 1860. This change is largety clue to the increased attention given to the rearing of cattle. The paper above quoted looks upon this falling off of the production of cereals with no little uneasiness, ou the ground that it indicates the increase of the population of large towns and swells the number of those who do not produce any article which will itself support human life. Solomon Herzel, the German publisher, who died recently, left his collection of Goethe’s books and manuscripts to the Leipzig University, on condition that they be kept together and be known as his collection. Among other things there are nearly 400 original manuscripts, and 16 quarto volumes of extracts from various publications concerning Goethe.

Lillias Ashworth, John Bright’s niece, one of the largest land-owners in England, and a leading woman suffragist, is going to be married, in the face of the popular belief that she had vowed not to married till she had removed all political disabilities from English women.

The once famous Ilalian tenor, Carlo Guasco, for whom Donizetti composed “ Maria di Rohan,” and Verdi wrote “ Ernani Attila” and “ I Lombardi,” died recently. William Simpson has been specially commissioned by the proprietors of the Illustrated London News to make sketches of the recent discoveries at Myceme. Cardinal Manning has been presented with two horses by the Countess Tasker. The animals are of £ne blood, and are named respectively Whatley and Newdesrafce. The Catholic members of the British Parliament have resolved to present an address to the Pope on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his episcopate. It is probable a deputation will go to Rome to make the px*esentation.

Miss Braddon, wife of Maxwell, the publisher, is about to publish another novel. Is that the third or fourth within a year ? The facilities which are afforded to this industrious lady in the regular way of trade do not appear to satisfy her, for she, too, wants a journal of her own. A few weeks ago the proprietor of the London Journal was seized with a severe illness. All at once Mr. Maxwell appeared at his house with the most pressing enquiries after his health, and tried all he knew to get admission to his bedroom. The doctor and nurse were inexorable. Then Mr. Maxwell wrote a letter to his “ Dear J ,” expressing great grief at his illness, and making known his readiness to soothe his last moments by a cheque for £30,000. He merely asked for the London Journalin return. But “ Dear J ” did not seem to see it. Who would not be the owner of a popular story-paper which pays at least £BOOO a year, and can be sold at any moment for, say, •fiOjOOO. The Prince of Wales, when he goes hunting, likes to enjoy himself unostentatiously, and doesn’t want a fuss made about him. But when he went to Gloucestershire lately, a member of Parliament, and a newly-rich person, Mr. Powell, appeared to think this all nonsense, and when the meeting was appointed on his estate made a very great fuss indeed. Ho set up a marquee on the lawn for the Prince’s luncheon ; ho prepared his reception mom.* for the entertainment of his hunting friends and acquaintances ; he laid in broad and cheese by the ton weight, and strong beer by the hogshead for the consumption of the country side. Consequences : The mob of mechanics and laborers broke in, devoured the royal luncheon, and made the day hideous generally ; and after a long day’s hunting, the Prince refreshed himself with tea and poached eggs at the nearest clergyman’s residence, not having been seen at all by his ambitious would-be host, Mr. Powell.