ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5296, 16 March 1878, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

The Loudon Times, in refering to the death of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, says : By the death of King Victor Emmanuel, at the age of fifty-eight, one of the most memorable and dramatic careers of modem times is prematurely closed. It is closed, moreover, at the very moment when its full satisfaction seemed on the point of being achieved. A few weeks ago no one would have supposed that the Spiritual Monarch of Rome would have outlived the Temporal. To all appearance the Pope was gradually fading away, and in a short time Victor Emmanuel might have hoped to enter into relations with the Papacy which would not have been embarrassed and prejudiced by the immense personal authority of Pius IX. He had seen everything else in old Italy pass away like a dream, and Pius IX. alone remained as the embodiment and the relic of that former world. Had the Pope died first, Victor Emmanuel would have been freed from his only remaining opponent, and the last word would have been spoken in the great drama of his reign. But it is the Pope, after all, who is destined to see the world of his early manhood pass away, and he now remains in the Vatican the sole survivor of thirty years of revolution. There is something striking and pathetic in the fate which brought so near together on what are, after all, two deathbeds, the representatives of the spiritual and the temporal power; and the tact that their last communications were those of goodwill ought to be a presage and a symbol of future relations. The King has long lain under excommunication on account of his usurpations of Papal authority and Church property; but in his last hours these censures were waved. Two Papal Chamberlains were sent from the Vatican to the Quirinal with the Papal benediction, and the King received the last sacraments. The Pope is even said to have exclaimed that were it not for his own malady he would have gone to the King and given him the last sacraments himself. It is a pity that so gracious an act of conciliation was unavoidably hindered by physical infirmities, but the will cannot fail to be taken for the deed. It is worthy of two men who, whatever their faults, have been both great in their way, thus to close their stormy careers in mutual forgiveness; and the incident eminently bespeaks that real harmony of Italian feeling which has been too strong in the past, and will prove too strong in the future, for the artificial barriers of a priesthood. Mr. Stanley, the great African explorer, on his arrival in London, met with a warm reception. At Folkestone (says the Home News of January 31), where he landed, the little dark-skinned man, with his' high cheekbones, grizzled looks, and bent, shrivelled frame, was received with cheers and a municipal address from the Mayor and Corporation —a thoroughly British welcome. At Char-ing-cross, again, he was loudly cheered, and he has since been invited to dine by the Geographical Society, and give them an account of his proceedings. But although he has done great service to civilisation in general, and to this country in particular, by his discovery of the sources and course of the Congo, he is at this moment rather under a cloud. It was a desperate enterprise of course, and he carried his life often in his hand, but there is reason to fear that more blood was shed than was required simply for self-defence. In plain English, his whole progress, if his own letters are to be believed, was stained with butchery, for which the urgency of supplying “ copy” to the papers he represented can hardly be pleaded as sufficient justification. These are the rumors that obtain credence more or less, and it is to silence them conclusively, or establish the case against himself, that the Geographical Society have asked him to speak in full. The chaplain to the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rev. F. O. Beaumont, was set upon and robbed on the highway on Christmas Day. He had been officiating for the Vicar of Weeford, and was on his way back to Lichfield. At the time the robbery occured three men advanced to meet him, one of them asking for money. Mr. Beaumont drew out his purse, and as he was doing so, one of the gang struck him on the head with a stick, and another snatched his purse. The three then ran away. Information has been given to the city and county constabulary, but up to the present time without result. An eccentric individual named John Rhodes, of Poraono-terrace, Hounslow, was buried in Hounslow cemetery a few days ago. A-l though possessing immense wealth, he dressed like a tramp, and was exceedingly parsimonious, so much so that he often denied himself the common necessaries of life. He has left the greater portion of Ms fortune, amounting to £IOO,OOO, to various metropolitan charities. Mr. Rhodes was nearly eighty years of age. His wife died some years since. He has left no issue. He was a chemist in early life, and derived most of his wealth from successful investment in gas companies. Dr. Kenealy again wails over the apathy of the expected subscribers to his Election Fund of a Million Sixpences, and in a manifesto just issued upon the subject says;—” For aught we can tell there may be a dissolution of Parlia-

meat and a genial election *'before another month passes.” jAnd asks, “ Are..we prepared for the momentous e v ent ? for never was England in such deadly peril as now—• brought to the verge of. ruin, imperial and in-, ternal, by the wild waywardness of Mr. Gladstone and his Russians in the autuih of 1876; by the weakness, vacillation, and utter lack of atatemanship shown by Disraeli and Lord Salisbury since. Thus Whigs and Tories are equally conducting this kingdom to destruction ; our trade is dying, our honor is dead, our people are starving,” Coming to the main point, the learned member asks, “ Where are the million of sixpences with which we could have returned thirty members to the House of Commons? Where is the third party which the Magna Charta Association promised to organise ? —the one party that could save the people.” He answers the question himself, as follows :—“ Both are nowhere. We have piped to the millions in the market-place, and they will not dance. Can we wonder that their apathy has ‘ got its reward V What would sixpences have been to the million who are Tichbornites and Magna Charterists and true reformers ? Nothing. But they have kept their sixpences ; all but some noble men and women ; and now, when the moment has come, we are undone for want of funds. Up to the present the appeal for the “ million sixpences, now four mouths before the public, has resulten in the collection of £6O.

Last week, says the Home JVeios of January 31st, a house which was being built at the junction of the Haymarket with Panton-street fell in, and carried with it the house adjoining, a well-known oyster-shop and supper rooms, in the occupation of Mr. Barron. The now building, which had been in hand for about six months, was being erected by Messrs. Newman and Manna, and the workmen had been employed in roofing in the house. The builders do not agree with the theory which has been promulgated that the old foundation had been disturbed and that the masonry of the superstructure was too heavy, for the best materials had been used, and every precaution taken to ensure the safety of the erection. Exaggerated rumors, too, have made public as to a serious loss of life and injury to many persons, but as far as we can ascertain no loss of life beyond that of Mr. Barron, who was buried in the ruins of his house, and whose body was recovered the next day. Lord Charles Beresford has been the victim of his own good nature and confidence in the probity of the Heathen Chinee to the tune of £I4OO. A few years ago he imported to England, and took into his service a native of the Flowery Land, by name Tom Fat, to whom, amongst other things, he entrusted his cheque-book. Tom Fat toon became aware of the value of a solvent signature appended to one of those oblong-shaped bankers’ orders, and acquired a remarkable degree of skill in forging his master’s name. His plan was to tear out the counterfoil in the cheque-book, and to keep the pass book out of Lord Charles Beresford’s reach. So successful was the scheme that Tom Fat soon embezzled the sum already named. He has been found out at last, and has been sentenced to five years’ penal servitude. This may, or may not be, a warning not to employ Chinamen. It is certainly a warning to gentlemen to examine with some care the items of their current expenditure.