NEWS BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2537, 9 May 1881, Page 2

NEWS BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

BLACKMAILING. Recent social scandals in Paris have revealed the existence of certain clandestine associations which have im proved blackmailing into a perfect trade. It has always been thought that establishments of this kind were only found in the feuilletons of Emile Gaboriau, Xavier de Montepin, and other prolific sensational novelists; but it now appears that ingenious individuals have chosen as a calling to discover and keep account of any dangerous or derogatory actions in the life of well-known persons or those likely to become so, in the sole view of driving base bargains with the victims at some given period. It will be difficult for the police to reach these occult organisations, which flourish in mystery; but their effect has been clearly felt in some late painful cases and anyone in Paris conscious of a skeleton in a cupboard will live in dread that the secret blackmailers may have obtained the key of that receptable, and will assail him with threats to throw it open to the world unless he purchases their silence at an onerous rate. THE ARMS ACT. The Irish members laugh at the idea of arms being discovered in any considerable numbers in Ireland as a result of the Peace Preservation Bill. Arms of precision and ammunition are already being concealed in trenches, bogs, caverns, pits —in fields, in hedges, on the mountains and in the woods. Mr Dillon has declared that he did not believe 5000 stand of arras would be found by the Government in all Ireland, and yet, at the two last auction sales of Government small-arms, upwards of 100,000 rifles were knocked down to the highest bidder at a few shillings each. SIR GARNET WOLSELEY. It has been already announced that Sir Garnet Wolseley will be raised to the peerage. This dignity is conferred on the distinguished general in order that he may, in the House of Lords, conduct and explain the new scheme of military reform, which he will personally supervise at the Horse Guards. Sir Garnet had, of course, the first claim to the supreme command in South Africa. He is acquainted with every mile of ground over which the anticipated military operations will be carried on, and must naturally have been most anxious to undertake the task for which he is so well fitted. It has, however, been deemed still more important that his services should be retained at home in the important work of reorganising our military establishment. PRINCE BISMARCK. Prince Bismarck has been engaged in an altercation with a member in the German Parliament. In the course of a discussion on a Bill relating to the rating of houses occupied by public officials, Prince Bismarck was interrupted during his speech by a voice on the Left exclaiming “Shameful!” Prince Bismarck retorted, “ That is a shameless remark. The person who made it has no sense of shame.” Great uproar ensued, and the President said, “I failed to hear the expression ; otherwise, if I knew the deputy who made use of it, I should have called him to order.” Herr Struve, a Secessionist, then said, “I used the expression.” President von Gossler—“ Then I call you to order.” Herr Struve—“And what is to happen to the Imperial Chancellor, who said I had no sense of shame ?” Prince Bismark —“ I said so without knowing the speaker. I now withdraw the expression and say he has a sense of shame.” This remark was received with cheers from the Right. Finally, the Bill, against Prince Bismarck’s wish, was referred to a committee. I

PICKING OFF OFFICERS. The high percentage of mortality among officers serving in the war against the Boers, and which it is believed is owing in a great part to their distinctive uniforms, is to form the subject of a question to day to Mr Childers. Mr Gabbett will ask the right hon. gentleman whether the large proportion of officers killed recently in South Africa was owing in a large degree to the peculiarity of their dress as distinct from that worn by the men, the officers wearing blue patrol jackets in several regiments, the men of which wore rod ; while in the Highland regiments the officers wore red shell jackets and the men white; and whether the comparatively small loss of officers in Rifle battalions may not bo accounted for by the fact of their wearing a similar uniform to that of the men serving under them. MASSACRE OF CHINAMEN. From Lima there comes a very horrible account of the condition of the city after the battle of Miraflores, and before the Chilian troops had entered it and restored order. In the evening of the day alter the Peruvian defeat we are told, sinister groups began to parade the streets threatening the passers-hy, and boasting of the sacrifices they had made for tho country. Later on, stimulated by the liquor the leaders had given thou., and, moreover, fearing no consequence—for the authorities had abandoned the city—they gave themselves up to the greatest disorders during the whole night. Under the pretext of hunger they began to sack and burn all the Chinese shops, even to the larger and more elegant stores filled with silks and other precious Jstuffs of Chinese manufacture. Of these nothing remains but smoldering and bloodstained ruins, for there was murder added to tho robbery and fire. No fewer than three hundred Chinamen are believed to have perished in the streets of the city and the neighboring farms. One of the wealthiest Chinese merchants proves his losses to ascend to £149,000.

THE LAST SCARE IN LONDON. The atrocious murder of the Czar, followed by the abortive attempt to blow up the Mansion House, has given Londoners a new scare. Extra policemen have cropped up everywhere. There is a cordon of them around Marlborough House. Downing street is similarly watched, so are the public offices, and the Houses of Parliament might be in a state of siege. The alarm is no doubt much exaggerated. The Mansion House business was only a clumsy and primitive attempt at the best, and if it had succeeded its results would have been far from disastrous. The explosion of forty pounds of blasting powder in a wooden box would have damaged the walls, and smashed all the neighboring windows, but not much more. Probably it would not even have aroused a typical Lord Mayor, sleeping the sleep of the just, after a banquet of turtle and milk punch. The miscreants who were concerned in this outrage must have been either half-hearted or very ignorant. A knowledge of even the rudiments of chemistry would have enabled them to prepare an explosive of a far more destructive character. The materials of some such more dreadful compound than gunpowder might have been got in any chemist’s shop, and much more ingeniously applied.