FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 959, 29 May 1868, Page 3

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

King Louis I. of Bavaria, it is said, leaves a fortune amounting to more than 250,000,000fr., or £9,600,000 sterling. It is asserted in the government circles at Berlin that the King of Hanover has at his disposal 40,000,000fr., without speaking of the famous treasure of the Guelphs. The ' Echo d'Oran ' has the following : — " No historical famine has presented td the saddened eyes of humanity so horrible a spectacle as that which is at this moment to be observed among the Arabs. Two days ago a native woman, in the neighborhood of Misserghin, killed her daughter, 12 years of age, and gave the flesh to her other children, and partook of it herself! The legal authorities hearing of the circumstance at once proceeded to the spot, and on entering the hut occupied by these cannibals learnt that the heart, the liver, and the interior portions of the corpse were eaten, because they would not keep. The mother was occupied in salting the flesh, cut up into pieces, exactly as is done with pork." The ' Invalide Russe ' gives the following picture of the frightful situation of Finland, where the population is desolated by famine :— " Every day," writes the clergyman of the parish, " more than 50 peasants present themselves at my house completely exhausted by hunger, imploring bread for themselves and their families, who for some time have been living on moss, hay, and the bark of the fir. This frightful famine is far from being local, aa the whole of this province is suffering under it. The last resources are exhausted, and the population has no other alternative than to eat hay and straw or die ot starvation." The royal decree which institutes the new order of the Italian Crown gives the following as the motive of the creation : — " The independence and unity of Italy having been recently consolidated by the annexation of Venetia, we have decided upon consecrating the recollection of that great event by the creation of a new Order of Chivalry, intended to recompense signal merit both in Italians and foreigners, and

especially such, as directly corcarns tbe interests of tbe nation. The order is divided into five classes : — Grand cordon, the number not to exceed 60; grand officer, 150 ; commander, 500 ; officer, 2000 ; and knigbt, indefinite." The " Courrier de 1' Allier " relates tbat a dreadful accident occurred on Sunday, March 8, in the commune of Arpajon (Oantal). A great number of tbe inhabitants were gathered together in a new church nofc yet fiuished fco hear the sermon of a Capuchin monk. Suddenly a cracking was heard, and tbe pulpit, supported only by a scaffolding, fell in with a crash, bringing do wnwithitthereverendoccupant, who was stunued by the shock. A general panic ensued, and a rush was made to the doors of the church by the congregation, when the accumulated pressure resulted in an awful calamity. Eight grown-up persons were crushed to death and fourteen grievously injured ; besides, five childi'en . were trampled to death, and ten others more or less bruised.