ENGLISH NOTES.

Southland Times, Issue 1156, 10 May 1869, Page 3

ENGLISH NOTES.

(Spectator.) The Post Office seems to have discovered a scientific mare's neat. It has officially recommended a clever machine, invented by Mr Sloper, to prevent the theft of stamps. This machine perfor- ! ates the stamps with the initials of the person using them, " thereby rendering them useless,*' writes Mr Sloper, "except to their owners.'* How so? Suppose all stamps Used in Somerset House are stamped with the broad arrow atid a hundred are stolen and sold, how is the Poot Oiiioo to know that the buyers are not Government clerka ? Are they to open every letter P , 4?he Reform League is getting tired of itself, and no wonder ! Next Wednesday a resolution, already agreed to by "the Executive," is to be submitted to the League, declaring that, "having regard to the unadvisability of long-continued agitation," the League will dissolve itself, after carrying a few more little points. These are household suffrage in counties, better distribution of seats, a simpler and wider iodger franchise, and the Ballot. The man who says he shall commit suicide when he had made a million usually intends to live; and the League, if it adheres to this programme, will certainly last as long as this Parliament. The ' ratepaying clauses must go, and the Ballot will surely come, but Parliament has other work to do than tinkering the j Suffrage dgain. Household suffrage in tioiinties wili be, but every year helps the lad a educated in the National schools hearer to majority.

Mr Daniel A. Lange, English representative of the Suez Canal Company, advertises officially that the Canal will be opened to general navigation on Ist October of .this year. Its width will then be 74ft at bottom; 328ft at top* and its depth _26ft. We recommend shipowners to. wait a few months and see if the canal silts up, as a stay ih Alexandria or Suez till itis opened again will not be a profitable operation. The Poor Law Board has issued an order directing the Guardians of certain London parishes to refuse relief to abler bodied persons except on condition of work. " The Guardians shall within 30 days report to the Poor Law Board the place or places at which able-bodied male persons shall be set to work, the sort or sorts of work in which they or any of them shall be employed, the hours and mode of work, aud the provisions made for superintending the whole of the working." If the work is real work, and not oakum-picking, this will be an experiment, the result of which will be watched throughout ihe kingdom. Mr Goschen, moreover, has authorised the Guardians " ta. grant any relief which may lawfully be given by way of loan," another most useful experiment. "Why all relief to able-bodied persons under §0 should not be by way of loan we do riot see. A lot of little children, most of them under twelve, played pitch and toss near Stafford. Somebody accused them. The magistrates found them guilty, and fined thein sixpence each. Their mothers would have paid that, but the costs were £4 Os 6d. They were handcuffed* bound to a thick chain, and marched to Stafford for a month's imprisonment. They were met on the road by a gentleman, who inquired,,interested other gentlemen, paid the money, and released the children. Haa the children been the children of the magistrates who sentenced . them, their condemnation, would have been simply impossible; Mt Bruce's-political speeches in -Renfrewshire'have been very- goodv temperate, clear, and thoughtful^ His reasons for accepting the Ballot, which we think quite insufficient^ we have set out fully, and rebutted by what we think much stronger reasons. We are very;happy to observe that the Cabinet are determined to establish real religious equality ,in Ireland, and rather to err, if at all, by excess in over-scrupulous exactitude in removin_j.every ground of cavil thanby defeat. This is certainly a resolve on theright side, aud we are glad to hear that even as regards globes and parsonages there is to be perfect" Equality for the future — strict impartiality, whether obtained by substraction or addition. In another speech he gave some curious statistics which told as a graceful compliment to Scotland, and were certainly much more than complimentary to Scotland, creditable to her. Whereas, id England 1 in 1500 children are attending' may be called middle-class schools — i.e., secondary schools above the primary.. t— wliile in; Eranee : lin 500 attend such schools, and in Germany 1 iiiv2sp,r in Scotland, 1 in 201 of the population attend such schools ; so that while Bngland strikes the lowest educational note in the European scale, Scotland strikes the. highest,-— at least as regards secondary education. And even as regards the higher education,—University^ education,— where England rank_ Bigger,— while in England 1 in everj 2,500 of the population goes # to some University, and in Germany 1 in everj 2,600^ih Scotland 1 in every 1,00( attends the University, and of the Scotcl tThivetaity students 53 per cent.; — ihucl niore l than half, — come from the poo. schools, — the primary schools, — and no frdm th* middle-class schools, and onh 4S per cent from the jxiiddle-class schools No wonder Scotland returns no Tories t< speak of. MrFreshfield has read an interesting paper before* the Society oh the > ascent Which •he and his frieiid baa 1 made ;of the twd highest Alp« of th Oiitiiia^tt Kasbeit. he said, had diverted unduly the admiration of travellers fr6m L Elbruz, which is the 0 true moriarfch of the Caucasus, m consequence of its oyerhahging the* glen fnrough which passes the' regular ,; route from, Europe intd J 1 It was for this r^so,n that to KaSjjqk' : Was_ attributed t^/g-ory r of. being.. r the__3cene_ of. the fortune ok Prometheus, .and. .that, .in later timee a legend has grown up that there is

a rope hanging from the side of Kasbefc — visible only to the elect — which gives access to a holy grotto, wherein are to be 1 found the tent of Abraham, the cradle oi Christ, and other holy relics. The ascent of Kasbek was exceedingly difficult in parfcj the climbers having' to cut their way up a long ice-stair to which it was very* hard evdn With the help df kilee and band to cling. Kasbek appears to be about 1003 feet higher than Mont Blanc. Elbruz is 3000 feet higher. The distance between the two mountains is I^o miles, so that neither is, in ordinary weather, visible from the other. The ascent of Elbruz seems to have been, in some respects, less difficult than that of Kasbek. They ascended the latter on the 29th arid 30th and '31st of July Jast, not reaching the summit till the 31st. The last morning they started by moonlight, at 2 o'clock, with lightning playing on the steppes below them. The summit was of horse-shoe shape, and contained a volcanic crater. They believed that they distinguished the Black Sea from the summit. The Alpine Club, having now done the highest peak in the Caucasus, should attack the highest in the Himalaya.; "Why not try Kuncbinjunga ? It is only abont 10,000 feet higher than Elbruz* {Daily Telegraph) Not very long since it was impossible to open a newspaper without finding some fresh rumor about the young Marquis of Bute. The reports were so numerous and varied, that one enterprising publisher had the idea of starting "an organ" exclusively devoted to their circulation and discussion. The Marquis was about to be married, was already married, . would never marry, was a Papist, a Tory, a Protestant, a Liberal, a Whig. For some time rumor has been silent, but now it takes a fresh start, and we only give currency to the latest report in the belief that, if it^s true, there will be an end of the Marquis as a public character — at least for some time. We all knew that the young Peer quite recently became a Roman Cathoiic ; .and now it is said that he is about to become a Eoinan Catholic priest ! The mere rumor is enough to shake the. foundation of Exeter Hall. A young nobleman, who might lead such a jolly life, with £300,000 a year to spend — nearly all the pretty young women of high degree in England ready to marry him to-morrow — to think that he, the lord of. such a position, should take vows of priesthood and become an obedient servant of an autocratic Church ! This is certainly a renunciation of pomps and vanities which his sponsors never contemplated when they promised so much in his behalf. But look at the other side. A sum of £300,000 a year vanishing for ever into the capacious maw of the Church of ftome ? Why, Pio Nono might make war on Italy with such a revenue ! who knows how many Chassepota and Zouaves it may buy ? The Marquis is not the first man of f ank who has given up the world for the Churcih, but he. is probably the first English Peer who has done anything of the sort ; the report, if true, will excite more than the usual sensation. The women of Kansas seem determined to lead the way in that " social regeneration" of their sex which they believe to be among the coming events of our times. In Kansas it is better to be a woman than a man. She is far ahead of her sisters in other parts of the Union, and she has contrived to demolish the theory that lords of the creation alone wear coats and pantaloons. Even without the suffrage, women are more powerful in America than in England ; but in Kansas the "woman suffrage-' - party carries everything before it. True, the Legislature persistently tries to evade its commands ; but everybody has long foreseen that the women would triumph. This proud position might be enough for honor, but the Kansas ladies aim at glory. They will stand no nonsense from the inferior, 1 otherwise called the male sex. It would have gone heard with some of the topers . who "have taken several glasses too much, lately, if they had happened to be living in Kansas. The first novel sensation J which awaited them would arise from the sudden stoppage of their supplies. In all - quarters and at once the strong dripk taps would cease to flow. Tneir next discovery would be that their wives had power to regulate the traffic in stimulants. If a jman gets drunk, his., wife shall be en-; abled to prosecute any publican who dares thereafter to supply him with more drink. It befel lately that a misguided being named Homer Hayes went forth in search of refreshment, and found it in much abundance, He was weaker vessel, and he filled the * vessel too full. As 'Artemuis < Ward iised to say, he returned with a large quantity of, whisky concealed about his person. "What Kansas woman could allow that Bort of thing to go on ? Mrs Catherine Hayes at once arose in her vengeance. Having dealt with her tipsy husbandas seemed to her good, she published a notice, warning all whom, jt may concern that she would vigorously ' prosecute any spirit dealer who supplied drink td the creature called Homer Hayes. Poor Homer mifet have looked " real mean" the next time he passed the whisky shops. His lot is doubtless hard to bear ; ,_ but, when we glance down the police reports, we may sometimes be tempted to wish that British wives who are married to confirmed drunkards, could take the reform of their husbands into their hands, anc draw a sort of cordon round them, o: just sufficient circumference to make ii impossible ., that they should reach oul ithe hand for the fatal glass. But then we do not live in Kansas.