FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

Temuka Leader, Volume 2, Issue 155, 18 June 1879, Page 2

FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

The ‘ London Times’ says : An impulse has seized the negroes in the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, and in some of the other Gulf States, , to seek a fresh country and a new career, and they arc fleeing by thousands up the Mississippi in the hope of finding a kind of “promised land” in Kansas. Their numbers occasion no slight embarrassment to some of tbc towns on their route, particularly at St. Loiiis, Avhcrc they arc landed in order to exchange steamers. Most of them are destitute, and half of them arc . said to “reckon their worldly goods, all told, in a feather bed, a kettle, a few rags of clothing, and a stove-pipe hat.” , Under the heading of “Latest News,” the c Mnnawatn Times’ of "Wednesday contains the following, which will be interesting just now:—“Through- the courtesy of Mr Thomas King, storekeeper, of this town »■ wo have been favored with the . perusal of a letter received late last evening from some friends in Hawera. The writer (a lady) states that she expects to have to leave,at any moment, hut docs not wish to do so'without her husband, but thinks it wiser to have the children removed for safety. The Hawera: Light Horse, of which Mr Livingstone (a name conveying a wholesome terror to the black skins) has been elected captain, are at constant drill, and all the surveyors have been ordered in from the bush. Altogether the, letter foreshadows an impending struggle, and points with gloomy foreboding to-, a rupture close at hand.” The lady in question lives .about three miles out from Hawera, and close to (ho Waiugongora River. A gentleman in this office was at her house about a fortnight since, and although the native difficulty was talked about, yet there wore no indications that either the lady or her husband contemplated removing at that time.

Events since then, However, have been thickening; and it is hot to be wondered at that ladies should jW a little timid when war, and nothing - but war, is discussed. Tl>e brave'front .shown by the settlers, and the resolute . action forced upon the Government, will, let ns hope, enable the ladies to stay in their own homes, and tend to allay the anxiety under which they have been living for the past few weeks in and around the disturbed districts.

The Kings and Queens of Europe are making themselves socially as well as politically conspicuous this spring. That most eccentric of monarchs, the King of the Netherlands, having been disappointed in a prima donna, and having consoled Ids amatory propensities with a Princess of Waldeck, this week presented their new Queen to his subjects. The worthy mynheers gladly seized the opportunity for merrymaking, and gaily decorated the quaint streets and houses of Amsterdam ; but the aged King and his more than youthful bride they received with polite coldness. Of the Royal Family none were present. The heir-apparent never leaves Paris, where he leads the life of the ntterest Bohemian ; the second son is a paralysed idiot. The rest of the King’s famity crossed into Germany the night before the Royal entry, to escape the ceremony ; as they naturally resent the advent of the girl-queen. In some degree to console their Majesties, Queen Emma received from the Burgomasters'magnificent presents in diamond' jewellery, such as only Amsterdam— : the city of diamonds —can produce. As a contrast, instead of presenting a new consort to their peoples, the Emperors of Germany and Austria are receiving from them cordial greetings on the occasion of their golden and silver weddings.

Mr Sims Reeves is again prevented from singing - owing - to indisposition. He has been suffering - severely of late, the result of the trying weather,'and although his voice is fortunately unimpaired in power and quality, it will be impossible for him to shake off the effects of a continued influenza cold for some days to come. All his friends unite in hoping for a genial change in the weather, which will enable him to appear again, more especially as his constrained absence entails upon himself a considerable pecuniary loss and upon the public the refined pleasure of his singing. A secondary but net unimportant result of the attempted assassination lias been the wonder aroused at the proginatical interference of Russia in the affairs of other countries, while such a cankerous sore as Nihilism was rampant within all her own boundaries. The thing is easily explicable, Prussians in authority, from the Czar downwards, have long been fearfully aware of the revolutionary agencies and their work : by the absorbing interest of a foreign war ; by the proclamation of a crusade ; by the fictitious assumption of overwhelming diplomatic importance ; by the fostering of the national antipathy to England—by all these causes they ought to distract the disaffected. In the end they find Russia poverty-stricken, diplomatically worsted, and the very danger they sought to avert more threatening than ever. Despotism is now trying to set its heel on the ardent longings of a people for freedom. Such struggles in all ages from the times of Tarquin and Pisistratns to those of onr own Stuarts, have had but me ending, and it will be strange if Russia escapes the historical sequel. While the struggle lasts it v/ill exhaust all the energies of the governing parties, and Russophohism, never altogether eradicated from the British mind, will for a time at least be allayed. A dispute described as .“tremendous’ 7 is raging in Madras over a hair from the beard of the prophet Mahomet. The relic is enclosed in a case guarded by an official, who receives a pension from the Government, and six fanatical Mussulmans .are disputing for its possession. The High Court of Madras has been appealed to.