Mail News.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2135, 6 November 1875, Page 3

Mail News.

Mr Gladstone, thanking a German author for the dedication of his work, writes as follows :—" Germany now holds the first place on behalf of the world in asserting the necessity of limiting spiritual powers to spiritual things." A baker in Portsmouth, whose establishment was burned lately, as soon as the fire around his ovens had sufficiently cooled off, opened them and took out the supply of bread and delivered it seasonably to his customers, as if nothing had happened. It is a notable fact that while not one ex-President of the United States is living, the wives of five of them survive— Mrs Polk, Mrs Fillmore, Mrs Tyler, Mrs Lincoln, and Mrs Johnson. At the Brewster Sessions held at Sheffield, a petition, signed by 1500 women, was presented against granting new licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors, and in favour of diminishing the number of existing licences. The magistrates replied that they would consider each application on its individual merits. A child in San Francisco lately died under very peculiar circumstances. It seems that the mother observed her child looking through the aperture in the board fence. After calling her several times and receiving no answer, the mother went to the fence and was horrified to discover that the unfortunate child was dead, having been literally strangled. It £g appears that the child got on to a piece of ff boa^i-fefc look through the fence, and, while so engaged, the unstable support slipped, leaving her hanging from the aperture with her toes barely touching the ground. In this position she must have been strangled in a few . minutes, as that time had scarcely elapsed from her departure from the house to the discovery of her death by the horrified mother. The Duke of Edinburgh, in company •with the Czar, paid a visit to the fortress of Qrangtadt a few days since. The Emperor acted as the Duke's guide, and pointed out to him in detail all the changes which have been made since the Crimean war at the recommendation of I General yon Todleben. On the occasion of his visit to the camp at Krasnoe Selo, the Duke of Edinburgh saw the Russian artillery practising with no less than 162 guns at a tinie, the force employed con» sisting of forty-two batteries—namely, thirty-seven field batteries and five mitrailleuse batteries. j Some soldiei-s discovered the body of a young woman in the lake of the .Royal Military Repository at Woolwich Common on August 30, and it has been identified as that of Anne Louch, aged sixteen, the daughter of a gunner in the Eoyal Artillery, who was himself drowned a few years ago. The girl had been missing since Thursday night, when her mother met her in company with a bandsman and reproved her, as her companion wa§ said tP be a married'man, against whqm 'sjje had been previously cautioned. She was still with him when seen at a later hour in the evening, but is supposed to have committed suicide, though she

must have climbed over a wall or parapet to get into the grounds of the Military Repository, the entrances to which are strictly guarded. A great misunderstanding exists botween several of the French Masonic lodges. As most Masons belong to the Republican, or even the Eadical party, the institution is naturally pervaded with a flavor of Atheism - and free thought, which' is not at all consistent with the fundamental principles of the order. Some of the initiated do, however, preserve their faith in the " Gi'eat Architect of the Universe,"' and boldly avow their sentiments. Hence the ties between the two parties are gradually loosening, and the Bonapartist members, ■ who were formerly .in a majority, separating from- the Badicals. Qhe speech which M. Littrd delivered a few weeks ago on " The Duties of IV! an towards God," and which was little else than a disavowal of the Creator, give a final blow to the harmony of the dissident Masons. Those who adhere to Freemasonry as a really Christian institution are unwilling to see their names coup'cd with such principles as set forth by M. Littre and other freethinkers, and openly announce their intention of founding another branch of the sect. The schism is already far advanced, and it is thought probable that the Radical Freemasons will turn their meetings into political reunions as soon as they are left completely alone. A correspondent of the Times writes: —" I think that it is a fact worth noting that only on the four following occasions since 1773 has the Bank of England minimum rate of discount been as low as 2 per cent, at which it now stauds—namely April 22, 1852, to January 6, 1853 ; July 24, 1862, to October 30,1862 ; July 25, 1867, to November 19, 1868; July 13, 1871, to September 21,1871." Mr Sydney P. Hall has been commissioned by the Prince of Wales to attend him on his tour in India for the purpose of illustrating it with sketches.

The trade of selling collegiate degrees in absentia is again flourishing. The supposititious " University of Philadelphia " seems to be doing the largest business in this direction, and to have its agents in various parts of England and on the. Continent.

A letter from Rome says :—" Those who fear that the chief of the Church may be deprived of resources can reassure themselves, as in a speech lately delivered at Florence Mgr. Nardi'told his auditors that the produce of Peter's pence still amounted to about six millions of francs. This is double the sum received annually by the Pope from the budget of the temporal Government at the period of its greatest prosperity. The late Emperor Ferdinand, of Austria, has left the Pope a legacy of 10,000,000 florins, which has already been paid to the Vatican.