NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2635, 19 June 1877, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

(COMPILED FKO3I THE lIOME NEWS.)

In the House of Lords on April 30, Lord Derby, in reply to a question, said that the British Government did not concider that the Emperor of Russia represented the views of Europe in the course he had adopted.

In the House of Commons on April 10, Mr P. A. Taylor's "annual" resolution for the immediate abolition of flogging in the uayy was negatived by 164 Jtp 122. .... On the motion of Sir It. Anstruther a committee of the House of: Commons has been appointed to enquire and report on .the petition- of Lord- Cochrane praying for the payment of the arrears of halfpay contended to be due to the late Lord Dundonnld for the period between bis removaLfrom, and restoration to the navy, those arrears having been bequeathed-to the petitioner under his grandfather's will. • -. ■

In the House of Commons on April 24, the motion of Mr Shaw, Home Buler, " for a select committee to enquire into the nature, .extent, and grounds of .-the demand made by a large proportion of the Irish people for the restoration to. Irejand . of an Irish Parliament, with power to control the internal affairs of Ireland," was, after a long debate,- negatived by 417 to 67.

On April 26, it was stated in the Houses of Commons, in answer to a question, thauHobart Pasha has - been informed that? since the war has broken out he will not be permitted to combine the character-of an officer holding Her Majesty's commission and of apadmiral engaged, in, carrying on active operations against a Power with which her Her' Majesty is in friendly relations.. ."*'." ■ • „A resolution introduced to the Hbuie. of Commons by the O'Donoghue.for the improvement. of the land tenure in Ireland was negatived by 189 to 65.

In. answer" to,at letter from the Eishog.of "Neyers to the Cabinet Council of Prance, asking Marshal MacMahon to intervene in favour of the Pope, the Minister of Justice was charged to express to the ,- Bishop of -Nevers the! Marshal's: entire" 1 disapproval of his' letter, adding that the' Marshal,,as a fervent friend, of religion, sees with, pain the clergy' intervening in.' internal, and, still more in foreign,, 'j)6litics. ..„ \ , ' ' The appointment .of ex-Colonel Baker to the command of a brigade has been cancelled, on the recommendation of Redif Fasha, who says the Turkish army does not require any European officeris.A After the declaration of war against Turkey by Russia, and the publication-of the Ccar's manifesto;'there was. a "solemn servic. in the Kremlin Cathedral, Moscow, ~>n<\ in all the other churches, wiich werr Cj' wded. >-'-.• ■*•'•"." Tk Imperial manursto has been read in all the Russian churches, but, in spite of affirmations to the contrary,"the enthusiasm is great only in the army. The. nation is rather silent and resigned." The Emperor himself seems thoughtful. ■* The roads in jßoumania are deep in mud, rendering military movements difficult. The difficulty with the African King of Dahomey is likely to be .settled.. The King is ready to give satisfaction to the English Government, and apblogise^Lbot asks for an abatement of-, the. fine to be ■ paid. The newly*consecrated Bishop ofJMelanesia, son of the BishopV of-Lichfield, in writing to an episcopal coadjutor, com* plains of the continued existence of kidnapping in the South Pacific. -The annnal. .grand festival of English Freemasonry was held' on April '25 at o Freemasons' Tavern. Previously to the festival a Grand Lodge was held, when the appointment'o£ Grand Officers was made. The Prince of Wales is* Grand Master, the Earl of Carnarvon Pro ftrand Master; Lord Skelmersdale, Deputy Grand Master; the Duke ,of, (Ponnaught,.. Senior Grand Warden; Prinoc jLepjfud,^ Junior Grand Warden.

. Lord Beaobhpfield has ..written, in answer to a communication from the Lord Mayer of London regarding, the proposed Imperial Museum for India and the Colonies,;;that .the^Board^ of.,,Tre^BUTy cculd see no prospect of its being within the power of Her Majesty's Government to undertake during the present financial year any portion of .the neoesiary wprks for the Museum, . .r v_; : ■-. J

"Atlas," writing in the World, saya that Princess Mary of Hariorer, after taW.ng eight months to make up her mind, has finally refused the,hand of her cousin, H.E.H. the Duke of Connaught. Lord Marcus Beresford has paid the fine of £109 and costV inflicted upon him for assaulting his solicitor.' He; has further been bound over, to keep-the peace for twelve months". William Henry Wood, the defaultfag assistment secretary pf the Cdlney Hatch Gas Company—who came oat to Auckland in the-May.. Queen .under the .name of Jackson—has been committed for trial. On April 13 the remains of Sin. John O'Connell, the widow of tho Liberator's. favorite son, were consigned to the grave of the O'Connells within "the circle in" Glasnevin. ; yhe chief mourners at tho funeral were her sons and her Bon-in-law, Mr James Sullivan. , On April 8 the Bishop of Lichfield, than whom-no :oue. was .more competent to speak on the subject; delivered the first of a series of lectures in the parish church of St. James', Piccadilly, on 'iThe Work of -the Church." ..The bislop's sermo-i was founded.upon the tenth verse of the thirtieth chapter of : the prophecy of E;: iel. It contained an urgent appeal i -1 the outgrowth of a larger measure o" n>,sicnary effort in the Church, and the' preacher :spoke, 'not'only of "his own efforts in New Zealand,, which are well known, but of Chose who are now working in India and the colonies and dependencies of the, British/Crown! It was, how-" ever, rather a general statement of results than detailed operations in the various parts of the , world with-which Bishop JSelwyn is so well acquainted. . . / On Monday, the 3Qth April, the Canterbury and New Zealand; Land Company (Amendment) Bill, was read.a third, time in the House of Lords and passed. On April 11 a schoolmaster, who had been dismissed, made his way' into the chamber where the Drome CouncilGeneral was sitting and stabbed tbe : prefect, inflicting serious injuries.!. The.man also wounded three other members of the council. ' - - . n . -The Duke Decazes announced at the Council of Ministers that he had received from Berlin and London formalaMurances .of the pacific and conciliatory disposition of Germany towards France, and these; assurances had been directly confirmed by Prince yon Hohenlohc.

On account of the campaign carried on by the Bonapartist journals against the Paris Exhibition of 1878, it has been

deemed expedient to again affirm that there was never any intention of delaying the exhibition, even in view of the present events. The exhibition is, moreover, a material proof of the pacific resolutions of France. At a meeting of the Cambridge University Boat Club it has been decided to give the crew of the University boat geld medals, as if they had won. It was also resolved to take steps to erect a Universily club-house at Cambridge. Mrs Higgin, of Quarry Bank, West Derby, whose sudden deith has just been announced, has bequeathed the munificent sum of £24,200 to the Liverpool charities. The Seamen's Orphan Institution is benefited to the extent of £5000, five other institutions receive £2000 each, seven receive each &100 D, four £500 each, and one £200. These amounts are exclusive of the sum of £10,000 distributed among the charities by Mrs Higgin shortly after the death of her husband, the late Mr Eobert* Higgin. ' Early one Sunday morning a servantgirl, aged fourteen, murderously attacked her mistress, Margaret Wenden, aged seventy-eight, of Yoxford, Suffolk. The old lady was in bed, when the girl battered her head with a billhook, rendering her Unconscious ; fora long time. The girl was about to go by the train for London when apprehended. Mrs Wenden lies in a critical condition, and her depo-sition-has been taken. The girl has-been remaned by the magistrates, to 7 see whethlfshe woman recovers. -:-. M. Paul de Cassagnac has been sentenced by the Court, of Assizes at Paris to two months' imprisonment and a • fine of 300f. for having published articles in the Pays attacking the public powers. ■ A universal amnesty has been proclaimed in Spain. Soldiers and officers of all grades who may have aided either Carlist or Federalist rebellion are mised pardon if they surrender within thirty days from April 21. ' '[ A Roman telegram says that Prince Louis Napoleon atrd. the Empress Eugenia have,, through Cardinal Bonaparte, sent .assurances to the Pope that the Prince, during his recent v visit to.Kome, was not made a Freemason, as somebody has reported. : [Regarding the removal of Cleopatra's Needle, thef correspondent of the Daily News: at Alexandra telegraphs :—" Mr . Carter,,Mr Dixon's agent, has obtained' permission ;from M. Demetrio, the owner of th*ii Jland t>ri which Cleopatra's Needle lies, to ?fetapre the same on obtaining an order from the ; Egyptian Government authorising him; to hand over the monolith. Mr; Carte£ n^s. gone to Cairo for this purpose;" ' fj^.l.' , .'■ ■■ -.■■'•.--.;■ ':■' ' - ■■■■'-.' : : The Japanese ambassador at Berlin has just been married to;FrauLein yon Bade, the daughter of a Pomeranian nobleman; The tciyii'" ceremony-.was performed at Berlin, but none of the Evangelical clergy there, would =-bestow :the; blessing of; the Church on the union of .a Christian with a^ Buddhist. The religious sanction was therefore sought at Bremen, and was-given by Dr Manchot, minister of the - church of-. St. Kembert in that city. ' >"•;;■: ■•^■■..■- Turkejr is reported td have received from,.Ehode Island manufactory, in America^ within the last two years 300.0C0 breach-loading nfles of similar pattern to the Martan^H^ Go-' Terument" is statedi'to expect 200,000;; mor.e^iogether-with an-immense quantity of cartridges; ißussia^^has/alsoßeceived a large supply, of improved arms from the United States; : > -I-:■. -; : ;

The Hon. Mrs Hobart, wife of Admiral Hobart Pasha, died on April 13, and was interred at the English cemetery at Scutari. The funeral was attended by a very large concourse of English ladies as well' as gentlemen, an evidence of the high esteem in which the deceased lady was held.- The chief mourner was Mrs Hobart* s niece, Miss Boyd, the Admiral being too much overcome by the suddenneis of his bereavement to attend the funeral ceremony. A curious and distressing, case has recently been under the consideration of the police at Moscow. A few months ago a Russian peasant, with his wife and four children, were travelling in a sleigh along the banks of the Pruth, when they were pursued by a pack of wolves. The peasant urged on the horses as much as he could, but soon perceived the horrible fact that the wolves were fast gaining upon them. At the moment when the sleigh was surrounded by the ravening beasts, theinan seized one of the children, threw it in the midst of them, and while the wolves wer,e struggling over their prey he hastened on his horses and gained ground. Four times the wolves came up with the fugitives, and four times the Horrible sacrifice was completed. At last the peasant and his wife arrived at the nearest village, leaving behind them; the )boriesi of their; four children. In the bitterness of her despair the mother ■ informed, against her. husband, but the judges; Considering that if the peasant had not resigned himself to the. horrible sacrifice he would not only have lost his children; but also ''his wife, acquittedithe prisoner. 0 -