General Summary.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3165, 10 April 1879, Page 2

General Summary.

It is stated that the Italian Gorernment have invited the English Cabinet to enter upon negotiations for a redaction in the tariff upon Italian wines imported into England. A telegram from St. Petersburg statea that the transaction of business has been greatly impeded by the indisposition of Prince Gortsohakoff, who has been unwell now for some weeks. ' • • »■■■•> General Todleben has telegraphed, to Prince Lobanoff that the evacual*(a of Adrianople will commence immediately. All available transport waggons are being requisitioned by the Russians.The Paris Correctional Court hare inflicted a fine of 200 Of. on the Bevolution Francaise for publishing artioles signed Valles and Arnould, members of the Com* mune in 1871. •■ -, , ; .- r , r /; .:,.- • I f i , r :l Contradiction is given to the rumour which has been circulated, to the effect that England has agreed to sell the island of Heligoland to the German Government, and that the price had ever been fixed.

The Bordeaux Court of Assizes, has sentenced M. Delcbecque, Director of life Mint, to six years' imprisonment and a fine of HS.OOOfr. for embezaling bullion to the value qfl,4oo,OOQfr., which wai lodged in the Bordeaux Mint by Messrs Rothschild. ,

The Queen of the Belgians is abont to present to each member of the deputation of the Belgian women who congratulated Her Majesty on the twenty-fifth mniTer* sary of the royal marriage a "souvenir "'eon* sisting of an engraved testimonial signed by Her Majesty.

A telegram from Alexandria says tiiafc arrangements are being made by Me Rivers Wilson to establish a National Bank, or Egyptain Credit Fonder, with* «3 capital of four million sterling. A. powerful group of English and French bank«rt! and the Imperial Ottoman Bank hare been jointly offered the concession. , The manager of the Parisian Radical journal Lanterne has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment, to pay a five of 2000fr., and to hare the judgment

inserted in the Lanterne and five other newspapers for having published, articles libelling functionaries attached to the Prefecture of Police.

The. Spanish Government has ordered a war vessel to be despatched to Puerto Plata, to demand reparation for tho insult recently offered to the Spanish flag by the arrest and execution of two insurgent generals who had taken refuge on board a Spanish steamer. England and Portugal having agreed as to the terms of the joint action to be taken in the suppression of the traffic in slaves between the Mozambique and Madagascar, an appointment of a British Consul for the Mozambique will shortly be made, and a consular court established.

It is stated that the picture of Saint Jerome, stolen from the Cathedral of Toledo, has been found in a wine-shop, together with thirty rifles, intended for Albaccte and Alicante. Six persons have been arrested on suspicion, and a judicial investigation has been opened. Prince Bismarck's Protect ionist policy ia, according to the Berlin telegrams, meeting with much opposition in Germany. The correspondent of the Morniuffpost says that, as the majority of the members of the Reichstag are opposed to the policy, a dissolution is expected within a month.

Some correspondence has recently passed between llussia and England with reference to the English fleet in the Sea of Marmora. The English Government has informed the Russian Government that tho fleet will only bo withdrawn after the evacuation of Turkish territory by the Russian troops. Germany has just lost one of her most eminent scientific men, Dr Benedict Stilling, who died at Cassel on Jan. 29. As a praotioner, he ranked among the first in his profession, and his researches in anatomy and physiology have given him a world-wide reputation. He had just put the last touches to a voluminous work on the anatomy of the brain. The Roumanian Chamber of Deputies has voted the bill for the reorganization of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which provides that Roumania shall be represented by Ministers at the Courts of the Great Powers, and at Athens, Berne, and Brussels. Provision is also made for the establishment of a very large number of consulates.

The hew palace built by the British GoTernmenfc for Her Majesty* representatives at Rome, or rather that portion of it already completed, was opened on Feb. 14. Sir Augustas and Lady Paget entertained a large party of English residents and visitors at dinner, and received a numerous assemblage afterwards.

The Russian Government has sent a number of engineers to Siberia to survey the course of the rivers Obi and Yenesei, with a view to constructing highways between the manufacturing districts of Tomsk, Tobolsk, and Yeneseisk and the harbours which it is proposed to establish on the. Northern Sea. Several officers of St. Petersburg Custom Department have also left the capital to make arrangements for next year's sea trade, which is expected to be on a very large scale. The death is announced of Princess Lucien Murat, the widow of Prince Lucien Murat, who was the second son of the King of Naples and Queen Caroline Bonaparte. The late Princess was the daughter of Mr Thomas Fraser, a Scotch gentleman, who after serving in the English army during the war with France, retired and settled in America. Since the fall of the Empire she has lived in absolute retirement.

Berlin newspapers state that at the first subscription ball of the Berlin season, held at the Opera House on Feb. 1, the German Emperor appeared in such excellent health as to occasion such surprise among those who saw him. But for his still carrying his fight arm in a sling there was nothing to show that he had only recently recovered from a severe illness. The ball was well attended by the Court, by diplomatists, the officers of the army; indeed, for the greater part of the evening it was too crowded to admit of dancing. On the other hand, the absence of the haute finance was generally noticed.

Precautions against the plague continue to be taken by various European Governments. The Council of Public Health in Madrid has decided that all vessels from the Black Sea shall be subjected to quarantine on their arrival in Spanish ports. The Hungarian and Roumanian Governments have agreed to adopt protective measures on a large scale along the Bessarabian and Transylvan.ian frontiers. The Italian Government has ordered all vessels arriving from Greece and the Black Sea to be submitted to quarantine for twenty days and all mails to be fumigated. The Porte has ordered all vessels from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof to be placed under medical supervision for one day, and all goods likely to spread contagion to be disinfected.

An order has been promulgated in Tahiti to the effect that no Chinaman will be permitted to land in the islands without a written " residental permit" from the Government. Any Chinese wishing to reside in the country must apply for leave^ta the authorities, who will make theTaefcessary inquiries as to the character and ability to work of the applicants, and | any Celestial presenting himself without authority will be sent back by the first ship. "If," the order goes on to say, 11 he has not the means to pay his passage, he will be made to work in the Government dockyard until he has earned enough to pay the sum necessary to defray the expenses of his repatriation." The winner of the grand prize of 125,000f. in the French Exhibition Lottery just issued, is a journeyman currier named Aubriot, a native of Toul, and the occupant of two rooms on a fifth floor in the Rue Cardinal Lemoine. He is forty-five years of age, is a steady workman, and learnt his good fortune from a newspaper. He held eight tickets. . His master took him to the Trocadero to establish his claim. The second and third prizes are still unclaimed, but the fourth of 50.000 F. has fallen to an insurance, company's clerk. Figaro, however, declares that the first prize has been won by a widow, a concwge, of the Boulevard Kochechouart. Other statements are rife as to the winner of the £5000 prize, some asserting that it has fallen to a cafe waiter, some to a grocer's boy, while others maintain with equal persistence that a commercial traveller is the favored indiridual upon whom fortune has smiled The Daily Telegraph says the winner of the grand collection of brilliants is really and truly none other than a tobacco vendor near Valentio's. A strange story connected with the lottery was going the round of Rouen a few days ago. Last week a railway employe of that town,

by way of bravado, lit his pipe with ticket No. 955,089, nnd that there might bo no doubt on the sulijt ct he chalked the figures on a wall in the presence of several of his comrades. JNow, chance has so willed it that tho number in question has turned out a famous prize, and hnd (he employe only been able to produce his ticket he would have received the sum- to him a fortune—of 24,000f. The despair ot the unfortunate fellow may well be imagined, the other 300 prizes were of the most miscellaneous character, artistic and useful, varying from paintings and bronzes to jewellery and knick-knacks, from carriages and furniture to lace and Cashmere robes.

j An eye-witness, who lives at Basle, has sent an account of the great avalanche which fell on the St. Gothard route at five o'clock in the afternoon of Jan. 24. The long procession of sledges started from the hospice at the summit of the pass soon after four o'clock, and descended towards Airolo. At' the first great bend in the road, not far from the little refuge house known as San Giuseppe, the two chieftains of the caravan noticed with alarm that a huge snow ■ mass was breaking loose from the top of the mountain. Immediately the cry " Backwards ! " was raised. Every one sprang in an instant from the sledges, and rushed up the road as fast as possible. The avalanche thuudered down, aud horses and carriages were buried in a moment under the tremendous heap of snow. Fortunately no one of the company lost presence of mind, but all returned to the buried horses and sledges, and began the work of excavation with hearty goodwill. All the horses, except two, were dug out alive. No human life was lost, though one pas- j sengers was so benumbed that he was with difficulty restored to animation. The passengers were to much worn out and excited to continue their journey, so the horses were fastened to the sledges, and whole party re-ascended and spent the night in the St. Gothard Hospice, where they amused themselves with telegraphing the news of their wonderful escape to the journals and their friends.

It is a rule of etiquette in Arkansas that no true gentleman will eat with his leg thrown over the back of his neigh* hour's chair, if he can help it.