General News.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3762, 18 January 1881, Page 3

General News.

Trafdftr must be reckoned as one of the.dect§|re battles of the world, more to even ;,th|j| Waterloo. At Waterloo we „ «•*«< (footed by the " Prooshians," -ftHwiW^'-in the renowned bay we were conjilfred by our own indomitable phiek. ;|pUl the glory of that day .wa» won by British hearts of oak, led by : one of the bravest men the world ever 1 saw. Had we .beetf^ibeaten, the results .would hkjre been- disastrous to our com- ■ merce, we should have lost the command of the Mediterranean, the way to India would not have been opened, and naval prestige would have been destroyed. Happily for England of that day, and all the days, since, " brave kelson led the ran," and on tjb^ttt October 1805, the combined fleet* ■'IjFPranee and Spain—our hereditarr foea—ttid to lower their flags to the **Wnj% r< Jack of Old England." A few of Britain's old voterans annually comemorate Jhe anniversary of thatJjrilliant engagement. Their number every year becomes fewer, and they are justly regarded as heroes by the nation at large. .Out; warships, are not now the thiogs of beauty they used to be. Gone are the stately line-of-battleships and smart frigates, but our jolly seamen are the same as ever, although they roan iron in lieu of wooden walls. Every Briton feels proud of the Royal Navy,and its achieve* ments, hence the popularity of our ▼blunteer sailors, in the shape of Naval Bifigtdes, Naval Reserves, and Naval Artillery Corps. , Alderman t Bennett, the Mayor of Leicester, has given £200 to form the nucleus of a library for the Nonconformist ministers of Leicester and Leicester* jhire. The esfl^nvpress, Eugenic derives her revenue ftj&i' three sources—the product of savings and speculations, the insurances on the "Emperor's life, and the real estate which the Empress bought in her own name When-she was on the throne. Stanley "went to Africa, and found - himself by turns a mere newspaper correspondent, a soldier bent on extermination, and a missionary called upon to extend the faith of his race. Feeling, for a, wonder, some incapacity to act the lastnamed role, he came home with a piteous story of kings in the dark continent crying for some knowledge of the gospel. It needs no telling that his story produced an fimmediate subscription. Two anonymous donors gave between them £5,000 for an expedition. It was duly equipped and despatched, Sad to say> the natives responded ratlfer badly. Instead of themseifes seeking to go to heaven,, they seirt the missionaries thither with a rapidity which rather- startled us at home. Within the last few days, the second of the donors of the £5,000 hai died, and I am at liberty to mention their names. The first, the Bar. Henry Wright, was recently drowned in one oftheCumberlaud lakes; the second Mr Wilson of Sheffield, has jnst passed away; Mr Wilson -actually gave £10,000 a year in charity! and sometimes spent a whole year's income upon it. . - •• From the American papers just mailed to England* it seems that the latePresi- ;-

dential contest was preceded by quite a betting furore. A few hours before the votes were cast, the excitement rose to a pitch which had not been equalled in any | previous contest for the Presidency. It was evening, and all Broadway was a surging mass of speculators. From seven o'clock, we are told, an incessant stream pressed and thronged to the various betling stands. There was the professional sporting man, easy of ear and quick of eye, lounging idly about, but always ready to pounce on the new comer who offered to bet. There was the " sidewalk politician," whose impatience for the morrow had overflowed, and could not be restrained till he found congenial topics to discuss. There, too, was the steady, canny business man, who ventured in with the purpose of making an experiment at easy fortune making. The Clerk was abounded. Spruce and chatty, and eager for information, he crowded to the railings with liis ear open for every remark, and his hand clutching his salary or savings. There was even an occasional mechanic—hard fisted fellows, incredulous, suspicious, and anxious about where their hard earned dollars would do most good. All, through the evening the stream of faces poured on, and the crowd swayed and chatted and bantered one another as they offered and took the odds of 100 to 30 on Garfield, with the result which by this time is pretty well known.

No man of good feelings can enjoy the least comfort if he be not conscious of working for, or having honestly come into the possession of, fully as much as he Bpends. To persist in living beyond our incomes is to live a life of dishonesty; and to subsist on the industry of relatives, as is sometimes the case with the idle and the dissolute, is worse still, for it involves an excessive meanness of spirit and hardhearted ness, thus adding depth, to the crime, and will be sure to be visited some day with feelings of anguish and remorse.