CALOGRAMS.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3809, 14 March 1881, Page 2

CALOGRAMS.

[Keuter's Special.]

St. Peteesbubg, "March 13. Assassination of the Emperor of Russia. The Czar of Eussia was murdered today by the explosion of a bomb. London, March 12. The Position taken up "by England. In the House of Commons to-day, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone made a statement regarding the position of affairs in the < Transvaal. He announced that with a view to bring about ;a complete cessation of hostilities, and the permanent settlement of the difficulty, Peace Commissioners would be appointed in the Transvaal to undertake the negotiations with the Boers. Capetown, March 12. The news to baud from the Orange Free States announces that the population is at the present much excited over the state of affairs in the Transvaal. London, March 11. The fact of an armistice having been agreed to with the Boers, in the Transvaal, is receiving much adverse criticism in the press, and in political and military circles. The impression having got abroad that the armistice was sought by the British, there has been a complete disavowal of the statement that Sir Evelyn Wood had asked that hostilities should be suspended. It has, however, been communicated to the press by Mr Gladstone, who, moreover, stated that although no definite information is to hand as to the exact circumstances which led to the armistice, he believed the proposal for the same originated with President Board, of the Free States, who has for some time been using every endeavour to bring about peace.

The House of Lords has dismissed the appeal made on behalf of the convict Thomas Castro, alias Arthur Orton, known so well as the Claimant in the Tichborne estates, against the judgment of the Court of Appeal in June last, in discharging a writ of error, by which it was thought to prove against the decision of the Court of Queen's Bench in 1874, in awarding two successive sentences of penal servitude on the two counts of the indictment for perjury. The Divisional Court at Westminster has disallowed Bradlaugh's demurrer to plaintiff's reply to his plea in the action Clarke versus Bradlaugh, to recover penalties of £SCO each fro "a defendant for sitting and voting in the House of Commons without having first taken the oaths prescribed by the Act of 1866. In the Heuae of Commons to-day, the Irish Arms Bill was read a third time, passed, and transmitted to the House of Lords for confirmation. It is announced that England pays five millions sterling to the Indian Government as its share of the cost of the last Afghan war. Consols have risen £, and are now quoted at 99f.' Adelaide wheat remains at 49s 6d, ex warehouse, and New Zealand, ex ship, at 45s ; best Sydney copra, £15. Best Australian leather has declined to lid. At the wool sale to-day, 13,700 bales were offered. There was again a good demand. Constantinople, March 11. The negotiations which have been proceeding for the past three weeksbetween the Ambassadors of the Powers in this city and the Porte, with a view to determine the long-standing frontier dispute, are likely to have some result. It is now understood that there are signs that the Porte will be persuaded to agree to a conference for the settlement of the TurcoGreek difficulty.

Calcutta, March 11

Intelligence has been received from Afghanistan that the army corps which was despatched by the Ameer, Abdul Rahman, to Ghurznf-e, last month, as a precautionary measure against any movement on the pare of Ayoub Khan, will now be disbanded, as the force is no longer required.