MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 351, 13 August 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The New York papers report a speech nr,do by General Sehneck at a banquet atDivton, Ohio. Speaking of the Washington Treaty, General Sebenek said ho was satisfied — yes, proud to have had a share iv stie'i n work. It was a good work :— As tune <j;ot'« on and all tli • various misapprehensions and ini«iindeis'andings whi.-h ha\e to nny extent prevailed on either side of tho Atlantic in regard to t lint work lade away, it "ill continue to stand and ho respected, I believe, as a monum»i t to murk the b-st mutually n<lvuntngeotis bargain cvi r nnde between these two E l.lishspeakinsr nations In England there id still some soreness felt. They were disappointed there in some of the awards made, and John Bull is very human. But John Bull is also sensible. He is just and humane also, and will not commit, but; xv ill do all that a proud nation may reasonably do to avoid a crime against civilisation. And would not war between theso two kindrc 1 nations have been a crime ? But pome one says, "Oh, the Alabama difficulties, if not settled then, would have left no necessary cause of war." Perhaps not ; I will admit we could have waited the working of the rule which the British Government was at first disposed to insist on. But there were other differences and questions also settled by the treaty. In that very season there was too much reason for believing that a collision would inayitably take place on the fishing grounds. A joint oceupaliou of the Island of San Juan, too, on our western coast had been kept up for long years on the condition of awaiting a diplomatic settlement of the title there, and an earnest, comprehensive attempt at such settlement failing, there must probably have come from one side or the other first a notice to quit, then force. Now, we are well out of it— well for both. We should have acquiesced in any awards that might have been made, as would they. England and the United States, their Governments and their people, are natural friends, in epite of what Goldwin Smith or any one else may teach or say. All they want — what they most need — is, to increase tl eir acquaintance with each other, in order to come to a closer, better, and more perfect understanding. In the cultivation of that our countrymen are taking the lead, but •we are quicker than they. John Bull is slow but sure. Let him alone, to move in hi 3 own way- If he is a little jealous aud a little distrustful of us, he is also at bottom not a little proud of us, If he had much to do with setting us up at the start, he has learned a good many things from us since. " Some rather curious information has reached the Paris correspondent of the Times from a very confidential source" ■with respect to a conversation between the King of Italy and Prince Bismarck on the occasion of Victor Emmanuel's visit to Berlin last year. The German statesman is said to have admitted that he made two great mistakes, the first being that he bad overestimated the military forces of France, and the second that he had under-estimated her financial re•ources:—He was perfectly informed of her military strength under arms, and of its inferiority to that of Prussia and her allies, but he had reckoned that there would be a great and formidable uprising of the nation after its first reverses— something resembling, perhaps, the self-sacrifice and enthusiasm to which the King of Prusia's appeal stimulated his people in ISI3. There was nothing approaching it. Under all the circumstances it was a mistake not to have overrun the whole of France, to have gone to Toulon and Marseilles, to Bordeaux and Bayonne, and so have let the whole country see and feel the power of Germany. As it was, more than half the country never felt the war. Some departments even got rich upon it. Large profits were made in various dis tricts owing to the great demand for certain things for the new levies j in other places the prices of the necessaries of life fell in consequence of the cessation of all demand for them from besieged Paris. In Prince Bismark's opinion the consequence of the lightness with which the conflict pressed upon two-:hirds of France will be a readiness to plunge again into war whenever she discovers, or fanoies she discovers, a favourable opportunity. A second mistake, in the German Premier's eyes is the not having insisted on an indemnity large enough to have crippled France financially for many years. Ten milliards would have done this. According to the correspondent Prince Bismarck, knowing and forseeiug that France would seize the first chance of revenge, expressed a desire to forestall his country's future and certain assailant, and to repeat the blows which he deemed to have been in the first instance too lightly dealt :— But how win the fresh strife to be brought about? Germany, too, had greatly suffered, and was weary of war. | Neither the German Parhament, the press, nor the people would be likely to approve the project. In this case a former ally might be of service to remove the difficulty. Prince Bismarck was at no loss to expose to the King of Italy the way in which this might be done. He knew by his agents in Nice and Savoy, that it would not be difficult to get up an anti-French cry in thoie ■countries — a cry for a return to Italy. This done, and made the most of by the u«ual machinery, the rest would quickly follow. The excitable Italians would be fired with a passionate enthusiaim for the redemption of their alienated countrymen ; there would be a rush to arms, and once more the old battle cry of " Savoia ! " would be heard. Prussia •would feel all her chivalry embarked in the cause of the people that fought by her side in 1866. She would strike in and drag Orer«iany with her. France would again be humbled and weakened, this timo more thoroughly and durably than the last, and Italy would regain what never ought to have been taken from her. But Victor Emmanuel, according to the correspondent, [showed no disposition for fresh military ventures, and turned a deaf ear to the voice ■of the Berlin charmer. " All the pews in our chapel were painted and varnished during the past mouth," says an American contemporary, II and while fixing Dr Clamm's pew the workmen accidentally left a large splotch of varnish on the back of it. Last Sunday, Dr Clamm'i.son Johnny, had had his hair pulled once or twice during service by Bullet's boy in the pew in the rear. After awhile young Mr Clamm became quiet, and placed his head right against this one mass of undried varnish. Presently he attempted to move, but the varnish had got among his hair, and it held him tight. After making one or two desperate but ineffectual efforts to release himself, he became very angry, and supposing that Bullet's boy was holding him, he said, in a loud whisper, ' Let go o' my hair ! Let go o' my hair, I tell you ! ' The minister paused just as he had entered upon the consideration of • thirdly,' and the congregation looked round in amazement, just in time to see young Clamm, with his head in statu quo, aiming dreadful blows with his fist at some unseen person behind him. And every time he struck out in this manner he vociferated, ' I'll put a head on you after church ! I'll go for you, Bill Bullet, when I ketch jpu alone ! Let go o' my hair, I tell you, or I'll mash yer nose, &c. The deacon, who came running up, thought tho boy had the nightmare and was talking in his sleep, and old Mrs Jones, in the pew in front, screamed for tho doctor, under the impression that Clamm junior was involved in a series of frightful convulsions, while Bullet's boy sat up at the end of the pew looking as solemn as if the sermon had made a deep impression on him. Finally the s?xton took out his jack-knife, and sawed off enough of Mr Clamm's bair to release him, and then dragged him out into the vestibule, while the victim kept glancing around at Bullet'B boy and shaking his fist at that urchin as if to indicate that he cherished deadly designs upon young Bullet. The contest, however, has been averted by an explanation, and we were glad to see, on Thursday young Clamm playing hop Scotch with Bullet's boy, in apparent forgetfulness of recent sorrows." A writer in tho Wairapa Standard says that a good many anecdotes are related about newly arrived immigrants now-a-doys. At Featherston it is cad that firewood, &c, vanishes in a mysterious manner, and, of course, the poor immigrants are credited with the disappearance. At East Taieri, in Otago, the other day, an immigrant by the Asia was found in a wbare beside a case which had been forced open. Around him were discovered in assortment of empty broken bottles. Because the poor man happened to be a newly arrived immigrant he was accused of exhibiting an undue partiality for liquor which did not belong to him. But what did the man say ? He indignantly denied the suspicion, and related how a big dog had come suddenly into the house, broken open the case, knocked the necks off the bottles, and drank the grog. The immigrant was so alarmed at the rampageous animal that he fell senseless on the floor in the position in •which he was found. The Otago police have not found the big dog yet ; but, of course, the immigrant was at once triumphantly acquitted. The Wanganui Chronicle says that a couple, very well known in the country, are arranging terms for a separation, to avoid the scandal of a judicial divorce, nnd a friend has been employed by tho husband to negotiate ihe matter. The latest mission was in reference to a vain lble ring given to the wife before marriage by the husband. For this he would make a certain much-desired concession. "What!" said the indignant wife, "do you think I could tear myself from a gift which alone recalls to me th« days when my husband loved me ? No ! this ring is my only souvenir of happiness for ever departed ! 'Tis aalandl — and here she wept — " that I now possess of a once fond husband." The friend, however, insisted. The lady supplicated— grew obstinate, grew desperate — tbrenianed to submit to a public divorce as a lesser evil than parting with tho cherished ring — and at last confessed that she had sold it six months before. A German correspondent writes to the Pall Mall Gazette: The cause of cremation is making further progress. The furnace intended for the experimental burning in Dresden is to be completed is a few weeks. Meanwhile a Cremation Society has formed at Vienna, under the appropriate title of "The Urn," and has obtained the Government's consent for instituting similar experiments. The furnace to be built in Vienna will be after the design of Professor Eeclam, of Leipzig. "The Urn" has a good roll of members to s'iow already, and every day is said to witness additions. In Zurich, Swiss papers affirm cremation is more spoken of and excites greater attention and zeal than even the proposed revision of the Fedaral Constitution, on which a vote is about to be taken shortly. An Irishman, speaking of a person's love of money, said : " I verily believe that if he wore an undertaker, It would be the delight of hit heart to see all mankind seized with a common mortality, that he might have the general burial, and provide s,carf» and hat-baucU for the survivors."

This colloquy took place between Counsellor Sealingwax and a witness who " would tivlk bick :',— " Do I understand you to say, sir, that tho prisoner is n thief ?" " Yes, sir— 'cause wliy, she confessed am- w is." •' And you »lso swear she worked for you, oven after poufo^i.m "' '• Yes, eir." Then wo understand that joa employ dishonest people to work for you, even after tiu-ir rascalities .uv contersed to you ?" " Of course ; how else would I gtt assistance lroni a luwyer ?" A candidate for the English P.nliiment said :— "Taking the estimates of Mr Dudley Baxter, winch is the incut favorable to tho existing state of thing.-", tho poor pay £30,000,000 of taxation, local and impennl on a very small mnrgm of surplus income above that needed for supplying the bnre necessities of HCe ; whereas tho rich pay £50,u00,000 of taxation, local and imperial on a surplus of £100,000,000." A curious modo of trying the title to land is practised in Ilmdostan. Two holes' are dug in the disputed spot, in each of which the plaintiff's and defendant's lawyer put one of their legs, and remain there until one of them is tired, in which case his client is defeated. In thh country it is the client, and not the lawyer, who puts his foot in it. Alsace-Loraine has sent this year, for the first time since the annexation, her deputies to the Reichstag flf Berlin. There were fifteen members to be elected. The German : candidates — by German, I mean those who recognised the conquest-polled barely 5000 votes out of 242,000 voters. The French candidates — or candidates of the protestation — were returned by overwhelming majorities. 1