ITEMS BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1811, 14 February 1884, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

*• It is stated that several distinguished savants have written to Prebidont 'Jrevy asking him, on the occasion of the celebration of New Year's Day, to paidnn Prince Krapotkin, who still remains in prison at Clairvaut . The Prince is in ill health. ♦ Mr Walton, late of St. James's Hotel, New York, better known as the "American Plunger," is said to h.i\e dropped $130,000 during his recent \isifc to Eng land. He returned to New Yoik leaving some of his racing accounts unsettled. Legal proceedings are about to be taken to settle who is mayor of St Ives. On the 9th of Noveml)cr tho outgoing mayor voted for himself as councillor, and there being ,v tie he gave his casting vote for himself, rlecl.uing himself elec ted. This is challenged, on the gtound that the retiring mayor has no ongiual Vote, but only a casting vote. One hundred town cleiks hive been asked their opinions. Fifty hold that the mayor had an original vote, eighteen take a contrary view, and the lemainder decline to hazaid any opinion. At a meeting an attempt to compioinise failed ; the matter must now come before the judges.— Pall Mall Budget. Onr contemporary, fioi/icss, asserts that American hotel keekcis are begin- " ning to feel the 1 hairy ot the Palace railroad cats. It is no longer uncommon for them to be used for neaily all hotel purposes. Many tiavellors not only sleep in them but take there all then meals ; and that it has happened that people have gone in a palace car from city to city, calling upin the hotels scarcely at all. Tins custom miy in crease more than decrease, and theic is no saying what the hotels can do aboit s A nephew of Lieutenant - Colonel Sudeiken, who was wounded by the Nihilists who killed his undo, lias died from Ins lnjiuies, and the C/ar is raid to > be perfectly cia/y with rage at this additional success of his enemies. As usual, he had to find someone to vent hi? \ choler on, and tins time it was Count Tolstoi, Minister of the Interior Tolstoi has, consequently, resign jd lie was a faithful, able, and energetic puhl c officer, and the lin penal bul!> will iind it hard to replace him. The fearful curse from the d\ing Clement upon the unhappy Cl.iudnn i> about as fine a specimen ot "stiong language," not to siy lino wilting, at has been neaid on tlie stage fur many ad ly. Heie it is : "Be young foiever thiough the centuries, see generations bom and age, and die, and all who flatteicd, scivcd, 01 loved thee dust ; but thou live on. Thy course, like bineful stir acioss the sky, shall blight and withei all upon tin track. To love tlice, 01 t> 1)j beloved bj thee, alike shall poi-on, maun and kill The innocent sunshmo shall die out be fore thee, and the black shadow of imsfoi tune follow. Thj poul shall hunger, thirst, and famish to do good, and tiy in vain to do it. The happiness as puie as crystal well, touched by thy lip^, shall become muddy at its souice. Thy pit} Bhall envenom what 'tuould soothe, be poison to tlu wound, till thou couldst pray for the haul heait a'jrain tliou hast to-day. Thy chniit). w lirli might have comfoited one-halt the kingdoms p"or, breed pestilence and nun— until the vaulted looks shall split, a gult 1)3 struck 'twixt tliee and me, then thou slnlt choose | either to die or live accuiat till doom. " Prom crying lips this c.use fiom heaven has fallen." — Couit Joainal. A robbsiy, undei cxtraoulinaiy cir cumstances, was committed on Dec. 7th ' in the stieets of Pans M Sonano, a Spanish Prefect, was liemg dihcn in a cab from the hotel whcie ho had been staying to the lailway station. Amongst his bajgage on tho cab v\as a trunk, containing impoi taut paj)fi&, five thou-and v francs in gold and y w cl% a. id objects of ) art to the value of iifty thousind fiancs About hilf wiy to the statio l the duvei was staitled l>\ one of the ti links filling upon him. \hi pulled up, and vvareplacing it, when he saw tint a laigj trunk was mining. Tins pioved to be the one in which the. ti casino was packed So dexteiously had it bjen dbstia.frjd that neithci thcdiher noi I is faie had remarked anything until ono of the othei trunks had fallen as descubed. — Public Opinion. A few days ago a most renmkible < man died i i the waid of a New Yoiix hospital. His name wis Isoi ke. Hjhms a iiioi r ue keeper, and gi inly hoisted that he had handled mo.c dead Indies aud a* sisted at moie post moitems tiian any man in the woild. In cert an select circles 1 c was highly respected, and he is said to have cut a quaint hguio as chanuian of those convivhl meetings of which undertakers, co hu makeis, giave-diggeis, s bier cauierj, mutes, and dcaleis in the \ dead used to bo the honouied menbeis. Grim Borkc was a quiet cieatuie enough, and facetious peisou* sometimes ventiued to throw doubts on bio statistics. He disliked quizzing, and repudiated tne claims of fashionable physicians and other rivals in his line of business " Fifty-thousand bodies I have had the handling of in my career— men, women and childien. ' After a social evening with his select fiiends (w he i in a pathetic and communicative fiame of mind) he used to declaie, with teats m his eyes, that he could furnish plots foi the novelists of half a do/;ii geneiations " Ah !'' he used to add (although in his early yeais he never followed any othei occupation than buck making, he was a man with liteiaiy tastes,) •' if 1 had but kept a record of all those bodies, some stabbed, some shot, some chipping with water, all with a story to tell, whit an autobiography I could have wutten !" Their faces did haunt him sometimes at \ night, though he was, foi tunately, not a f man of tender suspectibditiw, and is re- . ported to have had a weakness foi nun Borke's career began in 1870, when he was brought to the Bclluvue Hospital as a patient He never hilly recov eied, and was allowed to remain m chaige of the morgue. Unfortunately he was unpatriotic enough to hate int^i viewers. A Nemesis ovei took him. He is gone to his grave obscure and unknown. — Pall Mall Gazette. - The Nihilists have doi.e themselves and W their cause more harm than good by the murder of Colonel Sudei'iui. It is true that he was one of their most formidable enemies, since it is said that nobody else in Russia was so well acquainted Avith the secrets and tactics of the Nihilists. But on the other hand, he is reported to z; -have been just and humane, which it is '*' Wghly improbable that his successor will -be. The effect produced upon the Czar by the assassination of his valued and trusted officer in anything but favourable to the Nihilist cause, and the hopes of ' the Russian people generally. For some time back he had been contemplating to niake several important constitutional concessions, but all these he has now thrown aside, and is now said to be firmly resolved on adopting the mo at stringent and unbending measures. The Russian people at large ought to be as grateful to the Nihilists as the Irish to the Feniaus and Invincibles. The German Government has forwarded a favorable reply to the proposal of-ythe Government of Japan that the latter should establish Courts of Justice, which will have jurisdiction over foreigners as well as natives in that country. This it an important mi c /ation which we should not have thought would have been so readily agreed to, especially as it is so L much easier to make concessions of this Rkind than to retract them. However, I^Jhe proof of the pudding lies in the eatR§||i and "foreigners" in all parts will Hafpiously watch to see how the new plan | ! & Some months ago we called attention | n \ to the financial position of Greece, and bcoptrasted.it with that of Russia and ='sW£rdl u other countries, whoso credit the market. The country is'progressing in a wondrous degree ; its «DJ^d|l^,fipb.er, honest, and industrious, |Kpviefl'joy. the -blessing of a liberal ||l|^eiitji We ajk.ec^why'it was that

its bonds stood at so low a price? The only reason for this is the utter ignorance and the blind prejudices of investors. A Greek bond is intrinsically worth more than an Italian bond. Let those, therefore, who want high interest combined with reasonable security, buy Greek bonds as long as they remain at the present price, and thank me for the advice. — Truth. An interesting lawsuit seems to be pending between Mr W. 11. V.uulerbilt and Mr Frank Work. The animosity between these gentlemen is of long standing. Tlie two veterans never spoak to each other, and invariably tiy to throw dust and mud upon each other whenevei they happen to meet dining their afternoon dines. It appears that Vanderbilt iccijntly found among the papers of his father a $5000 "I. 0. U." ot Frank Woilc. He immediately gave an oidei to Chauncpy Depew to sue Fiank Work for the puncipil and mteiest. FianU Woik, however, discoveied among his papers a check, indorsed by the late Commodore, pinving that the debt had been paid and is now bringing an action against Vanderbilt for attempting to extott money fiom him to hurt his ciedit. The report of the Chief Engineer of the Floiida Ship Cmal, which has just been appioved by the Dneetois, estimates the cost of a canal 137V miles long, allowing the passage of two steamers of the fiist class, at £9,200,000, and that it will save a distance between New Oilcans and Liveipool of 412 miles The engineer believes tint the cost will be moderate compiled wit'i the volume of business ; moreovci, the na\igation tlnongh Florida Straits ib considered the most dangeious known, an 1 the annual losses fiom wiecki, r es aic too nmneioas and many to enumeitite. Mr Rich vrd Doym:, the well. known artist, died on the 10th December. lie was the son of Mr John Doylo, a gentlenun of Iris'i extraction, and was bom in London m ISJti Neaily foity yeais since ho began his cuioei as a caiicatuust in Punch, wheic dining anotveiy long connection witli that joui/ial, he distiiiguiihod him-elf by Ins fanciful illustiatioi.s to "Mi Pip's Diaiy, " and his grotuMjne sketches ol " Blown, Jonos and l!')bin-on." ll's political drawings showed genius of another and b} T no means insignificant Kiml. After leaving Punch Doyle did much cxcylliiit woik for the Coinhill Magazine. Meauwhil; ho had llbishatcd " The Newcomer," and his leah/.ations of Tliackeiay's chaiai'teis — especially, poihaps, in the cisc of Colonel New anno— must be leckoncd among his best achievements. Mi Dov,le contributed to Punch for seven al vnis, but in 1S")O, ho, as a Roman Cithohe, seveied his connection \\ ith it in consequence of the line w iiu h it took o\ei the Papil a^ic^ion. He lllustiated '-The Fairy ling," L"igh Hunt's. "Jar of Honey," Mr Ruskin's "King of the (I )lden I(i\ei," MontaMn's "Fiuv. Tales fiom all Nations," " Jaok the Giant Killer," and some other similar woiks. The False Prophet's birompter of luck is in the ascendant at the pit-sent time ot \\ iith_r. Seiums, indeed, must be the suuatirn, if it 1 c tine that Bakei Pasha lib left S laknn to tieit with Aby&sinian tivois and seenro a lotieat of the garrison of Xli u toum, \ia Kassola. At the same tun \ bow ever, another repoi fc states tint tho Governor of Khaitoum has telegiaphud to Cauo that he is piepaied to receive the enemy, who is now in stiong foice within tlnity miles of Khartoum. [The cable has since informed us of Bakci Pasha's defeat]. The statement that "Birrere, the French Consul Ceneial atCiiio, has mfoimed the Khedive that if England is unwilling or unable to defend Egypt agunst ICI M.iluli, Fiance is both willing and able to dofuid her, " is absurd upon the face of it Ot couiio it is ]ust possible that the Fiench Crisul-Geneial mty h ive made such a declaration, because thcie is nev i any telling what folly a French ofh.ial will commit at any moinen*- , but we may be sure that his (iovemnicnt give him no authonty to make suc'i an offensive announcement. E'i»hnd will ta\-e care of Egypt, and Fiance knows it. Tin; Amoiican Fenians a-o tlnoateninrj tho Pope with a dm of dynamite should h ■ continue to su^pott Eugl \nd ,ng,iin->t t! c National cause in li eland. A letter ]nst sent 111 1 His Iloline-ia by these cheei - till villain-, stite:. that tho piotection which he enjoys fiom the Italian Government will b<3 of no avail, although the Pope is now the only soveieign safe fiom djn unite. His Holiness is also warned that "theie aie priests he is bound to lecehe who will obtain accessto his pusenc3 to sustain the cause of the lu-jh against oppicssion." Although couched in chuaeteiUtically mnddlcd tei m>, the.c can be no doubt as to the purpoit of these tin eats, and when we iind the lush tlneatening to blow up the Pope, things have indeed come to a pietty pass. tMieh a spectacle ought to mightily tickle the Oiangeinen, who, by the way, according to latent lepoits, setm to be making things re i hot for their Catholic adversaries both in Amenca and in Ireland. Mdme. Aueliva PvTrr has been comn.iunc.itinsf a few peison.il icmiiiiscences to the Kigaio, fiom winch it appears that tho. hfc of a puma donni is far fiom being the spoilt existence that onu woald t.ilve it to bo. People may not behove it, but the position is one w Inch for dan^eis sui pas-.es that ot the C'/ar ot Russia. They aie caused by her rivals, she thinks, but they go beyond the limits, of peimissible inaliy. " Onco, dm m« a petfoimanee of Linda," she says, " I received a numbci of bouquet's, the last of which was composed very oddly. One of the How ois tell out of it on to the stage, making a legulaily thud. It consisted of an enoimous ball of lead, which, if had been moie himly tied to the bouquet, must have s-tiuck my head. As it was the bouquet hit my shoulder." On another occasion the cuitain fell on JMdnvj. Patti's head, and she was saved only by th° fashion then pievailing of lolling up her hair high upon her head ; but it was not a ineio accident. She has hail matches put into the water she drinks, and has even received poisoned gloves with a lequest to let the maker call them by her name. Atter this revelation no one can wonder she gets $5,000 a night occasionally. It is as well to understand the situation created by El Mahdi. Although, as guardians of order in Egypt, the British are deeply interested in the question of the Soudan, yet there are at leist two other Powers, which, apart from their interest in Egypt, have a peculiar reason for dreading the success of the Piophet Chief. France would certainly feel the wave of triumphant fanaticism in the southern parts of Tutus an(b Algiers, where the spirit of militant Islam still seethes. Already the rumor of the Mahdi's triumphs has revived the ho{ cs and activity of the fugitive leaders in Tripoli. Now, France could ill bear another drop in her cup of bitter colonial experiences, so that, in paialyzing the disturber of the Soudan, England would in effect be doing her neighbour as good a service as she did to France, in common with Europe, in crushing the military revolt on the Nile. Again, the Sultan naturally looks with the greatest anxiety on tl o piojress of one whoje claims on Mussulman devotion are absolutely antagonistic to those of the Caliph. Other pretenders to the Messiahship have appeared. There are, we believe, three in the field at present, but none has hitherto by his successes so far fulfilled the prophetic signs as the Hermit of Kordofan. The only way to discredit him is to defeat him ; and the fact that the Porte desires to send an army to the Soudan testifies to 'the sincerity of its convictions on this score. It is quite true that Turkey, ami perhaps France, would be glad of any pretext for getting a pied'a-terre again on Egyptian soil; but then, on the other hand, it Js' undeniable that it is the policy of *Eug-> Iw4 to w«to<tebotiNns t^itta-Qtita^'