LADY BURDETT COUTTS AND GENERAL GORDON.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1878, 19 July 1884, Page 4

LADY BURDETT COUTTS AND GENERAL GORDON.

The following remarkable letter appeared in the London Times of May 16 :- Sir,— l ask for a little space in order to make know through the Times the communications, or rather the entreaties, I have received from many personally unknown to me, to aid in the organizing by public subscription of a volunteer movement to attempt the relief of General Gordon. My correspondents are poor, but they offer to intrust to me all they can afford of their small means, and to raise their voices in unison with their wealthier fellow-countrymen against a base surrender of a nation's good faith and honour, as well as of a gallant and Christian life— a surrender which has united in a common indignation the Fiench workman of Lyons, who offers you his 20f, with the English lady who, it is stated, has promised £3000 for Goidon's defence. A "Gordon Rescue Fund" would have existed eie this, had aiallying point been found upon which the couuti y could have concentrated its efforts ; had the Lord Mayor felt that he could convene a meeting as requested ;or had you, Sir, felt it competent for you to undertakesucharesponsibility,thepopular movement might by this time have assumed a substantial form. But no such organisation was effected. Now that General Gordon's own statement of his position has been unearthed, it would seem difficult to point out from what direction an iudependant effort could be best guided to assist him. General Gordon looks to the Equator as his only point of retuge. and Pi evidence may shield him along that wonderful and dangerous path. Ihose in England who know what that journey must be, and those who do not, will alike feel with bitterness of heart that it was not to England that he turned for hope in his abandonment. Unlike the ganison at Sinkat, who to the last would not believe that they were to die, betrayed and descted, General Gordon recognises his position — that he is left singfe-handed to fight his own battle. Whether his general impulses towards those who have trusted him in Khartoum w ill allow him to adopt the only means of escape, or will keep him there till the moment when, to use his own words, " he will not be taken alive," we cannot tell, but at least it makes no mistake now as to the situation in which ho lias been left. But if the voice of the people at large could petietrate the deadly silence of Khartoum, Gordon would know that the English nation, unrepresented as it may have-been thiough its ordinary channels, had sprung to its feet, and, moved by a spirit akin to his own, was eager to strike a blow on its own account on behalf of a man sent out in his country's name. I have felt bound to make public the evidences of this feeling which have come under my observation. Doubtless many otheis h.ive l-eceived similar communications, and not only as a personal fiiend of General Gordon, but for the sake of the national honour, 1 would venture to express a hope that some record of these should be kept. For although neither for us nor for him, if he be spared, can any movement for his peisoual safety now wipe out what he justly terms the "indelible disgrace of abandoning the gariisons,'' we, the people, have never assented to an inscrutable policy of repudiation, and it may be some consolation to have recouled, by these emphatic proofs, the deep and widespread sympathy which has so stirred the national spirit.— l remain, Sir, yoms faithfully, BURDETT-COCTTS. Paiis, May 8.

Last year the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club received £620 for gate money, which, at Is a head, represents the admittance of 12,000 persona. The cost ot stopping a train of cars it said to I c from 39 to 40 cents. VV hen the train is stopped by another train these pi ices become somewhat inflated. A Rochester girl gets up in ] er sleep and goes and saws wood in the back yard. Her father deeply deplores her sonnambulism ; but he always leaves the saw hand y Forbidding the Banns.— Dr. Busby, the master of Westminster School, was celebrated for severe discipline ; but though severe, he was not ill-natured. It is said that one day, when he was absent from his study, a boy found some plums in his chair, and at once began to eat them, first waggishly saying : " I publish the banns of matiimony between my mouth and these plums. If any hero present know jusl cause or impediment why they should not be united, you are now to declare it, or ever after hold your peace." The doctor overheard the pioclamation, but said nothing till next morning, when, calling the boy up, he grasped his well-known instrument, saying, "I publish the banns of matrimony between this rod and this boy. If any one knows any just cause or impediment why they should not be united, let him now declare it, or ever atter hold his peace." The boy himself said, " [ forbid the bannß." " For what cause ?" asked the doctor. " Because," said the boy, " the parties are not agreed." The boy's ready wit pleased the doctor, and the union was-indefinitely postponed. Hkrr Menges, • who should be an authority, sends the Cologne Gazette a dissertation from Aden on the various weapons employed in the Soudan. Both kinds of spears are thrusting weapons, not javelins, and rarely used as such. That of the maritime tribes, who composed Osman Digna's forces, is about 6ft long. In the districts round Kordofan it gives way to a long lance, nearly three times the length. But of course tho two-handed sword, which is often th« heirloom of generations, is the most universal arm. Herr Menges, it is pleasant to find, believes in the comfortable tradition that several of these have been handed down from tho Crusading times, which undoubtedly supplied, the model. ■ But the majority of the blades unquestionably -are exported from Solingcn, famous for foils, The shields ) are, hideffand' ar P t always considered .prpjof; against spear thrusts, and , therefore cktainly against, the quick jSiiatoli^indjri'. fpovery tiowin vogue withltu'e biyojfot*' instead <>f tte %n£*Jignje^, ,; tU' !,/,