ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1990, 9 April 1885, Page 2

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

A nrs\ ami nncompromisiug industry it \ciy hkelv to be soon established in the midst of the most romantic scenery in Km ope— the environs of Naples. Turning the piomontory of Posiiippo, with its white villas— Thalber/s conspicuous amongst them— perched on the ledges of rock that overhang the aea, you come upon the famous Bay of Baiiv. No \iew on the Italian coas>t can equal it for lomantic beauty, and for classical association. It 1* here, in the midst ot fables of antiquity, that the tirm of Anestiong are going to set up then foundries and forge their armour plates George Augustus Sala tells the following anecilo f e : "Garribaldi was feted at an English 1 >ul'« house, who wished to honour the lieio of so many battles in thi' cuise of fnulom. When Gamibildi ai lived he was tired, and asked prein'saion to po to bed. only partaking of a lunch of beer and bread. In the morning, when the lacquey called the general, ho was found in the picturegallery, having been up seveial hours. When asked to come to breakfast, he said ' Oh ! I have breakfasted ; some of the bread and beer was left. I want no more. 1 " With respect to the senseless habit of buying new clothes in order to mourn for a deceased relation, an Australian writes to say that both in Australia and New Zealand the announcement of deaths in the pre»s aie often followed by the woids : "By the wish of the deceased, his rcl.iti\es Mill not wear mourning." We have always admired the .sense of the IVonians, a nation described by Ileiodottis. When a P.eonian died, his ft lends and relatives met together to feast, in order to celehi ate his having been transferred to another and a better world, and to console themselves for losing him. An eagle has ju»t died in Vienna which has been kept in confinement 114 yeais. It probably was a young bird when caught, so that its age must have not been far from T2O years. A record of the eagle's condition was made from year to year. There aie swans on the River Thames that aie known to be 150 years old. For five centuries the Vintners' Company there have kept a record of certain swans, aiid the ages of the specimens of this long lived species of v\ater-fowls are known to a day. It is a somewhat unusual thing fora reigning *>over< ign to appear in a witnessbox at a police court. The other day, however, the King of Italy, from goodnatured motives, volunteered his testimony befoie a magistrate in Rome. A shopkeeper had unfortunately injured a little girl by riding over her in the street, and King Humbeit, who had witnessed the accident, came foi ward to say that in his opinion the man had been in no wise to blame, and that, in fact, his horse had run away with him. A three days' auction sale of poor .Saia Bernhanlt's furniture brought a little over 53,000. She had to remove to a furnished house, vvheie her old friends, the bailiffs, cm only visit her in a social way. Her once famous picture, *'La .leime Fille et la Mort," exhibited at the Sal'm of 18S0. contributed but *29.">fr. to this total ; the Japanese bronzes, the quaint Italian science statuettes, which now figuies in a shop window in the Rue Lafayette, with the ticket, " Provenant de la vente Sara Bernhardt," the chain and sofas on w Inch historical and other persons have sat, the objects of art, the tapestries, were all sold at very iniall prices. There are at least five claimants to the sovereignty of France, and it is not likely that the tube will ever be extinct; but to most people the news that there is a claimant to the Crown of England will come as s >methmg rather startling. In a private letter which has recently been recened irom Savannah, the following passage occurs : " Not far froiii here there lives a man named Howard, who calls himself Lord Biltimore, and declares that he intends to prosecute a claim to the Throne of Great Bntain. Until recently he kept a store, but, upon the strength of his representations, and of some old documents which he freely exhibits, several Georgians, who ought to know better, have advanced him money and are encouraging him to carry his case before the English courts." The following characteristic story of John Bull on his travels is making the round of the Continental papers :— A short time ago the visit of Lord S , member of the House of Lords, and family, consisting of Lady S and daughteis, was announced to Victor Hugo. Whin the poet entered the drawingroom Loul S. turned to his wife, saying, "M. Victor Hugo, great poet." The poet bowed Then the noble lord addressed his da ighters : "Victor Hugo. Notre Deme de Pet is !' The poet bowed again. After a moment's pause Lord 8. produced a laige pocket-book, seeing which Victor Hugo was prepared to be asked for his autograph. Instead of making that request, however, the visitor looked at his watch, then again at the pocket-book, and said, "At ten o'clock, the giraffe at the Jaidin d'Acclimatation," after which speech the noble party of sightseers withdrew. England has G.l square miles of colony to the square mile of her own area ; Holland, 54 ; Portugal, 20 ; Denmark, 6.30 ; France 1 90 ; Spain, OS6 square miles— nther less than the area of the Russi.iu Empire, including Siberia and Central Asia '■ but if the area of the foudatory States in India, amounting to ,")0!),'254 square miles, be added, over which England exercises as great control aa Russia does over ranch of the territory under its way, together with that of the United Kingdom herself, 120,727 miles, then the area of the British Empire exceeds that of the Russian Empire by about 200,000 square miles, and it covers within a fraction of onesixth of the whole land area of the entire globe. — Court Circular. " The Bars to British Unity ; or. A Plea for National Sentiment," is the title of a new work written by Mr T. D. Wanliss (for many years the pioprietor of that excellent free-tiade and constitutional journal, the Ballarat Star), and recently published by William Paterson, Edinburgh. Mr Wanliss enten » vigorous protest against the attempt that he believes has for years been made to "Anglicise* the United Kingdom and the Empire, in contravention of the Articles of Union of 1707 and 1801. In the preface to his work he contends that the British Empire cannot with fairness or with honour be claimed to bo " English." Any attempt to ascribe all the honour, glory, and greatness of the Empire alone to England and to Englishmen will simply result in sowing the seeds of disunion and disaffection amongst the British people, both in the United Kingdom and in the colonies. Thi. Bt*Ri\LoK Gexekal Stewart.— "We buried him in the little British graveyard near the Gakdul Wells," writes an officer of his staff. " It was the most impressive scene any one ever went through. We formed a procession in the valley, headed by the firing party and the band of the Royal Sussex. The pallboarers were Majois Hon. C. Byng and Gould, Lieutenants Lord, Browning, Douglas, and Dawson, and Captain Rhodes,. Colonel Talbot read the service. I looked up once. It is no exaggeration to say that every one round the place had utterly broken down. I have lost the kindest, best fiiend man ever had, and England, I honestly think, one of her best officers. It was a most trying time for him, that march out from El Gubat • but the doctors say nothing could possibly have save him from the first. I fully believe them. The 19th Hussars made a forced march to try to be in time for the funeral, but arrived just too late. Thii morning they came and asked to be allowed to do the stonework round the giave, and have been working all day." Grant, Sherman, Buell, Beauregard and McClellan all difter in their accounts of the battle of Shiloh. Why not have it fought over again in the presence of a, referee? — Detioit Free Press.