HINDOO OPINION ON THE SOUDAN WAR.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1998, 28 April 1885, Page 4

HINDOO OPINION ON THE SOUDAN WAR.

Till". Times of India quotes from ore of the principal Indian native papers somo extiaets vvhuh .»e held to imi-cate tl\i views taken liv that section of the Pies<, ami I»V the natives n-i .1 tule, with ic.jaid to aflf.uih 111 the Soudan and the death of General Goidon. Of the M.ullu, it writes —"How an intelligent, not to say loyal, counhytmn of nun cm, for a auijjl" mo- lent, mist.ik'- the pretensions of the le . .er of the i"se r<-'h lhon for the sieied and «ti\ inely inspired ami promised Mahdi, whose mission on earth ia not tierce levolt and isolated action, we cannot even imagine. Would oui Prophet have cliommi .1 icinorselcss quon dam slave <li iloi to inangiiiate ,i new era of his ami our icvtied fath? Would hf ha^e penmtt 11, •* c ! io, a del*'it.» to nnfiul tlio flag <>t it^olt ■ v tlisupie.me ml ior out ci *■ i'j . t .is the fli -it let of his mi lull v \\ ,1 i .v ha thi* pictuii lei- mil.- of hw Mlf.-n-u.il d ofh <• ' Ou'ytoialU m n nie.i a.'tl ■i,oih\ r iiind h s cui>e We ti n-.tn -.t ;!> it >>'n idiih tiymen and co-ioligionisLs mil lKithti disgrace tip ni'-ches noi their t>,icicd ieli gion by li.ning anything in common with him who is vow disturbing the public peaeo of one of the moat unfoitunato countries in the world." As to General Gordon and his fate, it is remarked :—: — "A man of sneh leouine com age is the property of no particular sect or nation He belongs to the whole human race, and can claim a respect and sympathy from friends and foes alike. Of course, if he was cut down in actual fight, his death can be laid against no one, but if, prrchance, he has not thus fallen his person ought to be as secure from illtreatment and intuit, and as much an object of reverence and respect as it would be if he was among his own people. There is no doubt that if such as he fell into the hands of our co-religionists when the crescent was the most triumphant battle flag in the world, he would have received all homage and praise, in fact received everything but a freedom that would b<; immediately turned against hia foes. A nation that beautified the two ends ol Europe with the Alhamhra and the maible cupolas and minarets of Byzan tiuni cannot afford to dim the lnstre of its past with a foul murder of a hero liko Gordon. If, however, blind and turious fanatic rage Ins been allowed to tarnish a chivalry such as ours has been, then we declaim all sympathy with a cause so forgetful of what is due to itself; and we heaitily wish the same mid more to be done to those who, in showing no mercy oichivalous admiration of high-minded and puie coinage, deserve nothing but Hldiighter and hie and sword horn their enemies."

Dr.. DoKCiiiv>Thß, according to the Andover Review, says that there has been " a vast increase in Church membership throughout America during the past generation." He estimates that " there were in ISBO over ten millions in tlie membership of E\angehc.il churches of the country, an increase o\ er the y»nr 1830 of irore than six and a-half millions. Another Frkvchman with tiik Mahdi. — According to the leading French military jonrnal, the Paris Avenir Miht.ure, the chief military adviser of the Mahdi is the cx-ofticer of the French army who blew up the powder magazine in the citadel of L.ion during ths FrancoGerman war of 1870. As the German armies advanced on Paris, the fortified town of Laon surrendered after a brief negotiation. The Duke of Mecklenberg, who commanded the (icnnan column, until ed the citadel with a battalion of lilies, whfii, as the last man of the Mobile Ci uai d forming its garrison marched out, a ten Hie explosion took place. J'he powder magazine had been blown up, according to the Avenir Milit.iiic, by a Captain Verct, and by the explosifln the Duke of Mecklenburg was wounded, 50 men of the rifle bitallion were killed, and 43 moie were injured. Alter the war, Captain Veiec is stated to have entered business as a money-lender ; but some discreditable trinsait'in^ in which he \va3 implicated having been exposed, he was sentenced to a fine of 30,000t, and his name was stiuck off the roll of the Legion of Honour. Upon this Veret quitted Fiance, and after some wandering found his way to Egypt, and utiniiitely, about three yeais ago, entered the service of the Mahdi. A Philvnthropical Failttre — "An instructive experiment with a benevolent despotism on a «mall scale is being trierl in the town of Pullman, ,i subuib of Chicago," says the Alta Califoinia. "It was laid out by the Pullman Car Company, the shops of which company aie located thcie, and the land, the houses, and everything else in the place belong to this corporation. It entertained a philanthropic desire to make Pullman the pattern in<lustnal village of the world, and to tender the working men inhabiting it as happy as wholesome surroundings and cheap comfoits could make them. The town was built with the moat intelligent appreciation of sanitary and artistic principles, under the superintendence of expcits m their respective professions. All the houses are neatly built of btick, and all are surrounded with Liwns or gardens. The streets are paved, the sew aire system is perfect, and the sticet i.'uhoada afford the necessary means of local travel. There are a hotel, church, market, library, theatre, and other public buildings, all models in t licit way. By excluding the fiiction of competition and by concentration of re- ' aoiuces, the Pullman Company is able to give its w oi king men the most comfoitable village m the wot Id to live in, and to do it at an expense- less than that of veiy much inferior smioundings elsewhere ' A grtat .social lefoim!' the enthusiast will be ready to exclaim, and lie will peihaps adopt Pullman as the type of the municipality of the futuie But from the accounts of intelligent observers, who go below surface appeatances, Pullman is not a success. Tnc best evidence that it li not a success is that the inhabitants are not contented, and are not anxious to re main there They tire of it after a short lesidence, and take the first opportunity to go somevvheie else. It is not necessaij to go far to discover the causes of the dis content. People do not like to have their lives, their homes, and their surroundings regulated for them by a benevolent despotism. They are dissatisfied at being un.iblo to own their homes if they choose. To enforce the sanitary and other rcgula tioim the company has to maintain a cloier surveillance than other governincntq affect, and the PullmanitM live under an uiifasy sense of being constantly watched."