ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Press, Volume XLII, Issue 6245, 24 September 1885, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

[From Papers by the Mail/)

A moet noticeable feature of the illuminations with which the festivities at' Oeborne were terminated on the occasion of the marriage if the Princess Beatrice on July 23rd was the electric installation on board Her Majesty's yacht Victoria and Albert. It consisted of a group .of 100 incandescent lamps arranged in the form of the letter B, surmounted by a coronet, the whole being suspended between the main and foremast of the yajohs. : The lamps used on this occasion were obtained specially for the illumination from Messrs Wcodhouee and Bawson, at a very short notice, and consisted of their 20-candle power* new filament 46 volt lamps. The electric current for the lamps was Eupplied by a Gramme dynamo, worked in H.&. gunboat Bloodhound, which was moored astern of the Boyal yacht, through electric cables passed between them. In addition to the above most effective device, a powerful naval search light of 25,000 candle power was displayed, its pure beam cf white light illuminating at interval* Osberne Houee, the ground?, and the various ships and yachts in the bay. The whole display was concluded by three loud ringing British cheers from the Boyal yacht, whose sides were at the same time illuminated by the searchlight. Thewboleofthearrangements were carried out by the electric light staff of the naval torpedo Echocl ship Vern*u. Among the tenders for starting a line of Gtean?iß to the East and Australia, to be subsidised by Germany, was one front an English firm, offering to build the required steamers at Cnxhaven, and to improve; the port. Thie offer," Money " eaye, was.declined, simply because the vessels could pot be built in time to comply, with the German conditions. The North Geiman Lloyd, which.wae victorious, did not possess sufficient vessels, and was obliged to order some new ones. Although, according to contract, these were to be built; in Germany, the raw material was ordered in England, which caused loud complaints from German ironmasters. The Company's retort, however, is that, although the raw material is purchased in England, the fiteamers still cost 15 per cent, more than if entirely built in British yards. The Belgian Government, it is Baid,has J made advantageous effera with the view of inducing Germany to select Antwerp as a port to be touched at by the subsidised line of steamers.

The man Charles Hoary Boydell, charged with attempting to blackmail Mr Gladstone and two English ladies in Vienna, has been condemned to six months' hard labor, with one day bread and water diet every month. BoydeU's advocate pleaded in extenuation of his client's guilt that he must necessarily be of weak mind to have committed the effence of which he stood indicted. But no proof whatever was adduced in support of the assumption. Boydell was bad, not mad, as the evidence at the trial clearly demonstrated. According to his own account, which may be taken for what it is worth, his father, a man of means,dying some nine years since, leit him the capital turn of £2700; and ever since he had been endeavoring to live without work. First he went to New Zealand, next he tried B rlin, and final'y took, tip his abode in Vienna. Gradually his email capital until at length he found himself the possessor of some £400 only, tied up in a colonial Bank, and not easily obtained. Falling into debt with the landlord, and subsequently with the waiter, of a Viennese hotel, hia circumstances became desperate, and he looked about for the easiest method of obtaining a supply of ready money. The idea of any I honest or useful employment does not I seem to have entered the head of this : idle Englishman abroad. But, like many ; another rogue before him, he imagined it possible to live on blackmail. Forthwith he proceeded to write three letters, one to the ex-Prime Minister, threatening the right honorable gentleman with assassination unless the sum of £300 were'paid at a certain place within a given time, a further missive to a lady in a delicate and critical state of health demanding £50 as the price of silence on the subject of pretended scandalous irregularities on her husband's part, and yet another of less serious import. Mr Gladstone did, atonce, what every sensible man would do, he put tie matter into the hands of the police] and with the natural result—Boydell was arrested, tried, and convicted, as above recorded. It is regretted by many that an earlier opportunity was not taken by the new Conservative Government of moving a vote of thanks to the officers and men engaged in the operations in the Soudan. The vote was proposed in both Houses of Parliament on August 18th, the date of the opening of the grouse shooting season, and as a consequence only a very limited number of members and Peers were present to participate in the debate. In a speech of much eloquence and vigor, Lord Salisbury moved the vote in the House of Lords. The noble Marquis pointed out that the duty which our troops were sent to perform was one of singular difficulty and great danger, but on no occasion in our history had they displayed in a more conspicuous degree the qualities of patient endurance, steady discipline, and determination to do all, to bear all, and to dare all rather than fail to fulfil the extremest demands of fidelity to duty. Beferenoe was made in all the speeches to the loyalty displayed by Her Majesty's Colonial and Indian snbjecte engaged in the campaign, and the remarks of the; different speakers on thk head will be read with interest throughout Australasia. Lord Salisbury, after alluding to the gallantry displayed by tiie naval officers and sailors engaged in the expedition, said.— " But tide campaign, in addition to proving once again the gallantry both of our soldiers and cation, has shown the great

~paiH m *tWtiwMK~rt'KmmvrT&'"thß British" Empire. It . «■»*«anpaign in which w* fftifiTßfl tffg hy to fight tfte followera «&I&ejf«i» OT»phet Canadiin boatmen from oorfiaee dowioion eUCfcn***.: fwto ibe iille/ aua Australian Vk>lunteer* who *une forward* i» a gaHatoV i epirlt & a* l «iitergency to bear their ehsjre of ffie Imwrial bxurden. It waa a epl*B*d sight, ana the tnankß of the Hamsee or -P4*f liament are dad quite as nmch to them »8 to our own immediate countrymen forthe gallantry and d-iterminatiori with whifch they, bore their part in this -warfare." : I*onl Catriogton, the new /.Governor ;of New South Walt c, in the absence of Earl ■Granville, seconded thfr vote o£ thanke in i thei jbordsi w4 ?in the' eourae of ; his brief speech referred with extreme pride to the promptitude at>d patriotic zeal with which Ike colon* of New South Wales came forward fief «r emergency to take ite part in bearing the burden of the defence of oar Empire..;,The Date of Cambridge followed, and after observing that the troops of every arm had performed their duties in a manner as creditable as, if not more creditable than, any body of Her Majesty's troops had ever done, said:— There are one or two circumstances of a special nature to which I- wish to'rffer— one ia the share taken in the campaign by the Colonies and India. I believe it was the first occasion on which a colonial force was actually brought to act with Her Majesty's troops out of ite own sphere. Whether we look to the Canadian boatmen, to the Kroomen, who came from dietant parts of Africa, to the native troops, who came from India, or to the Australian contingent, who were very fine men, a»a were only grieved that they could not perform more arduous duties, we must f«jil proud that they were brought into lwe with Her Majesty's troops. It has beenfa pleasure to the Army which I represent to see the colonists in such a position. ft would have been the greatest pleasure fit us if we , in this country could have welcomed our comrades of the Colonies, andjl trust they have only taken the first stw> towards vigorous co-operation with tip Mother Country should* the necessity fotpt again arise. In the House of Commas the vote was moved by Sir Michael HidSsBeaoh, and seconded by the Marquis of Hartington, in very eloquent speeches. „: A Salt Lake City jeweller has invented a novel; timepiece in the chape of a stafel wire stretched aoroes his shop window, on which a stuffed canary hops from Uf t> io right, indicating as it goes, the hours-of of the day by pointing with its beak to ft dial stretched beneath the wire and havidjf the figures from Ito 24. "When it reaches the latter figure it glides across the window to 1 again. There is no visible meehaniem, all being, inside the bird. The inventor says he was three yean in studying it oMt. A remarkable case of shamming b»a prieoner, whereby he eecaped undergoJlg a sentence of ten years' penal servitude, passed upon him by Mrißaron Huddlestone, has just been discovered by the authorities of her Majesty's prison, Win6QXi Green, Birmingham. At the-Summer Assizes last year. Henry Williams, twen%eight,who had previously suffered seven years penal servitude passed upon him; by ,Mr Baron, Huddlestone, waa sentenced! by the same Judge to tea years'j>enal servitude for base coinage. ■ "Immediately upon his. removal from the prison he appealed extremely ill, and the greatest care was bestowed upon him. The prison Surgeon, Mr Waterson, was of opinion that the prisoner's life was in danger, afcid, after other medical advice had been taken by tho governor! .of the gaol* Captain Tinkler, tne latter communicated with jthe Home Ofiacei-the- result being that -Sir William Harcourt give the necessaryorders for the man's immediate discharge. The other day the prisoner broke info pie premises of Mr Thomas, fine art deader, New street, Birmingham, where she was discovered by the police with £Sd worth of fancy articlea. in hia ,pocket,jwhich| he ; had stolen' out of the 'window. The pri-j goner, whY appeared the very picture of health and strength, was taken before jthe magistrates, and once more committed for trinj. ~_, _ :..._......:jy ,v *-*-* ■ : The Arab paper ''Achbar," in a letter from Suasim, give* the following parfciculare as to the Mahdi's death, 'Mahomed> I Achmet fell ill on Friday, Jnne 19th, vb 2 p.m, and\by Hβ own desire was afeejbee conveyed tj» a tent outside the camp. ■; No doctors being at hand, two of. the captive missionaries who had medical knowledge were summoned to the sick bed. They immediately said the patient wae ill of -the smallpox, and later in the day, seeing that the disease was assuming the most virulent form, they told the patient to prepare for the worst. The Mahdi thereupon called his nephew Abdullah, named £im his successor, and gave;: him his sword. The next evening the patient was in a condition past hope. He then bade asolemn farewell to hie family, and adjuzed his successor to continue the war against the Christianß. Hβ expired at 5 a,m: *n Sunday, June 21st, and was buried at sunset in a grave within his tent. The tent was afterwards burnt. The fnews of the Mahdi's death is confirmed .from a great many sources. The Viennese-newspapers all write of the event as being certified beyond doubt, and congratulate the British. Government upon it. They cay the event must be regarded as a truly fortunate occurrence. The impostor has vanished, and the common manner of his death must dispel the delusion which the credulous entertained as to his being a man favored by Heaven. Genera! Brackenbury, it Bays, has learned from Fatmah that thirty persons, who' were en rout* to Khartoum had, on reaching Gabra, returned, reporting that the Mahdi was dead, sod that his followers were nbw fighting and killing each other. They, said, too, that the Sheikh of Tani Mahinud nad intended with'othera to proceed from Handak and Dongola to submit themselvee to the Mahdi, but they were etopped at Gabra. £ o They cent <*• to Omdurman, who brought them the, news of .the Madhi'e deati, a fact whielu they said, his adherents were endeavouring to keep secret. Aα Egyptian soldier, too, ft fugitive from Berber, on reaching Patmah, stated that he had also heard from ji Khartoum Aiab whom he met in ! fho desert the newe of the death of the Mahdi. ' ' '"