SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XII, Issue 588, 15 February 1881, Page 6

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Mrs Cross (George Eliot) died in London on December 22. Her death was quiet and almost painless. On the previous ' Sunday she was seized with a sudden chill, which attacked the larynx. The attack, however, did hot cause much alarm till the evening, a few hours before she died, when the case was found to be hopeless.

In Ireland since January Ist the authorities have been exerting themselves to maintain order and enforce the laws. Many;persons are being arrested for “ Boycotting” and “ bulldogging ” people into joining the Land Leaguers and other offences. Flying columns patrol disaffected districts, and troops and constabulary are being quietly concentrated whore they can ,bo called upon at short notice. An Anti-Land League.is being fostered by the Government, and considerable progress has been made in the formation of associations to combat the Leaguers. The Orangemen are particularly active, and arrangements drave-been' take care of all persons suffering from “ Boycotting.” The London Times says it is informed that the Pope has written a letter to the Archbishop of Dublin strongly condemning the method in which the agitation in Ireland is conducted, and that very emphatic instructions have been issued to Catholic prelates enjoining them to make a stand against the anarchical and communistic doctrines which have been preached and put in practice. Commander Cheyne proposes to Lieutenant Schwatkaan International Polar expedition, and asks his co-operation. Schwatka will not probably join the movement, as an independent expedition is talked of from the United States to the North Pole by another route from the one followed, the command of which will be his if h© wants it.

Gale, the pedestrian, broke down on December 28, having covered 2,233 miles out of 2,500 (his proposed feat) in 1,800 hours. All prisoners for debt in Scotland were released by Act of Parliament on Ist of January. Hanlan and Ross on January Ist issued a challenge to any two oarsmen in the world for a double-scull race for LSOO to L, 1000 a side, the race to come off early in the season.

The Jewish crusade still continues, especially in the larger towns of Germany, and, notwithstanding that the respectable Press are almost unanimous against the feeling, many Jews of Berlin and other places are preparing to emigrate.

The details of the atrocities committed by the Kurds are blood-curdling. They devastated and burned 200 villages, and indiscriminately butchered women and children, who were cast into the flames after being tortured. Smallpox is making ravages among the Canadian Indians, who are dying in hundreds. The survivors, seized by panic, are flying from their settlements. The Fantees on the West Coast of Africa have become so threatening to the Europeans at Acara that fears for their safety were entertained. The king was seized, carried aboard a British man-of-war, and sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment.

Lord Demnore contemplates leaving Ireland owing to threats against him.

The success of “ Endymion” has, it is rumored, led Lord Beaconsfield to commence another novel of a more political character Mechi, the famous agriculturist, died a bankrupt. Just prior to his death, it having become known that he was destitute and in want, subscriptions were in contemplation to assist him.

The Irish national journals gloat over the victory by the Boers over the English “hullies." A man at Bethlehem, Pa., W.S., deliberately shot his wife dead because she refused to sing a hymn.

Sixty-four lives were lost by the burning of a Japanese steamer in an inland sea on December

Samuel L. Clemens, universally known ns “ Mark Twain,” the famous humorist, is said to be going crazy. The population of the United States is unofficially given at 10,152,559. Jay Goul I, by the purchase of a lease, has obtained control of 2,487 miles of road, which makes him controller of 9,649 miles of railroad, employing hundreds of millions of capital. Very cold weather has been experienced in Missis-.ipi River Valley along the Atlantic seaboard, and in the Southern States it is the coldest known—in some places 12 and 15 degrees below zero.

Sara Bernhardt is meeting with great success in the Western cities of the Union.

The county poorhouse at Dorset, New Hampshire, was burnt, and 13 of the inmates were burnt to death.