LONDON.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3271, 27 December 1881, Page 3

LONDON.

December 15,

M. Rouston, the French Minister resident in Tunis, has prosecuted M. Rochfort, the editor of Intrasigeant, an extreme Radical journal published in Paris, for libel, he having falsely accused him in the columns of bis paper for having promoted the outbreak of hostilities in North Africa from a corrupt desire to benefit bis speculation in tbe Bourse of Tunisian bonds. The case lasted for three days, and was watched with extraordinary interest. The trial, however, resulted in tbe acquittal of M. Rochfort. When the decision was announced the spectators in Court applauded loudly, A profound sensation has been created, not only in the capital, but throughout France. Mr Rouston has been condemned to pay the costs iv the act'ou of libel which was brought against Mr Rochfort. The British Government are negotiating with the United States, Germany, and France, the three powers primarily interested in the South Seas, for the of an international court of control in the Western Pacific, and, pending the conclusion of such arrangements, the Admiralty will take additional precautions for the protection of British subjects for maintaining a more watchful supervision over the mutual relations of the white and native races in the Pacific.

In compliance with an undertaking given in the House of Commons some months ago by Mr Trevallyn, Secretary of the Admiralty, communications have been exchanged between the British and French Governments with respect to the annexation by the latter of Raiteop, one of the Society islands. The Frenjh Governments express a desire to retain possession of the land in order that the prestige of the Republic in the South Seas may not suffer. The British Government reply that if they recognise the treaty under which the island had been ceded to France, care must be taken to secure not only that the interests of British trade are 'protected, but that the pledges given to the natives of the group are respected. Earl Kimberly has informed the Government that the administration of affairs to be completed with the Transvaal has been entrusted to Sir Hercules Robinson, tbe High Commissioner for South Africa.

The representatives of twenty British cable companies waited upon Earl Gran ville, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, yesterday, and requested that the Government would take steps to protect the ocean cable from careless and wilful interference.

It is rumored that Mr George Errington, member for County Longford, who is visiting Rome, has been entrusted with a mission by the British Government to the "Vatican. Mr Vaughan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford, has stated that Mr Errington holds confidential instructions from the Government, although it is not accredited by Ministers. It is reported that Monsignor Jacobin, Secretary of Ecclesiastical Affairs Extraordinary, being disappointed with the progress of negotiations, has taken the matter into his own hands with the yiew of facilitating a settlement.

The balloon which drifted across the English Channel on Saturday last, has been seen off Albany, the most northerly of the Channel Islands. H.M.S. Dasher has been despatched in the direction which the balloon seemed drifting, for the purpose of picking up the occupants in case they should be unable to descend. The Dasher has returned to her station, and her commander reports tbat the search for the balloon was fruitless.

"Ireland," the organ of the Irish National Land League, has been seized by order of the Government on account of the highly seditious character of its

writings. The staff of the journal have been arrested. The Marquis of Lome, the GovernorGeneral of the Canadian Dominions, last evening addressed a meeting convened in the interests of the Women's Emigration Society of England. He proposed that the committee organised in England should be affiliated with committees established in the colonies, and that the two should work in unison, one collecting and despatching suitable to the colonial dependencies of tbe Empire, and the others watching over the interests of immigrants on their arrival. The disposition exhibited by Mr Blame, late Secretary of State for the United States, to interfere in the affairs of foreign nations, is resented by many Americans as an infringement of the national policy of neutrality abroad. Tbe English press denounces the proposal of Mr Blame to revive theßulwerClayton treaty for the purpose of giving the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the Panama Canal, and Chili reasserts her right to annex Peru. A slave ship has been captured at Zanzibar, and her captain made prisoner. The robbers who carried off £40,000 worth of jewellery from Brynkinalf, the seat of Lord Hill Trevor at Chirk, Denbighshire, have, not been discovered. Two servants who were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the robbery have been discharged. With regard to tbe disappearance of Viscount Boyle, a lieutenant in the Prince Consort's Own (Rifle Brigade) from the garrison in Dublin, it turns out that the Viscount is merely absent without leave. A Fenian plot to destroy some public buildings in Dublin has been frustrated by the activity of the police, who have seized a quantity of dynamite which was concealed in the city. They also seized a number of firearms, and some documents which indicate the character of the plot, and implicate some conspirators. Three persons have already been arrested. The balloon which drifted across tho English Channel on Saturday, the 10th instant, has again been sighted. It has been carried across the Bay ot Biscay, and has been seen at Santander, a port in the north of Spain. It was then proceeding in an easterly direction. Another plot to murder the Czar Alexander 111 has been discovered. The plan proposed was to blowup the Imperial palace at Exutina by means of a mine. A number of officers of the guard have been arrested on suspicion. [Reutj-r's Telegrams ]