MAIL NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 10343, 17 June 1897, Page 4

MAIL NEWS.

Colonel John Hay, the U.S. Ambassador, received an unusual distinction on May 30 while presenting his credentials to Her Majesty at Windsor Castle. A Royal carriage conveyed him and his wife from their residence to Paddington station, and also from Windsor station to the Castle, where luncheon was served, The" Marquis of Salisbury and Sir William James Colville accompanied the Ambassador, whose audi* ence with the Queen was brief and formal. The British and Gorman Courts are agitated, acoording to a London despatch of May 1, over a scandal in tho family of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (the Duke of Edinburgh). The second daughter of the Duke, the Princess Victoria Meiita, refuses to live with her husband, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, to whom she was married on April 19, 1894, and remains with her sister, Prineess Marie, wife of Prince Ferdinand of Roumania, at Bucharest. The Coburgs, Queen Victoria, and others all take the part of the husband. The King of Siam is going to England to solicit protection for his country, his view being that England is now his sole reliance against spoliation. He is particularly fearful of French interference, and it is reported that he has turned to Japan and China for aid, and has met with rebuffs. On May 6 Queen Victoria did a graceful act that delighted Mr and Mrs Gladstone. She summoned them and their granddaughter, Dorothy Drew, to Windsor Castle. Her Majesty wanted to see the child who figured so prominently in Mr Gladstone's private life. Miss Drew had luncheon and a pleasant interview with the Queen. She was accompanied by her mother, and travelled with the Princess Louise. x On Monday, May 10, the Prince and Princess of Wales and Princess Charles of Denmark (Princess Maud of Wales), who had been spending the Sunday with the Duke of Westminster at Edem Hall, Chester, drove to Hawarden and lunched with Mr and Mrs Gladstone. Each member of the Royal Family planted a tree at Hawarden as a memorial of the occasion. The Duchess of Marlborough refused to subscribe to the hospital fnnd being raised by Americans residing in England on the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee on the ground that she is no longer a citizen of the United States. The Rev. J. Q. leaning, American missionary at Narsihg-hpur, India, has written to Lord RadstoekS seoretary Christian succor in that country, to the effect that the famine fund has been maradmi'nistered owing to incompetency.: '. ' : A young artisan was arrested on May 26 in the park at Tsarskoe-Selo, wherisitee had secreted himself for the purpose nating the Czar. He had a dagpr and revolver in hiß possession. In the House of Commons on May 13 a Bill to prevent the importation of goods manufactured in foreign prisons passed its secrnd reading. The Sultan has proposed to send his son, Mehemmed-Selim Effendi, to represent him at the Jubilee festivities. If His Majesty carries out his intention it is more than likely that there will be some exciting scenes during the procession through the streets of London.

The Liberal newspapers are furious at the reply of the Marquis of Salisbury to the request from Washington for a re-inquiry into the Bearing Sea fisheries dispute—viz , that hj« is not favorable. He objects on the ground of the expense. The new Irish organisation is spreading rapidly. A despatoh of May 1 says that Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Wioklow have already started branches, and an active policy on the pecuniary question will be immediately started in the House - of Commons by the Parnellites, who intend to resist every vote of Supply, on the ground that Ireland is paying more than her share. The London * Star' is flooding that metropolis with startling placards announcing coming articles on the Standard Oil Trust,

and says: "The Paris horrors are surpassed. | Men, women, and children here are roasted alive in order to pat money into the pockets of the American trust. " Rockefeller has obtained absolute control of the oil trade of Great Britain by forcing retailers to sell the refuse oils prohibited in America, and is responsible for the terrible series of lamp explosions." The 'Star' urges the United States Government to legislate in the matter. In the House of Commons the president of the Board of Trade, Mr C. T. Ritchie, replying to Sir Howard Vincent, said that the Government were hot prepared to oompel companies applying for new railway charters to buy their equipments in the United Kingdom. In the case of the Waterloo (City) Railway Mr Ritchie added: " Twentytwo cars had been ordered in America, because out of the seven English firms tendering for the work not one was able to deliver the stock in the time required by the railway company."