ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEAN MAIL. VIA SUEZ.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 921, 29 February 1868, Page 3

ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEAN MAIL. VIA SUEZ.

NEWS TO JANUARY 10. By the arrival of the Storm Bird, on Wednesday last, we have the English mail received via Suez. TELEGRAPHIC SUMMARY. The Australian mails were delivered in London on 13th and 18th December. Her Majesty continues in good health ; also the Prince and Princess of Wales. Fenian alarms are spreading. The Martello Tower, near Queens town, and a gunsmith's shop in Cork, have been plundered. Attempts have been made to blow up Worcester Town Hall. Thirty thousand special constables have been enrolled in London. All Government buildings are strictly guarded. Great agitation prevails. • A proclamation against funeral processions in honor of dead Fenians has been issued. Government have discovered many plots to attack armouries, dock-yards, banks, churches, gas works, &c. The police force has been very largely increased throughout England. _ The military are held in readiness to act at any moment. Reinforcements of troops have been dispatched to Ireland. Great precautions have been taken at Woolwich. Burke and Casey have been committed for trial in Warwick. Assurances in support of the Government have been sent from all quarters to crush Fenianism. In future the law will be strictly enforced. Leaders in Dublin funeral processions have been apprehended, and committed for trial. The attempt to blow up the House of Detention at Clerk enwell was made on 13th December. The object was to release prisoners. A portion of the Courtyard wall was destroyed, and a number of houses on the opposite side of the street ; 140 persons were buried in the ruins, and a number of them killed. Seven persons have been arrested on suspicion. The quarter's revenue of the United Kingdom is £17,500,000. The Faversham Powder Mills have exploded, and 11 lives were lost. The Oriental Bank invited tenders for a Sydney loan of £758,000. The Abyssinian Expedition has been largely debated in the House of Lords. The Earl of Ellenborough declared against the war, because the state of Europe was such that it would be imprudent to involve England in a distant war, when a near one might be expected. The expedition itself is progressing favorably ; the natives are giving supplies, and the chiefs are rendering assistance. The liberation of the captives is considered probable, their chains having been removed. The Egyptians object to the expedition. The Italian Parliament has been prorogued. General Menebrea is re-constructing the Ministry. An amnesty has been proclaimed in favor of Garibaldi. Sympathetic addresses have been sent to the Pope from London and Dublin. The French troops have all left Eome. An extensive Mazzinian conspiracy has been discovered in Italy. The proposed Conference as to the Roman question has not yet assembled. The latest telegrams state that the Italian Government has suspended payment of the Italian quota of the Pontifical debt. Herr Yon Beust is framing a special Ministry for the whole of the Austrian Empire. Much political uneasiness prevails on the Continent of Europe. Paris advices state that the Emperor Napoleon has received the representatives of the Germanic Confederation, and has exchanged assurances of friendship. The Times opposes intervention respecting the affairs of Affghanistan. The Ministerial crisis in Portugal is over. A new Ministry has been formed. Telegrams from New York state that Congress had passed a vote thanking Mr. Stanton, and censuring the President for removing him ; and also ordering the Committee of Foreign Affairs to take immediate action as to the maltreatment of American citizens in Ireland. Obitttaby. — Mr. Melvyn, Mr. Prower, Archdeacon Greenall, Colonel Lowther, M.P., Mr. Charles Gray, Mr. William Edmond Molyneux, and Mr. E. Charles. Wool Mabket. — The last sales showed a slight decline on former prices. Total bales catalogued, 100,535. Markets generally very quiet. Want of confidence prevails. The supply of foreign wool is abundant. Money Mabket. — The Money Market nominally quoted If per cent., being £ per cent, advance, owing to outflow of gold from the Banks. • LATEST INTELLIGENCE. London, Jan. 10. The new German Ambassador has been welcomed cordially by Napoleon. The Emperor's speech affirms a constant desire to maintain the best relations with all powers. Victor Emanuel expresses perfect confidence in the future. The Italian ministerial crisis continues. A new Cabinet has been formed in Vienna. Consols, 92. The demand for money has brought the rate of interest up to 2 per cent. Business is inactive. Australian securities are reduced onethird per cent, from the last quotations. At wool sales, prices declined If d. to 2d. [FROM OUH OWN CORRESPONDENT.! London, Dec. 26, 1867. The last month of the present year is one that bears more than its usual weight of disaster, suffering, and crimes, as far as England is concerned, and with regard to Continental affairs fails to give us hope of calm and peace for 1868. Both in the French and Italian Parliaments fierce debates have taken place on Roman affairs, and serious dissensions have arisen therefrom ; still matters have not come to a fighting point. The idea of a conference for the settlement of the Roman question, is to all intents and purposes abandoned, and Louis Napoleon is left to settle the problem of his own creation. Meanwhile, " the French troops are to remain in Rome as long as their presence shall be necessary for the security of the Pope" — these are the words of M. Rouher, to which he appended the following remarks, " especially after all the deceptions we. have experienced." These words naturally stirred up anger at Florence, and scenes have occurred in the Italian Parliament which would disgrace the lowest deba f ing club in England. To sum up the whole affair, however, it may

be said that " one party is afraid, and the other dare not." Of course another Ministerial crisis has occurred in Italy, and a new Cabinet been formed. It is true that M. Rouher has declared that Italy shall never have Rome, but his master has not yet declared that he is prepared to go the length of holding Rome against all comers. On the other hand, the Italians, incensed as they may be at this new denial of the coveted prize, are compelled by their King and Government to count the cost, which, being done, they must feel convinced that the time has not yet come for Italy to possess her natural capital. In order to make up for the disappointment, they naturally vent their ill temper in abusive words — tilings generally very cheap. The Abyssinian expedition progresses apace, and according to the latest accounts King Theodore had destroyed Debra Tabor by fire, and was endeavouring to reach Magdala. So far, the troops are reported to be in excellent health, and in possession of all they require. If this " little war" only proceeds and finishes thus, we shall have reason to congratulate ourselves — provided the Abyssinian Monarch is well beaten. The last session of Parliament has made a very unwelcome revelation of the strange want of method prevailing in our public offices. The pretext advanced by Theodore for the imprisonment of the missionaries, &c, was that he had addressed a letter to the Queen to which he had received no answer, while the consul and others had all received replies to their communications. Upon a question being put in Parliament as to this wonderful letter, Earl Russell (who was Foreign Secretary for the time being) declared to the best of his belief he had never seen it, and his under-secretary, Mr. Layard, was equally ignorant. A strict search being instituted, the missing letter was found covered with dust in a pigeon hole of the India Office, bearing on the face of it Earl Russell's initials. The explanation is quite worthy of the discovery. The letter appears to have been duly received at the Foreign Office, and sent to the India Office to be looked at. As it was not marked to be returned, it was simply put away. Here is a nice reflection for the English nation. Through, the red-tapeism and carelessness of a parcel of officials, the captives have been subjected to frightful treatment, and we have incurred all the pains and penalties of a war. Had this letter been answered, we should have, in all probability, had no such thing as an Abyssinian expedition. Now we have got a gloomy prospect before us of a costly war, no glory, and, mayhap, the immolation of the captives whose rescue is sought. As though the terrible hurricane at St. Thomas was not enough to fill the list of disasters for 1867, we have accounts of earthquakes that have followed that awful visitation, and completed the little wanting to render the island a complete wreck. The earthquake seems to have possessed a great similitude to the memorable one of Lisbon — the sea for a few minutes receding, and then returning upon the bay and town in one immense sea wall of some thirty feet in height, carrying shipwreck and ruin of the completest kind with it. Calcutta too has been visited with a terrible cyclone, which, though it did not cause such havoc among the shipping as the last, has resulted in a fearful loss of life and destruction of buildings. While all this has been going on in the East and West Indies, Vesuvius, the European " stock " volcano, has got into an angry state, and has duly broken out, and people who like to see eruptions have now a chance of doing so. The American Congress was opened on 2nd December, with the usual President's message. In it Mr. Johnson says that Congress has prevented the restoration of the Union, and gives that body fully to understand that, if necessary, lie will defend his office by force. He desires Congress to regard the public debt as sacred, and hopes that the time will soon come when specie payments will be resumed. With regard to the Alabama affair, lie feels no apprehension that Great Britain will persist in refusing their just and reasonable claims. He announced the purchase of St. Thomas and St. John from Denmark ; the first-named place is certainly, at present, far from proving itself a good bargain. The Secretary of the Treasury reports that the revenue for the year ending June 1869,wi11be£76,200,000, and the expenditure £74,400,000 ; he also says that the public debt has, in the year ending November 30, been reduced by £11,800,000. At home we have been mainly employed with the Fenian outrages that have been committed in the metropolis. Of these I shall speak last, because I shall then be able to give you the very latest. Parliament has finished its work, and the members have gone home for the Christmas holidays. Its seventeen days' work may be briefly told. It has voted £2,000,000 for the Abyssinian expedition, which is to be paid by an increased income tax. The new contract with the Peninsular and Oriental Company has been confirmed, and both the cabby and costermonger of London have been conciliated, A little scandal in re Beke and Layard, afforded some amusement, and no other subject of any importance arising, 17 clays saw the end of the session. A terrible fire occurred in London on the 6th instant, by which her Majesty's Theatre was entirely destro3 r ed. All the vaunted appliances for the immediate extinction of fire, as usual, proved perfectly useless, and the immense tanks which stood at tho;top of the theatre, and were supposed to contain an immense quantity of water, burnt, or rather curled up, as quickly as any other part of tbe building they were expected to protect. The fire certainly was a very grand sight, and lit up all the numerous public buildings in the neighbourhood in a fearfully fantastic manner. At first, fears were entertained for the whole neighbourhood, and it was with extreme difficulty that the firemen were able to confine the disaster to the building in which it commenced. Numerous valuable " scores" that cannot bo replaced have been lost by this accident. The theatre is to be rebuilt, and meanwhile Mr. Mapleson's company are going to Drury Lane, where they will be in close quarters with their rivals at Convent Garden. A fearful explosiou of nitro-glyccrine, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, has taken place, by which eight lives have been lost. It appears that some long time ago a commercial traveller induced an ostler at one of the inns to take charge of thirty cans, which he represented to be dirty grease. The ostler stowed them away in the collar, and a number were fetched from time to time. At length, not feeling quite satisfied about this dirty grease, he called in some one to look at it, when he was at once told that it was nitro-glyeoriue. An order was immediately obtained for its destruction, and, in order to make assurance doubly sure, the cans were taken out to the moor, and there emptied. It is supposed that one of the cases, containing solidified nitro-glycerine, struck with a spade by one of the workmen. An i immediate ignition took place, and in a second, four persons were killed, and the rest so injured that four have since expired. Among the sufferers were the sheriff and town surveyor, who, in the

execution of theiv duty, were superintending the operations. Your readers cannot have forgotten the terrible murder of a little girl at, Alton, in August last. The crime was clearly brought home to a man named Baker, and he has been duly executed. Of course a plea of insanity was set up, and an endeavour made to obtain a resj>ite ; but, fortunately, the efforts were unsuccessful, and one of the most consummate wretches known in modern times has met his deserved punishment. It is satisfactory to know that he confessed his crime before dying. Another railway panic has taken place. This year Avill witness a frightful depreciation in railway shares. The fact is, there is scarcely a company that is looked upon as quite right. Disclosure after disclosure has been made, and in every instance the company making it has to acknowledge to extravagant expenditure of all kinds, and urgent need of more ready money. Among the companies of goodly repute for a long time, has stood the Midland, and for years its shares have been at a premium. _ Seized at last with the madness of extension, they determined to have a magnificent terminus in London, and now find that the cost of such an entrance to the metropolis has exceeded all their calculations by some £2,000,000; besides this, there are other matters to be met, so that at least £5,000,000 must be raised some way or another. This modest demand had the effect of an explosion in the railway market, and Midland stock at once went down some 7 or 8 per cent. Then that notoriously-in-trouble company, the London, Brighton, and South Coast, asks for another £1,000,000 to complete unfinished works. It seems as though all railway directors had suddenly taken it into their heads, with one accord, to make a clean bosom of it — the day for paying dividends out of capital having passed away, the capital being spent long ago. The diabolical, unscrupulous, and perfectly unreasoning nature of Fenianism, was never made more manifest than on the afternoon of the 13th instant, when, regardless of all consequences to innocent men, women, and children, some of these wretches placed a 36-gallon barrel of gunpowder against the walls of the House of Detention, in London, and exploded it. Their avowed object was to effect the rescue of two of their leaders named Burke and Casey, who were arrested some six weeks since, and have been remanded from time to time for the completion of the evidence. It was evidently the object of these gunpowder-plot conspirators to create a breach in the wall, while the prisoners were exercising in the yard, that in the confusion they should manage to escape. The prisoners have indeed reason to thank the authorities for saving them from their friends, for a hint having been given of the scheme,, the hour for exercise was purposely altered. Had this not been the case, scarcely a prisoner could have escaped certain death, as no less than 60 feet of an immensely thick wall were blown completely over the exercise yard. But, alas, this demon-like act has spread death and sorrow throughout the neighbourhood. The House of Detention stands in a densely populated district, and the distance between the prison wall and the neighbouring houses was very small; hence the immediate effect of the explosion was to entirely demolish three houses; and in a few minutes a heap of ruins, with human beings, some dead, and all more or less wounded, was to be seen. Nearly sixty persons, of whom four were killed on tho spot, had to be conveyed to the hospitals near the scene of this terrible outrage. The heartrending suffering caused by this diabolical mischief cannot be described. Since the day four more victims have sunk from the injuries received, and it is certain that many will be rendered cripples for life. Fortunately the police were able to secure three persons, who are believed to have been mixed up in this infernal machine affair, and, shocking to say, one of them is a woman. They were all captured as they were running away from the place. Their complicity seems to be established without doubt, and it is said one of them has already turned approver. The mode in which the plan was carried out appears to have been for a man to draw the barrel in question on a truck to the wall of the prison, then to have backed it, placed the barrel upright, and applied a fuse to the bunghole. This clone, all concerned in it made off", and, unfortunately, the wretch who fired the barrel escaped, but the two men and woman, who had been loitering about the prison for some time, did not get off. I need not tell you that great sympathy has been shewn for the innocent victims of this terrible crime, and, from the Queen downward, every one who possibly can do so, is lending a helping hand to mitigate tlieir sufferings and administer to their wants. The horror that it has produced will, it is to be hoped, prove the death-blow to this insane conspiracy ; at all events it seems to have destroyed all avowed sympathy with a cause that calls incendiarism and assassination patriotism. In England, at least, we have clone with any further leniency towards such a band of enemies of mankind. The only fear is that, should any other outrage be effected in the metropolis, Judge Lynch may suddenly appear among us. Nor will this be a thing to bo much wondered at, when we remember that the chief assassin in this wholesale murder is still at large, and that tho Manchester rescue was a success, inasmuch as Kelly and Dcasy have effected their escape to America. One question is being asked with a pertinacity that must be met. How is it that our police can find forgers, coiners, and the like, but have proved their inability to capture tho heads of a conspiracy of whoso every movement they somehow or other are made acquainted. For instance, in, this Clcrkenwell outrage, it is now clearly proved that the police had been informed that an attempt to rescue the two men in custody was to be made — nay more, that it was to be done by an explosion under or near the walls of the prison. Of all this the police had timely notice, and the course taken to prevent it was to place a force of four extra detectives round the prison. Tho consequence is, that eight lives have been sacrificed, some fifty people injured, and the really guilty hand is at large. Perhaps the reason is that detectives seem to believe that their duty is not to prevent a wretch doing fearful mischief, but to trap him cleverly afterwards — one of tho most mischievous ideas ever sot afloat in the police force, and one that can only go on adding to the list of undiscovered crimes. We want preventives not detectives. Fortunately for the ends of justice, the police have managed to secure the services of an informer, who has given evidence purporting to lay bare the whole conspiracy. At present his information^ is unsupported by other witnesses, but it is only fair to state that a severe cross-examination has failed to shake him in the least. According to his statement, the whole crime was as coolly planned as it is possible to conceive ; but how tho powder or explosive material was obtained is still a mystery. The information thus given has led to the immediate arrest of four men, the charges they were taken on being treason and felony, but two of them have since been j charged with murder, in conjunction with the previously arrested persons. Alarms [ of all kinds have been spread throughout

the, kingdom of intended Fenian outrages, but at present only one serious offence has been attempted, and fortunately frustrated. It was neither more nor less than an attempt to destroy Warrington by means of an explosion of gas; and, to effect this end, some wretch removed one of the plugs of a gasometer. It was fortunately discovered at once ; had it been let alone for a few minutes, there is little doubt the whole neighbourhood must have been destroyed. The perpetrator of this offence is still undiscovered. The extra and arduous duties forced upon tho police and soldiers by these proceedings, as well as the fact that at any time we may have a rising, or some atrocity committed, has induced the Government to call for special constables, and, in the metropolis alone, 30,000 persons have responded to the call. The universal wish is, that the Fenians would openly shew themselves-, and get " put down ;" but of this there is little chance, as cowardice is the distinguishing characteristic of this conspiracy. Notwithstanding all this disaffection, alarm, and sufforing, Christmas has been as merrily kept as usual, and to-night the pleasure-seekers will, as formerly, crowd the theatres to look at their old friends, the pantomimists. As usual, too, every theatre declares it has the best bill of entertainment to set before its patrons.