FOREIGN MEMORANDA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1228, 28 April 1864, Page 3

FOREIGN MEMORANDA.

(From the Home News, Feb. 26.) Thirty editors and printers were among the killed and wounded at Chickamauga. A great disaster occurred a few davs ago at a small village called Wurg, in Rhenish Bavaria. Fourteen children, when skating on a pond, lost their lives, the ice giving way under their weight. Four of them belonged to the same family. A frightful crime has been committed at Villars, In the arrondissement of Puget-Theniers. M. Peretti, receiver of the direct taxes, plunged a dagger into the heart of M. Ardouin, his assistant, and then delivered himself up to the authorities. The cause of the crime is not yet known. A bronze statue of Rossini, by Baron Marochetti, lias been presented to the town of Pesaro, in Italy, the composer's birthplace, by the Marquis de la Salamanca, and M. de la Hante, directors of the Roman railways. A recruiting broker in New Haven, recently enlisted his sister's son, and then robbed him of his bounty. " At the commencement of the new year," says the jVimo York Times, '• the usual meeting was held in the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's church, to dispose of the iittings for the year. The church was crowded to its utmost capacity. Precisely at seven o'clock, Mr. Beecher appeared on the platform, and in a few words stated the object of the gathering and the terms of sale. He said each pew had a fixed valuation, and that the choice of all in the house would be offered without reservation for previous occupants, to the highest bidder. Mr. Pillsbury then commenced the sale, and continued it up to half-past eleven o'clock, without intermission; The proceeds of the sale far exceeded that of any previous year. The sales amount to over 32,000d015., while last year the proceeds were only about 24,000d015. There were very many persons present who did not , obtain seats, owing to the high premium at which * they were sold. Every pew, all the aisle chairs, and even the temporary seats which have recently been erected in the rear portion of the church, were disposed of at a remarkably high price. Th« highest premium paid was 209d015., the next highest ISOdols., :at which price several were sold."

It has been calculated that since the conquest of Algeria, upwards of thirty years ago, France has •spent three miliards of francs in that colony, and rthat at this moment, in all the vast tracts of African :soil subject to her rule, there are not 200,000 (colonists.

An American paper states that the chaplain of ithe House of Representatives of lowa opened the present session with an official prayer which was a model of brevity and comprehensiveness. " Give us a. sound currency, pure water, and undefiled religion," w.as one of its two or three clauses.

Accounts from Lausanne state that the disease note mouth and sore feet have attacked horned cattle in Switzerland in a terrific manner. The Executive Council has consequently commanded that no more cattle markets shall be held. A strict watch is set upon all farmyards where the disease prevails, and upon those within a hundred yards of them. Cattle in the suspected farmyards are not to be permitted to drink at the public fountains. All strangers are forbidden to approach any farmyard, •nor is any mendicant to pass the night there. Veterinary surgeons and the police agents are desired, when they quit an infected stable, to wash :and change their clothes before they enter another. Farmers are to adopt similar precautions when they Attend a fair or market.

A recent Salt Lake City letter speaks of a new theatre erected by the Mormons as one of the finest in the Union, and adds:—"Last night I counted in Brigham Young's family box ninety-three women and children, and the box was not near full. He occupied an elegant private box with his two favorite wives."

A new steam whistle (to arouse the workmen), six feet high, and fifteen inches in diameter, has been erected on Colt's revolver factory in Hartford, tConnecticut.

A young frenchman, named Gamier, aged twentytthree, residing at Naples, has just met with his death accidentally at a fencing school in that city. While waiting to take his lesson, he was practising with She young Count Lotti, when the button of the letter's foil came off, and the weapon passed through Jl. Gander's lung, killing him on the spot. , Jk.t Creto, a small town in the Tyrol, there exists tht? custom of choosing a king of the poor. The individual ou whom this dignity is conferred is usually some honest hard-working man, without debt, but also without savings. The monarch in question having r "ecently died, a popular festival took place on the no.ui na ti°n of his successor. The king elect was convey'ed an oW ca?t to the spot where the ceremony of enthronization was to take place ; there an old worm-t'ttteo chair and table had been placed on a platform ; the new Sovereign was gravely placed there, and after being served with a very meagre repast, acc.*Mßpanied with some brandy, the last will of his predecessor, which was drawn up in humorous terms, was read aloud ; he was then led, followed by a procession of. people almost in rags, into all the liquor-shopsr, where drink was given gratis. The death at Turin of Baron Plana, the eminent astronomer, is announced. Letters from Venice state that the cold there has ibeen unusually severe this winter. The whole of ithe lagoons are frozen over, and can be crossed in : safety by foot-passengers from Cannaregioto Mestre, :and from Murano to Fundamento Nuovo._ So severe :a winter has not been known in Venice since 1788.

A letter from Tilsit, in Prussia, mentions that a i3warf, named Lipke, aged thirty-four, and only itwo feet high, had just been married to a young woman aged eighteen. The bride was of ordinary stature.

A Philadelphia paper says the receipts of petroleum during this. year will reach nearly 500,000 barrels. _ .

Captain Hugh Harkins, 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment, has been found guilty of picking the pocket of a -comrade, .desired by the court-martial *' conduct unbecoming and a gentleman." An American pap#? says that the latest wrinkle in this age of novelti&s is a new-fashioned tea and coffee cup, invented fojr .the benefit of gentlemen with heavy moustaches. It is contrivedin such a manner that the most savage-pbizzed military man may imbibe without immersing the delight of his sweetheart in the drink. The Cleveland and Columbus Railroad Company has voted 10,000 dollars to the soldiers families during the winter. It is understood that the other railroad companies in Ohio will follow this liberal . and praiseworthy example. , The Queen of Madagascar has been crowned, with jgreat pomp, in the presence of 40,000 people. The Nouvelliste, of Rouen, says:—" The workmen «H»ployed in a spinning mill at this place found, last wedc, in some bales of American cotton, four cannon balls, of a conical form, each weighing 181b. Ine bales were brought by a vessel which had succeeded in escaping the surveillance of the Federal cruisers off Charleston. This fact proves that the Confederates are not short of but the French spinners would readily dispense with having such things inserted into the bales of cotton, -as the 7211)8. of cotton they replaced is worth 250frs., which is rather too high a price to pay for old iron. Six years ago, the Federal General Grant occupied a little farm to the south-west of St. Louis, whence he was in the habit of cutting the wood and drawing it to Carondelet, #n<J sejling it in the market there. Many of his wood pwrpbsspFS are now calling to mind that they had a cord of wood delivered in person by the great General Grant. When he came in to the wood market he was usually dressed in an old felt hat with a blouse coat, and his pants tuclcea in the top of his boots. In truth, he bore the appearance of a sturdy and honest woodman. J. his was his winter's work. In the summer he turned a collector of debts, but for this he was not qualified. He had a noble and truthful soul; so when he was told that the debtor had no money he believed him, and would not trouble the debtor again. He was always at work at something, but lie did not possess the knack of making money. His habits or i e were hardy, inexpensive, and simple. The first railroad made in Russia was that between St. Petersburg and Moscow, 400 miles in length, l is as made by an American firm, and they ran it o •the Russian Government for twelve years, for which Uhey were paid of roubles per annum. '■This firm, it is said, netted out of their Russian 1 contracts 30,000,000 silver poiibles. The Monileur de la Meurthe says:—" The Prussian Minister of War, General de Roon, has just applied -to the Convent of St, Charles at Treves lor eighteen listers of Charity to attend on the sick and w ounoeu Prussians in Schleswig. The Supeiior-genera 'Nancy immediately acceded to the general s l q * 'This is a flattering homage to Catholic charity Tendered by a Protestant Government. The Zoological-gardens in tho J3oisde Boulogne 'have been lately enriched by presents trom Minister of Foreign Affairs. They consist pf vfmous animals arrived from Mexico, and among themi ai jthree hinds which resemble those of Virginia, P 3n the head. It is expected that this animal make a valuable addition to the deer-park. «re likewise three small dogs of a race P e ® Mexico, which greatly resemble our Scotch terriei - ®nt the most curious among the presents are tmr y-

five fish, which are only found in the lakes of Mexico. They are highly esteemed as food, and are easily fed.

■ The destruction of property at Kagosima by the British bombardment is estimated at £1,000,000, and 1500 persons were killed.

The Charivari publishes a caricature representing a huge cauldron placed on a blazing fire, and entitled " The Germanic Confederation." Austria and Prussia are sitting on the lid, and trying with all their force to keep it down, but it already has risen at one side, and a number of small personages are seen below heaving it gradualiy up. An inscription underneath declares that the boiling pot no longer respects pressure on the cover.

At a ball recently given by Prince Borghcse, at Rome, the Princess Masimo lost a diamond bracelet, worth, it is said, 400,000 francs, and no trace of it has since been found.

A letter from Great Salt Lake City states that one Jason Luce, convicted of wilful murder, has been sentenced to be shot. The Mormons have religious motives against strangling, hence the criminal code of Utah allows choice of three modes of execution shooting, and beheading—that is, the judge may allow the criminal such choice. If he accepts not, the judge decides the method. Luce declined to choose, whereupon Judge Smith sentenced him as above.

A communication from Jerusalem, in the Monde, says:—" The Porte is said to be about to send 5000 Circassians into the Holy Land, to form a colony in the large and magnificent plain of Sharon, between Mount Carmel and Gaza. The project is not looked on with a favorable eye in Palestine, as it is feared that the Circassians, who, like the Bedouins, have a thieving disposition, may commit acts of brigandage on the pilgrims who flock annually to Jerusalem. This city contains at the present moment GOO Russian pilgrims, about 500 Greeks, and 400 Armenians, Palestine is just now thronged with English and American travellers."

PENANG. (From the Penang Gazette.') Penang is fast becoming a cocoanut plantation. As the nutmeg trees have died they have been replaced nearly everywhere by cocoantft trees. Whether the latter will disappear as the former have done, through disease, is hard to say, but unless some steps are taken to prevent the increase of the eubong, cocoanut planting will prove a failure. During the last two years a large number of trees in the neighbourhood of the town have been killed by these destructive insects, and a great many more have been so severely injured by them, that it is hopeless to expect they can live. SINGAPORE. (From the Straits Times, Feb. 22.) The fortnight has been singularly barren of interest, political and otherwise. It appears to be agreed on all hands to allow the consideration of the most public matters to remain over until the transfer will have been completed. The Governor proceeded to Malacca and Penang on the 16th by the Pluto, and will probably not return for some time.' He has removed the restriction on the export of arms to all parts except China; but this has not satisfied the Chamber of Commerce here, who will stop at nothing short of the entire withdrawal of all restriction. CHINA. (From the Colombo Observer, March 16.) Arrived steamer Emu, from Hong Kong Ist, Singapore Bth, and Penang 10th March. The news received is unimportant. Major Gordon has returned to active service, and proceeds on his campaign. The step is considered a wise one. From Japan the news wears a decidedly pacific aspect, Ambassadors are again on the point of setting out for Europe, a fact which may of itself be accepted as a guarantee against hostilities for some time to come. The Prussian treaty has at length been ratified, and the Swiss are said to have obtained a treaty. JAVA. (From the Singapore Free Press, March 7.) In some parts of Java there occurred very destructive inundations during the latter part of January and the beginning of the current month. The flood at Samarang, on the night of the 25 th January, reached higher than was ever previously experienced, as far as could be remembered. In the town and a part of the environs the water stood two and three feet in the houses, and immense damage was done to houses and their contents. It was feared, should any further inundation occur, that the dams and other waterworks, which had been much weakened by the previous flood, would give way. Late telegrams at Batfvia announced that fresh floods had taken place, and the details were expected with much anxiety. Inundations had also taken place at Soerakarto. In the lower lying campongs the native houses were completely submerged, and the European residents everywhere had to take refuge in the second storeys of their houses, where there were such. One European soldier was drowned, being carried away by the strength of the current. Full particulars of the loss of life and property caused by these inundations had not been obtained ; but it was known that several lives had been lost, while the destruction of property had undoubtedly been very great.

CEYLON, (From the Colombo Observer, March 18.) There has been no sensible change in the weather during the fortnight, and the drought, broken now and then by only a slight drizzling, continues to prevail in all its horror. The steam-pumps have effected very little towards improving the lake, and the scarcity of water is beginning to be more widely felt. Those who can afford to leave the heat and dust of Colombo on a long holiday are on the move, and amidst the annual exodus to the hills, we have little of interest occurring in town to record. The Chief Justice and the District Judge have already left Colombo, and the business in the principal courts will be suspended till their return. His Honor the Officer Administering the Government is still amongst us, but he will shortly proceed to Newera Ellia, via Negombo and Ivandy. There is some faint prospect of a pearl fishery after all. An enterprising native merchant having, in conjunction with Captain Worsley, late Superintendent of the pearl banks, offered to discover the oysters which were alleged to be missing, the latter has by the request of the Government, proceeded to Ari'po, to make the necessary inspection. We await the result with anxiety. , The Customs revenue of the island tor the nrst two months of 1863-64 show a probable increase of nearly £2,332.