CLIPPINGS OF THE MONTH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1682, 8 May 1866, Page 3

CLIPPINGS OF THE MONTH.

| A little war has broken out at Aden. The British and Indian Population encamped in the thinks of that colossal cinder is fed principally from Lahej, the nearest oasis, and its Sultan is therefore our ally. The Foodlee tribe, either from some quarrel or urged by Whahabee feeling, recently attacked Lahej, and began burning villages. Colonel Merewether therefore, Political Agent, or as we should say Governor of Aden, marched out with 680 British and native infantry, surprised the Foodlee chief, routed bis force, and would have destroyed it but for the want of cavalry. The chief was pursued in forced inarches so sharply that he at last retreated to the mountains, leaving his territory in the hands of the British who levelled all his forts and returned to Aden. If we are to hold that place, which produces neither food nor water, but is invaluable nevertheless, we must protect Lahej, and the Arab tribes have got the idea a great deal too firmly into their heads that we dare not leave Aden. This little expedition will do good.

It is stated, apparently on good authority, that Admiral Pareja intended his suicide to express his own conviction of his unfitness for his post. He had convinced himself that M. I Tavira was a gullible person, and that Chili would never fight, and, when it did, he perceived that he had brought his country into a terrible scrape. In a letter to a friend, written just before his death, he begged him to apologize to M. Tavira, and to persuade his Government to make peace. If the aroused vanity of Spaniards will allow him, Marshal O'Donnell will probably accept the advice. He announced in the Cortes of Frihay, that Peru was at war with Spain, and with the two Republics to face, iron-clads on their road to Valparaiso, and no supplies procurable on the Pacific coast, the Spanish fleet is certainly in no enviable position. It is doubtful if it will ever regain Spain. We hear a very curious statement from Nottinghamshire that the agricultural labourers there, who have already 12s a week, are striking, with the aid of the sto'ching-makers, whose trade is very brisk just now, for Is 6d a week more. The farmers think they can stand out for a fortnight, and it is doubtful whether the men can, But the curious point—the omen of new things—is the alliance between the stocking operatives and the agricultural labourers. If that kind of alliance becomes common, the wages of agricultural labourers will soon rise far above the Dorset level. The debate on the Cattle disease 811, in committee, brought out the enormous strength of the landed interest in the Commons. The larger borough members scarcely knew each other, and were disunited and feeble. Mr. Bright alone fought the landed gentry, and he made the great mistake of fighting them on a wrong issue by taunts directed at the aristocracy instead of on the strong ground of reason and precedent. He taunted them with being unable to give up their hunting, though it is said that dogs especially carry the infection, and Mr. Lowe charged him with wishing to set class against class even among dogs, with taking the side of" humble cur," who is to be strictly punished for roaming about, against the aristocratic foxhound. But Mr. Lowe and the country gentlemen carried everything before them, though compelled to accept the reduction of . the price of a beast attacked by the plague from two-thirds to one-half,—one-half being at least quadruple its real value. They carried the clause for giving three-fourths of the value of a beast not yet attacked but probably infected; they carried the clause which pays two-thirds of the compensation-money out of the county rate, and it is far from improbable they may be able to put the remaining third also upon the county rate, and get rid of the cattle rate —the special tax on the interest which demands this remedy—altogether. If so, it will be Mr Lowe's doing. He has been shrewd enough in discerning the true course of the plague; and as for the relative claims of the public and the agricultural interest, it is not likely that the nominee of the Marquis ofLansdowne cares much for compensating the public. There is one very gross defect in this bit of. panic legislation. It does not even leave open the possibility of any further study of the disease and its treatment. It is imperative on the local authorities to order the destruction of a diseased beast. No exception is made, no hospitals are provided, no one is allowed even to try remedial measures. To conceal a beast's illness is to incur a penalty of £2O, to report its illness is to render it the duty of the local authority to destroy it immediately. Hence, for the chance of stamping the disease out, we are going deliberately to sacrifice every chance of learning to understand and cure it.

Mr. J. S. Mill made his maiden speech in the House on the cattleplague debate. He was not distinctly heard, and the Parliamentary gossip about the speech was at first unfavourable. His argument, it was said, was' thin,' and his manner almost petulant. The truth no doubt was that he was samewhat nervous, and that this made a style always somewhat dictatorial seem fretful. His closing hit at the reluctance of the aristocracy to undertake its natural obligations was no doubt for his purpose a mistake, and not sufficiently amplified to carry any moral weight. But let Parliamentary gossip say what it will, his maiden speech changed the Bill he was discussing. 'He bit so clear a " blot," to use Mr. Gladstone's phrase, in pointing out that you should pay the farmer for a beast attacked .only that proportion of its price which rather more than expresses the chance of its recovery, that the Government reduced their offer from two-thirds to one-half the next night. We hope for a considerable Parliamentary success for Mr. Mill. There are not many

men in Parliament who could change the resolution of the Government by a maiden speech. M- Deak's addresß in reply to the speech from the throne waß laid before the Hungarian Diet on the B,th Feb. It is polite, but very decided, a' single idea being repeated in almost every sentence, that Hungary is willing to come to terms with all other countries of Austria for common action, "provided that the political and administrative autonomy of Hungary be maintained intact." It accepts the Pragmatic Sanction as a basis for negotiation, but rejects the October Diploma, which established the common Keichsrath, remarking with natural pride, " Our especial constitution did not commence with this Diploma; it is as old as our country, and has issued from the life of the nation." It expresses great satisfaction at His Majesty's wish to govern in a constitutional manner, calls the last seventeen years "torn out of the constitutional life, of the nation," and promises to submit to the throne a proposition "as compatible with the vital conditions of the country as with the independence of Hungary," The address, it is said, has not been badly received by the Emperor, but negotiations lag, the Hungarians being apparently unwilling to concede much. The Government, it would appear, consider war, finance, and foreign affairs as the departments in which common action is indispensable. Lord Overstone asked whether Government intended to compel railway directors to obey the law in the matter of issuing debentures. At present no purchaser can tell if the debenture he is buying is legal or not. Lord Eussell replied that her Majesty's Government had no intention of doing anything of the kind, a reply easily explained by reference to the table in another column. There are one hundred and twenty railway directors in the House of Commons, and against that compact phalanx, legality, common sense, and honesty strive in vain. We must be grateful, in the present state of parties, that they do not compel us to take their debentures, whether we like them or not.

Mr. Childers, in a speech of a quarter of an hour, introduced a Bill which may prove of more, importance than the lengthy discussions on the cattle plague. It permits the Commissioners of the Public Works Loan to lend 1 money at 4 per cent, for the construction of dwellings for the poor. The Act will apply only to populous places, and the loan is not to exceed half the value of the' buildings, but still it will enable vestses, town councils, and even individuals, to obtain monejr for the reconstruction of dwellings for the poor at a very low rate. We should have preferred a larger measure, giving power to take sites as railways take them, and with a wider margin for loans, but in this country a policy on any question seems impossible, and we must be thankful for what we can get. Only if Mr. Gladstone really intends to begin the campaign against pauperism, on which his reputation will ultimately depend; he must make his arrows just a trifle sharper. ;

The decision of the French Government on Mexican affairs will probably be taken about the 25th Feb,, when the final replies from Washington are expected to arrive. It is rumoured in Paris that Marshal Forey spoke his recent speech in the Senate in the name of all the Marshals of France. If this is correct, it is important, for Marshal Forey said that Maximilian could not maintain his throne without French troops, that further reinforcements ought to be sent out, and that, as we are told, in the event of war the army in -Mexico would in a fortnight be cut off from France. It seems certain that the French army is disgusted with the expedition, and demands either the recall of the troops or a much more energetic policy in their defence. Letters from the officers employed are full of complaints of the country and stories of brigandage.

The cattle-plague returns are becoming useless, some 251 inspectors having again failed to send in their reports. According to the figures, there has been no increase since the last accurate returns, but we are not told if the 251 defaulters hare been accounted for. The discussion of remedies still goes on. Vaccination is apparently abandoned, though 27,000 cows have been vaccinated in Cheshire, but the Times gives large type to the experiments of a Mr. Maurice Worms, of Egham, who has cured several cows at Wrentmore, the seat of Sir A.Rothschild, with anice compound of small red pickling onions, ginger, and assafaetida. Assafcetida is a nervous stimulant, and 'onion juice is the well-known Indian remedy for a stroke of the suu, but which of the two does the good ? Mr. Worms apparently does not know. It is said also that salt does good, but there seems to be some doubt about the experiments. Salt was tried during the outburst of the disease in the last century without success. Dr. Stanley, the Dean of Westminster, made a very good speech a week ago in the Lower House of Convocation of Ritualism in the Church. He said that though he at least could not be supposed to attach too much weight to what was said by bishops either individually or collectively—and " had this been a question of opinion as to the writing of the Pentateuch he should have attached no importance to it,"—yet on a matter of external order he thought bishops should be obeyed, and he particularly eulogized the pathos and dignity of the Archbishop of Canterbury's language on this matter. Still, if the ritualists disregarded even their bishopß, then the best course wbb to tolerate their masquerades. The dresses complained of were only dresses after the fashion of the Greeks and Romans living at the time of the Apostles, and had no peculiar holiness about them. Chasuble, for instance, was Blang for a particular robe, aß' tile' in England is slang for a hat, In a word, he thought tlje movement silly and obstinate, but on the Whole harmless, and likely to extinguish itself by disgusting the public.

The Washington correspondent of the Tines has been fighting stoutly to persuade himself and his readers that he was right in expecting the rejection by Congress of the amendment to the Constitution, which provides that each State shall be_ represented in Congress not in proportion to its whole population, but in proportion to its population, after deducting any class excluded on account of race or colour. A letter elaborately proved that this great act of justice would be rejected, two days before we heard that it had been adopted in the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, —120 to 46. There is no doubt of its passing the Senate by a great majority, and if the President vetoes it, it can be passed over his head by the same majorities which it has already obtained. Most likely, however, he will not veto it, and then it will require approval by three-fourths of the States in order to become law. If really enacted, it will go far to ensure the freedom of the negroes. For though the Southern States can shut out also so many mean whites that it will be a very unpopular measure. And if the negroes once have the franchise, we may be sure they will not long fail to get justice in courts of law.

History of Newspapers.—Much curious information illustrative of the history of newspapers in England is scattered through the volumes of Notes and Queries; but tin January monthly part _of that amusing periodical is especially rich on this subject, for it contains amongst other matter a description of a volume of ' early papers and periodicals which has long slumbered unnoticed among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, and also a list of no less than 277 newspapers and journals published in this country between 1712 and 1732. The part contains also a list of the Jacobite peers, baronets, and knights created by James 11,, which has been compiled from the Stuart papers at Windsor, An invention, apparently simple and un pretending enough, but which promises to beof singular utility and economy in the reefing of sails, has just been patented by Mr. E, W, Reay, sailmaker, of Williamstown, The invention is a flew reef-ring, and is intended to supersede the ordinary cringles at present used in reefing, and by its adoption a great saving in the wear and tear of clew-ropes will be effected. It is applicable to any sail requiring to be reefed, but more particularly ! tof fore-and-aft mainsails, and boom trysails. For the sake of illustration, it may be stated that, to a sail having 250 square yards of bearing surface a clew-rope of three and a-half inches circumference is attached. At each reef the rope is cut, and a common eye made, which is lined with a galvanised iron casing, and at the nearest end of the other part of the rope another similar eye iB made, and these two eyes are connected together by a galvanised iron ring, placed in them before they are fixed in their positions by the clew rope. The ring measures three and a half inches in diameter from its inner circumference, one half of it being solid and about three quarters of an inch in diameter, the remainder being shaped like an ordiuary thimble. On the solid portion of this ring, and about two inches from the lowest end of the thimble-shaped part, a stop about half au inch thick is placed, which prevents the reef penant from jamming between the ring, and the iron lining of the eye. On the thimble-shaped portion of the ring a piece of green hide is fastened, so as to give as fine a surface for the rope-reef pennant to work as a lignum vitae bull's-eye. By this invention the friction, which by the old method fell upon the olew-rope working against the cringle, is transferred to the reefring which works the iron casings of the eyes, and is reduced to a mere minimum. The inventor is confident that one set of these reef-rings will out-wear three sails. The invention has been already tested, and is found to anßwer its design admirably.— Argus, March 7. Aneroid Barometers—A very noteworthy improvement in the Aneroid barometer has been effected and registered by Messrs. Cook and Sons, the celebrated opticians. Although the Aneroid, under ordinary circumstances, has been shown by Mr. Olaisher and others to be very much more effective and satisfactory in its results than could have been hoped, still, under conditions which bring rapid changes of pressure into play, the instrument when it returns to the normal pressure does not always indicate correctly. This results from the motion being communicated to the index axle by a chain, and this chain, from other considerations, is the weakest part of the instrument, and is the first acted upon by climatic influences, rust, &c, Mr. Cooke has abolished this chain altogether, substituting for it an almost invisible driving band of gold or platinum, and the result of this great improvement is, that the Aneroid may now be looked upon as an almost perfect instrument for scientific research. Several such Aneroids, placed under the receiver of an air-pump, not only march absolutely together, but all return unfailingly to one and the same indication,