MAIL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6814, 19 September 1883, Page 6

MAIL NEWS.

CARDINAL MANNING ON HOME RULE. lit the course of an interview with Cardinal Manning the London correspondent of the New York Herald asked His Eminence whether he was in favour of Home Rule for Ireland. " Well, that is a vast subject," said the Cardinal. "1 think a very large measure of administrative liberty ought to be given to Ireland. I should like to see her ai free to administer her own affairs as our own great cities —as Manchester, for instance. Manchester does many most wonderful things, quite independently, and so might Ireland. If you ask me, however, whether I am in favour of separation between Ireland and England, or of a dual pyetem of government such as we see in Auatro-Hungary, I reply I am not It appears to me that the union of England, Ireland, and Scotland is essential to the complete prosperity of each, while to Ireland it is a vital necessity. England might possibly stand and thrive, even after a separation from Ireland ; but Ireland could not thrive if sho were severed from England. The analogy between the cases of Austria and England is very imperfect. England has a population of nearly 30,000,000 to set Against the 5,000,000 in Ireland. But no less than 16,000,000 of Hungarians are included in the, total 33,000,000 peopling the State of Austro-Hungary." THE SUPPOSED LOSS OF A WHITE STAR LINER. A telegram in the San Francisco pipers dated Montreal, August 23, says:—"lnterest has been revived here in the case of the missing White Star line steamship Ludwig, by the arrival of her sister ship the Helvetia, of the same line, at this port yesterday. Captain Smith, commander of the Helvetia, reports that nothing has been seen or heard of the Ludwig, though following her track, as the Helvetia has done; they were on the look-out for her. The Helvetia had a very dangerous passage. On the morning of the 15th instant, when between 150 and 200 miles from the Straits of Belle Isle, icebergs were noticed, aad tho order given to shut off steam. Moving on slowly, they found themselves surrounded by icebergs, which were successfully avoided. Tho captain states that was the first time in his knowledge that icebergs had been met so far from shore, and that they were, he thought, due to westerly winds. Notwithstanding the bad weather and icebergs, the Helvetia made the passage in seventeen days, whereas the Ludwig, which sailed from Antwerp on the 22nd ultimo, has now beeu out over thirtyone days. Her passengers, twenty-six in aumber, were, with one exception, farmers and labourers, with their families. The exception is a bri liant young violinist, Emile Hone, a native of Montreal, and a musician whose future was considered very promising. An experienced ship agent stated to-day that the fate of the Ludwig was absolutely hopeless, and hae been bo for two weeks. He said, ' There is no conceivable theory which . could account for her long absence without having been once seen or heard of. No vessel could either be on the north or eonuh tack for such a length of time, nor havs drifted, nor have run to any conceivable point from either bank without being aighted. She is beyond all doubt lost.' The vessel was a favourite one with cattle j shippers, having to flush decks, full length, and being thoroughly ventilated. Her crew numbered thirty men, and she was lander command of Captain Kiel, an experienced navigator, who has been many years in the North Atlantic trade. The Ludwig was originally built for the North American Lloyds, but she was subsequently sold to people in England. She was a stroDglybailt vessel, and made about thirteen knots an hour in good weather. Her dimensions were:—Length, 346 feet; breadth of beam, 42 feet; width 33 feet. She was built at Caird's yard, on the Clyde." JPROFESSOR TYNDALL AND CAPTAIN WEBB'S DEATH. In a letter published in the Standard Professor Tyndall says :—The Rapide proper of Niagara occur above the Fall, where for a mile or so the water comes galloping and tumbling down before it takes its final leap over the edge of the cataract. Below the cataract the river flows through a deep gorge, which has beea excavated by the river. At some distance down there is a ferry between the American and the Canadian sides. Lower still is a suspension bridge for foot passengers, while about two miles below the Fall the river is spanned by the railway suspension bridge. Between the ferry and this bridge the river Niagara bows unruffled, but 2>elow the suspension bridge the gorge narrows, and the rapidity and turbulence of the water increase. For a certain distance the width cannot be more than three hundred feet, and here occur what may be called " the "Whirlpool Rapids," which are not to be confounded with the rapids above the FalL It was through the vVhirlpool Rapids that poor Captain Webb had to steer his way. It is impossible to describe the wild fury of tho waters at this place. The river boils and leaps in the most frantic manner, the most extraordinary effect being produced when two waves so coalesce that the united forces of both toss the crest of the compounded billow, shivered into liquid spherules, high in air. In the middle of the river no man could live, and we are informed that Captain Webb avoided the middle. Bat the tossing everywhere is terrific. Lower down, the river suddenly beads nearly at a right angle; and here is formed the Whirlpool from which the lower Rapids derive their name. The river strikes the bank opposed to it with tremendous force, and is thereby thrown into gyratory motion. Here, it is said, Captain Webb lost bis life. I do_ not think a powerful swimmer, with his wits about him, need have come to grief in the Whirlpool itself. But how any man could have kept his senses intact amid the battering and tossing of the Whirlpool Rapids it is difficult to imagine. It was probably the exhaustion of his power among the Rapids that rendered -the mighty swimmer unable to escape from the Whirlpool.

THE FRENCH OPERATIONS IN TONQUIN. The New York Herald's Paria cablegram says: The political atmosphere is again resonant with the tuning up of instruments and scraping up of fiddlers for the overture •of the Franco-Chinese melodrama. The recent detth of the Emperor Tu-dnc, together with the rapidly increasing number of the Black Flags, has forced the hands of the French, who now appear fully conscious of the danger of further delay. Only last month Dr. Harlandirville, Commissioner, General Bouet and Admiral Courbet had -decided to postpone all forward movements until October, bat at a recent consultation the Doctor, General, and Admiral put their beads together and resolved to immediately achieve a grand coup. It is now thought thatthenewAnnameeeKing-elect, Vianluent, ia bitterly hostile tc the French. Tu-duc •was merely unable to put down the Black Flag rebels, Vianluent is not only unable to, but is unwilling to do so. The .grand conp the ontcome of the abovementioned consultation, is a plan' by a bold etroke to capture Hue, the Annamite capital, and establish a dummy king-like the Boy of Tunis on the throne, under exclusively French auspices, thereby preventing by anticipation the traditional investiture of the King of Annam by the Emperor of China, and solving by the sword the question of Chinese suzerainty. Hue is ten miles from the sea as the crow flies. Its only river defences are several roughly constructed dams and two brokendown, antiquated forts at the mouth of the river. Admiral Courbet has, doubtless, by this time hoisted the French flag on the two forta and blown up the dams with dynamite cartridges, bo that gunboats will have no difficulty in going up the river and indulging in a bombardment of the Annamite capital. Twelve hundred marines are performing a leas congenial taak. They have before them a two days' march through rice fields, where the enemies of the marines will be fever and dysentery. Simultaneously with the beginning of these operations against Hue, Colonel Baden has made a vigorous attack upon the Black Flags behind their entrenchments, south of Namdin, and driven them helter-skelter towards the interior. In concert with Admiral Courbet's attack on Hue, General Bouet ia to march on Sontoy, situated to the north-west of Hanoi. The total number of French troops engaged in the present operation ia 6000. Hope is entertained by the French that the enemy will be completely paralysed by'the occupation of Hue, the residence of the Asiatic sovereign always being deemed a sort of holy city. They think that tte number of troops now concentrated in the; Bed River delta "will be able to press forward and join the main body. On the other hand, the Black Flags seem to be daily receiving reenforcements from the Chinese regular

and irregular tronps which are crossing the Yunnan. The political result of the bombardment of Hue will be that the Annamites will refuse to recognise the King set up by the French without the time-honoured investiture by the Emperor of China. So that France, unless she ie prepared to abandon to complete anarchy all point* not actually occupied by her troops, will be forced to conquer aud occupy the whole country. Moreover, matters will bo brought to a head with China. China's hand will be forced, and she will have to abandon either her pretensions of suzerainty over Annam or lose her natality, which she still officially maintains. Meanwhile, the bombardment of Hue is only an incident in the campaign. If there is to be any serious fighting it will come off on the Hue has 120,000 inhab - tants an arsenal, cannon foundry, and dock for the construction of river boats. It is surrounded by a ditch twelve kilometers long and thirty-three meters wide. The ramparts are twenty meters high and are provided with 200 old-fashionod cannon. The citadel in the centre is the Emperor"s palace, which is flanked by twelve bastions.