ENGLISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7841, 10 January 1887, Page 6

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

■ » The mail steamer Zealandia, whioh arrived from San Francisco on Saturday evening, brought London newspaper files to December 2, and American papers, containing European telegrams dated December 17, from which we extraot the following interesting items of news:— THE PACIFIC CABLE. A despatch from Montreal, December 10, says that within the past month immense strides have been made toward realising a Pacific cable scheme, and now there is every prospect that it will be an accomplished fact at an early date. Sanford Fleming, an engineer, say a a oompany has been formed under the name and title of the Pacific Telegraph Company (Limited), with a capital of £2,000,000 in £10 shares, for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, and working telegraphic and other communications between New Zealand, Australia, and other places in the Paciflo Ocean, and also with Africa and America. Articles of incorporation were registered in London within the present month. A subsidy of £50.000 per annum iB expected from the Home Government, while it is anticipated the various colonial Governments will co-operate regarding this matter. THE MACKAY-BENNETT WIRES. The Pacific Postal Telegraph Company, : otherwise known as the Maokay-Bennett Company, have completed the laying of their wires between San Franoisco and New Westminster, the terminus of the Canadian Pacific line, a distance of 1100 miles. The company met with much opposition from; the Northern Paoifio Railway Company, the; latter filling up the pestholes as fast as they were dug. BEACH AND HANLAN. ; Edward Hanlan, the oarsman, sailed from London for Canada on the 10th Deoember. Being asked when his match with Beach on the Nepean River, New South Wales, was to be rowed, he said he preferred it should take place in June. The stakes would be £1000 a-side; Beach allowing Hanlan his expenses. Hanlan had deposited £100 forfeit for the race. He stipulated that tho race shall be acoording to the same articles and over the same course as his race with Laycock. Banian will sail for Australia from America on receipt of a message from Beach confirming his acceptance of his challenge.] THE BULGARIAN TROUBLE. Telegrams from Constantinople (December 11), on the alleged negotiations between Russia and Turkey, affirm the statement that the Sultan is disoussing a secret convention with the Czar for the withdrawal of the Turkish suzerainty over Bulgaria in favour of Russia. Russia has resumed action on the candidature of Prince Nicholas of Mingrelia, ;.nd has made further statements to the Powers, asking for more definite statements of their respective views. Gadban Pasha, the special delegate of the Sultan at Sofia, is resorting to the same methods as Kaulbars to intimidate the Bulgarian Government, and has assumed an intolerable tone of arrogance. ' The situation is' approaching a ■ climax, and > the / Porte i will not be permitted to «. continue to harass the Bulgarian Government as.it is doing now. Prince Ferdinand, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, after a long talk with Count Kalnoky, received the Bulgarian deputation on Deoember 14. The Prince told the deputation that he was willing to acoept the Bulgarian throne if the Sobranji elected him and the Powers confirmed his election. It is reported that negotiations have been opened at St. Petersburg, and the deputation awaits the Czar's reply. The candidacy is generally favourably considered in Europe. The Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh vigorously support it, and are using all their influence at Berlin and St. Petersburg. The Prince of Hesse is also warmly in support, and it is rumoured the Emperor William has writter to the Czar, advising him to accept the Prince Ferdinand. The Russian Ambassador at Vienna informed the Bulgarian deputation, on the 16tb, that Russia is at present unable to recognise the Prinoe as a candidate, or to notice any proposal on that matter emanating from the Regency. STANLEY AND THE CONGO. Henry M. Stanley, the African explorer, who has been lionising in New York for tome weeks past, received a despatch from King Leopold of Belgium on December 13, summoning him to return at once to Europe. It appears that a band of Arabs under Ben Mohammed, emboldened by Stanley's absence, have entered the Free Congo State, and massacred the garrison at Stanley Falls, and at every village where they found white families. The men were killed, and the women and children carried away. The Arabs numbered 1500 men. Attempts had been made to oheck their marauding, but without success, and Stanley's influence is required. Ben Mohammed was formerly good friends with Stanley, and in 1876 accompanied him with a force of men in his explorations for fifty days, under contract. In obedience to the summons, Stanley sailed for Belgium on the 15th. His relief expedition starts in February, The Egyptian Government contributes £10,000 towards the expense. THE NEW FRENCH MINISTRY. Premier Goblet announced the new Ministry on December 11 as follows Goblet, President of the Council and Minister of the Interior, and, ad interim, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dauphin, Minister of Finance; Berthelot, Instruction; Sarien, Justice ; General Boulanger, War; Admiral Aube, Marine; Granet, Posts and Telegraphs; Lookroy, Commerce; Millaud, Public Works; Deville, Agriculture. Goblet, in announcing the new Government, read statements declaring that he relied upon concord among the Republicans of the Chamber to continue governmental work. He would follow de Freyoinet's foreign policy. Baron de Courcey declined the Foreign portfolio, and Goblet offered it to M. Billot, French Ambassador at Lisbon. It was afterwards accepted by Flourens, Vice-President of the Counoil of State, - >> THE FROUDEtCARLYLE EMBROGLIO. In view of Mr. Fronde's departure for the Weat Indies On December 30, he has had prepared a complete statement of his conduot in regard to the Carlyle papers, written by Sir James Stephen, executor with Fronde under Carlyle's will. It gives, in the form of a letter to Mr. Froude, the whole stoiry; Sir James writes, that bo far as the will made in 1873 was oonoerned, no legal diffi. oulty arose; but after making his will, Carlyle dealt with his papers in a manner that caused much embarrassment. The will says: " As for the express biography of me, i I really would rather that [there should be nonet", Bat Carlyle changed his mind, and

' sent Froude a great mass of pampers, mauu- ■ scripts, and books, without wntten-direotiona i of ' any sprt. Verbally, he told Fronde to do a»'< be' pleased, adding that he was to 1 burn * freely. Some'' months; after her' nnole'a death, Mrs. Alexander ' Oarlyle informed the executors that in 1876 be made a verbal gift to her of all his papers. Of this he wrote a memorandum in her presence. It gave no hint of any gift of any papers, , and ; Mrs. Carlyle never disclaimed its correctness when a copy was seiit to her. In summing up, Sir James says: "Yon (Fronde) appear to me to have acted in a quite straightforward way throughout. You gave Mrs. Carlyle above £1600 which she could not have compelled you to give her. She took a view of the publication of the Carlyle reminiscences which many people do take, and tried to stop the publication of the biography on what she believed to be valid legal grounds. I think she was erroneously advited ; but the question is one of mereouriosity, which can never now be decided in an authoritative way. The whole of the difficulty in this matter arose from the feebleness and indecision natural enough in extreme old age, whioh prevented Oarlyle from making up his mind conclusively as to what he wished to be done about hie papers, and having his decision put into writing.' The statement of Sir James Stephen many will regard as final in regard to all charges brought against Froude by Mrs. Alexander Carlyle. I am enabled to say that at no distant day a revolution of deep interest physiologically may be expected whioh will throw plain, though painful, light upon the mystery of Carlyle's married life. It is. indeed, almost an open secret in literary and medical ciroles that he erred in getting married, and the remorseful conviction of this gnawed at his heart for years, and explains much that is dark and sad in bis story of domestic life. THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE, The forty-ninth Congress of the United States assembled at noon on December 6, and shortly after President Cleveland transmitted his message. The document is a lengthy one, and touches on a variety of topics nationally important. Among other measures urged on the attention of Congress is a reduction of the tariff on foreign goods, whioh may also be manufactured in the United States; and the suspension of the Act by which the coinage of silver is made compulsory. In urging the measure lastnamed, he but re-echoes the hostility of the Secretary of the Treasury (Manning) onehalf of whose printed roport, even date with the message, is devoted to the consideration of the subject. Referring to Samoa, the President says Consul Greenbaum was recalled for over - zeal, in granting the protection of the United States to Malietoa, who applied to him for it, without first consulting the Government at Washington. In regard to the fisheries dispute with Canada, he hopes that before the close of the present BesSion of Congress it may be settled ; recommends better treatment of, and more protection for the Chinese; advises the extension of the reciprocity treaty with the Sandwich Islands for a farther term of seven years; and also advises amendments tothe various extradition treaties with foreign countries, making them more comprehensive. He is in favour of an international copyright, and the abolition of the tax on pictures and works of art imported into the United States. After alluding to relations with foreign countries, the President devotes the rest of his message to , the Civil Service proposition, and other matters concerning the internal machinery of the Government. The annual report of the National Treasury shows it to be in a most healthy condition. The American Press, with the, exoeption of the Republican papers, generally endorse the Message as a complete and comprehensive State paper, and Democratic to the core. The New York Tribune, representing the Opposition, sneers at the document, as not so strong as it is long.' The London Press dwell. on that part of : the ' Message referring to, the fishery dispute with Canada. < The News says The difficulty seems to Be that New England does not want .free trade, while America wants the fishing. The same insatiable greed for protection underlies the ; difficulty about the disposal ,of the suiplns revenue. Protection will die Hard in America." The Telegraph warns the Ministry that to leave the fishing dispute open would be the height of criminal shortsightedness. The Standard calls the Message able, statesmanlike, and eminently pacific. The Times' comment is: " It is fortunate for both parties that negotiations [concerning the fisheries] are in the bands of the two Governments instead of those of the immediate disputants." THE AMERICAN TARIFF. The impression in Washington on December 17 was that the Representative Morrison's motion to go into committee of the whole at an early day, to consider revenue matters, would be carried in the House. If the revenue reformers can revise the tariff this session they propose to put wool on the free list. In the House, on December 16, remonstrances were presented against the measure known as " The Dunn Free Ship Bill." The remonstrants represent that the adoption of the free ship policy would destroy the shipbuilding interest of the United States, and make the country dependent on British yards for ships for oommeroial purposes and for defence in time of war. THE BRITISH COLONIES. A London telegram, December 7, says the Colonial Secretary of State has sent a dispatch to the colonies summoning a conference of the representatives of the principal Colonial Governments to be held in London next year, to consider the question of organisation for the military defence of the British Empire, and the development of postal and telegraphic communication. The dispatch states that the patriotic action of the colonies in offering contingents of troops for the' Egyptian campaign made a deep and lasting impression on the public mind, and was the first practical result of muoh careful work during recent years. The time has now arrived when an attempt may fairly be made to attain to a better understanding as to a system of defence throughout the Empire. THE ROYAL FAMILY FEUD. American correspondents in London are gossipping freely concerning the private affairs of Royalty. The New York Tribune's letter of the 16th December says Queen Victoria continues to favour the bergs, and the Royal family feud is becoming more bitter. The Prince of Wales ignores the presence of Prince Alexander at Windsor, and has remonstrated with the Queen for advanoing him to the rank of the military class of the Order of the Bath, a grade to which the Emperor William and Prinoe Imperial of Germany belong. TERRIBLE SHIPPING DISASTER. A terrible marine disaster occurred at the San Francisco Heads, a short distance southwest of the Cliff House, about three o'clock on the morning of Deo. 17. At that hour the whaling barque Atlantic, which sailed the day before on a cruise to the South Paoi6.c, drifted on shore and became a total wreck. She had on board a crew of 40 men, about 30 of whom were drowned, although there is a life-saving station in the vicinity. The cause of the disaster is due to several reasons. The steam-tug that towed the vessel to sea, dropped her before she had given her sufficient offing, and just when she let go her tow-rope, the wind fell, and a heavy fog oovered everything like a pall. The captain had no bearings, but knew be was being carried in shore by the current, and let go two anohors to prevent it. The anchors dragged, and meantime the waves tore the vessel to pieces, and drowned the hapless sailors. Some of the timbers picked up on the shore were found to be so rotten that they could be crumbled in one's hand. IRISH AFFAIRS. There was serious rioting at Cork on December 5, and a number of policemen and citizens were injured, the latter by bayonet thrusts. Twenty-three persons were treated in the hospital for scalp wounds. The Government has obtained from the law officers of the Crown, of Dublin, opinions to the effect that the tenants, the trustees, and others conspiring to defraud the landlords of their due rent are liable to indictment under the common law. j The Ulster Loyalist Anti-Repeal Union sent to the Lord Lieutenant, on December 6, a set of resolutions expressing dissatisfaction with the weakness of the Irish Executive in dealing with the defiant and shameless conspiracy to defraud one class of the Irish people and to demoralise another, and assuring the Government of the Union's cordial support in any attempt to crush thereon"' spiracy. _ Archbishop Walsh,' of Dublin, published a letter on December Bth, • warning' the Government : that the difficulties in Ireland, already appalling, would be immensely L in-

creased if they, persisted in,their attempts to 1 oohyiot prisoners by means of picked juries, as was done in Sllgo. ; ; ' 1 ' ■>- The' Catholics of Lurgaa formed in procession' on ,the night of December 7th, and marched j through the streets to show their joy at the acquittal of some of their number who were tried on charged of rioting. The Orangemen : of the town attacked the parade, and a fierce riot ensued, in which sticks, stones, and revolvers were need. The fightinglasted for several hours,and was finally quelled in the early morning by the Dragoons, which had to be called in. A score of persons were wounded, and several houses were partly wreckcd. The Duke of Manchester has made a permanent reduction of 25 per cent in rents on all his estate* in'lreland. - A despatch from Dublin, December 11, says preparations were already being made in that city to give Miohael Davitt and his bride a grand welcome. Davitt married a Miss Yore, of Oakland, California, during his recent visit to the Pacific coast. The Protestant Home Rulers of Dublin, at a meeting on December 13, resolved in favour of free speeoh, open-air meetings, and fair play ; to the Catholics. Magistrate Clarke, in a speeoh, maid Lord Randolph Churchill had no faith in the Conservatives, yet he had not the oourage to leave them, believing it better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. On December. 14, Judge Lawson, at Belfast, sentenced four men arrested for wrecking houses along Shank Hill, in the riots of June last, to four months' imprisonment each. The prisoners had all pleaded guilty. At the instigation of tbe Pope instructions have been prepared by Cardinal Sinieoni to the Irish Bishops, charging them to keep their clergy scrupulously within the limits of duty in regard to the anti-rent movement. In the John Dillon case, called before the Dublin Court on December 14, the defendant appeared in his own behalf. He was charged with agitating in favour of what is called the "plan of campaign." In his address, Dillon said the Crown was straining the law against him. The Judge declared "the plan of campaign " was clearly and absolutely illegal. He ordered Dillon to give bonds, in the sum of £2000, with two sureties for £1000 each, for good behaviour in future, within twelve days, or go to prison for six months. Dillon was arrested in Loughrea, County Galway, December 16, and charged with conspiracy to defraud. At the same time and place, , and on a similar charge, Wm, O'Brien, editor of United Ireland, Matthew, M.P. for East Galway, and David Sheehy, M.P. for South Galway, were also taken into custody. The prisoners had been acting as trustees in conducting the "Dillon Plan of Compaign," and had received from dissatisfied tenants the reduced rents refused by the landlords or their agents. At the time of making the arrests, the police took away from Mr. Dillon £60 which he had just received in trust from tenants. The arrested parties were remanded for a week. The Times of December 16 urges the Government to a vigorous policy in regard to Ireland. "The Government must show," reads the article, "that they, and not the secret conclave sitting in Dublin or New York are the Government of Ireland, and in doing bo they will be supported by the approval of every true subject of the Crown." THE DILKE CASE. REPORTED RE OPENING. ALLEGED ASTOUNDING CONSPIRAC** Figaro publishes a very bright and amusing interview with Sir Charles, who, with Lady Dilke, is passing a few days in Paris, shopping and visiting the theatres. Figaro describes Sir Charles Dilke as the handsomest and most aristocratic-looking man that can be imagined, and who would have made, physically, a superb Emperor of Russia, and speaks of Lady Dilke as one of the prettiest women! of England. Figaro's correspondent says that Sir Charles spoke at length about the late trial, and with a dignity that wod.the deepest sympathy for the speaker. The interview ends as follows:— •'Sir Charles begged me not to give as coming from him the information that I possess about the trnl. I will conform to his desire. ' I will' only say what I know de source certaine, and what neither the Prees nor English society knows— that in a few months the grand Crawford-Dilke case Will re-open. This trial, the most scandalous of the century in England, is about to enter its third act. A number of Sir Charles' friends, without his knowledge or initiative, have made a most thorough investigation, with a result which the public will soon learn with the greatest amazement. I can affirm that these friends of Sir Charles— among whom are statesmen, lawyers, physicians and Cabinet Ministers—are on the trace of a conspiracy that will make the press of the entire world re-echo with excitement. " This third trial will also abound and overflow with the moat revolting details, but it will give an opportunity to one of the ablest and most accomplished men of modern times to emerge with a high head and bold front from the blind alley, of infamy into which he has been cast by a conspiracy and accusations that hitherto he has not been able to rebut.'' ■ Mrs. Virginia Crawford, who was one of the defendants in the Crawford-Dilke case, proposes to make ; her debut in comedy shortly at a West End theatre. • MISCELLANEOUS. South Dakota has applied for admission into the Union of States. Cowan and Co., shipbrokers and merchants, of Glasgow, failed on the 17th for £100,000. The world-famous negro pianist, " Blind Tom," has been adjudged insane, and mentally incompetent. . iv • A stay of execution has been granted in the case of W. H. Maxwell, Preller's murderer, until February 1, 1887.' The London Chamber of Commerce, has: emphatically endorsed the PostmawterGeneral's American Mail Policy. Tremendous' stock excitement in San Francisco during tbe month. " ~ Ten brokers failed. New discoveries at Comstock.; Prince Alexander, of Bulgaria, arrived in London on . December 8. The Queen decorated him with the Order of the Bath. Henry George, the defeated labour candidate for Mayor, proposes to publish a weekly paper in New York, to be called the Standard. . '<■■>> Marshall P. Wilder, who enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a pomologist and horticulturist, died at Roxbury, Mass., on December 16, aged 86. „•> <; Lord Salisbury, on the 16th, reduced the rents of his Hatfield estate 20 per cent. His example is being generally followed by large landowners. The Hawaiian loan of 2,000,000 dollars has been floated by Mathisson and Co., the London bankers.. A dispatch says it was eagerly sought for. England has decided to reduce the Egyptian standing army of occupation to 5000, thus largely reducing the cost of armament to the Egyptian Government. Severe earthquakes continue at Sommerville, Colombia, and Charleston, S.C. The shocks in the latter city are more noisy than usual. No damage, however, is reported. , Destructive forest fires are sweeping over the entire low pine regionn of the State of South Carolina, destroying railroads, and telegraphic lines, and threatening villages. Two heavy failures were reported in London on December 11Lark and Sons, general merchants, for' £1,000,000; and Edmund Davis, a West End solicitor, for £100,000. The Queen forbade the admission into the household of Windsor Castle, or within the castle precincts, of newspapers containing sensational reports of the Campbell divorce case. ; ... j John W.Yonng, a Mormon leader, a son of Brigham, was in New York on November 25th, with a scheme for selling all the Mormon > possessions; in Utah and moving to Mexico. - The English Government has decided to supply the army with the Austrian Fischer repeating rifle. Fischer has gone to London to superintend the final trial of his rifle at Enfield. The auction Bale of bloodstook belonging to the late Fred Archer, the jookey, was completed at Newmarket on December 17. It realised a total of • £3585. Chilperio brought £740- \ George Hazlett and Miss Sadie Allen, of Buffalo, went through the Niagara rapids and whirlpool on ' November 28, in a torpedoshaped barrel, used by Hazlett and Pons last Bummer. • ■■ , . «, v ► ; !ri By an explosion of gaa in the shaft of the Conyngham coal mine, near Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, on November 26, twelvo 5

miners were fatally injuftd, and many other* frightfully burned. , , ■> The interior of the statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island, New York, caught fire on the 23fd' November, and it was ' only by the hardest work that Bartholdi's great atatue was eared from ruin., ; 4\ The steamer J. M. White, from Viokg. bnrg, Miss., to New Orleans, was burned at ten o'clock on the night of December 13. Some sixty persons, white and coloured, perished in* the flames. Another.?'ex-alderman of New York, McQaade, was consigned to Sing, Sing on December 17, convicted of bribery and cor* rnption in connection with, the Broadwaystreet Railroad franchise. Rev. Dr. M. Glynn, 1 a Roman Catholic clergyman of eminence in New York, has been summoned to Rome to explain his partisanship with Henry George in the labour reform and property right movement. Miss S. Porte], living with her parents in destitute circumstances at Detroit, Michigan, received word on December 13, from a law firm in Norwich, England, that she had fallen heiress to £50,000 sterling, half of the fortune left by an ancle who recently died in Australia. Five Welsh farmers, leading in the antitithe movement, have been distrained for failing to pay tithes. Mr. Gladstone writes to the Welsh Liberation Association that he regards their design with interest, but, at his age, he must leave the agitation to younger men. * James Howard was hanged to the trestle of a railroad bridge at Texarkawa, Texas, by a masked mob, on December 15, for cruelty to his young wife. He amused himself by branding her naked body with the letter " H," using the same iron as he did to mark his cattle. A wholesale murder was committed in Knox County, Kentucky, on November 25. The facta appear to be that a family of eight were slaughtered by a man named Covenbine, who afterwards piled the bodies on the floor of the dwelling, fired the house, and ere* mated them. Two young Englishmen committed suioide in San Francisco on November 27John Buzza, a native of Cornwall, and Arthur Francis Flower-Ellis, the latter a man of good connections and some means. Both left notes stating the act was the result of a despondent state of mind. The great boot and shoe firm of A. P. Martin and Co., Boston, the most prominent merchants in New England, failed on December 4. The causes assigned are continued depression in trade and unreasonable demand made by employes. Seven hundred workmen are thrown out of occupation. * Mr. Gladstone's disapproval of the Antirent Campaign in Ireland was expressed in a private letter to Mr. Cameron, member of Parliament for Glasgow. The SooSoh and other Liberal Associations are not satisfied! and have asked Mr. Gladstone for a full and public declaration on the subject. The steam whaler Mary and Helen caught fire in San Francisco harbour on December 17, and burned to the water's edge. Captain Thomas Miller, of the tug Water Witch, had just made fast to the whaler when her year's store of powder exploded. He was knocked overboard by the concussion and drowned. The British agent at Aden has been asked by his Government to explain the motive ha had in removing the French flag at Dongarita in Samarell, the plaje being in territory over which both England and France claim protection. The explanation is to be made at the request of the French Government, O'Donovan Rossa has retired from the executive of the Fenian Brotherhood. Dr. Hamilton Williams, of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, succeeds him. Williams is credited with having carried from Germany the knives with which Cavendish and Burke were cut to pieces in Phoenix Park, Dublin. The United Irishmen and Fenian Brotherhood have broken the seal of secrecy regard* ing their proceedings, and have issued a long address to their friends on the subject of Rosaa, whom they accuse of falsehood, treachery, insubordination, and many other crimes against the order. No misfortune has befallen the brotherhood of late years for which Rossa is not responsible. The Dublin Nation says in connection with the proposal to send a British envoy to the Vatican that Lord Iddesleigh asked for the right to object to undesirable appointments to Catholic vacancies in Great Britain, and that the Pope answered to the effect that persons who in any way violated the law would not be encouraged anywhere, as the spreading of the gospel of peace was the ' object of the Church. A terrific gale, accompanied by lightning and thunder, prevailed on the night of December 7, and morning of the Bth, in the southern counties of England, and on the Channel, where a number of vessels were wrecked. At Brighton much damage was done. Throughout the United Kingdom rain and hail fell. The storm caused widespread d is&Bter. In Scotland there was also a heavy fall of snow. ">