THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4664, 29 January 1877, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

The City of New York arrived at noon. Sheleft San Francisco on the sth.. Two cases of measles occurred, but they are convalescent. New Zealand passengers.:—. Sinclair, Maurell, Low, wife, two children, and two servants; 18 in the steerage. For Australia, 30. . " '•. - GENERAL NEWS SUMMARY. The result of the Eastern Conference was,, that the Porte declared its willingness to make concessions, and offer ample securities to the Powers, but unwaveringly refused to sanction tlie occupation of the Provinces by any troops whatever. They refused to consent to the occupation of the Provinces by English troops} uyon which point the Turkish Ministry were" confidentially approached, but by what Power cannot be ascertained. >, Belgium refused to allow.her'troops to occupy, and corps of 1000 troops of each nation, represented on the Commission were'suggested as a body guard. But the Turkish Minister, at the interview with Lord Salisbury refused torecognise the International Commission. The Mussulman population was Very excited. . Great quantities of arms and ammunition had been received from America. ■ The temper of the population is warlike; the Softas made a demonstration before the Russian embassy, by shouting, "down with Russia." Russian steamers have ceased running on the Black Sea. The Mahoiuedan population in India is also said to be excited. A cargo valued at a million and a half dollars was shipped from Connecticut, U.S., for Turkey. The Russian Ambassador at the Conference I read a telegram from St. Petersburg to GortBchakoff, positively instructing him not to discuss Turkish counter proposals. The Marquis of Salisbury had an interview with Mudhuiat Pasha, the Grand Vizier, after the rejection of the Conference proposals. The Marquis addressed the Conference, warmly condemning the obstinacy of the Porte. General Ignatieff asked, and was granted, permission for a Russian man-of-war to enter the Bosphorus to convey him home. Lord Salisbury telegraphed for a steamer to convey bime to Athens. A despatch from Vienna to the Daily News states that the principal result of the great Cabinet meeting there was % decision that special armament was not to be undertaken by Austria or Hungary, even in the event of localised war between Russia and Turkey. The Times Vienna correspondent says that news from Kichner shows that preparations are making to advance the Russian head-quarters to Chaton, on the frontier of Synal. This movement was expected from Constantinople. No one at the Russian head-quarters doabted that the army would cross the Pruth at Stulsiua, in the direction of Jassy, when the headquarters would be transferred to Anten* The Times, in a leader, concludes, that the Poite way rest assured that the first shot fired in defence of the united demands of Europe would be the beginning of the emit. Neither England nor any other power would interpose to save it from ruin, and it might have more foes than Russia, even at the outside. The Russian General Nikitin, arrived at Belgrade to take compand of the Servian army. He brought a million roubles. At a review of the Russian division, Nikitin declared he had come to Servia by order of tha Emperor of Russia, to assume command of the army; he said all,foreigners serving in Russian corps in Stsrviaj would be considered part of the Russian army. Orders have been issued to the Corps Oomlnisdoners in the Servian army to proceed im» mediately to their posts. Volunteers for the ai-my are ordered to proceed to Drina. The London Globe asserts that Russia has ordered a whole fleet to rendesvoua at Outsha>

Itoff, as apprehensions are eritertained of active measures being taken by4he Turkish fleet. Otshakoff is on the right bank of the Dneiper, at its 'mouth on the Black Sea, 40 miles E.N.E. of Odessa. This town was besieged and taken by the Russians from the Turks in 1757 and again in 1788. The town has since gone into decay, having a population ■of only about 1600. ~ , _ . The Pall Mall Gazette says that if the Porte refuses the concessions Britain will not quarrel with Turkey, but will watch the outcome of the refusal with a steady view to its own position in the world. . , A Socialist conspiracy was discovered m Russia. The plague has reappeared at Bagdad. Epidemic disease has appeared in the Russian Camp Barracks. The Berlin correspondent of the Times reports that tho banking firm of Baimochoff, of St. Petersburg, has failed, with a deficiency of 1,000,000 roubles. The commercial crisis continues, and is especially serious in South Russia. Russian papers report a famine in MonteThe mobilisation of a reserve of 100,000 Russian troops is said to be proceeding at Moscow -and St. Petersburg. Russia is said to have 120.000 troops concenlasted on the southern frontier. A Berlin despatch says, as a fact, that the Uussian Government does not prohibit private •meetings to promote the purchase of such American vessels as may be needed as privateers in case of war. It is creating much comment among the •Servians. The powers who are being largely engaged in the carriage of Russian merchandise fear the ruin of their trade if England should ever be •compelled to resort to reprisals. A panic occurred in Roumania, many .families fleeing through fear of a Turkish invasion. Six conspirators banded to dispose of the •Sultan were arrested in the palace. The grounds of conspiracy are that the ex-Sultan Murad had •recovered Ms reason, and Abdul Hamid is therefore a usurper. A Times despatch says that warlike feeling in Russia is decidedly decreasing. The enthusiasm of the party was checked by the discovery ■of great deficiencies,in the military stores, and it is the impression that the Turkish preparations are so great that the force already mobilised in Russia is insufficient, and measures have been taken for the levy of reserves in -Southern Russia. London, January 4th. The Queen has granted medals to the officers -and seamen of the Arctic expedition. It is -stated that Captain Allen Young,_ who commanded the Pandora, will next spring attempt -a north voyage in the same vessel. Dr Sehlemann, in excavating at the supposed -alto of the tombs of Agamemnon and Cassmndra, •discovered immense treasures. Cambridge University hss declined the chal ienge of Yale and Cornell Universities to a four-oared race from Putney to Mortlake. Charles Brent, the Louisville forger, has been delivered to the American authorities. The steamer City of Bristol, on the passage from Liverpool to Philadelphia, had four seamen washed overboard and drowned. Official reports show that the number of mnall-pox patients in London on December 21st was 722, against 178 two months previously. In the middle of December there were severe gales throughout the United Kingdom. One hundred and twenty vessels and 250 men were lost. On the Aberdeen coast 60 lives were lost. The shores of Tyne were strewn for miles with wrecks. | Great quantities of wreck. i were washed ashore at Pentlani Firth..: ~.;.:. Dover pier was partly destroyed. Nearly «very town between Dover and Portsmouth was,partly inundated, and furniture was washed out of the houses. . On the steamer Prussian, of the Allen Line, there was a coal-gas explosion, which blew out the lower deck. Ten workmen weie terribly mutilated. Fbanoe. A majority of the members of the Left refused to vote the Budget until a Republican Cabinet was formed. Simon was- appointed President of the •Council and Minister of the Interior; Matell, Minister of Justice, vice Dufaure and Marcore. ■Several estimates then passed. Attempts were made to incretse the grants for religious purposes, but failed. There was a tremendous gale on the Atlantic ■coast ot Franco. It destroyed many lives. One cable between France and England parted. The Berlin Imperial Bank of Germany has resumed the sale of silver for the Government Treasury of Belgium. The loss to Union by the defalcations of the President ia estimated at four million franca. President Merique, the absconded manager, attempted suicide. Bekne. Herr Schencko, Vice-President of the Federal Assembly, has been elected President of the Swiss Confederation. '' :- '■'. '■■■'. Vienna. There is great agitation against the scheme for establishing a Bank for Austria in Hun.cary. The scheme is designed to settle relations between two halves of Empire. The scheme excited great dissatisfaction in Austria.. It was unduly favouring Hungaiy. The Hungarian Finance Minister has gone to Vienna to confer with Austria. The Ministers of both Governments adhere to Austria, Rome. The Parliamentary Committee on the Penal Code has reported in favour of abolishing the death penalty. Spain. The Basque Provinces have refused to pay 18,000,000 reals for the maintenance of the Army of occupation. General Quesada seized the Treasury, but found it empty. Copenhagen. There was an acrimonious debate in the Hegnrad on the Finance Bill. The Radicals ■expressed a determination to resist the collection of taxes. The Cabinet was beaten by 61 to 22 on the proposal to insert a new clause in Committee of Ways and Means. The consequence will be the whole Cabinet will be cited before the Supreme Court for a violation of the Constitution. . _ j A railway accident occurred at Hoseniai and Aarhures. Killed, nine; wounded, 30. India. Queen Victoria waa proclaimed Empress on ■January Ist at Delhi. There was a great ceremony at Singapore. Six persons were hanged for the murder of Birch, the British Resident in Malacca. The accounts of the famine at Madras are woise than those from Bombay. Large nuiniers were flocking from Madras to escape starvation. Japan. There is a great emigration movement to New Zealand and Australia of Japanese pensioners, who use capitalised) pensions to pay passages. A fire at Tokio, Yokohama, destroyed ten thousand houses, and one hundred thousand people are homeless. The area covered by fire is six square miles. United States. Agrarian riots were numerous. The American steamer Centennial, value ■62,000 dollars, and several other vessels, were totally destroyed in an ice crush at St Louis. Moody and'Sankey are more patronised than -ever at Chicago. An uuKnown vessel went ashore near Ellworth. Several dead bodies were washed ashore. Mr R. J. Creighton, late of the New Zealand Times, has addressed a long letter to the San Francisco Post on the subject of the Pacific mail route, showing the advantage to the United States, and advocating the, abolition of forced and coastal services. Reports run that Major Randall and a detachment of troops and friendly Indians, part of Crook's command, have been surrounded ar.d massacred in the Big Horn mountains. The steamer Montana, 1900 tons, was burned at Cape Harris on the night of the 14th December. She was run ashore to save the passengers. No lives were lost. The vessel waa laden with Government stores. Lieut. Baldwin, with 100 men, drove Sitting ■Bull's camp across the Missouri on the Bth December. Sitting Bull, when last heard of, was camping on Bark Creek with 6000 warriors. The crews of 37 ice-bound vessels, in Magoty River, near Baltimore (?), are suffering great privations. In one vessel four men were found ■dead in tha cabin. There was some agitation on the Canadian frontier, in consequence of the threatened invasion of American Fenians. It is reported that the Fenians will take advantage of the Extradition Treaty to commit raids on the frontier, and then retire. The London Times says Congress is perfectly within its competence in considering how the surplus money of the Geneva award shall be •divided. It cannot be expected that the surplus should be returned. In reference to the arrest of Brent. Secretary Fish has written to Sir Edward Thornton, saying that the President will in future consider the Extradition Treaty as binding as it was hitherto, subject to the right reserved to either party to terminate the same pursuant to the llth article.

Two nurses, convicted of selling clothes taken from smallpox patients at the Pest House, Victoria, British Columbia, have been sentenced ■to 18 months in the chain gang,

The Convent of ths Sisters of Providence at St. Elizabeth, Montreal, Canada, was burned on the 2Gth December. Thirteen of the inmates perished. The steamer Oceanic Bay made the shortest passage on record from Yokohama to 'Frisco— 14 days 15hr. 20min.— beating the fatest time of the City of Pekin by 21 hours. The Sick Trust will be amicably settled. The old Board of Trustees are likely to resign,

and surrender matters into the ha^ds of the new Board. The cotton ship Harvey Mills took fire at Beaufoit, South Carolina, on the 29th December. Two lives were lost. General MvKenzie, with 1000 troops, at : tacked a large Indian camp on the north fork of Powder River, on the 25th October, and dis lodged the enemy after severe fighting. The Indians still occupy Big Horn Mountain, and will prolong the struggle. Marriotte, proprietor of the San Francisco News Letler, was fined 500 dols. for publishing a libel against Fred. Clay, formerly of Melbourne. Judge Federal, in passing sentence, said it did not matter whether the publication was true or false. Clay's 23 ye?j-s' residence as an upright citizen should be considered. There is a rumour in New York that the mail steamer Nova Cubano has been captured by Cubans in a similar fashion to Montezuma. Cheyenne, January 2nd. General Crook and General M'Kenzie are to arrive at Fort Fetterman soon, and the whole force will be disbanded. The Pacific Mail Company's steamer Colon has been released by the Marshall, the rates having been paid. De Murska is expected at San Francisco by the next mail steamer. An Irish claimant has appeared in the field, and has employed counsel to establish his right to Stewart's property. A fearful catastrophe occurred to a train at Ashtabula, Ohio, on the 20th December. A bridge over a creek broke, and precipitated the tr?\n 75 feet. Over 1000 (?) lives were lost— either crushed, burned, or frozen _to death. There was great sensation at the time of the accident, and for a long time particulars could not be obtained. The citizens of Ashtabula worked hard removing the debris, and every house in the neighbourhood was turned into a hospital. Twelve Mollie Maguires were sentenced to death for wholesale murders in Pennsylvania. The Presidential election is still undecided. Tho Florida vote is disputed. The Tribune special says, Hayes is just now the favourite. The solution of the difficulty is to hold a new election next fall. If so, Blanc or Morton are likely to be brought out in Hayes^ place. Snow in Broadway drifted sft. high on January 2nd. Disastrous floods have overflowed the railway on the Isthmus of Darien, and destroyed all communication, and doing severs damage. ~ Mexico. Iglesias has proclaimed himself President. Information received in Washington says the Revolutionary party intend to take advantage of the disturbed state of Mexico, and the strife between the rival Presidents, to establish, by the aid of the Americans, independent States, and to combine ultimately with the United States. Iglesias has 12,000 troops, and Diaz 18,000, both are anxious for recognition by the United States. The country is now under three Go vernments —legal, President ad interim, and military dictator. A reign of terror exists on the frontier of Lower California, Merro has levied a tax of 24,000d01. on the people for ths support of Government. South America. A great fire occurred, destroying part of Valparaiso. It began on the 14th November, lasting 30 hours. The Costa Rica and Nicaragua war still continues. . ■' - ■ : President Herrera has abolished the Press. A battle fought in the Statß of Cauca is claimed by both parties. Merene, the Dutch Consul, Senor Agustin Nelaz, and two others were assaulted in Carthagena. The" assassins were arrested. ■--.-■;