ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL MISCELLANY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2354, 28 April 1866, Page 7

ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL MISCELLANY.

We believe that one of the first mensures ■ to bo introduced by the Government will be I a bill for substituting or.c uniform oath to be taken by members of Parliament for those which arc now required, and respecting the invidious character of which so much complaint was made on the discussion on Mr. MonßeH's bill last session. A few days ago the Ballot Society wrote to Earl Russell, asking his lordship to receive n /J/v""<- a :~«* on tho subject of the ballot. His lordship has written in reply declining to receive the deputation. He would receive it if he thought any advantage would be gained ; but his opinions are, he says, wellknown, and no useful end could bo served by his receiving the deputation. The death is announced of Mr. James Smith, of Blair House, Oakley, Fifeshire, successively editor of the Edinburgh Catholic 3far/»sine, ihe Dublin Review (a quarterly established by Cardinal Wiseman and Mr. O'Connell), and the Cathdic Directory V secretary also of the Catholic Institute of Great Britain, and long regarded as the first lay Eoman Catholic controversalist of the day. Captain Wake, R.N., of the Bulldog, is the brother of Mr. Wake, C.8., who was distinguished for his heroic defence of Arrah during the Indian mutiny. Both brothers are now on a visit to their mother Lady Wake, sister to the Bishop of London, at Weston super-mare. j Short Way with the Fenians. — A correspondent of tho Examiner makes the following excellent suggestion : — " Allow and invite all Fenians to meet, armed, on a certain day upon the Curragh of Kildaro, to choose a President of the Irish Republic. The voting will commence on the first day, the fighting on the second day, and on the third day one Fenian will be loft, who may then elect himself President, and preside over himself." A silver, "cradle" has been presented to Mrs. W. L. Eskrigge, of Stock port, as a memorial of the birth of a child during tho maj'oralty of her husband. The "cradle " consisted of a handsome mahogany case of silver plate, of the Queen's pattern, namely, one dozen largo spoons, two dozen dessert spoons, two dozen large forks, two dozen small forks, and one gravy spoon, of the value of £94. Members of the House of Commons who aro favorable to the adoption of a satisfae tory Irish tenant-right bill have been holding private conferences during the last fere" days. Should a general agreement be arrived at us to the leading provisions of the measure, the Government will be solicited to take the subject in hand and deal with it immediately, so that the long vexed question may bo settled before the expiration of the present Parliament. I The Abyssinian Captives. — The Pall Mall Gazelle says that nothing has been heard of the prisoners in Ab3 T ssiuia now for a long while. There are stories that Capt. Cameron has at last succumbed, and that somebody else has been shot ; but there, is probably no truth in these rumors. All that is known is that Mr. Rassam started from Massowah on the 15th of October with forty camel loads of presents to the King, and that he was last heard of at a place midway between Massowah and Matemua, where he was to wait for a safe conduct which would enable him to go on to jGondar. Whether he is still waiting there, or whether he has been enabled to proceed on his errand, is unknown. As for Mr. Palgrave's mission, that seems to have come to an end already. Mr. Rassam objected to being superseded ; thereupon certain communications were made with tho Government at home, the result of which was (we hear) that Mr Palgrave gave up to Mr. Rassam all the fine things he had been buying for the King, and is now gone on an excursion to Jerusalem. A Dreadful Calculation. — In the course of a speech delivered at the Burns Club annual dinner at Edinburgh, Professor Masson, who proposed the toast " The Poets of Scotland," said he had made a calculation that probably in the British Islands at the present moment there are 200,000 people writing verses. (Laughter.) '• I stick to 200,0-' ; 0 exactly. 1 cannot give } r outhe data on which I made my calculation, but they satisfied myself at the moment when I made it. And they are not only making verses, but I assure you making verses which would have attained a 'reputation had they been written in the last century. The quantity of verses which is being produced in English and Irish vicarages, in Scotch manses, and in all sorts of places, is utterly enormous. I do not tliink that it is any objection to literature that it is becoming voluminous, and that its practitioners are becoming numerous. Perhaps in some future time tho distinction of a man will be, and he will be pointed out on the streets as a distinguished man, that he has not written a book." (Laughter.) Large Increase of Emigration from Liverpool. — The official return of the Government agents at Liverpool show that during tho month there sailed to the United Slates 21 ships under the Act, with 280 cabin and 3483 steerage passengers, of whom 1418 were English, 86 Scotch, 940 Irish, and 1034 foreigners. To Victoria 2 ships, 3 cabin and 27(3 steerage passengers, of whom 110 were English, 13 Scotch, 149 Irish, and 4 foreigners. To Queensland 1 ship, with 2 cabin and 343 steerage passengers, of whom 1 190 were English, 22 Scotch, and 131 Irish — making a total of 4387. Of short ships, • not under the Act, there sailed to the United States 12 ships, with 479 passengers ; to Victoria 1 ship, with 19 passengers; to South America 4 ships, with 49 passengers ; to the West Indies 2 ships, with 20 passengers ; to Africa 1 ship, with 35 passengers — making a total of 602 passengers ; which, added to the ships under the Act, makes a grand total of 4980. In the same month of lust year there only sailed 2277 passengers, which gives an increase in favor of J anuary, 1 866, of 2712. Stephens the " Head Centre."— lt was very generally reported through Dublin on Saturday that tho " Head Centre " narrowly escaped being apprehended on the previous night. It was stated that on Friday night a ktrge body of the police proceeded to Prussia street, and, having carefully guarded all the : approaches thereto, made a diligent search i for Stephens. Their efforts, however, to re--1 capture him resulted in disappointment, ■ although, it is stated that he was in the , neighborhood half an hour before, — Times' Correspondent.

In the Lion's. Dek.— An unprecedented scene occurred at the Cirque Napoleon on Monday night, during the performance of Mr. Batty, the successor of Van Araburg, I who is now exhibiting in Paris. The moment ! ho entered the wild beasts' cage the lioness I was observed to bo in a terrible rage. The i lions wen? also roaring and jumping about I and Mr. Batty seemed to hnvo lost his usual influence over them. The public fearing to see him torn in pieces, cried "Go out, go out!" Mr. Batty took the advice, and cautiously withdrew, walking backwards. The cause of this extraordinary commotion in the I caere was soon ascertained. A few minutes beToi'e the coinmeticemcnt of the performance the lionesß had given birth to a cub, who was thought to be au only son. The young lion was taken away from her and given to a bitch to suckle ; but just as Batty entered the cage the lioness unexpectedly produced a second young one, and the lions wanted to eat it — a propensity said to be very common with wild beasts when in a state of captivity. The fury of the lioness | in defence of her offspring and the ferocious attitude of her companions in the cage, produced an extraordinary panic among the spectators, and several ladies fainted. After a short pause Batty contrived to separate the lioness from the cub, and the latter, about the size of a eat, was held up by the nape of the neck for the inspection of the company. Karl Russell on Capital Punishment. — In the concluding chapter of his lately published " Essay on the Constitution," Earl Russell makes these observations : — " For my own part I do not doubt for a moment either the right of a community to inflict the punishment of death, or the ex. pediency of exercising that right in certain conditions of society. But when I turn from that abstract right and that abstract expediency to our own state of society — when I consider how difficult it is for any judge to separate the case which requires inflexible justice from that which admits the force of mitigating circumstances, how invidious the task of the Secretary of Stato in dispensing the mercy of the Crown, how critical the comments made by the public, how soon the object of general horror becomes the theme of sympathy and pity, how narrow and how limited the example given by this condign and awful punishment, how brutal the scene of the execution — I come to the conclusion that nothing would be lost to justice, nothing lost in the preservation of innocent life, if the punishment of death were altogether abolished. Iv that case a sentence of a long I term of separate confinement, followed by another long term of hard labor and hard fare, would cease to be considered as an extension of mercy. If the sentence of the judge in cases of murder were imprisonment for life, there would scarcely ever be a petition for remission of punishment sent to the Home Office. The- guilty, unpitied, would have time Tind opportunity to turn repentant to the Throne of Mercy." Adblina Patti. — A Paris correspondent of the Nord writing on Monday, says :-— " You know that there has again been some talk of an approaching marriage of Mdlle Patti. Indeed, it appears that the Parisian public are impatient to marry the young diva. We may see this from the eagerness with which they discuss the bridegroom, now a Russian prince, now a Spanish marquis, and again, as is the case at present, a great French noble ; but I can assure you that on this occasion, as on preceding ones, the news is entirely without foundation, and I believe people will have to wait for a long time, two years perhaps, for the marriage of Mdlle. Patti. It is not that the diva of the Italian theatre h not old enough to marry ; for although the public, thanks to her delicate figure and her almost infantine manners, persist in giving her only twenty years, and even nineteen, I will tell you in confidence that her age is quite 23. However, Mdlle. Patti is still a minor ; she is a Spaniard, and in Spain women do not attain their majority until they are 25. It follows that the diva will be of age under two years. This particularity, rather insignificant at first sight derives great importance from the singular position of Mdlle In virtue of a contract, made by her relatives, with Mr. Strakcsch, her brother-in-law, her gains are divided into three shares, the first of which goes to her relatives, and the second to M. Strnkesch. while the third is invested at good interest to join her own fortune, of which she will be j full mistress from her majority."