The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-07 00:00:00

A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT.

The New York papers of May 13 contain details of
an engagement bet ween the Chilian gunboat Magal-
lanes and the Peruvian corvette Union, 1,150 tons,
carrying 12 70-pounders and having a crew of 400
men, assisted by the Pilcomayo, of 600 tons, carry-
ing two 70-pounder and fuur 40-pounder guns.
The engagement took place off the mouth of the
river Loa, forming the harbour of the part of the
same name. This river forms the boundary
line near the coast between Bolivia and Peru. The
two Peruvian vessels fired 150 shots at the Mattallance,
which fired 40 shells and solid shot in return. The
firing of the Peruvians was very wild, the,M.agallanes
only being struck once and that by a ricochet shot.
The Union then stopped firing and escaped with the
Pilcomayo, which was badly damaged. The Chilian
ronclad Almirante Cochrane has gone in pursuit,

The Pall Mall Gazette says :—" Great enthusiasm
appears to prevail in Chili with regard to the war with
Peru and Bolivia. Many young men of distinguished
families have, it is stated, enlisted themselves as pri-
vates in the army. Valparaiso has furnished more
than 12,000 sailors for the fleet. The fire brigade of
Valparaiso, which numbers more than 2,000 men,
foreigners and natives, has als ) offered its ser-
vices, the latter for whatever the authorities
may think necessary, and the former to replace the
police corps which has placed itself at the disposal of
Government as a battalion of the line. The fire
brigade cf Santiago has made similar offsrs. The
National Guard, which was dissolved, has been hastily
reorganized. The list bad hardly been opened, when
large numbers of men flocked to enrol themselves
voluntarily, and thus complete the full complement
required for he battalions. Several corps of volunteers
are b-ing organized. Some provide themselves with
uniforms and others with their full equipment, at
the same demiuding to be sent to the campaign with-
out any remumration whatever. The Government
has also receivedfrom capitalists offers of money, A
great meeting hasbeen held in Valparaiso for the pur-
pose of obtaining finds for the war. The ' Libro de
la Patria' is about to be opened, and altogether the
Chilians seemed deermined to meet their enemies
with a united front, Ind to carry on the struggle at
any cost to the bittersnd."

We (Pall Mall Gazete) translate from the Journal
de St. Petersbourg the 'Wowing extract from the Cancan's
on the plague of locusts 0 the province from which the
'latter journal takes its nate :—" the whole province is in
terror. Old men remembeino such visitation. The *ea.
sible consequences of the lust invasion were at first too
lightly regarded. When on ,pril 8 a cloud of those inaects
was observed in Elisabetopol lo one dreamed of the dtanger
that was near. The locusts lis:e multiplied day after day
have invaded town and subur, have pitilessly destroyed
vineyards and fruit gardens. The streets and the courts
have been filled with them, rendering all locomotion
Impossible. People were literaly stopped on the way by
clouds of insects. On April 21 Le shopkeepers put up thelz
shutters to consider what was ta be done. But a
stitious terror prevents the peopli from killing the inAecta.
the police nave bad to issue atorder requiring eii-ch
In
_.„ant to del,troy two ponds of icusts. Even the water
courses are choked by the insects, •shich is a new ca,amity
or the pc pitlittlo.ll, WillOit thus Andlitsell deptivett ofxriak.
tibia WSW's!

THE GOLDEN WEDDING OF THE
EMPEROR WILLIAM.

---
The Daily Telegraph says ;—"The half-century of
wedded life that will be completed by William and
Augusta next week has been richly fraught to them
with thrilling incidents and startling changes. When
Prince William. of Prussia wooed and won the fair
Saxon princess who now shares with him the Im-
perial dignity, he was one of the district inspectors
of his father's army—a small but highly diiciplined
force then entering upon a phase of transition with
respect to its general organisation—and could hardly
hive anticipated that he would ever ascend the
Prussian throne, to which he was, it is true, heir pre-
sumptive, but under conditions that appeared at that
time to render his chance of succession extremely pro-
blematical. His elder brother, subsequently Frederic
William IV., was a man of splendid physique and
robust constitution, likely to become the father of an
unknown number of princes, and esteemed by his
own relatons as a far stronger and healthier man than
Prince William, who had been extremely delicate as
a child, and was not exnecte I to outlive the Crown
Prince, or scarcely even to attain an advanced age.
Thirty years later, however, the monarch of whom it had
been prognosticated in his youth that he would prove
more tenacious of life than any of his ancestors died of
softening of the brain, leaving no issue; and the sickly
prince, whom Queen Louise during his early youth
scarcely hoped to rear, set the crown of the Hohenzol-
!erns upon his own head at Konigsberg, and commenced
a reign as eventful as that of Frederick the Great, and
productive of far greater results to his native country.
That reign, including the term of his regency, has lasted
foe hard upon twenty years, and its events are far
too familiar to need recapitulation in this place. It has
been a noble and glorious one entitling William I. to
the love and gratitude of the great uption now pre-
paring to pay him full tribute of genfßne felicitation
upon the celebration of his golden wedding."