The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-08-29 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A Methodist college has been opened at Belfast, the
erection of which has cost the body £.24,000. The Metho-
dists of America have contributed £lO,OOO towards an endow-
meet fund. The president of the college lathe Rev. William
Arthur

At the Liverpool assizes, another addition was made
to the heavy sum which the Loulon and North Western
Railway Company, have lately been called upon to pay as
compensation for damages. A Mr. Pearson was travelling
from Malichester to Wigan on the 14th of December last,
when the train came into collision with some trucks, and he
sustained such severe 11111,1ri1,1 that he was unable to attend
to his business, the profits of which were £OOO a year. The
Jury awarded £l,OOO.

The value of cab property in London is estimated at
412u4.000, and it is subjected to an annual tax of £lOO,OOO.
liardly fair.

In last week's Spectator there is a speculation about
the ,profession if politics which contains the following re-
marks ;says the Pall Mall Gazette To command by
willing—that no doubt is an immense luxury. . .
have the power just now if willing a perfect educational
scheme into existence ! We know or fancy we know
a dozen men who to enjoy that would endure the
Chinese punishment for treason—slow brushing to death with
a fine currycomb." What very odd people the writer in the
Spectator must know. An Oxford tutor bad a pimil who said
be knew scores of cases in which this or that had happened.
"Name six," said the tutor.

A public notice ham been given by the India Office
that forty appointments in the engineer establishment of
the Public Works department in India will shortly be open
tn public competition, and that a competitive examination
will be held in December.

Mr. Jacob Bright, M.P., spoke at some length at a
meeting of the executive committee of the National Reform
Union on Tuesday evening, lie reviewed the principle events
of the past parliamentary sessions, and, coming to the
subject of the general election, expressed great confidence
as to its general results. England, lie said, was to a large
extent ruled by the Press and by public meetings, and he
would undertake to Bay that three-fourths of the new
electors would enrol themselves snith the Radical, or, as he
preferred to call it, the National patty of the country.
A Tipperary paper notices that this year, for the
list time in that quarter, the farming classes have become
rec.diciled to the use of rearing machines, owing, no doubt
in some degree, to the increasing scarcity of labourers and
the high wages demanded.

Threatening notices have been posted on the gate-
house of Mr. Rickards, of Kallydontin, Enniscorthy and also
on a conspicuous place near the chapel of Glanbryan, in the
same neighbourhood, ornamented with the figure of a coffin,
warning him, that if he continues his demand for increased
rents his house will he burned, and he himself shot. Mr.
Rickards is a recent purchaser of land in the parish. Another
threatening notice has been placarded at cahirciveen in the
latter case the warning being addressed to " any man going
to take" a farm from which an 011:111,ier has lately hecn
evicted. Any one who rents it is told that "he does not care
for his life." _ _

On Tuesday afternoon the remains of the late Earl
of Abergavenny were interred in the family vault in the
chancel of the parish church of Biding, Kent.

Three enterprising Britons have planted the standard
of the Alpine Club on the mountains if the Caucasus. '• i/.
W. Freshtichl, A. W. film.re, and C. C. Tucker" write from
Plitigorsk to announce that, accompanied by Francis
Devouassond of tharnounit and a Illingrelian tern ant, they
have spent six weeks in the Caucasus, ascended Karhek
(16,544 feet and Elbrour (I 5,1,26 feet , .croised eight passes
ranging tin height Iran 0,000 to 11,000 feet, and traversed the
upper parts of the valleys of Moe, Tchenis-Iskali, and Ingur,
from the first of which they "made two new and magnifie*lii
glacier passes over the main chain."

Two negro barbers in New Orleans, who loved the
sonic sable mahl, net in what was intended to be deadly
combat on the nth instant. One of them raised his pistol,
and the other incontinently fled, The police, who had got
wind of the affair, and were sent to intercept the patties,
arrived too late.

"Great consternation was occasioned at one of the
hotels of Ostend by the suicide of three distinguished gueds
—the aristocratic and elegant Countess de F--, the Count
her husband, and Monsieur L. 31.,.,f Vienna. The &MVO were
seated at a talkie where they had leen dining together, when
tbey were suddenly observed Inn fall back lifeless. Every
effort was made to restore them, but life was extinct. It was
found that the champagne glass of each one had contained
prussic acid. No clue has been obtained an yet to this
mysterious and tragic event."—Court Journal.

- -----
A very graphic account is tri-ren in one of the French
Papers of a scene that took place on Sunday week at an
agricultural banquet at Loches, in France. When the
Foiper.d 's health was proposed many of she quests kept
their scats. This highly incensed the chief guest, an Im-
perialist, who quitted the roo.n in dudgeon, and appears to
have gone in search of the gendarmerie, for shortly after his
departure a body of these aids to French fedivity made their
appearance in the hall and arrested ta o .4 the revellers.
This and kindred events that have lately been reported are,
Is. one sense, far more significant than the Paris demonstra-
tions, for if the Emperor loses the good-will of the agricul-
tural population he loses all

'lie wil'e
of a railway. empioye, named Kaiser,
committed skocide in Vienna. a few days back, by swallowinc
cyanide of potamium ; and she also put to death by the Came
means three of her young children, and her aged mother.
Another of the children, a boy, escaped, by refusing to drink
the poison.
• •

A correspondent at St. Petersburg, writing on the
15th, says:—'• Living here has become almost intolerable,
and all who call afford to do no either go to the country or
abroad. The thermometer is at 25 dt.v. Resumer in the
simile; the town is full of smoke from the tires which are
constantly breaking out in the environs; and, worse than
all, the Siberian plague has again broken out with 'tousled
severity. At night, however. the atmosphere becomes a!-
mod chilly. so that the heat of the wean., has caused but
little diminution in the itors to the theatres"

A well-informed correspondent of a London con-
temporary writes :—The consumption of tobacco in France is
nearer 3 000 tons than 3.000 : last years in England was 40
millions of pounds ; that of France is considerably heavier.

The South London Press says that the damage done
to private property, through tire, in Surrey, during the past
week, exceeds £50,000.

"At Bathurst, a few days since, a Chinaman,
named Ah Bung. managed to strangle himself with his own
tail."—,Sydney Herald.

-
The Princes of most of the Royal families of Europe,
including all the five Powers, have signed an agreement
binding them mutually to assist the museums of Europe is
prm?iring "casts and copies if national objects for the pro-
motion of art." Tile agreement is drawn up in the form of a
treaty, but the articles are suggestions that each country
should establish a commission to secure copies, that all con--
missions should interchange, and that the Princes should
help. The idea is attributed to the Prince of Wales, and is as
very sound one.
•• •-

--.-
Rome, though quiet maintains a sullen attitude.
and discontent is especially apparent among the lower
eli.ses, says a correspondent of the Poll Mall Govtle.l
There has been a strike of the bakers, followed iv a strike of
the tish-vendors, and now troubles have broken out hi the
printing ottice of the Apostolic Chamber, where the work-
nien, hitherto proverbial for their loyalty, are said to enter-
tain revolutionary sentiments. The authorities are very un-
easy, and the Roman police daily make arrests in the
suburban osterias, or public-houses.
- -•- - • -- • •

• -
It appears from a letter published in a Belgian power
that the experimeas made at Beverloo a ith the rifles lately
furnished to the Belgian troops hove not been satisfactory,
They are charged at the breech," says the writer, hut
some of them also discharge at the breeclin so that the soldier
who fires the weapon receives the projeaDle intended for his
enemy."

About 300 acres of barley, near Dorchester, were left
standing until after the wet weather sot in, and thus became
very seriously damaged. The owners had been offered the
assistance of the soldiers in the neighbourhood, but this was
declined, as it was thought the drought would last much
longer than it did.
In 1310, the Parisian drank on an average eight
litres of brandy in the year. lie now drinks 44...
—•-• -

The Mormon President, Brigham Young, with that
power of adapting himself to circumstances by which ha has
always beeu distinguished, has taken the contract for the
construction of the Utah portion of the Pacific railroad.
- - • --

...
Young ( 'ava4,mac has not been expelled for declining
to receive his prize from the hands of the Prince, but the
comrade of young Consignee is to be expelled for applauding
him.
• -•--

--
There are no less that 238 newspapers in California.
Mr. Raasain, at the meeting of the British Associa-
tion, created quite a sensation hy dangling, beton the as•cta-
bled philosophers, the chains in which his old friend The,-
dore had kept him in durance vile
"

During the late hot weather, an inhabitant of Berlin
succeeded in hatching eggs in sand exposed to the sun. All
the clucks are doing well _ _

A Montmorency, who has the right to bear the
name and arms of this illustrious house, is a postman in the
Della Sevres, Belgium.

"So anxious was the Marquis of Ailesbury to reach
the death-bed of his nephew, the lion. Lieutenant Meade, on
receipt of a telegram announcing the unham fatality which
had occurred to that promising young officer. that his lot-
ship offered £5OO for a special train to convey him from
Bishopstoke to Portsmouth."—Court Journal.
• • •

The Overland China Mail announces; that the re-
ports of gold fields having been discovered at Cliefoo are
confirmed, and that lead, silver, and coal have also been
found in large quantities. The grid fields had attracted a
great number of Chinese—as many as 10,000 according to one
report.
, . •

Acurious confirmation of Mr. Disraeli's statements
as to the improved tone of public feeling in Ireland has been
furnished by a jury at the Cork Assizes, who have awarded
£7O damages to a national school teacher, as a compensatiou
for his having been called a "Fenian."
James Bell, who was wrongly convicted in March
last of stealing lambs, and sentenced to Ave years' penal sm-
vitude, was liberated from her Majesty's convict prison at
Pentonville on Saturday.
Seven physicians have sat in consultation upon the
health of the Prince Royal of Belgium. Their unanimous
opinion is that the illness is very serious, but that his reco-
very need not be despaired of.
It is related of the Miss Foote who has just married
Senator Henderson, that once, when she and her sister wont
to a party with her uncle, Senator Foote, now deceased, a
grammatical servant annoimeed, "Senator Foote and the
two Misses Feet
The inexhaustible "Chain," in a recent number of
the Chanson (the French Punch represents an anxious
mother in conversation with the director of a gymnasium,
to whom she maintains that her darling son is entitled to a
a prize. " Your son, madam, persists in doing northing,"
says the director. "'rues,' replies the mamma, by no means
disconcerted, "you should give him the prize for persever-
ance,"
The London Gazette states that Sweden has prohi-
bited the importation of cattle and sheep from Great Britain
lid Ireland.
The Sapaeohy, of Campanna, in Minas Geraes, tells
of a nian oof 140 years orf age, living on the fazenola of Pin-
heiros, in the parish of Tres Pontos. lie is robust and
Intelligent, works like a young man, rides well, is a good
hunter, and keeps a housekeeper who is said to he jealous of
his gallantries in other quarters?
Every year 20,000 children born in Paris are sent
into the banlieue and the departments to be nursed. It is
shown by Statistics that orf these only 5,000 return. Out or
100 children reared by the parents, 17 die in the first year,
whilst the mortality amongst children handed over to the
care of nurses is from 34 to 00, according to the department.
A boy, 13 years of age, has just committed suicide
by hanging himself at Demme, in Belgium, because his father
had punished him for some trilling fault.
The Baron Meyer de Rothschild sits for Folkestone.
He has done so since 1859, and will continue to do so as lone:
as he desires. The origin of the influence of the Rothschild,
at Folkestone is commerdal. Folkestone, even wine its
harbour was "fart filling up with shingle," was always the
port form whence the house of Rothschild directed their
imports and exports of Imllion—a business in itself ahnost
sufficient to maintain a harbour. This business, we believe,
they originally diverted from Hover, ill comequence of
. differences with the grasping boatmen of that port."—Deity
Neme.
A descendant of William de Lamark, called the.
"IVild Boar of Ardennes," died a few days since gamekeeper
of the forest where his ancestors reigned.
An order in Council was published on Friday night
in a supplementary Gazette, directing that, in consequence
of the severe epidemic of small-pox now prevailing among
the flocks of Holland, Slesvig, Holstein, anol other parts of
the Continent, all foreign sheep brought to this country shall
either be kept in quanantine for fourteen days at the port of
arrival, or slaughtered within four days.
There is hardly a consular report received this year
from any lout of the world that does not tell of depression
of trade.
The appointment of his Royal Highness the Prince
of Wales to be Colonel-in Chief of " The Prince Consort's
Own Rifle Brigade," formerly the fighting 95th of Peninsular
and Waterloo renown, in the place of the late Right Hon.
sir Edward Blakeney, will give great satisfaction to the
Army. The Prince is now Colonel of two corps second to
none in the British Army, the 10th Hussars and the Rifle,
Brigade.

The Gazette du Midi states that at Marseilles,,
during the review on the occasion of the Emperor's fete,
1 the populace raised cries of "Liberty for ever !" "The Press
for ever r' " Down with war!"
-During the first six months of the present year,
,I,l2.4thhvs iooll est t t 1,11
hr eo
ri set e
killedr e in
bLoy
hn
rust heoi r all gutglr,
in the streets.
Lodging-house keepers and others are liable to a
heavy penalty for admitting fresh comers into apartmeuts.
I that have been occupied by those suffering from cont,gious
disease, save alter their complete purification.
The Midland Great Western Railway eumpany
have (offered a reward of £OOO for the diso,very of the poi,
trator of the diabolical attempt made on She line within
about four miles of Ballinashie. to upset the mail train from
Dublin, on Saturday night week, by placing a sleeper acrow
the line, which was very near upsetting the engine and
train.
A great fire has occurred at St. Petersburg, by which
upwards of 100,000 bales of flax and 00,000 of hemp have
been burnt, the loss being estimated at 314 millions of
roubles.
The New York papers of the 13th of August state
that the remains of Thaddeus Stevens had been embalmed
and were lying in state at Washington.
In a return received from a chief constable by the
parish authorities, which records the dismissal of one of
their polietootiicers, the crime is stated to be, "For attempt-
ing to marry his stile, being alive"
The Carlisle Patriot says that the burial board of
that city have ref ased to allow the daughter of the late Mr.
Jolla Daly, an tilde comedian in former years, and latterly
clerk of Carlisle races, to place upon Ids tombstone the
words, " Not lost, but gone before" The smile body some
time ago objected to the words "Sacred to the memory Of
being placed ujmn the headstone of Dean Close's son.
After a long drought rain has become qeineral all
over France.
A Belgian paper, the Opinion of Aaswerp, gives
currency to a plow of Hews which it says will be read sill.
great pleasure by fathers of families. A certain 31r. S. is
actively engaged in maturing a project for creating anew
class of taxpayers. It is proposed that every bachelor wbo
Ilas reached the age of thirty-live shall lie subject to a hoc
tile amount of winch is to be fixed according to his posit',a
in life
The next congress of the National Asscciation
the Promotb on of Social Science mill lie held in Birmingham,
during the week commencing on Wednesday, September 30.,
Simultaneously with the announcement that the
Queen has been a good deal fatigued by the heat st Lucerne,
the telognipli hiborins as that tier Majesty has gone to the
Silclot. According to present arraitgera,vtds, the Queen will
return to Windsor abut the beginning of next month, awl
almost inmasliately proceed tc, Bslmoral.—lt seems there
was, after all, a sliglit fotaidation for the highly-coloured
account in the Gazette tlz fratice of the plot to toseassinato
Her Majesty. A lunatic, bearing an English name, did
make an attempt to enter Her Majesty's apartments, pre
sumably as, peaceful errant! ; but lie was quickly seised,
entrusted to the Berne police, and by them handed over I,
the British legation, in order that lie might sent home to
England.
The other day the Arehducheas Sophia was asked by
her chaplain for money to pay far masses de-tinell to on-rare
the repose of her unfortunate son Maximilian's soul. Tho
Aretirtriehsess, without reflecting, at once put her name down
for a consticral•le sure Encouraged by this success, the
chaplain took the 114 to Archduke Albert, and begged (4,
lam to sul,scs the. "I will gladly subsin line to a collection
Inn niemory of lay unfortunate brother, lout I shall insist on
the money being applied tin pay his creditors, which appear
to ine the first thing to be done," was the reply.—Peri. Co,
reJaanatent if the Star,

A abort time eig,i a French officer was arrested at
liersfebt, Ilet,se Uts,el, for making sketches which it Sc as
Colle,i% oil Were for military purpose:. A Berlin letter men-
tMns that two other French (officers similarly engaged have
since been arrested in the Lame part of Germany.
A liomloav telegram, dated August 24, announces
that sham Ali has (for the second time been proclaimed
Ameer of Afghanistan, and that his rival, Mahomed Azim
khan, is now a refugee in Turkistan.

- •
A prize of 100 guineas is offered for an essay on klep-
tomania, " with a view to determine whether klepto.aniacs
should ho disqualified for employments of trust awl ainho-
rity under the Crown ;aho to enydre under what cii cam .
stances tins mischievous propensity becomes cnniinal."
essays are to be sent in to Dr. David Wilson, Brook Street,
Grosvenor square, London.
- -

The youth 211ticksv. Who was found guilty last week
of the wilful MUM, id his mistress, Mts. Grossmith, was
informed by the shedif's of London on Monday morning
that he will be executed on the morning of Tuesday, the Bth
of September. It sill be recollected that he tv;:s recom-
mended to mercy by the jury, but Mr. Justice Lush, In sen-
tencing him, held out no bane that the recommendation
would nave hi.