The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-19 00:00:00

THE FENIANS.

It is believed that there is a constant communication by
letter between the Fenians resident in th 5 metropolis, and
those who have taken up their quarters in provincial towns.
This view is supported by the rumours which• have
been afloat with respect to the aggregation of Fenians
in Birmingham, Sheffield, and other towns in which
arms cau be procured. The termini at which suspected
parties would arrive from those places have been
watched by the police. Other railway termini, however,
have not been so closely guarded, and by these a largo nutn-
ber of Feuians have arrived in the metropolis within the
last fortnight. If the officers of the detective force have
narrowly watched the Great Western, Great Northern,
and North-Western termini, their movements, it is stated,
have been so closely followed by metropolitan members
of the Fenian Brotherhood that all provincial adherents
of the Fenians have been warned by letter to slip into
London by other than the guarded routes. Shift-
ing of public-house quarters, or rendezvous, has been
simultaneous with change of railway route. Many mem-
bers of the F. 8., who for the last four years have fre-
quented a public-house situate in the heart of the west
central district, still remain about the place, visiting it
nightly, although the great majority of itg former sup-
porters have disappeared, The quantity of small arms
iu possession of the lowest orders of the Irish in Lon-
don is said to be large, and to have been considerably
increased within the last fortnight by consignments
received from the gunmakiugtowns in England. Iu
some few instances revolvers have been pulled out of breast-
pockets at public-house bars by half-drunken Irishmen ; but
in contradistinction to the open-mouthed boasting of 1867,
is now to be observed the sustained reticence of men of this
class. The individuals suspected or implicated with respect
to arms in Birmingham appear to have been agents of men
at a distance, and not co-operators in any seditious move-
ment in that town.

Notwithstanding the improbability of the step
there are still rumours of the intention of the French
Government to remove the barrier which prevents the
exiled Princes returning to their native land.

About six months ago a Sheffield grocer, Mr. Ben-
jamin Ashton, disappeared from his home, and no tidings
respecting his fate was heard until Monday last, when his
dead body was found in the river Derwent in Chatsworth
Park.

It is said that M. Josseau, who was one of the
famous 116, and played a prominent part in the crisis of
January 2, will be appointed successor to M. blege as
Vice-President of the Corps Legislatif. M. de Talhouet
would be unanimously elected, but he declined the
honour.

The Bombay papers of Tuesday state that, accor-
ding to native accounts, which are believed to be true, the
King of Bokhara is subsidised by the Russians, and Abdul
Rahman Khan, with a powerful army, and so subsidised,
is preparing to invade Afghanistan.

NONCONFORMISTS AND THE EDUCATION BILL.—
The proposed meeting of Nonconformists on the education
question, at St. James's Hall, on the 24th inst., has been
postponed to Monday. June 13, in order that it may express
an opinion upon the Government amendments to Mr.
Forster's bill.

THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY.—The Common Law
offices will be closed on Tuesday next, the 24th instant, on
the occasion of her Majesty's birthday; and the Chancery
Chambers and Courts of Equity ou the following Saturday,
which has been appointed by the Lord Chancellor for the
celebration of that event.