The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-24 00:00:00

ABYSSINIAN WAR COMMITTEE.

The inquiry was resumed on Friday before the select
committee of the House of Commons.

Captain Tryon read a memorandum dated June 1868,
which was a retrospective account of the expedition,
written in answer to certain criticisms passed upon
the conduct of it. Captain Tryon believed that the
Government did not supply coal. He had nothing
to do with checking the supply. He had no
permission to discharge arrival ships. In the early
part of the expedition to Zoula he represented
to the general commanding that it would be cheaper to
abandon everything landed there. The coals brought to
Annesley Bay on December 8 cost £8 per ton ;
but that was exceptionally high. One cause of
the detention of the ships in Annesley Bay was
that there were not hands enough to remove the
stores to the ships. A considerable amount of material
was sold for an inconsiderable sum. The stores
embarked were so in consequence of a general order.
In reply to the question if the mules were landed
at a point where there was no water, Captain
Tryon said he dared say no mules died for want
of water. On being pressed to say if any owner of a
ship would consent to his vessels being discharged in
Annesley Bay, he replied that it would be madness on the
part of a merchant to do so.

The claim of Mr. Alex. Borthwick to the Scotch
peerage of rotthwiek was before tho House of Lords cn
Friday.

The Earl of Denbigh has consented to preside at
a dinner to be given early in August, at the Agricultural
Hall, London, by several leading colonists, to about 1,500
working people, for the purpose of bringing under the
notice of the working classes the merits of Australian
preserved meats.

A Liberal candidate gave rather a smart reply
to an unwashed Conservative in front of the hustings
during the late nominations. " And to what old family
do you belong, Mr. C. ?" said the excited compound house-
holder or drinker in the crowd. "My family," said Mr.
C., very good-humouredly, "is so old that it was worn out
before I became a member of it ; so I started fresh, as I
hope to do in the coming Parliament." _ _ _

A Scotch clergyman one day said to a friend, the
minister of Cupar, who, like himself, was blessed with a
foolish, or rather wild, youth for a son, "D'ye ken, sir,
you and I arc wiser than Solomon ?" "How can that
be ?" inquired the startled clergyman. " On, ye see,"
said the other, "Solomon didna ken whether his son was
to be a fool or a wise man ; but baith you and I are quite
sure that our sons are fools."

ALL THEY SAID.—A gentleman has recently taken
down the entire conversation between two ladies during a
fashionable call, and reports verbatim all that was said, as
follows :—" How do you do, dear ?" " Pretty well, thank
you." (They kis3.)—" How have you been this age V'
" Pretty well. How have you been ?" " Very well, thank
you."--" Pleasant to-day." " Yes, very bright ; but had a
shower yesterday."—" All your family well ?" " Quite
well, thank you. How is yours?" "Very well, I'm
obliged to you."—"Hare you seen Mary B— lately ?"
"No ; but I've seen Susan C—." "You don't say so?
Is she well?" " Very well, I believe." (Rising.)—"Must
you go?" " Yes, indeed ; I have seven calls to make."—
"Do call again soon." " Thank you; but you don't call
on me once in an age."—" Oh, you shouldn't say, so ; I'm
sure I'm very good."—" Good-bye." " Good-bye."

THE BELGIAN' MITRAILLELTSE.—The Belgian
multiple gun, or mitrailleuse, is an improved form of an
ancient invention. It is, however, only recently that the
adoption of rifled arms has rendered practicable on an
increased scale these multiple guns. They are divided
into two classes ; the former, called volley-guns, are in-
tended to project all their bullets at once ; the latter,
called mitrailleuse, are those which possess the power of
firing more or less rapidly at will, The mitrailleuse of M. de
Martigny, of Belgium, consists of thirty-seven steel-rifled
barrels, of about the usual " small-bore "calibre. It has been
proved by the recent experiments that its rapidity of fire
is very great, especially at the short range. These
mitrailleuse, or volley-guns, aro most likely to produce
decisive effects when masked in battery ; or in great opera-
tions—the passage of rivers, bridges, or defiles—they prove
very formidable by concentrating a tremendous fire for a
brief period. They also have their uses at sea, and may
afford good protection to a merchant ship. For defensive
purposes the mitrailleuse must be mounted on some form
of carriage ; but guns of this class might be made more
handy if so mounted as to be carried on horses and along
with cavalry.
" SWEERLNG AT LAIRGE." A late Duke of
Atholl had invited a well-known personage, a writer of
Perth, to come up and meet him at Dunkeld for the
transaction of some business. The Duke mentioned the
day and hour when he should receive the man of law,
who accordingly came punctually at the appointed time
and place. But the Duke had forgotten the appoint.
ment, and gone to the hill, from which he would not
return for some hours. A highlander present described
the Perth writer's indignation and his mode of shewing
it by a most elaborate course of swearing. "But whom
did he swear at ?" was the inquiry made of the nar-
rator, who replied, " On, he didna sweer at onything
parteecular, but juist stude in ta middle of ta road and
swoor at lairge." " Sweering at lairge," however, even
in former days, was more the tendency of the upper classes
than of the Scottish peasantry, one of whom thus rebuked
the late Lord Rutherford on his exclaiming gruffly at the
Scottish climate, " What ad— mist !" The shepherd,
a tall, grim figure, turned sharp round upon him " What
ails you at the mist, sir? It wats the grass and slockens
the ewes ; " adding, with much solemnity, " It's
wull," and thereupon he turned from his lordship with
lofty indignation.

THE LATE CHELTENHAM ELECTION PETITIONS.
—The case of the late Cheltenham election petitions came
before Mr. Baron Bramwell, on Friday,in Judges' Cham-
bers. An application was made on the part of the sitting
member, Mr. Samuelson, for payment of £731 out of
court as his taxed costs, and that the remainder of the
£l,OOO deposited for costs should be retained until further
order. Master Gordon had taxed the costs at the sum
mentioned, and it was intended next term to bring the
subject before the court, as on election petitions a material
question was whether the costs were to be taxed as
between attorney and client or as between party and
party.—Mr. Burr applied for the payment out of court,
and complained of the amount allowed. The question of
costs would be considered next term—whether Master
Gordon should not review his taxation.—Mr. Buck
(Baxter, Rose, and Norton) objected to the payment.
There was no such thing as payment out of court, as
this money was in the bank, and the requirements of the
Act had not been complied with. He said too much bad
been allowed.--Mr. Baron Bramwell was of opinion that
he could not make the order as asked, but Mr. Baron
Martin would be in town next week. His own impression
was that application should be made to the Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas. He should decline to interfere,
ho ld simply c1491-§eille nwpam. "NQ order.'