The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-22 00:00:00

SPIRITUALIS2II,

Miss Anne Blackwell, of Paris, gave an interesting
statement as to the religious views of a portion of
the Parisian Spiritualists ; that she had seen at her own
home interesting phenomena, which amply proved that
they were produced by unseen intelligent powers ; that
doubtless there were diabolic spirits as well as the opposite,
who produced- the phenomena ; but that as far as
her experience went, she was opposed to treating them as
" accursed ;" that by kindness of feeling and advice ten
tiered' to those who behaved themselves wildly, she bad
results such as elicited from them expressions of thank
fullleßa ; iliwt some RiX I.llCndzi Welt. Idle eveninz together.
and saw the apparition of a be!oved friend clad in beauti•
ful drapery pass through the room, and the spirit recognised
them.

Ilsiu Friswell declared that he had witnessed on one
oec:ision that which appeared to be diabolic possession of
several persons in a room ; that he by abjuration causer!
the Ill.n& phenomena to censer that he had seen other
phenomena not of that character. In answer to a question,
gave you seen mesmeric will-power exercised without any
innt•cation ? be stated he had not any such experierce.
I 1 is answer amused several persons present who Lad seer
memerie pheLornena in many phases.

Mr. J. S. L'erghei►n stated that he was accustomed tc
the phenomena arising in mesmerism and biology, and
that persons unacquainted with them should not impe.
riously denounce Fp iri tualistic phenomena as diabolic till
they had made themselves practically acquainted with the
unseen powers of their natural life ; that he had seen
spiritual phenomena, and that he in one instance had seen
a shoeblack close to his otlice "possessed ;" that he put
the crowd back quietly, took the boy's hand, and firmly
requested (mentally) that the spirit leave. At once
it did so, and the boy was at once restored to his right
mind.

The Countess of Pomare stated it was not fair and not
consonant with the character of the Deity, that all
spiritual beings not Trinitarians should be considered
diabolical, or that His ministering spirits should be of the
same grade.

A young lady in Maine poisoned herself recently,
And the coroner's jury found a verdict that she came to her
death "by having taken a dose of arsenic for the purpose
of beautifying her complexion."
ABSENT.—Robert &Anson used to sit at his Open
window on the ground floor, as deep in geometry as a
Robert Simson ought to be. There he would be accosted
by a beggar ; he would rouse himself, hear a few worde
of the story, snake his donation, and dive. Some wags
one day stopped a mendicant on his way to the window
with, " Now, do as we tell you, and you will get some.
thing from that gentleman and a shilling from us besides.
He will ask you who you are, and you will say, " Robert
Simson, son of John Simson, of Kirtonbill." The man
did as he was told. Sims on gave him a coin, and dropped
off. He soon roused himself, and said, "Robert Simeon !
son of John Simson, of Kirtonhill ! why that is myself !
That man must be an impostor !"
CHAMPAGNE BETS.—At the City of London
Court, before Mr. R. M. Kerr, an action ("Laybourne
v. Trotman") was brought, on Wednesday, to recover a
wine bill, and plaintiff deposed that the goods charged for
had been delivered to the defendant. Defendant stated
that he did not order the wine for which he was
charged. The fact was, the plaintiff carried on busi-
ness as a publican, and a good deal of betting went
on in his house. On one occasion there was a billiard
match, and defendant betted half a dozen of champagne,
which he lost. He never ordered the wine, but it was
sent into the room, and consumed by the company.
Plaintiff : You had two dozen of claret. Defendant :
That you sent sue in return for a picture I gave you. —His
Honour : You hear what he says as to the champange
Plaintiff : Yes. It is quite true there was a billiard match,
and betting was going on. Defendant bet half a dozen
of champagne, and as he lost he bad to pay.—Defendant :
You say this was for goods ordered, but I never ordered
any. There has been gambling in the house.—His Honour:
You appear to have been as bad as he was. Defendant:
Yes, I am sorry to say so ; but you must remember this was
two years and a half ago. I never ordered the claret.—
His Honour said there was a flat contradiction as to the
claret, and plaintiff could not recover for the champagne,
—Verdict for defendant.

ANOTHER RIFLE FOR OUR ARMY.-NOtiVith.

Landing that the Secretary of State for War stated a
short time since that the Henry-Martini rifle would
alone be tried at present by the army, it is stated to be
the intention of the War Department to have the
" Sharp " American rifle put to a test. In the American
civil war the " Sharp" was the favourite arm with the
men of the Northern army. It has been recently
altered and improved. The arrangement for actuating
the breech-block is said to be exceedingly simple. The
hammer falls upon a sliding bolt contained in the
breech-block, which shifts up and down with it, as the
breech is open or closed. The bolt, however, is pre-
vented from coming in contact with the end of a
cartridge by a ridge which runs along the head of the
breech, and which falls into a slot only when the block
is thrown quite home. It is thus impossible to discharge
the rifle until it is closed and the cartridge covered by the
breech-block. The extractor is a lever, which forcibly
ejects the cartridge. It was found that although more
than 300,000 shots had been fired with this rifle in the
course of official inspection at Washington, no casualty
occurred. In facility for rapid firing, the " Sharp "is
saict.to ezokett)aer tb9_aqccile•gun, tke gAidtr, or th0:1

At the last meeting of the Spiritualist Committee of the
Dialectical Society, M. Chevalier narrated many instances
of phenomena produced on his merely placing his finger
on a tripod table ; that mental questions put by others
had been often correctly answered ; that sometimes evil
spirits bad come, and by adjuring them in name of the
" Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," the phenomena had
ceased.
Mr. T. Percival stated that for many years prior to
Spiritualism in its present phase being mentioned he 'WAr
subject to supernatui al influences ; that once, anxious to
decide n hether he should enter as a student at Cambridge,
Oxford, or Dublin, he bad a vision. He saw a collegiate
room. In it were himself and a person peculiarly robed.
Certain incidents took place, and the visitor vanished.
He decided on going to Oxford, when he was puzzled as
to the Thirty-nine Articles. A friend with whom he con•
versed invited him to his chambers. He went, and found
he was in the room he had seen in his vision, his friend
dressed in the same manner, and all the incidents occurred
as foreseen. Another incident was narrated as to three
persons seen in vision during a journey, which was Yeri•
fled in a few hours. Mr. Percival considered the visions
were given to satisfy his mind that he was in the right
path, he having prayerfully asked guidance.