The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-08 00:00:00

REMARKS,

Ile atmospherical pressures over these islands have increased
generally and almost uniformly, during the last 24 hburs, and read-
ings are now high at southern stations —at Brest the reading is
0.5 inch higher than at Nairn. Temperature on the western coast has
risen a little. A fresh north-westerly wind was prevalent yesterday
on the Irish coast ; elsewhere winds were moderate and more
westerly. Light winds were general this morning, with calms in the
S.W. of England. Some rain has fallen in south-western districts,
where the weather is cloudy. On our E. coasts the weather is
fine.

The Liberty adds fuel to the fire of excitement which
has been kindled by the news from the north-west
frontier of India. It says that whilst the British
are assembling troops and making preparations, the Rus-
sian Government has hastily recalled General Kauffmann.
the military commander in Turkestan, to St. Petersburg,
without doubt to give him instructions in case of an attack,
direct or indirect, by the English, on the north frontier of
A ffghanistan. The Persian Government is arming. " A
terrible collision in Central Asia is to be feared."

A letter from New Zealand, dated July the 12th, says :
"Four men have just been murdered by Maories on the west
coast, one of them devoured wholly, except his legs ;
and the heads of all of them taken, and, it is presumed,
devoured too, f6r it is a characteristic of the
Maori race to eat the brains of those whom
they kill. On the east coast nearly all the roads are
closed by the natives, and they flatly refuse to give up the
land confiscated by the Government during the late war."
The colony owes about seven millions sterling at 6 per
cent., which, as the writer remarks, is a large sum for
300,000 people to be burdened with. The brother of this
writer comments strongly on the suicidal policy of
favouritism to the Maoris, adopted by the New Zealand
authorities in all disputes. This, he says, has proved the
surest and speediest road to rebellion and bloodshed.
the news from Brazil seems to prove that the last hopes
of the Paraguayans are vanishing. Their vanguard has
been defeated, and the "fortified position to the left of the
Tebiquary" has been captured. It is be presumed that
this means the stronghold to which Lopez retired after
the fall of Humaita, for it is added that the President,
with a small escort, had returned to the neighbourhood of
Asuncion. If the information be correct, the Paraguayans
have lost all, and the war must be near its termination.
There was previously some fear in the allied camp that
Lopez would escape to an impregnable position near
Asuncion, but we hear nothing more of this.

In spite of some semi-official contradictions, there can now
no no doubt that a plot of some kind has been discovered
at Constantinople. The independent French papers and
some Vienna journals agree that, though there may be
some exaggeration in the details, it is certain that nume-
rous arrests have been made, especially among the Mus•
sulman clergy. It was affirmed that Mustapha Pasha was
implicated ; but this is denied. The North East Corre-
spondence says that in all twenty-six persons were arrested.
The Government in vain tried to hush up the affair by
spreading a report that these persons had been appre-
hended for issuing false money. The position of the
parties and the gravity of the revelations had made secrecy
impossible. The prisoners are treated with great severity.
The inquiry into the plot has commenced, but the result is
not yet known.

The struggle on behalf of progress in Austria is one a
the most interesting constitutional studies of the time.
Fresh problems in social and political philosophy
are continually arising to confront the statesmen
of Francis Joseph. When it was resolved to prosecute
several of the Bohemian bishops for their manifestoes rela-
tive to the new law on public marriage, which they had
refused to obey, a difficulty arose as to the tribunal by
which they could be judged. Were they responsible to
the ordinary courts, or could they, as in France, claim
an exceptional tribunal? The Minister of Justice has
submitted this question to the best authorities, and it has
been decided that the bishops shall be brought before the
ordinary courts, subject always to their declaring them-
selves incompetent. This, however, is another blow at
the Concordat, which reserved to the Church itself the
right of deciding all matters relating to the Church. The
Constitution of 1867 furnishes the plea for the present
judgment, by an article which declares all citizens equal
before the law. The tribunal of Olmtitz has already
decided in favour of its own competence. It has fined the
Archbishop of Olratits 5,000 florins (nearly MO) far in:a-
ing his clergy to refuse to perform the ntiorriage mammy
under the new law. The tribunal of Prague has, on the
other hand, decided that a prosecution cannot be main-
tained. This judgment, it is thought, 1040 the
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