The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-21 00:00:00

THE INDIAN FINANCES.

Mr. CRAWFORD asked whether it was true that the
Government had received, by telegraph, the heads of the
stattment made by the Financial M inister in India ; if so,
whether ho could state to the house if they were of a fa-
vourablo character.

Sir S. NORTHCOTE said it was quite true that he had
received the heads of the statement made by Mr. Massey,
and that they were of a very favourable character. (Hear,
hear.) The surplus, after all charges, had been met,
except irrigation. There was no new loan or new taxa-
tion, and the income tax was to bo reconsidered and im-
proved. (Hear, hear.)
ALLEGIANCE TO THE QUEEN.

On the motion for the house going into committee of
supply,
Mr. W. E. FOSTER called the attention of the house to
the effect of the law regulating the allegiance of subjects
of the Queen who had emigrated to foreign countries, and
especially to the United States of America, and
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether
be did not think the time was opportune for attempting
to arrive at a mutual understanding between her Majesty's
Government and the Government of the United States re-
specting the right of expatriation.
Sir J. COLLIER followed the hon. member with some
remarks on the same subject, and was of the opinion that
the laws of both England and America required revision.
Lord STANLEY thought Mr. Forster had done service
in bringing this question forward, and would at once de-
clare that he saw no reason to dissent from the genera
tendency of the views the hon. member had expressed. So
long as the law of the United States remained identical, as
it now was, with our own, we had a fair reply to them in
any controversy that might arise ; but that was no reason
wby the two countries should not agree to amend the law
of both so far as it was unsuitable to the times in which
we lived. He had, therefore, directed our Minister
at Washington to express to the Government of the
United States the wish of her Majesty's Govern-
ment to take the whole question into consideration
and, if they would act i❑ same manner, to meet them half
way respecting it. The difficulties of the question were
not great in themselves. Those of a political character
were indeed comparatively unimportant ; but there were
many legal difficulties that might arise and which would
require to be dealt with carefully—as, for example, the
status of the children of emigrants, of persons returning
to their native country and resuming their allegiance here,
and of the inhabitants of English colonies. He was un-
willing to give any distinct pledge to the house, but he
thought it likely, before anything was concluded, that it
would be found necessary to have an inquiry by competent
legal authorities into the various technical difficulties and
points of detail.
In Committee of Supply, a vote of £1,000,000 was
taken on account of the army service for the ensuing finan-
cial year.
The Compulsory Church-rates Abolition Bill was re-
committed for the insertion of certain am,ndments. The
bill was then reported, as amended, to the house, and or-
dered to be read a third time on Monday.
The house adjuurned at half-past 12 o'clock.

CHESS CONGRESS OF 1868. Wilkes's Spirit says :

—The project of organizing a Chess Congress meets
with much favour in New York. Many of the most cele-
brated chase magnates of Europe have already expressed
their desire to participate in it. Among others we may name
Messrs. Staunton, Kolisch, and Steinitz —a host in them-
selves. Let every chess club throughout the United States
both North and South. East and West (for chess is cosmo-
politan), obtain subscriptions for this desirable object, and
the requisite amount ($5,000) will easily be obtained.
The Pall Mall Gazette remarks :—"lt appears
that the proposed rowing match between Harvard Univer-
sity and the University of Oxford is abandoned, the Har-
vard oarsmen being determined to row after their
fashion, without a coxswain, and the Oxford oarsmen being
equally determined to row with one. We cannot correctly
see why a compromise could not have been effected, each
crew rowing after the fashion to which it had been accus-
tomed. It must be admitted that the Harvard men, in
offering to cross the Atlantic to try their skill with the
best crew in England, showed air excellent spirit, and wo
cannot but regret that they should have been thwarted by
a matter of detail."
About four miles from the newly-opened Japa-
nese port of Hiogo is an extensive deposit of coal. Tho
methods of working the mines aro of the most primitive
description, Wherever the coal or shale has been seen crop_
ping out from the hillside, a horizontal passage, never more
than 25 toot long, has been run in. The miners, crouched
to the ground in these burrows, with pointed ham-
mers pick away at the sides, and very carefully assort with
their hands each little piece of coal obtained, according to
its quality. The Japanese Government is not insensible
to the advantages of an improved mode of working the coal
of Hiogo, and it is not impossible that before long some
more systematic plan will be introduced.
LADVERTISEMENT.I—HoIIoway's Ointment and Pills.—
Dropsical Swellings.—Whatever may be the remote cause
of collections of water in the human body, it must be pru-'
dent to disperse them as soon as possible. The readiest
means of accomplishing this end aro supplied by using
Holloway's ointment to increase the activity of the absor-
bents. When this ointment is well rubbed upon the skin
it removes all serous congestion, overcomes all mechanical
obstructions to the free return of the blood, and prevents,
the deposit of serum and water. Holloway's pills likewise
augment the absorbing power; they move circuitously on
the capillaries through the circulation, while his ointment
acts directly through the skin. Both should be employed
lu clropeiee vane et • the Xicluers.

NWS PAP E
5 tfilifit-ZgEtbixiEt'',
I•
Dean Stanley has published * address he lt?
delivered at Sion College "On thy—conneaKn betis
Church and State." In a note we litid follving
remarks on the Irish Church question—" Whatever may
be the issue forced by the emergency of the time on
those who have to deal with the Irish Church, and viewing
It merely as an isolated problem, it must be remembered
that the question of the connection or separation of Church
and State is not of necessity involved in it. When
sixty or seventy years ago the difficulty of the Irish
Establishment first arose, it presented itself under the
form of endowing and establishing the Roman Catholic
Church by the side or in the stead of the Protestant Church.
The notion of parting with the benefits of an Established
Church altogether had not then become one of the elements
of discussion. This has been introduced into the question
partly, no doubt, by the external action of the English
Liberationists, partly also by the difficulties thrown in
the way of such a scheme by the Roman Catholics them-
selves. It may be that the combined forces of these two -
streams will be too powerful to resist. But it is worth
while remarking that dispassionate observers seem gene-
rally agreed in considering that if such a solution is
adopted it will not be as the best, but as the only one
which existing circumstances will allow—perhaps as in
itself the worst, except for the pressure of those practical
difficulties. It is probably admitted on all sides that, on
the one hand, the dependence of the Roman Catholic
clergy on their flocks for subsistence, and on a foreign
prince for dignity and rank, which now forms the
worst feature of the Irish ecclesiastical system in the
eyes of all reasonable men, would remain undiminished.
In no other country in Europe have the Roman Catholic
clergy refused the endowment and control of the State.
No other Government in Europe, Roman Catholic or
Protestant, would willingly lose such an opportunity of
guarding and guiding so powerful an element in the
national life. And, on the other hand, it seems also
iiigreeddeed, by some it is put -forward as a reason for
disestablishing the Protestant Church—that in that case
the vehemence of the Orange party now confined, and
moderated in some degree by the influence of a: venerable
and legal institution, would be set loose on a new
career of proselytism and aggression, which certainly
would not tend to increase the harmony between the two
Churches. This, again, is a state of things which n)
statesman, no large-minded Christian, would naturally
desire, however much he may be constrained to acquiesce
in it as an escape from immediate evils, and a concession
to urgent dCmands. Ido not in these remarks enter on
the question of the mode of dealing with the Irish Esta-
blishment. I only venture to suggest that, as even in
this case the results of a complete severance of the con-

nection with the State are generally deemed questionable

in themselves, they cannot be pleaded as arguments in
behalf of carrying out the same system where no auch
exceptional circumstances exist." .

THE ALYSSINIAN EXPEDITION.

The news from Abyssinia is, on the whole, good. There
is still difficulty with the muleteers, who refuse after a
long march to supply their animals with sufficient water.
This has been got over, however, by making only short
marches, by which the prejudices of the muleteers are
consulted, and the mules themselves not overworked.
This somewhat accounts for the delay which has
been remarked upon in the march on Magdala.
It appears that the distance between Attegerat
and Antalo has been overcalculated by some
twenty miles, so that instead of the troops having a
hundred miles to march they will only have some seventy.
nine. The correspondent of the Times, in mentioning this
matter, says that the two hundred miles between Antalo
andMagdala, is likely, by taking a direct route, to dwindle
to 133 miles. The passes have proved better than was
expected, and though there are some rough bits of road,
altogether things have been very fair. There is a report
that Theodore is maching on Gobazye. Though the autho-
rity is not good, the Times correspondent seems to think
the rumour not imProbable. It would be one of the best
moves the King could make, as, if he takes Gobazye before
the British come up, he will restore his prestige, which has
sadly fallen with his troops.

The Herald correspondent gives some interesting facts
concerning the character of the Abyssinians. He relates
a story in which the Hindoo Syces connected with the
British army trespassed on sacred ground. The priests
brought the matter before Sir Robert Napier, who
ordered the offenders to receive fifty lashes each. Where-
upon the natives went down on their knees and declared
they would not rise unless the trespassers were forgiven.
He also confirms the truth of what Bruce said, that the
natives cut steaks from the living ox. Some officers lately
came upon the natives just as they were in the act of per-
forming it. The unfortunate bullock was thrown down,
and its four legs were tied together. The operator then
cut an incision in the skin near the spine, just behind the
hip-joint. lie blew; into this to separate the skin
from the flesh, and then cut two other incisions at
right angles to the first, and then lifted a flap of
skin four or five inches square. From this he cut
out a lump of flesh, cutting with the knife under
the skin, so that the amount of flesh taken out was larger
than the portion uncovered. The operator then filled up
the hole with cow-dung, replaced the flap of skin, plas-
tered it up with mud, untied the feet of the poor animal,
who had kept up a low moaning while the operation was
going on, gave it a kick to make it get up, and the whole
thing was over. I should mention that the operator cut
two or three gashes in the neighbourhood of the wound,
apparently as a sign that the animal had been operated
upon in that part. The officer observed that several of
the other cattle in the same herd were marked in a pre-
cisely similar manner. They returned in half an hour,
and found the animal walking about and feeding quietly.
Antalo was IJoked forward to as a sort of paradise, and
everyone was wishing to get to it. It did not, however,
come up to expectation. The Telegraph, correspondent
says :—" Our reception by the good people of Antalo can-.
not be said to have been hospitable ; no one came near
us, and the governors were reported absent. The com-
missariat officer, who rode into the town, came back
desponding. He reported that Antalo, instead of
being the magnificent place we had pictured to our-
selves, was a straggling, dirty village ; he saw scarcely
any inhabitants, except women, who, when he asked for
grain, only said, ' 011, for goodness' sake, go away ; we
have no grain—nothing to eat. For pity's sake, get out of
the town.' The fact is, the people are all frightened ont
of their wits. It takes them days to realise the extraordi-
nary fact that we do not pillage them ; they cannot under-
stand it at all."

In the march on Antalo frequent stoppages were made,
in cons( (pence of the guns having to be lifted over bills
and unwieldy ground. Complaints regarding the stop-
pages were loud and frequent, for they made the day and
the march seem unusually long, and the afternoon WaS
well spent before the men reached the camp. This, the
Daily News correspondent says, was unfortunate in more
ways than one ; for no sooner had they arrived than the
east shewed unmistakable signs of an approaching storm,
and before tents could be pitched or shelter provided, a
thunderstorm was raging among the hills. The lightning
was characterised by a vividity unknown elsewhere than
in tropical latitudes ; the thunder was loud and the rain
heavy ; though, luckily for more than one, Mai Walliz
was visited only by the tail of the shower.
Writing from Ad Abagi, on the 22nd February, the
same correspondent says :—" Major Grant and Captain
Speedy, both belonging to the Intelligence Department,
returned to Howzen this morning. These officers had met
Kassai a few miles beyond that place, and made as defi-
nite arrangements as possible regarding the meeting, which
may take place to-morrow, if the Tigr6 prince is ascertained
to be at the appointed place—a plain about five miles
from Ad Abagi, in the direction of Adowa. Several chiefs
have already visited the camp, in order to satisfy. them-
selves of the truth or falsity of the rumours that are
abroad concerning the force, and the more bright and
intelligent of them have been initiated into the mysteries
of the Armstrongs and Sniders, after beholding which,
and asking many shrewd and very practical questions,
went away declaring themselves perfectly satisfied
as to the genuineness of the Christianity of the Eng-
lish. Part of the advance brigade is now five miles
beyond Antalo, which is reported to be no great city, but
another Senaf6, so far as size and population are con.
r:ern ed. The headquarters wing of the 33rd Regiment
being beyond Antalo does not indicate any further ad-
vance for the present ; let us hope the move was made to
secure for the regiment not only a defensible position,
but a convenient and commodious camp as well.
The remainder of the brigade—the Scinde Horse,
part of the 3rd Bombay Cavalry, two companies 10th
Native Infantry, a company 23rd Punjab Pioneers, 3rd
and 4th companies Bombay Sappers, A 21 Royal Artillery,
and two companies of Beloochees—must either be near
Antalo or at work on the road. The health of the troops
and followers continues excellent, and Of:. :•,ather is
pleasant, though of course the thermometer rises; as we ad.
vance southward."

COUNTY COURT COMMITMENTS.—We understand
that the much-vexed question, whether or no a county
court judge has jurisdiction to commit a judgment-debtor,
in spite of a composition deed registered subsequently to
the county court judgment, has recently been brought
before Mr. Justice Wiles in chambers. In the case of
Pearce v. Foster (supra, p, 279), the judge of the I3irming.
ham County Court held, in accordance with his decision in
a former case, that he had jurisdiction to commit. Last
week an application was made before the vacation judge
in chambers, for a writ of prohibition against the county.
court judge, and after hearing an argument on each sides
Justice Wiles ordered the writ to issue,-,s49jort''
ircirAce.