The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-03 00:00:00

THE QUEEN AT THE FUI?KA PASS.

A Swiss traveller relates the following :—" Last Friday
evening, about half-past seven, tired and hungry, I ap-
proached the hotel situated on the Furka Pass, to get shelter
for the night. A heavy fog covered the whole neighbour-
hood, and the weather began to grow sensibly colder. I
had travelled that day from Hasli im Hof, over the Grimsel
and the ice mountains of the Rhfine, and it may
easily be imagined that I hastened with a longing
desire to reach the hotel. A waiter, who stood at the
threshold, cried out to me, whilst at some distance, You
cannot come in here, the Queen of England has engaged
the house for three days.' I could scarcely trust my ears
at first. Was it possible,' lat last asked, that the
Queen could have engaged the only house on the summit
of the pass for herself ?" It is nevertheless true,' replied
the man, and you must look out for other quarters for
the night.' I begged him, as the Queen had engaged all
the bedrooms, to allow me to sleep in the saloon or
even on the floor. 'I am sorry,' he said, but nobody
is allowed to come in here.' I asked him then if the
Queen with her suite had already arrived, he replied, `No,
but there is no doubt that she will be here to-morrow.'
About this time almost a dozen travellers, one of whom
was a lady, had arrived and looked all very eagerly for
night's rest. When I related what I had just learned,
their dissatisfaction was extreme. Some of them even
tried to force an entrance, but as they were met by her
Majesty's cook, ready to resist any intruder, they were
forced to continue their way, exhausted and half-starved,
to the Realp, where they found a rest, though not without
some difficulty for so many. We next day learned that
many travellers had met with a similar fate, and every-
where they expressed their feeling strongly at such utter
disregard of other people's comfort."

DR. VA UGHAN ON THE CHURCH

ESTABLISIIMEIVT.

The Vicar of Doncaster has preached a sermon having
special and important reference to the position and
prospects of the Established Church. He said :
" Church people must prepare themselves, I feel sure,
for a speedy, a scarcely gradual, demolition of all that
has been distinctive, all that has been exceptionally
advantageous in their position. An eminent man
and excellent bishop, who was laid in his grave last
Friday, was wont to say, 'lf I live ten years I shall
be the last Bishop of Peterborough.' It is more than
probable that some of my younger hearers this evening
may live, not only to see what we call the Church of
England thrown altogether upon voluntary' offerings
for its maintenance, but also to find it at least an open,
perhaps a very doubtful question, to whom shall belong
the churches themselves and the glebe houses—whether,
indeed, there shall be left to the old Church of England, as
we still fondly call it, any vestige of that legal standing
which has made her hitherto the calm shelter of her
children, the admiring wonder of foreigner; and the
mark of obloquy or envy, as the case might be, to thou-
sands of her domestic enemies. lam far from regarding
this prospect—be it far off or near—with unmixed alarm
or dismay. I never believed that the `Establishment' as
such, was Christ's Church in England, or that the with-
drawal of the favours of the State would be the putting out
in our communion of the Divine Shechinah. It is not
so much for the Church that I fear. I fear something for
the State, when it ceases to have a religion. I fear some-
thing for the average tone of religion in our cottages and
in our palaces, when there is no longer one form of worship
which has upon it the stamp of pedigree and of custom—
when it is an evenly balanced question with every man
and with every family, whither sAll I go this day,
for God's worship—whither, or whether any whither? I
fear there will be snore and more in many houses of a cold
indifferent scepticism—a Cbristless education and a God-
less life. I fear that snore and more may reach old age
ignorant of a Saviour, and go to their graves without
any sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal
life."

There is a rumour that the Order of St. Patrick,
vacant by the death of Lord Farnham, will be conferred
upon either the Earl of Mayo or the Earl of Longford.
Dr. F. G. Lee is about to resign the general secre-
taryship of the Association for the Promotion of the Unity
of Christendom.

A communication has been received from Mr.
Jefferson Davis, accepting an invitation to visit Manchester,
and it is proposed to welcome Lim at a banquet to be given
in Lis honour.

A woman of about sixty has appeared at the Ches-
ferfteld Polico-court for advice. A man had made love to

her, and extracted £2 from her for tho marriage license. fie
decamped. The mayor was unable to assist her.

In reply to applications made on behalf of Townes,
Mr. Parker Snow has, it is stated, received a final reply
from the Secretary of Stab, to the effect that, after con-
sideration, such cannot bo entertained now "at so eatly a
period."

THE ROYAL LIVER FRIENDLY SOCIETY.—The
annual meeting of the Royal Liver Friendly Society has
been held at Liverpool, and the balance•sheet for the past
year, chewing that the total worth of the society at the
end of last June was £169,392 25., and that £37,000 had
been saved during the last twelve months, was unani-
mously passed.

THE PROTESTANT LECTURER.—Murphy's obsti-
lacy seems to be disappearing. He originally declared
that he would not accept the terms proposed by the magis-
trates, nor enter into the required recognisances ; but he
has since yielded to wise counsel, and it is understood that
he will soon be liberated on bail.

A THREATENED WATER FAAIINE.—At a meeting
of the City Council of Manchester the desirableness
of continued economy in the use of water was strongly
urged upon the people. It appears that in the neighbour-
hood of the Corporation reservoirs, where generally the
rainfall is very great, only about lain. of rain has fallen
since early in August, whereas in the Midland counties
the amount of rainfall in the same period has made up the
annual average.

LIVERPOOL LICENSES.—The Liverpool licensing
sessions, which has just concluded, leaves Liverpool with
twenty-four licensed houses less than before the session,
the number of licenses in force then being 1,937, while
now they number 1,913. Before the close of the business
of the court, Mr. Jeffery made a long speech as to the
remedy for drunkenness, and proposed the establishment
of lunatic asylums for drunkards. He also appealed to the
controllers of public-houses to close their houses on Sunday,
and to give that plan a fairer and more complete trial than
had been accorded to it already.
THE NEW WINDSOR CHAPEL Riot—The men
concerned in this affair were brought up on Wednesday
at the Salford Borough Police-court, in answer to sum-
monses charging them with riot and assault at. New
Windsor Chapel, Salford, on Sunday, the 16th August.
The details of this disgraceful affair were made known
some time ago, and as the proceedings at the police-
court on Wednesday were not very edifying it will be
sufficient now to state that the several defendants were
called upon to find sureties to keep the peace for three
months.

SUICIDE OF AN OLD MAN. - The Florence
journals mention the following suicide in that city : —Afew
days back M. Charles Saint Paul, goldsmith and jeweller,
killed himself in his own shop on the Ponte-Vecchio. The
deceased, 81 years of age, was looked on as the senior of
all his craft in Florence, and was the Frenchman estab-
lished for the longest time in the Tuscan capital, whither
lie had been brought by the Grand Duchess Eliza Bacci-
ochi, sister of the Emperor Napoleon I. He was of a gay
and jovial temperament; his suicide is therefore inexplicable,
except on the supposition of a fit of mental alienation.
A remarkable accident has ouuri ed on the South
Devon line. A rope connect( d with the working of a water
tank at Dawlish became loose, and as a train pass- d the rope
flapped against each of the trucks. A porter named Crossing
w.ts standing on the steps of one of the trucks, and the end of
the rope wound itself several times around his neck. fle was
at once precipitated from the stops into the air, but fortu-
nately he alighted on the platform. The weight of his
body unwound the rope as Le fell, and Lo escaped
with a foot twisted round at right angles to its
proper position, an ankle put out of joint, and some severe
marks made by the windings of the rope. The medical
attendant states that had Crossing's feet been detained by a
thread when he was hurled off the step a dislocated neck and
••- - -
instant death must have ensued.