The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-25 00:00:00

DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN 4FRIC,I.

Dr. Maueh, a German traveller, who hag recently re-
turned to Potchefstroom, the capital of the South African
Republic, a community founded by exterprising Boers—
farineri of African birth, but Dutch extraction—from the
Cape Colony, reports that in the territoryknown as " Mose-
likatse's country," a district lying northward of the Orange
Free State, and extending towards, if not to, the equator,
extensive goldfields have been discovered. Specimens of
the quartz have been forwarded to Port Elizabeth (Algoa
Bay), in the Cape Colony, and there tested by Mr. John
Leslie, who found, after applying nitric acid to it, that no
change was produced, but on applying nitro-hydrochloric
acid the metal became dissolved. It was then diluted
with water, and tested by the re-agent, protochloride of
tin,
.swhen immediately was produced the purple of
" Cassius," which is a conclusive proof of gold. In order
to convince Mr. Jones of the proof of the test, Mr. Leslie
applied four drops of the same acid to a sovereign, when
the result was precisely the same. The following quota-
tations are from llerr Mauch's letter to Mr. Jones. Under
date, Potchefstroom, 2nd December, 1867, Mr. Mauch
writes as follows :—" Just returned from a second trip in
Moselikatse's country. I give you short notice that I
have been very successful in finding gold, not in small,
scarcely visible specks, but in great veins of quartz, i. e.,
goldfields, one of them more than sixty miles long, the other
about twenty miles broad, besides numerous small parallel
veins. I will send you one or two specimens by the next oppor-
tunity." On the 16th of the same month, Mr. Mauch again
writes to Mr. C. T. Jones in the following terms :—" I have
the honour to send you two specimens of gold quartz ;
they are poor, but it is to be kept in mind that I never
had the time to set to work with pickaxe, spade, or
other tool ; they may serve, therefore, as proofs of the
existence of gold. A full description of the various
gold veins and fields I have to deliver to the Ger-
man Geographichal Society, which will publish it in
their periodicals. If I remember right, I stated to
you in my last letter that I could point out more than
thirty different places, where I got some speci-
mens out ; in fact, the fields will prove richer than
may be expected. I take the liberty to send my own spe-
cimens round by Natal to you, and to be put to my other
collection, which is in your hands, as Mr. Forssman says."
These are the specimens just received by Mr. Jones, and
which have been tested with the result stated. A writer
from Potchefstroom says of Herr Mauch : " He has just
returned from a long tour in the interior, and being a
man in whose veracity everyone has implicit reliance, the
information he has brought is generally received as bond
fide. I have myself seen and spoken to him, and gather that
he has found two rich goldfields, the one about sixty miles
in length, and the other about twenty miles broad, length
uncertain. About sixty specimens of the gold are on their
way here ; one he has brought with him, and presented to
Mr. Forssman of this place, and I regret that I have not
time before the closing of the post to go and see it. Mr.
Mauch says the climate in the region of the goldfields is
healthy. One thing is certain, that before possession can
be taken of them the native tribes inhabiting the country
will have to be subdued, and this will be no easy task, as
they are both warlike and powerful."

The wife of Lord Justice Selwyn has not long survived
the high honour conferred upon her husband in his eleva-
tion to the bench. Lady Selwyn was taken suddenly ill
last week, and died on Sunday, at the town residence
of the learned judge, 37, Eaton-square. She was the fifth
daughter of Mr. J. G. Ravenshaw, and was married to the
present Lord Justice of Appeal in 1856.
Amid the interest excited by the Irish debate, by the
possibility of a Ministerial crisis, and by the reawakened
hopes of the speedy return of the First Lord of the
Treasury to official life, all the morning papers turn aside,
doubtless for the last time, to devote a parting leader to
the temporal affairs of the Rev. Benjamin Speke, rector
of Dowlish Wake, Ilminster, and enjoying a com-
fortable income of £430 per annum. The Times
takes credit to itself for having endeavoured to allay
the public alarm three or four weeks ago, by suggesting
that, after all, Mr. Speke might have escaped fora time from
society, and was enjoying himself in a manner peculiar to
himself. At the same time it strongly condemns the rev.
gentleman's conduct in having so longremained silent while
his fate was a subject of speculation in every household in
the kingdom. The Post does not see how the matter can be
withdrawn from publicity until a full explanation of Mr.
Speke's absence has been furnished.
The Daily News cannot imagine any man of common
reeling being indifferent to the interest which the public
have taken in this case. Mr. Speke must have withdrawn
beyond the reach of newspapers altogether not to be
aware of the advertisements for his recovery, and the
letters and leading articles in the newspapers, and many
other signs of the concern which the public felt for his
safety and welfare. His silence under these circum-
stances is most extraordinary, and is perhaps unaccount-
able, except upon the supposition that the rev, gentleman
has been suffering under a sudden and temporary loss of
reason.

The Herald suggests that if the Rev. Benjamin can
only use his pen as well as he can keep his own counsel,
and preserve his irauntarily assumed incognito, the story
of his retirement would be the book of the season. Let
him take the hint—he will find that Speke's " London
Trip and Cornish Sojourn" will become as popular as
Layard's "Nineveh," Livingstone's " Africa," or Du
Chaillu's " Adventures in the Gorilla Country." The
Telegraph can scarcely speak of him with any degree of
patience. The facts, as far as they are known, cannot
palliate his unhappy conduct. The matter is so grave,
that a formal explanation must be given by his friends if
they would save him from something like general con-
tempt and condemnation—hard words to attach to one of
his name and cloth ; but the patience and the feelings of a
whole community are not to be trifled with. The Star
ventures to guarantee that whatever explanation is given,
it will be simpler, and, on the face of it, more probable
than those suppositions of violence and kidnapping with
which, notwithstanding the great mass of contrary ex-
perience, a few vivacious writers have attempted to cast
an undeserved reproach on the civilisation of this capital.
The suggestion made by the Standard is the charitable
theory that Mr. Speke suddenly became the victim of an
inexplicable hallucination, to be hereafter made a subject
of study for our psychologists and mental philosophers.
But for Mr. Speke's own sake it hopes he may not be
troubled with a repetition of these attacks, and lest the air
of Westminster and St. James's Park should have had
any share in causing his recent escapade, it would be well
for his friends to use their influence in keeping him out of
town. At all events, his discovery terminates that
immensity of metropolitan romance which was called into
existence by his disappearance. The worst of such a hoax
upon society is, that should anyone really be made away
with by foul means, the story would not be listened to.
It would at once be voted contemptuously, "Another
Speke mystery."
AN ELECTION SCANDAL AT MANCHESTER. —lt
will be remembered that one of the unsuccessful candi-
dates at the recent parliamentary election for Manchester
was Mr. Alderman Bennett. Mr. Bennett was solicited
to offer himself by the Conservatives, and agreed to
pay £lOO on the condition that all the remaining ex.
penses should be defrayed by his friends. These
expenses were near upon £4,000, and of this sum the
treasurer of his committee is still minus £3,000. A meet-
ing of Mr. Bennett's supporters has been held, with a view
to raising the balance, but sums only amounting to a total
of £4OO could be raised, some of his leading friends refusing
to contribute at all. A meeting of the creditors has been
held, and it was agreed to commence legal proceedings.
Several actions by poll clerks, election agents, and canvas.
sers have already been tried in the county courts against
the candidate with success.

GROSS OUTRAGE.-011 Monday, about noon, much
excitement was caused in Liverpool by the report that a
merchant had been attacked by two men in his own office
and savagely assaulted. The facts are as follows : Mr.
Adolphe Kasel is a wine merchant, having offices at No. 58,
Tower-buildings. About half-past eleven o'clock he was
alone in his office, both his clerks having gone out on
business, when two persons presented themselves, one of
them dressed as a young woman, chignon and all com-
plete, and the other as a young man, with heavy beard
and moustache. The man produced an advertisement,
and said, " You have these wines to sell ; I want
to see some," and with that stepped inside the counter.
Mr. Kasel turned round to enter his inner office,
when the fellow sprung on his back, and commenced
beating him about the head, and the other joined in, and
they got him down. He then cried out " Murder,"• and
managed to get to the door, which he found locked. Some
one then knocked loudly from the outside, the scoundrels
desisted from beating him, and he succeeded in opening
the door. Mr. Hopps, who has the next office, and his
clerks came in and secured the fellows, and they were given
into custody. A variety of small articles were found on
them, including a chisel or " jemmy" a foot long, and on
the floor of the office was found the loaded end of a whip.
Mr. Kasel was taken to the Northern Dispensary, Vaux-
hall-road, where it was found that he had sustained severe
contusions on the head and that his right arm was broken.
The prisoners were at once taken to the Central Police-
station and examined. They are both young men of less
than the average build. One of them—the " lady "—is
named John Wilson, and is in the employment of Mr.
Wood, confectioner, Bold-street ; and the other, David
Harris, a clerk with Mr. B. S. Williams, solicitor, Moor-
fields. From the manner in which they went to work it
is feared that they had some confederate. Mr. Kasel ex-
presses his belief that they intended to murder him and
then rob the office. There can be no doubt that their pri-
mary object was plunder, and that they were determined
to render Mr. Kasel incapable of preventing them or of
• giving a'Argt,

eirtnin
Cif
ioc

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Feb. 24.
Tte Queel went out this morning, accompanied
by Princess Beatrice, and attended by the Duchess
of Athmle and Miss, Macgregor.
Prince Leopold went out, attended byMr. Duck-
worth.

Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales
drove out attended by the Countess of Morton.

The Prince of 'Wales drove out, attended by
Lieut.-Col. Keppel.

LYCEUM MEATRE.—Their Rciyal Highnesses the
Prince and Princess of Wales and suite visited this theatre
last evening to witness the performance of Mr. Bandinann
in the play of " Narcisse."

Prince and Princess Christian, Prince. Arthur,
and Princess llenriette of Schleswig Holstein, with their
suite, attended Divine service in Windsor Park Chapel on
Sunday morning. Their royal highnesses attended ser-
vice in St. George's Chapel in the afternoon.
The Earl Delewarr is much better. The noble
earl and countess are still staying at Knob°, near Seven-
oaks.

The Earl and Countess of Sandwich do not come
:0 town for the season till after Easter.

LITERATURE.

Lord Falconberg's Heir. By Charles Clarke. Two
Vole. Chapman and Hall.
Captain Harold Falcon, the hero of this story,
turns out to be, after all, the Heir of Lord Falconberg
That he should ever become so, appears at the out-
set to be in the highest degree improbable. There
are four lives between him and the chance of his
accession to the peerage on the death of his uncle,
Lord Falconberg—namely, the lives of his cousins—
Lord Hawkestone and Lord Hawkestone's three
younger brothers. These three latter, however, are
conveniently cleared out of the way atone fell swoop,
the Hon. Jervoise and the other two being tied toge-
ther with cords, as is the wont on the Swiss moun-
tains, and—so tied together —slip and get swallowed
up in a crevasse. As to Lord Hawkestone himself, he
proves to be consumptive—sickens, fades away,
and at last expires. Harold, by that time the Heir
Presumptive, eventually succee Is the old Earl, his
uncle—having almost simultaneously married
his fair cousin, the Lady Helen. Before all this
has been accomplished, however, the principal cha-
racter in the story—meaning Harold—passes through
a terrible interval of suspense and tribulation.
Connected with this period of anxiety, only too in-
timately, are Herr Bernard Jansen, the " Giant"
wood carver, and his pretty daughter, the Fraulein
Maynart, otherwise popularly known as Peggy
Jansen. The latter, we cannot help thinking, be-
haves very shamefully, though the author appa-
rently holds her in a manner guiltless. The fact
being, nevertheless, that she is knowingly guilty of
bigamy, and that she allows her second husband—
and therefore who is in point of fact no husband
of her's at all—to remain for several
years under the (happily for him) false
Impression that he is her legally espoused husband.
How the eclaircissement is brought about, and the
Scotch marriage of that wretchedly selfish vaga-
bond George Fellowes, otherwise George Fal-
con, is eventually revealed—we may leave
Mr. Clarke to tell his own readers in his own
way. Passages there are in the book that are ex -
cellent as incidents in a sporting novel of the first
class. For instance, there is a steeplechase, in which
Harold rides the winner—a theme often before
treated by writers of ability, but never dilated upon
more brilliantly than by the author of " Lord Falcon-
berg's Heir." Other passages there are that might have
been penned by the writer of " Mr. Soapy Sponge"
et hoc genus ovine. Instance this all that relates
to Sir Samuel Cripplegate—the vulgarity of whom
and of whose surroundings is so intensely and
uncompromisingly vulgar Whenever Charles
Clarke gets among gentlemen, however, he is at his
best—no matter whether it be in the drawing-
room or the stable, at the river-side or in
the billiard-room. Harold himself is a fine
specimen of the " genus"—so, too, is Lord
Hawkestone. When we are with them we
are more gratified than at any other portions of the
narrative. The earlier or college scenes are, upon
the whole, the least satisfactory in the whole work.
We are especially delighted whenever we can escape
from the associations of that intolerable felovr
George Falcon, in comparison with whom Sir
Samuel Cripplegate is a Bayard, a D'Orsay, and a
Nash rolled into one. The story, as a specimen of
your genuine Sporting Novel, is a success above
the average.

NAVAL AND MILITARY IN7ELLIGENCE.

A special order has been received by the beads of
departments at Woolwich, by request of Sir Stafford
Northcote, Secretary of State for India, demanding
a supplementary number of military stores for the
use of the Abyssinian expedition, to consist of about
300 sets of mule harness, 200 Maltese store carts,
extra shafts and wheels for the mountain steel guns,
in command of Lieut.-Col. Milward, the whole to
be completed and in readiness for shipment within
11 days. A portion of the order, having been com-
pleted some time ago, was ready for despatch
when the order was countermanded. ' These cases
were' conveyed in Phillips's barges to the India
Docks, and were taken on board the transport ves-
sel Mendoza on Sunday.
Yesterday the following troops embarked at
Gravesend on board the chartered troopship Isabella,
for conveyance to Bermuda :—One staff sergeant
and one man of the Royal Artillery ; one non-com-
missioned officer and 28 sappers of the Royal En-
gineers ; 35 non-commissioned officers and men of
the 61st Regiment ; 10 men of the Commissariat
Staff Corps ; and two men of the Army Hospital
Corps ; together with the following officers :—Capt-
H. A. Tracy, Royal Artillery ; Captain E. S. Tyler,
Royal Engineers ; Ensign A. E. Wilby, 61st Regi-
ment; Purveyor E. Goodrich and Staff Surgeon
D. A. Leslie, M.D., in medical charge. The era-
barcations were effected under the superintendence
of Brigade-Major W. W. Lynch and the officers of
the Quartermaster General Department at Chat-
ham, and the Isabella will be inspected this morn-
ing by Major General F. Murray, previously W
taking her departure from the Thames.
The troops doing duty at Upnor Castle, Chatham,
for the protection of the stores of gunpowder and
ammunition deposited in the powder raagazinee
have been augmented by a party of 90 non-com-
missioned officers and men, selected from the de"
pots comprising the corps attached to the Ist depot
battalion. The following officers are attached for
duty with the detachment :—Captain C. J. 1"'
Clarkson, 30th Regiment ; Lieutenant J. H. fit'
field, 29th Regiment; and Ensign W. H. Marsh,
Ist battalion Of the 2d Royals.
Capt. R. Cartwright has been posted to the let
battalion of the 15th Regiment, at Chatham garri'
son on his promotion.
The iron screw steam troop ship Urgent, 4, CaPt'
Samuel H. Henderson, from the West Indies,
arrived in Plymouth Sound yesterday. She 10
Port Royal January 25; Bermuda, February 2,,;
and Fayal, February 17. She brings about 301,
invalids from the Pacific and West India stations
in medical charge of Staff Assistant-Surgeon Doran'
Among her passengers are Mr. E. Blewett, late
°
paymaster of the Phoebe, invalided ; Mr. Bone, 13,t_
paymaster of the Terror ; Messrs. Brick6le, Mu-,
ley, and Nichol from the Abonkir ; Captain 3.13_:
Mrs. Browning, Ensign Campbell, 81th ; Licut'i,
nant Davis, 61st ; Lieutenant Pelean, Royal Beg
INIL.S'
ncers, and Mrs. Pelean,; Mr. Langdon, and „.a
Body. The Urgent experienced head windsceubo
fine weather during the passage home. The Pll,„a°r_
was on the eve of departure from Jamaica for " r
Te
thagena, in the Bights. The Constance and
were at Bermuda.
Borsitnan's
In consequence of the Reduction in Duty,
_coo
Pure Teas are. supplied EIGHTTENA per lb. C 7, aod
through their ,50ti Agents—confectioners in Lond?,., 3,.,
chemists in every town. Sold in Packets at 25..,..% or,
3s. 4d.,- and 3s. Bd. per lb. Genuine rackets have too
porters' Signature.