The Portland daily press., 1867-08-28


the day of nomination and the polling, which
continues two days. An attempt was made
in the last Parliament to have all the elections
brought on together, but it was argued that
much inconvenience would arise In case
member Of the Government, who is directly
responsible to the people, should be defeated.
as he would be unable to find vacancy; con-
se1uently the bill was thrown out. 1t frequent
ly happens that member of the Government
is defeated at the polls, and, as he must nee
essarily hold seat in Parliament to entitle
him to confidence, he is necessitated- TO try
until he finds seat. 1t has happened more
than once that member has been unable to
secure election, and in that case he had to re-
| sign his place in the Caoinet. 1t would,
| therefore, be awkward to have the elections
! all on the same day. sH-i5I .i ll
DARCY MCGEE AND FENIANIsM.
The spiciest affair of the past week has been
the attempt Of Mr.. Thomas Darcy MCGEE to
fix upon his political opponent, Mr.. Devlin OF
Montreal, the charge of Fenianism. Mr.. Nc
Gee publicly brought this charge against Mr..
bcVLil, uCCidIiilse biidb uC uou Tic OOCtuhChtS
to prove it and threatening to publish them.--
This Mr.. Oevlin's friends dared him to do,
and accordingly he prints in the Montreal
Gazette six columns of revelations" in which
history is given of the rise and progress of
Fenianism in Ireland, and the United States,
and of the attempt to introduce it into Mon
treal. The plan adopted to effect the latter
object, was to get the control of "St. Patrick's
Society,"" of which it seems Mr.. Devlin is
President. The promised proofs do not appear
TO be very important or damaging They
consist mainly OF the suspicious and assertions
Of Mr.. McGee, and the whole thing as an cleo
tioneering document will probably do Mr..
Devlin more good than harm, but the affair
has created quite little buzz of excitement
nevertheless. '.oi ''' ~ah Nt'i0' a g in
PRISON REVOLT. '
A serious revolt occurred at the Halifax
Penitentiary last week. A local paper says:
As the prisoners were sitting down to din-
ner, some trouble arose about the food, which
was used as a, pretext for general revolt, in
which about fly of the convicts joined. They
began by breaking the windows, threatening
things with high hand. The Governor hav-
ing only at his command force Of andquat-
ed keepers, many of whom are scarcely able
to move about themselves much less guard
others, was unable to qllell the revolt, and
sent down to the fort at Point Pleasant for
detachment of soldiers. The latter quickly
arrived on the scene, and surrounded the
building. The rebels were then ordered to
surrender, but they refused.
The command was then given to fire, and
volley was sent which leveled four of the ras-
Gals, including the rngleader, and The rest
surrendered. qr it easl 5 I.f- l,a
THE OIL FIRE AT MONTREAL. lfq II
The destruction of property by the great
fire at Montreal last week, was even greater
than was reported by the telegraph at the
time. Six hundred thousand gallons of oil
were consumed, valued at $4,000, besides
the sheds and cars, and the damage done to
the railroad track. The fire must have been
magnificent. The store house in which it
took was 800 feet long, by 200 wide, and filed
with oil and benzine. The Gazette says:
The hose was laid, but the firemen found
that they. could do very little good inside the
building, for the barrels began to burst, and
blow out the roof, which is covered over with |
sods and earth for better protection from fire |
from without. These barrels as they burst |
scattered the fire around. The bursting of |
course went on with increased rapidity as the |
heat became intense within, and shortly hum |
dreds and thousands went together. We
should explain that beneath this building the |
st. Pierre Creek runs toward the city in q |
northerly direction. Ov,r this creek, and |
commencing at distance of about two hum |
dred yards from the coal oil shed, many hun |
dreds of buildings are erected on wooden |
seepers. In fact, it passes through verypop-
ulous suburb; and here lay a source of terri |
Bile danger. The barrels, as they burst, pour |
ed the fiery liquid into this stream. bearing it
toward the city, which was only 200 yards OIL. |
This roaring fame on the surface OF the |
creek, which from the sudden pouring out OF |
thousands of barrels OF oil, overflowed its nat |
ural bank, making stream of forty or fifty |
feet wide and foot deep on the banks where
1t had overfiowed, went slowly rolling forward,
aIcolumn of the most furious fire, threatening
the entire suburb. The whole city was iilu-
minated, and we are informed by passengers
who came up by the boat they saw the light |
thirty miles. lia 3al.li IA 'atl I'D
To arrest the column it became evident |
that nothing but stopping the current of wa \
ter above, and throwing up dams OF dykes in /
the intervening space between It and the city |
would be eiectual. This work was accord |
lngly commenced with extreme energy, men
on the spot working with spades in intense
heat, and men at a little distance from the
stream cutting large sods, which Others car
ried in their arms and threw on the dam. Be |
fore the first dam could be completed the liq- 1
uid fire came on, but it was held in check for
while by the embankment already raised-I
The men retreated about hundred feet, and
another. The heat at this point
was very great. The men suffered greatly,
but did not finch. In about half an hour
the second embankment was completed to the
height of three feet, and 1t was not ready anv
too soon, for the fiery liquid now beSan 10
overflow the first, and came rolling along
against the second. Again tie heat Compel
led the men to retreat and another embank-
nlent was commenced forty or fifty feet more
distant. The fire, however, did not pass the
second embankment, the back of which was |
kept wet by the hose playing upon it, to pre-
vent the sods from burning and the clay from /
crumbling away. A still further embankment |
was thrown up at the bridge at Grand Trunk |
street, as measure OF Interior precaution,
and this was the last. m ID. tI'.,... =
ITEMS.
The Red River Nor -Wester, refarrino to
the report of the expenditure of large sum
of money in improving the navigation and
portage transit between Lake Superior and |
Rainy Lake, says: "The Canadians have,
however, overlooked one very important mea-
sure to secure concurrence and cooperation,
and that is the establishment Of mail COM
munication. This should precede every 9th
er attempt at intercourse with us, and would |
at once satisfy the minds of people here, that
at last something was to be done for this ne
olected portion of British territory"
A serious attempt at general burning is re-
norted from Fredericton, New Brunswick. |
The city was fred in four places on Saturday
week, although no great damage was DONE
A man named Beaudet, residing near st.
Jean des Chailons, Quebec, has come across
indications of lead mine on his property.
An American company will shortly COM
mence operations there.
The Provincial Agricultural Show takes |
place this year at Kingston, on the oath, 25th, |
26th and 9th of September. 1t is not ex-
pected to be so successful as preceding ones
owing to the elections. H5ao,ja .r 'r