The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-28


French engineer, M. Eugene Burel who :. AT
present In England for the rrsarpose ~ exnlair.
IL ing wn sne ue'aiis oy this admirable scheme there
"re Informed by the Builder, to be no
Drloge above or tunnel beneath the sea; the
enamel Is merely to be filed up. Nothing can
DC more simple, and In addition to other advan-
tages connected with M. Burels proposal one
new county wtn be added to England and one
department to France! We are glad to hear
that passage Is to be left, mile wide, between
us and our neighbors, which is to be traversed
Dy Terry boats every five minutes. or course,
when we get to know and love eacn other
thoroughly, this little channel can also be ti,ted
up, out In the first instance it is quite as well
that we should keep mp some small semblance of
our lnsular position. 1t is not only on account
get out of the new county, 1t is not
only because of the abolition of sea-
sickness that every one must delight in the
prospect held out by NJ. Burers scheme, but il
has one merit which alone entities 1t to our
heartiest support. The channel must of course,
be filled up with rubbish, and the only question
is, Will 1t contain the superhuity of rubbish we
shall so gladly cast into 1t? We are doubtful
on this point. Directly M. Burel has arranged
the matter with the Governments of the two
countries what rush will be made to the sea
with all our humble contributions! There is not a
householder in Great Britain who Is not encum-
bered with some kind OF domestic lumber which
he will gladly place at VI. Burels disposal If that
gentleman will provide carriage Old clothes,
old boots, old receipts, old furniture, three
volume novels, foreign bonds, shares in branch
lines of railway and bubble companies, will all
go TO help the glorious work; and then there is
all the national lumber. Here will begin our
real difficulty. What shall we cast in first
Shall 1t be the Home Office or the Board Of
Trade, or the minutes of "My lords" or the
Blue Books, or the Did Acts of Parliament, or
our public buildings, or our statues or our semi
detached villas, or our rookeries or will M.
Burel accept live rubbish of a corporate nature,
such as MY lords" themselves, or the guar
dians and vestries? We would even part with
them to cement the union" between the two
nations.
The Reuue du Monde Cattolique publishes
some interesting details concerning the French
Monts-de-piete, or pawnbrokers. 1t is already
well known that the pawning business is very
different in France from what it is in England,
and much has been said of the profit which the
Government derives from keeping to itself the
monopoly of this ingenious trade. Being en-
tirely under Government control, it is easy to
ascertain the amount of loans effected through
out France. At the central Office the books pe-
cording the entire business of the country are
kept. 1t would appear that the pawnng busi-
ness is subject to the greatest variations, and
that these variations depend to a very great
extent on the state of foreign affairs. But con-
trary to all expectations, the loans are less fire.
quent in periods of revolution. Are the people
frightened lest the Revolutionists should plunder
the pawnshops? Certain it is that in 1793 in
1914, in 1880, and in 1S4S the Monts-de-piete
throughout France did but little business, and
the total figure of the loans made by them in
these years was below that of years of prosperity
and peace. We are further informed that a
society called La Grafgnade lessons in O great
measure the profits of the Government. 1t con-
sists OF men who regularly frequent the sales
rooms where unredeemed articles are put up to
auction They bid for everything, to the exclu-
sion of strangers, keeping the prices low for
themselves, but bidding to any sum so as to
discourage interlopers. Each member of the
htrxru ri,,,fN ata1,, ,I,,to
get and then after the auction exchanges it
with his confederates for whatever object he
may particularly want Apart from these
financial results, the article from which we bor-
row them makes mention of few romantic in
cidents connected with this business of the
pawnshop. In 1S49 the Mont de-piete of Paris
offered for sale silver watch pledged in 1917
for the sum of eight francs. The pledge had
been renewed each year by the borrower, who
could never scrape enough money together to
redeem it, and SO he had paid twenty-six francs
in interest For two years, however, he had not
reappeared. The administrators made some in
quiry after him. He was dead.
"A correspondent of the Cologne Gazette,
writing from Shanghai, states that the respect
OF the Chinese for the power of European States
is by no means increased since they have seen
his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.
This, however, is not the fault of the Prince
who is rather to be pitied than blamed. 1t had
been rumored before his arrival that the son of
the Queen Of England was ten feet high, and had
ment was, therefore, experienced when It was
discovered that he possessed no other advan-
tages of height and vision than those enjoyed
by ordinary mortals. The British residents have
been much humiliated by this unavoidable de-
struction of an illusion which had taken q power
full hold on the minds Of the natives, but their
position has to some extent been allevlated by
the impartial conduct of the Chinese magistrates
with reference to their new church. Rumors
had been circulated that evil spirits were at work
In this new church, and great excitement per-
vaded the community. In order to quell this
excitement and promote peace one of the Chi
nese magistrates took the decisive measure of
causing the credulous libellers of the church to
be soundly hogged through the sacred edifice
This measure has been attended with the hap
piest results, and there have been no more
rumors of a sinister nature.
1t appears that the practice of torturng
prisoners in order to make them confess, which
has been abolished by most civilized nations,
still exists in Switzerland. NJ. Borel, member of
the Assembly of Lucerne, has proposed that in
formation should be asked from the Federal
Council as to the torturing of prisoner in the
Canton of lug. The man in question was
accused OF theft, and acknowledged to the
criminal court that he had appropriated the
missing articles, but he refused to admit that he
had stolen them, and insisted that he had acci-
dentally found them. The court then ordered
further inquiries to be made. "From the Goth
of October to the 10th of November the prisoner
was put on q bread and water diet but he made
no confession. Thumbscrews were
then applied to the prisoner, bat still he made
no confession. Six blows were next given him
with stick; he writhed and groaned, but de-
clared he could say nothing more than what he
had said already, upon which six more blows
were administered. If you kill me, Mr.. Judge,
/ cannot say anything else The prisoner was
then brought before the court, and once more
earnestly questioned, but he adhered to his for
mer statement. Upon this the prisoner was
again placed on the ordinary prison diet"
"A French gunboat has just carried a monu-