The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-12-02
Foreign Items.

@
Mr.. Jones. editor of the New York Times. has
been presented by the grateful taxpayers with a
purse of $4,000 for denouncing the Tammany
thieves and scoundrels.
The Legislature of Kentucky has recently enact
ed that tue legal rate of interest shall be six per
cent. but that by special contract ten per cent. may
be eXacted. ,.
DEFEATED.-The new Constitution in Nebraska
has been defeated by the people. Female suffrage
and compulsory education were voted down. the
former by an Overwhelming majority. ~ r
A WISE STATE.-In Minnesota 5000, 600 Of acres
have been SET apart for the support of common
schools, 375 600 acres have been sold for $2.500.-
900. 1t is estimated that the whole amount of land,
when sold, will proc re a permanent fund OF ST.
000. 600.
wilhelm Won Humboldt's eldest son died re-
Gently in Berlin, at the age of seyenty-fve years.
He was all his days what the Germans call a :. son
derling." Among other eccentricities he spent his
last twenty years exclusively in bed, although in
vigorous health, which slowly yielded to his pro-
longed freak He WAS buried at Negal, the sepul-
chre of his father.
At Kihgstown, Ireland, on August 18th, an at
tempt was made to blow up the obelisk commend
rating the visit of King George ~. to Ireland in
1921. A heavy charge of powder was inserted be-
tween the base of the structure. which is of granite.
and the pedestal. The explosion shook the sur
rounding buildings, and was heard at a considera-
BILE distance. The monument remained unmoved
duu uiiluluIcu, Uc1OllQ q Ou the
place where powder had beer deposited, presented
no appearance of the outrage. 80
The Mormon trouble threatens to become a very
serious affair, and there seems 10 be a prospect for
a little civil war in Brigham Young's domain. The
Mormous do not take the arrest of Brigham Young
and the Mayor of Salt Lake in avery ainiable man
Rer. They have INDUCED in polygamy so long.
when other people have been punished for the Of
fence. that they began to think Uncle Sam was
afraid 10 Interfere with their institution. The Utah
system OF eoncubinage has become too offensive to
be longer tolerated. and. as was to have been ex-
pected. its defenders and upholders do not propose
to give it up without a struggle. A gentleman who
arrived from Salt Lake last evening informs us
that there are indications of an effort to resist the
United States and civil authorities. He says the
MormOns are buying up all firearms to be found,
and that many of them express their willingness to
defend MormOnism with powder and ball if cir
eumstances require it. If there are polygamists in
Utah who think they can whip out the whole of.
these United States aud override law, schoolmas-
tiers and a few car loads of biographies, and his
tories of the "unpleasantness" should be sent
them at once.-AHd
The most wonderful people with whom we have
to- deal in these times are the Japanese. They
seem to have opened the door in intercourse with
the world with a determination to be governed by
none of the prejudices which have grown up with
their isolation. They present nothing so much as
the appearance of a people who having walked up
to the fact that there is a world around them. are
now endeavoring to make up for lest time. When
first they begun to take note of outside matters
tley lOnnO tDaL greeNDackS were Jne currency IN
that nation which not only lies nearest to them, but
has from the first enjoyed the largest share of their
confidence and respect. Greenbacks, or at least
paper money. were forthwith introduced into Japan
with an addition to the legal tender clause calcu-
lated to make them "go off like hot cakes 1.-THE
man and a Jap. who should refuse to receive one
of them was to be Immediately beheaded. But in
course of time this singular people discovered that
our paper was the result of a necessity, and that
gold and silver were the two media for the exchange
of products. So now we And that paper money
has been discarded and a gold and silver currency
is being substituted for it as fast as the Japanese
Government can turn out the coin.-AHG.
The Cincinnati Commercial, in an editorial on the
prospects of the Presidential Candidates, gets off
the following clever bit of sarcasm conn
And peering upon the scene, benignant as the
moon in autumn, smiling upon gathered haryests
and ripe corn. and broad fields spotted with golden
pumpkins, and vineyards purple with grapes, and
orchards ruddy with apples, and woodlands gor-
geous with the frost works on the leaves, is the face
of :" our later Franklin Horace Greeley. Theim-
meuse affection for Greeley that abides in the hearts
of the people. the profound confidence that is every
where felt in his integrity. the general faith in his
goodness. founded on widespread knowledge of
his good works, and the prevailing conciousness
that the way to let us have peace is to place a man
of peace. whose doctrine is good will to men, at
the head of the goverument-the development of
these forces, have already astonished the politicians,
and may presently amaze. them and confound all
their calculations by placing him. without indebt-
edness to them in the chief magistrates chair.
Inc new war VeSSci OeCQSt0tt0n, OF the English
navy, is described as the most remarkable, the
strongest and the ugliest vessel ahoat. This hinge
floating battery, with her low hull and gun towers.
possesses no masts, but only two poles for signal
ling, fore and aft, Her strength lies in three chief
points-her massive armor. offensive armament, and
great capacity for carrying coal and steaming. She
can carry no less than 1890 tons of coal, which
will feed two pairs of engines, driving twin screws,
independent of each other q and, with full boiler
power, the force of this immense machinery may
be set at 5000 horses. GH is calculated that the
Devastation could eutsail the, WdrTior aud Monarch
two of the navyis heaviest monitors-by at least
seventeen days, such is the difference in the eapac-
ity OF the vessels. The deck is covered in with
three inches of rolled iron and thick teak plank
ing; but upon that platform rises q sort of iron
fortress containing the two turres. the funnel,
steering-Box and all the large openings to the in
terror. This fortress will contain four 35-ton guns.
which, it has been demonstrated can send a shell
through fifteen inches of iron, with a foot of teak
behind it q Finally. great attention has been paid
to stability, and no appreheDsions of a fate like the
Crptatn's are felt for the giant Devastation.