, 1875-07-21

BURMAH.
= CALCUTTA, June 80.
It is stated that the information telegraphed
from Rangoon is incorrect. and that the King
refuses to allow troops to pass through his
territories.
Sir D. Forsyth remains ia Burmah for the
present.
CALCUTTA, July l..
The news that the King of Burmah refuses
TO allow the passage of British.troops through
his territory is officially confirmed.
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
PARIS, June 80.
The Assembly has been engaged since the
beginning of the week with interminabls dis.
c%ussions on Railways. The struggle now
going on in the Chamber has really been
waged in the country for ten years-namely,
since the Law of 1865, which embodied the
principle of the creation of small lines, a mea-
sure which the present Assembly has. desired
to extend, but which the great Companies have
necessarily attacked, directly or indirectly.
The Bill now under discussion is. phase Of
this struggle. The Lyons and Mediterranean
Company claims the concession of lines which
have been or would be demanded by others;
and while the Government, which defends the
large companies, advocates this concession, the
adversaries of the large companies exclaim
against mOnOpolies, attack the subvention,
and allege that the Lyons Railway only wants
the concession in order to prevent the c~onstruo.
ton of new lines by others, being quite deter
miaed not to construct them itself. This is
apparently the whole gist of the debate; and,
in spite of the warmth with which the large
Companies are defended by the Minister of
Public Works and by the Reporter of the Com
mittee, NJ. Oezanne, the discussion would
be dull and monotonous did not NJ. POuyer-
Quertier, with his vehemenoe, auency, and
impetuous eloquence, absorb the attention. of
the Chamber from time to time by defending
The small local and departmental companies
against the violent attacks of which they have
been the object throughout the discussion.
The truth is, however, that this is not the
point of real interest. A locker. on, witnessing
the warmth with which numerous amendments
are attacked and defended, would certainly
admire til interchangeable zeal with which this
despised Assembly protects the Industrial and
commercial interests of the country. l am
bound to say, however, that he would be
egregi0usly mistaken. What the Assembly
IS defending by this eager discussion on Rail-
ways are its own interests, its own existence.
threatened by the relentless Dissolution.
Every amendment that is submitted is an add.
tional means of r~etarding the Constitutional
discussion, and of killing time-that enemy Of
those waO cling to the status quo; and, as
NJ. Gambetta remarked to-day, eve shall never
get them out of Railways, except by telling
them that the art of steering balloons has been
discovered" Here lies the struggle. Every
thing said and voted has now no other aim
than hiS-Dissolution on the one hand, non.
Dissolution on the other.
The legend of the blowing up Of the Vengeur,
stigmatised by Mr.. Carlyle as the largest and
most inspiring piece Of plague manufactured
for some centuries by any man or nation, is
still q ~favourite subject with French artists.
and representations of it are frequently to be
seen in the windows of second-rate print.
shops. A provincial paper reports the death
at Rheims of Joachim Beau, the last survivor
OF the Vengeur, who, it says, was Is years
of age at the time, and who, when the captain
blew up his dismantled ship rather than sur
render to the English, had the distinguished
honour of being blown up with it, and the good
luck Of falling into the sea, after going up 90
metres, and without any other hurt than a
broken arm. He was picked up, it adds, and
retained as a prisoner till the Peace of Amiens.
His funeral was attended by brother of 90.
a sister of 81, and a son Of 78, the age of the
deceased being SO. Some may be inclined to
doubt whether Beau was ever in the Vengeur
at all but however this may be, it is sur.
prising to find this story reproduced without
comment in such papers as the Debats and the
Temps, when it has been proved to the salts.
"a cotton Of Jronob Investigations thai A. .Ls.