Monmouthshire Merlin

I EARL RUSSEL AND "THE JESUITS. On Monday morning, the 67th general meeting of the British and Foreign School Society was held at the Institution, Borough Road. Earl Russell was announced to take the chair, but His Lordship wrote to explain that, having to introduce a motion in the House of Lords in the evening, he did not feel equal to the duty of presiding at the meeting of the Society. His Lordship added, with the re- quest that his observations might be read to the meeting "I remain faithful to the principles of the Society. For many years I have contended for those principles against the partisans of secular teaching on the one hand, and on the other against the adherents of the rules of the National Society, which impose the obligation of learning the Catechism on week days and of attending the worship of the Established Church on Sundays. It has appeared to me that any system of teaching which omitted religious instruction must be faulty and inadequate. It like- wise appears to me necessary that the Society should adhere, with the most simple comment and explanation, to the words of the Bible. I therefore trust that the Society will continue its labours, and that they may be more and more successful. In various ages of Christianity, doctors invested with the authority derived from the Pope or placed in their hands by the schools, have added to the Holy Scriptures, and interpolated doctrines for which no sufficient warrant could be found in the Bible. The attempts to make such doctrines a part of the education of these islands have of late years had much influence on persons of authority, civil or ecclesiastical. The Jesuits of Rome are endeavour- ing to gain possession of the means of education in Ireland, and the Jesuits of Oxford are working hard to acquire control over the education of Eng- land. Let us hope that these machinations will be resisted by the lovers of religious liberty in England and Ireland. It is to be hoped that next year the members of the Government will declare them- selves enemies to all oppression of Dissenters, for they cannot expect a Baptist parent will be satisfied to pay a tax for the promotion of infant baptism, or that a Presbyterian will be willing to send his son to church to pray for a blessing on the order of bishops. These attacks on freedom of conscience must be relinquished, and probably will be so before any long time shall elapse. The state of Ireland in respect of education is most critical. Unless speedily checked by the House of Commons, the Ultramon- tane party, which had so signal a triumph last year at Rome, will next year gain a triumph equally signal at Dublin. For my part I will only say that this is not a time when either the Liberal clergy of the Establishment or the Protestant Dissenters ought to go to sleep." The letter up to this point was in the handwrit- ing of Earl Russel's secretary. His lordship, in signing the letter, added, in his own handwriting, Let them be up and active."

A SiNGULAR ACTION. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.—Friday.—Sittings in Banco, before the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Blackburn, Mr. Justice Lush, and Mr. Justice Quain.—Cresswell v. Crowdy.-This was a very curious case. It was an action by a nephew against his aunt, on an agreement to pay him an annuity on account of his promising not to marry a certain lady. The declaration set forth that in 1868 the annt, from her care and affection for her nephew, who was 23 years of age, conditionally on his not marrying a certain young lady, a widow with three children, whom he had lately met on board ship on a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope, agreed if he should continue unmarried to the young lady to allow him i5300 a year during his life. For some reason or other, however, the defendant had intermitted her payments, and in 1871 this action was brought to recover some arrears. The aunt demurred on the ground that the contract was not legally valid. Mr. Manisty, Q.C., and Mr. Wood Hill were for the plaintiff, the nephew; Mr. Brown, Q.C., and Mr. F. M. White were for the defendant, the aunt.—Mr. Brown urged that there was no legal consideration.-The Lord Chief Justice: Oh, yes, there was; the nephew agreed to forego his natural freedom of marriage, and to give up the young lady he was attached to. —Mr. Brown Perhaps she would not have had him.—Mr. Justice Blackburn Never mind, he agreed not to ask her. (Laughter.)—Mr. Brown Perhaps he had asked her and she had refused him already.—Mr. Justice Blackburn In most cases I have heard of the lady refused in the first instance. (Much laughter.)-The Lord Chief Justice The aunt appears to have had such a persuasion that the lady would have him that she had thought it necessary to bind him not to pro- pose to her.—Mr. Brown: Ought such a contract to be enforced ?-The Lord Chief Justice: Why not? Aunts should not enter into such agreements if they don't intend to keep them. (Laughter.)—Mr. Brown: It is contrary to public policy, as it is in restraint of marriage.—Mr. Justice Blackburn: Marriage with a particular lady, that is all; not restraint of marriage generally. There are scores of cases in which obli- gations not to marry particular persons are valid. Nay, there is a very bad case in which the stipula- tion was notto marry any Scotchman-(much laugh- ter)—yet it was held valid, though it was strongly urged that it was likely to raise ill-blood between the two countries. (Great laughter.) It is not a restraint of marriage generally.—Mr. Brown: Yes, my lord; but if the aunt won't let him marry the only lady he loves, the probability is that he will not marry at all. (Much laughter.)— Mr. Justice Blackburn Oh, that is too romantic, Mr. Brown. (Laughter.)—Mr. Brown My lord, this lady is a widow.-The Lord Chief Justice What of that ? He may be very fond of her. (Laughter.)—Mr. Brown She has three children. (Laughter.)-The Lord Chief Justice What then ? He may be so fond of her that he may not care about that. (Laughter.)—Mr. Justice Quain Or he may be so fond of children that he may really prefer it. (Laughter.)—Mr. Brown went into the cases to show that contracts against marriage were invalid; but Mr. Justice Blackburn challenged him to cite one in which it was held that a contract not to marry a particular person was invalid, and no such case was cited, the learned Judge asserting that there were many cases to the contrary. Mr. Brown, however, still urged that the natural effect of preventing a young man from marrying the only woman he cared about was to deter him from marrying at all, and this the law deemed mischievous. Mr. Justice Blackburn again asked for an authority in point, and it was admitted there was none. Mr. Justice Lush It is a common thing to leave a provision in a will for a widow on condition of her not re-marrying. The Court, with- out calling upon the counsel for the plaintiff pro- nounced judgment in his favour. There was nothing, they said, in the agreement in restraint of marriage generally, and, therefore, there was nothing in it which made it illegal or invalid. No doubt a general contract not to marry at all would be invalid, but this was quite different. Judgment for the plaintiff.

The Queen, the Empress of Germany, Prince and Princess Christian, Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, Prince Leopold, and the Marquis of Lorne attended divine service on Sunday morning in the private chapel at Windsor. The Rev. T. J. Rowsell preached the sermon. Her Majesty's dinner party on Saturday included the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne and the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. THE CHARGE OF DEFRAUDING THE LORD MAYOR OF .£l,OOO.-Upon the application at the Central Criminal Court on Monday morning of Mr. Poland on behalf of the prosecution, the trial of Harry Benson, who is charged with obtaining £ 1,000 from the late Lord Mayor, as the president of the fund raised for the relief of the French at the close of the late war, by false pretences, and which has been standing over for a considerable period, was again postponed. The ground for the application was that the prisoner was still too ill, in consequence of the desperate attempt he made to destroy his life by setting fire to his clothes while in Newgate, to be able to take his trial. A BARRISTER COMMITTED TO PRISON. — On Monday afternoon, at the County Court at Stoke- upon-Trent, Staffordshire, Mr. H. S. D. Richardson, barrister, Northern Circuit, was the defendant in a judgment summons for J613 2s. 2d., the plaintiff being Mr. Wm. Johnson, boot and shoe manufac- turer, Manchester. Mr. Johnson said the defendant was in good practice as a barrister, and was a mem- ber of the Northern Circuit; but the last few months he had opened chambers in the Potteries, and resided at Hanley, where he spent a large in- come in riotous living, and refused to pay his debts, although he had given a written guarantee to do so. The Judge said he was sorry to know there was every reason to believe the plaintiff's statement was quite true. It was, therefore, his (the Judge's) painful duty to commit Mr. Richardson to prison for fourteen days. An order of comjuitmeat was made accordingly,

FALL OF A MALTKILN TWO MEN KILLED: DAMAGE, .£11,000. On Saturday morning, about ten o'clock, the malt stores of Mr. Matthew Brown, and one of two malt- kilns adjoining, situate in Foster Square, Canal- street, Preston, fell to the ground with a tremendous crash. Not the slightest warning had been given, and there were 15 men at work in the premises at the time. Most of the men in the storehouse and kiln were employed in the upper room of the building, but 13 of them escaped. Some were in time to leave the building by the door; others scrambled out of the ruins from among the tie-rods, rafters, and debris, having received comparatively little injury; and two, Thomas and William Kellett, father and son, who were at work in the highest room of the building, which was 7 stories high, were rolled out of the falling rubbish into the street, and sustained no injury. Two men, named John Cook and John Hunt, were killed, or suffocated in the grain, at the north-east corner of the building, The borough surveyor, Mr. Armytage, was soon on the spot, and set twenty men to clear away the rubbish in search of the two missing men, and in little more than an hour the body of Cook was discovered. The appear- ance of the ruins was very singular:—a vast heap of grain, through which project beams, rafters, tie- rods, and other building materials, standing higher than the adjoining cottages: and from the north wall, which alone is left standing, are projecting the ends of scores of tie-rods, which were put in to strengthen the building, when it was erected, only about 18monthsago. The accident is attributed to the immense weight of malt and barley stored in the rooms amounting, it is stated, to 4,000 loads, or upwards of 400 tons. Three adjoining cottages were destroyed- one on the west, and one on the east, side of Foster-square, and one behind the latter. In the first-mentioned cottage lived a man named Bram- well, who was absent; and his wife, and the daughter of a neighbour, had only just left the house when it was crushed beneath the ruins of the larger build- ing. In the cottage opposite lived Thomas Salis- bury, who, with all his family, was at work when the accident occurred, as were also the residents of the house behind. The labourers employed in the search for the body of Hunt, after working all Saturday night and Sunday, discovered the corpse at four o'clock on Sunday afternoon. The fires of the kiln were still smouldering in the evening; but there is no apprehension from this, as the premises are well watched. The total loss to Mr. Brown is roughly estimated at .£9,000 for stock, and .£2,000 for the building.

THE TICHBORNE CASE. In the Court of Common Pleas on Friday, before Lord Chief Justice Bovill, and Justices Byles, Brett, and Grove, Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., (with him Mr. H. Matthews, Q.C., and Mr. Purcell), moved for a rule calling upon the plaintiff to show cause why all further proceedings in the action of Tichborne, Bart., v. Mostyn and another should not be stayed until he had paid the defendants' costs in Tichborne v. Lushington, and he had also given security for the payment of the defendants' costs in the present proceeding. It appeared on the affidavits that the costs of the defendants in the previous case would when taxed amount at the very least to £ 40,000, and there was great reason to believe that the sum would be nearer .£60,000 than £ 40,000. These sums referred to [a taxation of costs as between party and party, but the amount of costs incurred by the estate was much nearer < £ 100,000. Both that action and the present were commenced on the 29th June, 1868, one being to recover the possession of the Tichborne estate, and the other to recover the Doughty estate. Now the right of the plaintiff to succeed in either of the actions depended upon pre- cisely the same question-viz., whether he was Si Roger, eldest son of Sir James Tichborne. This being so, it was submitted that the plaintiff ought not to be allowed to try the same issue a second time without having paid the costs of the first trial. The application as to security for the costs of the present action was founded upon the fact that the the plaintiff became bankrupt in 1870, and the pro- ceedings in the bankruptcy were still pending. The rule having been granted. Mr. Giffard, for the plaintiff, showed cause in the first instance, and contended that "tie defendants in the two suits were not substantially the same within the meaning of the rule that entitled the defendant for security of costs before a second action could be proceeded with. The costs in the present action, if paid by the plaintiff, would go into the hands of different parties to those who would receive the costs in the former trial. In the present case the costs would be received by all the persons for whom the defendants were trustees. Further, bankruptcy was no ground for asking for security'for costs unless the assignees had adopted the proceedings, which was not the case here. The Lord Chief Justice said that he understood that in the end the rule had been taken only to show cause why the costs in the previous action should not be paid before further proceedings were allowed, and that the question of security for future costs was not at present raised. Mr. Giffard, if that were so, submitted that the defendants, by giving notice to force the plaintiff on, had deprived themselves of the right to make the present application. The Court decided that the Tichborne claim to the Doughty estates cannot proceed until the for- mer costs are paid.

ANOTHER SCHOOL BOARD RATE CASE.-On Fri- day at Stoke-upon-Trent, Samuel Carryer, pawn- broker, Harts Hill, was summoned for refusing to pay 5s. 3d., his proportion of a rate laid on behalf of the Stoke School Board. Mr. Turner, solicitor, said that the defendant could not conscientiously pay a rate in aid of denominational teaching, and would rather suffer his goods to be taken than do so.-An order for payment was made. A RAILWAY CARRIAGE ON FIRE.-An extraor- dinary accident occurred at Cork station on Satur- day, on the arrival of the American mail from Dub- lin. The carriage containing the mail bags was being shunted on to the new branch connecting Cork terminus with Queenstown, when one of the railway officials discovered it to be on fire. Fortun- ately the mails were got out uninjured, the only damage being to the carriage. The cause of the accident was the upsetting of the ceiling lamp. SHOCKING COWARDICE.—A young woman named Butler, a domestic servant, accompanied Miss Hensler, of Montpelier, and another young lady for a walk across the fields in the direction of Staple- ton. In crossing the meadows adjoining that part of the Frome known as the Deep Waters, the girl amused herself by sending a dog she had with her into the water, and by some mishap she fell into the stream. Miss Hensler's attention was attracted to the dangerous position of the young woman, and with a courage which did her credit, she plunged into the water, but found that she was unable to reach the drowning woman without imperilling her own life. Seeing some men near, she appealed to them for assistance, but they disregarded her entreaties, and allowed the young woman Butler to sink without making the slightest Effort to save her. -Bristol Post. FATAL ACCIDENT TO A RAILWAY SERVANT.-On Friday afternoon, Mr. Price, coroner, held an in- quest at the St. Philip's Tavern, Oldfield Road, Salford, touching the death of James Whittle, 28 years of age, who died in the Salford Dispensary, of injuries received at the Bury Lane station, of the London and North Western Railway. The deceased was a pointsman employed at Orsdal Lane. He re- sided near Bury Lane, and was in the habit oc- casionally of coming to his work on the Holyhead goods train which passes Bury Lane early in the morning.—John Williams, driver of the train which left Holyhead at 10 p.m. on the 1st inst., said he arrived at Bury Lane about twenty minutes past five the following morning. The signal was against him, and he slackened speed and blew his whistle. The signal was put down, and witness put on steam again. They were going at the rate of fifteen miles an hour past the station, when the deceased, whom witness saw on the line before he came up, attempt- ed to get on the engine. In doing so he missed his footing and fell. The axle boxes or some portion of the train struck him, and injured him severely about the head and shoulders. Before witness could stop the engine the train had passed the deceased some distance. There was a general order issued by the company that no one was to ride on an engine, ex- cept the driver and fireman, without the authority of the superintendent at Crewe.—The Coroner Is there no rule about slackening speed to take up railway servants P The Company must have known this man came to his work some way or other, Witness I don't know anything about that.—In reply to further questions the witness said the de- ceased had never come to Orsdal Lane on his engine. Witness came to Manchester with the Holyhead train three times a month. Immediately after the accident, the deceased was taken to the Salford Royal Hospital and Dispensary, where he died shortly after being admitted.—The Jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

THE INDIRECT CLAIMS. NEW YORK, May 6.—The Washington correspon- dent of the New York Herald states the proposition that the United States should withdraw the conse- quential claims if relieved by Great Britain of future liability in cases similar to those for which the claims were presented, was deliberated at a recent consultation of the State Department. This con- sultation only the Administration members of the Foreign Committees were invited to attend, and the result was that the proposition was not accepted, in consequence of several of the committees objecting to the whole of the responsibility being thrown upon the Republican party, and declaring that in matters of such national importance the entire committees should be invited to the consultation regardless of party. The Tribune says that General Butler has an- nounced his intention of introducing a resolution into the House of Representatives declaring that the Government must stand by the case as pre- sented. THE DESPATCH OF MR. FISH TO LORD GRANVILLE. It is believed that the following will be found to be a correct analysis of the despatch to Lord Gran- ville which left America on the 17th of last month. Mr. Fish begins by insisting-as he had already done in his previous communications—on the right of the United States Government to include the claims for damages consequent on the prolongation of the American civil war in the United States case. The despatch enters into some detail to prove the correctness of the view of the right of the United States to ask for damages arising from all the said claims growing out of acts committed by the afore- said vessels." Secondly, it is urged that the British Commission- ers who signed the Treaty of Washington were not only fully aware, when they did so, that the claims for consequentional or national damages, as well as those of private individuals, could be included in the United States case, but that they purposely allowed the Treaty to be so drawn that that class of claims might be brought forward and decided upon by the arbitrators, and the question thus set at rest for ever. Somewhat elaborate arguments are brought forward to support this point. Thirdly, in reply to Lord Granville's request that the indirect claims, or rather claims for consequen- tial or "national" damages-the United States Government not admitting that they have brought forward any indirect claims—be withdrawn, the despatch undertakes to show that, holding the view that the American Government does of the construc- tion of the treaty, to withdraw those claims would virtually be to modify the treaty, and that the United States Executive has no power to do with- out the consent of the Senate. Finally, Mr. Fish proceeds to point out the course which in the opinion of the United States Govern- ment should be pursued with regard to the unfor- tunate misunderstanding which has arisen between the two parties to the treaty. In the opinion of the Washington Cabinet the proper course to be followed when one of the two parties to an arbitra- tion thinks that matters are brought forward which were not expected to be arbitrated upon by one of the parties when he agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration is to allow the arbitration to go on, the objecting party giving notice that he does not intend to abide by the award of the arbitrators if that award should prove to be in his opinion ultra vires. By following this course, it is contended that the Washington Treaty would not be abro- gated by the sole act of one of the parties to it, and it is held that it would be a much more dignified course for Great Britain to allow the arbitration to I proceed, giving due notice of her intention not to hold as binding any award on the part of the United States case which Her Majesty's Govern- ment now objects to should the arbitrators ulti- mately judge right to make such an award. The New York Tribune of the 24th ult. contains a letter from Mr, ElihuBurrittoMr. Peters, condemn- ing the in direct claims. Mr. Burritt writes:—" I do not think it is going too far to say that the whole think- ing mind of this country regard them as fictitious, groundless and hopeless. They present, both at home and abroad, no aspect of fairness or sincerity. No in- telligent mind could believe, if our own Supreme Court at Washington were substituted for the Geneva Tri- bunal, it would not award a dollar on these un- fathomable fanciful claims." No one expects a dollar of award by the Court of Arbitration at Geneva, if they go to its bar. As you have put it most clearly in your resolutions, no country in the world could have greater reason for abstaining from raising the question of the consequential responsibilities of neutral nations than ours, for our past history shows that no people on earth are more susceptible, of active sympathy with foreign struggles, or more tempted to clandestine and illegitimate enter- prise of this very kind, by the very romance as well as profit of contraband commerce. I think it is not too much to say that these consequential claims are costing the two nations 20,000,000 dollars weekly, in their effect upon trade, stocks, and all those sensi- tive interests that draw their life from even per- manent public confidence." SIR EDWARD THORNTON ON THE INDIRECT CLAIMS.—The New York Tribune, of April 25th, states that in his speech at the dinner of the St. George's Society, on Tuesday night, Sir Edward Thornton, the British Minister, in apologising for his absence from recent celebrations of St. George's Day by the society, said that his duties in cement- ing the bonds of that friendship which it was his ardent desire should be established between the two countries whose flags now waved so harmonious- ly around him had detained him in Washington." He then continued :—" It has been my labour to insure this friendship, with what success I hope is not doubtful, and I have therefore been obliged to remain in Washington more constantly than would have been the case had I been guided by my own inclinations. As one of the results of those labours I was much gratified in having the honour of being one of the signers of the Treaty of Washington. I had the firmest faith in the principle involved in arbitration. I have it still. No one, I believe, supposed that the British Com- missioners had any idea, the slightest idea, that Indirect Damages were included in that treaty. A subsequent and short examination of the treaty and its working has not now persuaded them to the contray, but has rather confirmed them in their original and publicly proclaimed belief. But the Go- vernment of the United States think otherwise and have so declared, and they have an undoubted right to their opinion. I cannot, however, but hope that the present attempt to apply the great principle of arbitration may not fail on account of that mis- understanding. And the solution seems to be palpable, for whilst between two great nations of about equal power it is easy, dignified, generous, and magnanimous to waive a claim to the payment of which one of them thinks herself entitled, it is impossible for the other to be bound by a decision which renders her a debtor for a claim which she does not admit she ever agreed to submit it to arbitration. I can see such a solution, and I am convinced that such a solution would be applauded by all the nations of the world, and would do honour to the great Republic of the United States."

A young man named James Vance, a labourer, while proceeding to his work at Ardrossan Harbour on Saturday morning, was struck by an engine for Kilmarnock, with three waggons attached, and knocked down, the entire train passing over him. The body was very much mutilated. The de- ceased was .twenty years of age, and resided in Saltcoats. OPIUM EATING EXTRAORDINARY.-At the last meeting of the Manchester Guardians, the clerk read the minutes of the House Committee, in which it was stated that one of the female inmates of the workhouse had been found to have in her possesion sufficient opium to poison 20 persons, the quantity being nearly four drachms. The Chairman stated that the opium had been taken from the woman. Inquiries as to how the woman got the opium led to the discovery that she had sent one of the work- house messengers with a note to a friend, who sent him back with a parcel, which he said he thought contained tobacco, but which there was every rea- son to believe contained the opium. The messenger was reprimanded. The woman said she got the opium from a druggist in Long Millgate, and from further inquiries it was found that the woman had been in the habit of buying opium from two druggists in the same neighbourhood. The guar- dians were informed that they could not take action against these druggists for selling the opium m such large quantities. One of the workhouse doctors was of opinion that the Guardians ought to sanction the administration of small quantities of the drug to the woman, as she was a confirmed opium-eater. The head doctor, on the other hand, said it was not necessary that she should con- tinue to receive any opium and, accordingly, the committee had decided not to allow it to be adminis- I tered. It was stated that on hearing the decision of the committee the woman threatened to commjtt suicide.

A STORY FROM FLORENCE. The Florence correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, writing on the 1st instant, says :-During the last two days Florence has been the theatre of a romantic domestic drama, which would present sufficient interest in itself even if the principal dramatic personce belonged to a far less elevated class of society, but which acquires additional im- portance from the high rank and illustrious position of its hero and heroine. As I happen to know a. few details concerning it which have not appeared in this morning's papers, I may as well give you my version of the story: The youthful Duchess Mary Victoria of Hamilton-she is only 21-grand-daugh- ter of thelGrand Duchess Stephanie of Baden, was mar- ried to the Hereditary Prince of Monaca in 1869, and after an unhappy union of several months, left her husband and Monaco-sopra-lo-Scoglio, to take refuge with her mother at Baden-Baden, where, during the summer of 1870, she gave birth to a son. Her husband spent part of the following summer in Germany, without, however, making the slightest attempt to see his wife and child. Scarcely had the Princess arrived in Florence for a short stay a few days ago, when, the day before yesterday, the police suddenly presented themselves at an early hour in the morning, provided with an order of the Presi- dent of the Florentine Tribunal, which authorised them to take possession of the child and restore it to its future dominions and the arms of its disconso- late father. The despair and terror of the young mother may easily be conceived. She instantly ap- plied to her cousin, the Grand Duchess Olgo of Rus- sia, now on a visit with her husband to the Grand Duchess Marie at Quarto. These two young ladies took an attitude at once so determined and so firm, that they put the poor bewildered emissaries of Florentine justice completely out of countenance, and they were obliged to depart without having.ful- filled their mission, and to apply for further instructions. While they were asking the Prefect, Count Montezemolo, what was to be done next, and the Prefect was consulting with the Pre- sident of the Tribunal as to whether a respite might not be obtained for the unfortunate mother, the ladies had sent for Signor Peruzzi, the Mayor of Florence, who very prudently sug- gested that they should take the advice of a lawyer. They followed the advice, and their coun- sel immediately laid the affair before the High Court of Appeal, which was to have pronounced sentence on Tuesday. This left time to allow his infantine Highness to escape from the hands of the nurses appointed by the Prince, his father, to take care of him and bring him back to the paternal roof. However, the court appears to have found the case more complicated than the President of the Tribunal, for it has not yet been able to come to any decision, and the question still remains open whether the judges of Monaco have or have not the right to take the child from its mother forcibly through the means of the Italian police. What is certain is, that what- ever may be the legal rights of the Prince of Monaco, his conduct in this matter is greatly cen- sured here.

THE JAPANESE EMBASSY. A correspondent, writing from Yokohama, says —" Shortly you will "have the Japanese Embassy with you. There is one great man among them, Iwakura by name. He is the head of the mission, and really the second man in the empire. People sometimes say he was Prime Minister. This is not true he was the second minister before leaving here. When foreigners were first admitted to Japan they found at the ports the officers of a potentate who called himself "His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan." They made treaties with him, and he told them there was a kind of spiritual Emperor in the interior at Kioto. The truth was, that the man at Kioto, the Mikado or Tenno, was and is the Emperor and Sovereign of Japan, descended (as the theory of the constitution insists) from the gods. About this time the various princes in Japan (theDaimios) were becoming jealous, or rather had long been, but were now openly showing their jealousy of the Tycoon, who was in truth the commander of the forces and execu- tive officer of the empire. These discontented Daimios, who were in reality but the puppets moved by a lot of the lower Samurai," or gentry, raised the cry that the Tycoon was becoming a traitor and favouring the foreign barbarians, and with this cry, which excited both the sympathies of the ignorant Japanese and the bigoted Mikado, they plotted and even overthrew the power of the Tycoon and restored the Mikado to his original position of real and not nominal sovereign. Meanwhile two things had happened. The leaders of this move- ment had found out, if they had not always known it, that "the foreigners were too strong for them; and next, the old Mikado (who would have sooner seen Japan one vast cinder than open to the foreign devils) had died, leaving a boy of fourteen to succeed him. The leaders of the restoration now came over to the foreigners' side, and educated the young Mikado in more liberal views, and have ever since been and still are sin- cerely our friends. Their difficulties have arisen from some of the Daimios and ignorant Samurai complaining that only one portion of the scheme they originally proposed had been carried out. They used to say restore the Mikado; expel the foreign- er and the present rulers have entirely forgotten the latter portion of the programme. I have said thus much to show you two things 1. That you must not confound these, the leaders of Japan, with the leaders of China these men are sincerely our friends—the Chinese are only pretending to be. And 2. This mission is composed of Iwakura, who was andis a prince, a daimio, a kuge" (Court noble the essence of the essence of Japanese nobility;) one of the old feudal chieftains, and one of three who were the spirit of the restoration, and not, as most of the Daimios were, mere dressed-up dolls. He is a real man-a real power, and the true leader of the em- bassy. The rest of the embassy consists of new men they are those who pulled the strings the low-class Samurai who have risen to the surface in this great national commotion and I fear they are not as incorruptible as the Puritans of old. In watching what the embassy says and does, watch Iwakura if you want to know what a really good Japanese is like if you want to see what young Japan is at present, watch Ito and Ya-ma-gu-che. The former is sensible, able, dignified, and, above all, a true old gentleman the latter are superficial, conceited, vulgar, and utterly corrupt. The whole lot will have been spoilt in America, and will probably be insufferable by the time they reach England.

A Board of Trade notice announces the outbreak of yellow fever at Monte Viedo. DESTRUCTION BY FIRE OF NIBLO'S THEATRE, NEW YORK.—A telegram from New York states that Niblo's Theatere was totally destroyed by fire on Monday morning. The latest news from General Goldsmid, General Pollock, and the party, who have gone to try to ar- range the frontier question between Persia and Aff- ghanistan, is up to the 11th of March. They were then doing well." General Goldsmid is reported by Governor of Furrah to be travelling towards Seistan, on the frontier question, In great com- fort and style. He had, we are told, 300 laden camels and two laden mules." THE PERSIAN FAMINE.—The Persian famine, though supposed to be near its end, is not at an end yet. A terrible account is given in a telegram from Captain Pierson, R.E., dated Teheran, Friday last. He says that he arrived at Teheran safely, as he travelled in force, but the road was exceedingly dangerous for small parties. At Hauz-i-Sultan I found the officer sent by the Grand Vizier to exter- minate the robbers in a complete state of destitu- tion, having himself been stripped- The crops are magnificent and the water abundant, but this final stage of famine more terrible to witness than the first. The road is strewn with half-eaten corpses. I had several times to remove dead bodies from the rooms of the caravanserai where I lodged. Canni- balism not uncommon, but prices are rapidly falling, and the end of the famine is, I trust, close at hand-" JUDGE LYNCH IN MISSOURI.—A few weeks ago, we reported an extraordinary fraud by several judges and justices of the peace in Missouri, by which a large number of bonds, issued by the au- thorities of Cass County, in that State, were dis- posed of unlawfully. A despatch from Holden, Missouri, dated April 24, gives the following appal- ling sequel:—" A mob stopped an eastern-bound train on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad at Gunn City, in Cass County, yesterday afternoon, and murdered J. R. Cline, J. C. Stevenson, and S. E. Dutron. Stevenson was a member of the County Court and presiding judge when the recent bond excitement was raised, while Cline was the attorney who was implicated. Dutron was killed simply because he was in company of the others. The mob threatened to kill anyone who hereafter iden- tified any of them in Court or elsewhere, and said they had just commenced their work of murder. Some of the mob were masked. All had revolvers or shot-guns, TbAy ILDMbgQd abmt 74 Qc ZW-