Monmouthshire Merlin

CHABACTEBISTICS OF THOMAS CABLTLE.—His elo- quence, whether in speaking or writing, is full of poignancy and power; it has all the soul and character of the man; it is charged with a fiery intensity, unexpected allusion, abrupt transition, tremendous boldness. Now it rises into the loftiest sphres of theologic and moral exhortation; now hovers in majestic repose, taking a calm and boundless survey of human destinies and aspira- tions: and then descends, like a thunderbolt, to blast the abuses of society, to describe or arouse re- volutions full of horror and bloodshed. The man, Carlyle, is a noble, earnest man; there is an un- mistakable grandeur and elevation in his views, whether they are correct or not. He calls men to a diviner, simpler, sincerer kind of devotion, a hardier, more heroic life. He is the champion of the rights of mind, and the rights of man. He has indeed formed no system; his trains of ideas are never systematic; but his great and good thoughts have been caught up by congenial spirits, and have been circulated among the people, and are producing no mean results. One of the peculiar characteristics of IIIr. Carlyle is the ampli- tude, I may say syncretism of his views. He delivers truth in its most catholic and universal bearing, and corroborates whatever he finds true in all sects and parties, while he censures what is false, sham, and humbug with unsparing satire. This is a proof of true greatness of mind, and most marvellously rare in the present day. Not one man in a thousand is clear-headed or heroio enough to think and act with this kind of in- depence-to declare his own spontaneous, ori- ginal opinions, in his own style and manner; to speak forth those words and phrases which best convey his precise meaning, though they may be ever so technical, or hard, or rough, or eccentric, and in downright defiance of the hackneyed idiom of commonplace thinkers or writers. A man is all the greater and bolder who thus ventures to be singular, provided he is sin- cere in his singularity. For though he knows this course is the only course for the true, earnest, and veridical author, who would truly improve himself and his age, and cast fresh light on the intricate mechanism of society; yet he knows, likewise, that such authors are too much in ad- vance of their age to be properly understood and valued by it. They will be indeed profoundly and intensely interesting to master spirits, congenial with their own; they will be cherished by the community of free truth-searchers; but they will be abhorrent to the whole mob of party time- servers, whose prejudices they shock, and whose prudentialities they violate.—A. F. Barham-The Alist, a lIfessage to Our Times. A FEW WORDS ABOUT SWEARING.-It must be really very difficult for those who have jurisdic- tion in the premises to say exactly where wicked- ness begins and ends in this trick of language—to lay down in its rigid lines of right and wrong. The clergy of last century, long after Swift, used expressions which now would not only shock their brethren of the cloth, but would cause their ejection from a drawing-room. It was the way of the times. Those worthy men are sheltered by the plea, not always admittedly an orthodox one, that intent decides the merit or dement, and that not meaning to be profane they were not profane. In the seventeenth century the colloquial usage among the clergy was very different, thanks to the Puritan feeling which dominated for most of that period in Great Britain. The divines who worried the Stuarts used in prayer, sermon, and manifesto some tolerably strong language against all they deemed thy foe," but were in private life pure in word as in act, the escapade of the reverend Cameronian which extracted from Charles II. a charateristic oath and mot, to the contrary not- withstanding. Odds-fish I" exclaimed the merry monarch, the man ought to be made a bishop." Back again a little further, we find the opposite ten- dency. We may almost,looking at its ups and downs with the centuries, assert the wave theory of swear- ing. GoodQueen Bess,the bulwark of Protestanism, was, like the Van Dams, an incontinent hard swearer. Some of her reported conferences with her ghostly counsellers almost crave, with nine- teenth century type, the veil of asterisks and dashes. Fancy the actual occupant of her throne bawling to Bishop Colenso, "By God, sir priest, J I will unfrock you; In the next alternate century, too, counting toward the dark ages, Chaucer leaves us room to fear that high ladies asserted the freedom of tne tongue. It. is a great virtue in his beautifully drawn Prioress that Hire greatest othe' n'as but by Seint Eloy. Elide or slur one letter, and this very little oath becomes the "la" of our fair contemporaries. Sharp indeed its contrast with the" rips" of those sad reprobates in the Reeve's Tale, "for Goddes banes," and by Goddes*Saule!" In their cross- hilted swords the Crusaders earned, always at hand, a swearing machine. Their vows and pledges were made upon it. An appeal to it was binding as the eating of bread and salt with the Arab. Certainly there could be no more powerful instrument of emphasis. Nothing waa more sacred, unless the pawn of a whisker. As the Saracen swore by the beard of the Prophet, the Christian knight swore by his own. The latter was the more tangible gauge. The realistic Chinese t ak-e something of the same view when they plaee fine point of honour in the pigtail, and the Ladians— by inheritance from them, or from those prior Mongols, the ancient Scythians, or both_in locat- ing it in the scalp-lock. The sword t in this case was literally the cavalier's fetish. It embodied in^a palpable shape his faith at once as a knight and a member of the church miiifcant. He carried no breviarytfor two reasons; first, it would, in manu- script shape, have been cumbrous in camp amd field; and second, he ceuld not read. Although, in those old times of- sport, The uufflers of the camp and cou" Found little time to pray* -The Galaxy.

THE STATE OF IRELAND. A FEARFUL OUTRAGE. An outrage of a fearful charaoter is reported to have taken place near New Ron, on Saturday evening. Mr. Thomas Boyd, Crown solicitor for County Tipperary, and his two sons were fired at by a party of assassins, armed with guns and wearing black masks. Mr. Boyd himself received a severe wound in the arm, one of his sons was shot through the lungs, and no hope whatever is held out of his recovery. The other son was shot through the trousers, receiving a scratch on the leg. The greatest excitement prevails. No arrests have yet been made. FURTHER PARTICULARS. air. ChaSt Daniel Boyd, who was shot whilst witn his father and brother, at New Ross, on Sunday, died on Monday. The magisterial investigation into the attempted assassination has elicited some further particulars. Mr. Evans Boyd states chat while his father, his brother Charles, and his cousin, Mr. Giadwell Boyd, were driving, about four p.m. on Saturday evening, on the Waterford rOR.d, three miles from New Ross, to visit a portion of the estate at Shambrough, three men jumped from a ditch near a turn in the road. They wore masks and women's nightcaps,and each was armed with a breech-loading rifle with bayonet fixed. They tired simultaneously. One ball struck Mr. Charles Boyd, passing through the abdomen and out by the spine. Another passed through Mr. Thomas Boyd's right shoulder blade. Mr. Evans Boyd sprang from the vehicle and struck down the muzzle of the third man's rifle. A portion of the contents, but not the ball, struck his right leg. Mr. Gradwell Boyd had only his thumb dis- located. The horse started oft with Mr. Thomas and Mr. Charles Boyd in an insensible state. Tne assailants attempted to shoot Mr. Evans, and Mr. Gradwell Boyd, but they escaped by runnin°. Four men, named Patrick ana Michael Whelan, brothers, Auastasia, their sister, Walter Whelan, their cousin, and Murphy, brother-in- law, all tenants of Mr. Boyd, have been arrested and remanded. Mr. Boyd some months ago put an end to the tenancy of a man named Holden, who owed a year and a half's rent, leaving him as care-taker, but putting his own cattle on the farm. NARROW ESCAPE OF A LANDLORD. Mr. Henry Joley, of Clenbullogne, King's County, who has received notices recently threatening him with death unless he reinstated evicted tenants, had a narrow escape on Saturday from being fired at. He was walking towards his garden, but returned to the house on some for- gotten business. The servant proceeded and saw a man with a dark cloak and crape mask making off. He gave chase, but the man presented a gun and the servant gave up the ohase. The mask and crape were afterwards found on the lawn. Mr. Joley, since receiving the threats, has be- come a voluntary prisoner on his estate, and always carries a loaded gun when he ventures from the house. HOME RULE MEETINGS. The Home Rulers at Liverpool held a crowded meeting at the Amphitheatre on Sunday afternoon, to protest against the rejection by the House of Lords of the Irish Eviction Bill. The principal apeakers were the members for Roscommon. Dr. Commins, M.P., said the question might be in the future not the eviction of Irish tenants, but the eviction of the House of Lords, as had been done in France and elsewhere. In the House of Com- mons he hoped yet to see Mr. Gladstone, whose name was received with great cheering, again confronting Tory obstructionists and false Liberals, who stabbed him in the back. A special meeting of the Chelsea Home Rule Association was held on Sunday in London, when the following resolution was unanimously passed: "That we view with apprehension the order of the Government, in despatching troops to Ireland in excess of the ordinary standard, as one calcu- lated to create a panic, and we deprecate in the strongest manner all such unnecessary measures on the part of the Government, believing that the famishing people of Ireland will abide by the decision of the justice-loving people of England. THE IRISH IN LEEDS-EXCITING SCENE.—Mr. Parnell was announced to address a meeting of Irishmen at Leeds on Saturday evening, but was unable to attend. Resolutions were passed urging Irishmen to rely upon themselves, and not upon a British Parliament for amelioration of their con- dition, and to oppose unjust laws by which they were governed. An exciting scene occurred upon Dr. Lees, temperance lecturer, rising to move an amendment. He was ejected from the platform, and a rather serious scuffle ensued.

TROOPS FOR IRELAND. Large crowds assembled at the Royal Marine Barracks and Dockyard, Chatham, on Saturday, to witness the departure of the Royal Marines under orders for Ireland. After being inspected, the men went to the Dockyard and embarked on board the troopship Humber.. There was much cheering by the spectators who lined the wharves as the vessel left the river.

MR. ASHMEAD BARTLETT. It would be interesting to know where the society journals find Mr. Ashmead Bartlett's American ancestry, unless it be in some remote and unknown past. His father and mother were both west-country folk, the former from Plymouth, and the latter, if I mistake not, from Bath, where Miss Ashmead was once a great belle and great heiress to boot. Both the SODS were educated in this country, and distinguished themselves at Oxford, the elder son being a well-known "spouter" at the Union Debating Society. His ultra-Tory opinions, which he expressed with no small energy, attracted but little notice in that strong- hold of youthful Toryism, and many who have known the athletes in debate there as strong Con- servatives, have seen them re-appear in later life as equally strong Liberals.-London Letter.

EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF MURDER. At the Central Criminal Court on Saturday, before Mr. Justice Hawkins, Robert Slade Colmar, 44, and his wife, Jane Colmar, 42, were jointly charged with the murder of Mary Budge, by using unlawful violence in order to pro- cure a miscarriage. Mr. Poland and Mr. Montagu Williams prosecuted for the Trea- sury the prisoners were defended by Mr. Edward Clarke, Q.C., and Mr. Norris. The case for the prosecution was proceeded with, and Mr. Wells, a surgeon, practising at Crewkerne, where the deceased resided, gave evidence that he saw the deceased on the 20th of March, the day after the operation was tunposed to have been performed, and he found her in a dying state, and she died in about half an hour. He then described the appearances he observed upon making a post mortem examination, and expressed his opinion that unlawful and violent means had been re- cently used in order to procure a miscarriage, and the death had been the result of this proceeding. Other medical evidence was adduced to the same purport. The jury found both prisoners guilty, and they were sentenced to death. Both prisoner. protested their innocence.

BRIBERY AND CANVASSING AT ELECTIONS^1 A bribe is not the less a bribe that it is taken in reward for party fidelity, and not to purchase treason. In any estimate of the amount of cor- ruption at Oxford every elector who received pay for actual or nominal services and voted ought to be comprised in the black total. At the same time, in our judgment, although the lawlessness of the Oxford constituency is exhibited in darker hues for this wholesale enlistment of paid elec- tors, the essential vice of the system would have been exactly as hateful had the entire gang of the messengers and canvassers been imported straight from London or Liverpool. The shame of the practice consists in the apparent impossibility of bringing English voters to the poll unless by setting at their heels a troop of eleotoral,sheep dogs. The comparison is, indeed, far too compli- mentary to canvassers, paid or unpaid. A trained sheep dog can do something more than bark and hustle. In his own fashion he explains what'he wants his flock to do and where to graze. Nobody ever supposed that a canvasser of. the. modern type ever persuaded the intelligence of a single elector. His visits are regarded by those he comes to solicit as an intolerable nuisance. He is ignorant and stolid; but he is unabashed and brazenfaced. -Times.

FLOODS IN SpAiN.—'Violent storms have occurred in Upper Aragdn, eausing serious inundations, and interrupting all traffic with France. Active measures are being taken to Restore the comma-, mcations.

THE STATE OF IRELAND. GOVERNMENT'S MILITARY MEASURES. [CENTRAL NEWS TELEGRAM.] The intended despatch of a force of Marines tc Ireland, as announced, has created considerable excitement in political circles, and the energy and promptitude of the Government generally meets with approval. We are further enabled to state that it is the intention of the Goverment, while inviting every consideration for the poor Irish peasantry to strenuously oppose anything like a malevolent agitation on the part of professional agitators. The Government do not anticipate a general rising, but they do apprehend disturbances, which they consider inevitable upon an organised agita- tion, and it is their resolution as far as practicable to maintain the order of the country, even if they have to resort to force. We understand that the Government are in receipt of information to the effect that in view of enforced evictions in some of the distressed districts in Ireland, a secret distribution of arms amongst the peasantry has taken place, supposed to haye been landed on the western coast from America, and that confidential reports from the police represent attempts at drilling to have taken place in some districts. The force of Royal Marines which, in view oi disturbance, the Government have decided to send to Ireland, will be located in Cork Barracks, and perform the ordinary duties of troops. [PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM. We learn on the highest authority that the dis- tribution of troops in Ireland is merely a pre. cautionary measure determined upon before the meeting of the Cabinet. In the ordinary course it would have been necessary to fill up vacancies caused by recent movements of troops. No anti. cipation exists that it will be necessary to send further forces from England, unless fresh drafts should have to be sent from Ireland to India. MEETING OF THE IRISH M.P.'s. A meeting of the Irish parliamentary party was held on Aug. 6, at their room, King street, West- minster, Mr. A. M. Sullivan, M.P., in the chair, to consider what action should be taken in view of the rejection of the Compensation for Disturb- ance Bill (Ireland) in the House of Lords. A strong feeling was manifested on the subject, but it was stated by Mr. Parnell and unanimously concurred in, that whatever course the Irish members may be impelled to take in this grave emergency, they would as far as possible dis- criminate between the present Government, whose good disposition they all recognised, and the action of the House of Lords.-On the motion of Mr. Parnell a resolution was unanimously adopted, regretting the obstruction and rejection of the bill by the House of Lords, and calling the immediate and serious attention of all who value the peace and welfare of the Irish people to this hostile act. It was also resolved to endeavour to induce Government to relinquish the further estimates for the equipment and maintenance of the Irish constabulary as a military force with munitions of war; and finally resolved, in view of the present emergency, that the Irish members, immediately they are released from their Parlia- mentary duties, should place themselves at the disposal of their countrymen, to advise and co- operate with them in any course deemed wise and necessary for the public good. At this meeting, according to the Press Associa- tion, Mr. O'Donnell moved an amendment that it was inopportune to oppose a Government so well disposed towards Ireland as the present, but found no seconder. It was resolved that the Irish members should take part in public meet- ings, and assist in organising the Irish people. The seventh annual convention of the Home Rule Confederation will be held in Newcastle on the 9th inst., Mr. Parnell, M.P., presiding.

SIR BARTLE FRERE'S SUCCESSOR. The Queen has approved the appointment of Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor of New Zealand, to be Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, in the place of the Right Hon. Sir Bartle Frere, Bart. Sir Hercules Robinson will come home before assuming the Government, and it will be administered during the interval by Sir George Strahan, the Governor of Tasmania. Sir Hercules Robinson will be succeeded in the Government of New Zealand by the Hon. Sir Arthur Gordon, now Governor of Fiji, who will continue to be High Commissioner for the Western Pacific.

ENGLAND AND TURKEY. It needs no words to show into what a labyrinth of perils this country would plunge by beginning hostilities against Turkey. The war would not only be dangerous, but ridiculous. To crush the Turkish Government for the sake of giving another strip of territory to Greece, would be a policy impossible of defence before any con- stituency in the country. If the electors had been warned against it before the change of Government, Mr. Bright might have denounced the Warning as a calumny, "a Tory lie." Nothing in the annals of our political life could be cited to match the inconsistency of the Liberal party in sanctioning such a war as this. Yet the policy towards which the official acts of the Government appear to be moving, and to which the counsels of the Radicals would hurry them. must, unless prudence be opportunely enforced by the Afghan disaster, end in a conflict of which noone canforecastthe conse- quences. All that we know is that it would de- serve to be called insane and wicked beyond any war that the peace party has ever condemned, that it would be absolutely without justification in political necessity or international ethics, and that it would bring into jeopardy all those in- terests, whether connected with the British Empire or the peace of Europe, which the Treaty of Berlin, if maintained in its integrity, would have secured.-Standard.

AFGHANISTAN. I OUR WITHDRAWAL FROM CABUL. DEFENDING CANDAHAR. DIFFICULTIES OF OUR POSITION. The following was received at the India Office on Saturday:— (From VICEROY, 6th August, 1880). Following received to-day from St. John, Candahar, 3rd August (?):— canaahax, 3rd August (?). "Beyond slight skirmishes between country people and troops covering working parties, nothing has occurred the last three days. Ayoob reported to intend reaching Koh Karan. to-morrow or next day. "No news from Chaman or Kelat-i-Ghilzai since we shut ourselves up in city. "Preparations for defence proceeding satis- factorily. All buildings outside walls being demolished, with very few exceptions. "Entire Pathan population has left or been expelled city. Wounded officers doing well. Colours of both 65th and Grenadiers lost. Accurate loss not yet ascertained, but esti- mate given in former telegram not far wrong- about 1100, out of 2800, killed and missing." [FROM VICEROY, 6TH AuouST, 1880.] Quetta reports, 5th. Ayoob was said to be at Sanjari, one march west of Candahar, on 1st; his army doubts power to attack Camdahar, round which large numbers of Ghazis are collecting; no regular rising near Khojak Pass; but convoys attacked by thieves. Cabul, 6th. Roberts's force moves into camp to-day and starts for Candahar on Saturday. ".Some gathering ia Maidan and Warday, but no serious opposition expected north of Ghazni. "A son of Mushk-I-Alam precedes force to conciliate tribes and arrange supplies. "Ameer has moved six miles nearer Cabul, and will enter city on departure of British troops." [REUTER'S TELEGRAM.] SiMIJL, Aug. 7. The following intelligence has been received from Candahar, dated Aug. 3 Beyond some skirmishing between hostile tribes and the troops covering working parties nothing has occurred for three days. Ayoob is reported to intend reaching Koh Karan (four miles south. west of Candahar) on Aug. 5. There is no news from Chaman of Kelat-i- Ghilzai. Since the occupation of Candahar preparations for defence have been proceeding. All the buildings outside the walls have been demolished, and the Pathans have been expelled. Both the 66th Regiment and the Grenadiers lost their colours in the fighting at Kushk-i-Nakhud. The total British loss is not yet known. Aziz Khan will accompany General Roberts's force from Cabul. The Ameer Abdur Rahman Khan is sending in transport train and supplies for General Roberts, and has moved to Killa Muradbeg. He will enter Cabul immediately after the departure of the British troops next week, and will at once establish postal communications with Peshawur. The principal Ghilzai Chiefs will be detained at the Ameer's camp until the British reach Gundamuk. GENERAL ROBERTS'S MARCH. The Bombay correspondent of the Standard says:-General Robert's force, numbering 10,000, marches for Candahar on Sunday (yesterday). Opposition is looked for at Ghuznee, and, in fact, throughout the march. Sherpur will be evacuated next week, when the whole of the remainder of the British force will move down on their way to India. Great surprise is felt among military men at this humed step. The heat in the Passes is terrible, and tne sacrifice of life will be probably very great. It is considered that at any rate, if evacuation be determined upon, the force should have remained at Cabul until Roberts had passed Ghuznee. The condemnation of the hurried re-' treat taken is universal and absolute. A Daily News telegram says that the Ameer has sent men of importance to arrange for our sup- plies on the Candahar route. His brother-in-law accompanies General Roberts. The Ameer shows every disposition to aid the southern march, and has sent a conciliatory deputation to Hashim Khan at Ghuznee. (" TIMES TELEGRAM.) CANDAHAR, August 3. All is well. There are no signs of the enemy. We have demolished all the buildings round the city. All the Afghans have been expelled. We have 3500 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and 15 guns. The heat is very great. BOMBAY, August 6. Private accounts state that the country between Candahar and Chaman has risen. The Govern- ment admits that there have been skirmishes and attacks, which are, however, attributed to thieves. There has been severe skirmishing round Chaman. Major Morse was wounded and twenty tribesmen were killed. Candahar is believed to be invested. The rumoured shelling of the citadel is unauthentic. The Douranee men have been expelled from the city as a pre- caution. The Bombay correspondent of the Standard telegraphs:- From the Candahar line we hear of numerous little skirmishes, which show that the native tribesmen are all eager to seize a chance if they can. Small convoys are frequently attacked. A party under Lieutenant Tobin gave the marauders a sharp lesson, repulsing their attack, and killing ten of the Pathans. Lieutenant Tobin was wounded in a hand-to-hand fight, but killed his assailant. Another detachment has sent in word to Sibi that it is surrounded. Altogether, the country around that place appears greatly dis- turbed. WITHDRAWAL OF THE BRITISH FROM CABUL. A despatch from Quetta to the London Daily Telegraph says: Details of Gen. Burrows s fight show that British troops, especially the 66th Regiment, fought most gallantly. Our force was overwhelmed by numbers and driven back. The losses we sustained are due chiefly to the want of water along the line of retreat, but are not so great as was at first believed. Many men fell exhausted from heat and thirst, and were cut up. Ayoob Khan's losses are reported to be so severe that he has been unable to follow up his victory, and it is doubtful if he will attack Canda- har. On 1st he was still one long march off. General Phayre has seized and fortified the Khojak Pass, and thus secured our means of advance. His division is rapidly assembling, and he hopes it will be all in the field by August 20. General Primrose's position in Candahar is believed to be perfectly secure. He holds the town as well as the citadel. The tribes south of the Khojak are fairly quiet in the Bolan Pass, and in the Khelat State are perfectly tranquil. His High- ness the Khan of Khelat and the Sirdars have en- tirely identified themselves with the British Government, and are giving Sir Robert Sandeman ready and most efficient help in the collection of supplies and forage. A despatch from Bombay to the same paper says: Rumours are current that Candahai is beiDg besieged and the citadel bombarded. These4reports, however, are wholly contrary to trustworthy information received from Quetta. The tribes from Candahar to Chaman and Pishin are reported to be disturbed. There has been some skirmishing. The Khojak and Bolan districts are quiet. The Khan of Khelat is providing transport and provisions for our troops. Heat fearful. As far as leaving Cabul is concerned, our word was pledged to Abdul Rahman before the disaster at Candahar occurred, and there is no reason why we should recede from it because of that disaster. His chances as Ameer would certainly not be increased by a continuance of the present situa- tion, in which he appears, at least to be supported by British bayonets. On the other hand, the retirement to G andamuk renders a concentration of our forces possible, relieves us of the terrible burden of making good our possession of a hostile capital, and thus sets free at least that proportion of General Stewart's force which to-day takes the Ghuznee route to avenge the disaster of Khusk-i- Nakhud.-Daily News. 0 TROOPS FOR AFGHANISTAN. On Saturday, the 26th Regiment, under Colonel Collins, left Chatham by special train for Ports- mouth, to embark in the Euphrates for Malta, where they will replace troops ordered to India. ■ ,m SIMLA, Monday. Up to the 5th instant no attack has been made on Candahar. Ayoob Khan has reached Kol Karan. No advance has been made by enemy either upon Khelat and Ghilzai or Pishin. At Cabul all is quiet. RUMOURED FALL OF CHAMAN. The Bombay correspondent of the Standard says that a rumour is current that Chaman haa been taken by the Afghans, and although there is no official confirmation of it, the report is generally believed. A telegram in the Daily Telegraph says that the news from Chaman is conflicting, but the fort ia believed to be invested. TELEGRAM FROM THE QUEEN. The Viceroy has received the following telegram from the Queen. My heart bleeds for the loss of so mteny bravs officers and men. Pray express my sympathy and anxietv for the wounded." TROOPS FOR AFGHANISTAN. The 23rd Fusiliers leave Woolwich on Monday next for Portsmouth, en route to Afghanistan, per Malabar. Lord Clinton's battalion, Riflo Brigade, will embark a few days later in the Himalaya, and the 77th Regiment will sail oc the 21st in the Jumna. The 23rd Regiment will be presented with new colours by the Prince and Princess of Wales before embarkation. The regiment has cherished its old flags which were carried through the Crimea while an officer remained on the roll who shared their glories. The colonel's retirement has removed the only objection to new colours.

THE CUBAN INSURRECTION. Intelligence from Havanah confirms the report of the unconditional surrender of the Cuban insurgent leader Calisto Garcia, together with his subordinate Fonseca, and three other followers, forming the remnant of the last insurgent expedi- tion which landed in Cuba.

WAR FEVER IN CHINA. The war fever is said to be very high at Shan- ghai and the coast towns. A correspondent of an American journal says a depot has been opened at Shanghai for the enlistment of English-speaking foreigners. Any European or American of fair education can obtain a position as captain in the Chinese army at a salary of 200 dollars a month. He is also furnished with an interpreter, a body servant, and a horse. The reason for this enlist- ment is that the Chinese rank and file have littlf confidence in native officers.-Echo.

THE REJECTION OF THE COMPENSA- TION FOR DISTURBANCE (IRELAND) BILL BY THE LORDS. Are we for ever working at an empty loom and driving an empty shuttle?" In spite of the idle clamour of agitators, the effect upon public opinion in Ireland of the rejection of the Disturb. ance Bill will be on the whole beneficial. It will encourage the faith in the stability of proprietary rights and vested interests which bad of late begun to fail. It will assure all Irishmen who have anything to lose that they will not be °ver t0 agrarian and other spoliation without defence. It will show that the ruinous policy of encouraging the aggregation, in the most inclement and sterile districts, of Ireland, of peasant farmers living in eq-ualor and breeding large families upon wretched little patches of laud is condemned, without distinction of party, by the wisest and most high-minded statesmen of the empire. These truths may be unpalatable, but tney are wholesome, and we trust there is good I sense enough among even the small tenants in Ireland to digest them. All other classes of Irish. men know full well on which side right and reason are to be found, and it .will nofc he creditable to them if they do not support public"order, and lead their poorer countrymen into the safe path by speaking out courageously and in *ime.—Times.

A storm, causing serious inundations, hai occurred in the province of Murcia (Spain), un, attended, fortunately, with loss of life. A duel with pistols was fought, a few days ago, near Paris, between M. Deleage, editor of the Gaulois, and M. la Vieille, deputy for Cherbourg, Neither shots took effect, and the seconds declared that the honour of their principals was satisfied. The select oommittee on the London water, ir a repolt issued, on Aug. 6th, recommend the crea tion of a water authority for the metropolis, em powered to acquire existing undertaUngs if ob tainable on reasonable terms, and to considei whether a new and better supply is not available.

THE LIVERPOOL ELECTION. The polling at Liverpool on Aug. 6th began and ended in a shower of rain. and during its progress there were occasional downfalls, which doubtless had some effect in allaying any tendency to excitement. The generai indifference, not to say apathy, which prevailed on the part of the public must, however, be ascribed mainly to other reasons-amongst which two were probably most operative. This is the third Parliamentary elec- tion which has taken place in the course of six monthfl in which Liverpool has been either wholly or partially interested, and the electors at large were undoubtedly indisposed for a repetition of the excitement and bustle which characterised the Whitley-Ramsay contest in February, and the South West Lancashire contest in April. The other reason was even more forcible, being simply that hardly a Liberal in the city was sanguine enough to believe that Mr. PlimsoU would win the day, since the experience of feeling decisively proved the existence of a large Tory majority, and subsequent political events have not been of sufficient significance to warrant any expecta- tion of a change in the balance of parties in the city. At all events, whatever the reason, the fact was, that the election passed off with the utmost quietude and lack of incident. The headquarters of both sides were in Moorfields, at the corner of which thorough- fare the Conservative Club is situated and near to which is the Reform Club. A consider- able crowd of people remained here during the greater part of the day, and at the close of the poll there was some little cheering and counter cheering. The candidates were astir all day, driving in open carriages to the different booths, but obtaining none of the eagerly enthusiastic greetings which were accorded to Lord Ramsay and Mr. Whitley, on a similar occa- sion six months ago. Lord Sandon and Mr. Whitley, M.P., accompanied Lord Claud Hamilton, as did also Mr. A. B. Forwood, the leader of the Tory party in Liverpool, and the chairman at Lord Claud's meetings, the carriage containing them being drawn by a pair of bays with a postilion. Mr. Plimsoll drove about in less conspicuous style. He was accompanied by Mr. R. 1). Holt, the President of the Liverpool Association, and by other prominent members of the party. As usual, cabs and other vehicles were largely employed on both sides, and during the day four-in-hand coaches were de- spatched from the head-quarters of both Liberals and Tories, bearing brass bands, which discoursed musio of a stimulating, if not always strictly tuneful, character. A large boat, draped with the Union Jack, and manned by a crew of seamen, was placed on a waggon and drawn through the streets at the instance of the Liberals,, and doubtless served to impress upon the popular mind a sense of Mr. Plimsoll's services to the sailors. Placards and election squibs were numerous. The constituency numbers 63,946 voters, who are thus classified:—Occupiers, 62,630; lodgers, 370; resi- dent freemen, 366. It will be seen that the lodgers bear a very small ratio to the whole number, and before the last revision efforts were made to stimulate qualified persons of this class to obtain a vote, but with little effect. At the election of Mr. Whitley the contest was so keen, and party feeling ran so high, that no fewer than 49,991 votes were recorded out of the total constituency, a proportion larger, it is said, than has been known at any election of recent years. It was evident yesterday, however, from the progress of the polling that the total votes would show a great decrease upon that occasion, the probable num- ber being set down at about 35,000 to 40,000, and the deficit being set down, amongst other causes, to the wholesale abstention from voting of the Irish party. This was strongly marked during the day, for by means of the card trick and a certain amount of guesswork and shrewd inference it became tolerably clear that in Scotland and Vauxhall Wards, the strong- holds of the Irish party, the electors were by no means doing their duty to the Liberal cause. The abstention of the Irish came upon the Liberal leaders as a sur- prise, and no reason has been given for it beyond what could be extracted from a vague manifesto which appeared a few days before the election. The offical declaration of the poll was made early in the evening, as follows:- Lord Claud Hamilton (C) 21,019 Mr. Plimsoll (L) 19,118 Majority for Conservative 1,901 At the previous election, in February this year, the numbers were:- Whitley (C), 26,106; Ramsay (L), 23,885; Conservative majority, 2221. The election which took place in February, 1873, was singularly like yesterday's in respect to fhe majority. The figures then were:-Torr (C), 18,702: Caine(L). 16,790; majority, 1912. Lord Claud Hamilton addressed 20,000 people from the balcony of the Imperial Hotel. He said Liverpool had for the first time taken her proper place in Parlia- ment, and returned three members pledged to vote in the same lobby. Lord Sandon also spoke. He said the result would be a warning to the Liberal Govern- ment. Mr. Plimsoll also addressed an immense crowd near the Adelphi Hotel. He attributed his defeat to the defection of the Home Rulers, which, he said, was a poor return for the endeavour of the Government to obtain beneficial legislation for Ireland. [CENTRAL NEWS TELEGRAM.] A different result, it is considered, would have occurred had the Home Rulers voted. They muster some 6000 or 8000, and their abstention has largely eontributed to the Conservative victory.

On Saturday, the steamtug Otto ran into a rafter's boat on the Clyde, near Greenock. The boat was upset, and three of the crew of five were drowned. NIHILISM.—A St. Petersburg message of August 6th says:—Last night a house porter was fired at and wounded on Yasily Island, St. Petersburg, by two supposed Nihilists, who were afterwards cap- tured by the police. A passenger train on the Severn Valley Rail- way was thrown off the line on the 6th instant, through running over a bullock which had strayed on the line. The few passengers were Beriously hurt, and the line blocked throughout the day. At Warwick Assizes last week, Mr. Justice Field sentenced Oliver Styles, 37, watch finisher, Coventry, to penal servitude for 25 years for shooting with intent to murder his wife. The prisoner was also indicted' for attempting to murder his mother-in-law and a woman named Maria Feltham, but these oharges were not pro- ceeded with. On the 27th May the prisoner, dragging his wife by the hair, fired a revolver at her because she refused to live with him. She had left him three weeks previously on account of his brutality. The shot fortunately struck her stays, and was thus diverted. The prisoner then fired twice at his mother-in-law, wounding her in the arm and abdomen, and afterwards shot and seriously injured four other persons. The pri- soner's defence was that he was mad with jealousy. THE FRADULENT MARKING AT WIMBLEDON.— Earl Stanhope, chairman of the National Rifle Association, has addressed the following letter to the papers:—"The recent evidence of alleged fraudulent marking at the Volunteer meeting at Wimbledon camp which has lately transpired is no doubt a most disagreeable discovery. Sergeant Marsham, of the Royal Marines, lately one of the sergeants employed in the target butts in the camp, now awaits trial by a military court-martial at Gosport. The Council of the National Rifle Asso- ciation have lost no time in carefully considering the whole question, and while making a searching inquiry as to these practices, are resolved to crush out all possibility of fraud in the future. I am desired, as chairman of the National Rifle Asso- ciation, to let it be known that at yesterday's meeting of the Council a special committee was appointed to consider and draw up new and more stringent regulations as to marking and squadding for next year's meeting. These regulations will be published as soon as they are fully elaborated."