Monmouthshire Merlin

THE SULTAN AND HIS BRETHREN A1 HOME. The Times of the 15th instant published a lettei from "A person of rank in the Turkish capital," in which the following passages occur:- To reassure himself as to the state of Murad (the deposed Sultan) and to see if there might be danger of any successful intrigues by the Softas and others in favour of the invalid, his Majesty sent Damad and a Chamberlain, Osman Bey, to see Murad. The unhappy ex-Sultan received them very well, and asked what news and how the Prince' was. 'For,' added he, 'I cannot call him Sultan. I look upon him as a usurper, of whom some day I shall have to ask an account, not consider- ing him the Sovereign.' He asked many ques- tions about politics, remarked on the slow march of events, on the negligence of the Govern- ment at such a critical time, complained of the defective military organisation in Asia, which had caused the loss of Ardahan, and of the immobility of the fleet, whioh, instead of remain- ing at anchor before the Imperial palaces, should long since have been in the Black Sea. He went on to say that as the country had the misfortune of no longer possessing a good Administration, and as England was a friendly Power on whom they 11 could rely, they ought to turn to her for guidance. beg her to send men to reform the country and drill employSs, and even put the army into the hands oi Englishgeneralsand officers. 'Peaee.'hesaid 'ought to be made, even at the price of some concessions.' As he wore no fez, fearing they might attribute that to the state of his health, he reminded them that he had habitually gone without one of old. 4 You know, gentlemen,' he said, it was my habit to go uncovered, as I dislike the heavy fez.' Finally, he complained of his imprisonment, of the ignoble way in which he was treated, and of the insuffi- cient service given to him, adding that he could not conceive how a brother to whom in happier times he had shown so much affection should have so treated him and should have kept him in prison to persuade the world he was insane. The Damad on leaving him looked white and frightened. The Chamberlain was in tears at seeing such a scene and witnessing the treatment of Murad. The Sultan, as soon as he had received this report, called his Ministers to ask detailed information about the war. The Seraskier answered that everything was in an excellent state, that severe orders had been given that all officers should do their duty, that the army wanted nothing, and that Ardahan had never been completely taken; that it had been in danger, but that his Imperial Majesty's forces were so great that they could defy the enemy. "Nourredeen Effendi, third brother of the Sultan, a man of bold, independent, and ener- getic character, present at the Council, rushed forward, shook the Seraskier by the arm, saying to him and to all there "'Men without shame, you are all traitors, flatterers, without loyalty, without patriotism. You have ruined the country, you are the cause of the bloodshed, of all the misery. You are nothing but a band of thieves, barbarians, capable of any- thing provided you can so keep your places. You oppress the poor peasants, you make them die of hunger; the provinces have good cause to wish to see an end of us; it is marvellous we have not even more disorder, and all through your iniquity. And now, at this moment, when the fire is raging and we should all be at work to put it out, you come again before the Sultan to sing 'victory,' to mislead him, to tell him a mass of lies about our chimerical forces. Let us hear. Speak; is it true? Answer, what have you to say? The Ministers dared no contradiction, and hardly raised their eyes. The next day your am- bassador, Mr. Layard, went to the Sultan, and spoke much in the same sense, mentioning too the fleet remaining at anchor and Hobart Pasha being here. His Majesty appeared astonished at learn- ing that the admiral was still here, and said he thought he was gone long since. He immediately called his aide-de-camp, Mehemet Pasha, and sent him with orders that the admiral should take the fleet at once to sea. This order Hobart Pasha lost no time in obeying, without even informing the high admiral until lie was fairly off; then a letter from Hobart informed his superior officer of the Imperial order under which he had sailed."

THE BRITISH ARMY AND ENGLAND'S "INTERESTS." It is our hope and belief that there is no present probability of our being drawn into war on the Eastern question; but it is admitted that our in- terests may, sooner or later, be threatened to such an extent that we shall be compelled in self-defence to draw the sword. Under these circumstances, every thoughtful Englishman must wish to know what are our military resources, the number of men whom we could place in the field, and the time which would elapse before the resolution to strike and the blow. On paper we possess an army which, for a Power which relies mainly on her navy, is of no contemptible strength. In the United Kingdom there are about 105,000 regular troops, 134,500 militia, 14,830 yeomanry, 174,241 efficient volunteers, and 15,000 first class and 21,000 second class army reserve, making a grand total of about men' Of iiose the active army, about 30,000 men of the militia reserve, and the first- class reserve are alone liable to serve out of the country, though her Majesty may accept the offer of militia corps to do garrison duty in the Medi- terranean. Unfortunately, however, there is the widest possible difference between an actual army and one as it appears on paper. On the 1st of Janu- ary, 1877, the effective number of the British army was 99,991. We may assume, therefore, that at the present moment the effective strength is about 100,000. From these we must, for fighting pur- poses, deduct on account of miscellaneous depart- ments, and officers of staff and departments re- quired at home, about fifteen hundred of all ranks. It is also reasonable to deduct for men who are sick, absent, about to be invalided, and in prison, another three thousand five hundred. This re- duces the effective fighting strength of the regular army to about 95,000 of all ranks. Then there are untrained recruits, who may be assumed to num- ber another five thousand, but the largest deduc- tion of all has to be made on account of those who, though technically trained and effective, are too young to undergo the hardships and fatigues of a campaign. We have high authority for stating that of the men recently raised, no more than one out of three is fit for work till after an average service of eighteen months. We cannot, therefore, set down the number of immature men at fewer than 15,000. Thus only 75,000 men now serving i^ regular army can be considered fit to take the field. The first-class army reserve is esti- mated at 15,000 men, but it is notorious that we cannot at the present moment reckon on more than 10,000; so that the number of trailed fighting men available at a moment's notice is only 85,000 men. From the militia reserve we could obtain, perhaps, '25,000 men, but these are only half drilled. They could not, therefore, be counted on for the open- ing of a campaign. We may consider, however, that England possesses a sufficient number of men 'f us to send to the East two corps tfarm&f. oi ,000 Inen each, and to leave behind a very tolerable reserve, for in a few months the militia reserve would have completed their military edu- cation. So far, this is satisfactory; but when we come to consider the means which the authorities would be compelled to adopt in order to complete and prepare the two corp* d'arniee in question, our admiration of the military system of this country dIBa ppears. -8 tal/fiord.

SINGULAR DIVORCE CASE.—In the Divorce Court, last week, before Sir R. Phillimore, the' case of Conroy r. Conroy and Good was heard. It ap- peared that the petitioner, who was a boy at school at the time of his marriage in 1869, had been in- timate with the respondent, who was his cousin, and had been compelled to marry her. They were l° g°od position in society, and had been married at St. George's, Bloomsbury. Immediately after the union they separated, and have since lived apart, the respondent having been maintained by her friends and the petitioner returning to finish his education. It was now proved that the re- spondent had given birth to a child, of which the co-respondent was the father, in Jersey. Sir Robt. Phillimore withheld the decree until con- ferring with the President of the Court as to whether the absence for so lone M\\11d be con. atrued into desertion,

THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS. The Earl of Aberdeen has agreed to accept the office of president at the forthcoming congress in Aberdeen; and Lord Young, judge of the Court of Session, has consented to preside over the educa- tion department.

DEATH OF LORD JUSTICE MELLISH. Lord Justice Mellish died at his town residence, Lowndes square, on June 15th. His lordship was called to the bar in 1848, and took silk in ISlil. He was made judge of the Court of Appeal in 1870, when he was knighted and made a Privy Councillor.

DEATH OF THE HON. MRS. NORTON. Lady Sterling Maxwell, better known as the Hon. Mrs. Norton, died on June 15th. She wrote several poems and works of fiction. In March last, the deceased, though confined to her room, was married to Sir William Stirling Maxwell.

SUDDEN DEATH OF MISS MARY CARPENTER. Miss Mary Carpenter, whose labours in the cause of social reform, the establishment of industrial and reformatory schools, the improved social status of women in India, and the education of Hindoo children, are universally known, was found dead in her bed on the 15th instant. She had retired to her room in her usual state of health the pre- vious night. Her death took place at the Red lodge, Bristol, where for years she has had a re- formatory for young girls. Although the de- ceased lady was in her seventy-first year she had latterly been in her usual good health, but the death of her brother (the Rev. Philip Car- penter) in Montreal about a month ago is said to have affected her greatly. Miss Carpenter has visited India repeatedly in order to promote female education, and just previous to her death was engaged in delivering a series of lectures on her last tour.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. The following summary of accidents and casual- ties which occurred on railways in the United Kingdom during the first three months of the present year has lately been published:—Dur- ing the three months there were reported 12 collisions between passenger trains or parts of passenger trains, by which 34 passengers and two servants were injured; 30 collisions between passenger trains and goods or mineral trains, engines, &c., by which 36 passengers, 11 servants, and a man who was riding in -a train of empty carriages unknown to the company, were injured; three collisions between goods trains or parts of goods trains, by which three servants were in- jured 23 cases of passenger trains or parts of pas- senger trains leaving the rails, by which five pas- sengers and one servant were killed, and 54 passen- gers and five servants were injured; 11 cases of goods trains or parts of goods trains leaving the rails, by which one servant was injured; four cases of trains or engines travelling in the wrong direc- tion through points, by which one passenger and two servants were injured; four cases of trains running into stations or sidings at too high a speed, by which eight passengers were injured; 30 cases of trains ruuning over cattle or other obstructions upon the line, by which a platelayer's wife, who was riding upon a trolley, and one servant, were injured; three cases of failures of machinery, springs, &c., of engines, by which two servants were injured; the failure of an over bridge, by which two men in charge of a road locomotive were injured; eleven cases of flooding. of portions of the permanent way, by which two servants were injured; 11 cases of slips in cuttings or em- bankments, by which two servants were killed and six injured; and eight other accidents of a miscellaneous description, by which two pas- sengers were injured.

A SUCCES.SFUL RACEHORSE. It is not often that a horse which is sold by a shrewd trainer for a very large sum brings much profit to his new owner; but Petrarch has proved the exception to the rule, for he has twice been sold within a twelvemonth for more than ten thousand pounds, and neither of his purchasers has had any reason to regret his bargain. For Lord Dupplin he won the Two Thousand Guineas, the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot, and the St. Leger, and as Lord Dupplin afterwards sold him for a trifle more than he had given for him, his share in the transaction has been an eminently successful one. Lord Lonsdale, who has now be- come his owner, has not won quite so much hard cash, but in his hands Petrarch has put the sea] upon his three-year-old excellence by the ease with which he won the Gold Cup at Ascot last week. He did not beat so large a field as has often assembld at the post for this race, nor can it be said that his opponents were of the very highest class, but he won the race under disadvantageous circum- stances, and redeemed himself from the reproach of cowardice-whichwas levelled against himon account of one or two of his performances at Ascot last year. It must also be stated to his credit that the horse which came in second had already given evidence of stamina by his victory in the Queen's Vase at Ascot last week, and for Petrarch to beat him as he did was by no means an inglorious achievement. That Petrarch, one of the few sons of Lord Clifden now in training, may furnish many further proofs of his stamina and win for Lord Lonsdale several cup races before being sent to the stud is what all who are interested in the breed of racehorses must desire, for there can be no doubt that many a promising sire has had his prospects of suc- cess destroyed by being withdrawn from the turf before his powers have fully matured. A horse sound in wind and limb has his frame developed and strengthened by being kept in moderate work until the end of his fifth or sixth season. If there were a few more races of equal value to the Gold Cup and Alexandra Plate at Ascot, the owner of a good animal would oftener be tempted to keep him in training, instead of relegating him to the paddock at the expiration 01 his three-year-old career.-Daily News.

SINGULAR DEATH OF A CHILD.—A sad occurrence is reported from Elginside. Annie Macpherson, a fine girl of seven years, daughter of a farm labourer at Knockands, was instructed by her mother to bring home two gills of whisky while returning from school. The child extracted the cork, and drank about two glasses of the whisky. She was found on the roadside helpless, and died soon after. A post mortem examination showed death resulted from alcohol. A MAUSOLEUM FOR A PRINCE.—The late Duke of Brunswick, who died a few years ago at Paris, was possessed of very considerable wealth in dia- monds and other precious stones. His collection was for some time in this country. In a modest house at St, John's Wood a burglar and fire proof room was built, in which it was kept; but the owner, growing perhaps tired of the monotony of English society, removed to Paris some years be- fore his death, and took with him to that paradise of Yankees the whole of his mineral and other pos- sessions. These, along with other property of im- mense value, lie bequeathed to the city of Geneva, and the municipality, after mature consideration of the most appropriate manner in which to record their gratitude, have resolved to erect a mausoleum to the memory of their benefactor which shall be without a parallel-in Europe. The monument is to be placed in the Jardin des Alpes, and it is to cost l,400,000f., or £ 56,000. The design includes a series of six statues representing ancestors of the deceased Duke. The first is to be Duke Henrv the lion," and the last that of Duke Frederick William, who fell at the battle of Quatre Bras, which immediately preceded the defeat of the French at Waterloo. On a colossal pedestal of polished granite, 60ft. in height, will rest the sar- cophagus, on which will be a recumbent figure of the Prince, and over this will be a caaopjT, *o be surmounted by an equestrian statue of the late Duke in modern civil costume. The canopy is to be supported by pillars of whito marble richly sculptured. The artist selected for carrving ant this grand design is M. Franc, a citizen of Geneva The statue is to be by M. Vella, and the animals are to be executed by M. Cave, who are also na- tives of the canton which the Duke of Brunswick has f m.i'inficently endowed.-(; lobe.

A SUPERNATURAL BEDFELLOW. The good people among the hills of Morris County, N.J., have found excitement in the case of a young girl said to be "grievously vexed of the devil," and whose condition is as unaccountable as it is deplorable. The girl is a daughter of Elijah Nichols, blacksmith, of the Glendon Iron Company, at Hurdtown. She predicted evil against her fifteenth birthday, which befell on the 13th October last, and since that date she has been bedridden and paralysed. At times there appears under the counterpane of her bed a presence as of a rat, a rabbit, or a cat swiftly moving from place to place and eluding detection. In vain is the bed stripped, or the patient removed to another place; the presence" is only powerless to act when the mother sleeps with the child. The phvsicians, no less than the clergy, and the common folk of all country-side are baffled. Crowds come daily to see the mystery. On one recent occasion Mr. Richards, Mayor of Dover, held his stiff hat above the presence," and the hat received a blow that crushed it. Violent blows have been given to the hand, to a cane, and to other objects held out over the place where the presence" was, and, needless to say, attempts to grab the presence" have failed. All the while the girl lies moaning as if in terror or pain, and her position in the bed would be plainly such as to show. that the mysterious movements were not caused by her. The girl has been known to abstain from food for the spaoe of fifteen days, and for some weeks past she has only received a little milk daily, yet her face is fair, and when the visitation is not nigh her sleep is apparently healthful. Her parents are plain and honest people, who view this as an affliction not to be turned to account for notoriety or money. The neighbours, unable to -account for it in any other way, have solemnly decreed witch- craft against an old woman living among them, and charms are in active demand.— Montreal Gazette.

THE WALROND WILL CASE. (From the London Telegraph.) Those who have read George Eliot's "Middle march must, of course, remember how the In terest of that powerful romancd circles round old Mr. Featherstone's will. The Walrond case serves once again to remind us how closely the truths of actual life resemble the imaginations of fiction. A country gentleman who traces his descent back to the Plantagenets, who has the body of his daughter exhumed and keeps it in his bedroom, who decorates his bed with hearse plumes and genuine death's-heads; who believes in the immortality of animals, erects monuments to his deceased dogs, and be- queaths annuities to the survivors; who disin- herits his son for marrying against his wish, and leaves his wife and daughter out of his will because he is not altogether satisfied with their conduct to- wards him, seems at first to be a character too ex- traordinary and incomprehensible for real life. As a matter of fact, however, there are many such instances, and it does not at all follow that per- sons who are so eccentric are of necessity insane. There is no one of the specific acts charged. against Mr. Walrond which has not been be. fore now committed by persons of the soundest intellect. It is nothing unusual for a man to bury his dog and erect a monument to its memory—the late Lord Lytton, for instance, did the very same thing in his park at Knebworth-or to set aside a small yearlv sum for the main- tenance of his favourites after his death. The minor peculiarities in which this eccentric gen- tleman indulged are not worthy of serious comment. It is doubtful, indeed, whether these matters would ever have been gone into were it not that they added corroboration to the princi- pal charge, which was, in effect, that Mr. Wal- rond's perverse and unnatural hatred for his own family was in itself a proof of aberration of intellect. Unfortunately, as everyone knows by sad experience, family quarrels are the most bitter and persistent of all disputes. It is not in fiction alone that the father dies with a curse upon his son trembling upon his. lips, or that hus- band and wife separate by common consent never to speak again. No hatred is so deep as that which springs from thwarted or disappointed love. It would ill become us to express any opinion upon the merits of the painful family history which the recent trial reveals. Mr. Wal- rond, if not insane, at least allowed his resent- ment against his relations to prey upon his mind until it reached a point little short of actual madnesss, and it is not surprising that a will made under such circumstances should be disputed. In many continental oountries a man is not allowed to alienate his property from his natural heirs-a fact to be recommended to the attention of the opponents of primogeniture. In the present case it is abundantly clear that al- though he was the victim of a morbid animositv, Mr. Walrond was, to all intents and purposes, of sane and disposing mind. None the less it is matter of congratulation that a testamentary disposition so unusual and so opposed to all the ordinarv instincts of human nature should be, as it has been, N-irtually set aside.

MOSQUITOES IN LONDON.—The Medical Examiner says:—London is threatened with an invasion of mosquitoes. The advance-guard of the army of these objectionable insects made its appearance some days ago, when the sudden rise of tempera- ture occurred. Some unmistakable cases of mos- quito bites have been reported to us, in which the persons who were bitten suffered ftom a consider- able amount of local pain and inflammatory swelling, as well as from slight symptoms of con- stitutional disturbance. In one instance a ladv who had been bitten by an insect she described as a "gnat "had a dark-red indurated swelling, as large as a hazel nut, on one of her fingers, and another swelling of the same character, 11 but of a smaller size, on her forehead. In this case the amount of local irritation was excessive. In another instance, a gentleman had four painful swellings on his hands and wrists, which had un- doubtedly been produced by mosquitoes. The persons who had been bitten reside near the banks of the Thames. It may be remembered that some cases of mosquito bites were reported last year, and it was conjectured at that time that the foreign inseots had been brought with foreign cargoes. Rightly or wrongly, some of the per- sons who have been bitten this year connect the appearance of the mosquitoes with the unloading of foreign grain. The description we have re- ceived of the insects convinces us that the popular impression that they are mosquitoes is well founded. They have made their appearance on the north side of the Thames, between the Lon- don docks and Pimlioo. ONE ROMEO AND SIX JULIETS.—The New York Herald says:—The benefit of Mr. George Rignold at Booth's Theatre was just what might have been expected.. The house was crowded to excess the applause continual, the acting uneven in merit and the whole performance of Romeo and Juliet" a burlesque rather than a tragedv. Miss Neilson could not appear on account of illness. This left only six Juliets instead of seven, and it would have been better for the performance if five of these had been temporarily ill. All that is beautiful in Juliet was ruined by the abrupt changes made by the six ladies. In one act Juliet was tall, in another short; now she seemed to be 20 years of age, and then to be 35; her face and figure were altered as in a dream, and her voice was sometimes weak, sometimes powerful. Thus all the charm of personal illusion was destroyed, and each Juliet was an injury to the rest. First came Miss Fanny Davenport, in the masquerade, and next in the balcony scene, in place of Miss Neilson, and so far the perfornlance was at least consistent. But then Juliet appeared in the person of Miss Ada Dyas, next in the form of Miss Cummings, then in that of Miss Wain- wright, again in the figure of Miss Granger, and finally in that of Miss Grace D'Urlev. It would have been better for the play if any one of these ladies had played Juliet from the beginning to the end, but then that antique way of acting Shakes- peare would have prevented the monster combina- tion. Comparison of the merits of the six ladies would be to do each of them an injustice. It is enough to say that they were all complimented with applause and flowers, and that it is not their fault, but their mistortune, that they assisted in the dreary farce. The audience was more amused than interested, and we do not think the experi- ment could succeed again.