Potter's Electric News

THE LATE BATTLE OF MANTANA. It has at length become possible to form an ap- proximate guess at the truth respecting the battle of Mentana, remarks the Times, and thus proceeds:— The accounts of that last Garibaldian expedition are Bow before us,—the official statements in the Ponti- fical journals, the despatch of the French Com- lnander-in-Chief, General De Failly, and the authen- tic accounts of the Italian Volunteer leaders. With- out laying too implicit a reliance on any of these sources of information, it is not difficult to compare notes, and to read cenflicting testimony by the light of the personal narratives of eye-witnesses, so as to steer clear of any error into which the chief authori- ties may either have fallen or wished others to fall. It is but just we should add that such men as Fabrizi and Missori, who have signed the Garibaldian account, enjoy too high a character, even among their adver- saries, to be capable of lending their names to deli- berate falsehoods. After four days of inaction at Monte Rotondo, Garibaldi gave orders for the abandonment of that position on Sunday, the 3rd inst., soon after twelve at noon. The object of this movement was not, as has been asserted, to retire across the frontier into the Italian territory. Had such been his purpose, the Passo di Corese was at hand, only seven or eight miles in his rear. But he was aware that by taking that route he would have fallen in with the Royal Italian troops, and ceased to be a free agent. His inarch was upon Tivoli, at which place he expected to effect a junction with Ni-cotera and Pianciani, and, indeed, to concentrate all his bands. He had with him 5,000 men and two pieces of artillery, two of the three pieces which had fallen into his hands ()11 the taking of Monte Rotendo the week before. He had foreseen the probability of an encounter in his inarch. However destitute of political capacity, there is no doubt that he possesses great strategical and tactical ability, and with better training and at the head of regular forces he might have attained the highest distinction, no less as a General than as a soldier. His dispositions were made with his usual skill. His force marched in three bodies, com- manded, the first by his son Menotti, the second by the Hungarian, Frigess), the last by the General himself. It was preceded and flanked by flying columns, protecting it against the chances of a sudden attack. In this order the little army proceeded on its way to Tivoli as far as Mentana. This village lies between two and three miles to the south-west of Monte Rotondo its straggling houses and feudal castles stand at an elevation of 700 feet, and the ground about it is broken up into low hills, gullies, and ravinis, overgrown with stunted (ak wood- the general features of the higher grounds of the Cam- pagna. Garibaldi's vanguard had reached and passed Mentana, and was strung) ng across the narrow and woody gorge between it and the adjoining hills, when it was attacked by the enemy. On the night between the 2nd and 3rd the Pope's forces and those of his French ally had marched out of Rome in two columns. The first consisted of a Pontifical brigade of four battalions, of a squadron and a half of dra goons, and a battery—' three battalions and a bat- tery,' according to the Papal accounts—' five batta- lions,' as we learn from the French authorities. General Failly computes the whole force at 3,000 Pontifical and 2,000 French combatants. The for- mer were led by General Kantzler, the latter by General Poll es. The first instinct of Garibaldi, on the report of the first musket shots was to sally forth and take up his position outside Montana. He deployed his batta- lions, directing them to occupy the surrounding heights, and the engagement began all along the line. It is remarkable that, although we are now certain the French had their full share of the action, the Garibaldian leaders left the field at the close of the day without becoming aware of the fact, or even suspecting it. The men they had to deal with are described by them as Pontifical Zouaves and Chas- seurs. The latter had, indeed demanded the post of honour, and made the first onslaught: but their attack was unsuccessful, and on the repulse of these :first columns, other columns pressed forward in dense serried masses, advancing under cover of an irresistible fire of musketry and artillery. The uni- form of the Papal army, as all are aware, differs in nothing but the cockade from that of the French troops, on whose pattern it was organised. Some of the Pontifical soldiers were even provided with breechloaders; but the men of Polhes brigade were all trained to the formidable Chassepot, and the French War Office was only too glad of an opportu- nity to test the efficiency of that weapon. The Chassepot,' says General Failly, 'did wonders.' Th's advantage of arms told even more significantly against the Garibaldians than mere superiority of numbers might have done. Some of the Lombard Bersagliery and of the Carabineers from Leghorn and Genoa, veterans of Garibaldi's former campaigns, might be reckoned fair shots but the mere mass were not only unskilled, but worn out and half- starved, equally unfit to fight or run away. The positions outside Mentana had to be aban doned. The Garibaldians fell back upon the town and castle. The enemy came up with them and, after a sharp engagement, effected a lodg- ment in some of the ou'er buildings; but they were charged with the bayonet and driven back. There was one moment in which the Garibaldians flattered themselves that the day was their own but the illusion was soon dispelled by fresh bat- talions of what they call 'the Antibes Legion,' but what was doubtless the French brigade. Their 'arms of precision bore down all opposi- tion. Mentana became untenable. Garibaldi's guns ha l fired away seventy rounds—all their am- munition. The signal was given to evacuate the place. The General posted himself on a high ground commanding the road between Mentana and Monte Rotondo, and thus covered the. re- treat of his shattered battalions, hard pressed by the enemy, a large division of whom followed them all the way to Monte Rotondo, occupied the heights around it, and advanced within rifle shot of the place. Night fell, however, and left the ac- tion undecided. Neither Mentana nor Monte Rotondo had fallen. The French accounts de- scribe both places as of great natural strength, and it is evident that all attempts at storming them were put off to the morrow. On the morrow Montana, hoisted the white flag and surrendered. From Monte Rotondo, Garibaldi with his main force withdrew unmolested in the night and crossed the frontier of Corese. The skirmishing on the 3rd lasted four hours. The Italians ack- nowledge a loss of 250 dead and wounded, and several hundred prisoners. General FaIlley reckons 600 Garibaldian dead bodies on the battle- field, and estimates the wounded in proportion-a computation which would leave scarcely a single Garibaldian unhurt. The prisoners, according to the same account, amounted to 1,600 brought by the conquerors in triumph to Rome, and 700 magnanimously released. On the other side there were fifty to sixty of the French dead and wounded, and three times as many of the Papal troops. That the Garibaldians made a good fight their enemies themselves must be ready to avow. Had it been otherwise, there was no reason why they should not have been overpowered in their strong- holds and either taken prisoners or cut down to a man. As a political event, however, very little importance can be attached to the battle of Men- tana. From the moment the Emperor Napoleon resolved upon armed intervention the revolutionary movement bad not the shadow of a chance of snc- cess. Patriotic -enthusiasm is merely the poetry and romance of war but real war is an affair of mathematics, and the result of all conflicts will always be on the side of the biggest battalions and of the best arms. Still, stout fighting will help to hallow even a. losing cause. It was against all national, no less than international, laws that Garibaldi drew his sword. Judged by the estab- lished rules of right and wrong, he was no less a rebel to his King and country than a common foe to the neighbouring States. Warfare like his in other lands would be called filibustering. Such means,can be justified by no end; but it may be atoned for by generous sacrifice; and it must be said that the Garibaldians have paid dearly for their blind excess of zeal. A SERMON METER.—The Queen has fixed in the pulpit of the Chapel Royal, Savoy, a sand- glass of the measure of eighteen minutes.-Ex- press. STRENGTH OF CONCRETE WALLS.—Determined to see for myself what had been accomplished with concrete, I visited the conciete houses at Graves- end and, fortunately for my conviction, I arrived at the time of the examination by the committee of the Metropolitan Board. I saw a 9-inch con- crete wall battered with a 141b. sledge hammer. Mr Vulliamy, the architect of the Board, said that with about three such blows a hole would have been made through a l4in. brick wall. I cannot say what number of blows were inflicted, but certainly the wall w is struck vigorously, the only perceptible effect being a slight crushing of stones on the surface of the concrete on the side ham- mered. Mr Vulliamy tested the wall on the other side with a straight edge, and declared that not the slightest effect was produced.- t2 Builder. THE CONDEMNED FENIANs,-The four men who lie in the New Bailey under sentence of death for the murder of Sergeant Brett will be exe- cuted at eight o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 23rd inst. In all probability, Calcraft will be the executioner. The date was fixed by the High Sheriff on Friday. There is no law prescribing the period that shall elapse between the passing and the execution of a sentence of death, but it is customary to allow two Sundays to elapse after the date of the conviction. The convicts are daily attended by a Roman Catholic clergyman. We are informed they receive the spiritual consolation that is offered to them with readiness and grati- tude; but the conduct of more than one of the convicts seems to rise from an impression that the extreme penalty of the law will not be carried out. The guard of the 57th Regiment which was stationed within the prison has been doubled since the men were condemned. The wife, mother, sister- in law, and four children of the convict Larkin had a long interview with him on Friday. The youngest child is not more than four-years of age. Manchester Guardian. THE RELEASE OF MAGUIRE.-The Manchester Guardian publishes the following letter 1 don't know what to say or how to find words good enough to thank those gentlemen that have been so kind to me. Since I was released this morning I have been surrounded wherever I went with scores of people shaking bands with me, and all so glad to see me set at liberty that I have not a minute scarcely to my- self and feel so much excited now as not to know hardly what I am doing. But I am so wishful to thank from my full heart all the editors of papers and the gentlemen that got up the petition for me. and everybody that signed it or took any part in getting my pardon, may God bless and reward them all, will always be my prayer. Since I was taken up, I have prayed hourly to God to clear up my innocence, and thought it was hard to be charged with the crime I was, after serving my Queen and country faithfully between thirteen and fourteen years, and the almighty answered my prayers. I have only one thing more to wish for, and that is that I may be allowed to return to head. quarters, and serve my time out in the Royal Marines. I never did anything to disgrace the service, but was proud to belong to it, and hope my discharge, which came to me on Sunday, will not be enforced, as I shall lose 13 years and 147 days' service if it is. I give my best thanks also to my Idte commanding officer, Captain Jones, of her Majesty's ship Princess Royal, for his kind letter. I cannot say any more. My heart is to full to thank you all as I would like, so believe me yours very gratefully, THOMAS MAGUIRE.' PROVISIONS, &c, IN AUSTRALIA.—The following is an extract from the communication of the Mel- bourne correspondent of the Times :-One of the most important movements this month in the city of Melbourne has come off in connection with the pastoral interest. So enormous is the increase of our flocks and herds beyond the demand of our own population for butcher's meat that the squat- ters are now establishing boiling-down companies for the conversion of our superfluous fat stock into tallow for exportation. The wholesale price for fat mutton here is about a penny a pound and prime joints come to our tables at twopence a pound. With the now greatly improved processes for the preservation of meat it is thought here by many stock-proprietors that the English marke'tj can be supplied with any quantity of good Austra- lian beef and mutton at fourpence or fivepence a pound, free from bone. A new patent for pre- serving meat was some time back taken out in Sydney, and we learn from the New South Wales papers that meat prepared under this patent is equal to fresh, and is already very extensively ex- ported to the mother country. A company with limited liability is about to be formed here for a similar purpose. Should the shipments command a market in England the trade must rapidly grow, as in the vast plains of Riverini alone the mere annual increase of sheep is described to be at least two millions in excess ot the local demand. Nor is this glut of natural pro- duce confined to live stock. The excessive supplies of grain and flour under the operation of our Land Act must find markets beyond our own shores, or many of our corn fields must be turned into pasture land. A working man can now easily maintain himself, wife, and three or four children upon 25s. a week and save money, and yet we are p-aying com- mon labourers 6s. a day, and skilled artisans at a much higher rate and thus high the zD rates of wages for almost every service, 'A bad cook in Victoria condescends to spoil your dinner for £ 40 a year, and a good cook can command £60 a year and the most respectful consideration from her employer, or she would at once transfer her patronage elsewhere. Would that England could send her superfluous mouths to our meat, or we could send our meat, to the English mouths! We shall, at any rate, do our best on our side, and our food-preserving and exporting companies seem very sanguine as to the results. We understand that Vice-Chancellor Sir W. P. Wood will retire from the Bench at the close of the year. It is tolerably certain that the Solicitor-General will not accept the office. The names of one or two gentlemen have been whispered in the profession as likely to furnish the successor to the learned Judge, but that of Mr Baggallay, Q.C, is, we believe, looked upon with most favour.-Law Journal. THE LATE MR JOSEPH HUME, M.P.—A marble bust of the late Mr Joseph Hume, M.P., has been placed in the House of Commons library. This bust was presented to the House by his widow, and has been placed in the library by permission of the House.' It was taken in 1825, and was sculptured by r Ritchie, of Edinburgh. The following is the simple inscription underneath it Joseph Hume, born January 22, 1777; died Februaiy 20, 1855.' A SnoHT WILL.—The will of Mr Kenneth Ma- caulay, Q.C, formerly M.P.for Cambridge, iscontained in these few words :-One thousand pounds to my brother Tom, all the residue to my dearest wife abso- lutely.—Kth Macaulay.' The will is without date, but was written by the testator on April 22 or 23,1865. The testator diel July 29,1867, at Ardingcaple-house, Cambridgeshire, at the age of 52. The personalty was sworn under ,f 12,000. The testator was the youngest son of the Rev. A. Macaulay, and cousin of the late Lord Macaulay, P.C.-Illustrated London News. ADCIDENTS IN THE HUNTING FIELD.-Our Grant- ham correspondent says:—' Tupsday was a very disastrous day in the hunting field. The meet was at Cold Harbour, about 21 miles from here, on the Bridge-end-road, and the hounds went as far as Osbournby, near Falkingham. The Rev. W. C. Newcome, of Boothby, had a severe fall; Sir Thomas Whichcote broke a collar-bone and Mr Cecil Thorold (brother of Sir John Thorold), who was on a visit to Sir Thomas Whichcote, had a leg broken.'—Stam- ford Mercury. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION.—The Doivnpatrick Recorder reports a case of alleged spontaneous combustion in the human body as having occured in that town. A woman named Mary M'Mullen and her son, living in a house in Baron-lane, were missed, and the door of their house was forced open. Hugh M'Mullen, the son, was found lying with his head next the fireplace, and his feet to° wards the door, quite insensible. In an inner room were found lying under the window simply a few fragments of what had been his mother. A bed and bedstead in the room had been burnt, and she had died by fire. Some furniture in the apart- ment was still smouldering. The only portions of her body found were the breast, hands, both feet, and the lower part of the leg bones. The upper portions of the leg, the thighs, and all the parts of the body not specified as having been found were completely calcined. Hugh M'Mullen died in the Infirmary the same night. At the inquest Mr Newport White, M.D., said he was strongly in- clined to the opinion that the woman's death was caused by spontaneous combustion. In the 'case of Hugh M'Mullen the jury returned a verdict of 4 Death from effusion on the brain, caused bv blood poisoning frpm smoke;' and in the case of Mary M'Mullen' Burnt to death.' THE FEMALE BARMAN.—The notorious Mary Anne Walker, 'the female barman,' is once more wanted by the police—this time on a charge or felony. The career of this brazen women seems to have been most extraordinary. A few months ago she was charged with robbing the till of a public-house where she had managed, in the dis- guise of a man, to obtain employment behind the bar. It has just been discovered that detection and punishment failed to reform Mary Anne Walker. From the beginning of September up to Wednesday the 13th inst, she has been performing, under the name of Charles Arnold, the functions of a porter at the Paddington terminus of the Great Western Railway. She was taken ill, and her sex was discovered by her landlady. On Thursday she absconded, ^taking with her several suits of men's clothes, and a Great Western Rail- way pass. It seems that the female barman,' on being convicted of robbing the till, served a term of imprisonment with hard labour in the House of Correction, and was then sent to a reformatory called the I Elizabeth Fry Refuge.' There her con- duct was so scandalous that she was expelled as incorrigible. Count Ory among the nuns must have been an exemplary character in comparison with Mary Anne Walker. After her expulsion, she went to the keeper of a wardrobe shop, who bad known her family and herself in better days, obtained shelter, and, in time, induced her hostess to provide her with male attire. She then sought and found employment at the Great Western Rail- way. The earlier adventures of this erratic Amazon are said to have been even more extraordinary. She is the daughter of a respectable publican in Westminster, who sent her to a boarding-school. Her passion for masquerading as a boy grew upon her till she ran away from school in male clothes, and she was next detected in her disguise as a messenger at Jesus College, Cambridge. Then she became a booking clerk-at least so it is reported, although the circumstance seems well- nigh incredible-at the Birmingham Station of the London and North Western Railway. From this respectable post she was discharged for getting drunk. She then obtained a berth on board one of the Cunard steamers, where she acquired the habit of smoking tobacco — and, we dare say, of chewing it as well. We wonder whether she swears although for the matter of that there are plenty of proficients in the Lingua Balatronica in petticoats. She has been an engine- cleaner at the King's-cross terminus of the Great Northern; and then she obtained the situation of barman which led to her prosecution for theft. Drunkenness and theft are rather serious accusa- tions to labour under but even dishonest Amazons must have their due, and it is admitted that Mary Anne Walker, if she swears like a trooper, drinks like a fish, and smokes like a limekiln, can work like a coalheaver. She was always very industrious. We only wonder that she has not by this time enlisted in the Grenadier Guards, driven an omnibus, ridden a steeplechase, fought Tom King for the champion's belt, and served in the metropolitan police. The worst of all is, that although both ber parents are dead, the misguided woman has two sisters living, both of whom are earning a respectable livelihood—one as a housekeeper, the other as a governess. She has an aunt, too, who has made frequent but fruit- less attempts to reclaim her. Now a police in- spector is on her track, and there is a warrant for felony out against Mary Anne Walker. It is not at all unlikely that Mary Anne is not entirely in her right senses but society would shrink from immuring a woman, presumably young, in a mad- house for life. A middle course might, perhaps, be adopted in assistiug her to emigrate. In America, if she did not become a rowdy or a border ruffian,' she might become a distinguished apostle of the Bloomer movement. In Australia, if she didn't turn bushrauger, she might astonish society by becoming an exemplary wife and the blooming mother of many children. But Mary Anne Walker certainty requires a change of some kind or another. <