Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

19 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

foitbon Corosjjmiiifnt.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

foitbon Corosjjmiiifnt. [We deem it right to state that we da not at all times identify •wselves with our Correspondent's opinions.] Seven years ago'abeut this very nations of Europe were looking on with intense interest at the shifting panorama. of sanguinary scenes being enacted between the line of the Vosges mountains and the river Moselle. France and Germany, after more than half a century of peace, had closed in what was regarded as a life-and-death conflict, in which the say- ing of Brennua—Fee metis (" Woe to the vanquished") would certainly receive an illustration of its truth. The disaster of Woeåli on the 6th August had been followed by the retreat of the Emperor Napoleon upon the fortress of Metz, whither he was closely followed by the victorious German armies. On the 14th was foughtthe battle of Courcelles; on the 16th Vionville; on the 18th Gravelotte and with the last-mentioned the issue of the campaign was no longer doubtful. Gravelotte was indeed, and must remain, one of the worst scenes of carnage of the present century. It was only by an awful sacrifice of human life that the Germans won it; and it has been computed that in the final charge 9,000 Teutons were rendered hors de combat in about a quarter of an hour. Armed with the Chassepot long-range rifle, the French did not stay to take aim at the dense masses of the advancing enemy; they simply pointed the weapon in the direction of their foes, and fired as rapidly as its mechanism would allow. The terrible execution which can be wrought by a long-range breech loader has again been exemplified in the present war. Those graphic descriptions of the battle of Plevna show forth fpromineDtly the enormous advan- tage possessed by the Turks in being furnished with the arm known as the Martini-Henry. It lays low an enemy at a distance of a thousand yards, while the rifle supplied to the Russian soldiers will not carry OlVer six hundred yards. And as the Turks, behind entrenchments, are about the best fighting soldiers in the world, one can easily account for the extraordinary carnage amongst the Muscovites, who advanced to attack them over an open plain. The Turks, with the benefit of four hundred yards longer range, with their foes fully before them, and with shelter for themselves, prepared tfor civilized nations such a arrative as must have reminded many of the readers of the slaughter which characterised the Franco-Ger- man War. The Turk has shown that it is easier to talk of driving him out of Europe than to do it. As the month of August wanes away, and people leave London in large numbers, the special attractions provided for what is called the season grow gradually fewer. For instance, the Royal Aoademy, which is opened on the first Monday in May, closeB in the second week of August, by which time, as the fashionable newspapers inform their readers, the town is empty. If by "the town" is meant a few West-end squares, the assertion would be sufficiently correct; but there is a mighty population beyond these, in which the most acute observer would witness no perceptible diminution. The tide of the vast tramo over London Bridge is still in full now ita hum is as loud all ever in the neighbourhood of the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, and the Mansion House; and away it continues to roll over Holborn Viaduct and down Ludgate Hill, taking no heed of the month, or of the fact that a few thousands of persons, more or less, may happea to be in the metro- polis. The Grosvenor Gallery, a new institution of its kind, and which has been a great attraction to many,[is also closed for the time; but it has proved such a success that an autumn exhibition is talked of, and Sir Coutts Lindsay, the proprietor, has issued invitations to his artistic friends to send in their con- tributions. After the autumnal show of pictures at the Grosvenor, there will be another brief recess, to be followed by a winter exhibition at the same place. To those who prefer a different type of art from that which is to be studied at the National Gallery, Buoh places as the Grosvenor possess much interest. It may well be said that the soeial progress of a people is in no way better exemplified than in their monetary transactions. No one doubts that the working classes of this country have very much increased their savings, as the investments in the Post-office savings banks, and building and other societies abundantly testify. The information afforded in a paper recently laid before Parliament is an ample evidence of the growth •f thrift amongst the working classes. It dealt with the increased total of the amount transmitted in small sums through the ageney of the Post-office order system, which, as every order has to be advised, seems to be worked at a loss. Instead, however, of raising the price of the commission on the orders, the intro- duction of postal rates for the payment of little sums was recommended. For all practical purposes these would be equal to a banker's cheque drawn upon the Government, and would constitute an easy and safe mode of transmission. They would have the security of the postmaster of the town whence the note was issued, and the name of ths office at which the money waa obtainable. They could also be crossed and paid into banks as ordinary cheques. The Government introduced a measure fulfilling thndition8, but it wae withdrawn because there was 1;.0 time for its dis- cussion. It will probably make ita reappearance next year. The calling into existence of the postal ratfc is II recommended by a Committee representing both sides of the House of Commons, anrl there can be little ) aoubt that it will prora a beneficial reform. Although the National Artilfery competition at Shoeburyness does not attract so numerous an attend- ance of spectators as that of the National Rifle Association at Wimbledon, there can be no doubt that in its bearing upon the question of the defencas of the country, it is of equal if not of paramount importance. In case of invasion a sea-girt island would have to rely upon its artillery in the first instance, the rifle would be the last desperate resort when the artillery had been silenced, and the foe had landed. How a people can fight when their country is invaded, the Tusks have lately shown; still it would be better if an enemy could be kept out altogether, than to pour a rain of rifle bullets into his ranks from hedgerow and coppice, from forest and farm. Perfection in the use of artillery lire is therefore of primary consequence. One of our poets has laid it down that:— Englishmen ought to be taught to defend Their homes from the foe while they welcome the friend." When a foreign guest iands upon our shores we receive him with salvoes of cannon, and if an enemy attempted to land, it world be to the cannon and not to the rifle that we should in the first place look for the guardian- ship of the honour, the interests, and the security of the nation. The marriage of the Lady Mayoress of London (Miss Ada Louisa White, the second and eldest un- married daughter of the Lord Mayor), in St. Paul's Cathedral has incidentally brought to light a fact of which very few persons are aware—that 119 years had elapsed since a wedding was celebrated in that great national church. Looking at the number of marriages which are solemnized in Westminster Abbey, this is a circumstance for which it seems difficult to account. The previous occasion was in 1758, the year of Lord Nelson's birth, and eleven years before either Wellington or Napoleon saw the light, for both were born in 1769. The conclusion of the reign of George II., the whole of the reigns of George III., George IV., William IV., and forty years of the rule of Queen Victoria passed away with- ant a bridal party assembling in St. Paul's Cathedral. What changes has the stately building looked down upon in that long course of 120 years? Kings, Ministries, and Parliaments have passed away we have been at war with almostevery nation on theearth; the Cathedral has found a grave within its walls for the two greatest naval and military commanders— Nelson and Wellington—which the country ever produced; the American colonies have become a mighty people; and the sound of the Cathedral bell is now sent out over a community whose progress is one of the marvels of the age, and one of the strongest testimonies to the wealth and power of the empire. Those who have made physical geography a study describe it as one of the most pleasant of recreations; and when study can be accompanied by travel, it is rendered doubly interesting. The laws which govern the process of evaporation and the "supply of moisture to the land; the causes which send some rivers into the ocean with great velocity, and prevent others from ever reaching their destination at all; and the variable action of the tides in different parts of the earth, have engaged the attention of many a learned mind. Teurists in Switzerland have, for instance, gazed upon the Lake of Geneva, and have seen that ita waters are actually divided into two parts by a stream of a dif- ferent colour which passes directly through the lake. That ia the River Rhone, which, entering the lake at one end, leaveø it at the other, and flows onwards to wash the fertile plains of France, the swift- ness of its current enabling it to force its way through the lake without being absorbed, and to preserve an independent existence until it reaches the coasts of the Mediterranean. A more remarkable illustration of the strength of abody of fresh wateris found in the case of the river La Plata, which falls into the Atlantic on the south-east coast of America. It rushes down from mountains with such impetuosity that it keeps its in- dividuality for twenty miles after it has joined the ocean-that is to say it is sufficiently strong to dam back the waves, and t. divide them by a volume of fresh water throughout the whole of that distance. These are cases in which, as the Psalmist has said, rivers run into the sea." But that all" rivers do not find their way there, admits of no doubt what- ever. The Thames, fer example, never reaches the sea at all. Sixty miles frem its mouth, it is met the tide which is sent up from the German Ocean, and no one who has looked at the comparatively little stream fit Teddington, can imagine that there can be a drop of fresh water left at Gravesend, where the Thames has become an arm of the sea, a mile wide. The water which pours over Teddington weir could not, in the distance between that and Gravesend, increase to such a volume it is the sea, to all intents and purposes. Long before the ebb tide can get in any degree near the German Ocean, it is met by another tide coming up and is therefore pushed back again evaporation and absorption into the bed of the river quite account for the preservation of a uniform quantity of water except in cases of heavy floods, when the sea, pushing back the land water, forces it over the banks, as after the fashion of last winter and its predecessor. A singular-looking erection in Parliament-square, or L as it is called, Westminster Palace Gardens, has made its appearance within the past few days, and has ex- cited much attention. It is a scaffolding which repre- sents a model of Cleopatra's Needle, the great monolithic obelisk which Dr. ErasmuB Wilson is bringing from Egypt. The stone is therefore put in dummy to ascertain the opinion of the public respect- ing the suitability of the site, which seems an excellent one. When the improvements in Parliament-street are completed, and the whole thoroughfare is opened up, Cleopatra's Needle will be visible from Trafalgar- square. It will also be in a direct line with the thoroughfare which leads from Victoria-street to the Palace of Westminster. It will be within a stone's throw of the venerable Abbey, upon which the shadows of 800 years look down, and which it exceeds in age by five and twenty centuries. And it will be a perpetual reminder to members of Parliament, who will see it every day, that a civilization of which the Egyptians were quite as proud aa we are of ours, perished and decayed. This monument has witnessed the departure of 3,300 years and upon it might well be inscribed-" Si.c transit gloria mwncU (" The world's glory fleeth &,way. ') Seldom do the three taps of the yeoman uslfer of the Black Rod come with more welcome to the door of the House of Commons than on the day of the pro- rogation of Parliament. The heated debates, the stormy scenes, the ministerial explanations, the oppo- sition criticisms, lead up to but one conclusion. Black Rod blandly says Mr. Speaker, I am required by the Lords Commissioners representing her Majesty to command the immediate attendance of this honour- able House in the House of Peers." Not another sentence can then be spoken. The Speaker, preceded by the Serjeant-at-Arms, bearing the mace, advances to the bar of their Lordships' House, and, the Royal message being read, he returns, with the members who have accompanied him, to their own Chamber, and the work of the legislative year is done. No more defiance from one side, or triumph for the other; the angry cries upon the rigàt, or the ringing cheers upon the left, will be no longer heard. For six months to come the representatives of the people will be scattered to the four cardinal points, and- the Palpee of Westminster will be left to the British artisan, from whose attentions, indeed, it seems to be but seldom free.

LOSS OF A MAIL STEAMER.

VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO THE…

GREAT FIRE IN RUSSIA. I

THE COLORADO BEETLE.

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WAR NEWS

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AN INCIDENT OF THE WAR.

EXECUTION AT CHESTER.

JEWISH MARRIAGES.

EPITOME OF NEWS.

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------AMERICAN HUMOUR.

IIFOALLAIWOITS utclligtlttt.