Pontypool Free Press and Herald of the Hills

(Russian Official Despatch.) RUSSIAN HEAD-QUARTERS, POREDIM, Sept. 8. No attack has been made to-day by the Turks upon Kadikoi and Popkoi. After the occupation of Kazalevo by the Turks the Rust- chuk column repelled a Turkish attack upon Oblowo, but re- tired notwithstanding to fresh positions. On the 6th inst., the troops of our Western column ap- proached Plevna, and during the night erected batteries on the heights surrounding the Turkish fortifications. Unob- served by the Turks our troops worked all night without nlndrance. On the morning of the 7th, at six o'clock pre- cisely, our siege batteries opened fire with a salvo. The cannonade lasted throughout the day. On our side the com- mander of battery 16 of the Gudim Artillery Brigade was killed and two artillery officers were wounded. Our exact Ion on the 7th is not yet known but it was not large. Dur- ing the ensuing night our troops exchanged some shots with the Turks. To-day, the 8th inst., at half-past five in the morning, the artillery engagement was renewed with great vigour. At the other points of the theatre of war everything was quiet on the 7th. At the capture of Loftcha Colonel Kusow, commander of the Pskow Regiment, and Colonel Kirdham, commander of the 11th Rifle Battalion, were killed and one officer was wounded. (Russian Official Despatch.) RUSSIAN HEAD-QUARTERS, POREDIM, SEPT. 9. Yesterday, at daybreak, our batteries drew still nearer to Plevna. The cannonade lasted the whole day. In the even- ing our left wing succeeded in occupying the heights to the south of the town, with a loss of 500 men. The centre and the right wing have approached within 1,200 to 1,400 yards of the Turkish fortifications. The village of Uschitza has been occupied by our troops. Our losses in the centre and on the right wing are not great on the whole. The cannonade lasted the whole night, and has increased In violence this morning.

SURRENDER OF NICKSICH. The Correspondent of The Times with the Montenegrin army gives the following particulars of the surrender of Nicksich :—Yesterday I telegraphed you briefly the taking of Nicksich. The garrison made an unconditional surrender, further resistance being impossible, except at a serious sacrifice of life, and the ultimate maintenance even of the citadel was impossible at any price. The population of Nick- sich,dismayed by the successful storming of the heights on the attacks of the two nights previous, which placed both the city and citadel under the fire of the musketry of the besiegers, refused to fight, and after the capture of the site command- ing the western defences, abandoned the trenches, while the defence of the Regulars was brief and ineffective, the assault on the second night only costing the Montenegrins one killed and two wounded, the affair being finished in five minutes; and when subsequently the remaining re- doubts were menaced, they were abandoned pre- cipitately, and their occupation by the besiegers placed the gunners on the citadel under a cross fire of artil- lery from three directions, and musketry at 300 yards from another, and the guns being all en barbette, continuance of their fire was impracticable. On receiving assurance of the benevolent disposition of the Prince, the fortress was sur- rendered unconditionally, and the garrison marched out with arms and baggage en route for Gatschk, where they elected to go. The officers of the garrison describe the artillery fire of the Russians during the last few days as very effective, and during the bombardment of Friday the Turkish guns hardly replied. The losses of the two days at the guns were above 30 men, and during the whole siege 200 killed, wounded and prisoners. Thirty wounded were found in the hospital in a wretched condition, and were immediately taken in charge by the Russian Red Cross Delegation. Ihe popula- tion of Nicksich are permitted to go wherever they prefer, and it is believed the greater part of the Mussulmans will go to Herzegovina, the exodus thitherward being already very considerable. Many will, however remain, and the Prince has given them abundant assurance that all their rights will be protected. The conduct of the Montenegrin troops is excellent, and they mingle with the population freely and in the most friendly manner, not the slightest disorder occurring, though Montenegrins and Mussulmans equally retain their arms, and the former move unrestrictedly through the city in great numbers. I went through the city shortly after the sortie of the garrison, and saw no indication of malevolence on the part of the population; groups of them here and there were discussing good-humouredly the events of the siege with our men. The fortress is not much damaged by the artillery fire, but la, notwithstanding, in a most ruinons state, no repairs having been made for many years, and no material existed even for temporary works, embrasures being filled up with loose stones and old cartridge boxes filled with stoneq. Among the materiel surrendered is a complete battery of 12-ponnder field guns, steel breech- loaders, and a number of heavy bronzed rifled guns, mostly disabled, with some old smoothbores—in all, 19 guns. Both garrison and population being allowed to retain their guns, no small arms are taken but large quantities of provisions are stored in the magazines. The CorrespondeAt of The l imes says that the garrison of Niksich when it surrendered had only musket cartridges for about three hours' defence. All the cannon powder em- ployed during the last two days had been taken from old pistol and musket cartridges, which had been m the fortress for years. The ammunition for cannon being exhausted, any further defence would have led simply to the slaughter of the entire garrison. A telegram to the Manchester Guardian, in describing the surrender, says:—The enthusiasm exceeds; anything I ever witnessed or could have believed. It is the wild reck- less delight of so many children, and is inconceivable in a civilized country. The people thronged along the street, firing and cheering as they went; the wounded were helped from the hospitals, and came on crutches to take part in the rejoicing: the great bells of the tower and menastery pealed forth; ciroles were formed, the Metropolitan of Montenegro assi»ting, and -a strange barbaric war-dance was performed m the centre by pairs o warriors who at the conclusion embraced and kissed one another. Crowds are continually breaking forth into niitional songs and hymns, interrupted by salvoes of cannon to proclaim the joyful news to the other hills and villages, till the whole black mountain echoes with the warlike chorus of victory. The fall of Nicsics is beyond doubt one of the Seatest events in the history of Montenegro. For centuries the Montenegrins have striven to take it, &nr1 there have been at least five unsuccessful seiges. 1 iu"vbjr can now no longer thrust a wedge of hostile territory into that of the principality. Suleiman Pacha's feat or June last will now be repeated. The garrison captured is about 2,000. Of these 600 are regulars, the rest being armed Nicsicians. Four Montenegrin battalions, under Plamenatz, oceupy Nicsics, and protect Turkish women, children, and non-combatants.

THE WAR IN ASIA MINOR. Constantinople, Sept. 9.—Ahmed Mouktar Pacha, tele- graphing to the Seraskierate, under date Sept. 7, reports that a hot engagement had occurred that day on the heights of Kiziltepe between the Turkish auxiliary cavalry commanded by the son of Schamyl, sup- ported by three battalions of infantry, and several regiments of Russian Dragoons, with two battalions of foot and one battery. After returning to the attack several times the Russians were defeated, pursued, and com- pelled to retreat behind the fortifications of their camp. The despatch adds that the Russian loss was sixty killed, while that on the Turkish side was very small. Further intelligence from Asia Minor states that Russian artillery is daily arriving at Kuruk Dara from Alexandropol. (Russian Official Despatch.) RUSSUN HEAD-QUARTERS, KAREJAL, Sept. 8. On the night between the 6th and 7th inst., some volunteers belonging to our irregular cavalry made a gallant attack upon Moukhter Pacha's cavalry encampment, in which tney killed 60 of the enemy and captured a number of horses and rifles. They afterwards retreated and drew the Turks, who were pursuing them, into an ambuscade prepared by the Daghestan cavalry regiment. The enemy suffered heavy loss In this affair. We had on our side eleven men wounded. The Turks commenced an artillery engagement with the Kabulet colimm- on the 3rd of September. On our side lieutenant Colonel Kakepiff, of the 2nd Circassian Rifle Battalion, was wounded.

A telegram to the Standard says that Surgeon Weller, of the Stafford House Committee, whilst conveying 24 severely wounded men in his horse waggons from Kesanlik to Philippopolis, was attacked by Turkish irregulars, and robbed of all Ms valuables. The Turkish forces on the frontier have been ordered to enter Servia immediately if she takes part in the War. Fresh masses of Mahomedans are pouring in daily from Asia, and are sent on to the seat of war to fill up the gaps made by battle. They leave their homes without a com- plaint, and submit without murmuring to the many priva- tions which they have to undergo from the moment of their departure, and the supply does not seem exhausted. The spirit, which now reigns in Constantinople may be recognized from a remark which has become a sort of truism, from its being constantly repeated in conversation with Europeans There are two things which we have learnt. One is our own strength, and the other, that we cannot rely on any one but ourselves.' The negotiations which preceded the war might have been attended with greater success than they were had the Turkish side of the question been taken into consideration as well as the Russian one. The lesson of the past ought to be remembered in any attempts at negotia- tions in the future, if they are not to end again in failure. Vienna Correspondent of The Times. The Correspondent of the Standard writes "Gorny- Studeni is a better place than Bjela. I have not much more to say of it, because comparisons in this case are necessarily odorous.' The Emperor dwells in a big house half way down the valley, and his suite encamps upon the slope jifoove. How a house so big as the Imperial head-quarters ever came to be set up in a place so small as Gorny- fHudeni is a mystery. But though his quarters are so unusually splendid—the building is at least as large as a 'villa residence' at £ 60 a year—I fear his Majesty does not enjoy himself with an untroubled spirit. Bjela was a vile abode, but it is not pleasant to be turned out of one's own though it be never so homely. The Emperor cannot but feel deep grief, having such a character as he possesses, at the misery this war haB brought upon all Kinds of innocent people. Those vastly more actively engaged than he in the events which brought things to such a pass seem curiously contented and cheeiful. They can talk with great earnestness and sympathy of horrors com- mitted by the Turk, but their spirits are quite unaffected thereby. So the strategists, who, as some think, did not take every precaution possible, and so lost, perhaps, a certain number of lives unnecessarily, seem quite easy about these affairs. They apparently believe that Von Moltke is regarding them with admiration, mixed with envy. But |he Emperor is a man of another stamp, and of another Stapip also are the soldiers. The one suffers, eating his heart in grief and perplexity, the others growl oHt their views to all who care to hear." The Correspondent of the Standard at Berlin writes:- "According to trustworthy intelligence from Constanti- nople, Mahmoud Damad Pacha, who endeavours to induce the Sultan to conolude peace directly with Russia, is energe- tically supported by the German Ambassador, who is said to enjoy the greatest consideration of the Sultan.-The Paris Correspondent of the Standard, writing on the same subject, says :—" No importance is attached here to the reports of mediation. These reports are set down as toere gossip. Neither of the belligerents is exhausted enough to permit the intervention of neutrals, and it is now said that one ef the great neutral States, who has a great power of control, does not desire an early termination oi the war.

THREE FARTHING POST-CARDS. When the English post-card was first introduced the minds of certain members of the stationery trade were much exeruised by the fact that the public _were sup- plied with these useful articles singly or in packets at the rate of one halfpenny a piece-" stamp, card, and all." In deference to their complaints that the Government was entering into competition with tradespeople, the price was raised to 7d. per packet of 12 cards, and these were thenceforward only sold in such packets. This regulation at once reduced the use- fulness of the posVcard, since poor persons desirous of availing themselves of the chief means of communica- tion were obliged to buy 12 cards when they only wantedone. Recently, however, the Post Office has seen fit to amend its regulations, and to permit the sale, in any numbers, of the halfpenny post card at the following rates:-One for three farthings; two for lid. three for lid. four for 2 id. five for 3d. and six for 3d. "These rates apply to the thin cords, those of a better and stouter quality being sold at slightly higher rates. The consequence of this arrangement is that a discount is practically allowed to large pur- chasers, while the poor man who wants to send an occasional missive, and to whom the loss of farthings and halfpence is a matter of importance, must pay more in proportion to the paucity of his requirements. And all this anomaly and inconvenience is brought about by the susceptibilities of a class of trades- people who, as a matter of fact, are hardly affected by the arrangement. Their contention is that, as the Post Office allows blank cards of an approved size and substance to be embossed with a Post Office stamp at the rate of one half-penny apiece, the Post Office should not handicap other manufacturers of post-cards by giving the official cards away already stamped at the same charge. But, as a matter o fact, hardly any post-cards other than those issued by the Post Office are ever used. If, however, these trade arguments are to be listened to at all, it would surely be much more sensible to allow a reduc- tion in the rate charged for embossing manufacturers' cards than to exact an additional payment from the retail purchaser-in other words, to issue the regular cards at their nominal value, one halfpenny apiece, and to emboss stationers' cards at, say 5d. the dozen. The adoption of this plan, by removing the restrictions on the retail sale, and by encouraging the manufacture and franking of cards by outsiders, would be beneficial rather than otherwise to the Post Office.-Globe.

CHINAMEN IN AUSTRALIA. On the above subject, Mr. Archibald Michie, Agent- General of Vietoria, writes to The Times :— The treatment which the Chinese difficulty,' as it is called, has received at the hands of a portion of the English Press seems calculated to lead the British public to believe that the excitement recently and still prevailing in North Australia on this subject is mainly caused and kept alive by the jealousy with which our countrymen regard the cheapness of Chinese labour. Such a feeling doubtless is common, and only what might be exepcted but your readers would know but little of the actual state of the case were they left to conclude that the opposition to the unrestricted immigration of the Chinese is confined to the working classes alone. My experience of the Chinese in the colony of Victoria extends over many years, and even so far back as the year 1852, the time of their first ad vent in force, many thoughtful men, in no way influenced by considerations connected with the labour market, felt that sooner or later, the Chinese should they continue to come to us in increasing num- bers, must constitute a grave, social, and, perhaps, political difficulty. Hence the imposition shortly afterwards of the B10 capitation tax, of which you are informed by your correspondents as levied on the Chinese on their arrival in the Colony, notwithstand- ing which they came in thousands, and with bag and baggage' made their way„in long processions in single file to the various goldfield townships. In those days the voyage by sailing vessels from China to Melbourne was a much longer and more expensive enterprise than that which Chinamen have to face now, brought down as they are cheaply by steamers in thousands from different Eastern ports. Your Sydney Correspondent speaks of 3,000 a month as being the present rate of arrivals a start- ling addition to an English population not much exceeding 200,000 souls. These Chinese, it must be remembered, bring no women with them, and they do not come withany intention of settling in the Colonv. Their sole object is to get as much gold as they can in the shortest possible time, and then return to their own country, although many of them stay. They come from a country containing some 300 millions of people, half a million or so of whom, poured in upon Queens- land by the cheap steam navigation now regularly ply- ing, could almost submerge our English Colony, and certainly would produce great disturbance throughout the territory. We find them even at present coming in at the rate of something like 40,000 a year, and this rate has only to be doubled-a contingency by no means improbable-to make this foreign element out- number the European population in a very few years. A much milder visitation than this, however, is abund- antly sufficient to justify the gravest anxiety and apprehension among our own people. Already it appears that the Chinese greatly out- number the ordinary colonists in particular localities, and wherever this occurs increased police and addi- tional Government expenditure becomes inevitable, for your Chinaman is a shrewd and observant creature and soon comes to know when he may safely or with comparative impunity throw off that ordinarily re- spectful and rather obsequious demeanour which seems so natural to him when he is in a hopeless minority. Not in Australia alone has this been noted. The history of Singapore, in which place the Chinese for many years have been very numerous, affords us many cases of riots, and occasionally even bloody conflicts between these people and the European population. It is, of course, often urged on the Chinaman's behalf by those who desire the cheapest labour, re- gardless of more important considerations, that he is industrious, sober, intelligent, and versatile to a re- markable degree. All this, it may be admitted, is incontestably true. But this character is by no means sufficient to make him a desirable addition to the Colony. What matters it to the ordinary English colonist that he can get a good Chinese gardener, cook, groom, or shepherd at wages fo wieh no Englishman will work, and on which few Englishmen accustomed to the humblest decencies of life can even live, if this Chinese servant or workman cannot be trusted for a moment in or near a household in the absence of its head ? Without presuming to ask you for space in your columns in which to enlarge more particularly on the habits and morals of these people,—too commonly, we are told, the off-scourings of the streets of Canton, brought down by some capitalist headman or Chief,— the one solitary fact that the thousands who come to Australia are unaccompanied by women should surely be accepted as sufficient justification for regulating their introduction to the extent, at least, of the recent Queensland legislation. Some persons imagine that in a vast territory like Australia there must be room enough for all, whether Chinamen or Europeans; but this assumes what is not the case—viz., that the Chinese, like many of the more enterprising of our people, go into and cultivate the waste places of the land. But this is not so. The Chinaman is invariably found treading on the heels of civilization, and he is found in largest numbers in or in the neighbourhood of the great centres of popula- tion, such as Ballarat, Sandhurst, Melbourne, or Beechworth, in Victoria, or in the settled parts of the northern territory. Fairly to comprehend, therefore, the irritation of our Queensland fellow-countrymen, we should bring their case a little nearer to ourselves. Let us imagine a Chinese Empire with its 300 millions not much further off than Spain, and let us also suppose a number of newly-discovered goldfields on Clapham and Tooting Common, in Battersea Park, Epping Forest, Salisbury Plain, &c. Let us also, to make the parallelism a little closer, conceive the Chinese landing at Liverpool and London at the rate of, say, "iv 20,000 a month—a far smaller number in proportion to our population than the arrivals in Queensland bear to its population. Should we not soon hear in the House of Commons of the Chinese difficulty ? And yet there would not be the slightest risk here of the alien ele- ment overpowering our own population, a liability from which Queensland cannot be said to be altogether exempt. Hence we need not feel any surprise at Queens- land legislation aiming, not at the entire exclusion, but merely at the legal control, of this kind of immi- gration. The two peoples can never amalgamate. Wherever they are found the Chinese live by them- selves, segregated almost entirely from the rest of the community. Even in the large city of Melbourne they are congregated in one special quarter-a sort of (rhetto of their own selection, which has an evil repute for its gambling places and other dens of Chinese debauchery; for the abstinence from strong drinks with which they are justly credited is by no means inconsistent with excess in other directions. As regards honesty, an unpleasantly large proportion of them will steal when they can get a chance, and they generally lie, and lie, too, without any apparent consciousness that lying is a vice, or further objectionable than that it occasionally brings them into unpleasant situations. My own long expe- rience and observation of these people in the Supreme and Circuit Courts of Victoria quite confirmlil the estimate formed of the Chinese by the late Mr. George Wingrove Cooke, many years back The Times'1 Special Correspondent in China, and whose instructive and interesting letters, first appearing in The Times, were afterwards published in a collected form. Com- menting on the almost unique genius of the Chinaman for saying the thing which is nnt, Mr. Cooke, in one of his letters observes that when a Chinaman is fairly caught in a lie he does not exhibit the con- fusion and shame we expect to find in similar circum- stances in the faces of our own countrymen, but he merely laughs it off, as if he had merely miscarried with a bad pun. And yet Chinamen are usually most scrupulous when witnesses in a Court of Justice in insist- ing on the form of oath being administered to them which, in deference to our forms they allege to be most binding on what they are pleased to call their con- sciences.' Thus, one will blow out a candle or a lucifer match, another will burn a yard or so of yellow paper with mysterious cabalistic characters on it, and a third will insist on a live cock being decapi- tated at one blow on the floor of the court, as accom- paniment to the words by which they are sworn to speak the truth, after which they proceed through thick and thin for their own side with enthusiasm. In many cases where both parties are Chinamen a Chinese interpreter on either side will be employed to watch the other in the process of translating Chinese answers to Judge and counsel, and then as commonly a wrangle springs up between the two interpreters, each charging the other with breaking the oath he had taken truly to interpret. These^-then, are the people on whose behalf treaties are cited and on account of which the Chinese puzzle is said to be still further complicated. One of yuur correspondents merely obliquely expresses his small respect for the Chinese Treaty by saying, Self-pre- servation is the first law of nature.' vattel' says, Every interpretation of a Treaty that leads to an absurdity ought to be rejected and we may reason- ably, perhaps, observe on these words that if unre- stricted immigration from a 300-million Empire into a sparsely-populated neighbouring country amounts, though in a civil form, to an invasion, the Chinese Government can hardly insist on inflicting-on us what in a converse case it would never assent to. Indeed, such a case as that of which the QweensTanders com- plain, though it may be admissable by the letter, oertainly is outside the spirit of the Treaty, inasmuch as neither of the parties to it could hare contemplated precipitating of large masses of its population within short perieds of time into the territory of the other."

The Rev. A J. Campbell, Minister of St. George's Church, Geelong, writing frem Sootscraig, Fife, to The Times, also says:- "Some years ago I caused an inquiry to be made among the Chinese in Ballarat as to their condition with regard to marriage. I found that at least three- fourths of them were married men. They had wives and families in China, from whom they had been separated for five, ar ten, or 20 years. Few of them held any communication with them or sent them the means of support, and many of them, had abandoned all expectation of ever returning to China. This state of things is ""the general one. Now, in dealing with these new rushes from China I beg to suggest that instead of imposing a money tax an effort should be made to impose a domestic condi- tion. Let it be announced that in a certain pro- portion men must bring their wives and children with them. No Treaty can bear so wholesome a pro- vision. It would operate beneficially in many ways; 1, it would restrict the number of immigrants; 2, it would induce them to become permanent settlers 3, instead of working for and spending on themselves alone the men would work for their families and become larger buyers in our markets; 4, to do this they would require better wages, and would not be in a position to undersell European labour to the same extent as they can do at present 5, the social evils which flow from the breach of domestic ties would dis- appear, and Chinese homes would be built up in honour; 6, the children would attend the common schools of the country and would rapidly acquire the elements of a good English education and 7, if the Word of God were simply and kindly spoken to them it would be the means, in many cases, of lifting them out of their shallow superstitions and leading them into the Christian life. "Havingbeen thrown into dose contact with the Chinese in Victoria during many years, I have no hesitation in expressing the belief that they are fitted to become a stable, industrious, and very valuable element in the Australian population, provided they are not allowed to come among us as single men-in violation of their marriage obligations—but are obliged to come as families in so far as they are family men. And I am old-fashioned enough to believe that if our Home and Colonial Governments will do honour to that oldest and grandest institution-the family order —God will not refuse to bless even these yellowskins, when they are fulfilling His command to replenish the earth."

A TERRIFIC BATTLE. A Naval Correspondent" of The Times, writing from the Shipka Pass, under date August 26, says Last night, at nine. one of the most terrific battles began that has probably been fought during the war, not so much from point of numbers, as from the long duration of actual hard fighting, and the desperate obstinacy of both attack and defenee. The moon had risen in great splendour, and the hills were plainly discernible in the soft light, when suddenly we were astonished to hear volley after volley on the Turkish left as the outposts were driven in. Soon the action became general on that side, and it was apparent that the Turks, after their hard days fighting, were to have no rest that night. This literally occurred, for the battle raged the whole night, and there was hardly ten minutes' lull in the roll of the musketry. The attack begun on the front of the Turkish left, the Russian columns advancing over the saddle that connects the Russian centre battery and the Turkish left. At first it appeared as if the intention was to draw the Turks forward from their positions in pursuit, for the Russian columns, after advancing within 150 yards, suddenly fell back. But fortunately for the Turks, they were not tempted from their position, for in a short time they were attacked on the right and in the rear by columns that had crept through the woods below them, and now came streaming up the hill on all sides. For many hours it was the severest fighting, and we hear that the loss on both sides was enormous. The Russians at one time were so close up to the Turkish position, that, looking on from below, they appeared to be one confused mass of combatants. But attack after attack, apparently of fresh troops, was beaten off, and as morning dawned we could see that the Turks retained all their positions. It was a rare sight, this great battle in those dark woods at night. The flashes of fire passed along the line like an electric spark and a strange effect was produced by the red light reflected on the columns of smoke that hung suspended over the combatants in the still night air. Once or twice a faint cheer from the Russians could be plainly heard, and loud and distinct came the gradually swelling cry of "Allah, Allah," from the Moslems. There has been no attempt to count the dead as yet, but they lie thick all round the position, Russian and Turk side by side. Eight hundred wounded were brought down this morning, and go to swell the already terrible list, which is variously estimated from 3,000 to even 7,000. From what I can ascertain I think that there must be about 6,000 men hors de combat. A deplorable want of surgeons is felt. At Kezanlik there are two Turkish surgeons and 900 wounded. Here there are three English surgeons and three or four Turkish, with an average of 800 or 1,000 wounded coming in daily. Thanks to the Circassians and Bashi-Bazouks, there is not a roof left in the villages near here to cover them, and they lie on the parched earth under the blazing summer sun by day und in the saturating dew by night. War is hard enough on the private soldier in any country, but here it is accom- panied by misery, suffering, and privation enough to make the most callous shudder.

WAR VICTIMS. The following despatch from Mr. Layard was re- ceived at the Foreign Office, September 6 Therapia, Aug. 27,1877. My Lord,—I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter addressed to me by Mr. Fawcett, describing the lamentable condition in which he found the fugitive Mus- sulman women and children at Rodosto and Adrianople. Mr. Fawcett had kindly undertaken to distribute some food and other necessaries among these poor people, which he was able to buy out of the funds so generously placed at my disposal by Baroness Burdett-Coutts.—"I have, &c., "The Earl of Derby. "A. H. LAYARD. Enclosure. I I I Therapia, Aug. 25, 1877. "'Sir,—In the private letter I addressed to your Excellency on the day of my arrival at Rodosto I en- deavoured to give an idea of the state of extreme destitution and misery in which I found about 1,200 souls, refugees from the villages at the foot of the Balkans. About 800 of these were Osmanli, prin- cipally women and children, and about 250 Bulgarians from the same district. To comprehend how they came to Rodosto, on the sea of Marmora, 250 miles away from their homes, it must be understood that these flying villagers took refuge in two large centres; the Osmanli crowded into Adrianople, and the Bul- garians into Philippopolis. The Valis of these places, being utterly unable to cope with an influx of misery, despatched them in batches, some on foot, and, when possible, some in arabas, to the neighbouring towns and villages. From the statistics I received from the Kaima- kam of Rodosto and also from personal observation I made in his district there are 2,700 refugees at Rodosto town, 1,500 having arrived in a frigate from Varna the evening of my leaving the place. At Tchorlou, on the Adrianople line, there are 400. At Soul<S Bourgas, also on the line, there are 400 in town and 400 Tartars in the adjacent country and in Kerabol, Heraclea, Visa Media, Malgera, and Kazan upwards of 1,500 more; which brings the total in the Rodosto district up to about 5,400 refugees of these not more than 400 are Bulgarians. I may inform your Excellency that Colonel Blunt of the new gendarmerie kindly voluntered to accompany me, and proved a most able auxiliary. On arriving at the town we were met by Mr. Dussi, the British Consular Agent, who is the most influential merchant there, and who, I was informed, had already disbursed considerable sums out of his private means to the fugitives. Accompanied by this gentleman we went to the municipality, where we were joined by the Kaimakam. We found these officials in a most per- plexed state of mind. The Government orders are that each adult fugitive should receive half an oke of bread-i.e., about lilb. English—per diem, and each child a quarter of an oke and nothing else. This was to be provided out of the municipality funds, which funds were then reduced to £ 15 Turkish, and they had no prospect of getting more. We made an inspection of the places where the poor creatures are lodged. We found the Bulgarians lodged in two schools nd a church they were toler- ably well clothed and had some cooking utensils with them, and the Greek community were doing some- thing for them; there was only one wounded woman among them, but many of them were suffering from intermittent fever and dysentery. We next visited the Osmanli fugitives, who were dispersed in 51 old houses throughout the whole town, and found them in a much worse condition than the Bulgarians: many women had nothing but their ferijees on, and 9 many children were stark naked; they seemed to have saved nothing, no cooking utensils, and no clothes. The municipality proposed that all these persons should be collected in the square, and that they, the municipality, should 'serve out the pro- visions and money we had brought. We distrusted this plan of proceeding, and decided to give away the stores personally, and, having hired arabas, and accompanied by a member of the municipality and his clerk, we made during two days a house-to-house visit and distributed to these unfortunates with our own hands about an oke and a half of rice per head, half a pound of coffee, and about five piastres each. This was quite a God-send to them, and was most thankfully re- ceived. There were scarcely any men, but those we did see were respectable-looking peasants. Most of the women said their husbands had been killed. In one house there were 32 women and some children all of these women bad lost their husbands, about a third were suffering from fever and dysentery there is only one doctor in the whole town, but the Vali of Adrianople promised me to send another at once. There were not many wounded o#e girl of 16 had a bullet wound in her back, the ball remaining in, and another through her arm; she was doing well. The most painful sight to see were infants at the breast dying of hunger, the mother's milk failing through their own starvation. We had some Swiss milk with us, but we could not make the poor people use it. We gave quinine to most who had fever. The state of the refugees in the town being such, it is easy to imagine what must be the condition of those in the small villages where the inhabitants are necessarily much poorer and less able to assist their distressed brethren. Next day we rode across to the Adrianople line at Moratlu. In consequence of the depredation of bands of Circassians we were obliged to take an escort of a Bimbashi and fifteen zaptiehs. During the three days we were at Rodosto some Circassians committed four daring robberies close to the town, one theft being four horses belong- ing to our Consular agent. "'On arriving at Adrianople we found a much larger number of refugees, but not quite In ao destitute a condition, though bad enough. Adrianople being a rich town and the seat of a villayet, the unfortunates obtained more assistance than at Rodosto; yet their state is most deplorable. The same amoumt of bread is served out as at Rodosto. There are upwards of 6,000 destitute Osmanli in the town and more arriving daily; about 1,600 Jews, and about 400 Bulgarians, the latter people having mostly taken refuge at Philippopolis. The English community have formed a committee, headed by Mr. Black, the manager of the Ottoman Bank, and by Mr. Blunt, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul. They have given shelter, food and clothes to about 800, who are therefore tolerably comfortably off; but they are scarcely a seventh part of the whole number. These are distributed in six good houses, each of which is looked after by one of the oommittee, and the cleanliness and sanitary arrangements are excellent. We visited some of the other houses, hired for the remaining refugees, and found them much the same as at Rodosto, in great misery, with much fever. Mr. Consul Blunt has also founded with the funds supplied by your Excellency two hospitals exclusively for women and children, and I need hardly add that he is working with his accustomed energy and devotion. Mr. and Mrs. Carnara. of the Ottoman Bank, are there almost all day, and the Sisters of Charity are there also, doing the good work to which they have devoted their lives. These two hospitals are a heart- rending sight, gray haired old women, young girls children, and infants in arms shot, maimed, and slashed with sabre and knife cuts. They were all Osmanli and gipsies, and all told the same tale, that their neigbours the Bulgarians, had fallen upon them and murdered them without sparing age or sex. There was one very horrible case, a very beautiful young woman, wife of a Turkish telegraph clerk, now lodged in Mr. Carnara's house. Her tale is that, only five days after she had been delivered of her first child, the Cossacks arrived, murdered her husband, then nine of them violated her one after another, and, lastly, attempted to kill her infant, she receiving some sabre cuts on her arms in her endeavours to shield the child. The number of wounded in these two hospitals is 101, and more wounded were coming in daily. From the abo .re statements your Excellency will see that it is most probable that some epidemic will soon break out; in fact, the doctors whom I saw said it was almost a certainty that such would be the case both at Rodosto and Adrianople. Having returned to Constantinople at once, I was unable to proceed further, bat I left Colonel Blunt at Soule Bourgas distributing the remainder of the rice, coffee, and money wehad taken up with us. On returning I met Mr. Murray, the Corre- spondent of the Scotsman, whom I had known be- fore, and who gave me the following dreadful details. He is the only European who has visited the district to the north-west of Eski-Saghra since the Russian passage of the Balkans. These places-viz., Kalofer, Carlova and Sopot—are near the pass through which the Russians first debouched on Southern Bulgaria. He states that these towns are wholly destroyed, and that the streets, the vineyards, and the fields are strewn with the putrefying corpses of men, women, and children. His account is, that on taking possession of these towns, the Russian commanders forced the Turkish peasantry to give lip their arms, promising them that they should be protected that on the ap- proach of Suleiman Pasha the Russians retired, hand- ing the arms above mentioned, and others also, to the Bulgarian peasantry, who immediately turned upon their Turkish neighbours and ruthlessly murdered them indiscriminately, the women being first subjected to the most horrible outrages. When Suleiman arrived, he hung every male Bulgarian he could catch, many, of course, escaping to the Balkans. The Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians are carrying on the work of reprisals in their own bloodthirsty manner. Mr. Murray found a few miles from Carlova a sort of camp of Turkish men, women, and children, whose number he estimated at 4,000, in a state of absolute starvation. It is these people I hope to reach and succour with a portion of the funds that have been in such a timely manner placed in your Excellency's hands. I hope, also, to make a further report to you on the last-mentioned statements, which are made on the authority of an Englishman whom I know. "It is impossible, without having personally wit- nessed it, to picture to yourself the extremity of misery into which a simple and industrious peasantry have been plunged. I have, &c., J. HENRY FAWCETT. His Excellency the Right Hon. A. H. Layard, &c.

THE SUTHERLAND LAND IMPROVE- MENTS. (From The Times.) In the year 1869 gold was discovered in the Valley of Kildonan. The drift of the little river which bears that name was found to be auriferous, and thousands of people flocked to its banks and tributaries from all parts of the kingdom. "Claims" were allotted, cradles mounted, and for a time there were fair returns. But as the yield begun to decrease, and geologists who had carefully examined the strata of Sutherland were of opinion that the supply could not be permanent, the works were abandoned and Nature soon reigned as formerly in all the grandeur of her solitary desolation. But the Duke of Sutherland has just begun a new and more promising enterprise in that part of his pos- sessions. If the rocks and rivers will not yield gold in paying quantities, he believes that the waste lands may be brought under profitable cultivation and en- couraged by the results which have attended his great undertaking on the bahktt of tt., Bhin, he has com- menced new operations on the slopes of Kildonan. There the steam-plough is now at work, and over an immense tract of moorland, which neither affords grazing for sheep nor cover for game, he has laid out new farms and projected echemes of improvement, which, if successful, will introduce a new era in the history of that part of Scotland. The works at Lairg, which were first nudertaken, and which we have already described, were chiefly in- tended for the cultivation of arable land only, but the works at Kildonan have been promoted, not only to in- crease the breadth of land for cereals, but for green crops and esculents, so as to provide winter keep for sheep and food for the increased population already settled and daily increasing on these lands. It is in- tended to have farms of all sizes, from 50 to 500 acres, and lay out the sloping grounds along the railway for the smaller tenants, and to connect the sheep farms and their mountain pasture with the larger allotments. In this way there will be new fields of industry for small and large capitalists, and when the sheep farmer can afford to feed his sheep at home, instead of having to send them to the low country during winter, as he must do at present, he will be able to put a larger number on the hillJt and thus increase the supply for the general market. Cattle also will thus have winter feed. A scheme so comprehensive as this. cannot fail to attract attention. Let us briefly de- scribe, then, the works now in progress. The ground selected may be said to include a range of moors measuring 10,000 acres. From the valley through ,vhich the river flows and the railway runs, these moors undulate until they are shut in by moun- tain screens on either side and facing north and south. Herb the subsoil has been already ascertained over a space of 2,000 acres, and these have been staked off for immediate cultivation. On the south side two steam ploughs have been at work for the last three months, and about 300 acres have been ploughed up. The work done is more thorough than any which had been pre- viously done, for, instead of a rake in addition to the ordinary furrow of 15 inches which the first plough used turned over, a subsoil furrow of at least 12 inches more is now thrown up. This is a new invention, or, at any rate, a new application of the principle of subsoil ploughing. It is difficult to make the ordinary reader understand the real character of this machinery, for, when we speak of a plough and a subsoil furrow, the everv-day operations of field husbandry come into the mind. But this machine, which we see tearing through moor and moss, and tossing the boulder stones about as if they were pebbles, is like no other plough, for every part of it has been adapted to the work of re- claiming lands where neither man nor horse could tread. Imagine a large horizontal frame of an oblong shape, with four drums about 18in. in diameter and 2it. long fixed to this frame, as the fore wheels of a railway carriage on which it rests. On this frame the plough is placed in the centre, between the drum- wheels. It has two mould-boards, two beams, and two revolving oulters alternately placed so that the machine may plough the land without being turned at the end of each furrow. Imagine two engines, one at each end of a long field, with wire ropes and drum on which to wind up when drawing or let off when the other engine has this work to do. Imagine a mould- board like the fluke of an anchor hanging from the after beam, and so adjusted as to dip into the sub- soil as it is drawn by the Abusli, and add to this a ploughman sitting on a saddle right over the central gear and controlling it with perfect ease, and some idea may be formed of this new adaption in steam husbandry, while another illustration is afforded of the power of mind over matter.. Nor is this all. The Duke and his intelligent advisers have invented an implement for cutting the surface of turf pasture. It consists of two discs with circular knives, set in a frame at different angles like the ink-rollers of a print- ing machine and drawn by steam power like the plough. When at work it cuts down and cross cuts turf and clod until the whole surface is friable. Then a top dressing is applied, grass seeds are sown, and the pasture land soon becomes rich with ryegrass and clover. f Altogether the plant of this great under- taking, including the works at Lairg, and the coal and bricktields at Brora is unique, for it may be said to consist of an assortment of engines, ploughs, discers, and machines for drying hay by ste:im which are without paralell in the history of agricultural husbandry. Let us now visit the works at Lairg and see how they are doing. It is nearly five years since the first sod of these improvements was turned, and five farms set off. Three of the new farms have been under crop for three years, and the other two are partially culti- vated. Last year the cereal and green crops were about the average, and this year the oats promise-a more abundant crop thanJLIlything which has yet been produced. The hap, turnips, and other esculents are all good. The young plantations are thriving, and the roads and farm steadings look as if these farms of 500 acres each had been under culture for the last 20 years. The whole face of the country is changed. Five years ago, in passing along the roads which skirt Loch Shin little was to be seen here but a desolate moor; now there are handsome farm steadings, neat and comfortable labourers' houses, with a number of families already settled from other parts of the country; a school-house, with seventy children, and the secretary of the Scottish School Board is about to make inquiry with a view to the erection of buildings which will anticipate the growing population. The temperature of the locality has been improved by drainage one of the Duke s nephews, the Master of Blantyre, is working two of the farms, and the Duke himself is to be seen every week examining the work and encouraging the settlers. The cost of all these improvements may have exceeded the original estimates, but competent judges believe that they will all be remunerative and it is satisfactory and encouraging in the meantime to hear that the superintendent of the works at Kildonan anticipates a reduction of the expenses to, at the highest, £20 an acre. With lime and coals and drain tues on the estate, with access to all the markets in the South, with proximity to a railway which brings London within 24 hours of John O'Groat's, with anew and powerful steamer between the mainland and the Orkney Islands, just put on the passage across the Pentland Frith by the directors of the Highland Rail- way, and with the opening up of all this romantic country te tourists, it may well be said that this enterprise will form a new page in the history of our social progress and the agricultural husbandry of Scotland.

THE PROSPECTS OF PEACE. The Vienna Correspondent of 27ie Times says that although it is recognized on all sides that the moment for mediation has not come, the idea seems to have taken hold of the public mind, and forms the subject of discussion in the press and among the public. Referring to opinions ex- pressed at Berlin that it is useless to think of peace negotia- tions before satisfaction is given to the military sentiment of Russia for the reversob before Plevna, the correspondent says :— Up to a certain point, by the same train of reasoning —namely, that before all things satisfaction must be given to the military sentiment of Russia- the Pester Lloyd, and the Montagsrevue, both of them credited with knowing and often expresing the views current in official circles, arrive almost simultaneously at the con- clusion that Turkey ought to seize the momeat and take the initiative in asking for the mediation of the Powers. By doing so Turkey would prove, or at least, seem to admit that it was not Russia which had sought and had to seek a peace, while the brave resistance made by Turkey would enable her to accept with a better face than she could before the war the standpoint of the Constantinople Conference. Thus argues the Pester Ltoyd. The Montagsrevue, advising the Porte in the same direction, adds that if the Porte asked for such media- tion of the Powers, it could not be well refused. It ought not to wait, as any further reverse of the Russian arms could only defeat the peaceful intentions. The advice may be wise, even in the well-understood interest of Turkey but, according to the last accounts from Constantinople, the disposition there was such that the advice was not likely to be followed. It would be a mistake to imagine that the Turks are much elated by any successes they have gained hitherto on the contrary, they have just become fully aware that the expedition to take the Shipka Pass was a great failure, paid for with a heavy sacrifice of men, and even more costly loss of time; but this conviction seems to have only brought home to them the real nature of their position, ud, far from discouraging them it has strengthened their resolution to persevere and fight out the fight. They now regard as the object of the struggle their thorough emancipation from European tutelage, which has been hampering them at every step during the twenty years that have intervened since the Crimean war while at the decisive moment it failed to afford them that protection for which alone they had sub- mitted to the tutelage. The Sultan, though deeply reguetting the sufferings of his people and the ruin of his provinces, has been entirely gained over, it seems, to this view, and is getting more and more emancipated from the influences which have been hitherto the ruling ones. How far this resolution of the Turks will stani the test of any reverses cannot at present, of course, be predicted with certainty, but it exists just now stronger than ever before.

The Vienna Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, writing on the same subject, says It was only the other day that Lord Derby told us that the moment for intervention between the belli- gerents in the East had not yet come. Now, at the very time when the Russians have vigorously resumed the offensive at Plevna, and when the Turks are driving the army of the Czarevich before them, the question of intervention is raised from a source generally considered to be official. Two journals- the one Austrian and the other Hungarian, and both credited with important relations in the official world-believe that they have found a way out of the difficulty. According to both the Montags P-evue and the Pesther Lloyd, if, at the present conjuncture, Turkey took the initiative in proposing peace, this step would satisfy the pride of the Russian Govern- ment, and would dispose it to accept negotiations in which the Powers might intervene without wounding Russia. The Vienna Messenger does not go so far. It speaks only only oi an armistice which it understands Germany is preparing to demand. This journal thinks that, in the present situation, neither one nor the other of the belligerents could accept peaee. An armistice, on the other hand, would be readily accepted by both parties, not only as a means of repairing their forces, but above all, as an excellent occasion for getting out ef a false position. All these reasonings are, of course, hypothetical, and nothing is really known as to the attitude of either of the belligerents. It may, how- ever, be regarded as certain that if Turkey took the initiative either herself or through the medium of a third party, a chance of a pacification would arise. These arguments all reckon without Turkey. Mean- while the diplomatic situation is even more obscure than the military.

THE EARLY DAYS OF THIERS. The World says Who remembers now the first steps of Thiers in the world ? It was in 1822 Thiers, newly arrived in Paris, went to the Chamber of Deputies with a letter of introduction to the Due de la Rouchefoucauld-Liancourt, just at the moment that the Deputy Manuel was arrested by the gendarmes. He was one of thoie who protested the most ardently against such violation of parliamentary immunities. 'What is your name?'said Manuel; 'take care that you are not arrested.' 'My name is Thiers' said the little young man, 'and like you, I am from Marseilles.' A few days after, the Due de la Rochefoucauld offered him a situation; but Manuel having proposed to him to contribute to the Constitutionnel, he preferred to become ajournaliste. His first articles were a review of the Salon and some dramatic sketches, amongst which was a memoir of Mrs. Bellamy, of Covent Garden Theatre. Once Thiers, then at the apogee of his power during the Monarchy, went to Provence, his native country, and passing through a certain vil- lage, where he had been taught his first lessons, wished to see his old schoolmaster. O, is it you, dear little Thiers ? said the old man. Well, I am told that you have succeeded in Paris, and made plenty of money. I congratulate you. What are you doing there in Paris ?' I am a ministre,* said simply Thiers, lipping that this word would at once confound the old schoolmaster, whose familiarity he did not relish, Ministre said the old man. Do ministers make so much money! But you were a Catholic, Thiers, were you not ? Why did you turn Protestant? A Protestant ministre,' repeated he 'I do like apogtasies.' The misunderstanding was not an easy thing to set right. The schoolmaster could not believe that one of his pupils was the President of he Cabinet. At length he exclaimed, Then if it is true I deserve a reward.' What reward do you want?' I have been dismissed on account of my age, and I have waited for my pension for three yepra. Thiers settled at once the claim, and ordered the school- master's arrears to be paid up,"

EPITOME OF NEWS. BRITISH AND FOREIGN- The Mansion House Indian Famine Relief Fund amounted on Monday night to 4125,OW. An inscription on the Pavilion Henri IV., where M. Thiers died, mentions that Louis XVI. was born there September 16, 1638. "An eloping girl in France, menaced by her father's pistol, dropped from a window she had chosen for an exit and killed a washerwoman who was passing below. The least the survivors can do is to erect a handsome monument with the toucking words, Died for Lon.' -Court Journal. The Porte is about to require all foreigners coming to Turkey to have a passport, which must be exhibited to some Turkish authority before the holder can quit the Sul- tan's territory. The object, it is thought, is to induce foreigners to leave Turkey. On Monday morning a large colliery belonging to Messrs. Waldron and Ashley, at Oldhill, Rowley Regis, was discovered to be on fire, and at the risk of their lives the colliers attempted to rescue the horses. They found them, however, all dead, and the pit was so fiercely on fire that the men were unable to save their tools. According to Sir Henry Tyler, 600 deaths during the last twelve years have been caused by railway accidents, of a kind which the use of proper continuous brakes would nave averted. The magnitude of photography as an industry has received striking illustration from the figures presented at the late session of the Berlin Photographic Society. During the past year 40,000,000 cartes-de-visites were produced in Germany the number of photographers employed was 3,000 and the quantity of nitrate of silver used was about 9,000 pounds. A French chemist is said to hare succeeded in pro- ducing a paint with which to illuminate the numbers of street doors at night. Figures traced with it shine so as to be read through the most profound darkness; and the pre- paration of the compound is said to be simple, inexpensive, and not injurious. A large meeting of operative masons employed in the Bristol and district trade was held at the Colston Hall, Bristol, ou Saturday, for the purpose of supporting the London masons now out on strike. It was resolved that a local levy of Is. should be made for the support- of the London masons, in addition to their strike allowance. There are about 1,400 union masons in the Bristol district. Mr. W. G. Grace, the well-known cricketer, whilst shooting on the Earl of Westmoreland's estate at Apethorpe on Monday, received severe injury to one of his eyes by the accidental discharge of a gun. The shots were extracted, and it is hoped the sight will not be permanently injured. On Monday the Empress Eugénie and Prince Louis Napoleon, who are staying at Cowes attended a mass said at her Majesty's special request for the soul of the late Emperor. In the afternoon the Empress and the Prince accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales in a sail round the island in the Royal yacht Osborne. A fatal accident occurred last Friday on the boule- vard before the new Opera in Paris. A brewer's dray knocked down and killed on the spot an English lady, Mrs. Parrot. Her husband was walking by h.r side. They had been but a few days in Paris.. For the purpose of warming and ventilation, M. Flavitsky uses double windows, placing an air-chamber under each window, into which the fresh outside air is ad- mitted, and heated by ribbed tubes, by means of water or steam. The hot air rises between the windows, and enters the room near the ceiling.-Sanitary Record. "The first cargoes of now currants have arrived, and the fruit is much out of condition in consequence of the damage done by recent heavy rains in the growing districts. The estimate is that the crop will be reduced by this cause to the extent of nearly 20,000 tons."—Grocer. At tfie last meeting of the Liverpool Town Council the question of extending the tramway system throughout the town came under consideration, and a number of re- commendations upon the matter were brought forward. It was ultimately decided to take no immediate steps, but to instruct a committee to negotiate with the tramway com- pany as to the terms upon which a portion of the lines could be purchased and to bring up a report upon the subject. Mr. John Bright, M.P., has accepted an invitation to distribute the Rochdale Grammar School prizes and certificates at the Town Hall, Rochdale, on the 25th inst. There was one peculiarity about Thiers which ought to be noted. He was by education a Free-thinker; but he always showed the greatest respect, and even reve- rence, for everything connected with the Catholic Church. I remember his once telling me that when he was a boy-he was born in 1797-there was no religion in France, and not one man in fifty believed either in God or in a future state. Que voulezvous V the old man continued; I first impressions are everything fttais ilevd libre penseur, et je ne puis pas me (Ufaire de ces idtes. But I envy those who have been brought up Christians and Catholics; and I am suie that the more true and sincere religion is extended, the better a people must be. Look at the Commune 1' (the conversation took place at Yermlllea during the height of ttre Commune's excesses)' that Is the logftml result of free-thought among uneducated "—Wluz'ehhll RM4tt>. The total number of emigrants from Liverpool during August was 7,266, against 7,970 in the same month last year. The harvest is so backward in the neighbourhoed of Banbury that the Banbury Agricultural Association has postponed its ploughing matches until next year. The Vienna correspondent of the Morning Adver- tiser telegraphs that, although 8-eneral Ignatieff is suffering irom fever, his life is not endangered. He has pitted him- self against Prince Oortschakoff in the councils of the Czar, tnlt he has failed, and his influence has declined. A boy five years of age has died at Barnstaple from hydrophobia. The child was bitten by a retriever a month ago, and before the animal was driven off it had inflicted twenty wounds upon the child, who was much injured and considerably disfigured. It was hoped by the medical men in attendance that the child would reoover, but symptoms of hydrophobia manifested themselves on Saturday, and he died on Monday after suffering great agony. The repeated assertions that William Tell was a myth have awakened the ire of the Swiss people, and at the instance of the Uri Government, :111. Leonard Muller, a dis- tinguished Swiss historian, has prepared a work in which he shows that Tell actually achieved the various feats of strength and expertness associated with his name. There would be nothing in those physical feats nowadays; could Tell have fallen 130 feet into a net, and then jump up aud make a graceful bow as if nothing particular had happened ? Perhaps his political feats were his best. An American contemporary gives an interesting instance of a cow suckling a lamb. A Cotswold ewe gave birth to a lamb, and soon afterwards died. About the same time a young heifer lost its calf. The lamb was placed with the heifer, and in a few days the cow became quite accus- tomed to its woolly orphan. One has to go from home to hear news. An American paper says that the managers of the London Zoological Gardens have offered a reward of 2,500 dols. for the safe delivery in England of a monster anaconda, measuring 36 feet in length, and a yard in diameter, now holding undis- puted possession of a large pond near .Matarin, Venezuela. These serpents are caught with live dogs as bait. After swallowing the dog the snake takes a nap, and the fisherman takes the snake. Archdeacon Denison at his harvest home festival, in replying to a toast, said he had made up his mind not to plant another potato as long as he lived. To do so was simply to waste the seed, and poison the ground, and the more they planted that tuber tlae more they would poison the ground until it stank in their nostrils. They had far better plant peas and beans, beetroot, and such other vegetables that were not subject to the disease, and with the profit of the surplus crop purchase potatoes from else- where. The will of Mr. Samuel Warren, the author of Ten Thoiuand a Tear, was sworn under £ 12,000. The manuscript ef that celebrated novel he leaves to his elcTest son, to be kept as an heirloom as long as posei ble. The Due de Lesparre, brother of the Due de Gra- mont, died last tftek somewhat suddenly. He was one of the most distinguished cavalry officers in the French army, and after being slightly wounded at the battle of Rezon- ville, commanded a brigade of cavalry at Metz during the siege. Upon his return from captivity in Prussia, he was appointed to the command of a brigade in the army which besieged Paris during the Commune, and since then he has been acting as inspector-general in Algeria. He was buried on Friday at Mauvieres, in the Seine-et-Oise. M. Thiers died in the little iron bed scarcely larger than a child's, which he has used for fifty years. It was wheeled into the small drawing-room where he had break- fasted. He took it with him on his tour through Europe in 1870. Madame Thiers, before the corpse was soldered down in a leaden coffin cut off a lock of hair, entwined it with a lock of her own, and made a bracelet oi it. No fewer than 40 applications for new licenses have been made at the Ilford Brewster Sessions, 25 of them being to sell spirits. Of these latter the magistrate refused 20 pointblank, the remaining five being held over for further consideration and to view the houses and localities con- cerned. All the applications for new beer-house licenses were likewise declined, as were also three applications for bagatelle licenses. Several applications made by grocers were granted, the magistrates having no discretionary power in those cases. The chairman stated that although there were 600 licensed houses in the division there had been only three convictions during the year. A Bill legalising marriage with a deceased wife's Sister has been passed by the Legislature of Natal, and approved by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony. An open competition for four situations of law clerk in the solicitor's office of the Inland Revenue Department will be held in London, on Tuesday, the 23rd of October, and following days. "By a sinister coincidence, Le Grclot published on the 2nd inst. a caricacture representing Thiers carrying in his hand the scythe of Time, who had borrowed from him his stick. Thiers was represented treading on the papers announcing his malady, and was walking arm-in-arm with Time, whom he seemed likely to outlive. On the 3rd Sep- tember-viz., one day after this brevet de longue vie had been given to him-lhiers died.The World. During the winter season the experiment of lighting a great London theatre with electric candles, in place of gas, will he made. It is believed that the new light will be better, cheaper, and safer than the old one. The cost of carrying out a scheme for supplying Sydney, New South Wales, with water according to the suggestions of Mr. William Clark, will be £ 1,250,000.—Sani- tary Record. The supply of live stoek and fresh meat at Liver- pool last week was in each case very small. Of the former 70 head of oxen arrived, while the quantity of fresh beef was 1,850 quarters and 202 sides. Saturday's Journal des Dtbats says We regret to learn from private sources that the Pope's health just now inspires the most serious anxiety." Mr. John Bright, M.P., in declining an invitation to be present at the unveiling of the Bamford statue at Old- ham writes I am glad that respect should be paid to the memory of Passages in the Life of a Radical.' Bamford was a reformer when to be so was unsafe, and he suffered for his faith. Happily we are living in more quiet times." The cylinder containing Cleopatra's Needle has been towed into a dry dock at Alexandria to be fitted, and when this is done and the towing arranged, the voyage to this country will commence. Mr.Layard has received from the Sultan a firman authorising excavations at Nineveh. The Count of Paris (the Paris Journal says) is, we believe, the only member of the family that has presented himself at the hotel in the. Place Saist-George* since the death of its occupant. He left his card for MduiLb. Thiers with special instructions that it should be handed to her. The Hon. W. F. Tollemache, M.P., has been acci- dentally shot in the leg by his son while out shooting near Tilstone Lodge, Cheshire. The Nantwich Guardian states, however, that the injury he has sustained is by no means serious. An inquest was held at Walton-on-Thames on Satur- day on the body of Mrs. Lushington, the wife of the vicar of the parish, which was found in the Thames near the weir on the previous Wednesday. According to the evidence Mrs. Lushington was last seen alive the previous evening, and had not been seen to leave the house. Mr. Lushington was absent on his holiday. Mr. Reece, a surgeon, said he had examined the body, and found no injuries upon it. He had attended the deceased, who suffered from nervousness and hysteria. The jury returned a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind. The American papers give particulars of the illness and death of the Mormon Prophet. An imprudently heavy meal, eaten on a day of extreme heat, caused his ill- nels-namely, an obstinate internal steppage. Although accustomed publicly to denounce physicians, the Prophet summoned a Gentile doctor; but it was too late. His pre- carious state was kept very secret, but got known sufficiently for swarms of Mormon leaders to arrive, and he died sur- rounded by a crowd of wivjes and daughters, as well as all the ehief Mermon councillors. New York papers unani- el mously believe Mormonism will dwindle away. The squirrel is a pretty little creature, and it is not easy to believe any harm of him. Indeed, the variety with which we are most familiar in this country has never been accused of doing much mischief, at any rate to farmers. But the TamMM. or ground squirrels of America, have a very different character, and their depredations upon the corn crops are so serious in the Western States that farmers there are even asking for a compulsory law for their de struction. The present harvest, when it is ended, will have been one of the most prolonged on record, owing to the late- ness of the barley crop. Labourers in regular employment will reap a great benefit, as they have time to do work which is usually dSne by outsiders. Many of them will have had five or six weeks of harvest wagps instead of three or four. They know tnis, and are unusually quiet. There is no hurry and plenty of good pay, which exactly suits them, Mark-lane Express. There have just been placed at the entrance to the South Kensington Museum four magnified drawings of different stages of the Colorado beetle, drawn by Mr. Andrew Murray F.L.S., naturalist to the Science and Art Department. They show the pupa, the "grub" as it is labelled, at full growth, the beetle at rest, and the beetle on the wing. This last is the most interesting drawing to people in England, as the appearance of the beetle at rest is now somewhat familiar through the many drawings and the models that have been issued. As Mr. Murray has studied the beetle in America, not only the shape but the hue of the wings may be taken as correct. They are of a delicate pink, and look so beautiful that it might be welcomed in England as an addition to our insects were its ravages not so expensive. The Rodney, 1,447 tons, Captain Louttit, chartered by Sir Arthur Blyth, K.C.M.G., the Agent-General for South Australia, left Plymouth on Sunday morning for Port Adelaide with 448 emigrants, under the charge of Dr. J. H. Cartwright, surgeon, among whom were 149 single female domestic servants, under the care of Miss Margaret David- Bon, matron. A shocking accident has occurred at Willenhall, near Wolverhampton, through the incautious use of firearms. Two youths, named Charles Lloyd and Jeffrey Wakelam, each 17 years of age, were larking together at the house of Wakelam's father. Wakelam began snapping a revolver pistol, which suddenly went off, and its contents were lodged in his companion's head. Wakelam's grief was indescrib- able, as the deceased and himself had been friends from their early years. The South Australian Register says :-The farming prospects in Australia continue as bright as ever. Never in the history of the colony has there been a more favourable season for the cultivated of the soil. Copious rains, inter- mingled with days of sunshine, have produced a richness of growth such as has never been surpassed. This is not the case in one district only, but throughout the colony. From the extreme South to the furthermost outpost of agricultural settlement in the North the fields are ciutlud with a luxuriance of vegetation which awakens hopes of an abundant harvest. A foreigu cattle market was opened at Sunderland on Monday. The Privy Council having granted the port extraordinary privileges, owing to the peculiar facilities for the prevention of infection, the port commissioners have erected lairs, &c., costing £2,000. Three hundred and thirty-six head of cattle and 26 iambs arrived by steamer from Tonning on Saturday, and having undergone quarantine in appointed lairs, were offered for sale. The beasts were in splendid condition, and nearly all were sold at from 7s. to 9s. per stone. They will be killed on the island on which they were landed, and the carcasses despatched by rail. There is one bit of rather good news for India. The silver mines of Beru are becoming exhausted, or rather it has become necessary to work them at so great a depth that it hardly pays to raise the ore. This fact should tend to raise the value of the rupee. But the apparently inexhaus- tible supply from Nevada will prevent any material advance in the value of silver, although the work of raising it may be transferred from South to North Amarica. There is considerable truth in a satirical paragraph in the Paris Figaro (says the Court Journal). A young col- legian asks his papa the difference between civilization and barbarism. Very simple, my boy," replies Paterfamilias. Civilization kills an enemy with a cannon-bell at six thou- sand yards, barbarism cuts off his head with a swordstroke." There is a good deal both of civilization and barbarism about just now General Grant was presented last Saturday evening with the freedom of the burgh of Inverness. In acknow- ledging the gift, he said he had always felt that nothing but the best of feelings should exist between the two English- speaking nations, and he was glad that the Alabama ques- tion had been concluded in a way that was fair and honour- able to both parties. He hoped that during the centuries to come the friendship of the two great countries would go on increasing, and if it did, the effect would be felt all over the world. In London, on Monday, Dr. Danford Thomas held an inquest at the University College Hospital as to the death of Miss Linda Seymour, aged eighteen. On Wednesday, the 22nd ult., the deceased, a teacher 01 music, was standing near a stove when a spark flew out and set fire to her clothes. She immediately ran into the front kitchen, and thus in- creased the spread of the flames. The deceased was forced to the ground, and the flames were extinguished by means of carpets put upon her. A medical gentleman was at once called in, who found that the deceased had sustained severe burns to the whole of the body, and after dressing them he advised her removal to the above institution, where she was taken; but she expired from exhaustion consequent upon the blumt on Thursday in last week. The jury returned a verdict ot "Accidental Death." Mr. George Potter was in the procession at M. Thiers' funeral, having come over from London for that pur- pose, as a mark of the respect felt by British working men for the deceased."—Times' Paris Correspondent. The Weston-super-Mare Urban Sanitary Authority have determined to apply to Parliament for an Act to empower them to purchase the local waterworks for £2,000 per annum in perpetuity, to be secured on the rates. The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges, in The Times, (as "Conscience Money ") the receipt of the first half of a bank-note for P-50 from "C.D. and a £ 100-note, sent anonymously, to be placed to the credit of the public. A large quantity of young salmon (salmo sola), hatched this year, have been presented to the Brighton Aquarium Company by Mr. C. C. Capel, of Footscray, Kent. A quantity of young turtle from the Island of Ascension have also arrived. A meeting of delegates of the Central Association of Operative Cotton Spinners was held on Saturday at Man- chester. The first week's strike pay was reported. The Central Association had paid the spinners and minders £ 1,432. The local associations had paid the spinners £250, the minders £ 339, and the strippers and grinders £ 50. The total number paid wRs-spinners. minders, and strippers, 1,508 piercers. 3,267 children under ten, 1,955. It was resolved tc continue the strike. The Parisians at the seaside have gone recklessly into colour whimsicalities. The men wear coloured ribbons round their hats, of the most astounding hues—and carry their fancy into their visiting cards, which are of red, green, blue, or black; the shirts, and stockings, and trousers are of the same colour loudness." The iJaiJtj'Kevs of Tuesday published the following telegram from Geneva Mr. Lewis and Mr. Waterson, with threp guides, the brothers Kuubel, left Zermatt on Thursday to ascend the Lyskamm all five were killed by the bursting of a glacier." Mr. Lewis and Mr. Waterson were buried to-day (Monday) in the English cemetery at Zermatt. The guides were married men with families." At Carlsbad, as at Hamburg and on the Rhine, I hfard bitter complaints of the badness of the season. "-No money anywhere! is the cry; a great decrease in the ordi- nary number of English and Americans; no Russians, the great support of such places and no French since the war of 'iO. Mere German travellers than usual; but a German can make a small sum go as far as a Scotchman-and that is not saying a little.-The World. A ship is being built at Glasgow for the use of the Niger Mission, for the extension and development of which Bishop Crowthor is maturing his plans. A rumour reaches us (says the Times of India) from Meerut of a tragedy, said to have occurred on Saturday last. It appears that soon after the Native Infantry Regi- ment quartered at that station had assembled on parade, and while the various native officers were proving their com- panies, a Sepsy slipped out of the ranks, and levelling his rifle at the nearest native officer, shot him dead. He then proceeded to fire at some of the rest of the cerps. Finally, after firing ten rounds, he surrendered to one of the Euro- pean officers of the regiment, who, with a party of men, then came up. The Correspondent of The Times, writing from Rome, under date September 9, says :—"The reply made by His Holiness yesterday to addresses presented by the French pilgrims in the diocese of Angers was almost exclusively political in character. He said it was necessary for them, under present circumstances, to pray for a better state of thing s in France. It was the duty of electors and elected alike to set aside Party spirit and to unite with the Govern- ment for the firm establishment of order, of public morality, aad of a sincerely Christian Government and to attain that end they should co-operate in order that the eldest daughter of the Church may not lose the position she occu- pies. The,pilgrims were about 150 in number. The Pope was moderately well. The audience lasted half-an-hour." An inquiry was held on Monday, in London, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, on the bodv of Mr. Fredk. Bennet, aged 63, a master whitesmith, residing at Hoxton, who, on Saturday last, at five p m., was examining a large bell in the belfry of the missionary church, Upper-street, Islington. While at the top of a scaffolding he was seized with a fit, and fell on to the stone floor, fracturing the base of his skull, and dying in a short time.—A verdict of Accidental death" was returned. At a meeting of the ex-volunteers of Lewes, held on Monday evening, a letter from Mr. Gathorne Hardy, in reply to a memorial from the corps was read, stating that the Secretary of State for War did not consider it advisable that the members should form themselves into a volunteer reserve corps, but he saw no objection to the efficient members of six years' standing being allowed to drill in plain clothes, with the members of the present corps. Mr. Gladstone has accepted the invitation of the Mayor of Nottingham to be present on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the new buildings to be erected in the town for a free library, and for the promotion of the Cambridge University extension scheme. The buildings will cest upwards of "0,000, and of this sum an anonymous donor has given £ 10,000. The Corporation find the remainder. On Monday, Lord Carnarvon presided at a meeting held at Newbury, to promote the erection of a memorial to Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland, on the battlefield of New- bury, where he fell. Mr. Walter Money, F.S.A., honorary secretary, reported that the subscriptions promised amounted to only £ 460 the expenses of advertising, &-c., had been LW, leaving a balance of P-400, of which £ 350 had been paid up. Under these circumstances it was necessary that the pro- posed design should be reduced to something of a simpler character, or that the commencement of the work should be delayed until sufficient funds were forthcoming. The meet- ing was adjourned. The site for the memorial on Wash- common has been given by a member of the Newbury District Field Club, with which society the movement originated. At the Brentford Petty Sessions a little boy, who said he was eleven years of age, but who scarcely showed above the dock, was charged under the Vagrancy Act with wandering about without any visible means of subsistence. When the policeman found him he was crying, but he made himself very comfortable with a newspaper at the station. He said he was making his way to Dr. Barnardo's School, and came from Cambridge, which he left on May 24. The Chair- man You have been a long time coming; how have you got your living Y-Prisoner (sharply): In the best way I could. He was remanded for inquiries. The Under Secretary for the Home Department (Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson) was summoned as a juror at the Inverness Circuit Court on Friday. Sir Henry attended, but upon his name being called he asked the judges (Lords Craighill and Adam) whether, from the nature of his office, and also from the fact that he was a member of Parliament, he was not exempt from serving on the jury. Lord Craigbill gave no opinion .on the point, but excised Sir He?,ry, with the remark that the Court would have been giad to have had him taking part in the proceedings. The Under Secretary replied that he did not "want to shirk any public duty, and forthwith withdrew Those who feared that the recent sale of South- downs and shorthorns at Sandringham might be taken as an indication that the Prince of Wales intended to relinquish agricultural pursuits may be reassured. During the past week Mr. E. Beck, the Prince's agent, has been to Sussex, and at several of the noted sales, including that of Mr. Gorringe's, the Prince of Wales has been a purchaser. One of the curiosities of the hour is An-Nahlah, a newspaper printed in Arabic and English, and published every fortnight by Mr. Trubner. The title page, which, according to'Eastern custom, stands at the end according to our mode of reckoning, is very Oriental indeed. The name of the paper means the Queen Bee, and that royal insect is depicted as presenting the honeymoon to a male figure. All around are plants representing the different departments of human knowledge, from which the honey has been gathered by industrious bees, who fill every available corner. The paper is profusely illustrated, containing portraits of the Czar, the Sultan, and various magnates of the two nations. The autograph of the Sultan is a grand piece of penmanship. --Court Journal.

THE MARKETS. UkRK-LANR-MONDAY. The grain trade at Mark-lane was without special feature. English wheat was in moderate supply, some of the new produce was of good quality, and weighed 601b. to 641b. per bushel. The prices realised for white were 60s. to 64s., and occasionally 65s. per quarter but trade was not brisk. Foreign wheat, of which a fair supply was on offer, sold at full prices, with a moderate inquiry. Fine barley was still scarce, and commanded extreme quotations. Other qualities ruled quiet. Malt was firm, but not active. Oats were in good supply and quiet request, at about late rates. Maize was firm, and quite as dear. Beans and peas sold set previous quotations. The flour market was steady, but not active. METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET.—MoSTDAr. The cattle trade has been tolerablv good, but not active. The total supplies of beasts were not so extensive, owing to a contraction in the imports. From our own grazing districts, however, the receipts were on a fair average scale, though the quality was hardly so good as last week. For fine breeds the trade was firm and full prices wererealised. The best Scots made 6s. to 6s. 2d. per 81b. Other qualities were rather irregular in value. From Lincolnshire, Leices- tershire. and Northamptonshire we received about 1,600, from other parts of England about 250, from Ireland 500, and from Scotland 11 head. The foreign side of the market was much less freely supplied. There were no Ame- ricans, the show being mainly composed of Danish. The trade was quiet, at about late rates The sheep pens were as usual sparingly filled. The market was decidedly firm, and for the choicest breeds extreme rates were obtain- able. The best Downs and half-breds were disposed of at 7s. to 7s. 2d. per Sib. Calves were quiet, but steady for fine stoek. Pigs sold slowly. At Deptford there were 2,290 beasts and 7,430 sheep. Coarse and inferior beasts, 4s. 6d. to 5s. second quality ditto, 5s. to 5s. 6d. prime large oxen, 63. to 6s. prime Scots, 6s. to 6s. 2d. coarse and inferior sheep, 5s. 6d. to 6s second quality ditto, 6s. to 6s. 6d.; prime coarse woolled, 6s. lOd. to 7s. prime Southdowns, 7s. to 7s. 2d. large coarse calves, 5s. to 5s. 6d.: prime small ditto, 5s. 6d. to 6s. large hogs, 4s. to 4s. 6d. and neat small porkers, 4s. 8d. to 5s. 2d. per 81b. to sink the offal. METROPOLITAN MEAT MARKET.—MONDAY. The supply of meat on offer this morning was only moderate, but the weather was adverse to the sale, and in consequence prices were not so good. Ihe following are the prices:-Inferior beef, 3s. to 3s. 6d. middling ditto, 3s. 8d. to 4s. 4d. prime large ditto, 4s 8d. to bs. prime Scotch ditto, 5s. to 5s. 4d.; veal, 5s. to 5s. to 5s. 8d.; inferior mutton, 3s. to 4s. middling ditto, 4s. 4d. to 6s. 4d.; prime ditto, 5s. 6d. to 6s. 4d. large poi k, 4s. to 4s. Sd. small ditto, 4s. 8d. to 5s. 4d. per 81b. by the carcass. HOPS. There has been a fair quantity of new hops sent forwards, for which the prices range from 90s to 120s. per cwt. So far there has not been much demand, but the market is without alteration for the better sorts. SEED. LONDON, Holiday, lkl.-Ttwr(, was more inquiry for foreign Cloverseed, and rather moicu-cncy A-ked for good qualities. Stocks of foreign are low, and new samples will be wanted, prices opening rather firm Trefoil of good quality was saleable at rather more money. There was a fair supply of new white Mustardseed, condition of which was good, the prices asked were too high fer the views of the mustard makers, and not many sales were effected, a few parcels only being disposed of for sowing at about the rates of the best old. The quality of the new Essex is good, and fair bids have been made at the close of the market, and it will soon be disposed of. No brown yet offering. Trifolium Incarnatum was in moderate request at from 18s. to 22s. per cwt., according to quality. Engjish Rapeseed was scarce and very dear. Ntw Winter Tares were in good request, at quite as high rates as previously occasionally for the best rather more money was paid. Canaryseeij sotd on about former terms. Good Hempseed brought enhanced values, being scarce. PROVISION. LonDOX, Monday, Sept. 10.—The arrivals last week from Ireland were 376 firkins Butter and 4,735 bales Bacon, and from foreign ports 2,181 packages Butter and -2,893 bales bacon. For the finest foreign Butter there is a good sale, and prices have further advanced. Normandys ranging from 80s. to 140s., best Dutch 136s. to 138s. Some business trans- acted in Irish, but difficult to obtain prices in proportion to the rates in Ireland. The saie for best Irish sizeable Bacon being very slow, prices were reduced 4s. to 5s. per cwt.: but stout and fat meat, being in short supply, readily brought 2s. advance over previous rates. In Hamburg no change. Butter, per cwt. s. s. Dorset 143 to 150 Friesland 134 136 Jersey 98 112 Fresh, per doz. 16 18 Bacon, per cwt.: Wiltshire 76 78 Irish, green, f.o.b. 76 78 Cheese, per cwt. s. a. Cheshire 56 to 74 Double Gloucester 58 74 Cheddar 76 82 American 56 60 Hams: York 94 98 Cumberland 94 98 Irish 94 107 HAY. WHITECHAPEL, September 8.—With a rather large supply of hay and straw offering to-day trade ruled brisk, especially for good Clover, prices for which were rather dearer. Prime old Clover, 100s. to 145s. inferior, 85a. to 95s. good new, 100s. to 130s. prime old meadow hay, 90s. to 120a. inferior, 70s. to 85s.; good new, 80s. to 100s.; and Straw 44s. to 57 s. per load. FISH. Fresh herrings, 4s. to DS. red ditto, 3s. 6d. to 4s.; roused ditto, 3s. to 6s. kipper ditto, 5s. 6d. to 7s. 6d. pickled ditto, 4s. 9d. to 6B. bloater ditto, 6s. to 8s.; native oysters, 18a. 6d. to 21s. Dutch ditto, 6s. ûd. to 7s. 6d. American ditto, flg. to 7s.; common ditto, 5s. 6d. to lis. ad. per hundred. Mtfckeral, 2s. to 3s. mullet, 8s. to õs. tobstera. 12s, 6d to Stls. crabs, 10a. 6d. to 30B. per dozen.