News and Miscellany

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 10, 1867

News and Miscellany.

Can ye not discern the Signs of the Times? Matt. xvi, 3.

—The mysteries of the war are being gradually cleared up, but there is one mystery still shrouded in darkness which demands a searching investigation. We allude to the case of Gen. Stone. Few officers of our army had a more enviable personal record than he, and few have had a more unfortunate history. There is a general impression that he was the victim of some unpardonable oppression, and for the credit of his superiors as well as his own reputation, a strict inquiry seems absolutely necessary. We trust that it will be no longer deferred.

—England’s poor are crying for bread. They can find no work to do—no wages to earn—and the consequence is that starvation stares them in the face. Bread riots are getting common. Those at Exeter and Axminster have been quelled, but others have broken out in other towns in Devonshire.

Roman Conference.—Paris, December 4. The Standard asserts that the European powers have agreed to the general conference proposed by France, with the exception of Holland and Belgium.

Vienna, December 4. Count Crivilli, Envoy of Austria to Rome, has notified the Pope that the legislation of the Reichsrath must proceed on its course, even in antagonism to the Concordat, should the Holy Father refuse to release the Emperor, Francis Joseph, from the obligation of a treaty made before he became constitutional monarch. Baron von Beust, in recent dispatches, urges a meeting of the European conference without a programme, so that each Power may be free to act.

—The Spanish war steamer Francisco de Asis sails on the 4th inst. for Porto Rico, with supplies of money and provisions for the sufferers by the hurricane on that island.

Europe.

Manchester, December 1.—To-day the obsequies of Allen, Gould and Larkin were observed here, with much solemnity, by the Irish inhabitants. A funeral procession paraded through the streets, and a meeting was held. No attempt was made by the authorities to interfere with the proceedings, and no disturbance whatever occurred. The demonstration, though considerable in numbers, did not equal the one made in Cork to-day.

Vesuvius in Eruption.—Florence, November 30.—A dispatch from Naples to-day, states that Vesuvius is now in a grand state of eruption.

Strengthening the Fortifications of Civita Vecchia.—FLORENCE, Dec. 2.—The fortifications of Civita Vecchia, are being strengthened and altered, so that a garrison of Papal troops can hold the city as an open gate for the return of French troops should the safety of the Pope hereafter require it. In addition to this precaution, Civita Vecchia is to be placed in direct telegraphic communication with Toulon, and for this purpose a submarine cable is ordered to be laid.

The London Times on the Roman Question.—LONDON, Dec. 2.—The Times has a leading editorial on the Italian question, which is considered important, as it reflects the policy of the British government, as well as the tone of public opinion. The writer makes strong argument against the continuance of the temporal power of the Pope; expresses belief that the conference called by Napoleon to solve the problem will never meet, and concludes with the opinion, that the Pope and Italy must get rid of their mutual distrust, and come to an agreement without the assistance of other European Powers.

The Swiss Government and the Roman Question.—PARIS, Dec. 2.—The Swiss government has accepted the invitation of France, to participate in a conference on the Roman question.

More about the Late Earthquakes.—NEW YORK, Dec. 2.—The Herald’s Kingston, Jamaica, special, says: Earthquakes have occurred at St. Thomas, St. Croix, Tortola, Peter’s Island, and Little Saba. The shocks were from 2 o’clock P. M. of the 18th to the 19th inst. Many lives and vessels were lost. There was also a volcanic eruption at sea, which raised 50 feet over the land, causing immense loss of life and merchandise.

—At midnight on the 30th ult., three shocks of earthquake were felt at Santiago de Cuba, and caused considerable alarm. Earthquakes are reported at Kingston, and a violent earthquake occurred at Mayaguez and Porto Rico, on the 18th ult. The convulsion at St. Thomas is reported to have been a terrible one. Volcanic craters vomited lava, and the sea rose 50 feet. At San Domingo the shocks were very severe. Many houses were demolished, and a number of vessels driven ashore. The people of Little Saba are vainly striving to flee from the island, which was partially submerged simultaneously with the breaking out of the volcano and agitation of the earth.

Great Fenian Demonstration in Cork—Over 20,000 Persons in Procession.—CORK, December 1, Evening.—A great demonstration of sympathy for the three Fenians executed at Manchester, was made here to-day. The ceremonies were similar to those which took place on Saturday last in London. The funeral procession was very long and imposing. It was headed by a lofty catafalque, trimmed with green and black, drawn by six horses. This was followed by nearly 20,000 persons, most of whom wore green emblems, shrouded with crape. Over 1,500 women took part in the procession, and several priests were observed marching in the ranks. Good order prevailed throughout the day.

Marquis de Moustier on the Roman Question—Why the French Troops are in Rome—The Proposed Conference.—PARIS, December 1.—Marquis de Moustier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in addressing the French Senate yesterday, said the stay of the French troops now remaining in Roman territory would be brief, and it was only intended to ensure the safety of the Pope. The question between the Holy Father and Italy was one of distrust, and the object of the general European conference proposed by the Emperor was to remove this distrust.

Italy in Doubt about the Conference.—FLORENCE, November 30.—Italy has not yet acceded to the proposed conference. Yesterday an official was sent to France asking a certain explanation. The final answer of Italy will depend on the nature of Napoleon’s reply.

Beecher and Theater-going.—Of Henry Ward Beecher’s permission to have Norwood dramatized, the Baptist Examiner says:

If the dramatizing of his “Norwood,” now in full operation at the New York Theater, had been done against the author’s protest, we should only have regretted that in writing the story, full as it is of high descriptive genius, the Plymouth pastor had unassentingly contributed, in fact, a new play to the theater. But in the flaring announcements of the nightly entertainment, the name of “Henry Ward Beecher” has been prominent as having lent his “permission” to the dramatizing of “Norwood.” And that the word permission was not used without reason appears from the correspondence just published by the New York Citizen, in which Mr. Beecher’s letter to the dramatist is given. Mr. Beecher is responsible for his own influence; but to “interpose no objections” to the dramatizing of “Norwood” was to withdraw objections to the placing of it upon the stage, and to the seeing of it acted; and if a minister of the gospel may thus open the path to the theater in the case of one play, “destined to a great run,” who shall close up the avenues to any other play in any “respectable theater?” It is our deliberate judgment, and we express it with the sincerest grief, that in thus interposing no objections to the putting of “Norwood” in stage dress, Mr. Beecher has done more to weaken the restraints upon theater-going, in circles where it had been held as demoralizing and forbidden, than any other man in the country could have done.

[By the Cuban Cable]

More Earthquakes—The Sea Rises Fifty Feet—Much Damage to Houses and Shipping.—ST. THOMAS, November 18.—Another earthquake, accompanied with volcanic eruption, has occurred. The sea rose fifty feet, doing much damage to houses and shipping. A similar disturbance occurred at the Dutch Island of Saba, and at St. Domingo a slight earthquake is reported.

Labor in England.

The relative situation of the different classes in England, and the complaints of oppression and injustice made by the operative classes, will attract more attention than ever in view of the concessions lately made in the Reform Bill, and the renewed agitation in behalf of persons not allowed to enjoy the right of suffrage. The agitation now existing is the more observed from the coalition between Fenians and Reformers which is expected and not a little feared by many Englishmen. It is doubtless the hope of such a coalition that emboldens the Fenians into the imprudence manifested in the riot at Manchester, and in the trials and executions which have followed that event. The prisoners convicted, one and all, gloried in tones not unlike those of Emmet in the part they had severally taken; and although the sentences passed have been mitigated in some cases from death to moderate imprisonment, the effect of the punishment of those who were executed will be of more value as an instrument of agitation than they will be of terror to like offenders. Indeed, the tone of agitators in all parts of England is so open and defiant that threats from this quarter are weighed, at least by the timid, against the power of the Government. The mere fact that in England these things can occur in open day, and with undoubted effect upon the sensibilities of the people, must attract much attention. They open the question afresh what further concessions must be yielded to the Reform movement, and at what point, if at any, agitation will be satisfied.

Mr. Jones, in a lecture delivered in Manchester during the pendency of the Fenian trials, directs his assaults mainly at the system of land-holding—the chief bulwark of the aristocracy; and he presents statistics of a very imposing character. “A constantly diminishing number of landlords owned land. In 1770 there were 250,000; now less than 30,000, of whom nearly 9,000 were in Ireland. Five of the aristocracy, the Earl of Breadalbane, the Dukes of Argyle, Athol, Sutherland, and Buccleuch owned one-fourth of the land in Scotland; twelve men possessed one-half; and half of England belonged to about 150 persons.” It was for this reason that out of the seventy-seven millions of acres in the United Kingdom, thirty-four millions seven hundred thousand acres were uncultivated. Labor, he claimed, was therefore driven from agriculture to the already choked manufacturing districts; that, although the population from 1851 to 1861 had increased nearly 2,000,000, the agriculturists had diminished by 400,000. “More mouths to feed, and fewer hands to feed them.” That only 300,000 persons were engaged in agriculture, out of thirty millions of population; and that of the 34,700,000 acres of uncultivated lands, ten millions of acres might be cultivated with advantage, giving employment to one million farmers and support to their families, amounting to say five million persons. The wages of agricultural labor in England, he said, were 12s., 10s., 9s., and 8s. per week in as many counties (not taking into view the periods of non-employment every year); and the 30,000 land-owners receive a clear income of £150,000,000 sterling per year. He insisted that if these 10,000,000 acres were not opened for cultivation, there was no resource for the people, as the channels of manufacturing industry were full, and England is not able to compete with the Continent in manufactures without reducing the wages of labor, which, to the laborer, amounted to destruction.—Harper.

Asia.—LONDON, Dec. 3.—Telegraphic dispatches from India, report that a disastrous cyclone visited Bombay and vicinity. In the city many houses were demolished, and crops in the surrounding country were destroyed, the ground being swept bare. Great damage was done to shipping, many vessels being sunk. The scanty details, so far received, make no mention of disasters to American shipping.