A man named Rubino has attempted to murder the King
of the Belgians. On Saturday last the King had attended a service at the Cathedral of Ste. Gudule, and was returning with his suite in three closed carriages, when Rubino fired three shots from a revolver. He aimed at the third carriage, in which the King usually drives, but his Majesty on this occasion was in the first one. No one was injured, and Rubino was immediately arrested. He says that he is an Anarchist, recently living in London, that he intended to kill King Edward ; but that he was afraid of being torn to pieces by the populace. It is more probable that he changed his purpose because he had heard that in Belgium murder is not a capital offence. There is no evidence that he had any accomplices, and it is most improbable that any society would. direct the removal of a Sovereign whose death would produce so little political effect. There is an heir to the Belgian throne, even if the King's brother, on account of his deafness, re- nounces his claims. The only present effect of the meditated crime is that King Leopold IL has recovered much of his waning popularity.
