The Aberystwith Observer

THE TIGHBOBNE TRIAL. [Our limited space precludes 011 from givin mor1 ilia the following condensed account. ]

CONTINUATION OF TBE SUMMING-UP. The following summaries of tho respective days' proceedings are taken from The Times:- ONE BUNDRKD AND SEVEN FY-FOURTH DAY. [i In Friday] the Lord Chief Justice d-alt with the evidence aa to the life of the defendant in Australia. He reminded He Jury of what he bad already pointed out—that even ll thr-> should be of opinion that the defendant bad been in the Be la, and had been picked up and carried into Melbourne, i would not follow that he was Roger Tlchborne and that w Ret her he was so or not would depend on tho other circum- stances "I the case, and especially on his history tn AUI- tralia 0)e of the difflcultUs In the case of the defendant was his lnaolUty to state the names of those whom he represented to have been rescued with him from the wreck. It was natural that he should remember them 'hat ID F-brum, y, 1887, soon after his return, he professed to to have been aoie to disclose some of them, and did so, ,>nd menttonrd seveial among whom was Peeb es but, In his cro"S-*xamiiml"n on the former trial, he was luab e, s id, to remember an) of them but being pre»aed he gave as one of them a name he had not rememberer, before, an,i ou turning to ttJe list of the crew of the Bella none of 'be n<tmej h*1 h*d mentioned "er- to be foun", nIl. to one of t' em he actnuiiv had beeuon i-oard He Middleton. the sr>ip in wnlob Artnnr Ort >u went out to H hart iuWj. Then again, the fetenoant, being prised as to whether he liwi not paid the captain of the Osprey anything for hI. passage and his three months' maintemtnceon board, said he had a "blnt reco.lection of giving him a uhtck, which he said he had been told hy Hopkins had come to Eugland, but which it has been proved had never been heard of at Glyu's, the bank-rs. It was obvious, the Lord Chief Justice s.t)d, that if such a check had 6ver been dra-n, io would in all probability have found l's Way to England, and that. as it would have been cvnclnslve proot of Roger's exhteuce, w uld have satisfied his family ab ut it. It was therefore morally impossible that such a check could ever have existed, and the very tdaa of it was an absurdity. Then a wlti.ess bad been produced WHO swore thai in 1867 the defendant, then passing an C-tstro, bad attested a receipt in the name 01 "R. C. D Tichborne," though the defendant himself had sworn that while In Australia he had never used that name; and Riner cruln never thsn have used the name of Doughty. But, further, the witness swore th-t re had shown the receipt In this country to a Hampshire farmer, who, however, when cil ed, denied It, and the d cument Itself was not forthcoming and though, if It existed. It would have been of such Importance, and the w tn-M professed to have had It In this country, it was, he said, oestroyed. If the defendant was Roger Tlchborne, to was obvious that his first object on arriving at Me'- bourne would have been to get a passage home, and accord- ingly the defendant strere that immediately on his arrival he bad Inquired after « ship, and that the captain to jk him to the CIlI" m House with that view thougn in 1868, when he said he had been tafren to Melbourne in the Themis he said he was taktn to the office of that ship. He had been, however, he said, unufelu to obtain a passage ho'ue by reason of the nah to the gold diggings," but It was proved that there was a large passenger ship at Melbourne then waiting for pas'eneers, "Ud tha- another large passenger ship, the Queen of the South, clled there about that time with plenty of room ana actually brought passengers home. The defend- ant had, however, a period cf 12 years to account for-from the time of his supposed landing in 1864 to the time when he let up his claim in 18t!6. At d the basis of his story was that having lit) ded in July, 1864, he engaged himself the very next day, undnr the name of C..tro, to a Mr. Foster, of Bolsdala (Victoria), taking, be said, the name of Caitro In consequence of his acquaintance with a person of th*t name during his residence at Melipiila, in South America. Here, said the Lord Chief Justice, t"e history of Arthur Orton, so closely connected as It was with that of the defendant, became material, with a view to understand the story of the defendant as to his life In South Amtrici and .un'r^lta. O.ton, LO doubt, had been si-en sotewhere at Melllpilla with Castro. and there could be no doubt that the defendant had betn tbtre, but whethtru nchbotne or Orton was a question in the case Returning from South America early m 1851, Arthur Ortcn became acquainted with mi-a Lider, and in December, 1862, went out In the Middleton, as ship's butcher, to Hobart Town, and among the trew were twa persons, named "John Llwt." and "James Peebles," and "Owen Lewis"—names, the two former of which the de- fendant had given as the names of sailors on board the Bella, and the third he had givenss the name of the captain of the Osprey. On his voyage Orton wrote to Miss Loder certain letters which she had produced-to be compared with the defendant's—and all of which had the private mark which was attached to some of the defecdfint's etters. Orton arrived at Hobart Town In May, 1863, and re- mained there as a butcher, stock-keeper, or dr< var until Angust, 1865. He was then enraged by a Mr. Johnson, at Mew burn-park. Gippsland, and at the end of 1866 he was en- gaged by Mr. Foster, of Boisdale (% few miles from Mew. burn); and Mro Foster (now Mrs. M'Alister) and Foster's- ormer manager, Mr. M' Alilter, had been called at wit nesses, and identified the defendant as Orton. At all events there was no doubt that Orton was engaged by Mr. Forster, and the books showed an entry of his engagement in Decem- ber, 1856 In May, 1567, Orton was It m to Dargo, another station of Mr Foster's, and continued th-ra until he end < f the year, and until toe end of June, 1853. On the l.t of July he left that place suddenly on account of the death of BaUarat Barry, a digger (whom he wassu*peeted of having nfurdnred), and returned to Boisdale, where he re- mained three months longer, until October, 1858. Ihe defendant bad s*orn ttut In July, 1854. he was en- gaged by Foster for Boisdale, and was there 19 months; and then at Dargo for 18 months, and then at Boisdale again for three months, making thr e year aud four months, though tn cross examloatlon he reduced the periods of ser. vice so as to make up a period of only two years and a half, and during that time he said he became acquainted with Arthur Orton. The periods of his service, however, the Lord Chief Justice observed, corresponded with those of Arthur Orton, In the same employment, as regarded their duration -and as to dates, all turned upon the date the defendant gave for his first engagement in July, 1854. It that date was false then the whole basis of his Australian story fell to the ground, and It was hopelessly destroyed. Now, evidence had been given by Mr. and Mrs. M'Alister to show that this date was false, for Mr. Foster did not acquire Boisdale until 1856, and that it was then the def niant was engaged, and engaged as Orton, and not as Castro, and their evidence was co-, ftrmed by their books which showed the name of Orton, and not the name of Castro. Takiiag, then, t* e t, sstmory, f the M'AUoters, connrmed by the books, what Whl th, judgment of the jury on this great and cardinal question—whether the defendant had, a* he swore, been engaged by the Fosters In the name of Castro, at Boisdale, as early as July, 1854—the date of his arrival at Melbourne r It they khould be satisfied that It was untrue, then it would appear that he bad taken the periods of Arthur Orton's service at Boisdale and Dargo, and had adapted them to his own story, only altering tbe date of the engagement backwards from December, 1866, to July, 1851. It the Jury were satisfied that the defendant was not engaged by Foster in July, 1854 —as he had sworn—then three years of his life was unac- counted for, and the foundation of his whole story was destroyed. The Lord Chief Justice went on t) show, by reference to the defendant's various examinations In Chan- cery and at the former trial, that he hid given ent rely dif- ferent accounts as to his subsequent life in Australia previous to his going to Wagga-Wagga In "1861 or 38-52." In one account he described himself as "roving about the- country without aify occupation and In another, as having been iu the employment of particular persons whom he mentioned. In hh bteet account, which was that of a wandering life. without any regular occupation, lomationel slaughtering or butchering, sometimes stock keeping, some- tidies breaking horses or driving catile—was this a life Rogtr Tlchborne would have led? About the middle of 1862 it appeared the defendant settled down at Wagga- Wagsa— wd<jr the name of Castro-tn the service of one Htggins. a butcher. In 1863 Mr Edward Pett't Smith kn"w him there, and observing to him that he cut tip the (iieat well, r^ortv- d tne answer that he t ad learnt his busi- ness 19 Newgate-market—a startling answer from K ffr Tichborne. Moreover, the defendant made particular state- ments about Newgate-market ano Us occupants, which were quite correct. Bow on e >rth Roger Ticfcb'Tiie have acquired any such knowledge ? Waiving for them, ment tbe question whether this man 1'8 Arthur Orton, could he be J Roger Tlchborne? On the 29 h of January, 1865, the de- t-noaiit, while he was st'll at fllg<ins's, married; an event, observed the Lord Chief Justice, of importance in more points of view than one. She was a domestic servant, qu'te uneducated, ano had had a child before her msrrtasre with him It would be for the Jury to consider whether it was likely that Roger Tichborne would have formed tuch a connexion. Again, was It y obable that he, the representa- rive of one of the oli e t Ron an Catholic familtestt. Big- and, and undoubtedly attached to his religion, vrojjld have been married by a Dis.enting minls.r r Again, It was re- markable that t £ e defen ant described himself in the register of his marriage as$0, which was about Orton's age, whereas Roger's was 35.$Tor was this all; for the defendant, on the same occasion, described himself as born In Chill, of Chilian parents named Castro. Then, In April, lSGf, came one of the most remarkable features -J w In the owe,-ktbe letter which the defendant had written for him, In the name of Castro, to one Richardson, an old Inhabitant of Wapping, tekicg for -1 any Informa- tion respecting Orton or bis family. How, askecfc the Lord Chit f J tut ice, could fioger Tichborne have come to write such a letter P And It he bad any reason for seeding It,, how came he not to write it himself ? ETiln supposing any intimacy between B">g>-r and Arthur, how could Roger want to know about old Orton and his family ? Tne letter -and ct ter parts of the evidence-tad a still stronger bearing on the question whether the defendant was Arthur Orion himself; hut for tbe present it was enongh to ask Low could Roger Tichborne have written tuch a letter? Then the defendant becamf- insolvent, and Glbbes, his attorney, advised him to go through the lmolvent Court. Mr. Gibbes's account of what now occuirfd between hlm- eti and the defendant was somewhat conftued, but In c n- Fequeres of it t- e aefendant rfp'e erted re "as Induced to come forward ni h h!a claim. Meanwhile, as early as 1863 -immediattly after the ueata of Sir James Tichborne ("ho died In June, 18f2)— Lady Tichborne had been pub- lishing advertisements in the Auctrallan newspapers It might or might not be that the defendant had s^en <hestf ,.dvert;s.ments, which be, however, said ho did Dot tee until S-p ember. On the 19 h of May, 1865, there appeared in The Times the advertisement-«f. Cabttt's Missing srien^s umce at Sydney, snd cn tba" very day the -Krwagei wrote to him aijout Roger, describing htm as ;hlrty-two Instead of t-hirtvsix, and with very light brown Wr instead of very dark brown hair. How she came thus io describe lit r son It was fflBchR td understand, and how ,be came to accept the defendant—a light-halrtd man-al ler son, was stiil more difficult to ccnc-ive. A mother's •ecogultion cf a person as her son would usually have jreat weighty but the jury might perhaps, taking into corl- ttderationthe whoYeof her"doftflmr ftn the matter, think that It gave reason lor distrust. Then Glbbes, as he said, In the course of conversation with tne defenOant, elicited that he was the missing heir, and came into communicatiort with Cubitt about blm, and then osme the asaertlon of his dalm. i [A CORRECTION.—ITAE Times on Monday tttd: "In our iummary of Friday's report there was a slight inaccuracy in the passage In which the Lord Chief Justice is represented as observing, 'How the Dowager came to accept the defendant, a light-haired man: &c- It should have been tu a light- balred man '-i e., on Glbbes'* representation that the man be had found corresponded with the Dowager's description ot Roger as having' very light brown hair:' The effect of the observation of the Lord Chief Justice was, not that the defendant was light-haired, but that Globes tut him forward as a man who answered the description of a light-haired man, and that the Dowager accepted him on that repre- sentation."

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-F FTH DAY. [On Monday] tte Lor' Ch-ef Just,ce iaresumfnshfsreview ff t, e lat er part ot tte defendant a life in Australia after tie flis. suggestion o' b s claim, ponted out the grea* imtortan e of h s ewlinr tti'nn>-nt8 to his attorney, Glbbes, while he W.8 ye; at Wagg > W.go(a, and before he hud the meat a of In ormat on which he afterwards acquired. The V rd Colaf JUltlce cbaervød upon what he callt d the"stait- 3iug fact" that the defend aot when asked where he was born faid in Dorsetshire," wbe.-easRigtr was bor i In P rts, snit j a«ed there the fltrt 16years o his life. So, when aekf d about the eat a' e', he, hId they wtre "tied up," and WI u d, on hi> death, go t».' Ms cousin," not mentlenlog the brother, Alfred cor aid Mr. Gibbes remember bis mentionir g Alfred until the Dowager's letter arrived mentioning his dt-atb. Oa the o!h"r hand, he said he had had two sisters born In Puia, who died young, which was true of Roger Ticnborne. According to Mr. Glbbes, Indeed, the defendant stated he was born in January, 1829 which would be coriect; but the question was whether this was said by him before he had acquired information, and there was this difficulty In fiat view—that the defendant had previously described himself, the year before, as thirty years of age, which would make Mm born in 1831. Then there was his statement, according to Gibbes, that he bad "St. Vltus's dance," walch, the Lvrd Chief Ju<tlce cbaerved, was one of the most important poirts In the case, as It was an undoubted fact that Roger never had that disorder, lne de'en ant indeed, in th cross-examination had not positively denied at first that he had made such a state- ment, but had only said that he did "not remember," and that he might have said it," but, being pressed, he at last • wore that he had not made the statement, so that It became, sal i the Lord Chief Justice, a question of vera. ity between the defendant and Gibbes, his attorney. Nor was this all, for It was to be borne In ml id that Mr. Globes had written at the time to Lady Tichborne that the defendant had made that statement, and that Mr. Hodson. a gentleman who bad left In tne sine steamer with the defendant, had sworn that the defendant had made the same statement to him, and this also tne defendant in his cross-examination denied. Again, the defendant told Gibbes, In connection with "the Brighton card case," that he had been a gambler but ac- cording to the evidence, there was no reason to suppose that this had been the case with Roger. Again, he told Gibbes that his family had been In the habit of paying So. In the pound out of their Income to the Roman Catholic Church, but for this also thsre was no foundation in fact and-perhsps the defendant had got hold of some story of the "Tlchborne Dole," and hart misunderstood it lhen he spoke of two modes of spelling the word Tichborne, with and without the Id'er "u Aealn, his statements as to the family property were very extraordinary. He spoke, said Mr. Gibbes, of the Doughtys In connexion with the pro- rerty but never mentioned his relationship to them and he stated that his father had the seat In Dorset- shire, Hot Heroaltxgn, whereas It was bequeathed to his uncle. S r Edward Doughty, and was at Upton, and there was no family estate at any place called Hermitage, In Dorset- shire. Again according to 31r. Gibbes, tne defendant never m. ntloned his education at S onyhurst or his 1 fe as aa officer in the army and afterwards he denied both these parts of Roger's life, which Roger could hardly have forgotton. Heie, then, said the Lord Chief Justice 'here was an extraordinary medley of knowledge and Ignorance, and therefore It was natural to inquire whether there were any sources of information open to the defendant <i', Wngnn Wagga. There w re the obituaries In the Illus- trated Sews, there were the Diwagar's acivertisem, nt., and t.-tr,r, .a a Hao.psMre mm uam. d Slate, an acqu*la'&nc<< of the dctenaan who he said first drew hIs attention to the ad'ertisec.eo's, and who, therefore, it iright be inferred, had some kaowlt dge of the Tlchborne family. The Lord Chief Jti-tice po!nt«d out tha; the obituaries in the Illustrated News wuia have convejtd Information as to the family U, ■>e.' g a R man Catholic family, and the two daughters being born in Paris, an,1 part ot the property com'ng from the Djaghtys. No doubt, If read attentively, they would have conveyed some farther Information, which, it appeared, tbe defendant had not acquired, as, for instance, ttie Dowager's Christian names. But then It might be that the information had come to him at second-hand, through the Hampshire man, and so had come to him inaccurately and incompletely. Coming to the time when the defendant, aft.r a good deal of corre- spondence, In which they spoke of their "share of the tpoil," was led to come forward and assert his claim under the auspices o! Gibbes and Cahitk, the Lord Chief Justice drew attention to seme of the notes the defendant wrote to Gibbes, containing pressing entreaties for small sums of money, and descrtbini his aistressed condition, thtn in the rerviae of a butcher, Higglns at d he contrasted the position f '.h»- defendant, as thus described by hfm'el', with the real position of Tichborne i t that-time, possessed f ir years an IL c,Lue of £1000 a year, and a-nee June, 1862, when his fattier died, entitled to an e31Me of £25,000 a year. He read the defendant's first letter to the Dowbger in January, 1866 and ssked the jury to contrast this and other letters of the defendant with the latest letters ot Ro-er written before he weut on board the Bella He then commented cn the fact that the Dowager, In February, before receiving this letter, wrcte to Cubltt that she had no reason for believing the man to be her son, and by the same post wrote to the man himself, addressing him as her SOD. The contrast between thase two letters, the Lord Chief Justice observed, was most extraordinary, and, apparently, Inexplicable. And he proceeded to point cut what a mere pretence It was to suggest, as had been suggested on the part of ti e defendant, that he first resolved to come home when he heard of the death cf Alfred, the fact being that he did not know of Alfred'or death until after he had sent the letter announcing his c alm. Going on to notice the entries In the defendant's pocket-book, the Lord Chief Justice particularly noticed tt.e entry Sir R. C. Tichborne, Bart., 1 hope language, he observei, not llkeiy to be used hy Roger. He also noticed the entry Hobart Town, July 4, 1854," a < ate, he observed, not applicable to Roger. Then there w<.re entries describing .e T.chborne-hall" as in Surrey, instead of Hampshire; and there wai the address of Miss Mary Anne Loder, In Wapping (tha young woman to wncmArthutOrtonwaa attached), which, ths Lord Chid Justice observed, is to be coupled with letters the defet- dao caused to be written to Mr. R'ct ardacn, of Wapping, a-fina after old 0:ton ard his family. The Lord Culef Justice went on to notice the will made by the defendant while stiil at Wagga Waggt In June. 1866, describing the estates as In the Isle of Wight (where the :ami y never had an)) and in Wymmerlrg," Hamp- shire, and at "Hermitage," Dorsetshire (wtera they had no estates), and describing his mother as Lady Hannah Fracces Tichborne, instead of Henrlette Feli- clt6, and appointing as executors Jor n, Jarvls, of Bridport" (a person known to Orton), and "Henry ADgel" (another o Orton's acquaintances) aud Sir John Bird, of Hertfordshire. He then noticed :he defendant's explanation of tbll-that he "executed the will wrongly" on purpose; and that, though It was made with the view of raising money, it was, in fact, executed by him knowing it to be false from begin- ning to end and that his object was to keep from Gibbes tbe knowledge of everything aoout him"—in other words, that it was a fictitious will, not intended to have any effect at all. But this might be, said the Lord Chief Justice, through his not knowing what the estates were or anything a: out thom. With reference to the names of "Angel" and "Jarvis," the Lord Chief Justice noticed the defendant's answer In erf ss-examination that he put these names in at the Instance of Arthur Orton, who, he said, ex- pected to receive a share of the money to be obtained under the wilL The names, said the Lord Chief Justice, were unknown to Roger Tlchborne, though they would naturally have occurred to Arthur Orton. And why should Rlger Tichborne have put them in? Why did he-not put In the names of Mr. Gosford or Mr. Slaughter, the executors of his foimer will, or his cousins the Bey mourn, or some other of his numerous relatives or friends? Moreover, the defendant's own c uns l threw over with the utmost scorn this explanation of.bls Client, &nd resorted to another, which, however, the Lord Chief Justice ridiculed as too lib urd as to require rtfut»tloD—that Ar hur Orton's memory and ldeatlty had absorbed and superseded R >ger'«, so that Roger had forgotten all his own friends and rela- tions and remembered only Orton's. There was the start- ling fact that In a wlil executed as Roger richborne's there were the names of two persons as executors who were un- known to Roger Tlchborne. The Lord Chief Justice went on to notice subtequent letters of the Dowager when the defendant was at Sydney, declaring that she must see him first before she could identify (having already acknow- edged him), alluding to some inquiry by the defendant after his "grandfather," whom, she wrote, "Roger never knew," and stating that Roger was educated at Stunyhurst, and was three yean an officer in the Army-statements altogether inconsistent with those which had been made by the defendant. Then came inquiries of the defend- ant In answer to which he made the startling statements that his brother was brought up at "Winchester College, Yorkshire" (there being no such place), that he himself was educated at Southampton, and that he had be6n In "the E!6tl1 Regiment," and that he did not know the name of the agent of line nan borne estates. Could Roger nchbotneever have returrel such answers ? Not know the name of the agent of >be .Tlchborne estates, who was Mr. Gosford, his Intimate friend, and the executor of his will ? Not know the number of his regiment or the place of his own education Nevertheless, tiese answers were aft rwards repeated, and were reduced to writing at the time, end Lady Tichborne's statesments being put to him he denied them, adding that he bad only been a private, and was only thirteen days In the regiment. Moreover, be said, he bad "run away from home and enlisted," and that then he was bought cut and kept strictly In confinement at home until he left England in November" (1852), whereas, 11111 the Lord Calef Justice, R-ger left England In March, 1-53, and it was Orton who had left England in November, 18:2. These statements had been proved by two witnesses, ana had been sent by Gibbes to La 'y Tichborne, and were rtferred to in her subsequent letters; yet the defendant, on cross-examination, dented making them, though Gibbes was cath d as his own witness In Australia. Tien It ap- peared that the defendant, being wkel, on reference to a Baronetage, how he came to call his mother Hannah Frances," said she was always called Lady Frances, wi ioh the Lord Chief Justice showed could not have been the case, and Rozer could not have known even If it had been, because his motner had not become Lady Tichborne at all until after Roger had ieit Eagland.

ACTION AGAINST AN INSURANCE COMPANY. In the Court of Common Pleas, the cause of Macdonald v the Law Union Fire ana Life Insurance Company" has bet-n heard, and was an action to recover an auiount 011 a policy of lnmrance for £1.000, effected upon tho life of Mr*. Catherine Mason Taylor. Inter alia the defendants pleaded that the plaintIff Wat neve, Interested in the life of the person assured, and that there was fraud In statements made as to the general health and temperate habits of the deceased. Mr. J. J. Powell, QC., and Mr Barnard were counsel for the plaintiff: Sir John B. Kir slake, QO., and Mr. Petheram for the defendants. The plaintiff is the son of a gentleman who was formerly vicar of. Newbury, in Berkshire, and in that pariah there ?e$iiddd a$ £ rs> Mason Taylor, the widow of a farmer, and between plaintiff and Mrs. Taylor communications passed and interviews took place which ramlted in an offer of marriage to her. The plaintiff consulted his brother, who is an attorney, on the subject, and after some time it was considered de- sirable that tbe plaintiff should insure Mrs. Taylor's life for £2,000. The parties met at tha defendants' office in Ctancery-lize, when Mrs. Taylor was exa- mined by Mr. llandcock and Dr. Qnain, who recommended that tho society should take the life upon ten years being added to it. The de- fendant*, however, wished to have seventeen years added to the life, and subsequently the in- surance was reduced to £1,000, on which the' neces- oary payments were made and the policy was duly effected. The plaintiff and Mrs. Tailor were to be married on the 21st May, 1872, but the nuptials were afterwards postponed to the 24ch June following, but in the meantime the lady died and the company re- fused to pay anything on the policy of insurance on the ground of the suppression of material facts with reference to proposals made by the deceased (Mrs. Fay lot) to other insurance offices who declined to accept her. The learned counsel (Mr. Powell) after narrating the details of the case, submitted that the facts for the determination of the jury in point of Jaw w?re—was this a bond fide representation by the plain- tiff to the defendants did the defendants understand well and thoroughly what they were doing at the time and were they misled at all by any misrepre- sentation or fraud or concealment on tire. part of the plaintiff? „ The plaintiff in the action wai then examined by Mr. Barnard, He > aid he resided in St. Mary's-square, Paddtngton, and waa thw yomtgwHsen -of -tha Jarmer yicar of a country living. In the summerj of 1871 he made the acquaintance of Mrs. Taylor; who was then a widow, living at Goring, in Oxfordshire, and about the Christmas of that year he paid her a visit, and their acquaintance ultimately resulted in his making her an offer of marriage, which was accepted. Afterwards be determined to effect an insurance upon the life of Mrs. Taylor, and accordingly" on the 6th of March he sent 'in a proposal to the defendant's company in Chancery-lane. The amount of the insurance was subsequently reduced from £ 2,COO to £ 1,000, and the policy of insurance was effected on the 9th of April. The day of the marriage between them had been fixed for the 21st of M ty, but it was afterwards postponed to the 24th of June, on the ground that the plaintiff's pecuniary affairs were not settled and that Mrs. Taylor bad not left her resi- dence. Mre. Taylor died on the 16th or 17th of June following. In cross-examination by Sir John Karelake, the witness said thai he had always been on good terms with his father, whose hou-e be had left about twenty years previously, but he used to visit him occasionally. Since then he had been partly engaged in tuition and partly in a deaf and dumb institution. He was about 43 years of age. He never knew that there was any- thing very serious the matter with her health. Mr. James William Maclonald, the brother of the plaintiff, stattd that JE400 life estate was all the pro- perty, be believed, that the deceased lady had. Mr. Henry Gray Taylor, a solicitor, who occasion- ally transacted some legal busineea for the late Mrs. Taylor, deposed that from his acquaintance with her he did not believe she was given to intemperate habits. Mr. William Sutton, an actuary, estimated the value of the life of a lady aged 49 years, possessing £400 for her life, as being worth .£6,000. Sir John Karslake But if she came and told you that she was in a dying state, what would you think her life worth then The witness immediately answered.—Nothing. (Laughter.) Tne Rev. W. H. Stokes, vicar of Goring, knew the deceased lady as one of his parishioners for many years and he never knew or heard that she waa a person given to intoxication. In answer to Sir John, the rev. witness stated that the station-master, Mr. Tryer, at Goriog, occasionally visited toe sick, but he did not know that he combined the duties of a quasi-medical man with those of his profession, or that he saw Mrs. Taylor at any time in the latter capacity. This being the case for the plaintiff, Sir J. B. Karslakett eu addressed the jory for the defence, in the outset of which he said that Mrs. Taylor had in 1871. and for a considerable period previously, been suffering at intervab from the most frightful spasms produced by gall stones, which ultimately produced her death in June, 1872-not fewer that 42 of these being found impacted in the peritoneum at tte time named. In 1869 she applied to the Scottish Equitable Company to effect an insurance upon her life but in consequence of answers given by her as to the antecedent health of several members of her own family, who fche candidly stated had died from consumption, she was rejected an an ineligible life and the same result followed on an application for a similiar purpose to the Scottish Unim Insurance Society. He would be able to prove from the evi- dence which he should call before them that two cf her brothers bad died from consumption, and that she her- self was suffering from a serious internal malady, of which she finally died, and which ahe concealed, from the defendants and the eminent medical gentle- men who examined her on bebalf of the Law Insurance Society. Th- learned counsel then called medical evidence in support of his case for the defendants. Mr. Harry Handbook, a well known surgeon, and for some time medical examiner of the defendants' office, gave, in examiuation by the leading counsel for the defence, an outline of the interview which took place between himself and Mrs. Taylor when she came to insure her life with this company. The learned Judge said that the crucial question in the case was how far the plaintiff was quite ignorant or innocent of any responsibility for arewers fciven by Mrs. Taylor in reply to the medical examiners, and which the defendants now alleged were fradulent and untruthful. The hearirg of the case occupied two days, and in the result the jury virtually found a verdict for the plaintiff, as they answered certain interrogatories put by the learned judge acquitting the plaintiff of ffaud and any knowledge of the deceased's ailments. Leave was given to the other side to move for a new trial.

gUst !nMK:gmce, HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL. ITS MALIDY WAS ON THE NERVES !"—In a leader, the Daily News remarks :— The well known Inscription in an Italian grave-yard "I was well; 1 would be better; and here I am," might plausibly be suggested as the epitaph of the Gladstone Ministry It would be very appropriate, if only the first sentence were true bat this is just what happens to have been false. The Gladstone Ministry is dead, and now only awaiting the grand ii»quest ol the nation, which shall decide whether It was felo de te, or succHmbed to natural causes. Whatever the verdict, it perished, not because it would be better but because it was not wel,* At worst its own act anticipated the in viCable result of a lingering malady. Like the soldier in Horace, it demanded quick death or glad victory and all the tombstone vtrse declares, death has come with kindly aid to loose it from its pain. Mr. Disraeli cannot understand what ailei it. It ate well, slept well, drank well, and showed no want of vigour or tone. its malady was on the nerves. In a word, it was hypochondriacal. THE LONDON DEMOCRATS AND THE NEW PABLIAMENT.—At a^meeting of the London Democrats tL" following resolution, in substance, was passed "Thatthis meeting desires to protest against the new Parliament legislating in the name of the people, on the ground that it does not represent the majority of the people for the following reasons :-1. That the suddenness of the dissolution preveuted the people from discussing the great political questions of the day. 2. That popular candidates were unst,le to come forward because of the expense of the election. S That less tnan ten million adults out of a popu- lation of fifteen million have votes. 4. That the proportion of representatives of the twenty millions of working classes Is limited to two as against 663 representatives of the moneyed and aristocratic classes." EXTRAORDINARY LONGEVITY.—The obituary of The Tima of the 7th inst. contained some rare illus- trations of prolonged existence in seven persons—viz., four ladies and three gentlemen, whose united ageil amounted to 620, giving an average of 88 years and more than six months to each. Of these the fair sex, as usual, took the lea3, the oldest having arrived at the great age of 96 years and the youngest 82. Of the gentlemen the oldest was 93 and the youngest 85 years of age. The following were the respective ages—viz 82, 83, 85, 90, 91, 93, and 96. Of the septuagenarians there were eight whose united ages amounted to 589 years, giving an average of 73 years and more than seven months to each. Oa adding the ages of the latter to the former it will be found that the average of these 15 persons amounted to upwards of 80 years and seven months for each. THB NEW FASHION FOR BALL DRESSBs.-The Paris correspondent of the WarehousemerCsand Draper's Journal writes The second ball at the Elydie was even more crowded than the former, and the dresses quite as extravagant. The Duchesse de Magenta wore a mauve silk skirt covered with bouritoncfis of mauve tulle: a bodice and tunic of mauve silf, ornamented with Mechlin laop. and caught up at the sides with large bouquets of Parma violets in her hair a wreath ct the same flowers and a diamond a'grette. At tte flrat of tiieae balls a new style of bodice was Inaugurated by one or two of the most courageous of our filg^antes, which found many imitators at the second. The It. novation Is a hardy one, It does away with the bouffe entirely, and also with the tunlo. The fktrt must be lontt and flowing, and is generally of tulle or tarlatan. The bodice is made to come much below the wal.t, 1101.1(1 IN excessively tight fitting, the orntmentation being put on to the lower-edge of ihe bodice in the shape of fringe or flowers. It Is somewhat the style of dress In which we are accustomed to see portrayed Borneo's Juliet and F*ost s Marguerite." A 11 OALICO BALL."—The disapproving as- tonishment with which the Orientals formerly regarded European amusements is now generally exchanged for appreciative participation therein. Instances, bow. ever, still occasionally occur of misunderstandings » ith regard to their origin ^nd purport. A festivity lately took place at Poonab, known as the U calico ball," at which the English residents apptared in fancy dretses. A traveller who happened to arrive at the place that night, seeing the Council house lit np, asked a native what waa going on, who gave him the startling infor. mation that it .as Satan que nautch, a dance in honour of Satan. It seems that some ot the wild tribes of North-Western India have regular feasts, at which tne people dress up in fantastic dref sea as an act of homage to the power of evil, The worthy native had, therefore. come to the conclusion that the wearers of Louis XV. dresses, shepherdess costumes, and Albanian jackets and fustanellas were simply acting on the adyice of the poet who suggests that, in view of possible eventualities, it's just as, weU to bow even to the evil one, and had calmly set down in his own mind that the great novelty and success of the season was neither more nor less than Satan que nautch, IMMIGRANTS AT NEW YORK.—From official returns made to the Bureau of Statistici, at Washing- ton it seems that during the quarter ended December 31, 1873, 44,789 immigrants arrived at New York. Of this number 24,693 were males and 20,000 females; under fifteen years of age, 11,223; fifteen years and under forty, 27,583; forty and over, 5.9-^3. Died on the voyage, 47. Of the total arrivals, 7,523 were from England; from Scotland, 1,292 Wales, 76; Ireland, 5.9i2; Germany, 21,457 Austria, 850; Sweden, 831; Norwav, 297; Denmark, 672; France, 1,507; Switzer- land 783 Spain, 64; Portugal, 2; Italy, 1 933; Belgium, 67; Holland, 500; Rus, ia, 209 Poland, 365; Hungary, 122; Finland, 21; Turkey, 12; Greece, 7 China, 4 Japan, 11; Canada. 28 Nova Scotia, 6 New f'luridlind, 2; Mexico, 20 Soutji America, 1; Brazil, 10; United States of Columbia, 1; Ventzaela, 2; ChiH, 1; Peru, 1; Buenos Ayres, 2; Cuba, 46 Porto Rico, 1; St. Croix, 18 Hayti, 1; San Doudngo, 4 Jamaica, 10; Bonacea, 2..), Bahainas, 1; Bermuda, 12 Malta, 1; Sicily. 30 Australia, 4; Persia, 3; Armenia, 2; Africa, 1; Egypt, 1; New Zealand, 5. Born at sea, 26. The immigrants represented 277 different occupations, including, of course, the occupa- tions of the 26 infant immigrants born at sea. THE INGENUITY OF IG.NORANCE.-The address upon & letter recently mailed in South Carolina sorely .onzzled the Post Office clerks, but was at last de- ciphered by an official in Wilmington. It read as fol- lows bon SaC posofes. ron okforginey. tonan -G..y hlankship." » JCwasinfended for Bonsac Post Office, Roanoke County, Virginia. To Nancy Blank- sMp. AN INDIAN POET !-A Hindustani Ode has just been addressed to the daughter of Lord North- brook by a gentleman whom tbb Calcutta Englishman calls the irrepressible Poet Laureate of that town. Hera, is a traDslation-" Bat," sa) s the Englishman, "the English language has no words in which we can express the extraordinary beauty of this poem The renowned Hon'ble Miss Baring has obtained much delisht by her tour. All of us Ever pray to Almighty God for her health and welfare. She is adorned with the ornament of learning, and her con- versation graceful. cr. And this is the beauty of the flower of nobility, Its sweet f agrance fills the mind. Her return here and the presence of his Lordship will enhance and ensure the prosperity of the City. The durbar and Entertainments at Government House will be characterised by elegancy. For his Lordship's continued happiners, we ever heartily pray. May this my humble tribute of respect be kindly accepted. ATTEMPTED MURDBB OF A LOYER.—A Eerious attempt at homicide hjtB taken place at Senozan (Saone- et-Loire). M. Bonnebaigt, anavoudat Pamiere (Arifege), had been paying his addresses for the last two years to Mdle. Marie D., the daughter of a professor in the Faculty of Science at Tonlouse. The young lady lately came to Senozan on a visit to her uncle, M. Lacroix, late president of the Tribunal of Commerce of Macon, and immediately on her arrival informed her suitor by letter that everything between them wan at an end. The latter at once drove to the houge and asked for an explanation. An angry dis- cussion aro-ie, and th6 lady demanded the return of hsr letters. The suitor refused to give them up, and the son of M. Lacrox, an advocate, forty-five years of age, suddenly drew out a revolver, and, firing at M, Bonne* baigt, broke his lower jaw. He feli, and the servants, alarmed by the explosion, hastened in and raised the wounded man. As they were doing so M. Lacroix again tired, striking his victim in the abdomen, but the ball, deadened by the clothes, only produced a severe bruise. He then ordered the servants to remove M. Bonnebaigt, and they carried him to the carriage, which was still at the dcor, and which conveyed him to the house of the curé, who gave him an asylum. The assailant afterwards went to Macon and gave him- Belf up to the police. No explanation is given of the reason for this attack. A PATRON OF THE PRESS GONE !—The French periodical press has lately lost a warm friend and patron in the person of a wealthy inhabitant of a French provincial town, who died there under circum- stances as singular as those of his life. He lived alone in a secluded house, admitted no one to it but a char- woman who cooked for him, and a newspaper agent who sold him thirty or forty journals at a time. At length he did not appear to open the door to these habitues when they sought entrance. They accordingly applied to the police, who being armed with the neces- sary powers, forced their way into the house of the eccentric owner, and broke in the door of the bedroom, the threshold of which no one had ever been allowed to cross. Here the poor man was found lying dead. The state of his room and lof his clothing was simply indescribable, but the really uncommon feature of this squalid den was the amount of literary matter it con- tained. The bed could only be reached from the door by passing through a ravine, the sides of whijh were composed of thousands of newspapers and novels, their perusal having formed his sole occupation and delight. AN EXAMPLE TO CIVILISED NATIONS !—The Fortunate Itles are evidently those of the South Seas, where Tahiti, the chief of the group, possesses, and has possessed for nearly twenty years, a compulsory Edu- cation Act without a 25th Clause, remarks the Daily News, and proceeds :— Switzerland, Prussia, and Saxony are the countries gene- rally pointed to as those In which the working and effects of compulsory education may most profitably be studied. But it would be interesting to know what amount of compulsion is required, and In what manner It In applied, among a primitive population also, whether the education given is denominational; tecular tempered by the inculcation of what are conceived to be elementary religious tiutha, and by the reading of sacred books or purely secular. In any case the Act has been passed, Is accepted ai It stands, and for the last nineteen j ears has been in active operation. The legislation in Tahiti on the su^j E ct of popular and compulsory education was commenced as long ago as 1813, so that the measure which only seven years afterwards became law was not adopted In too great a hurry. A writer who seems to have made himself well acquainted with popular feeling in Tahiti speaks of the existence of a general belief in that island to the effect that a father has no more right to deny to his son' the food of the mind than the food of the body." A clause In the Education Act of December, 1855, Is as follows School hours shall be established such as exttt among civilised people, whom Tahitinns should try to imitate in all their ways to Improvement." In many parts of the world is the so-called civilised people who ought to try to imitate "the Tahtlans." THAT WHICH HAPPENED TO AN ELDER.— He bought a. tomato to take home for seed. He put it into his coat tall pooket and forgot all about it, and he did not wear that coat again until he went to church on Sunday. While he was taking part in the collec- tion he felt as if he must sne< z 3, and he put his hand into the lomato-pocket to get his handkerchief, A look of pain and amszement mingled upon his counte- nance with the preliminary contortions of the sneeaa. j But the sneeaa would come, and in his confusion he dropped the money-box, jerked his band out of his pocket, and, in endeavouring to support himself, placed his hand, covered all over with mashed tomato, upon the shoulder of old Mrs. who sat at the head of the adjoining pew. As soon as she perceived the meeB upon her new dress, she rose, and forgetting the saered- ness of the place, hit the Elder over the head with her umbrella, upon which he precipitately fled from the church, the congregation declaring that Mrs, ——- had dashed cut the Eider's brains, and she was escorted to his house to ba given in charge—when after much delay and much fainting, the truth came out—out of the door-in the person of the cleansed Elder. A PROUD Domiiq iic. -While a youth, Dr. Chalmers was for a time under the scholastic charge of Mr. Daniel Ramsay. There was a dash of eccentri- city in this same dfmiLie. When the whole powers of the kingdom lay for a short time in the hands of the Duke of Wellington, he wrote to his grace in the true schoolmaster spirit, but with almost as much wisdom as wit, that he could tell him how to do the most difficult thing he bad in hand, namely, to cure the ills of Ireland. He should just take, he told him, the taws in the tae hand, and the Testament in the titber." Eugrossed as he was, the duke sent an acknowledg- ment, signed by himself, and for some time it was difficult to say which of the two Daniel RalDliY was proudest-of having taught Dr. Chalmers, and so laid, as he was always accustomed to boast, the foundation of his fame, or of having instructed the Duke of Wellington as to the best way of governing Ireland, and having got an answer from his grace himself. HIGHWAY ROBBERY IN AMERICA.—A stage coach was stopped and robbed near Hot Springs, Arkanfa*, on the 15th of January by five highwaymen mounted and armed. The Little Rock Republican says :— "From ex Governor Burbank, of Dakota, they took ever 800 dols. In moneys a gold watcb, and a diamond breast pin from Charles Moore, of this city, they took about 70 dob. in money, and a watcb, but returned the latter with disdain, because it was a silver watch from John Dietrich, of this city, thayseaured but 5 dels., their search being si careless as to mJfS 1í0 dots, in an inside potket; Mr. Taylor, of Lowell, anrrendered the sum of 650 dols. or thereabouts a passenger from Sjracuse made an appropriation of 160 dols. the pocketbook of Mr. Peoples, living near the Springs, contributed the sum of 20 dols. Three farmers were unfortunate enough to have about 20 dols. between them; Mr. Cramp, of Memphis, added to the spoils about 40 dols. in cash and a watch, and the express package yielded 435 dols. The robbers completed their work by ripping open the mall bags in search of registered letters, and by appro- priating the best horte attached to the stage. The leader of the hand said that he had enmity only against the Yankees, and returned the watch and money taken from Mr. Crump because he had been a Confederate soldier." NEW REGULATIONS UNDER THE BALLOT ACT. -After the election and transmision of the doeuments by the returning officers to the clerk of the Crown in Chancery, the papers are to be destroyed after a year, unless otherwise ordered by the House of Commons or one of the superior courts. No rejected ballot paper is to be inspected without such an order to be granted on evidence that such inspection is necessary for a prose- cution. No sealed packet of counterfoils is to be opened except by order, and such order to be made on conditions as to the impaction of the ballot paper. All documents forwarded by returning officers to the clerk of the Crown in Chancery, other than ballot papers, are to be open t ) inspection and extracts obtained on payment. The production of a ballot paper from the packed endorsed to be prima facie evidence that it refers to the elector on the register of voters of the same number. ELECTION RIOTS AT READING.—At Reading a large number of roughs perambulated tha street* after the result of the poll had been declared, shouting and yelling and damaging property in different parts of the borough. Tee crowd made their way to the London-road, as far as" the Acacias," the residence of Alderman George Palmer (laeadof the firm of Huntley and Palmer, of the Biscuit Factory), who is one of the most influential members of the Liberal party. There they broke a number of windows, and those at Messrs. Huntlt-y and Palmer's retail establishment in the Market-placa would doubtless have shared the same fate had not the large panes of plate glass been pro- tected with shutters, all the tradesmen in the Market- place having deemed it expedient to close their places of bu-iness as soon as the voting had ended. The roughs, however, did such damage as they could at Messrs. Huntley and Palmer's shop by smashing the large fan-light above their door. The depredators, many of whom were mere lads, committed indis- criminate damage by throwing stones not only at the windows of publichouso* and private dwellings, but also at those of a charitable institution in Broftd ftreet, known as the Green Girls' School. A large stone was hurled through an omnibus window on its way from the railway station, and a gentleman seated inside narrowly escaped injury. A young lady was hurt on her breast by a stone thrown through an upper window in London- street. Several panes of glass were also broken at a I printing office from which some of the Conservative pills hard been issued, A 1 BAR'S EMIGRATION FROM THE MERSEY, I —The statistics of emigration from Liverpool compiled by the Government officials at that port show the fol- lowing returns total number of emigrants during the 12 months was 179,486, of whom 18,528 were cabin and 160,901 steerage. Of these, 154,506 proceeded to the United States, 21 360 to Canada. 2,280 to Nova Scotia, 8,985 to Victoria, and 336 to South America; their nationalities being — English, 89,031; Scotch, 3,203; Irish, 26,688 and foreigners, 60,564, As com- pared with the returns for 1872 the past year's figures show an increase of 272 cabin passengers, but a decrease of 6,529 steerage, and in comparison with the national- ities of the previous year the present returns show a decrease of 922 English and 7,362 foreigners, but an increase of 477 Scotch and 1,750 Iiish. THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S RETURNS.—The return of the marriages for the quarter ending Sept. 30, and the births and deaths for the quarter ending Die,. 31, 1873, which have taken place in England bag been issued. From it may be gathered the facts that in the United Kingdom the births of 265,117 children and the deaths of 168,252 persons of both sexes were registered; the natural increase of population being 98.865, and that the registered number of persons mar- ried was 121,244. The resident population of the United Kingdom in the. middle of 1873 was estimated at 32,131,488 that of England and Wales amounting to 23,356,414, of Scotland to 3,430,923, and of Ireland to 5,344,151. The corrected death-rate of the quarter was 21'7 per 1,000, the birth-rate 34-8, and the mar- riage rate in the third quarter of the year was 16 0 per 1,000. In England only the summer marriages ex- ceeded the average, and imply that the country, on the whole, was prosperous. The births in the autumn quarter that ended the year 1873, though fewer in pro- portion than in the previous autumn, were above the average of the season. The public health was in a favourable stat-i, and the mortality was below the average both in town, and country. The extremely severe cold week of December was accompanied by a remarkable continuance of dense fog in London, which, fatal to many, deprived it of its usual superiority over the other great cities of the kingdom. How TO BECOMB A WEATHER-PROPHET We hear from America of a modern philosopher's plan by means of which every man can be his own weather prophet, It you wish to know whether it is going to storm or not, all you have to do is to find the storm vortex and see which side of it is the most moist. Mul- tiply this by the square of the latent heat, subtract the time of day, and divide by the weathercock. The result will be rareficatioa, plus the thermometric evolu- tion of the north pole and then any wayfaring man, though a nature Iknow-nothlng, can tell what will fol- low." THE TRADE WITH CHINA.—Tho foreign ship- ping entered and cleared at the Treaty ports of China increased from 14,963 vessels of (in the aggregate) 7,381,557 tons in the year 1871 to 17,000 vessels of 8,486,473 tons in 1872. The returns stating the share taken by each foreign commercial flag in this carrying trade, from and to foreign countries and between the Treaty ports, shows the chief nationalities to be the British, American, German, and French. The British vessels emoloyed Increased from 7,160, of 3,330,881 tons, in 1871, to 8,360, of 3,954,130 tons, in 1872, Ame- rican from 4,600, of 3,187,648 tons, to8,174, of 3 417,293. tons; German, 1,480, of 428.747 tons, to 1976, of 607,948 tons and French, from 277, of 335,289 tons, to 225, of 164,346 tons. The value of the goods carried in 1872— that is to say, in vessels arriving from foreign ports (in- cluding re-exports) and in the coasting trade, counting in the latter all goods departing in vessels cleared for treaty ports or arriving in vessels cleared from treaty ports-reached 2125,104,067, two fifths in the foreign trade and three fifths in the coasting trade. Of this total amount 51*14 per cent. was carried in British vessels, 36'88 per cent. in American vessels, 5 34 per cent. in German vessels, and 3 60 per cent. in French vessels. But excluding the coast carrying trade between treaty ports, and taking only the foreign trade, the shares of these four nationalities were as fallows :— British shipping, 77'96 per. cent.; American, 645 per cent.; German, 3'59 par cent. French, 8 23 per cent., the remaining 3 77 per cent. being divided among Raa- fcian, Scandinavian, and other flags. AN ANTI-FASBION CONVENTION.— An "Anti. Fashion Convention has been held at a p!ace called Vineland, in New Jersey, for the purpose of protecting against the present absurdities of female costume, and of effecting a reform therein. The convention was numerously and influentially attended, and how far the anti-fashions of the future are likely to be superior to the fashions of to-day may be judged by the reformed costtgnes worn by some of the speakers. One lady wore a tunic and trousers of crimson velvet, with a gold watch chain slung over her shoulder. Her headdress was a blonde wig, composed of innumerable little curls, surmounted by a page's cap of the fourteenth century, in which an ostrich tea her was fastened by an aigrette of amethysts. Another was dressed like a Japanese, a third wore a tunic of olive-green cloth, with knicker- bockers and gaiters of the same colour the tunic being fastened by a black India rubber band. One lady, however, was eccentric enough to appear in an ofd black t.ilk dress tbat she had bought nine years before, and to suggest that some of the reformers spent more money ant i showed more vanity in their reformed dresses than many old-fashioned people showed in their unreformed costumes. Nevertheless, the Convention passed a resolution to the effect that, when a mother puts her girl into petticoats she seals her daughter's doom an a slave "-which is, at any rate, a new and remarkable contribution to the Philosophy in which Professor TeufeladroeTkh was l so distinguished a master THE GOOD TIMS CoMiNS — The young, hearty, industrious, able agricultural labourer may secure, in more parts of the world than one, a rapidly earned and comfortable independence (remarks the Builder). But this is the very man whom statesman- ship should seek to keep at home. His arms and in- dustry are the very fountain of national wealth. Against the golden temptations held out to him, the cost has to be counted. To many, the severing of all local ties of relationship, friendship, and habit, is in itself no slight price to pay. Still more important is the immense incertitude of the venture. It is true that there exist such spots as we have named, the very Par4diag of induatry. But they are not the spots ii which the labourer is called by the advertiser. For one Paradise there are ten pitfalls. Deadly climate, arid soil, swamp, fen, morass, uncleared and impenetrable forests; swarms of mos- quitoes, with active venom that makes life a burden, and causes a strong man to cry like a child; deadly snakes, lions and panthers t wild hogs, that come down punctually as the crops begin to ripen; vast, lonely dis- tances, which surround the settler as with an iron chain. All these are far more frequent than the I brighter prospects of the case. And to whom is the intending emigrant to trust t How very few of those who say, Come," have any real advantage to offer! The good wine oi the really prosperous settlement does not need the bush of the emigration agent, The up- shot is, that a better time is at hand for the industrious man in old England, and that he will do better cheerfully to look forward to it than to transfer himself to a foreign soil, unless he knows from personal friends, the exact character of the spot to which he thinks of emigrating. mmm

C FROM AMERICAN [PAPERS. The young Boston exquisites who are favourites with the belles of that city suffer terribly from pituterib, colic. What Next I is the name of a paper published in Chicago. What next f The question whether Shakspeare had a scar over his eft eyebrow is agitating American society. A Vermonter who fonr years ago caught the small- pox and kli dly gave to some of h's neighbours is much of it as he could spare, is now being sued by them I r damages. A olergyman at Hfcz'etan, Pennsylvania, recently appended a note to a wedding notice in a local paper an- nouncing that it was the 999 A oonple he had married. A Pennsylvanlan clergyman has made a hit by in- troducing "personals" in his prajers. For Instance;- "Lord, have mercy on John Shanaban, who keeps a saloon near the old red bridge. either lay bim on a bed of sickness or have him removed from this town." Smith, the American poet laureate, hps stopped short ever stnee the last, being in search of a tultable rhyme to liquid, with which the first line of his new poem ends. Don't advertise," says a New York paper. If people want to buy your goods let them bunt you np. They will be certain to do it, U you don't believe this, ask the merchant that failed. A business man's letter to the head master of his son 11 college runs as follows Sir-Yours to h'd & cont's noted. Don't want son to etudy 'ttr'n'my. 'Twon't pay. Alto stop Latin & Greek. fio.f'U pick up L't'n words 'nough, make money 'nough without L't'n and Q'k, etc. No use. Put boy thr'gh on Dr., Cr., ct., pr. et., el'r house, Railr'ds, etc. When term ends send boy and books by N.W.R., 3rd class, with L'd'g In hat. Draw tight d'ft for Money." "I wouldn't, when I'm mariied, enter into house- keeping In tiie kitchen department, nor be a cook for the whole world exclaimed a fashionable young lady to her betrothed iover. "Ot course not," he replied. "H you were to cook for the whole world, you would never set through your work; but you'll be able to manage It nicely for our little family."

EPITOME OF NEWS. IBHU. ANJ) FOWR. The Paris Pigaro declares marriage to be a tiresome book with a very fine preface. w^Jf recently remarked by a young lady at a party ff ha we^BJi\«°' a 8 llemtlly precise youth" He looks as if ns were setting an example to his ancestors." The jewels of the late Duke of Brunswick, which he bequeathed to Geneva, are to ba publicly exhibited in that town next summer. Her Majesty the Queen, with the Princess Beatrice, and the lvhes and gentlemen of the Court, will leave Ojborne on the 17th inst, and return to Windsor. "One might have heard a pin fall," is a pr verbial expression of silence; but it has been eclipsed by the French phrase, "Youm ght fiave heard the unfolding of a lady's cambric handkorchii t" In the last Parliament the metropolitan constitu- encies were represented by nineteen Liberals and three Conservatives. In the new Parliament the proportion will be twelve L btrals and ten Conservatives. The Couft of Assize at Melun have condemned Prince Soutz1, who lately shot Prince Ghlba in a duel, to four yeara* imprisonment, and his two seconds aud those ol Prince Gtika to two years' lmprisoumant. Au order of her Majesty in Council is published in tt e Gazette cf the 6th of February sanctioning by-laws for tte compulsory attendance of children at school, made with the approval of the Bdaoitkn Dopartment uuder the 7dih lection ot the Elementary Education Act, 1870, by thafipW, Board of Leicester. *«oooaooi As the express train from Nottingham to Grantham was proceeding to the la! t rp'ace on Saturday at tha ot between thirty and forty mile* per hour, one of the aite! of the engine suddenly snapped, but the driver bringing the train to a standstill wkhoui lnv Liurv to t^ passengers. A handsome collection was made W? behalf by the passengers. btnai The Mexicans are good judges of opera, and when they dou t hke a performance they let the performers know « auf ,ce the °ity of Mexico became ex- asperated at the atrocious massacre of the music, and put a stop to It by hurling chairs, benches, cushions, and other portable upper tenants of the house upon the stage. On Monday morning the Duke and DuchesB of Edinburgh returned to St. Petersburgii from Moscow, in company with the C" the Czarewltsh, the Czarvena, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince Arthur, and the Crown Prince of Denmark, Mr. John Wilkinson, mMter calico printer. Oaken, shaw, near Blackburn, met ^lth M* death on Saturday last through beli g drawn into the macMiihyin his enlue honse fromUmb7M Bhl,UiIy to&etHaroutornlimb from Urab. ♦hH that the Lord Mayor of London. °* Dublin, and the Lord Provost of E.Hn! Parliament3 been "turned to serve in the new 8 k^ures on the structure of animal life "i *he Broofclyn Aoademy of Music, long out of print, are to be Issued In a new edition. Co £ L 2k?ne» Fellow of All Souls 7 Married at Oxford Cathedral to UiasLorln* LMdell, daughter of the Vic*Chancellor of the Un?vSr rL,^MPre3ence 01 assemblage, Including Prince Leopold and several heads ot houses. 8 rrmce Among recent discoveries of valuable mlnli-vl« ?n Au»tralia n that of Iron In the form of magnetic iron and brown hematite at Wallerawarg, Tictoria, in close nroximitv to limestone, flre-clay, coal, and a railway station. ,ml*y r^Q •^>reez) °f Olivenfontein, advertises in the Town iriT»Tf' that he has discovered between Philip's „ ;k.fouJcin,wha* he believes to be a rich diamond mIne, and notifies to the Government and public that be is S .hlrf locality if a reward to himself and a share to the proprietor of the farm is guaranteed in tha event ot his discovery being genuine. Horeea are becoming scarce in India, although there thswnlw ,^UD the. largest breeding establishment In the world, and, according to the Friend of India, the dearest correspondent of The Times states that budgeTby Gama, y exceed the 014 ™ budget by 15,000,000 thalarn. sta^e«C™Srtd £ £ edocll<>w?ki> » telegram from Ostrowo Md ttStda SS?|,CiCb*^Uto nuiy bB al,ow«dto visit him daily, w k ora.tory m»y be prepared ,tor him. These requests have been referred to the Appeal Court of Pesen. The metrical pystem has just been adopted in Ger- measurement of dUtauoas. The official papers kUometrn ih»eif the,orde{;wh,eh decrees that henceforth tha kilometre shall replace the Prustian mile. to^«^vHeii?aiY,\GlaBgow who does not wish his name of £ ? 00J for th„ w(made f donation t0 Glasgow University naner^—Wantwi WM re^?ntly "werted' in a news- J J experienced nurse, to take charge ot between 8 ) and 84 years old, of unexceptional character and good reference. None need apply who can- not produce the best testimonials." million inhabitants of Spain, twelva Mrrt Jin.l111. neither read nor write. There are four thou- #' °wns> and cities presided over by mayors, two wffi&SLSr •" •» «"■* --J. ft -I and"thi1fan^t0riKin Theatre are male*, CM^ftlani <in Englhih, the Golden Tulip) of h? hfi !hLorm< nf, 4 one cannot be a great poet unless n? the majdstic osrriage of the elephant, the bright eyes ° J1»P*TJ'dge, the agility of the antelope, while bis face must rival the radianoe ot the full moon." Dr. Long, a well-known and respected Liberal of Thornbury, was seized with a fit while preparing to go to tha poll for Colonel Kingtoste and Mr. C. Berkeley, the Liberal candidates, and died almost immediately. Mr. Mitchell Henry suggests that at the conclusion S v Action a conference of Home Bulers should be h< Id to decide what oourse they should take In Parlia- mentary action. His opinion is that no Home Buler should vote for either the Whigs or the Tory party until there be a perfect understanding upon the subject of Home Bule. «t^.C0^<ft8t^d.e?A.writ?llg from Naples on the 31st ulfc, Mates that no further signs of an approaohlug eruption oi Vetuvlus have shown themselves than a volume of smoke Issu- ing from the crater towards the north. If the ■i«nng»Ph speaks truly, however, an eruption must ensue or a terlea of earthquakes may be apprehended. The Dublin Corporation have resolved unanimously to memorialize the Government for the appropriation ot kh« Irish Church Surplus Fund to the widentaHTc&Su Si 'the construction of a new street leading to Christ Cathedral: the drainage of such parts ofthe eountra as may requira drainage; the reclamation ot waste lands and other purposes; the adornment and improvement of the city; and the advancement of the material prosperity of the country generally. Among the pocket-handkerohiefs in the trouiseau of the Duchess ot Edinburgh there to one that was exhibited at the Paris Kxpoiitlon 01 1867 In the Italian department. It was purchased last year In Italy for 12,000 francs by the Csulna, and is said to have cost the embroiderer seven of the best years of her life and her eyes Into the bargain, the policemen in charge of the several stations In the City of London election planted themselves before the door and barred further Ingress. On the last stroke ol the hour a gentleman oome running In. It's too late, sir," said the officer in charge, "the booths are closed 'I'm a needlemaker," said the elector antinn.iy hurriedly. <' Ah yon should have been sharper, 10s cannot penetrate here," replied the Imperturbable policeman, and thus by a dozen Moonda aomebod/toat a vote. Admiral Rous has addressed a long latter to Tkt Times on Turf Prospeoto," In which he aMertathat our tnoroughbred stock is as good as ever, and must be lmnrovlns every other breed. He strongly maintains the wisdom M our system of running two-ytar-olds, which Is tbs m foundation and essence of our pre-eminence. Nothin.nnr.i7 in his opinion, be so fatal to the Turf as the intarfa?E^ni Parliament in matters of this kind. interference ol BPec'al meeting cf the Metropolian Volunteer offlcars on Saturday afternoon, it was resolved th»» cation should be made to the War f'«oa f- hold a V olunteer Review on Raster ,(TT 0t dolencewitl Lord and iadyWchc. .^oag 0| thelr |on after being dialled on the G0I4 wiiTcsnied US? moajJy, ♦ the Swi** Times, being made th t Wkbllah the manufacture of watohes. It 1 succe8»ful, a sum of 300,000 francs per tm iS distributed in wages, and tbat the industry ,repre?«nted by a yearly return of one million of francs, drawn from foreign countries, for the manufactured article. From Stuttgart the death is announced of Dr. David Frederick Strauss, the author of The Life of Jesus," The deceased was bom In June, 1608, and wai consequently lu the 66'.h year ol his age. He published in I8SS. thn m "Tbe Lira ol whtoh ia aMoctaS^ -Uh hiT^r f: at onco brought him prominently before the woWrt 1 soon translated Into the various languLes ¥? latert work, ,he "Old Faith and tK<fe^ cently been published. 1 On Monday afternoon a special meeting irf the Ironmasters' Association of South Staffordshire and ftu* Worcestershire was held at Wolverhampton, taeotaidM.' « £ report and the resolutions adopted at the mihf Sheet lronmakers of Great Britain, sueaeSfd advances in the current scale ot p;\ce« for all sheat irnn The report and resolutions could not be accepted si a whole* and a committee was appointed to prepare an«ther reoori doubt that ahMt iron wiU Mon be largely advanced. :aorÙ1g hl.\a commenced to &Ecertain the pre ct:ciobUit7 the Hampshire coast, opposite West Cowea^rwh? dawn fifty feet, and have reached a layer of clT» Thi rty?? ol the Solent near the spot is ab^ut thirty-six fttt A race, in which Ml. Revell drove a b'cve]« from the Montpelier-roftO, Jftrigbton, to the Oval, Kenntoito^ London, whilst Mr. Gregory walked from Samuel ati«a^ RelgatQ, to the Oval, Kennlngton, took place on Monday an& I w*s won by Mr. Gregory, who arrived at the Oval It! i p.m walking well, and but little distressed. Mr Revell 1 arrived at the Oval, Kennlngton, at 5 o'clock, one hour and a half behind Mr. Gregory, who waked the 20 miles In 4 hours t7 min. 47 sees. I A brutal murder was committed In County Mayo on Situdfty night, A. iiAmad. RpaHIA* v home from Castlebar^w«m*SSmJ by a party of men who attacked him, knd ln S! skull, causing immediate death. It taonlvas £ SS*H™. »n old woman named McDonald w^ same place. Four arrests have bQ= made. A lamentable accident occurred on Saturdav on the CS 0,s "*• »me-bu £ «, ^UhoX Norwich. Same of Mr. Bussey s workpeople were dieeina to burn into lime when a mass of sand slipped ana fell upon Char lea Wright, aged 20, and George Mace aged tinn tLy buryl?« them- Th«y had died from su^oo** tion before they oould be extricated. Au inquest was held on Monday afternoon. After hearing several witnesses, tha Jury attributed the sad occurrence to the .udden MUon crf the sun upon a quantity of previously frosen earth. Addressing the Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, on Monday evening, on the question of Dr Urine* stone's fate, Sir Bartle ?r*re observed that, while .™, ntS was still remaining, he was neve.thelMs bound toZvIt SS was still remaining, he was neverthel. bound to say it was now smaller th»u it had been before the last imttariln hid reached Stogland. All he could do was to pend their Judgment and to hope for the Nut. In the city of St. Domingo itself, or in !t> civilisation, according to our European notions to be in a backward itate; for, on entering a near the town, a traveller was surprised to fln^J^ pCpll a gamecock attached to a perc^ O^Sw^r^ planatlon, the children said, "Oh, they fctknetoJiEnS- master, who fights them on Sunday,"1 *° A case of breach of promise—Maclean «. Kulakt— was before Lord Coleridge and a special Jury on s»tnr^« in the Court of Common Pleas. Mr HawiriS, o C pearedfor the plaintiff, said that a consultation tell and Serjeant Parry, who represented tba should for £!, 000. J2SSlE!?ietor Francisco, which the 1Q«S tti"! hot. 1 in the world, She cost of ,tta to^S at 850,000 dels, w the flrstfloorwM?h°i^,U nT which will be 20 feet wide and 85 feet Wgh a^UM^d to an iu<uiense carriage court, which Is to be covered with glass sknd surrounded by aroaded galleries. The building will be ( six stories high, and water will be mpplled by two artesian wells. It Is intended to make provision fer 1,200 snesti. and all the rooms are to be Ughted dinette from UM ODMI air ?heep8"miae. Wlll^e "«ufactuKd oa Should the Duchess of Edinburgh live to the Af 1 ^hUT^(^«fe, V* lmP°*slble to contemplate her we' rin^ont I "tides which compose h« t"u^Bg<S £ Louis Q j&torze, Louis Qulnzs, and Marie An^b^S fcnSs and shoes to fit her Imperial Highnees's fptf, by 'he grots. The possibility of her d'^cardin^hiah^^i^w heels Is also contemplated. Parent^ torethoufht^ow^ver anticipates excursions in SwiM Wad Sootch mountateL?n^M in Thurlngain forests, probable visits lu the^rtS^M^to ."&01 &\ *S?2t«S22} sK away lu Th? daatu is announced of Mr Herman at the age of 69. Mr. Merlvale was the son B.™' merivale, of Bankruptc1. and of Loulu, ™ TT 7 0,1 Economy at Oslord. Ir I847 he cerir^^t Un^« ? ret*ry lor 4116 «d in 1868 MerWa iu L l "3' at the In<u,ui Olce. Mr. great merit uch more wlde,y taown M *n author of wSse»hnlfl^ly rrtnrn ol P?nPeriam ia En/Iand and vvai«s shows that the number of i-ertons in recept of relief Poor-rates on the 1.' of July, 187B-mn. women. and children, sane and ingsgt-was below 823,0C( bains less than one In 28 of the population, or about 8i pr cent As compared with the preceding year there was 'decrease ef 6 5i per cent., or upward* cf 54/ 00. The nuttier of adult able bodied pauper?, leas than 110,000, and the seat msiorlta women, sbowa a decrease of upwardi of 10 per jent. A curious affair is pending before the Bris C;»nrt of Appeal In 1961 a watchmaker of Baeda, in 1111 *n(l named Naur'dor fit, put 'oward the claim to be a son c "Louis' ITIL who he alleged had not died at tbe Temple v«unnoLrt «id I demanded to be reinstated in hia mZ I Civil Cjnrt of Paris then dismissed a JSSKtrtmS? Grand6 Durh"«'2r u.n*tora*. occasionally worn by the de ta .S Marle ^s'lta description. It U charmingly (whoui wie/ecuted- A™1 tolt her fcpwial aS nocket «01 e* Vdsite fairness) mus have thealrof a ) waer helmet is of cnnlng Muscovite is a beautiful produc of the BussUn 1! 5 lQ blending gold, steel, fed silver Those Ita^ruwmii th* Parta wbibition of 1867 my form an Idea ot SrS? ""it'-awork ofmetaWfromt^M^ > r«e vases which were on view In the Btolan department. wh"a> 1 j 1

THE ASHANTEE WAR. By the arrival of the African Mail Steamer Ethiopia at Uverpool on Monday, we have intelligence fr> m Cape Coast Castle to January 19th which, however, has been for the most part anticipated by the infor- mation forwarded from the actual scene of operations by telegraph. Reports had reached the Castle from the Camp down to the 16tb, and at that period an ad- vanced guard was stated to be well on the way to Coomassie, The enemy, although retiring, was believed to be in force at no great distance in front of our troops, but there wa" not the slightest symptom cf any intended resistance. King Koffe was anxious to treat for paec", and had sent one of the German missionaries to Sir Garnet Wolseley for that purpose. Sir Archibald Alison, who is second in command, had gone ti the front.