The North Wales Express

NORTII WALES QUARTER SESSIONS. (iContinued from our last). DENBIGHSHIRE. The court re-assembled at Ruthin on Friday, for the trial of prisoners. The magistrates present were Mr Hughes, Ystrad, chairman; Col. Hum- berston, the Warden of Ruthin, Major West, Mr H. R. Sandbach, Mr J. Fairfax Jesse, Captain Baines, Mr Griffith, Mr Johns. In charging the grand jury (of whom Mr Powell Jones, Ruthin, was foreman),- the Chairman re- marked that he considered the state of the county gaol was more satisfactory than otherwise, only five prisoner?, being in gaol who had been con- victed at the assizes or quarter sessions, and twenty-eight at the petty sessions. He dealt fully with the eases in the calendar, remarking that the prosecutor in the Llangollen sheep stealing case acted very imprudently in allowing sheep to be re- moved for pasturage without full proof that they were prisoner's property. CHARGES OF LARCENCY. Patrick Oliver, for robbery at Marchwiel,pleaded guilty; also to two previous convictions. Sen- tenced to twelve months' imprisonment. John Jones, for robbery at Abergele, pleaded guilty, saying he did it through hunger. The second charge had been previously convicted in Flintshire. Sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. Geo. Williams, to stealing at Llanarmon Yale, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three months' im- prisonment. TRACTION ENGINE MJISA.NC2S, ETC. The case of the contractor for causing nuisance and damage to roads, through traction engines, was transferred to the next Assizes for trial, on the application of Mr Swetenham for' the prosecution. Damage was done to roads between Llangollen and Oswestry. THEFT BY A SOLDIER. Owen Roberts, a soldier, was charged with steal- ing goods at Wrexham. Mr Ignatius Williams prosecuted. Prisoner whilst drunk overpowered a woman on the road, took goods out of her basket and secured them on himself. The prosecutrix was nearly drunk. Prisoner alleged it was a drunken spree, and that they were together on the roadside, and he was too drunk to know what he did. Sentenced to two months' imprisonment, the magistrates hoping that it would not involve his discharge from the army. Sergeant Arch re- fused to state the prisoner's character, saying only the adjutant could do so. LARCENY AT HOLT. William Challoner was charged with stealing at Holt. Mr Higgins prosecuted, and Mr Sweten- ham defended. The prisoner had admitted his guilt to his master and the policeman, but now pleaded innocence. He had taken money and stamps previously, but prosecutor deducted that from prisoner's wages, and this condoned it. Prisoner produced from his parents' house the stolen articles. The defence was that the prisoner, aged seventeen, received trifling wages on the understanding that he should have left off clothing and boots as perquisites. The evidence called proved this. The court was afteawards a(-Ij our,, The sessions were continued curday, before the chairman (Mr Hiia! md other magistrates. A JUILY BLAMEI). John Diggory, policeman and tiok-t collector for the Great Western Railway Company at Llan- gollen, was sentenced to six months' hard labour for stealing a quantity of fishing tackle from a bag lost at the station by Dr Wiiliugton, Handsworth, Birmingham, who had been fishing in the Dee at Llangollen. Prisoner was acquitted on a charge of stealing an opera glass, left in the ticket office by Mr W. W. Thomas, Liverpool. There had been two other cases against the prisoner, but they failed.—The Chairman expressed great sur- prise at the verdict of acquittal by the jury, saying he could not tell how they arrived at such a con- clusion. A GRATEFUL PRISONER. Francis Morgan and John Morris, butchers, of Oswestry, were charged with obtaining bv false pretences a "clun wether" sheep from William Davies, Llan«r<>lien. It was a complicated case, the sheep having passed through a number of hands at Shrewsbury, Oswestry, and other places, and the skin was now produced as the means of identifying it. The hearing lasted nearly four hours. Morgan, who had been convicted of felonv at Shrewsbury and Oswestry, was sentenced to eighteen months, and although he previously pleaded hard for mercy, on hearing the sentence he touched his hat, making a bow, and saying, "Thank you; that's a nice new year's gift." Morris received six months' hard labour. APPEAL AGAINST ABERGELE LOCAL BOARD. Mr Hesketh, of Gwrych Castle, Abergele, who had been fined Is and 8s costs, by the Abergele Local Board, now appealed against the decision. The conviction had been in consequence of alleged defective sanitary accommodation. The appeal was on the ground that sufficient time had not been allowed to complete the accommodation necessary, and there were technical objections that the conviction was bad, because the time which had elapsed between the offence and the proceedings had been too long, accordiug to the Act of Parliament. After a protracted hearing,the majority of the bench agreed to quash the convic- i,ion-fu-st, on the technical ground, and next on the merits of the case and the majority also gave costs. CARNARVONSHIRE. The Hilary Quarter Sessions for thu county were continued at the County Hall Carnarvon, on Sa- turday. Mr F. W. Lloyd Edwards (chairman), and a number of magistrates being present. The following gentlemen were empannelled on THE GRAND JURY Mr J. Fraser, Bryntirios, Carnarvon (foreman) Capt Kinsey Hayward, Brynseiont; Messrs Hugh Hughes, Bfyigor, draper; Edward Humphreys, Carnarvon, hotel proprietor: Edward Hughes, Carnarvon, ironmonger; William Jarvis, Bangor, bookseller; Tysilio Johnson, Bangor, gentlemen John Jones, Carnarvon, wine merchant; Henry Lewis. Bangor, flour merchant; Lewis Lewis, Queilyn, draper; Richard Henry Roberts, Bangor, gentleman; Thomas Roberts, Bangor, draper; Owen Thomas, Carnarvon, merchant; Robert Thomas, Llanfair, farmer; W. G. Young, Car- narvon, traveller. Addressing the Grand Jury, the Chairman said Yt is my pleasing duty to inform you that there is not a single indictment to be laid before you this morning. I only hope that so good a precedent may frequently be followed, and I hope it is a proof that crime is decreasing in this county. But I fear that that is almost impossible, considevimr the amount of drunkenness that is so prevalent among us, and which I firmly believe is the cause ef at least two-thirds of the crime of this county. I am very sorry to inform you that there is an unusually large number of prisoners detained in the Prison in this town, and also that I never re- mion-ibc-r the county so infested with vagrants as at the present time. I assure you it is a great matter of satisfaction to me to see so many gentle- men of your position here to-day, and to feel that ;a you thoroughly appreciate the honour of being aummoned on the grand jury. I thank you for ▼our attendance here to-day. L pair of white gloves, the symbol of the maiden calendar-presented by Mr Roberts, governor of the ea«l was then handed to the chairman by the clerk of the peace (Mr W. T Poole) The chair- man thanked Mr Roberts, adding that it was the ftrst time he had had the pleasure of receiving such present from him. Reference was made by the chairman and Mr Carres to the large number of mad dogs in the couti'v and D.C.C. Frothero said that he would order the police to destroy all stray dogs. The business of the sessions was then concluded.

THE DISTRESS IN SOUTH WALES. Heartrending reports daily arrive from the poverty-stricken districts in South Wales, and it is evident that thousands of colliers and ironworkers, &c., together with their famiiles, are enduring the bitterest pangs of hunger. Eye witnesses tell that the guardians of the poor have refused to give the people in the workhouses their Christmas dinner on the ground that many of the ratepayers will themselves have to go without, that men go to work with nothing but a morsel of dry bread in their dinner tins, that others are living upon such diet as raw cabbage leaves and the pieces they can snatch from the pig troughs, that in one instance at least a family lived for a week upon brewers', "grains," and that all over the Merthyr and Crickhowell district it has been found necessary to supplement the ordinary Poor-law relief by soup kitchens and various forms of private charity. The graphic descriptions of the special corres- pondent of the Daily News, which appeared in that journal during the last and present week, have aroused the most tender feelings of the English people, and the inhabitants of North Wales, and it is gratifying to find that the appeals for aid are everywhere meeting with a cheerful and ready response. Lord and Lady Aberdare, Mr Henry Richard, M.P., and other leading gentlemen in the depressed ditricts are most strenuous in their aid-; to relieve the sufferers. A letter, written by Mr Richard in the Daily News, will furnish the reader with a few out of the many instances of the char- acter of the famine which now threatens to devas- tate the once-flourishing districts of South Wales. After thanking the editor for calling attention to the sufferings of the working classes, Mr Richard says:—"Private letters I receive confirm the graphic descriptions of your correspondent. In the report of a gentleman, whose duty it is to visit the houses on behalf of the School Board, which has just been forwarded to me, I find some very sad details, of which I may cite two or three as samples:—A. B., five children; one aged nine almost naked, one aged seven naked, one aged five naked, one aged three naked, one aged one year and five months almost naked. C. D., four chil- dren, father out of work, children selling sand half naked; mother said she had no bed, only sleeping on the plain boards, begging every even- ing, hardly anything in the house. E. F., four children, not in any school, almost naked, very poor. G. H., four children between eleven and one, begging, father out of work, a neighbour said they are half-starving. These are only specimens, and the report relates to only one comer of the borough. A good deal is being done locally. A committee of gentlemen has been formed at Mer- thyr, with the rector at their head, to provide a meal once a day for the children. At Mountain Ash Lord and Lady Aberdare are exerting them- selves nobly to relieve the distress around them, though it is so great as to be beyond their utmost power; but there are other parts of the borough where speedy provision must be made if the people are to be saved from the severest sufferings. If any of your readers should feel inclined to send me any contributions, I think I can answer for it that I know those who would apply them most wisely and carefully." Mr Richard's private ad- dress is 22, Bolton-gardens, South Kensington, London, where no doubt many of our readers will forward their donations towards so deserving a caitse. Referring to the distress in Mountain Ash, the correspondent of The Daily News says that since May last Lady Aberdare, abjuring the delights of the London season, has remained at Dyffryn, and has devoted herself entirely to relieving the grow- ing distress. Lord Aberdare and the other mem- bers of his family have joined heartily in the work, and the consequence is that just now there is a Mountain Ash o ganization which, given sufficient funds, will carry the people well through the win- ter, and land them on the threshold of those better times which are confidently and anxiously looked for down here when the war is over. Personally, and through her deputies, Lady Aberdare is ac- quainted with the necessities of every family in the town, and they are promptly relieved as far as the means at hand make it practicable. A soup kit- chen is in full work, and its approaches are daily thronged, as I saw them this morning, by women and children bringing miscellaneous crockery, the essential recommendation of which is that it shall hold as much soup as the ticket authorise the holder to receive. The average proportion is half a pint a head per family, and with every half-pint there is given a substantial piece of bread. Both bread and soup are of the very best quality, and the effects, more especially upon the children, are most gratifying. In addition to the soup kitchen, Lady Aberdare has started a clothing establish- ment. The ladies at Dytfryn cut out the material, and between sixty and seventy of the wives of the colliers are engaged in sewing. They are paid for their work, and thus the clothes are twice blessed, blessing those who make and those who wear. Since this department of work commenced 900 articles of clothing have been given away, in addi- tion to 50 blankets, and half as many sheets. Clothing is almost as urgently needed as food, for of course the poor people have no means of renew- ing their stock, and the trouble has been prevalent so long now that what they started with is all worn out. Boots and shoes'are particularly needed. Con- tinuing his description, the correspondent further writes: "Mountain Ash is better off than some places, because the machinery of relief has there beenmore earnestly andmoresystematicallyput into motion; but it is full of those heartrending histories which arc told in half the households throughout these once prosperous valleys. After watching the soup distribution I went off into the town, calling in at the houses and seeing the people at home. In a little row of tenements, the rent of each of which is ten shillings a month, I found a woman named Eliza James. Her husband is a collier, who last year added to the general depression of affairs by meeting with an accident that broke his ribs. This laid him up, and Mrs James had to fight along,' to use a phrase familiar here, in order t» scrape together food for him and five children. A four-post bedstead, a treasure acquired in the earlier years of housekeeping, was reluctantly disposed of, and this kept them in bread for a short time; but a bedstead, even with four posts, does not go far with a family of five, and Eliza James's husband felt the urgent necessity of getting well enough to return to work. Just as he managed to turn out the pit stopped, and since that he has been earning, wherever he could get a job, a few shillings.' During the three months and a week he was laid up, a sum of 5s 6d, the occasional earnings of the son, aged 13, was the sole family revenue from all sources, except the bedstead already mentioned. This morning the husband had found a day's work, to which he went without anY fond, for the sufficient reason that there was none in the house. Just before noon, Mrs James had sent over to the baker's to ask if he would let her have a sixpenny loaf in prospect of some money that will be paid her to-morrow for sewing done for Lady Aberdare. The baker is also her land- lord, to whom she owes four month's rent, but he made no demur in view of this fresh demand, and sent the loaf, which is now a mere wreck, though a good slice had been put away against father comes home.' In Aberdar yesterdav I made the acquaintance of a woman who greatly puzzled me by telling me her husband was an ostler, a stare of bewilderment which increased in profundity when "he added, by way of explanation, that he was what I would call a groom.' It finally turned out that his business was to look after horses which work under ground. To-day I found a man working as a collier who had really been a gentleman's servant.' Why he should have taken to working in a coalpit, his wife frankly declared she had not the slightest idea but lie had made his bed and was now lying in it, not comfortably, for, as may be supposed, he is not a very skilful collier. But he is a determined worker, and dur- ing the last fortnight had earned as much as 14s, which, as there are five children, leaves Is. per head per week, with deductions for fire and house- rent, the latter amounting to 6s 6d. The mother I is evidently a managing woman, lor she has not only acquired a chest of drawers (which amongst the South Wales colliers indicates social status, as according to a distinguished authority, the possession of a gig marks respectability amongst society at large) but had kept it all this time. There it stood, facing the door, shining with its accustomed brilliancy, and turning a determinedly bright face towards everything and everybody. Moreover, the little bits of crockery, which in the well-apportioned household crowd the top of the chest of drawers, were all there, though Mrs Nethicombe was sadly doubtful how long they might remain. She has gone out washing as long as she was able, but the baby was ailing, and she could not leave it. The doctor said it was declin- ing,' and it had so far accomplished the downward journey that its legs would, in point of thickness, discredit a half-crown doll. I saw this afternoon two young girls helping their mother to wash. They are the eldest of a family of five, and would be very glad to get situations as 'domestic servants. One has been out in service, but in these hard times small tradespeople have to reduce their establishments, and some weeks ago she was sent home to share the insufficient crusts upon which her father, mother, and sisters have been starving. The mother could not tell me when she had had a bit of butcher's meat in the house. Sometimes she managed to pick up a bit of bacon at sixpence a pound, but these were red letter days, of which the family calendar contained lamentably few. Her husband had earned £ 1 ltis during the last two months, and out of this there fell due 11 10s :for rent. The cases of firemen, ironworkers, and other skilled artisans working a labourers in the collieries are exceedingly common in fact, the men will do anything to earn"a shilling. I came across a collier to-day who had in these idle times developed a considerable talent for stuffing birds and animals. From one corner of his kitchen there scowled a dangerous-looking brindled pup which fixed the stranger with glassy eye. It was harmless and stuffed, but it would be invaluable iR a hall where there were many casual callers, and an attractive umbrella stand. In life it had been the cherished companion of a local t beerseller, who had devoted ten shillings to having it stuffed, but James Rees would not make much. out of this seeing that he has to deliver it in a glass case. On a table is a gigantic cock, which is yet in an elementary stage of stuffing, and presents rather a ghastly appearance owing to being tied round the body with strips of white tape. A few weeks ago Rees had a case full of stuffed birds, but he was obliged to sell it for what it would fetch, the sum being 10s. During the last twelve months his weekly earnings have not exceeded 10s, and he has a wife and four children, but he is not so badly off as his lodger. This man has been out of work for six weeks and cannot get anything to do, though he has sought for it on foot in every colliery in the valley. Last week he had for sole sustenance during six days a sixpenny loaf. Like many of his class he did not complain or seek re- lief, and it was not till his compassionate, but helpless, landlady communicated with the autliori- ties at the soup kitchen that anything was known of him. Now he thinks he is well off, having a pint of soup allotted to him daily. Of course he does not pay for his lodging, but, as Mrs Rees says a she herself is six months behind in her to the landlord, she can't expect he should. Writing from Rhondda Valley on Sunday even- ing the correspondent states:—"Returning on Friday to some of the poorer parts of Merthyr, in order to accomplish the kindly commissions en- trusted to me by readers of the Daily News, it was heartrending to be surrounded by lean women and quiet, patient-looking men, who told how they had had nothing to eat in the morning, and had no prospects for the afternoon or to-morrow. Well, well,' said the rector, I am very sorry, but you see we can only help the children. Did yours go to the soup kitchen just now?' Yes, indeed, sir, and very thankful we are that they had a good dinner;' and then they would quietly fall back, accepting the impossibility of the rector doing more than feed the children.' Sometimes a poor lonely old woman, who had no children, and there fore did not receive the vicarious nourishment of the soup kitchen, showed by her face how hard she found it to understand why, because she was old and helpless, she should be left to starve. But even these did not utter a word of complaint, but having got the stereotyped answer, drew back to reflect upon this strange and sad thing, that only the children must live. As we passed down one street in the neighbourhood of the court in which the woman whose two sons have enlisted now sits by her own fire, and cheerfully picks rags -with the grateful consciousness that when things are at their worse they mend, an old woman rushed out of a house, and, clutching the rector by the arm, entreated him to come and see her husband. It was a dangerous precedent to establish, for as long as the line is strictly drawn, and only children are cared for, it is less difficult to put aside cries for help which a slender purse makes it impossible to answer. But there was something in the face of this grey-haired old woman, with her wet eyes and her face full of a great terror, that made an excep- tion for itself, and we followed her into her house. It was the old story of hopeless destitution. A spark of fire twinkled amid a heap of slack in the grate; there was the usual three-legged table with a crust of bread and a teapot without a handle, containing the untasted meal of the old woman. Stretched by the window was a low trestle bed on which was laid what appeared to be a heap of clothes covered with an old coat. I don't know what is the matter with him,' said the old woman, wringing her hands, and always wearing the same terrified, piteous look. We could now discover through the gathering gloom, at the top of what seemed the bundle of clothes, the pallid face of an old man with thin grey hair straggling over his forehead. It was evident enough to the eyes of any one but the woman, who had been his wife for nearly 50 years, what was 'the matter with him.' He had nearly finished his long struggle with life, and would never more leave the bouse in search of work, or come home, as he had done with more or less regularity du'ing the last three years, to con- fess he had not found it. A decent, sober, indus- trious, hard-working man, as all his neighbours testified, and now he was dying with no other food in the house than a crust of bread left untasted by his wife because she could not fathom this new mystery, and could not tell 'what was the matter' with her husband, that he should, in broad day- light, and at a time when he was accustomed to go to work, stretch himself out on the bed, li-in,, so motionless and looking so white. Thanks to the generosity of the people of England, 2000 children are now fed daily in Merthyr. But there are thousands of men and women who have not enough to eat, and who will not be able to get it till the coming of the good time when applications for work shall no longer be met by the answer that there is none." The Rev John Griffith, rector of Merthyr, is most indefatigable in his efforts to alleviate the sufferings of his fellow-countrymen in the neigh- bourhood. Writing in the I>aihj News of last Monday, the rev. gentleman states that owing to the publicity given by that paper to the distress in Merthyr, he has received since Friday from three to four hundred letters. The amount received bv him up to that day was £ 900, besides a considerable quantity of clothing. The kind-hearted Vicar of Aberdare (the Rev J. Wynne Jones), whose libera- lity to the poor is well-known in North Wales, especially at Carnarvon, is also working ener- getically in the same direction, and has opened a soup kitchen at Aberdare. The Bethesda (No. 2) Lodge of North Wales Quarrymen's Union has sent Lord Aberdare £ 50 for the distressed families in South Wales. On Saturday a large number of men in the Forest of Dean were treated.o tea, and the Rev T. Nichol- son addressed them on matters affecting the trade and wages. He said twenty families would be sent to West Lancashire, where work had been obtained for them. On Saturday fifty poor people at Oakwood, near Cwmavon, were treated to a dinner. The Times observes that there is hardly any aspect of national suffering more painful than the fall of a great industry into melancholy and forlorn stagnation. Such a calamity is usually to be traced directly to some palpable mistakes in policy on the part of either capital or labour, or both. The working people of the iron and coal districts deserve and will receive general sympathy in their time of trial; but neither they nor their employers can remove in a day the consequence of errors committed during the period of abnormal prosperity some four or five years ago. We do not went to resuscitate an old controversy, but it is notorious that not only the workmen's demands for high wages, but the pressure they put upon the masters to increase production tended to bring about the present stagnation. Lord Aberdare has written to a contemporary as follows: I think there has been some exag- geration of the sufferings of the people in this dis- trict. We are still very far from the condition of the Madrasses and Mysoreaus, with whom we have been composed. We are not yet a people in beg- gary, a nation stretching out its hands for food. We have no natives dying by scores on the road- side, or by hundreds in their huts, of absolute starvation. The bulk of our colliery population is able to maintain itself, although with difficultv, and with many privations, without receiving aid from the poor rates or from private charity. The struggle in some parts, especially in the neigh- bourhood of the deserted ironworksatMerthyr and Aberdare, has been long and sore, but is still car- ried on with unbated courage." Lord Aberdare adds that exaggeration on the one side has led to the undue depreciation of the calamity on the other, for there are many cases of grievous desti- tution. He attributes the causes of distress, first, to the closing of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, because the men would not accept a reduction, and then to the closing of the Plymouth and Abernant works, owing to the failure of the firm; to the effects of the great strike and lock-out, to the collapse of the steam coal trade, to the destitution of families caused by the killing of the husbands by colliery accidents partly to the action of trade unions, partly to the want of thrift, and partly to the habit of drinking at public houses. Messrs Huntley and Palmer have sent large boxes of broken buscuits, and several merchants have sent sacks of flour and peas to the Principality. Up to Tuesday the rector of Merthyr had received £L300. Mr Henry Richard will shortly visit Mer. thyr to personally distribute his fund, with the aid of local gentry. A soup kitchen has been opened at Treherbert, in the Rhondda Valley, for the relief of distressed families. In all eighty families, consisting of 421 persons, were relieved. A meeting has been held at Pontypridd to take measures for forming relief committees. It was stated that many families bad neither beds nor bedclothes, and had to sleep in the scanty clothing which they wore in the day- time. It was resolved to keep open the soup kitchen at Trcforest and to open another at Pont- ypridd. A public meeting, convened by the Mayor, was held in Bristol onWednesday to organise a subscrip- tion in aid of the distress in South Wales. A committee was appointed to issue an appeal and raise a fund. A collection ofj6135 was made in the room. The contributions dropped on Wednesday into Mr Simpsons bowl on the George's Landing-stage, Liverpool, reached the really remarkable sum of £ 30 9s 6Jd making the total for the five days Xio9 4 9:5.

OJ. da\ morning George Cook was gored to de th cow, at the top of Northgatey Blackburn- The aad beea led from Osbald#«ton, and was sot-?' ha; unruly, and ended up by killing Cook, ,.1¡,; ifty years of age. The India Office. is strongly opposed to any mcrease of expenditure on account of retiring 'tensions f,)r officers of the new line regiments, •Tviitniniug that the terms already offered are as ought to be considered suffioaitly liberal, I that it sees no pressing necessity for its aug- in ,„i h'0 Its grant as suggested by the War office

Railway Acci')!nt Lqnuox.—A Great North- ern train, ovc £ w«ieh tlio driver had losi t uitrol, was run into by Midland train at King's Cross, on the Mef^PoUtan Railway, on Tuesday3morning- The Midi"11'! engine was thrown across both lines of metal5' Hnd two of the Great Northern carriages of and two of the Great Northern carriages were tlluch damaged. Fortunately the Great Nortvern train was nearly empty. The accident I wag. caus(d by the breaking of the side rod ot the en/1110 oF the Great Northern train. Two paseu- gers were severely injured, oue of whom, Mi" Waterhouse, of Rarnet, whose leg was broken', wu-« taken to the Great Northern Hotel. The line cleared at four o'clock on Tuesday afternocu.

Ci^in°t Council was held on Wednesday MidhaTpJ'^116 eXp,?r'is on his wa-r to "Rome. night arriVud 111 London on Wednesday *Cairo'ona Rumour is current that the Earl of Beaconsfield Garter^6 °f the blue ribboD of Dean Stanley, it is stated, has expressed his willingness to be nominated for election as pru- dent of the Birmingham Institute Earl Granville all i Lord Hartington have issued invitations for their customary Parliamert-irv dmer prevJOUS to opemng of Parliamcnt. y Sir Edward Watkin, the great railwav r>l- is at the head of a movement for the constructor of underground railways in New York. The Central News is authorised to denythe state- ment published on Wednesday that Mr Eùward District1 resigning his seat for the St. Andivw Certain politicians antidputc that the death of Vietor Emmanuel may pave the way to a modus b t'h f ,WCen Quirinal mId the Vatican, even in the lifetime of Pius IX. The Premier and Sir Stafford Northcote have issued tetters to their ui)porters m either house, trusting earnestly for their attendance in Parha- bron^f e, I'th, as'" matters of moment will be Drought under consideration." The Æ[orning Post understand, the Queen has determmed to send a special mission to congratu- Vnrl nf Up°n lus marria ,c and the W AT d yni1ElS been. ^Pointed to represent her Majesty on the occassion. 'Mr Raikes, M.P., intended to addres- his -on- stituents at Chester last week, but we understand that he will not publicly meet them before the opening of Parliament. MrE. Jenkins, M.P., addressed the Sheffield Liberation Society on Wednesday night, on dis- establishment, and a resolution wis 'erv. ar(l, passed declaring the union of Church and Si^' I (' be unjust in principle, injurious to religion, de. tructive of social union, and opposed to political progress. THE POPE,-Cardinal Manning has proposed that on the death of PIUS IX. the Conclave for the election of his successor should be held at Malta but-the Italian Cardinals do not, it is said, seem disposed to approve this proposal. Meanwhile it declinhigCCd that the health of the PoPe visibly In an address which Mr Rathbone delivered at Whitchurch, on Wednesday, he said thegreatVorfc which Nonconformists had to do was not so much to attack the Church as to leave the clergy of the Church of England to disestablish themselves. As to the war, he did not think anything more con- temptibly cowardly could be imagined than this shrieking about protection for British interests. Mr Algernon Borthwick, proprietor of the Morning_ Port, is going to deliver a lecture on Turkey in St James' Hall, under the presidency of the Duke of Sutherland. The duke loses no opportunity of identifying himself with the Ottoman cause. It is announced that the fund, of which he is president, and which was originated at Stafford House, for "the relief of the sick and wounded 1 urkish soldiers," has reached £ 35 734- The Duke of Portland has contributed £ 101)0 of this sum. Mr Reed addressed his constituents at Pembroke r°^ z?n- V U,vsday' He contended that the InjleMolc, m her present state, was unsafe, and th^ the committee appointed to report upon that vessel had not acted fairly towards him. It was absurd to say it was all independent committee, as the language used was cunningly devised to produce an impression which Mr Reed was confident the committee would not dare to sustain had they come under examination by a parliamentary com- mittee. A great demonstration was made in his honour. A large meeting was held on Wednesday night in London, presided over by Mr O'Donnell, M.F., at which the Fenian prisoners lately released were present. Resolutions of congratulation and pledging the meeting to assist the fund now'being- raised to start the men in some career, were passed. 1 he ex-prisoners spoke in moderate terms, and deprecated the use of any language which would give the Government an excuse for refusing to release the remaining prisoners. Messrs Dav'tt, M'Carthy, and Chambers are suffering from heart disease, and Mr O'Brien from asthma.0 Much excitement was caused in Roman Catholic circles in Dundee, on Wednesday, in consequence of an action having been raised in the Sheriff Court at the instance of a young lariv, against a Roman Catholic priest, claiming £ 500 as damages for alleged seduction and also as aliment for t (" illegitimate children, of which she alleges defen- dant is father. It is stated that the pursuer is a lady of superior accomplishments living in Man- chestei, and moving in good society. Defendant, it is further averred, has left Dundee since the- raising of the action. The changes which took place in the composition I of the HOlLSC or COlUlllons last year were not IK). I numerous as in 1876, when there occurred twentv- six vacancies as against eighteen fresh election* rendered necessary in 1877. Two of these elec- tions were for seats in the counties of Sli^o and Waterford, which had fallen vacant at the°end of 1876; and the seat for Greenock, which Mr Grievt* vacated a short time back, has not vet been filled. There were three uncontested elections held during' i the year; in Westminster and Dublin University, i where the members who had resigned on the acceptance of office were re-elected, and in South i Shropshire, where a Conservative succeeded a C'bn- I seryative without opposition. At Launeeston the Solicitor- General was elected in room of the retiring member and in North Northampton^ftire. f where a seat was rendered vacant by the deach of Mr Ward Hunt, la Huntingdonshire, and at Sal- ford the Conservatives retained their seats. At Oldham and Grimsby, upon the other hand, the (jecaased Conservative members were succeeded by Liberals. The Liberal party retained the seats vacated at Halifax, Montgomery, and Dungarvan, and in the counties of I ipperar y and Clare chough it should be mentioned that the members for the three latter places are, as were their predecessors, Home Riders, but of a more pronounced type.' The Liberals lost one seat at Wilton, wliere Mr Sidney Herbert succeeded Sir Edward Antrob-as, ¡L5 against two lost by the Conservatives. regard to the alterations which have occwrred in the state of parties since the general elections of 1874, it may be mentioned that in the course of 1«74 thirty-one by-elections wei-O' held, resulting in the gain, of five seats by the Cbnservati res and of Olle by the Liberals; in 1875, thirty-five elections resulted in a gain of three seats by the Conservatives and of four by the Liberals, in 1«7&„ twenty-s.x flections resnfted in a gain of one scat by the Conservetives. and of five by the Liberals, while this year, as stated, the Conservatives have gained and the Liberals two ,scats. It follows, there- f°re„ that the Conservatives have gained ten seats; gainst twelve gained by the- Liberals, t> letter having a balance in their favour of two Wats, eounting fonr I-,I)oil a division- Itinav be adueu, i that the Liberal party, by the time the Parliament of 1868 bad completed its fourth session, had losb many more seats tlitu they have won'froriio Conservatives since Feb. 1874;, -=-