The Aberdare Times

#ttr fonbtm Comsptiittit I rWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify Burselyes with our correspondent's opinions.] In a few days Ministers and their supporters on the one hand, and the Opposition and their supporters on the other, will be engaged in the pleasant occupations incident to a first-class banquet. I presume private copies of the Queen's Speech will then be handed about n confidence at all events the contents of that speech will be pretty generally known among the guests. Meanwhile there can be no harm in guessing at some f the topics which will be referred to in the royal oration. We may reasonably suppose that Her Majesty will speak in the old familiar language about her amicable relations with foreign pawers that she will express her regret at the outbreak in Jamaica, her satisfaction at tranquillity being restored, and her hope that all difficulties will be removed by the com- mission which has been sent out; that she will use somewhat similar language, mutatis mutandis, with regard to Ireland; that she will have words of sorrow- ful regret for the assassination of President Lincoln and the deaths of King Leopold and Lord Palmers- ton that she will also regret the ravages of the cattle- plague, and that she will refer to an approachm? measure to improve the representation of the peop e n the Commons House of Parliament. It is not likely that the last topic will be referred to in enthusi. astic terms in fact there never is any ent usiasm in a royal speech, but whenever the subject comes to be discussed in Parliament there will be plenty of en- thusiasm there. Jamaica and Reform will be the two leading topics of the session, and on both subjects there will necessarily be the expression of a great deal of party feeling. From all I can read and hear the fate of the Reform Bill will be rejection, and then will come a dissolution. It will be a long time before we know what sort of a budget Mr. Gladstone will bring forward, but that does not prevent people indulging in guesses at its probable provisions. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, with great consideration for the large class of people who are interested in the wine trade, has already an- nounced that he intends to assimilate the duty on wine in bottle to that on wine in wood, making it Is. a gallon and abolishing the alcholic test. If this pro- position be carried we shall have cheap wine with a vengeance, for not only will the duty be less, but the trade will be extended and competition will do its work. But shall we have port and sherry Already it is said that at least twice as much port is sold in this eountry as is imported into it, and the adultera- tion of sherry is nearly as bad. When the alcholic test is abolished, would it not be well to substitute a test of another kind, a test of genuineness ? The adulteration of port wine is a great public wrong, beyond that chicanery which is common in respect to other things, inasmuch as real port wine is undoubt- edly a most valuable restorative medicine. But what else will Mr. Gladstone do ? It is said that he will knock off a number of remaining Customs' duties, alter the harbour dues, marine insurances, the hack- ney carriage dues, &c.—all or any of which modifica- tions would be in accordance with his general policy. Two distinct interests will also make their claims urgently known, and Mr. Gladstone has doubtless already prepared himself for an assault on the malt tax, and an agitation for a further reduction of the fire insurance duty. The Gazette, among the notices of partnerships dissolved, contains an item of general interest. It is "William Henry Goschen, Louisa Wallroth, George Joachim Goschen, M.P., William Edward Quentali, Charles Hermann Goschen, and Charles Brauas, JLustinfriars, merchants; so far as regards George Joachim Goschen." Mr. Goschen, who has just been elected to the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, is now a member of the Privy Council, neither of which he could be till thif dissolution of partnership was officially announced. He has abandoned a splendid commercial career, and has now committed himself entirely to political life. The Post Office report has been very cheeringly received as giving evidence of the progress of the postal system and of the internal trade of the country, and it is very natural to expect that when the revenue returns for the next quarter come to be made up, the result will, pecuniarily, be a very satisfactory one. As usual, a goodly sum will be handed over to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This is pleasant as far as it goes, but when it is considered that this money is procured at the expense of the men employed on the monster establishment, the reflection is not a pleasant one. For about a year the postmen generally, and the letter-carriers especially, have been asking for an increase of pay. I have been looking over the scale of payment which the London men receive, and I must say that, reckoning the dearness of provisions and of rent, and the advance which working men in so many other trades have obtained, an increase would be only fair; while I have reason to believe that in the coun- try the rate of pay is still worse. The Postmaster- General a short time since informed the men that he could not accede to their request, and so the matter stands at present. But it will not rest here. The men have right on their side, and they have the great mass of the commercial community with them, and it is scarcely likely that a* unjustly low scale of pay- ment can be continued. Some time ago a Sporting paper said that two gallant members of a West End Military Club had entered into an agreement to fight for 1,000?. a-side, and that 20M. had been deposited. I can scarcely beliave that even this much was actually true, but that two gentlemen would enter a prize-ring, lower themselves to the level of the ruffians and blackguards who form so large a proportion of the pugilistic fraternity,-this I will not believe. In fact it is impossible, for the very fact of their fighting for money would prove that they were not gentlemen. The ring" happily is for ever lowered in public estimation. All the talk in the world about British pluck and bravery—all the swagger about bull-dog courage and endurance, now goes for very little with the great mass of the public, and the supporters of pugilism are compelled to confine the sounding of its praises to congenial circles. I know not whether the fight alluded to is likely to come off, but if it is to be allowed is will be a disgrace to our magistracy and police, and it would be well to an- nounce publicly that the laws which are presumed to regulate such matters are in future to be considered a dead letter. I believe that arrangements for a contest for the championship are still being made, although one of the combatants is under recognisances to keep the peace. Surely this fact ought to make the police more than ever on the alert. I hear on such good authority that Mr. A. was the author of the Pall Mall" easual" sketches, that it was not A. but B., and that it was neither, but C. wrote them, that I confess my conviction that it was Mr. James Greenwood (of the Pall Mall and Corn- hill), that conviction not being founded on abstract knowledge is somewhat weakened, though I still main- tain the opinion. There is one little fact connected with the authorship which appears to be overlooked, and that is, legally speaking, the Tisit of an amateur casual was a fraud. You will have noticed, perhaps, that an army accoutrement maker, a tradesman in a good way of business, has been playing the amateur casual, but he did not do it well. He merely entered a workhouse, ate some bread and tasted some skilly, and then—naturally enough—got frightened and dis- gusted, and.wanted to make his escape. But Bumble- dom was not to be done in this way, and the amateur casual was given into custody, and brought before the police magistrates, who told him that he had ren- dered himself liable to a month's imprisonment and hard labour. Of course the Pall Mall gentleman did the same, and hence, perhaps, his desire to keep the matter secret, though the Lambeth Workhouse au- thorities would never have the courage to put the law in force against him. A case has just been brought before one of our police magistrates, which is of considerable importance to the public generally. Not to enter into details it will be sufficient to say that a gentleman has been summoned by the Nor:h London Railway Company for not getting out at the station marked on his ticket, and travelling to another a little further on, although the fare was the same. In this particular case no doubt the defendant was wrong, although he ad merely done what he was summoned for in the conviction that he was right, and in order to try the question. But it is time that railway companies were ade to study the interests of the public in this matter, nstead of having if, in the most unfair way, wholly in their favour. Take a case. Call the stations A, B, C, &c. A gentleman gets in at E, intending to go to G, but after the train has started (owing to something subsequently occurring) he changes his mind, and goes on to H. Getting out at H, he offers to pay the difference, but the company actually demand the fare from A. Some companies, at all events, do this, and you may read as much on those awful-looking boards containing the by-laws that you sometimes read while waiting for a train. It is curious, by the way, to notice that all these by-laws are made against the passengers. Read them, and you will not find a single phrase but what is directed against the public. And while on the railway, so far as my pen is concerned, let me say a word about that system of posting up people's names along the line. This is not only punish- ing a person twice, but scores and hundreds of times for the same offence. It is not difficult to imagine that a very respectable and honourable man, a good citizen, good father and h usband—in fact an irreproachable British tax-payer, whose tottlbstone in due time will praise him without falsehood-may onoe in his lifetime be "overtaken in a fault." Smith may, have been I dining with Brown, Jones and Robinson (also respect- able tax-paying Britons), and Smith may in a moment of jollity, on being requested to put out his cigar, have irreverently knocked the porter's hat off. Thereupon Smith is inr for martyrdom. He appears at the police court and pays his price like a Briton, his friends only laughing, and even his children thinking not a bit worse of their pa whom they consider to have been, in the right. Here the matter ought to end. SmithV was undoubtedly wrong, and he has suffered quite enough punishment in the annoyance, to say nothing of the fine, resulting from it. But it is too bad that Smith, who has a nice little villa near one of the stations, should have his name posted all along the line, as having been fined 40s. for assaulting a railway servant in the discharge of his duty. If the railway company are legally right in doing this, they are morally and socially wrong. They fo get the Shakspearian maxim, that it is noble to have a giant's strength, but that it is tyrannous to, use it as a giant. The idea is that these detestably, shabby and revenge- ful bills will act as a warning toothers." But the warning would be just as strong were the name sup- pressed and initials only given, with all oth-r par- ticulars in full. But it would be far better to abandon the system altogether. Mm-

The Times concludes a leader on the arrest and exe- cution of Gordon with the following Yet it must be admitted that there are grave doubts as to hi/ m ilt which Deople, high and low, white and black, ap- pear to have takeri for granted. According to Mr Be,wcr- bank's account, Gordon came to the general svoluntai^ly and probably to surrender to the warrant. When he was arrested and told that he was to be taken to Morant Bay he expressed his belief that he would be condemned, It is fair to infer that by this he only meant that the odtum m which he was held was so great that he would not have an impartial trial But he also appears to have been aware that there were Buspiclous cinnmstances against him, the chief of these being that he was closely connected with the leaders of the insurrection, and that Ithough a constant pendant at the vestry meetings he had absented himself on » t^ednesday of the massacre. With regard to the latter eJ?att!rs> aPPears he told Mr. Bowerbank before Khigs'ton that he had been ill, and that a Dr. Fiddes Ue^e this hTtodirec^1CUghfiMr- ,Bowerbank does not be- naJrative bv B^ '< LCT m'? lt > another part of his narrative Dy saying As I was leaving, the Hon Mr Free- man said to me, 'Gordon is not in St Andrew's he iVin Kingston at his mother-in-law's Dr. Wddes^who is at- tending him, told me so a few minutes back However no one will deny that there were grounds for arresting Gordon The fatal mistake was in sending him to a spot where he could not communicate with the persons who might have given govidence in his favour, and then bringing him sud- denly before a court-martial to answer for a capital crime. A man whom everybody in a moment pointed to as a traitor and murderer must have give i ground for suspicion, but unless there be further evidence o IGordon's wilful connexion with the outbreak we must hold that he ought not to have suffered death.

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE THROUGH POVERTY. Nine weeks ago a French gentleman applied for fur- nished apartments at No. 2, Norfolk-road, Padding- ton, London, stating that he and his mother desired the drawing-room floor and a bedroom. He added that he was a French nobleman, and that from poli- tical causes he had been compelled to leave France. The landlady of the house, Mrs. Connor, asked for references, which were given, and which comprised the- names of some of the high dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church. The inquiries having proved satisfactory, the apartments were let at 25s. per week. Several weeks elapsed and no rent was paid. The landlady then discovered that the Frenchman and his mother were starving, although they were in the habit of constantly receiving visitors, most of whom came in their carriages. Last week Mrs. Connor gave her lodgers notice to quit. The gentleman asked her the latest hour he could be allowed to remain, and he was told that he and his mother might stop until 8 o'clock on the Thursday evening. He then informed his landlady that on the day in question he should be cer- tain to receive some money from France through his friend, the French Consul in London, when he would pay her for all rent due. In the interim, he wrote a great many letters, but he received very few in return. At half-past 8 o'clock last Thursday night Mrs. Connor went up stairs to ask why her lodgers had not left, and on knocking several times at the door and receiving no answer she concluded they had gone to bed but as she was going down stairs the old lady came out of the room and said it would be all right on the following morning. At 10 o'clock on Friday morning Mrs. Connor again went to the door of the rooms occupied by her lodgers, and, after knocking for several minutes and receiving no answer she became alarmed and sent for the police. A police-sergeant was speedily on the spot, and he entered the room by the back window. From what ha saw he sent for Inspector Egerton, and they found the Frenchman and his mother hanging by cords from the opposite ends of the window cornice roller, and both of them quite dead. The Frenchman was suspended by a piece of window cord, and the mother had hung herself with a small rope pulled from the bed sacking. There were indications that after the nooses were affixed both mother and son stood on a high footstool at the centre of the window, and threw themselves off simultaneously. The end of the cornice pole from which the mother hung had broken, the consequence of which was that the feet of both parties touched the ground, but so determined were they to commit suicide that both of them had drawn up their legs and thus effected their purpose. The inspector at once sent for Mr. Beale, the police surgeon, who said life had been extinct for several hours. On a sofa near the window was found on one end the French- man's coat, cravat, and collar, and on the other end the woman's cap and neck riband; on an adjacent table were several articles of jewellery (evidently heirlooms) anl letters from various persons, English and French close to where they lay were two sheets marked with ink in large letters one was marked This for myself," the other, This for my mother." On the table was found the following letter :— Mrs. Connor, you are a Christian and a Catholic, therefore you will know how to fulfil the last prayers cf a dying woman, and that is a holy duty. My beloved son and my- self are just going to die,-we ask from you to look over that, and see that our dress is not taken from us, and that my son's false leg (the son wore a cork leg) be not taken from him. I have prepared two pieces of bed sheets, and I wish us to be wrapped in them, all dressed. I also wish you to take care we are both placed in the same grave. My beloved son has struggled against his enemies with a courage that a good conscience alone can give. We have suffered a great many humiliations and privations, and we have been consenting to bear such suffering so long as our religious feelings would permit us. God does know our thoughts and consciences, He will forgive us; we shall pray to Him for you, for what you saw not; do by yourself what I ask from you-take care that it is done I thank you for your kind- ness to us in our misfortune, and I regret the trouble we are giving you now, but I wished to die here. I leave to you like a reward eight cards (pawnbrokers' duplicates) of very good clothes. They are in for 81 their value is indeed 30 guineas. I had not the means to give something to the man who has rendered to us some service, and who in this last moment will have something to do-I leave him all the clothes of my son I speak of what I give to you because I am persuaded that. I do not know; but I think our prope' ty in your house has been a security for our expenses up to this time. You may have the two hats of my son, but burn all which you consider should be thrown away. For a long time I have seen my son suffering and slowly dying God only knoweth the torments of rpy soul. I pray you again to do all that,-God will bless you.-A. DE CALNWK. Close to the man's body was the following letter I should be obliged that the woman up stairs arrange our two bodies, and give her what she likes. There is other linen in the wardrobe, if wanted. Everything we have on us is very old. I leave a great deal of old linen dirty. I leave eight coats and a lot of other clothes. My mother dear asks that our faces be covered with linen. I leave 6s. We have suffered very much, and I trust, Mrs Connor, you will do as my mother requests.—F. DE CALNWK. Other letters went to show that the son was 35, and his mother 70.

An inquest was held on Monday on the bodies. The evidence adduced did not materially vary the story of their death from that which is given above, but it went far to show that the son at least was labouring under some mental delusions. As the de- ceased persons haè left some letters behind them which the jury were desirous of hearing read, the inquest was adjourned for that purpose.

Ipiictiliuuoits Jittclligatcc, HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL. A LADY" AMATEUR CASUAL."—A female was before the magistrate at the Thames police-c 'urt, in London, on Monday. The charge against, the de- fendant, whose name was given as Ann 1: idler, was that of being drunk and disorderly, and obtaining relief by false pretences at the Mile-end workhouse. Mr. Moffatt, porter andsuperintendent of labour at the casual ward of the workhouse, stated that at a quarter before eleven o'clock on Saturday night the prisoner drove up in a cab to the workhouse, paid her fare and said she was destitute. She was very drunk, and he told her to return to her cab, and go somewhere else. She said, I can demand alodging in the casual ward you are only gate-porter, and the orders, rules, and regulations of the Poor Law Board are to take in all who claim admission." He told her that the di- rections of the Poor Law Board did not compel him to admit drunken people. She then made a great dis- turbance. He tried to pacify her, and while doing so a police constable made his appearance. She repeated the noise Md said she had plenty of money, and would prosecute him and the whole board of guardians if she was not admitted. A crowd of disorderly per- sons soon collected about the workhouse, and he did admit her into the female casual ward, and kept her there until the people outside dispersed. He caused her to be searched, and 17s. 71d. was found upon her. He then gave her into custody. In reply to the magistrate, Mr. Moffatt said the prisoner had been admitted to the casual ward several times. On the 21st of last November she was admitted to the casual ward for the last time. She afterwards became an inmate of the workhouse fornine weeks, and discharged herself on Saturday. She stated on her return that she had 5001, to receive at the Bank on Monday morning, and that her name was not Fisher. Mr. Paget sent her for a month's hard labour. GREAT ADVANTAGES !—We (" Boston Evening Courier") have been shown a copy of a newspaper, called the Black Republican and Office-holder's Journal. Pluto Jumba is editor and proprietor, and it bears as its motto, God and the negro are our only hope."— H. W. Beecher. The prospectus is set forth in the following notice "All dem that scribes to this here paper will have a por- trait of the editor thrown in. Dey can take it if dey pays in advance. Tickler attention paid to white advertisements, which am charged dubble price, and hot corn for sale in de basement. Nossin to do paper till it had been inspected by the Loyal League." Contemporaries of the press are cautioned in the following language against stealing the thunder of the Black Republican :— As dis paper am de organ of Wandle Flip, darefore all de orations ob dat gentleman will pear in dese columns, and dem dat takes em out and puts em in dar own paper will be pussecuted cording to law." An advertisement appears for a boy to keep flies off de editor's bell, and a white boy to do de dirty work ob de office. OPEN YOUR EARS.—The following is from the "Editor's Drawer" in Harpers Hew Monthly Ma- gazine :— We have a little flre-year-old boy, called Jamen, a qniet, thoughtful lad, with (what I once heard a lecturer on phreno- logy say of Daniel O'Connell) a thunderin' big head." One Sabbath James came home from Sunday-schoel with the look of one who had a difficult problem troubling his mind. "Ma," said he, addressing his mother, how do you epen and shut your ears 1" Why do you ask that ques- tion ?" was tke reply. "Because," said James, the minister told us in Sunday-school to-day that when we heard bad boys talking bad we should shut our ears; and when we heard our teachers and parents telling us of the Bible and heaven we should open our ears; and I have been trying mine all the way home, and f can't make them work His ma explained to him the moral sense in which the operation was performed. A DREADFUL CALCULATION !—In the course of an eloquent speech delivered at the Burns Club an- nual dinner, at Edinburgh, on Thursday evening, Professor Masson, who proposed the toast the Poets of Scotland," said he had made a. calculation that pro- bably in the British islands at the present moment there are about 200,000 people writing verses.—(Laugh- ter) I stick to 200,000 exactly. I cannot give you the data on which I make my calculations, but they satisfied myself at the moment when I made it. And they are not only making verses, but I assure you making verses which would have obtained-a reputation had they been written in the last century. The quan- tity of verses which is being produced in English and Irish vicarages, in Scotch manses, and in all sorts of places, is utterly enormous. I do not think that it is any objection to literature that it is becoming volumi- nous, and that its practitioners are becoming nume- rous. Perhaps in some future time the distinction of a man will be, and he will be pointed out on the streets as a distinguished man, that he has not written a book."—(Laughter.) EXTRAORDINARY, IF TRUE.—Baron Rothschild has been swindled (says a Paris correspondent). A month ago a venerable and decrepit old man offered to sell him a splendid service of old china-12 plates only -for an annuity of 481. a year. The man looked so old and so near his end that the baron consented; but when the month had elapsed, instead of his venerable friend a spruce, vigorous young fellow of about 30 claimed the annuity. The baron stood aghast. Why, you seemed a century old a month ago !"—"Yes, M. le Baron, but you see your assistance has renewed my lease of life." For this anecdote the Evenement is responsible. OYSTERS.—But whatever may be the cause, the fact is certain, that the press of Paris begins to smell strongly of oysters, and the journalists find some amus- ing things to say about them (say s a contemporary). One writer lamenting the cost of his favourite hors d'oeuvre, says in the spirit of Francois premier, when decreeing the admission of ladies to the Court of France A repast without oysters is a discourse without an exordium, an opera without an overture, a I house without a vestibule." It is, perhaps, necessary for those who are not acquainted with the French habits, to mention that oysters are always eaten in Paris at the commencement of dejeuner or dinner, by the dozen or half dozen, as a overture or exordium the benighted Parisians not having yet arrived at the knowledge of oysters and stout after the theatre. The same writer, with a cunning notion, perhaps, of shut- ting up some of the avenues of consumption, tells his readers, especially the fairer portion of them, that they positively eat the oysters alive, and expresses his sur- prise that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has not already interfered to put down ostrei. cide, for, he asks, if it be wrong to eat a live animal can it be a proof of honourable conduct to eat one before it is dead ? A NOMINAL DIFFICULTY.—A notice of "change of name," which appeared the other day in the adver- tisement sheet of the Times, affords an illustration of some of the inconveniences which are certain to result from the absence of all legislation on that subject (says the Pall Mall Gazette). An unlucky wight named Joe Bottomley," being about to marry, found it desirable, for reasons best known to himself, to shed that unde- sirable patronymic. Perhaps his future bride did not caN to bear it, or perhaps be himself did not care to transmit it to a race of Bottomleys. So he published the usual notice in the Times that he had, by deed bearing- date the loth day of January, 1866, and duly enrolled in the High Courts of Chancery on the 18th enrolled in the High Courts of Chancery on the 18th day of January, 1866, abjured and renounced for ever the name of Bottomley and assumed that of Drury. But by a strange oversight this notice, published in the Times and dated the 19th of January, 1866, was signed, not by the fresh creation, Joe Drury, but by the ex- tinct Joe Bottomley, who had been utterly and for ever abolished some days previously; and up to the present moment Joe Drury has not made the usual publication of the name which he has assumed. Joe Bottomley, too, was a lieutenant in the Royal Marines. Will the Minister of War and the Commander-in- Chief sanction the transfer of his rank and pay to Joe Drury? We remember, when the late Sir CornewalI Lewis was Minister of War, he declined to recognize officially the right of Major-General Sir John Jones, K.C.B., to substitute the name of St. Paul for that of Jones by deed and advertisement. Will Earl de Grey be equally obstructive in this Bottomley-Drury compli- cation ? Shall we read in the February Army List the name of Drury among the lieutenants of the Marine force "vice Bottomley, abolished;" or will there be another discreditable wrangle to prevent the unlucky officer from doing that which he has a per- fect right to do if he pleases ? THE RELIGION OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS.— Of the deceased Presidents of the United States, Washington, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, Tyler, and Taylor were Episcopalians Jefferson, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams were Unitarians Jackson, Polk, and Lincoln were Presbyterians Van Buren was of the Dutch Reformed Church. The surviving Presidents are Filmore, a Unitarian Pierce, a Trini- tarian Congregationalist; Buchanan, an Episcopa- lian and the present Chief Magistrate. Johnson, who is a Presbyterian. GUNPOWDER CHRISTIANITY.—The following is from the Pall Mall G'azeMg A long and laboured apology for our recent display of "gunpowder Christianity" in the South Seas has appeared in the Sydney Morning II erald signed by "John G. Paton, Missionary." Mr. Paton pleads that his congregation had threatened to eat him, and had actually robbed him of stores which he values at 1,000?., and that Sir William Wiseman, in throwing shells into the guilty villages, was particularly careful that they should only fall on the heads and houses of the guilty. Mr. Paton proves that the New Webrideans are by no means ignorant and unenlightened savages, inasmuch as he himself has spent upwards of three years amongst them, preaching the Gospel every Sabbath in their own language at all their villages, and he denies that they were shelled in order to compel them to receive the Gospel the object in bringing down the guns of the Curacoa upon them being to punish them for crimes com- mitted. and, if possible, to keep them frem such in future." Mr Paton "believes that civil (?) punishment is God's ordi- nance, and that it is our duty to avail ourselves of it when possible," &c. All this may do very well for Exeter Hall; but we doubt whether it will satisfy either the Duke of Somerset or the House of Commons. Mr. Paton must have known pretty well, any time during the last three years, whether the New Hebrideans were cannibals or not; yet Sir William Wiseman and his Armstrongs are omy called in when he quarrels with his congregation and loses 1.000J. A CATTLE CENSUS.-It is said that the Board of Trade, on behalf of the Government, are about to take steps for the purpose of ascertaining the number of live stock existing in Great Britain. Farmers and occupiers of land generally will be requested to make a return of the number of beasts on their farm or land. For this purpose a form or schedule, prepared by the Board of Trade, will be sent to every occupier of land, and on the 5th of March the return is to be made. The day originally fixed for this purpose was the 1st of January, but it was found impracticable to obtain returns at an earlier date than that now named. The making of this return is entirely voluntary; but it is obviously important that the Government should possess full and accurate knowledge of the supply of live stock in the country, and it is to be hoped that agriculturists will show themselves ready to give it. CURIOUS EPITAPH .-In the churchyard of Lyd- ford, Devon, is the following epitaph:— Here lies in horizontal position the outside case of George Routleigh, watchmaker; whose abilities in that line were an honour to his profession; integrity was the main spring, and prudence the regulator, of all the actions of his life humane, generous, and liberal, his hand never stepped till he had re- lieved distress. So nicely regulated were all his actions that he never went wrong, except when set a-going by people who did not know his key even then he was easily set right again. lIe had the art of disposing his time so well that his hours glided away in one continual round of pleasure and delight, till an unlucky minute put a period to his existence He departed this life 14 November, 1802, aged 57. Wound up in hopes of being taken in hand by his Maker, and of being thoroughly cleaned, repaired, and set a-going in the world to come. RUSSIA AND HER ARMY.—According to an article in the Invalide Russe, quoted in the Sr. Peters- burg correspondence of Le Word, a connder>b'e and progressive diminution in the strength of the Russian army has taken pW. In the soring of 1864 that army compns- d 1,135,000 men and 96,000 horses. On the 1st of January, 1865, it consisted of 909,000 men and 82,000 horses. At present the numbers are 805,000 men and 75,000 horses, or less than the effec- tive force which remained after the Crimean war, when the number of men was 818,000. This reduction in the effective strength of the army had been accom- panied by a diminution in the amount of the military budget. The sum applied to the expenditure of the army in 1864 was 152,155,000 roubles, 1865 it was 127,831,000 roubles, and for the current year it is 116 689,000 roubles, or a total saving in three years of nearly 36,000,000 roubles. THE END OF A FRIENDLY SOCIETY.—Again came the widow of a labourer, who had been a. mem- ber of our society for a number of years previous to his death (says the writer of Our Friendly Society" in the Evening Star). She asked the means of pay- ing the funeral expenses, and she, too, was turned away to seek shelter in the workhouse for herself and children, and to leave the, body of her husband to be interred by the parish. I could fill several columns with cases similar to these-cases of poor people who had counted upon our benefit society for help in sick- ness and at death, and who at the hour of need found that all their little savings were utterly lost. But you must have seen many of them in the police reports, and must have seen too, how the offices of our friendly society were finally closed amidst the cries and execrations of the many who Buffered in conse- quence. In this plain narrative of our progress and fall you will perceive that the rock upon which we split was the same as that upon which so many simi- lar societies have been wrecked. We blundered egregiously in many things, but principally in these the mortality tables upon which our calculations had been based were erroneous or had been misinterpreted consequence-that we offered too large a return for the subscriptions. We did not regard with sufficient care the fact that as our members aged the claims upon our funds would grow and the subscriptions de- crease consequence -that our funds were not duly husbanded, and when the claims fell due our princi- pal had to be broken upon to meet them. We sought by unnatural means to increase our funds: conse- quence--we appointed canvassers, whose commission absorbed above seven years' interest upon the subscrip- tions. Total of our blunders-bankruptcy. A BEGGAR'S PLEA "WITH A HOOK.At the Worship-street police court, in London, on Saturday, a cadaverous and half-clad man, with but one arm, and two children, a boy aged eight years and a girl aged six, clinging to the remnants of his coat skirts, was brought into court by a police-constable, charged with placing himself in the public streets for the pur- poses of receiving alms. The policeman said About an hour since, I saw all three in the Hackney-road, they looked to me like professional beggars. The man was making a noise, aa though trying to sing, and the in children walked about receiving some money, I told him that he could not be allowed to make such a dis- turbance. He said that he had lost his left arm from the elbow, and had left Liverpool with his wife and four children thirteen months since. I found 10id. on him in half-pence and farthings. The magistrate What do you say to begging? Defendant: Your wor- ship, I was singing. The magistrate How did you come from Liverpool ? Defendant: We walked all the distance, your worship, and I sang. The magistrate Yes, and lived by it I suppose. Defendant: Yes, your worship, but I'd be able to earn a living for the children with a hook. The magistrate Earn a living with what ? Defendant: A hook, your worship, to my stump. I bad one and worked well with it till it broke -it was so slight. The magistrate Do you know anything of this man? Policeman Nothing further, sir. The magistrate Very well, let him be remanded, and the children taken to the workhouse. When he comes up again be sure that his wife is in attendance. Make enquiries, and if his story is correct he shall have a new arm. Policeman I should mention to your worship that he pays 6s. a week for the lodging. The magistrate That is for the family. Very well, do as I tell you. Remanded. AT CROSS PURPOSES.—Morrow is n town of some importance, about forty miles from Cincinnati. A new brakeman on the road, who did not know the names of the stations, was approached by a stranger the other day, while standing by his train at the depot, who inquired Does this train go to Morrow to- day?" "No," said the brakeman, who thought the stranger was making game of him; "it goes to-day yesterday week after next." "You don't understand me," persisted the stranger." I want to go to Mor- row." "Well, why don't you wait till to-morrow, then, and not come bothering around to-day? You can go to-morrow or any other day you please." "Won't you answer a civil question civilly ? Will this train go to-day to Morrow? "Not exactly. It will go to-day and come back to-morrow." As the gentle- man who wanted to go to Morrow was about to leave in disgust, another employe, who knew the station alluded to, came along and gave the required in- formation. A LYONS SURGEON ON ENGLISH SURGERY.—M. Desgranges, an eminent hospital surgeon of Lyons, lately delivered a discourse, at a meeting of a learned society of that city, with the following title—"On Public Charities in France and England." Among the topics alluded to, there is one in which the speaker has taken it, it seems to us, an erroneous view of the motives of British operating surgeons. He says:- We Frenchmen value life as much for the poor as the rich as surgeons, we have the same regard for a patient who will after recovery remain helpless, as for the arisan who, after being cured, can resume work. In England matters are not always considered in this light. In that country, tormented with incessant activity, and ever striving after utilitarian results, the value of a man is reckoned upon his productiveness hence, when disease has rendered him useless, he is considered to have no right to refuse the boldest operative measure, meant to fit him for work, and re- store his social value. It is, therefore, surprising that this way of viewing matters, which is very illustrative of the national character, should favour the venture- some attempts which have spread far and wide the scientific renown of English surgery ?" FALL OF METEORITES.—The French Academy of Sciences has received from M. Drubree an account of the fall of certain meteorites in the territory of the tribe of Senhadja, Algeria, on the 25th of August last. The most curious part of this paper is a native Arab's description of the phenomenon given in his own words It was about mid-day," he says, "1 was returning from the forest, when all at once I heard a violent report, not unlike that of several pieces of cannon. I was surprised and looked around me. It could not be thunder, for an instant before the sky had been quite clear. Almost at the same instant I heard a rumbling noise in the air. I looked up, and saw a cloud and something black coming rapidly towards me. I crouched down, recommending my soul to God, thinking I must be crushed by the object coming from the sky but at that moment the object fell near me, throwing up a cloud of dust. I ran to it, quite as- tonished at my not being dt.ad, and found it was a stone. In attempting to get out of the hole I was obliged to withdraw my hand immediately, for I felt an excessive heat. I waited sometime, and then went to fetch other persons with pickaxes, and in the course of the evening we got out the stone, which had lost nearly all its heat. We broke off some pieces in order to preserve them carefully as amulets against infernal spirits, and then we carried it to the caid." From subsequent information collected by M. Grenade, a surveyor, it appears that the original shape of the stone was a parallel epipedon with a nearly square base, but with its faces bulging out a little in the middle. It was 35 centimetres long, about 16ft. deep and 22ft. broad, it weighed 25 kilogrammes. The hole it had made in the ground was 50 centimetres deep. The ground, it is true, was soft to the depth of about 20 centimetres, but at that depth was a very hard lime- stone. A LADY'S W RIMS -Both the fashionable and the artistic world of Paris seem to be raving about the extravagances of a certain Madame de Paiva (says the "Flaneur" of the Morning Star), who, as lionne, seems outdoing all her predecessors in leonine peculiarities.' In her charming house is a grand staircase, each step composed of a solid block of malachite, and valued in itself at 20,000l. She has also ordered a l fe size pic- ture of herself from four of the most celebrated French artists, each picture to be one of what the Fre' ch know as chic, but f"r which we English have a harder appellation. One of the subjects is completed. It re- presents Madame de Paiva as Cleopatra, when to tempt the "dull cold-blooded Caesar" she had herself conveyed into his presence, hidden in a carpet, from which unrolled she rose in all her unveiled beauty. This is a style of art that would be found nowhere but with our lively neighbours." A SORROWFUL TALE !—At the Worship-street police-court, in London, Mrs. Ann Fay applied to the sitting magistrate for assistance from the poor-hox, and in support of her request, related the following sad narrative The applicant said she was a widow when she married her present husband, to whom she brought several hundred pounds. She succeeded to more, all of which was invested in his business. He was a chemist and druggist at Kings- land, and was doing well until August last, when an action was brought against him by a man, or the representatives of a man, for whom he was alleged to have prescribed, and who sued him at the Croydon Assizes. The jury gave lortZ, damages, but the costs in addition were so great that he cou d not pay them, and a few mornings afterwards he parted from her and her five children, the youngest of whom is only a twelvemonth old. He left their lodgings, in his usual manner, as he said, to go to the City. He did not come back at night, and she went to the shop to look for him. She then found he had sold everything off in the morning, and from that day (five months ago) to this she had never seen or been able to hear anything of him. She had sold her jewellery, clothing, and everything she could for support and on Christmas-day, Boxing-day, and a day before, she and her children were entirely without food. They were now living with her sister, but her sister had so distressed herself for them that she was nearly as bad off as they were. She was known to the Rev. Mr. Gordon, incumbent of Dalston, and ths Rev. James Jackson, of St. Sepulchre's. The wife of the former had been very kind to her. She and her children were now in such destitution that she should be grateful for any advice or assistance the magistrate could give her. This statement was confirmed by a gentleman con- nected with the City Corporation and by a letter from the Rev. Mr. Gordon, upon which the magistrate said the only advice he could give her was to make appli- cation to the parish authorities for aid but, as far as immediate exigencies were concerned, he would present her with 30s., and if any kind persons would lend her further assistance he would do so too. The appli- cant burst into tears, and said she could not apply to the parish. PUTTING THEM DOWN !—A movement, which was inaugurated in London, at St. Martin's Hall, a few weeks ago, under the title of "Sunday Evenings for the People," and which consisted of scientific and other lectures by eminent men, followed by a selection of sacred music, has come to a somewhat abrupt termination. After Dr. Hodgson had delivered his lecture last Sunday night, it was stated, that the "Lord's Day Observance Society" had determined,to put these gatherings down, on the ground that they were public entertainments and amusements, contrary to the provisions of the Act 21 George III. cap. 49. With a view to test the legality of this, the committee of the recent movement have commenced a subscrip- tion to defray the expenses of obtaining the opinion of the Court of Queen's Bench as to whether the lectures and musical selections which have hitherto been given in St. Martin's Hall on Sunday evenings are an in- fringement of the Act of Parliament in question or not. In the meantime, although other lectures were announced for the next and subsequent Sundays, the gatherings will be discontinued. BROTHER IGNATIUS.- Brother Ignatius is about to leave England for some months. Brother Placidus has left the monastery at Norwich for reasons in which Brother Ignatius concurs. In a statement issued Brother Ignatius says :— A relapse of illness has compelled me again te seek entire change and freedom from the severe harass and anxiety I have undergone for our order, single-handed, lor three years. My medical advisers have told me that I must go quite away fr*m all anxiety or I cannot bear up any longer. For my work's sake only I seek restoration to health. Means for travelling have been offered me by one person in our order only. I am obliged to have a nurse (a Sister of Mercy) and a brother with me, which trebles my expenses. I have worn myself out for my work's sake and given up all worldly prospects for it. If churchmen will help me to obtain the rest I need, I feel that with God's help I may regain my wonted strength, and after some months return with renewed vigour to my work in Norwich I have been asked by some of my friends to close the monastery while I am away. I am most anxious not to do this if possible Brother Brannock, who has been with me two years, has solemnly promised to do all in his power to fulfil the trust committed to him, viz., that of brother in charge. I leave him in charge of seven brothers, all postulants, with an exact rule for daily life, prescribed by myself, collated from St. Benedict's. Owing to the fault of one whom I trusted, ISOl., collected for our new chapel, has been misappropriated. Of the debt for our organ I have paid 901. 401, still remains unpaid this must be paid by August next. I particularly request that during my absence all donations and subscrip- tions be sent to my account at Messrs. Gurney's bank none to the monastery. Two gentlemen in Norwich have kindly undertaken to transact all business matters for the brothers so that the monks will be altogether exempt from secular affairs. Brother Ignatius proceeds to add that there is still a debt upon the chapel of between 2001. and 3001. and he intimates that if God restores him to health he intends to appeal to the bishops for priests' orders. INAUGURATION OF A BUST TO RICHARD COBDEN. —A very interesting ceremony, which has for some time been looked forward to with interest, took place at Verviers, in Belgium, on Saturday. The Belgian Society of Political Economy presented to the Chamber of Commerce of that thriving manufacturing town a bust of Richard CobJen, as the most expressive symbol of their appreciation of the services rendered to the cause of Free-trade by the Verviers merchants and manufacturers. It appears that these gentlemen were the principal supporters of the Free trade movement in Belgium which has been crowned with such great success, and the recognition of their efforts and sacri- fices has been attended with great eclat. Gentlemen from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, and other countries attended, and bore testimony to the grandeur of the principle of Free-trade to the mode- t greatness of the distinguished Englishman whose memory-was thus honoured so gracefully in a country which his doctrines have now thoroughly permeated and to the worthiness of the men of Verviers to be as- sociated with his great fame. An interesting letter from Mrs. Cobden was read in the course of the in- auguration, which was followed by a very brillant banquet, attended by 200 gentlemen, and characterised by the most cordial enthusiasm in behalf of "peace justice, and liberty," the great ideas for ever identified with Richard Cobden's public life. FOUNDERING OF THE "LONDON."—Among those who went down with the ill-fated ship "London" there is one gentleman whose name deserves to be rescued from the common oblivion which, as far as the public is concerned, is likely too soon to overtake the majority of the sufferers. Narrowly escaping a. few years ago a similar fate on board the Marco Polo," when she struck an iceberg in the middle of the night in the Southern Ocean, and displaying the utmost presence of mind on that terrible occasion, Mr. Denis had since been very active as a colonial explorer, and had for many months been engaged in a hazardous hunting expedition in the wild regions, and among the savage tribes which lie at the back of Port Natal. Not on these accounts, however, would his name deserve to he brought into prominent public notice. The circum- stance for which he is entitled to a place in our memo- ries is, that he is understood to be the first, if not the only, Englishman who has actually grown cotton in the Southern States of the American Union by free negro labour. Starting for America whilst the civil war was still at its height, he took a plantation on the Mississippi, near Vicksburg, under the promise of adequate protection from the United States (Govern- ment, He succeeded in raising a crop, and only retired when he found that in the then existing state of thino- it was utterly impossible to grow that crop without great pecuniary loss, as well as personal risk. As some atonement, however, the United States Government gave him a special honorary certificate, in which thev make honourable mention of his efforts. SHORT WAY WITH THE FENIANS.-A correspon- sugges°tion mmer the lowing excellent da^upontti CurragSfKildaL^S^ch armed',?n a fertfain. thp Irish -RpnnV.iio > to choose a President of dav the flErhtin^ An TiJ g wil1 commence on the first Fenian wil? h« w? second day, and on the third one and preside over himself? th<m eleCt him8eU prssident THE REFORM QUESTION.-Tho Spectator" warns the Government that their one-barrelled bill, if they finally resolve to introduce it, will not meet with sufficient favour. They may, no doubt, carry an M. sunrage if they choose without a dissolution, or one fixing the qualification of 91. 9s. 9d or any meaning- less measure of that kind, which nobody would dream either of resisting, or approving, or considering, except with a languid contempt. But a real bill, which shall in a perceptible degree reduce the franchise, say to a 61, qualification and do that alone, will be under some form or another referred to the people. Whom among the electors is it to conciliate? Not the Tories, for they have been carefully instructed that the bill is only to1 oe preliminary to a succession of bills which, after two precedents have been set at an interval of a generation, must all advance in the same direction. Not the educated Liberals, for they, if they remain true to themselves, will reject any bill which, by fixing a mere qualification by rental, leads the way directly to the rule of numbers. Above all, not the immense mass of Liberal electors, who see clearly that physical force is outside the Constitution, who are heartily willing that it should be brought inside, but who are anxious while including it not to be ousted themselves, and are above all things desirous that the question should for this generation end. Such a bill will please only the Radicals, who hope that with the Conserva- tive voters reduced from one-half of the borough con- stituencies to less than one third—this is !SIr. Baines's own calculation—they shall be able to carry bills the existing constituency would refuse seriously to consider. But the Radicals are not sufficient to carry the bill in the teeth of the secret dislike of all other classes, even had they the earnest support of the non-electors, and this they will not have. The bill, to carry the country in the teeth of the Tories, the waverers, and the little boroughs, must, whatever its other defects, at least relieve us from the subject for one generation, ani this a franchise bill, without a redistribution of seats avowedly will not do. POST-OFFICE STATISTICS. — The Postmaster- General reports that in 1864 there was an increase in the number of letters parsing through the post-office of 37,000,000, and of books and papers of 7,000,000, which was more than proportionate to the increase of population in the country. 28,000,000 letters and 21,500,000 books, papers, and parcels were sent through the foreign and colonial post. In London the average number of letters per head per annum rose from 48 in 1863 to 51 in 1864. In 1864 only 14 registered letters were lost in this country. In 1864 2.428.612 letters were returned to their writers, and about 483,000 were destroyed. THE WELSH PATAGONIAN COLONY.-The bark "Dorothy," which has arrived from Buenos Ayres, brings a dreadful acount of the new Welsh Colony in Patagonia. In April last 150 Welshmen left Liver- pool for the banks of the Chupat, in Patagonia, in- tending to establish there a purely Welsh Colony to speak the Welsh language, or rather a Welsh Republic. By the last English mail, which arrived three months ago. it was stated that the agent of the society in Liverpool, Mr. Jones, had arranged very efficiently the reception of the colonists. The news now brought by the "Dorothy" is that one-third of the colony had fallen a prey to famine and drought. The colony is entirely dependent for support from Buenos Ayres, which is nearly 1,000 miles distant. A treaty ex- isted between the colonists and the Argentine Repub- lic, the latter agreeing to supply the colunists with corn, &c., but apparently no provisions were to be ob- tained. The society in Liverpool are taken by sur- prise, and the second batch of intending emigrants will await further advices before sailing. A limited liability company has recently been formed for trading with the Welsh colony and the coasts of Patagonia generaUy and it is said that the promoters of this company hurried the colonists off without proper pre- parations. A BAREFACED BABOON.—For more than a year past Mr. Brook, of Goliad's Kraal, has been suffering from the attacks of a baboon on his flocks (we are quoting from a Cape of Good Hope paper). During the past year this customer, a large male, has killed 150 kids and lambs. Latterly he became so daring that he would walk deliberately in broad daylight down to the kid kraals, within a few yards of the herd's hut and catch one or two kids at a time. The scarcity of food in the veld latterly, owing to the drought, made him more daring than ever, so a woman was left in the hut last week to drive him off. But he was not to be cheated out of his meal by any such means. The woman caught him a few days ago in the act of purloining a kid from the kraal. She hooted at him. and ran to- wards him threateningly with a stick, but he would not budge. He only made faces at her, and ran to- wards her threatening her in turn, which frightened her so much that she was glad to take refuge in the hut again, and he finished his meal in comfort. The voracious brute was. however, caught at last. Mr. Brook baited a wolf-trap with the favourite dish-a lamb, and the carnivorous brute came to grief.

EPITOME OF NEWS. BRITISH AND FOREIGN. The Queen of Madagascar seems, according toFrench reports, to favour the ltoinan Catholic religion in a most conspicuous manner. The New York correspondent of the Manchester Examiner says that the letter, purporting to be from Stephens, investing O'Mahony with full power, is supposed to be a forgery. Wiiliam Carleton the great Irish novelist, whose Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry" have delighted so many readers, is now sadly afflicted in his old age, and his friends are making an effort to induce the Government to increase his pension. A centenarian -Mrs. Mary Moses—has just died at Lymington, in Hampshire, at the age of 100 years and nine months. The district of Braemar is at present infested with a swarm of rats, and the other day a farmer in the Braes of Crathie killed, with a single discharge of his musket, the ex- traordinary number of seventy. A Parisian speculator proposes to organize a Balloon service, to ply between the Place de la Concorde and the Champs de Mars during the Universal Exhibition of 1867. A vaccinated calf which the Hon. Mr. Tollemache placed with beasts suffering from malignant rinderpest, is dead. She had been so long in close contact with her dis- eased neighbours before taking the plague, however, that her owner thinks she ought not to be quoted as an instance for the non-success of vaccination. At the same time he admits that one of his vaccinated cows has taken the disease, and that he has great misgivings about another. He is still prosecuting his experiments. An odd scene occurred at the Bradford Theatre the other night In the middle of a play the stage manager came forward and announced that one of the actors was too drunk to go on with his part; whereupon the actor rose in the pit, denied that he was drunk, and after making a lengthy speech, in which he explained that his refusal to go on with his part arose out of the violence of the manager, asked the house forits verdict. The house unanimously de- cided that he was not drunk, and the performance came to an end. A man named Frank Reynolds was on Saturday night found dead in a cattle waggon at the Oldfield-road Station, Manchester. Deceased had been in charge of a number of cattle in one of the waggons, and from some cause the animals became excited, and trampled him to death. A story is going the rounds of the Neapolitan papers in regard to a prophecy made by Pio IX., when in conversa- tion with a high Spanish personage. The Holy Father is re- ported to have said Unfortunately it is to be feared'that the year 1866 will be one in which much blood will be shed. The fire of the demagogues will burst forth in many parts of Europe however, this dreadful conflagration will have finished in 1867, when peace will be re-established. Rome will view with grief a second enaction of the scenes of 1849, and the Pope will be obliged to abandon the City of the Church as a fugitive. In 1867, when the Pope returns to the Vatican (?), a grand council will be assembled, and the cen- tenary of St. Peter will be celebrated. In 186-i, you be pre- sent at my funeral." It is a curious rcircumstauce, says an Irish paper, that at this time nearly all the serial stories in the leading magazines are being written by Irish authors or by authors of Irish extraction. Thus, that at the Cornhill, "Armalade," is by Mr. Wilkie Collins, whose father, the painter, was an Irishman that of Blackwood, "Sir Brooke Fosbrooke," is by Mr. Lever; that in Macmillian is by the Honourable Mrs, Norton, the daughter of "Tom Sheridan;" that in All the Year Round, The Second Mrs, Tillotson," is by Nlr. Percy Fitzgerald; that in the Dublin University, by Mr. J. S. LeFanu; that in Once a Week, by Mrs. Trafford, author of "George Geith that in the Shilling Magazine, by the same; that of Temple Bar, by Mr. Wills (Irish also) and Miss Braddon, who, it is rumoured, is of Irish extraction. At Bingham Melcombe, a farmer lost eighty sheep in the late snowstorm. They took shelter under a hedge and got smothered. 6 The now rare circumstance of a military execution occurred at Lille last week. A soldier of the 10th Regiment named Eyraut, was shot in the presence of the entire garri- son pursuant to sentence of a court-marshal, for assaultine and wounding an officer. A decision of some interest to members of yeomanry corps was given in the Queen's Bench, on Friday. A toll- gate keeper had been summoned for demanding toll from a yeomanry officer, and had been convicted, whereupon the case was taken to the Queen's Bench. There the judo-es quashed the conviction, on the ground that a member of a yeomanry cavalry corps was not a "volunteer" within the meaning of the Volunteer Act. The Board of Trade inquiry into the loss of the London was opened on Monday at Greenwich. Mr. O'Dowd opened the proceedings, &nd three gentlemen were called as witnesses, each of them being inspectors of shipping—one an inspector of ships building, another an inspector for the Board of Trade's certificate as to passengers, and a third an inspector of engines. All of them gave the London a very good character. She was well and strongly built, and fitted up most carefully. Where suggestions had been made to the owners they had been complied with. The witnesses were examined as to the engine-room hatchway It was de- clared to be as safe as that of most sea-going steamers but it was admitted that in some Clyde-built vessels a very im- portant addition was made which effectually shielded the engine-room from heavy seas that might come on board the vessel. The New Orleans Picayune announces a most agree- able sign of progressing reconstruction, in the fact that there is a rage among the young people to settle down in matri- mony. The clergymen are kept going night and day, like doctors during an epidemic, to respond to the numerous de- mands for their services. The last anecdote of the late King of the Belgian is by no less a personthan William Cornell Jewett who sav^ that when he went to Europe on his" indePeli,le-,it Peace mission," he requested King Leopold to act as umpire be- tween our Government and the rebels, and that monarch replied that "he would not put his flntrers hot,! the bark and the tree." nngers between been seeii iii the Chaiiiiel aiid upon the French coast. The oi a snip fiom the colonies fell in with s^v^rai the Sorhngues, and caught four large ones h'a few lKmrs G eorJe Published from Victor Hugo to Madame nnnnro \ii I • ,lle poPa'ar novelist wrote to the poet to an- S blFth "f her little granddaughter Aurora, to whiUi she received the following reply: Cette douce Aurore qui luit vient a point dans notre ciel sombre A nous deux nous sommes la nuit, Vous efts Pastre et je suis l'ombre. Mauame Sand's name is Aurora. According to the Grocer, Mr. Gladstone con- templates making another reduction in the tea duties, his alleged intention being to abolish the present Custom-house routine, and colleot the dues at the ship's side. This saving in cost he would give to the nation, and thus lower the duties without injuring the revenue. There is some likelihood of a strike in the Sheffield file trade. The grinders have demanded an adv ance of twenty-five percent., and at a meeting held on Friday night the masters deliberately refused to give it. Competi- tion in the American trude is so keen, they say. that their margin of profit, even at the present cost of labour, is barely enough to make the trade fairly remunerative. A Durham labourer has been committed for trial f r endangering the lives of the passengers on the Noith- Eattern Railway. He had fallen asleep in his waggon the other night, and his horses, straying on to the line through the open gates of a level crossing, travelled on between the up line of rails a distance of two miles. They were then seen by a pointsman, who at once put on his danger signal and brought a heavily-laden passenger train to a stand just fifteen yards from the unconscious sleeper and his wnggon The magistrate who committed the man expressed a strong desire to commit the directors of the line into the bargain for leaving a level crossing unguarded. I The monuments on the tombs of the Prussian aud Austrian soldiers who fell during the first and second Schle9 wig-llolstein wars are to be inaugurated respectively 5th of April, the anniversary of the victory of and on the istli of April, the anniversary of Duppel. The Oxford undergraduates' journal makes its flrlo appearance this week, and will be published fortnightly. is announced as a medium for recording undergradu^ doings and the "correction of abuses." It is stated that Oxford illustrated Punch will also shortly appear. At present time Oxford can boast of some remarkably cle^ draughtsmen, and it is thought that there is sufficient for the humorous in the university for the success of the dertaking A German croupier of Monaco has just been pelled for fraudulently detaining money belonging to tn batik. In four months he appropriated near y 2',0 >0 fran"* by the following ingenious process:—When he had to recei*_ a great number of gold coins, he kept two or three of in his hand, th' ii massed them into his mouth, took out p -cket handkerchief, and spat them into it. He has be^ allowed to go to Homburg with his valuable booty. Savings banks are rapidly increasing all over Ital?j No less than fifty are already in existence, and their stated* prosperity may be gathered from the fact that the "BaD^ della Piccola Industria a Commercio," founded only lasty^ in Turin, has already had deposits of above 500,n* 0 francs which yielded a profit of nine per cent. two per cent. taken into the reserve fund, while seven per cent. is paid dividend to the shareholders. M. Albert, formerly member of the Proviu<"}^ Government of the French Republic, is to start for AmerJ j in April, in order to hand over to the widow of Preside" Lincoln the gold medal struck in France in commemoraW0 of her husband. Madame Sfaqui. the rope-dancer, whose fame da^ from the beginning of this century, has died in Paris in bet 80th year. 'J Earl Russell, since he became Premier, has 1*1 aside the razor and allowed his beard to grow. It is stated that the losses in which the Marine surance offices and Underwriters at Lloyd's are interest^! through the late wrecks and casualties at sea, 1,000,0002 to 1,5 0,0001. The story which has been told that one of the ogiceo in Jamaica set his men to practise with their rifles at yards at a condemned prisoner, is so far believed here we understand Sir Henry Storks had special instructions investigate its authenticity.—Spectator. Lord Brownlow Cecil has been accidently shot in leg by the Prussian Ambassador while shooting in BurgW Park. The health of little Prince Leopold (says the Journal) is causing great uneasiness. The Prince has fjj come so weak that he is unable to walk, and is obliged to v lifted in and cut of his carriage. Mad'lle Patti is enchanting the Parisians, not by her songs, but by her dresses, Two new robes by Worth, the famous man milliner—one grey, and the bouton d'or—are especially praised. to A Chicago clergyman missed his stockings on Cbr^j, mas morning, and after a long search found one cn horn of a new milch cow, which had been presented to by his parishioner.?, and oraoiented in this way to that it was a Christmas gift. Either a joke or something we should fancy ve!l near to it is the announcement that the Pall Mall casual ward business is to be dramatised, perhaps in the 8W of Never Too Late to Mend. j The Rockland Gazette, in announcing the receipt a new work, speaks thus briefly and to the point:—" received a book entitled 'Arabella, a Tale of The author is a fool." It is said that the cost of repairing the wires of a oldest of the telegraph companies, destroyed in the rec snow-storm, will be 27,0002. A 1 dol. note of the Niagara District Bank Wo recently received at a store in St. Catherine's, with the lowing written in a clear bold hand on the back: /rf dollar was received by Rev. J. Robinson, of Burfor<yj binding together in holy wedlock Thomas Ray and Gloss, having travelled fourteen miles in the rain paidld?> and a quarter for expenses. Total luss, 1 doL 25 cents, great deal of trouble if A meeting of the East and West Norfolk Malt-tax Association was held on Saturday at Norwich, was attended by all the four county members, and by a body of tenant-farmers. Sir H. Stracey was in the chair- Ki speeches were made and resolutions moved by the c0^ members expres-ive of the determination of the never to cease agitation till the malt-tax was abolished. The Emperor Napoleon will personally take pl\rt the Universal Exhibition of 1867. His Majesty will appe the list of exhibitors whose productions will specially inte jl the working-classes, and intends sending specimeoljii habitations for artisans and mechanics, which will 50, cheapness of construction with sanitary comfort. The hO are to be erected within the park of the Exhibition. j The following advertisement appears in a New paper:—"All Negroes Notice. You can become Lever's recent discovery will remove the pigmentary from the skin, changing the darkest* complexion to a olive in the course of from three to ten weeks. This C°J pound is free from all poisonous and irritating qnalit e9, Jjj although its effects are rapid, yet it is perfectly the akin." j Viscount de Suleau, French senator, formerly of Marseilles, has been obliged to undergo the amputf^ of a foot. He was an officer of cavalry in the Grand of 1812, and had both his feet frozen in the retreat n i Moscow. One of them has of late tormented him so "Hi that his medical attendants decided on taking it off. Suleau is 72 years of age. The Providence Journal says of a new boo^'jj, Some of the pieces in his book are, in a certain humourous. The funny poetry makes us weep, the Pa verses make us laugh; and so the book is, in a certain 36 humourous." Every now and then a four-in-hand breack," i tabling four "sportsmen," with guns and game in dance, is seen drivjng at a swinging trot up the Elysees, in Paris, and back again. Spectators pause, a^jr and speculate till the vehicle has past, when all doubts jj appear. On the back, letters of gold reveal to the that (he vehicle is the ambulant advertisement of "G ande malson de gibier. Fouruisseur des m alheureux." Two little girls, under three years of age, chilli of parents residing in Dukinfield, near Ashton-under-W^ were lost from half-past two o'clock on Friday afterLr last, and "were not found until half-past ten o'clock on sj day morning, having, all the time, been shut up in an e0yJ house without food or drink. They were only disco^rf accidentally, their cries having been heard by a person J was passing the house in which they were They course, very much exhausted from want of food and their two nights' incarceration. J The Trichina: have given rise to a new branch* medical literature in Germany. There is already a secø much improved, and enlarged edition of a book by chow, on the subject, called "The Theory of the Tric^S for Medical Men and the General Public." A curiou' aent in connection with this spreading calamity the other day in Posen. A young man fame to coBsfji physician about shooting pains in his limbs, a genera1. tude, and the like symptoms, which the physician w™ ?h'S<? £ a? trichinose." The patient, however, in.t° +w I 5 j belonged to a most orthodox Jewish famil?L,4 that he had never in his life touched pork. He had rheumatic cold. We need not add his ailments had to be cured by the disappointed practi'1 | much in the usual way. much in the usual way. cØ I The, other night the keys of the Probate-0^ Doctor s Commons, were abstracted by some persoO known. Three or four days afterwards on the dust removed, the keys were found as bright as ever in the man's cart On the morning that the keys were found »'V piece of charred wood was thrown into a kitchen of ttejjd on the basement, in which a quantity of cloth s were drJyi This would naturally lead to the conclusion that a design on the part of some one or ether to make a b° jf* of the wills and titles to property of half the people & kingdom. fc At a dance given on Thursday evening: in last by the Duke nnd Duchess of Sutherland at LiUeshaU^V the Prince of Wales led off thefirst quadrille with the of Sutherland, and the Princess of Wales and the Duke "J partners. The Princess of Wales wore a white lace black silk b-xl dice, and for a head-dress a boudoir of dian^ The Duchess of Sutherland had on a white satin dress* *<fi* a lace tunic, and a boudoir of diamonds as a head-dress^ M Royal Highness the Prince of Wales wore the insignia ° fy Garter, as did also the Duke of Sutherland and of Sefton. jj| The Hon. Arthur Kinnaird visited the workhouse one night last week, and made an entry visitors' book testifying to the excellent arrangements °V casual ward, and to the fact that the inmates J cared for. "Half an hour after," he reversed, and I witnessed what I must designate as voltmg. Naked men and boys huddled together witho«^ hnn,J afF° fe?enc>, ln the wretched room of the 1 Strong and painful contrast with th«|f' certified ward, and was calculat^V, men ask .whether the time has not coi £ J fnitipo Hi t parochial system, however besst wi'h culties, to the advantage of the State." e Charlotte Winsor, the child-murderess. w^.fJ moved from Newgate Gaol, London, on Friday, and 2 Exeter, m charge of one of the warders. Her denies" J, while in the London prison has been calm, and she has > since the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench. said^j» thing as to the crime or the result of the applicati"^ which she had so deep an interest. She was respited to «« 12th, and should the sentence not be previously cofl^jy it will then be carried out at Exeter. The general °Pni t* with regard to Winsor is that "the sentence of death carried out as if no delay had taken place. The French Minister of Worship and of M. Baroche, has just lost his daughter, and is so pr"6tffV by this heavy affliction that, feeling himself unable to to business, he sent in his resignation to the Emperor. Majesty replied instantly to his letter, assuring M. that from sad experience he could assert that the ,eff solace for deep sorrow was to be found in work he fore would not accept his resignation, furthermore, hentff only himself stood in need of his services but the co«" required his devoted zeal and patriotism. > The Nottinoham Journal reports an extraordtfJV hunting incident which happened in the Quorn coU»trtV few days ago. The hounds, under the leadership qetllel n a ? m l'le neighbourhood of n Zi, ,\arrmnSat a certain wheatfteld the.ifiV -s su?)P°rter8 were somewhat surpr^jr 1^riPafsage interfered with. The impediment off* ti armed wither'! eld,v(as no Iess than a bod-T of p,ef^ vi. S^1C^3 an(l -'ludareons, and commanded ji* ground, who intimated pretty plainly have his wheat destroyed. The-ecce,heef loomng little army uuder his direction proceeded to ooth dogs and huntsman from entering the field, and a P^jj oting demanded the master gave up the chase, the 8 being broken off. Lord Howard De Walden had an interview with King of the Belgians on Friday. He presented the c° .p' lences of Queen Victoria on the death of the late Klnfr■ her felicitations to Leopold It. on his ascending the th'Sjj On Saturday Count deComminges-Guitaud fulfilled a 01 duty for the Emperor of the French. May difference of opinion never ''alter friend The two Conservative members for Liverpool chanced present at a local Chamber of Commerce meeting on? and the Austrian treaty cropping up, both of the'm sP°K,v it. One, Mr. Horsfall, thought it a happy measure. lead to every good result; the other, Mr Graves deiK it as an imposition, and said all other commercial trC were like it. In addressing the Queen's (Westminster) Ivi8.egn J Saturday, on the occasion of the annual presentat10 prizes, Colonel Erskine stated that the number of voW'1 now enrolled amounted to 177,0.'io, the number of e&cl^„c1 to 134,Oi'O, and that the ten shillings paid for extra efAcl,gji>' was awarded to 66,000. This was an increase since ber, 1864. of 7.0'H) on the number enrolled, 10,0i 0 o'' {Ji8 number of efficients, and 4 000 on the number to wb extra ten shillings was paid. > Mr. William Astley, a youth of about fifteen of age, the son of a gentleman of property residing Windsor, has lost his life by a gun accident. On Frid9^ j,)« did not come home from a walk he had taken wijfL# gun, his dog returning alone, and on Saturday he was } ft* dea l on the banks of the Thames, his body partly } water, both ban-els of the gun having been discharged, his head literally blown to pieces.. I' is announced that some time during the m0,1V March the,Prince of Wales will visit Belvoir Castle, dence of the Duke of Rutland, where great preparation to be made for his reception. t- 9, tiOIl The Irish Government have offered by proclaC1^ y a'10'h3r sum of '1,0001 for such "private information t0 the apprehension of James Stephens, tiiey believi; to be secreted in the neighbourhood of 2,00(il in all ma} | ow be obtained by any person'who the head centre up to justice. His arrest would be this or a greater amount for its moral effect. The Irif}11 is informed, on what, it consider to be good authority' the Government has discovered the whereabouts of Step je*. and that his arrest may be expected in the course of days. If there is any truth in the information, StePjjjp ought to be very; grateful to the Irish Times for puW^ it.