The Aberdare Times

ERIAL PARLIAMENT. ise of Lords, June 27, Lord 8tanhope moved au he Quern praying Her Majesty to take Into con- ie Institution of an Ordar of Merit to be bestowed sty as a sign ol her Royal approbation upon men served well of their country in science, literature, 9 observed that there was no State of any conse- pt England but admitted the principle, which he 16 established iu this country, of granting decora- en eminent in art, literature, and science, jion of art and science by the grant of dtcora- histead of advancing, actually retrograded in d he thought it would be desirable to give to land artists a distinction s'milar to tliose Ordera inien and military commanders were amMtious « such an Older as he desired to see established Lted, he thonght it would be desirable to limit of those receiving it, that it should be bestowed P regard to political considerations, and that Its d not involve the necessity of any change oi part of the recipient. nville admitted that an Order of Merit might seful effect, as the Order of the Legion of Honour first in France, but he added that after a time became depreciated in consequence of its indis- 'stribtition. In a country having Constitutional the selection of persons for the receipt of the d be an invidious task for the Prime Minister e, and would give ri<e to complaints on the I who cnnceived themselves unjustly over- hough the Prime Minister wculd be above allow- considerations to influence his decision, yet be no doubt that an enormous pressure would lm in the case of two competitor* of pearly equal ng to obtain the distinction. The difficulty of lew Order of the sort would be very great, and Bent did not see their way to giving practical I Proposal submitted to the House. arks from Lord HoughUn, Lord Harrowby, and the motion was then put and nf gatived. r) Lord Ettrick, who inquired whether the Govern- be able to present returns respecting agriculture »n such a form as would enlighten the pubic mind re of land and the occupationfand improvement the Duke of Argyll said that returns for object, in order to be valuable, must consist "ts of facts, and not of opinions, and that M returns alluded to by Lord Ettrick would 'elusive; and he added, in reply to another ques- ord Ettrick, that he was not able to state that ■ measure was under the contemplation of the tot India for the prevention of the destruction property in India by wild beasts, but as an ex- number of persons were destroyed by wild thought the attention of the Government of be called to the subject. other business had been disposed of, their wjourned. e of Commons Bat at two o'clock. business was Committee of Supply, in which &ce Packet Service and the Irish Education Vote s t°. and the House then went into Committee on ,1. which has stood over since June 6. On Progress was reported in order to meet an taken by Mr. Magniac, which received very ?pcrt, to making tbe new expenses of drawing f Lists a charge on the Poor Rates. The Attorney- Proposed to pet ovrr the difficulty by following »nt of the Irish Land Act, and providing that the paid by the Treasury out of moneys to be voted Bnt- This was accepted, and it was understood amendment would be made on the Report. lalue$ relating to the compotitton of the Jury, the L» the Attorney-General explained at length the >* which he wished the Committee to make in the w, Though he still thought that the number *|ely and advantageously reduced from twelve to wvil casts, he gave up this amendment in to the almost unanimous opinion against a, he pleaded earnestly against the necessity of unanimity, and proposed that the verdict of the twelve should be taken. Next, he the Committee to sanction an innovation lad much atbeurt—the Composite Jury—in the 'our Special Jurymen to eight Common Jury- there should be an admixture of *11 element* in **s recommended by the Common Law Procedure D and the Judicature Commission but the system r!*te selection which they contemplated would th Judges, he admitted, were in favour of ne number of twelve, there was a majority in j™wiimity, and on the mixed Jury they had not jkcussion which followed, Mr. Gregory was the hv» ° Save the Attorney-General any support, n he was in favour of reducing the number of even and taking the verdict of six, he strongly > Composite Juries. On the other hand, Mr. Lopes, >»wrence, Mr. Hardy, Mr. West, Mr. Floyer, 'mid, and Mr. Wa'ter spoke against the At- proposals, urging the Impolicy of weakening indence in trial by Jury by diminishing tbe &pd taking the verdict of a minosity, and» *<»o on the discordance and data Jealousy, the unequal burden on Special Jurors, which the result of the composite system. In the Ltto ey- nerat acknowledging that he stood "drew his proposals the clauses relating to them out, and the law therefore on these poin ts will 'altered. Subsequently progress was made with I to Clause 65. ida Loan Guarantee Bill was read a third time and Evening Sitting, the House was courted out at 'nutes past nine o'clock, while Mr. M Ltren was orward a motion on the rating of Scotch Churches M.

a —————————————— n e of Lords, June 80, Lord Russell moved the b of the Government of Ireland Bill. When ri 'as put by the Lord Chancellor no Peer rose tl the second reading was declared to be nega- a' his result appeared to be the effect of a mb- tl it was agreed timt Lord Russell should be vi iress the House on the subject of the bilL n then entered into an explanation of the pro" c Bill similar to that which he gave on its Intro" "V aid he proposed the abolition of the. Lord Lieu- u land because he regarded the existing arrarge- tl inconvenient, and he believed that if there s crttary of State for Ireland the riots at Bel- s re been prevented by the speedy arrest of the F Donsiderin? that there was little chance of ob- in Iction of offjnntrs in certain cases, he main- a wPuld be desirable under these circumstances, a could not come to an agreement, that the ver- t tirds of them should be accepted. With re- r in Ireland, he declared that the only <- Commissioners for Education to consider t *ed'i* ^rs(in to manage a school. Consequently t the ^is ^11 that any manager feeling himself 1 c nduct of the Commissioners should have « ^Peiljjjg to the Committee f Privy Council J believing that th'e government of lrel»nd 1 o-^p^rdiog to thn inspiration of the II jrnan t or! y' he had in > bill a declaration that t f of Rome nor any other foreign Potentate i have, any temporal or civil jarisdictlon with- < ( J^mberley rising to address the House, Lord I ir. *? "rder, observing that the question on the of Iu bul had been put and decided, hut at en»<7f I>uke of Richmond, the discussion on fitted to proceed. j tt]j^J^ec!ared his opinion that the bill was not ( in its present shape. He en- < s government ef Irelind was conducted th r inspiration of the Roman Catholic regard to the office of Lord Lieutenant of iVon. »- log that strong arguments could be alun v 1'8 abolition, he pointed out that some- th? 6 said on the other side. Such a it. *vne before the Heusp, proposing a if < system of administering the snairs introduced at all. should be brought in e the Government. Though in cases of I ?? "hment frequently failed to overtake the iini^ere WM no difficulty in cases of ordinary th- ?IYerdicte, and as regards capital cases the bill for the accept8nce of the verdict of a Irtioli Of the jury wts not intended to apply. o the Commissioners for Education, he did •Reserved the censure which Lord Russell had •peed in thinking it inexpedient to retain the Aord Lieutenant of Ireland, but he doubted th Sent bl11 *r&s t'le best mode of effecting the hat office, and whether the present time was ■j^'tttne for proposing its abolition. He sug- 11 would be an advantageous arraneement to nee r-APIJarent to the office of Lord Lieu enant condition of which country he conceived to >reviou'i°al^y an<^ moraI1y- than it had been for 'fended the conduct of the Commissioners Au? *aid he was not aware that Ireland was in tho ln wh'ch it had been stated to be. He aa co^trary, that it was advancing in material u "-otnfort. rejoined that at present a large portion of ^*«er military law, and that to be a Home Ruler an T'f^tlal qualification for a candidate for the w Ar«h constituency. 'f frn«i Lord Lifford, who declared that had experienced a diminution of Jate C»h the K^?,llor "gain put the question on the second "ill, and it was again declared to be nega- 8ak» read to the House a telegram just received r> the cffect. of which was that he and all the had v ere Khartoum, in good health, aud that b completely succestfal. tlB. "n the paper having been disposed of, adjourned. °ot?B i?' Commons, Viscount Sandon gave ). Monday m»xt he would ask the Prime to a recent declaration of the Arch- th«^ y and York as to the subversion of the > n« formation, whether he would be prepared 8e(!5lon a bill to carry out the second re- 0 M ^Omniission on Ritual. to ,,r Cadogan, Lord Enfield s*id he was glad he report of the *a ety of Sir S. Baker. Two had reached the Foreign Office from a telegram had been received from i, r £ attoum, wh«re he and his party arrived in the ft 6 couutry as far as the equator bad been re tr^Wian dominion, all rebellion had ceased, ^hsin been completely put down. Biu on the paper was the Supreme Court of le C for Committee, and on which Ut ot, P'ven notice of a R^S 'luUon tbar, ther« Court of Appeal for all ttie three King- ? the Speaker out of ihe chair, cithVv'ted the willingness of the Government ssire n,e1?p>rit °t the Resolution. Indeed, it had 'Peal k riIners °' tbe bill to establish one 'tatn' ut the jurisdiction ot the Hoiine of Lords ry j. ^iely in deference to local oi.ii.ion. Subse- Bd'nn.u?ver, had convinced the Goveruu ent that s HT#.» n ol the HOUSTI oi Lards when the E- g-. reW,,6 removed from it, public opinion in Scoc- bill w woulrl no longer prtfer it to the Court he nr" to establish. The necessary changes in JUt jernDlfcnt had convinced itself, C' uld be irilent ian,gerl;,8 its passing this year. But the tte« ot proceLure would be to go on with of ir>} &'ter the Report to recommit the bill for t to srr'oducing the amendments necessary for tho Ud UIid Ireland- »tUl strongly convinced of the] wisdom -i&t ww011!6 °' Lords as the Final Court of Appeal, Oft JxJJ the Euglish Appeals were transferred to •ce<j °Qld no longer possess the sam authority. in Mr. Bouve-io's Resolution, ha orted by Resolutions of the Irish Judges 1 th^ that Ireland should be adequately 'erle Cuurt M. his willingness to follow the course *wJad8tone: but that« nK °ther hand, thought it exceedingly in- 'U the °' *uch magnitude should DB mai.e 16 debatt11?er Proposed. It would be better to dlay ? 111 order that the Government night ^o^the tiouse their matured proposals, a<teaimli 'hem it would be impossible for the to discuss the clauses. ad to 'ii^f1^ strongly opposed au adjournment as u(?h in,^ern,te delay, and urged that tbe ameud- ^ks f wo^ld uot be lon^- t r°to Mr- Bourke and Mr. V. Harcourt, ejjerai6c{ the adjournment of the debate, and the uUl(j r' 11 opposing the motion, paid that only fou- I Irish alteration in order to transfer tho ?• Matth' c"on- *^r- 11> Mr- Ncwdegate, some ob;ervalior.3, and, on a 11 for adjournment w»s in ^i.t o.l by 102 L46 tIle7a AIr Commiitea, n't-.r olueiva- 0Dropoi^ desciioing ameudUiCiits which he ^ii «haiiv ec* to, and on Clause 2, which directs Proon, i110 h"° operation on N vember 2, 1874, 18 40 alter the date to 1875, giving as ""Owncy ol waiting to see what would be dene with the County Courts, xne objected, and on a division the amendment was negative.! by 65 to 25. Clauses 3 and 4_ werei agreod t-rvand 0" C anse 5. which prescribes the i-ongtitutiod of the Hllth Court of Justice, a Jong discussion occurredon the p P^J of increasing the Judicial St .if It wag raised bv t^o a'uenc ments-one m-ve.l bv Sir R. Baggallay that the Court shall n consist of il.e ex officio Judges and 13 ordinary members and the other by the Solicitor-General, to strike out the word inserted bv the House of Lords requiring the ap pointment of an additional Vice-Cbancellor. The Solicitor- Geuerai stated in great detail and with numerous statistics the reasons which had induced the Government to oppose this increase. It would cost some £ 20,000 a year, and it was totally unnecessary, for the business oftiie Court was not in- creasing, and its arrears were fast disappearing lri fa.t, Sir Ge Tee maintained th«re was no Court of Judica- ture in the world which could give such a good account of itself in the matters oi arrears. Mr. O. Morgan, Mr. Gregory Mr C. Lewis, and others were in favour of an in- crease attaching but little weight to the Solicitor-General's statistics; but in the end Sir R. Baggaliay's amendment was negatived' by consent, and the decision of the point was re- served until a later portion of the Clause. Mr. Raikcs moved to omit tbe Lord Chancellor from the High Court of Justice, which, after some slight opposition from the Attorney-Gene- ral and the Solicitor-General, who pointed out that he had been placed there by Lord Cairns, was agreed to. Mr. Harcourt moved to omit the Master of the Rolls, the Eord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the Lord Chief Baron, with the object of doing away with the proposed Divisions, and making the High Court homogeneous. The discussion of this amendment occupied the remainder of the evening. On tbe one hand it was supported by Mr. Serjeant Simon, Mr. H. James, Dr. Ball, and others, who urged that It was necessary to complete fusion of Law and Equity, and to the economy of judicial power and In op- position the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General argue i that it was desirable to retnin these great prizes to attract the best men from the Bar to the Bench; that these Divisions had been recommended by the Judi- cature Cmmission, and that they were not intended to be permanent, but only to tide over the transition period until all the Judges became conversant with Law and Equity. Ultimately Mr. Harcourt consented to confine his amend- ment to the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and the Lord Chief Baron. The further progress of the bill was then adjourned. Several bills were forwarded a stage, and the House ad- journed at ten minutes past one o'clock.

THE COBDEN CLUB. The annual dinner of the Cobden Club was held on Saturday evening, at the "Ship "Hotel, Greenwich. Mr. Milner Gibson occupied the chair, and among the company were Mr. G 'scben, M.P., Mr. Ayrton, M.P., Mr. W. C. Cartwright, M.P., Mr. Thomas B. Potter, M.P., Sir C. Dilke, MP., Mr. Rylands, M.P., Mr. Mitchell Henry, M.P., Mr. Osborne Morgan, M.P., Lord Arthur J. E. Russell, M.P.. Mr. Andrew Johnston, M.P., Mr. W. 0. Fowler, M P., the BonG n. Brodiick, M. Emile de Lanvelaye, Sir L. Malet, C.B., Mr. Hugh M'Cullocb, S-fior Moret y Prender- gast, and the Hon. David A. Wells. After the health of Her Majesty the Queen had been drank with the heartiest enthusiasm, The Chairman proposed, in a very appropriate peecb, the toast of the evening—" Their remembrance if Richard Cobden by joining in a sincere wish for the >rosperity of the Cobden Club "-which toast W:}IJ Lruuk with great enthusiasm. Mr Goschen, in proposing The health of the Strangers" jrese'ct at the banquet, said they were strangers in so far is they came from foreign countries, but no strangers, inas- nnch as they were brother political economists from their vritmps and the position they had always occupied. (Hear) 'erhaps some of their visitors would be able to tell them vbat foreign countries were thinking at this moment of be position and prospect* of the great docrines of politi- :al eeooot. ists in England. They were there as representa- ,ives of the policy inaugurated by Richard Cobden and ¡h. Chairman had told them of the triumphs of Free Trade, u d had spoken of the duties they had at present to per- orm as the sentinels of that policy, indicating, at the same iime his view of the modern questions connected -ith that policy He withed In a few words to expand that idea in connexion with the toast be had to propose. He desired to know whether foreign countries, looking at this moment to England a3 an example, were quite satisfied that we were sufficiently tenacious of those great doctrines of political economy to which most of those present were so distinctly ittached. Mr. Milner Gibion had spoken of the purchase of the telegraphs. That was an isolated measure; but it was an isolated instance of a policy which was now being con- tinually forced upon public attention and upon public opinion, and he be ieved there was some danger unless poli- ticul economists came to the front that whenever the neces- eity arose we might find furselves drifting into a pol'cy which all political economists must condemn. (Hear, hear) They wero not simply, he hoped, a club to celebrate the past; they wt re a club which intended to advocate the genuine doctrines of political economy for the future. (Hear, hfar.) Foreigners might say that Cobtien had one great advantage on bis side—he had the masses of the people on his side against the class interests which were opposed to him; but the time might come. as it has come in other countries, when political economists must face the masses (cheers), and'he hoped that, in an association where men who looked with pride on the past were gatherad together, they would nerve their courage to fight a fight which assuredly wculd come, If it had not already, upon political economists in this country, as it had come upon the political economists ot other countries of Europe. Let them ask the di»tinguishf-a strangers there to- nUht who had fought the battle of individual energy abroad against the doctrine of centralization and Commu- nism, whether they still found us as s'anch as we used to be in the principle that we should rely on individual fnergy rather than upon their interference of the Stat«. He hoped th- friend on his right (M. Moret), who bad in Spain so ably fought the doctrine that individualism was stronger than the action of the State, would be able to state that he was able still to follow the example of England. The chair- man had said that it was by example far more than by pre- cept that we might hope to influence foreign nations. Were we yet an example to foreign nations with regard to upholding these principles? He trusted that we were, and that political economists would at least be firm in this re- spect. Free traders here had always been on the popular side but political economists must be content to be un- popular in certain emergencies. We must be prepared to miet doctrines where we.should by no means be carried along by the current of public opinion which had helped us along in the great struggle for Fr«e Trade. In this matter each country had its own difficulties. In America they bad not to Etruggle against the oiffic ilty of those tendencies to Communism which were Duzzline the nolitical economists OIL the Continent. They had had to fight the battle against Pro- tectionism, and they were still figutlng a battle wnii-h had been fought out in othtr countries. In Austria, in Russia, and in many-countries on the Continent of Europe, great progress waf- now being made by Free-traders. In Russ a he had bad the honour of bein-, present at gatherings of Poli- tical Economy Clubs like this, and it was most gratifying to see the great progress which Free-trade principles were making there. He trusted, therefore, that Free-tracers in other countries would find th*ir task becoming easitr every day and it was to be noped tnat the at fusion which Mr. Pr* EF'rfsK wiiwa they were harking back, and that tney intended to follow ™iicv of the great man after whom they had named «P?ond Province. Further, he thought that when they had named a second Province after John Bright (cheers), we might hope soon to see great improvements iu their per- formance, and that we should n, t have much lonirer to lament that so great a branch of the Anglo-Sllxon community were not such ardent disciples of our economists as we could wish. That his friend Mr. Wells had fought a great battle in the United States would he felt sure, be the opinion of every one present. (Hear, hear) He need say nothing more with reference to the individual merits and claims upon their sympathies and regard of their distinguished visitors. He hop"d they would be able not only to give a good account of the progress of Free Trade and political economy In thidr own countries, but that they would be able to state that the example of England still assisted them in the degree that might be expected from a country which had produced Richard Cobden, John BrUht, and the other distinguished pclitical economists who had so greatly contributed to tne prosperity and greatness of their country. (Cheers.) Mr. David Wells replied at great leng th for the United States. He said there was yet so much of the old, selttsn. Paean principle accepted on the other aide of the Atlantic —namely, that no one nation or individual could prosper except at the cetriment or expense of some other- that that very coming toother to celebrate the con- tlnued progress of commercial and was sure to ba interpreted by not a few of his countrymen. Including some who claimed the title of economists and philanthropists, as constituting in itself sufficient evidence of a conspiracy and a reward for the betrayal of their in- dustrial intprestl-a sentiment and conclusion that found Its almost exact counterpart in the action of the Chinese, who some years ago murdered the French sisters of the assumption that the establishment of asylums of fritndle s and orphan children could find nation in the practice of magic and the appetite for canni- balism. He took thto opportunity to report what, notwitn- standit g the opposition growing out of such sentiments, naa been the recent progress of trie United State, in the direc- tion of greater commercial and Indus rial freedom, ine department in which the United States was at present great, in a sense more interesting especially to the foreign observer than almost any other, was that of economic ex- perimentation, which was now being carried on on a scale of tuch magnitude, and with such an utter disregard of eithT past expedience or future Influences, as to invest its progress and issue with a degree of importance which ocuitt hardly be over-estimated. Confining his remaiks to the matter* more intimately connected with the principles for which Richard Cobden lived and laboured, he would first make a few remarks on that greatest attempt of modern times to restrict the frtedom of commercial and indus- trial movement through what was termed Projection, or high tariff legislation. This legislation bad ifs origin in what were conceived to be the necessities of the country crowing out of the existence of the civil war; and, though not so understood at the time, it was undoubtedly a fact that these very necessities were taken advantage of, under the guise of patriotism, by the advocates, of Protection, for the furtherance of their policy in respect to certain special interests for if revenue, as pretended, was the main ooject for the increase of the tariff, it was almost impcssible to conceive a reason, setting aside the hypothesis of profound ignorance, why the duties upon many articles should have been fixed during the war at rates far above the point at which the maximum revenue was attainable. It could rot be denied that the adjastment ef the fiscal system tf the United States for the last teu yeats had b en fully in accord wIth the wishes d the most fanatical and extremo uf the Protectionisms, that the average rate of duties on all dutiable imports during tbis period had ap- proximated 5) per cent., eni that, as an essential adjunct of Protection, the United States had been persuaded to maintain an issue of irredeemable paDer-money or more than three dollars for every one of redeemable paper that was considered adequate to the necessities of the country prior to 1860. In short, the whole aim aud object of this school of economists had been to engraft upon the country a sort of Cliinese policy of pro- hibition and exclusion and their leader, Henry C. Carey, of Philadelphia, had Dot hesitated to express his opinion that the best thing which could happen to the United States wou;d be to have the ocean which rolled between the two continents converted into a sea of fire so impassable that if Dives was in Europe aud Laza- rus in Pennsylvania they could not under any circum- stances enter into commercial correspondence. (Laughter.) Moreover, Mr. Carey had expressed the opinion that the death of Richard Cobden was one of the crowning mercies for which the United States hid cause for g atltude, for the reason that if Mr. Cohden bad lived, It was his pur- fn have sgnin visited America, and tnat such was the P rfomect of the people for h's name aud his ser- universal r P ld h ye floeked in crowds to his speak- vices that they wouia uavo dreaded, lest they ing—a contingency to principles. Aud that should have become converted V perpetuated this same mf^ni y o! a ^memwa^ one the re- was evident from the paction bore upon its title-page cent tracts advocating Prot. lul0 tlie moutn of as a motto the worus which Gothe put lmcrs Mephutopheles, to the ;fleet that trade A were in all respects equivalent to war ani theory of Protection had for the last ten y United an' t ssentlal feature of the fiscal poll^cy i j U«uea states. The trial had been full and complete a result had been nothing but fa'lure and d'aas.er. (tUar; I; >he Protectionist pointed to the recent great luorbase in tbe wages of the industrial classes of the U. ited fetutes he wtuld reply that, measured by ihe purchasing power o money, there had been a much smaller P^rcel}ta8e lu" crease in wages during the last ttn years than had be*n experienced in Europe, and that the purchasing power of the dollar, or the unit which the labourer of the United States received now in exenange fl r his labour, was less I 11an at any former peiiod of American history, and > less than ij was now in any other country which could compare with it In wealth and eivilizatiolu. Some time previous t leaving Ne* York, with a view of being abJe to speak i; t'. i' i» on the subject, he requested a former assiota :t, Mr. Moore, to make an investigation of the com pnrative economic condition of the United States in 1860 ano 187a. selecting labour as the standard of comparison and estimating the oomparative purchasing power at the two periods indicated. The result constituted one of the most t ) tmterOtMng investigations ever entered upon in the United States. They proved hat, in respect to the ordinary neces- sities of life, the purchasing power of labour had decreased 191 per cent In the United States sini?el860, while in respect to whj^Jnight be termed luxuries—wiues, precious stones, perfuuBp, articles of ornamention, Cashmere shawls, &c. —the purchasing power of labour had actually increased, thus indi- eating that the results of the last 12 years in the United States had been to increase both the means of enjoyment on the partof the rich and the poverty of the poor. If he were referred to the great absolute increase which the late cenms showed to have arisen in production from I860 to 1870, his answer was that tne percentage increase was less than that experienced in the corresponding period from 1850 to 1860 or 62 per oent. in the protective against 86 per cent. in the decade of low tariffs while if the comparison were made from a strictly Protectionist point of view, the showing was in- finitely worse. F,)r the first and avowed object of Pro- tection was to effect national industrial independence, or emancipation from national dependence on foreign skilled labour. But, in place of becoming industrially independent, there had never been a time when the people of the United States were consuming so much of the products of the skilled labour of ot'¡er countries, exporting so little of their own, and paying so largely for what they did import with pro- mises rather than products. Indeed the facts were en- tirely without a parallel in commercial history. Thus, the total value of the exports of the United States in- creased in the 12 years from 1860 to 1S72 inclusive 176,COO,000 dols., or from 373,000,000 dols. to 649 000,000 dols but of this increase all but about 6,000,000 dols. was referable to six ttems-breadstuff, coin and bullion, provisions, leaf to- bacco, petroleum, and lumber, products three-fourths of the value of which represented the gifts of God, and the other one- fourth labour of the most unskilled and poorest paid descrip- tion. Of the other six millions increase of exports, which might be supposed to repres' nt the products of high wages and skilled industry, fully one-fourth stood to the credit of the single Article of sewing machines. During this period of protective paper-money influence, moreover, the flag of the American commercial marine has baen almost swept from the ocean, as was shown by the fact that while in 1860 71 per cent. of the total foreign trade of the United States was carried in American bottoms, in 1838 the proportion had fallen to 44 per cent., and for 1873 would not be in excess of 28 per cent. The increasing deposits In the savings banks of the United States were frequently appealed to as evidence of the success of the protective policy in increasing tne sur- plus means at the disposal of the labourine classes, but the very first attempt to collect and analyze data had been suffl- t>;ØTlt. tn thnw that this claim was wholly destitute of founda- tion. osits in the savings banks of the United States had increased in a ratio far in excess of the general increase of wealth in the whole country was in itself a good and sufficient proof that the causes operating had been abnormal and wholly independent of the agencies affecting national development; but in addition to this, an examination recently instituted showed that out of the whole number of depositors the representatives of "wage-labour" owned only about 30 per cent. of the deposits, and that the increase of deposits was derived from the well to-do classes. But it might be asked, if these statements were true, why had reform been so long delayed ? To this question it was not easy to give a succinct answer. But in general it might be said that the natural resources of the United States were Iyet so great and the facilities for earning a living so aoundant, that evils and grievances which in an older and more densely-populated State would long ago have created a revolution were there borne almost without remonstrance. It ought not, however,-to be overlooked, furthermore, para- doxical as it might seem, that free trade itself was one of the agencies which had thus far occasioned Indifference in thr United States to the unrestricted ttfplication of its prin- ciples for one of the prime causes of the prosperity of the United States, past and present was referable to the fact that free trade in its fullf st signification, had been extended over the area of a continent and embrace 47 widely separated and Industrially different States and territories, Knd that so well satisfied, moreover, were the whole people of the truth of tnis, that upon no one point were they better determined in their own minds than that they would not permit the creation or maintenance by any of the States throughout the whole of this broad territory of ttie slightest artificial obstruction to the freest exchange of products and the freest commercial intercourse. The time was drawing near when the judgment of the American people, long delayed, w.{s likely to be so manifested in opposition to the doctrioe of protection as to cause it to disappear for ever as an element from the fiscal policy of their Government. But this result would not be due so much to argument or individual <Sort as to the force of circumstances, which were compelling thought and conviction among the masses. The manufacturing interest was at last beginning to find out that, In the long run, the indirect losses and burthens incident to protection, far more than counterbalinced any direct advantages supposed to accrue from it. One of the most remark ible illustrations of this has been afforded by the experience under the high duties imposed upon the importation of wool an I woollens, which ranged from 50 to 150 per cent. ad valorem. The main argument made use of by the Protectionists was that these high rates of duty were necessary to compensate the American manufacturer for the advantage in wages enj oyed by his foreign competitor. The doctrine of protection in the United States had been carried to such an extreme, and had so raised the prices of every constituent of manufacturing industry, that protection ceased to protect, and the tariff, in fact, in place of being protective, had become fearfully destructive so much so indeed, that by depriving the American woollen manufac- turer of the free choice of raw material, it had made it almost impossible for him to make good and cheap cloth Another circumstance that was contributing powerfully In the United States to expose the fallacies of the protec- tive system was the heavy burden imposed on the m ce- ment of the agricultural product of the interior States through tho unna ural cost of transportation, which had become so grtat an obstacle in the way of the producer and hit. seaboard maikets that during the past winter grain in very larne quantities has been used for fuel. It could Dot be wondered at that "Free trade and farmers rights was beginning to be the political rallying cry of the great West. The late Treaty between the United States and Great Britain was not only a long step In the way of settling international difficulties without the n .¡ .1- nc.a1oQQ ATnpnrlttllre of intervention of arms ana tne useless v. money, but it was also a great advance in the direction of Free Trade, for among the various articles of tnat Treaty there was none which gave more satisfaction to the American people as a whole, or which is more likely to be productive of more important consequences than the article whijh admitted fish the product of British Colonial waters frei of duty into the United Slates. For not only was this admission certain to be a great boon to the Hb cur- ing classes in the way of affording a supply of cheaper food, but it was sure to be the entering wedge for other commer- cial reforms, inasmuch as it would not be long before the representatives of the great fishing interests of the United States, who had been to leng deceived into sustaining pro- tection, would come to the conclusion that if there were no longer to be IIVY protection on what the hook caught, it was not for their interest to keep it up on the hook Itself-on the line attached to the hook—upon their boatf, food, clothing, and upon all other articies whicn. entered hto their production and consumption. Co-equal and co-extensive with the mischievous influence of the tariff had been also the influence of the system of irre- deemable paper money, which had been the almost sole iecogU'zel national Instrumentality for affecting exchanges in the United SORtes since 1862, and had brought to bear demoralizing influences upon the characttr of the people of the United States and the nature of their business tiansactlons. He was satisfied from hisown lnvtsti- gations that it the entire annual product of the United states were divided equally,.th-i average incime of each in- dividual would not be iu excels of 175 dois., or &S5 per annum, out of which food, clothing, shelter, education, travelling expenses, and means o' enjoyment were to be pro- vided, all taxes paid, all waste, loss and deprecia- tion made good, and any surplus available as new capital added to former accumulations. But the annual product was not divided equally, and as long as men were endowed with different natural capacities, it would never be so divided: some would receive m .re than their share multiplied by hundreds and even by thousands, which of course necessitated that multitudes of others would receive proportionably less, and how much less was indicatei by the circumstance that the most recent returns of the Labour Bureau of Massaehussetts showed that in this, the wealthiest portion of the United States, where the labourer was nominally better piid than in almost any other section, the eirnings of the head of an average family engaged in manufacturing Industry were net sum- cient for its support, and that the deficiency must be supplied by the industry of femal-s or minor children. Now if this were the condition of affairs in a region of the globe whete there was conjoined with large wealth a great equality in the distribution of wealth, was it not clear that the conditions of economic progress are either iden- tical with the conditions of intellectual and moral pro- gress, or so closely connected as to be mutually inter- dependent? But what, some might ask, had all this to do with Free Trade 7 Simply this, that Free Trade in its largest sense dealt most effectively with those elements of this great problem which admitted of being brought most readily undtr human influence; inasmuch as by removing obstructions, it provided that production should be carried on under those conditions which induced the maxi- mum of abundance and promoted equality of distrlhutinr. by preventing all unnecessary interference and waste in the ex- change of products. Protection, on the other hand, had for its esteuce obstruction, for its object scarcity, and by the enactment of prohibitive or restrictive imposts, virtually declared that there was no brotherhood in man, and that the interests of nations were naturally antagonistic. The motto of this society was, therefore, something more than a mHr. form of words, and he proposed as a sentiment "Free Trade in its highest aense-ttle essential condition of abundance, of a larger and higher life, of peace, goodwill, and amity between the nations. (Hear, hoar ) M. Emile de Laveleye responded for Belgium, and Sefi Ir Moret for Spain, The health of the Chair- man," proposed bj Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., brought the proceedings to a close.

BURNING OF THE MIKADO'S PALACE IN YEDDO. The following is extracted from a letter of a Scotch gentle- man in Yeddo to a friend In Edinburgh :— Yesterday (Sunday, 4th May) was an awful day of fires in Yeddo. There were four or five at different places, and the crowning one was about midnight, or shortly after, when the Mikado's castle took fire, and all the houses where he and his servants lived were burned down. We were awakened by one of the servants about two o'clock knocking on the window, and crying cut that there was a large fire not far off. I was startled still more by the report of a cannon, followed soon after by other two. I got out without dressing. to the verandah, and saw the flames shooting up, the great volume of smoke and sparkn carried along by the wind, reflecting the light of the fire all over the city. The firing of the cannons was, as I was afterwards in- formed, a system of hignalling, the first shot being for a certain number of soldiers to turn out, the next for a few thousand more, and the last for all the officials in the public offices to go to their posts, and be ready, in case of the fire spreading. We did not know at first where the fire was, but as it was so large, and evidently not far off, K- and I went to see it. When we got half way it was seen to be inside the oastle, and the flames were about their brightest. The Mikado had loft at the commencement of the fire, and is staying at the residence of his mother, about two miles off. All the building?, with the ex- ception of a few god"wns' (storehouses), have been destroyed; and to increase the difficulty of putting it out, the moats round the place have been drained, pre- paratory to deepening, and there was not much water available, but indeed, though there had, nothing could have stayed the fire m such a mass of wood- BT' work. One fine sight was when a large gate at one of the entrances took fire. The flamts rose to a great height from the roof of the building, which is over the gate, burning like a torch, and the copper—of which there is a iarge quantity on all these gates—gave some of the flames a greenish-blue tint. We watched the fire for an hour or so, and then, as it was beginning to burn out, we left. About 10.000 soldiers were turned out to march about and guard the place. One of the other fires broke out while we were in church, and the ding- dong of the fire-bell caused several to leave to ascer- tain if it were near and it might have been far more serious than it was, because there was a high wind blowing."

HOAX AT CAMBRIDGE. A hoax was practised on the people of Cambridge on Saturday. About eleven in the forenoon the Mayor received a telegram couched as follows :— Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, Crewe, to the Wor- shipful the May or of Cambridge—His Imperial Majesty the Shah of Persia desires to visit your univerhity and town en route to London, arriving at Cambridge Sta- tion about 110. Be prepared with escort and rtcepiion as tar as time allows." The Mayor, treating the tele- gram as eenuine, caused public intimation to be made S S» ISh's «p«ted 'Wt.. Th. VlcjCh^cJlo, and such others of the University officials and hf»ds of houFes as are in residence were apprised Sfth. Aence. The members of the Town Council were summoned m hot haste the assembly call of the Town Rifles was blown, the police were organised, and all was bustle and preparation. Horses ftnH carriages ordorod from Jjioxij' and there was a sudden and general suspension of business the thoroughfares leading to the railway station were crowded, and all the available bunting in the town was displayed. But soon a suspicion began to haunt people's minds. The authenticity of the telegram was doubted, and inquiries proved that, though it was written on an official form and enclosed in an official envelope, it had never passed through the telegraph-office. Amongother suspicious circumstances, it was remarked that the telegram was addressed to the Mayor, instead of the Vice-Chancellor, who is the proper functionary to receive such com- munications. Notwithstanding the rapidly-spreading belief that a hoax had been perpetrated, the Vice- Chancellor, the Mayor, and various members of the Corporation, the local rifle corps, and the police pro- ceeded to the station, where the two officials named waited in a private room, in which it is asserted that the Town Clerk was industriously engaged in drawing up a congratulatory address. The railway officials, when appealed to, stated that they had no information on the subject; and about tW) o'clock, when it became unpleasantly apparent that the telegram was fictitious, there was a general and indiscriminate retreat to town. The affair has caused much amusement, mingled with not a little indignation, amongst all classes.

THE DREADED CHOLERA. The Times has the following leader upon the much-dreaded Cholera, which shoull be regarded as a timely warning to make us watchful against such a foe :— The information which has lately reached us of outbreaks of Cholera in one or more towns of Eastern Europe has been quickly followed by telegrams an- nouncing the illness and death of an English lady, Mrs. Brewster, at the Hotel Donau, at Vienna. Mrs. Brewster, who was in good health and in the prime of life, was attacked about two o'clock on the morning of Thursday last, and died about five o'clock in the after- noon-that is, in the course of fifteen hours. Her malady was called "Cholerine" by the doctors in at- tendance, and the word suggests a reasonable hope that they consider it to be something different from epidemic or so-called Asiatic Cholera, and that its rapid course and its fatal issue may have been due to the constitution or condition of the unfortunate lady herself. The brief tele- grams by which alone the facts have been as yet conveyed, and which come to us from the lady's brother, are not incompatible with this supposition; but neither are they incompatible with the idea that the case may have been one of genuine Epidemic Cholera, and that this disease, which has long been linking in Pesth, in various places of Galicia and Bohemia, and along the course of the Vistula, may have followed, as it constantly does follow, the main lines of human traffic and intercourse, and may thus have reached Vienna. We have no intelligence of Mrs. Brewster's own recent movements, and, there- fore, cannot tell whether she herself may have con- tracted her fatal illness at Pesth or some other pre- viously infected place, and may have only reached Vienna in time for its development there. The events of the next few days will clear up the doubts which arise from imperfect information, and will show whether there is any cause for anxiety or alarm, In the ir anwhile, whatever facts may be brought to light, and whatever may be the actual or future state of things in Vienna, the reports of the presence of Cholera in the other localities we have mentioned are such as to demand the anxious consideration of sanitary authorities in England. In the course of the last two or three years we have several times had occasion to call a tention to the chief facts in the natural history of the disease. Mr. Netten Radcliffe and other investigators have ehownus that Cholera does not travel, but that it is carried and the human locomotion, not air or water, must be regarded as the means of its extension to any distant place. Air and water, on the other hand, seem to furnish the means of its extension in the immediate j vicinity of a spot where it prevails. We have thus two | chief agencies in its diffusion. By the agency of travel- lers it passes from Persia across the Black Sea to Russia; or from Mecca to Alexandria, the Mediterranean ports, and Southampton or from the Baltic to Hull and Newcastle or from Liverpool to New York. By means of air or water, or by means of infected clothing or other articles, it passes from house to house and from street to street; and thus the single imported case may become the starting point of a local epide > ic, as well as the centre from which travellers go forth to carry contagion elsewhere. The disease may remain dormant for some days in the person of any individual who has been infected by it; so that it is hopeless to attempt to hinder its conveyance from town to town, or from country to country. Such a result might, indeed, be secured by a quarantine of sufficient strictness and duration ut the enforcement of this quarantine would be practically impossible, and the impediments it would offer to locomotion and to commerce would, in the present state of intercourse between different parts of the world, entail even greater losses than would be occasioned by passive acquies- cence in the ravages of an ordinary epidemic. For the restraint of Cholera, therefore, our chief re- liance must be placed upon the well understood precautions which have been found to prevent its im- mediate diffusion in the vicinity of the first imported case; aud"in order to enforce these precautions it is necessary that medical mtn and sanitary authorities should be prepared, so that they may act promptly and effectually if occasion should arise. When Cholera is in Eastern Europe, still more if it should be actually in Vienna, any day may bring it to our shores. If brought, its first appearance would not necessarilv be at a seaport, because many travellers do not stay at their place of landing, but at once proceed by rail to inland localities. It is therefore desirable that every medical practitioner and every medical Officer of -Health, more e-pectally those who are in the vicinity of seaports, should at once a,!k himself whether he would recognize the early symptoms of Cholera if he saw them, and whether he is Jully conversant with the means by which a case of the disease could be rendered harmless so far as others than the patient are concerned. This is not the place in which to enter into the details of isolation and dis- infection but it may be observed that the precautions adopted in Bristol in 1866 have not been surpassed in respect either of completeness or of efficacy. We are probably fully warranted in believing that an im- ported case of Cholera could be treated in any dwell- ing-house with due regard to all the requirements of the patient, and with scarcely a possibility of infec- tion being conveyed elsewhere. In such a case, success would depend entirely upon promptitude and effi- ciency of action, and the neglect of any necessary measure, even for a few hours might neutralize the effect of all that was done too late. It is not only upon medical sanitary authorities that a heavy responsibility by the possible danger, but also upon the heterogeneous non- medical bodies to which the care of the public health is intrusted in various places. The. arrangements which were made last year °fth" Eastern ports against the introduction^ Cholera from the Baltic are not only as complete as the present state of the law will allow, but are probably sufficient, assuming due vigilance on the part of in- spectors and other officials, toTffU they were intended to serve. 11 « be feared, however that the vast, e*ten.fc °f !^te.r"hEe included in the Port of L mdon protected and it is certain that the crowded districts which are thus exposed would P^fse,^ ^f ^?r Jua^ facilities for the diffusion of °hpler.lhoul(i ever be introduced into them. The •of London is, or is intended to be. the y autho- rity of the port; but a variety of circumstances and of questions has intervened to prevent that body from taking the steps necessary for the full and effectual exfrcise of the powers which were to be committed to it. Within the last f^w weeks we have heard of a sailor suffering fro™n~°.x wf}o was landed within the port, and was y • way trains and cabs to a succession P ? r" ent parts of the metropolis, before he shelter and care that be required, and before the general public were delivered from the dang ecticm. We have no security that froni Cholera might not be similarly l»n^ w> an(i driven about from overseer t" reh g and from workhouse to hospital. For su irence, if it happened, there would be no o justi- fication or of excuse. Forewarned, we ought to be forearmed and from the Government to the humblest Inspector of Nuisances a^y au- thorities 3Mi have no more urgent y to take care, if Cholera should by any ^!t^0.ught ^to the country, that it is received and tr«at<^ *n such a manner as to disarm it of its terro healthy, and to destroy the means by which it spreads. (From The Timet, Tuesday, July 1.) "We have to report that another of our country- women at Vienna has succumbed to what appears to be an attack of cholera. News, received by telegraph at a late hour cn Sunday night announces the death by cholera at Vienna on that day of Mrs. H. Craufurd The fatal illness attacked Mrs. Craufurd only 12 hours previous to her death, in the house of her brother, Colonel Goodenough, the Military Attache to the Embassy. Dr. J. Henry Bennett, of 60, Groavenor.street, writes to us :— 'The lady whose sudden death at Vienna you mention in one of your leaders to da, which Tt1; 0' 7"" sailles, is my aister. The tf egr.ms which I received on Friday last were from my ^em' PW> IIe"r>; Brewster. He had been traveniug'n^s ern Europe, a^d had arrived from Constantinopl meet 8 before. My suter had gone to Vienna to meet him and see the Exhibition. P-^i^ce at V r^iiu r>i MAV with her at her residence au Versailles, and found her perfectly well, without^ au arte or a pain. She appeared fresh and in <1 health and never onca mention* d the gubJe°t ,he Was quUe hpum° me" Without being a strong wominshewaaquHeheanby, and had never had a serious illness in her n e. bhe left home m June for Munich, on her way to Vienna.^ith a daughter, and wrote to me from Y1(.nna when taken i?i 8Pll"lts. She h,d been several days ^'CiTy girin^Tn i' aiid liad. he had just burled his mother. The following telegram ^s been rece1^ from the Hon. H. C. Vivian, her Majesty s Acting Agent and Consul-General in Egypt, Aikxandria June 29 • Quarantine probable here en a^val» f(r0°rmlrV,'lrilce. owing to appearance of Cholera. P^engers for lLdia or Egypt had better avoid Venice ro

A BILL FOB following singular bill for banging and boiling a friar is extracted from an old document Of course a friar ought not to have been boiled this we m*y premise with, but it is extracted from an old document "Account of the hanging and parboiling of Friar Stone, at Canterbury, in l539;rJs J ?n h a ^-ot ^mber to make a pair of gallows <°r to hang Friar Stone, 2s 6d.: to a carpenter, for making the same gallows, aud the dray, Is. 41 > to a 'aOourer that digged the hole, 3d.; other expenses of getting up the same, and carriage of the timber from S ablegate to the Dungeon, Is for a hurdle, 6d. f°!La wood, and for a horse to draw him t0, 1". paid two men that sat at tne kettle and parboiled him, Is. to three men, that carried his quarters to the gates, and sat them up, Is. > for baittr8 to hang him, and Sand- wich cord, aud for screws, Is. for a woman that scoured the kettle, 2d. to him that did execution, 3s. 8d. total, 14s. od. it will be seen in these days of' high-priced labour how much cheaper they worked in those days.

MEDICAL FEES. In the Court of Queen's Bench, London, in the course of the hearing of an action brought to recover damages for personal injuries, a medical witness, Dr. Percy Leslie, residing in Wes minister, refused to be sworn or give evidence unless he received the usual fee of one gUTheJudge asked him if he had not received a shilling when he was served with the subj ceua. The Doctor anbwered in the affirmative, and pro- duced the copy of a newspaper (understood to be the Lancet), in which it was reported that another learned judge bad decided it was not compulsory on a medical man to give evidence in a case unless he was paid the customary fee. In the present instance he (the wit- ness) considered he was entitled to it, and he did not think he should give testimony unless he was paid that amount. It was not fair to expect that he should neglect his own business without being remunerated for his attendance and evidence on that occasion. The learned judge, having read the report in the paper produced, paid he was afraid that case would not assist Dr. Leslie, as in the instance alluded to the doctor came from the country, and was therefore entitled to his fee. Dr. Leslie resided within what was known as the bills of mortality, and having been tendered Is. when he was served with his subpoena, he could not object to give evidence.. Dr. Leslie—Then I am legally obliged to go into the witness-box9 • Mr. Justice Quain—You are legally obliged to give evidence. j. i. i. Dr. Leslie-But another judge has ruled that in a similar case the medical wiiness need not give any test;monv unless he received the guinea. Mr. Justice Quain All I can tell you is you must give evidence. Youneei not have come here at all, if you liked, but now that you are here the rule is that you must give evidence. It ought to be generally better known amongst medical men resident within the bills of mortality when a shilling is tendered with the subpoena, and they attend the court, they are bound to give evidence. It is of course optional with them to stay away if they choose. My duty is to tell you— you are bound to give evidence, as you reside at West- minster, which is within the distance prescribed, and you have been tendered Is. with the subpoena. Mr. Davies, swear the witness.. The doctor was then sworn and gave his evidence. The solicitor in the case promised, however, that he should receive the guinea demanded. The solicitor in the case promised, however, that he should receive the guinea demanded.

A GREAT PURIFIER OF SOCIETY. (From Monday's Pall Mall Gazette.) On this day thirty-six years ago a once popular punishment ceased to exist, f or the pillory was extin- guished by an Act of Parliament on June 30, 1837. Any attempt to revive it would, of course, be looked upon as a relapse into barbarism, but it cannot be denied that as a gentle correction for certain offences which have unfortunately not only outlived it, but appear to have become more active since its extinc- tion, it had its use, and has never yet been replaced by a more effectual instrument for the prevention of dis- honesty. For instance, the difficulty we experience in checking the practice of adulterating food would speedily vanish if the Lord Mayor of the present day, like Robert Basset, his lordship's predecessor in 1287, did sharpe correction upon bakers for making bread of light weight, as also one Agnes Daintie for selling of mingled butter." i he pillory also. according to the Liber Albus," met the case of fraudulent coal and cattle dealers, cutters of purses, sellers of sham gold rings, forgers of letters, bonds, and deeds, users of un- stamped measures, and forstallers of the market. In fact, the pillory embraced within its sphere of opera- tions dishonest directors, tradesmen, and others who now would feel themselves insulted it they were classed (with and liable to the same punishment as pickpockets and forgers. The pillory, if now existing, would also I put an end to police perjury and materially assist Mr. Bruce in his efforts to raise the force above the level of the criminals it endeavours, but some- times fails, to apprehend. Messrs. Egan and Salmon, two thief-takers, who were placed in the pillory in Smithfield, in 1756, for perjury, met with such unsympathetic treatment from the drovers that the effect upon them was not dissimilar to that of a fashionable railway accident of modern days, for Egan was killed and Salmon ''severely injured." Toe pil- lory in truth, has equal claims to revival with the cat. It was a great purifier of society, and was besides ad- mirably adapted to meet one of the most pressing wants of the day, namely, a means of indulging in po- litical and polemical martyrdom—and on this, the an- niversary of its death, it is only fair to recall to memory some of its merits.

A FRENCH DIVORCE CASE. The Civil Tribunal of the Seine has just been en- gaged in hearing a suit for the declaration of the nul- lity of a marriage. On the 2nd of January, 1869, M. Bouvet, a retired tailor, sixty years of age, French by birth, but a naturalised American citizen, was married by the chaplain of tbe legation of that country to Mdlle. Tripet, who had not then attained the age of eighteen. In the following year a daughter was born of the union, and the parties lived together for some time, but differences afterwards arose, and they sepa- rated. The wife now applied that her marriage should be pronounced invalid, as the provisions of the French law had not been complied with. First of all, as she was a minor, the consent of "her father and mother, both living, was required but not obtained then the banns should have been published, but were omitted; and finally, the legislation requires that any conjugal union in which a French subject is a party should be cele- brated before the civil officer of the state in the com- mune in which one of the pair resides, and that for- mality was not complied witn. She further demanded an aliowance for the support of the child, the paternity of which the father had acknowledged. The husband opposed the suit on the ground that as he was a foreigner, his wife had ceased to be French, and that therefore the court had no jurisdiction. The tribunal overruled the objection for the reason that the validity of the very act which would with- draw her from the action of the French laws was in question, and further decided ad the points in favour of the plaintiff. declared the marriage null and void for the reasons she had pleaded, ordered the defendant to pay an annuity of l,200f. for the support of the infant, and condemned him to pay all the costs.

RUSSIA RATHER JEALOUS! The Globe writes :— The St. Petersburg Thir-the paper which has been so offended by our reception of the Shah of Persia -betrays its ignorance ot history in the most amusing manner. The accusation that we got up the Indian Mutiny, during which hundreds ot women and children were massacred, and which cost us millions of money and thousands of FOidiers' lives, in order to obtain an excuse for plundering the Indian Priuce", is deliciously absurd. The Thir asserts that Kharassan, Affghanistan, and Bedoochistan have been toin from Persia chiefly through the intrigues of Great Britain. Part of Ktiurassan still belongs to Persia,, and of the rest the greater portion belongs to the Turk- omans, with whom we certainly never had any deal- ings. Atfghanistan was cocqueieU by Nadir Shah in the begmning of the 11th century, and when that prince was assassinated in 1729, out of his officers, the celebrated Ahmed Shah, formed it into an independent kingdom Perhaps the Thir wilt kindly infoim us what power and influence we possessed north of Bombay in that year, which was sixteen years before the date of the battle of Plassey. As to Beloochistan, the charge is equally ridiculous, for Nadir Stlah, neatly 150 years ago, bestowed it, with the title of Begler- birg on the ancestor of the present Khan of Jvhalat. Absurd as are these accusations, they are neverthe- less rendered significant by the context. The Thir almost expressly points out that Persia must endea- vour to compensate herself for the loss of her western provinces by annexing territory on the east and south-east. This advice, in our opinion, clearly indicates a desire to bid for the aid of Persia by supporting her iiwiesigns against the allies of Britain, and of making the Shah the pioneer of the Russian advance towards India. Recent telegrams show that the Attrek VaUey is not so favourable a route from the Caspian to H-rat as Meshed, and it is more than probable that Russian politicians and strategists have quite decided that it is only with the aid of Na-r-td-Deen that effective pressure can be brought 10 bear on the Eastern dominions of the latter's present hott. It behoves ug, therefore, to keep a wttch ul guard on Russian diplomacy at the Courc of Teheran.

Here is a specimen of an answer given by one of the alumni of the matriculation class of a grant-in-aid schott not a thousand ibilro from Madras. The boys- ave the for tome of them were ancient enough-had just bten reading tbat Goldsmith left his trunk at his lodgings and walaed out to see the town. On the question being atked of one of the boys what is meant by Goldsmith's trunk, he answered unhesitatingly, and with evident pride ln the extent of his acquirements, The principal part of his body!" Could absurdity further go 1" body!" Could absurdity further go 1"

SUICIDE OF A MILITARY OFFICER. An inquest has been held in London, at the" Bank of England Tavern, on the body of Lieutenant Arthur Lionel Le Vert, aged 29, late of her Majesty's 56th Regi- ment, who had committed suicide under very singular circumstances. The evidence showed that the deceased was the son of a distinguished officer in the Imperial French Army. He had entered the British army, and had served in India, returning home about four years ago. He had subsequently visited the Diamond Fields of South Africa, where, whilst smoking after dinner with some friends, he met with a severe accident by an explosion of gunpowder, which was under the table, and which, it was supposed, was ignited by some of the lighted ashes of one of the pipes or cigars. This accident was supposed to have caused a severe shock to the system, whijh resulted in African f-ver, and this, connled with a sunstroke m India, afl cted his braiu. He returned to Englan in very bad health, and the doctor who attended m the fever, believing that he was not responsi e actions, enjoined his friends to close_ e and keep sharp instruments out 7' v Tuesday night" in last week, at hal^t Un, d«- ceased took a bansom cab in Jer y St. Johu's-wood. At North Bank the driver heard the report of a pistol, and, on looking through the trap, saw tnat I his fare had shot himself. Tne deceased was s,&ken to i st Mary'* Hospital, but died shortly after his admis- Bion. In his pocket was found a paper with the fol. lowing written upon it.-iam Lionel Arthur Le I Vert, late lieutenant of the 5bth Regiment and Fellow of the Geographical Society. My reason for taking this step is of an entirely domestic nature." The jury I returned a verdict of Suicide while of unsound mind.

zCl50 RAILWAY DAMAGES. The cause of Bradford et uxor v. the Metropolitan District Railway Company has been tried in London, and was an action to recover compensation in damages for injuries received by the plaintiff's wife wbih travel- ling on the defendants' line. The accident happened on the night of the 12th of April, 1872, about ten p.m. On arriving at the Westminster Station the plaintiff s wife and a friend, Miss Henshaw, were sitting near the door, next the platform, on the down line, in a third class carriage. According to Miss Hen- shaw's evidence she tried to open the door, but being unable to do so, called a servant of the company, who did so that immediately the door was opened the train moved on, and Miss Henshaw, in con- BcquGuct* of the jerk, fell out on to the platform. Mrs. Bradford fell out immediately afterwards, and received severe injuries. The plaintiff stated that when she roie up to get out, the train was standing still, and did not move until the porter opened the door, when it did so, causing the accident. Miss Henshaw stated that the porter opened the door and that she did not. The guard and porter, who were on the platform at the time and saw the whole occurrence, were called and said distinctly that all the passengers had got out of the train and into it who desired to do so, and that all the doors were closed before the train started; also that the plaintiff gave no intima- tion whatever of any desire to get out before the train had moved. The account the servants gave was that when the train had started they saw a woman's hand upon the handle of the carriage door in which-the plaintiff was that the door flew open, and Mrs. Hen- shiw f 11 out and was caught by the brakesman, who was running towards his brake that immediately afterwards, the plaintiff fell out on to the platform and lay there. The whole accident was stated by them to have occurred after the train bad actually started. The brakesman could not be called by the company, being in New Zealand. The learned Judge, in summing up the case to the jury, asked them to say if there was negligence on the part of the company's servants, and, if so, it the plain- tiff had in any way contributed to the accident. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.- Damages, JB150.

RUSSIAN WOMEN-STUDENTS AT ZURICH. The Russian decree relative to women-students at Zurich, of which an abstract was published in the papers the other day, has as was to be expected, produced great excitement in that town. All the newpapers are unanimous in condemning the arbitrary conduct of the Russian Guvemment in the matter, though several of them admit that the Russian women-students often behave in a manner discreditable to their sex. One of the professors of the University of the town observes, in a letter to the New Zurich Gazette, that the expulsiou o the Russian women students from the University will pro- bably be followed by a large increase in the number of the women-students from other countries, as German, French, and English women have hitherto been de- terred from going to Zurich for their education by the improper behaviour of the Russian women who attend the lectures there. A correspondent of the Cologne Gazette asserts that upwards of one-half of the Russian women-students at Zurich live disreputably, and that many of the Swiss families in the town have consequently refused to receive them in their houses. That some beloDg to secret political societies is also a matter of notoriety; one of them even acted as vice-president at a "red" meeting of working c men. Iu Russia," says the correspondent, women are only allowed to attend special lectures on mid- wifery, &c., at which male students are not admitted but there is nothing of this kind in our highly civilised Zurich. On the contrary, it almost seems as if the authorities thought that a student, whether man or woman, who attends a clinical course or a course of anatomy leaves his feelings of propriety and decorum at the door like his umbrella." The Russian women- students have now decided, after some stormy meetings, that all but two shall leave Zurich next term, and pro- ceed for the completion of their studies to Paris, Leipsic. Munich, and Heidelberg.-Pall Mail Gazette.

THE COMMITTEE ON THE COAL iOUESTION. (From Monday's Times ) The Committee on Coal, appointed early in the Session by the House of Commons, has now brought its inquiries to a close, and will, it is understood, re assemble this day week to consider its Report. We hope the result will convey a full explanation of one of the strangest and most unwelcome phenomena of our own times, but in the meanwhile we commend to our readers' attention this morning the evidence of the two witnesses.last examined. The statements and opinions given by Mr. Normansell on the one hand, and by Mr. Elliott on the other, will be found extremely in- teresting, especially when the authority of the speakers is taken into account. Mr. N ormansell, whose name will be remembered in connexion with the recent dispute between Lord Fitzwilliam and his Colliers, is not merely the Secretary of the South Yorkshire Miners' Associa- tion, but is the master spirit of the Union itself. He did not deny that the decisions of the Union might be re- garded practically as his own decisions, and he in- formed the Committee that he was, in fact, a kind of Premier, like Gladstone is with you." Mr. George Elliott, member for North Durham, and himself sitting on the Committee, is owner of extensive colleries not only in the North of England, but in Staffordshire and Wales also, and he has been at the pains of collecting and comparing the prices of Newcastle Coal for the last thirty years. Of course there is a certain contrast between the views of these two witnesses, but it is to be remarked that both allowed the price of Coal to be too high—Mr. Elliot in direct terms, Mr. Normansell by explaining how it should be lowered. That miners at the present time not only earned more, but worked less, than formerly, Mr. Norman- sell did not attempt to deny. On the contrary, he said plainly that they never meant again to work so hard as they had done. He added that, in general, the more you educate men the less physical labour you get out cf them, and quite right too." Ac- tmlly, according to his information, miners had worked eight hours a day, but only a certain pro. portion worked six days in the week. Three days sufficed for s.me of them, and the average he put at five. As to the report that the increased wages of the men were spent occasionally on champagne, he believed that such an indulgence was never dreamt of till the questions asked by the Committee on the subject put it. into the men's heads. Since that tirnp, he admitted, "people bad met together to open "a bot le" and see how it tasted, as in his opinion, they bad a nuht to do. Nevertheless, though he thus ac- knowl'dged. and very naturally justitied, the claims of the miners to easier aud more enjoyable liv^g, he contendnd that no dt-crt-a.se had o cuk-red in the our.put o. Coal, and denied that the men were op- posed to accumulations of Otojk. He gave figures to prove that in hi,3 district the production was grea't-v in 1872 than in 1870, and he believed the in<;rc»s3 to be at the same rate for the present year. Ou the criii< ai question of reducing the pice cf Cod tis opinion appeared to be tbat middlemen, or co*l merchants, should be excluded from the tra-fe and that masters or managers and men should first come together more" themselves, and then, after settling their own affairs, deal directly with consumers. As regarded the share of the men in driving up prices, he said there was no regular proportion between the rate of wa^es and the cost or coal. Labour was dear or c.eap according to the supply available in the dis- trict. Just now, • Strang'0- s were coming in to work," new seams were opened, ad he thought prices would fall. Uiifortunately, he put this desirable cons',im- mttiun a long way off, au only aT:t'cipated the result in eighteen months' or tsvo years' time. Mr. Elliot, who followed, gave some very clear sta- of tne Coal-mark et for thirty years past. Toe fl .ctuationa, it appears, had been inconsiderable np to tim etfke" or the -S uth Wa'es Colliers in 1871. Tnat strik. however, I jwted thirteen weeks, and, as supply and demand w, re already "running neck mid neck. when it began, the long suspension of labour completely turned th:- fcale. At tn,t moment, too, thi-re came the extr ordinary demands of the iron trade, which operate in the same diiection, and then followed the panic, w! ich did more mischief than alL Consumers apprehe i- t-d scarcity, and bid against each other for the il,dispeusable supplies till Coal rose like money in a. financial crisis. As to ihe remedy, is was not, with a 'particular exception, very clearly stated. Mr. Elliot acknowledged that prices were a great deal too high," but for reducing them he locked to a reasonable assurance against the uu. natural condition in which exorbitant profits were sometimes made, and losses at others." llow this guarantee is to be given, or how it is to operate upon the market, we do not iearn, but according to ""tr. Elliot's experience it is only recently that the trade has been profitable. Up to 1870 it had been otherwise, aud though since then it bad been making up for ,,11 the bad times," the net result might not be such as to attract more capital into the trade, aid so bring down prices by competition. Mr. Elliot, however, did sug- gest a practical remedy for the public grievance. It was not proposed for the first time in these inquiries, but it was very clearly explained and well supported. The double-shift system would tend to give the public wt at they want, without detriment to the interests of either masters or men. We have enlarged upon this point on previous occa- sions, and, indeed, it arises almost naturally from a consideration of the case. Allowing-as may well be allowed—that eight hours represent a good day's w i k in the pit, we still cannot but see that they by no means represent the length of a working cay. There is ample room for two shifts of workmen, who might succeed each other without discomfort or pre*, sure. Mr. Elliot proposed an aggregate working time from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., to be divid d at twelve or one o'clock in the day. By such a division n) man would be sent into the pit unreasonably early or be kept there unreasonably late, while every miner would find half the day his own. He might begin work at four in the morning and It'¡..e off at noon, or begin at noon and be at home again ny eight in the t-vening-no oppressive conditions of work- ing life. Wages would remain unaffected by the system, while double the number of workmen would find employment. The Coalowners would get their profits on an increased yield of Coal, and the public would enjoy the advantage of the enlarged supply. It has certainly always appeared to us that the argu- ments in favour of this system were exceedingly strong, and the arguments against it, so far as they were avowed, singularly weak. If the men really believe that the increased output of Coal, whatever may now be said to the contrary, must, sooner or later, bring down not only prices, but wages, they may naturally look with disfavour on the proposal; but that objection is not commonly con- fessed. Mr. Noimansell was content to urge last week that mines required to be ventilated or aired, and that just as another Committee could not well sit in the room in which he was standing after it had been oc- cupied ei. .4ht hours, so a second shift of Colliers would not find the mine agreeable after the departure of the first. A previous witness, of considerable authority, on the Aame side had argued that the system would deprive the men of the reasonable opportunities or comforts of social life, but it i* impossible to main- tain that any such consequences could ensue from such conditions of labour as we have described above. On the point itself Mr. Elliot spoke decisively. There must, he said, "be more time worked," or "a much larger price must be inevitably charged to the con- sumer." The conclusion seems clear, and, as the con- sumers do not desire that miners should be overworked, but only that work should be found, as it can be found, for twice the present number of workmen, it would be hard to complain of their expectations.

EARTHQUAKE IN ITALY. TREVISO, June 29. A terrible earthquake has occurred at Filetto, north of Piave, and near Conegliano. The Church fell in. and 38 people were killed. In four villages near Vittorio 14 persons were killed and many in- jured. B-lluno was also damaged. The shock was felt here, but no serious conse- quences ensued. VENICE, June 29. A very severe shock of earthquake was felt here at five o'clock this morning. Some plaster work fell from the Cathedral, and caused a panic among the inhabi- tants of the neighbourhood. Rumours are current of accidents having occurred in the provinces. VERONA, June 29. Two shocks of earthquake occurred at five o'clock this morning the second, which was strong lasted 22 seconds. Several houses have been slightly damaged. One person has been wounded.

A SINGULAR CASE. In the Court of Chancery the cause of" Helro-e v. Mounsev," has been tried, and the question was whether a boy of 13, called William Henley, otherwise William Henry Alexander Melrose, was the son of the testator, William Melrose. The facts alleged and proved were of a singular and almost romantic character. The testator was the son of a merchant in Edinburgh. After several years passed in China, he came to London, where he made the acquaintance of Elizabeth Jones, who ultimately became his wife. Elizabeth Jones was the daughter of a'small firmer in Merionethshire and was born about the year 1833. After a year passed with her aunt at Manchester, she entered, in 1850, the service of a Mrs. Sodding, a widow lady residing in London, as com- panion or lady's-maid j but it did not appear how long she remained in Mrs. Stedding's service, or where she was living in 1854, when she became acquainted with the testator. After living together as man and wife at Edinburgh and elsewhere for several months, the testator and Elizabeth Jones were married at Glasgow in February, 1856, she being being married in the assumed name of Eliza Laura Bella Stedding, and by the description of daughter of Henry Stedding, clergyman, deceased, and Maria Eliza Stedding, maiden name Newman." She was described as being, at and subsequently to that time, handsome in face and figure, graceful, of cheerful and lively temperament, quick intel- lect, greatfemininetact, manners sosimpleandso natural as to charm all society into which, after her marriage, she obtained admission, and cunning to such a degree as to obtain advantage from her very defects for, speaking with a Welsh accent, she induced all who be- came her friends and acquaintances after her marriage to believe that she was of German origin, and that her accent was foreign, which gave piquancy to her errors of Eoglisn diction and it was stated that being un- practised in penmanship she employed accomplished lady friends as amanuenses, and thus acquired credit for caligraphy. However, withtwo exceptions her husband's family declined to recognize her, and it was probably to excite their sympathy and to procure their recognition of her that she pretended in or about the year 1955 to have given birth to a child, while on a visit of fourteen days' duration to her mother in the south," the fact being that she paid a flying visit to her mother in Wales about the same time, when she here no appear- ance of heing pregnant or of having given birth to a child. The testator's representations, with reference to the aristocratic connections of his wife, appear to have been doubted, if not disbelieved, by his relations, and it was not until the Spring of 1859 that she was admitted into the family circle at Edinburgh. After their efforts were thai crowned with success, the testator and his wife cafne to reside in C olvil le- gardens, Bayswater, where the testator died in 1863. The testator be- queathed his property to trustees, upon trust, to pay the income to his wife, so long as she should continue unmarried, for the maintenance of herself and of his children and in cl\8e she should marry again, then to pay her £100 a year only, with power to ppply any part of the income towards the maintenance of hia children; and if there should be no child, upon trust for such persons as she should appoint and in default, for the testator's brothers and sisters. In June, 1865, the testator's widow married a captain in the army. After the mar- riage, her income from the testator's estate was, of course, reduced to £100, but the trustees allowed her B150 per annum more on her representation that it was required for the maintenance of the testator's only child, William Henry Alexander whom she declared to have been nine years old in March, loot*. Some doubts, it would seem, were entertained as to the parentage of this child previously to the death of the testator's wiiow, which occurred in India, in August, 1869: but the matter was not cleared up until June, 1870, when the trustees discovered who this unfortunate boy was—namely, the son of a woman named Alston, by a former husband, named Hepley, a coachman. It appeared that the testator's widow, while residing in C ilville-gardens, had induced Mrs. Alston to part with her son, on the representation that she wouM adopt him and provide for him at her ideath, as in fact she purported to do by her will, in which she described him as William Henry Alexander Melrose, her son, by her late husband, born at Paris, on the 23rd of March, 1857, the fact being that he was born in Archer-street, Bayswater, in 1860. The evi- dence on all these points was wholly uncontradicted. Sir Richard Baggallay, Q.C., and Mr. Lorrence Bird, for the plaintiffs, asked that it might be declared that the boy was not the son of the testator, and that the brothers and sisters of the testator were entitled tQ the residue of the estate. Mr. Methold, instructed by the solicitor to the Suitors' Fund, appeared for the boy Mr. Bedwell, for the second husband of Mrs. Melrose; Mr. Mounsey- Heysham for the trustees.) The Lord Chancellor said he should like to see the boy before giving judgment. It was stated, however, that the boy had gone to Canada with his aunt, and thereupon The Lord Chancellor made the declaration asked for.