The Aberystwith Observer

4Ðnr Irate Cormpraknt. fWe deemitright to state that we do not at t £ times identity (jtseives with oar correspondent's opinions.] Although we are close upon the meeting of Parlia- ment, no one seems to know anything abont Ministerial intentions on the moat important topic of the day. Some think that Ministers will ignore the subject of Reform altogether, not even alluding to it in the Royal Speech; others believe that they will mention the matter with speech and try to meet the popular demand by a Liberal bill; while others again opine that Government will urge the greater relative im- portance of various measures of social and legal reform, but will express their willingness to under- take the work of parliamentary reform, if Parliament consider it advisable that such a measure shall be introduced this Session. But still no one knows anything about it. Ministerial oracles are dumb, the best informed journals can only surmise, and all is speculation aDd uncertainty. Under such circumstances any opinion that I may give will naturally be set down as worthless, but I am neverthe- less convinced from the nature of the case in all its Bearings, that the Government will not omit the topic from the Royal Speech and will try to settle the matter this Session. Meanwhile people are delighted to hear that Her Majesty will open Parliament in person. True there will not be that State ceremony to which we were accustomed before the death of the Prince Consort; there will be no State carriage and no cream-coloured horses nor will Her Majesty read the speech, but merely hand, it to the Lord Chancellor; still, the presence of the Queen will be something, and at all events will be much better than opening the Legislature by com- mission. It has been announced that immediately after the ceremony Her Majesty will return to Windsor, and thence to Osborne, where, "according to present arrangements the Queen will stay till the 13th. Eh bien aprts ? Will Her Majesty return to Windsor, or as has been rumoured, will she come to Buckingham Palace ? I fear the latter rumour is too good to be true; but at all events an impression appears pretty generally to prevail that the London season this year will be somewhat more gay, so far as the influence of Royalty is concerned, than it has been of late years. It is doubtful whether the Reform League will per- severe in their project of presenting a number of Reform petitions to individual members of the House of Commons in Westminster Hall, but there is nodoubt about the preparations for the Reform demonstration. London on the 11th of February will be once more turned topsy.turvy, and, in my opinion, for a very insufficient reason. The more genial weather that we have lately had has had the best possible effect on the condition of the labouring classes, by which I mean a class somewhat lower in the social scale than that which is usually called the working class. The distress throughout London has been very great this winter, but at the East-end of the Metropolis it has been awful. Had it not been for the immense efforts to relieve it (and in this work The Times, the Telegraph, and the Standard have aided nobly), there would have been hundreds of cases of starvation. Despite all these efforts, the suf- ferings of the poor have been intense, and, unhappily, there is a very great deal left. There are two or three lessons brought out into strong relief by what we have been obliged to see and hear. The first is the time. worn lesson that the working classes are greatly to blame that they live so carelessly from hand to mouth. This may be an ungracious thing to say, but it is founded on undeniable truth. Numerous as may be the exceptions to the rule, the rule holds good, never. theless; and it has sometimes occurred to me that em- ployers might do something to prevent this. At The Times' office there has been in working for many years a system of compulsory saving. A small proportion of the earnings of all the workmen is stopped out of their wages and saved up to their several accounts it is an inexorable rule from which there is no appeal, and notice of withdrawal of the whole amount is con- sidered equivalent to notice to quit. The system has worked admirably, and objectors have speedily become admirers. Could not other large em- ployers adopt the same principle ? Another lesson which has been clearly taught by this distress is not now taught for the first time it is the ad- visability of equalising the poor-rates, not only over the Metropolis, but throughout the country. The poor should not be a charge upon each particular parish, which is an antiquated absurdity in these days of shifting residence, but there should be a charge on the State; and the law of settlement and the entire union system should be modified or abolished. And a third lesson is that we want some system of organised charity, or if that word be not liked, of help for the poor. Mr. Dodgson, a student of Christ Church College, Oxford, lately proposed, in the Pall Mall, a scheme which is worth reference, and in my opinion something more. He suggests a National Philanthropic Society. "It would have," he says, "something of the character of a bank, in which money might be deposited to be hereafter assigned to charitable objects, if any choose so to do. It would receive as money, cheques on all country banks, and would transfer the amount without deduction to the accounts of the various charities designated. There would be a register kept, in which, by paying a small annual fee, any charitable society or institution might have its name entered, with a short statement of its history and objects, and might add any further state. ment by paying for it as an advertisement. This register, with list of contributions, would be published as cheaply as possible, and also largely circulated gratuitously. And it would be a great addition to the usefulness of this society if there were a committee, who would receive money sent for general purposes (such as hospitals, churches, tic.), and make grants from such general' funds to whichever institutions they considered most in need of help. The necessary expenses of such a society might be defrayed partly by the fees for registration, partly by the advertise. ments, and partly by voluntary contributions." It may be objected to this that by this Bystematising charity the principle of self-help would be weakened, and that another principle almost as valuable—that of helping the poor to help themselves—would be weakened also. I do not think it. We must not shut our eyes to the fact that in our own country, more than any in the world, we have large masses of per- manent poverty we have the extremes of wealth and poverty, and therefore some such system as this would be a permanent mode of voluntarily taxing the rich generally for the poor generally, which would be far better than frittering away, as we now do, large sums in managing or mismanaging separate local institu- tions. The conference for promoting a revision of the licensing system under the auspices of Lord Shaftes- bury and a band of distinguished philanthropists and public men, will at least have one good result—it will draw public attention to the evils and anomalies of the present system; but it is to be hoped that it will result in something more, and that it will remove some of the present existing facilities for setting up public houses and the consequent temptations to drunkenness. I notice among the names of those identified with this conference those of the Dean of Carlisle, the Rev. Newman Hall and others who advocate total abstinence and legislative prohibitions, but there are the names of many others who are known to be opposed to any extreme measures. The discussions and resolutions at the conference are to be strictly limited to the consideration of the best means of diminishing the present facilities for drinking intoxicating liquors on the premises where they are sold, or in places of public entertainment, and of granting licenses for such con- sumption." The conference in itself is a remarkable sign of the times, and I sincerely hope that some good may result. The number of public-houses and their attractive glitter on the one hand and the wretched houses of the poor (partially caused, by the way, by drinking habits) on the other, constitute one of the greatest evils of the day; and any well-con- sidered reform of this monster evil deserves the utmost consideration. It is a most unfortunate thing that the State derives so large a revenue from the consumption of intoxicating drinks, for this renders any legislative restrio tions all the more difficult to procure. The meeting of men and women employed by the firm of which Mr. John Bright is the head, is perhaps one of the most important that has been held for years. The great personal influence, the brilliant talents, and the thorough independence of Mr. Bright have long made him a shining mark'' for the shafts of satire and the weapons of calumny; but the address which his workpeople have presented to him ought for ever to give denial to those slanders. I say ought," but I do not believe it will do so. Even already there have been leading articles and corres. pondence directed against him in reference to this very meeting, and there is little doubt that slander will outlive its disproof. Bnt wherever slander is repeated, this meeting will afford an unanswerable argument to it. Meanwhile there are two things which strike me. First, the address is evidently a genuine production; it reads as if written by com- paratively uneducated men, and in this respeot it is all the more valuable. The second thing is, why has this address been so long delayed ? The production of Buch a document years ago would have saved a great deal of vituperation and heart-burning. But better late than never.

PASSING EVENT*, RUMOURS, &o. An awkward dispute has arisen in the Blackburn district, between the local branch of the Amalgamated Engineers and their employers. The masters, a few days ago, gave notice of their intention to reduce, by a shilling, the wages of all their workmen earning more than 25s. a week. Thereupon the men met, and in concert with the Ironmoulders' Union—that trade being also affected by the reduction—determined to meet the proposal by refusing to work more than four days a week so long as the reduction continued in operation. The masters have not yet decided whether they will accept their terms. Should there be a strike. it will be an extensive and probably a long one. Some. thing like 5,000 men will go eut, three-fourths of them belonging to a society which has an accumulated fund of 120,000 £ and the other fourth to a society with 30,000i.

It will, perhaps, be remembered by our readers that some time ago the Master of the Rolls gave a decision in respect to some complicated mortgage transactions connected with the York and North Midland Railway, which had the effect of relieving Mr. George Hudson, formerly M. P. f jr Sunderland, from a vast weight of pecuniary responsibility, and thereby restoring him to the position of a wealthy man. This decision was appealed against, and the Lord Chancellor and Lord Justice Turner gave judgment on Saturday upon the appeal. Their opinions being conflicting, the decision of the Master of the Rolls remains substantially un- disturbed.

The supposed Greek fire" of the Fenians has been tested in Dublin under the direction of Professor Apjobn. The specimens experimented upon were of two kinds—a portion of fluid seized in Liverpool some time since, and a preparation made by Professor Apjohn in accordance with his analysis of the Liver- pool fluid, which he found to be a solution of phos- phorus in bi.sulphate of carbon. Several bottles containing about a pint each of the preparations thrown against the brick wall of the ball alley, immediately exploded, sending out a brilliant shower of fire. Portions adhering to the wall burned for a considerable period, and it was very obvious that the fluid applied in the same way to a wooden structure would infallibly produce a sudden and destructive conflagration. The fire was, however, immediately quenched on the application of water from a hose; hut a stifling smoke remained, and a slight friction sufficed to rekindle the particles of phosphorus scattered about as soon as the water drained away. The experiment was varied by pouring the fluid upon bundles of shavings and fire- wood, which burst into a flame upon being stirred with a stick.

On Saturday the Lords Justices delivered an im- portant judgment, In re London, Chatham, and Dover Railway." There were no fewer than four suits which came before the Court on appeal. One was on behalf of the mortgagees, to enable them to realise their securities a second and third were to set aside the Vice Chancellor's order, by which the general manager and secretary were appointed receivers" for the mortgagees, on the ground that that order was couched in too extensive terms, and thereby gave the mortgagees more than they were entitled to and a fourth suit was by the Imperial Credit Company, to establish a claim to 135,OOOJ. upon all the proceeds derived from the sale of superfluous lands. —Lord Justice Cairns confirmed the order of the Court below as to the first three suits, so far as the tolls of the com- pany went, but not as to the sales of surplus land.— With regard to the claim of the Imperial Company their lordships decided that the company ought to have a receiver also, but recommended the same as in the other cases to save expense.

The other day Lord Elcho delivered at Dalkeitb a lengthy address on the law of master and servant to a meeting of the miners of Midlothian. After a careful analysis of the history of modifications which have from time to time taken place in the combination laws, and copious allusions to the evidence taken before the committee of the House of Commons last session, he reviewed with characteristic frankness the present position and demands of the working men. With a view to the establishment of tribunals of arbitration of the character of the French conseils de prudhommes, his lordship recommends a commission to prosecute a full, complete, and searching inquiry into everything affecting the relations of capital and labour, unions and strikes."

The Court of Queen's Bench, on Saturday, gave a most important judgment on the subject of the possession of stolen property, which, it is said, re- verses practically the decisions of the London police magistrates for the last twenty years in the case of marine-store dealers. The defendant was sentenced by a magistrate to two months' imprisonmont for having in bis shop 1721b. of lead, of which he conldgive no satisfactory account, and which was stolen by some boys from a neighbouring unoccupied house, and was purchased by the defendant for 10s. The Court of Quarter Sessions affirmed the decision of the magis- trate, and the matter now came before the Court upon appeal. The point raised was whether the words in the act "having in his possession" were applicable to the person who had stolen the goods or to the person who was afterwards found to be in possession of them. Their lordships decided that the words did not apply to the appellant, and quashed the conviction, with the remark that it was a great pity that the law did not now meet such a case as the present, but it was to be hoped that it would soon be altered."

The leading journal, as it is popularly called, pub- lishes a letter from its correspondent at Washington, giving an account of a conversation he has had with President Johnson upon passing events. Mr. John- son," he says, "was good enough to give me an interview this evening at the White House, and he expressed to me the views which I shall, with his sanction, endeavour to repeat to you." The views, it may be briefly stated, differ in no material respect from those which the President has put forward in his various messages to Congress. With regard to the threatened impeachment, the President said, with a smile, "I had contracted Old-world ideas, derived from Magna. Charta and so downwards, respecting the rifcht of the accused to be heard, and to be fairly tried, but these seem to be going out of date. Now a com- mittee sitting in secret, and hearing one side only, and that side the enemies of the accused, prejudge his case. It is a consistent part of the general system which we see being pursued." The Times, in its leading article columns, fully endorses Mr. Johnson's arguments.

The Irish Master of the Rolls has had before him a curious case, under the will of a Mr. Charleton, who died in 1792, and left lands in the counties of Meath and Longford, the annual rents of which were to form a marriage portion of six guineas to any day. labourer's son of these counties, between fifteen and thirty, who married a day labourer's daughter between the same age and forty, with consent of parents, the marriage to be celebrated in the presence of the clergyman of the parish and the churchwardens. This fund, of which the members for the two counties and the high sheriffs for the time being are trustees, has been dis- tributed from time to time, but there was a surplus of 5OO1. in 1855, which the then Chancellor ordered to be used, as the will empowered, in making the same pro- vision for day-labourers on their marriage in the counties "adjacent" to Meath and Longford, and advertisement to be made by handbill in the districts of the existence of the fund. Notwithstanding, the surplus has now risen to above 3,5002. in Government stock, and another effort is to be made to carry out the wishes of the testator. The Master of the Rolls expressed regret that the provisions of the will were not better known.

The success of the Post-office Savings Banks has been followed by the result which was anticipated as regards the older kind of savings banks. Mr. Lewins, in bis recently published History of Savings Banks," furnishes a list of about one hundred of the old banlra which have closed since 1861, and assisted their de- positors to transfer their money to the Post-office banks, where greater facilities for depositing and withdrawing could be obtained, and where direct Government security is alone attainable by depositors. During the past few weeks no less than ten additional old savings banks have followed the example of the one hundred banks above mentioned, and others are preparing to adopt a similar course. Under the Act 26 Vict., cap. 14, the trustees of all savings banks closed after the passing of that Act have power, with the approval of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, to compensate their paid officers for the loss of their employment out of the separate surplus fund belonging to the respective savings banks, and this power has been, and ought to continue to be, used in a liberal spirit.

The Registrar General's return of the deaths in London in the week ending Jan. 26 shows the very considerable excess of 239 beyond the estimated num. ber. He attributes this without hesitation to the cold weather, and states in proof that while the deaths in the last three weeks were 5,485, those of the preceding three weeks were only 4,250, a difference of 1,235 and that because the average temperature of the latter period was twelve degrees colder than in the former. The annual rates of mortality last week were per 1,000, as follows :—Birmingham 28, Leeds 29, Hull 30, Shef- field 31, London and Edinburgh 32, Bristol 35, Salford 40, Liverpool 41, Glasgow 42, Newcastle-on-Tyne and Dublin 43, and Manchester 48.

An important decision was given in the Court of Exchequer (sitting in Banco) on Tuesday, affecting the liability of public bodies for the results of negli. gence on the part of their servants. The vestry of Bermondsey were making a sewer in Blue Anchor- road, when a Mr. JuniDer stumbled, in the dark, over a heap of dirt left by the workmen, which caused his death. Mrs. Juniper then brought an action, and obtained a verdict, -with 8751, damages, which the vestry appealed against, and now moved for a rule to set aside. In giving judgment the Lord Chief Baron said that recent decisions had finally settled the principles of the law as applicable to cases of this nature and it was now authoritatively decided that the members of a public body created for public" purposes, although having only public duties to per- form, receiving no salaries, and having no funds out of which to pay damages, were liable for the damages caused by the negligent performance of their duties. The rule was refused, and the verdict therefore stands.

o n Tuesday a "conference was held at Exeter Hall, London, in supportof active measures to obtain a revision of the licensing system. Letters from sympathising absentees were read, whose names indicate rather an odd jumble of widely distinct schools of thought- Lord Shaftesbury and Lord Shrewsbury, Dean Close and Lord S. GL Osborne, the Dean of Ely, and New- man Hall, Arthur Kinnaird and Stewart Mill, Sir J. Bowring, and C. Kingsley and so on. Amongst the speakers the most noteworthy was Dr. Manning. The points urged were that there are more public. houses than ai e needful, and that the power of grant. ing licenses should be vested in stipendiary magis- trates rather than the courts of quarter sessions.

A SUFFICIENT REASON.—An order from the Horse Guards directs t hat officers are to substitute steel scabbards tor leather ones Captious newspaper critics object that steel scabbards blunt the swords they are meant to preserve. What of that ? The Horae Guards won't encourage sharp blades, or why don't they give staff-appointments to the officers who J • pass the Staff College l-Punch. t

PICTURES OF MISERY! A correspondent of the Pall Matt Gazette has sent for publication the following description of the atate of things at the East-end of London :— For two days I have traversed the Isle of Dogs, and have made It my business to inquire into the misery which pre- vails there. I am Informed, without permitting myself to believe It, that 20,000 skilled workmen and- labourers were employed a little while since In the various shipbuilding yards, while It Is now doubtful whether 4,000 find the means of earning their daily bread there. I saw the island under the guidance of Dr. Sargent, one of the good Samaritans of the St. Luke's Relief Fund,' a gentleman who is intimately and painfully acquainted with the destitution and misery earned by the almost utter stagnation of labour. Before visiting the sufferers at their homes, the doctor suggested that I should go and look at one of the largest establishments on the island, and he forthwith took me to the Millwall Ironworks. There I was Introduced to the resident manager, whom I found leated In a wilderness of an office, making an effort to alleviate the dla. trers about him. Crowds of famishing labourers, with their wives and children, surrounded the entrance gates, anxiously expectant of the basin of soup—prepared pouibly in some rusting old ship's caldron and on the stairs and along the passages we passed patient groups waiting for the Imall reiief that might be afforded them. These works were formerly alive with the labour of from 4,000 to 7,000 men now it is like the frame without the picture. We crunch over a waste of frozen snow, and find ourselves as it were, in afotest. rf dead pines. They are the scaffoldlrgs that surround each empty dock, where there was life and noise enough at one time, while now we hear nothing but the sound of ol1r own voices. In the huge sheds and shops miles of shaft have ceased to revolve; a perfect network of machinery is frozen into inactivity. This is a picture of but one ynrd out: of many on the island, and those firms that ar., still at work are struggling along short-handed. And now let me tell you wh,.t I naw in the homes of those who once peopled these yard*. Of the feeble women, with woe-begone children In their arms, who move slowly throu.gh the streets, the bleak easterly wind rustling the few thin garments left to them—of the hard gaze of want which be- longs to half the people we met-r shall attempt no descrip- tion. It will be enough to note down the result of a series of visits I made to the poor creatures' houses In company with the hard-working Dr. Sargent, and in speaking of him I must not forget his equally kind and hard-working wife. The first house we visited was No. 119, Steborndale-street. The man's name Is Lockwood. He has had one week's work In five months when employed used to earn 24s. per wetk. His wife was down from starvation, and there were three young children. He now worki in the stone-yard of the Poplar union, receiving for his labour 3d. per day and eight 4 lb. loaves, 3 oz of tea. 3 lb. of sugar, and 6 lb. of meat, distributed over the week. Oat of this income he has to p"y rent. and the pawnbroker and the general dealer are his bai.k^rs as long as he has anything to toke to them. Six pounds of meat per week for five in a family can scarcely be looked upon as an excess. Ann Thompson, 108, Steborndale-street, told us her hut- band had not done more than a month's work in two years. He was a "fitter" by trade, and used to earn 30s. per week. She had six in family (here she burst Into tears). Her sons go out at half-past five a.m. to look for work, without a crust for breakfast. She was very 111 from starvation, the doctor told me. The allowance for the entire family from the union is 2s. 61. per week. Henry Tilley, of 17, Norfolk-terrace, Manchester-road, had been ont of work four months. He used to earn 25s. per week, and now was "hammering his heart out" in the stone- yard at 3d. per day. He had six in his family, and the alms in kind from the union he found insufficient to keep tip his strength and that of his children His wife was sinking from a recent confinement combined with low living, and the only bedding In the place had been lent by the parish. Everything he had formerly possessed was represented by a mound of pawnbrokers' tickets. Alfred Mydleton, of No. 1, Davis-street, has six in his family. Has had no work for six months. His wife is confined: the bedding lent by the parish. There was no fire in the grate. The man had pawned or sold everything, and he is now so weak that he has been removed from the Inclemency of the stone-yard and set to picking oakum. His limbs are covered with bolls from poorness of blood. In the same house lives John Smith, an iron plater. He used to earn 24s, and now works in the stone-yard, receiving the same proportion of allowance as the others. There is no bedding, but some rags on the floor. His wife is very ill, and apparently sinking. At 13, Thomas-street, the husband and wife are dying 01 consumption. There are five children to support, and the man has done no work since last March, while the woman, who was confined two weeks since, is almost at her last gasp. John Woodley, of 33 Marshfleld-street, a labourer, has had no work for six months. The mother had gone out to beg soup from a local kitchen, the father was away breaking stones in the yard. Four little children were seated on the floor, for there was no furniture of any description in the room, and a baby ten weeks old was lying on a bundle of rags in the corner. John Taylor, of l, Marsh-street, used to earn 38s. per week; he has been out of work three months. Cannot go to stone-yard from sickness, is so utterly broken down by the hard labour combined with insufficient nourishment. There Isnota stick in the room A dirty mattraall lies in one corner, with an old sack for a covering, and this is about to be reelaimed by the lender, who is equally poor. Thera are fix in the family all sleeping together, and the children cry piteously all night from the cold. The allow- ance from the parish is &s. per week and five loaves. William Moyce, of 13. Robert street, boller-emith, law only been employed one month in a a year. Has keen at work in the stone-yard, but is so thoroughly broke* down that he can now do nothing. Has pawned and sold every- thing of any value. But why should I increase this melancholy catalogue? In shert, there Is scarcely a house in any street that will not furnish similar details of starvation and misery. I visited scores of these sad abodes, and the instances I have quoted are taken, with little effort at selection, from my notes. The simple fact Is, that this wretched little Isle of Dogs has thousands of creatures dependent npon public charity. The cry among the workmen 1s, "Why don't the Government give us some ships to employ the yards now at a standstill 1" I know nothing about that matter, but I do know that every man ol us with a pound to spare ought to spend it in the alleviation of the miseries rampant wow in the far east of London.

"SENSATION" TRIALS IN AUSTRIA. The following account of two" sensation trials reeently "ccnrring at Vienna, are furnbherl by the cOTrelpondent of 7he Times writing from that city, and who remarks that they have excited the attention of the public there In the highest degree:— The first ose was that of a criminal action brought against a young girl by the family of a nobleman for fraud and extortion. A certain Baron Ulm had been induced by a girl whom he accidentally met to promise either to marry her or to fcive her 10,000fl. After a few months' acquaintance he introduced her to bis family, who were living at Freiburg, in Baden, and she was at tirst kindiy received as hiB future wife. As soon, however, as the pecuniary transaction that had passed between them became known, the scene changed. The young lady was driven with violence from the home of her intended husband, and his family sued her for extortion and fraud, at the same time applying to the authorities for a declaration that the Baron was an imbecile and incapable of managing his own affairs. At the trial two medical witnesses were called, who declared that they considered Baron Ulm to be non 814 mentis compos; and, although their testimony was severely shaken by the counsel for the defence, the three judges—who in Austria perform the functions of jury as well as judges—found the young woman guilty of extortion (although not of fraud), and sentenced her to six months' imprisonment with hard labour. Admitting the imbecility of Ulm, his promise to pay 10,0000. was also aunulled by them. Baron Ulm ap- peared as a witness at the trial; his behaviour was perfectly rational, and, as in the notorious Wyndham affair in England a few years ago, with which the pre- sent case has some analogy, the sympathies of the public were entirely with the persecuted lovers. The defects in the Austrian law which became apparent on this occasion are, that there is no such thing as a com- mission "de lunatico inquirendo;" that medical wit- nesses cannot be called for the defence in such cases, and that the medical witnesses who give evidence on these occasions are not independent physicians, but are officially engaged and permanently attached to the Criminal Court of justice for all medico-legal cases. The other trial was that of a very young and delicate- looking musician, Marcher by name, and hautboist at one of the minor theatres, who had committed a most atrocious murder upon a man to whom he owed a trifling sum of money. At the trial he appeared to be insane, either refusing to answer the questions put to him or giving absurd replies, and demeaning himself generally in an extravagant manner. The only medi- cal witness called in this case was the surgeon of the prison in which Marcher was confined, who declared the man's insanity to be simulated. H e was sentenced, in consideration of his youth and previous good character, to eighteen years' imprisonment with hard labour. After the trial was over it appeared that a sister of the murderer has been an inmate of a lunatic asylum for some years, and that the symptoms of her insanity are very similar to those displayed by the young man on his trial.

THE END OF "JENNY, THE CAT-SKINNER!" During the week great excitement has prevailed In the southern part of Loudon ill consequence of a well. known ecoentric female having been discovered lying dead in a state (If nudity In a moat wretched apartment In Harriett-street, Lower Marsh, Lambeth. From her singular and penurious habits, notwithstanding the apparent destitution, she was supPOled to bave heen possessed of property; and accord- ingly Mr. Sheppard, the coroner's officer, with a polloe sergeant, proceeded to search. The body was on a board laid out, but quite naked, merely having a piece of an old nightgown thrown over her. Three black cats belonging to deceased were at the time lying upon the body. There was no wearing apparel or Inrnitnre in the room, which was in a most filthy and wretched condition, but it appears that the body had been stripped (robbed), and the things sold at a rag- shop, from the produce of which, and money believed to have been abstracted from her stays, the whole of the Inmates of the home, including the landlady, wen supposed to have become In the frightful 8tate of Intoxi- cation in which they were found. With some difficulty possession was obtained of a book, showing that she was a depositor in the Southwark Savings' Bank for upwards of 1001. The deceased was well known in the southern districts of the metropolis, and from her singular at'ire, consisting of an immensely large beaver bonnet, ample, antiquated cloak, &c., formed during her rounds with a basket con- taining small tin articles, tapes, &c., an object of sport for panes of rongh boys, from whom she had gained the soubriquet of "JenDY the Cat-sklnner," and by these juvennes she was frequently mobbed and assailed, which she has sometimes resented with stones with such severity as to bring her before a police magistrate. She was, however, about eight or nine years since sent to gaol for three months for felony, having been detected in stealing clothing from children. On that occasion a considerable sum was found in her stays, a portion of which was applied to her support in prison, and the balance handed to her upon her discharge. To such extremes did she carry her Penurious habits (although a depositor in the savings' bank for years), that she has frequently not only begged for and accepted scraps of food from various parties, but has be<=n known to eat cat's meat and even scraps she picked up from the streets. On Saturday an inquest was held on the body of the above deceased, who bore the name of Hannah Henson, stated to be aged 75 Susannah Mary Hope, widow, said she had been Intimate with deceased for twenty-ave yearg She last saw her alive on Monday three week", when she called upon witness. Deceased was not an Intemperate woman, but, on the con- trary, very abstemious. She was accustomed to carry a basket with small tinware, tape?, &e., which she sold abont the street*. she was of very saving habits. Witness was not aware that she ever wanted ff.od, or that she ever re- ceived parochial relief. Deceased cou'd nel,ber read nor write. She had placed a will in witness's possession, naming her as executrix. The will here produced, and which was dated in la62.' be- queathed to "Araria Kate Broun, of 234. Repent street, St James's Middlesex, daughter of James Broun and Marin, hit wife, late of Bat,field-street, Blackfiriar's road all money rlepoiited and standing illmy name in the Southwark Savings Bank." Isaac Sheppard, the coroner's officer, produced the bank- book, showing that deceased had deposited and that there was then standing in her name, 111 I. 2i. 9,1 and stated that on going to the house he found deceased in a state of nnd ty, and that her clo'hing had been tik>-n and solrl hythe last witness and o'h r persons in the home, and from what he could ascertain the stays had contained some amount of money. Tha witness (Hope) on being re-examined said deceased told her the last time she saw her alive that she had 4J. in the right comer o( her stays and 72. In the left corner. | .Mr. Mor day, smrxeon, saw deceased on tbe Wednesday after har death. Had some previous knowledge of her, having received an order from the parish to attend her on Saturday, 1st December. Her person was in a very dirty oondition, and so was her room. Had made a post mortem examination. Her hair and body were swarming with ver min. He should say the immediate cause (f her death was exhaustion arising from want of proper nourishment. The jury returned a verdict that death had arisen from deceased having by her penurious habits neglected to pro- ride herself with proper nourishment. [It Is not known whether deceased had any relatives living, and Maria Kate Broun, to whom the money is left in the will, cannot at present be found. ]

THE BISHOP OF SALISBURY AND THE ANTI-RITUALISTS. The following protest" against the supposed ritualistic tendencies of the Bishop of Salisbury has just been presented to his lordship, signed by 500 of the "clergy, magistrates, gentlemen, yeomen, and others of the diocese :"— To the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury,—We, the undersigned, having read with the greatest regret the answer of your lordship to Lord S. G. Osborne's letter, in which you state that clergymen of the established church have had committed to them the same powers which the priests of the rest of the Catholic Church, both tn the East and West, have ever claimed as their inheritance, and feel- ing that such views essentially tend to the Romish practice of confession and absolution, and false doctrine, and con- sidering the efforts which are now making by a certain party in our Church, to bring back the ceremonial and ritualistic rites of the Romish church Into our- reformed protestant church, do hereby 801emnly protelt against such views, from whatever quarter they may arise, and do signify our deter- mination, by the help of God, to stand firm agatust any opinions or practices which are too evidently leading to Romanism, and entirely subverting the great dootrines of the established church, as defined ;n her Thirty-nine Articles, and deduced from the Word of God

FENIAN DENUNCIATION OF HEAD CENTRE STEPHENS. The following Is an extract from the N,w York Tims* of Jan. 12:— Last night a meeting was held at the Masonic-hall, in Thirteenth-street, avowedly for the purpose of denouncing the Head Centre of the Fenian Brother- hood, but really for the purpose of supporting Mr. Roberts. The hall was crowded to suffocation. Mr. James Monahan was called to the chair. He said that he knew no more of the object of the meet- ing than what he saw in the public prints. He thought it very proper that the most gigantic, unparalleled and wicked fraud ever perpetrated should be denounced, and that the perpetrator should be held up to public corn. Colonel Byrnes was then introduced, who denounced Stephens as a trickster, and assured his audience that if they would only stick to Roberts, Canada would be in their possession before another year had oassed. A gentleman from the West said that all attempts to carry the war into Ireland before taking Canada would be futile, and that those who desired to bring the Irish peasant into contact with the trained British soldier were guilty of a grievous wrong. All their energies must be given to stirring up discord in Eng- land, and preparing an army here for an invasion of Canada. Mr. Archdeacon said that he had only lately arrived from Ireland, and he assured them that gigantic as were the frauds practised here, they were nothing to what had been done in Ireland. He believed the whole of the Fenian leaders there to be traitors to the cause, and in the pay of the British government. Men the most incompetent, some of them even im- becile, were at the head of affairs. All the Fenian brotherhood had to hope for lay in themselves. The meeting, which was a very disorderly one, broke up at a late hour.

A letter from the New York correspondent of the London Standard, under date January 12, gives the following respecting Stephens :— Stephens, the Fenian, finding further affectation of mystary a useless thing, has made a re-appearance, and is now begging hard to be taken again into the good graces of his dupes. A" secret" meeting of representatives of "circlel" took place in Jersey City on Thursday evening. Six hundred delegates" were present. Several genuine Irish rows took place. Finally, a note was received from Stephens, calling for an Interview. A committee thereupon visited Stephens at the Sixteenth street board- ing-house which has been his last hiding place. At a late hour the committee returned and informed the delfgates" that Stephens thought that the misapprehensions" might be removed. He was willing to take a subordinate position, and permit the "chief organising" business to devolve upon somebody else. After a long and violent debate, it was de- eldtd that the "delegates" had no powerlo acoept Stephens's pcopl)aitlon, and the meeting broke up. SMpbsns, it seems, has dodged about from last Thirteenth street to :aut Slxtesntb-ssreet for the past three weeks. He was re- •ognteed at last by a servant who had seen him previously at a meeting in Jones's Wood, and the discovery ieing com- municated to a "circle," the whole affair came out. Gleeson, the new Head Centre, declines to yield in favour ot Stephens, and the last-named swindler has very few supporters left. The Roberts' Fenians have taken advantage of the Stephens fiasco by holding an indignation" meeting, and ad opting a string of resolutions unusually full of forcible adjectives. In the preamble Stephens Is described as "a cheat, a scoundrel, and a rascal," who has wound-up a career of deception and fraud in a most ignominious fizzle." The friends of Stephens are also denounced in similar terms. The resolutions affirm that the Roberts organisation is the only Simon Pure article, and call upon all Irishmen (who have money to contribute) to Join the following of the Fenian President"

THE SUCCESSOR OP HIAD CENTRE STEPHBNS. The New York papers give the following account of the successor of Stephens :— General Gleeson, the successor of Stephen II, b a young Irishman, remarkable for his tall stature. He Is about six feet six inches in height, slightly stooped, and ha? Just entered his 28th year. Ho was born in Fishmoy, near Borrlwldgh, in the cuurity of Tlpperary, and from his early youth he was connected with the inllurrectlonary movementll in hia Dative country. In the year 1860, during the Italian war, he nlserl a comply ofona hundred and n¡nemen to defend the P9pal d ()mlnlon8, and Will his bravery in action by General Lamoriclere Sub«equmt'y he was taken prisoner at the sit ge of Ancona by the Sardinian troops, and released after acaptivily of alx months, He then retnrnM to Ireland, and on the dty he arrived in his native town the sheriff of the county dispossessed him ot hh his lease having expired. Subsequently he came to New York, and at the beginning of the war joined the 69th regiment, and partici- pated in forty-two general engagements oC that organisa- tion. On his return he joined the Fenian Brotherhood, and went back to Ireland on a special mission; but while there he was arrested for treason, and lodged In the Mountjoy Priaon, Dublin, where be was Incarctrated for Ilx months. He came back to New York Immediately after his release, and was a prominent member of the Brotherhood up to the moment of his appointment as its chief. During his career in the srmy of the Potomac, as an officer of the 69th Regi- ment, he received the rank of brevet brigadier-general

THE ILLEGALITY of TRADES' UNIONS. At a numerously attended meeting of trades' society delegates held on Friday evening, at the Sussex Hotel, Bouverie-Street, Fleet-street, London, in relation to the late Trades' Reform Demonstration, at the conclusion of the regular business, Mr. G. Potter, the chairman, brought before the delegates the recent decision given in the Court of Queen's Bench, by which trades' unions were deprived of the power of recovering by law any sums of money that might be embezzled from their funds by any officer or member of the society. After some discussion, a delegate from the plasterers moved, and a delegate from the carpenters seconded, the following reso- lution:— That the Working Men's Association be and is hereby empowered by this meeting to convene a meeting of dele- gates from the trades' societies of the metropolis, for the purpose of taking Into consideration the position in which trades' unions are placed by the recent decision in the Court of Queen's Bench in the case of tbe Boilermakers' Society, and to determine the course to be adopted thereon. The resolution was unanimously adopted.

HOW TO AVOID STRIKES. The report of the Board of Arbitration of the Not- tingham hosiery trade, just issued, states that the Board having now had six years' experience of the practical working of the system of arbitration, as opposed to strikes and lock-outs, is thoroughly con- vinced that in a free country, where workmen and capitalists have a perfect right to enter into combina- tions, the simplest, most humane, and rational method of settling all disputes between employer and employed is arbitration and conciliation. The Board is strength- ened in this conviction by the fact that during the past two years the demand for hosiery has been in several branches of an exceptional character, and labour, in some departments, unusually scarce; and, notwith- standing, the workmen have preserved their trades' unions by having a central authority to appeal to, composed equally of employers and employed, all questions calculated to produce irritation and lead to disputes have been promptly settled; all inequalities in the rates of wages have been adjusted; the manu- facturer has been enabled to accept his contracts without apprehension and execute them without delay, and the rights of workmen have been jealously looked after and strictly preserved whereas, in neighbour- ing counties, and throughout the country, a chronic warfare has existed between labour Mid oapital, to the great injury of both, owing to the want of some court of appeal commanding alike the confidence of em- ployers and employed."

A SERMON ON THE GOLDEN RULE OF CHRISTIANITY. On Sunday evening the fourth of the special services was held in the large open space under the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, and there was an overwhelming con- gregation—by far the largest of the present year. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. J. C. Miller, Vicar of Greenwich and Rural Dean, who selected for his text the 7th chapter of St. Matthew's gospel, verse 12, Therefore all things, whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the iavi and the prophets He said that this was the royal law, the golden rule of Christianity, all whose precepts were of a practical character and eminently applicable to the details of private life. He adverted to the phases presented by the commercial life of the present day, and remarked that the worship of Mammon, intellect, and sensual pleasure formed the Trinity of these times. He de- nounced in unsparing terms the conduct of those men whom he designed rogues and scoundrels, who by con- cocting bubble prospectuses and issuing fraudulent debentures plunged thousands of their fellow- creatures into misery, and the conduct of those smaller traders who by false weights, scanty measures, and adulterations defraud the poor. In con- nexion with this matter he highly commended the courage of a member of the Hou-e ot Com- mons who, in the face of his constituents, stood forward and condemned such frauds. Referring to the distress which prevailed in various quarters of London, he remarked that no English clergyman could now from his pulpit declare that Dives was sit- ting in luxury while Lazarus was lying at his gate. Let them look at the columns of any newspaperiof any single day and they would find the most gratifying in- stances of the munificence not only of the aristocracy but of all classes of the people. There stood before the congregation that night the clergyman of a subur- ban parish who had received, in lesa than a week, in answer to an appeal in one single newspaper, lieariy 2 OOOZ. Now that was a startling and most gratifying proof of the munificence of the people of this land, and if there was a fault amongst the large-hearted givers, it was an impul*ive&Bu that led them into indiscretion, inducing them, while helping the poor, to forget that organisation was necessary, and that while it was a blessed thing to help the poor they should not destroy the seU. reliance of the people, or pauperise a population whieh should rather be elevated to independence. In con- nection with spiritual destitution he expressed hie regret that while hundreds of persons would give munificently for hospitals, refugees, and reformatories, they had not an equal sympathy for spiritual wants. There were at present in London 150,000 children who stood in need of Christian instruction, and notwithstanding the exertions of the Bishop of London in extending existing jrganisations, and setting new ones on foot, there was a frightful amount of work yet unaccom- plished. He trusted that this great movement would soon receive a more mighty impulse by the munifi- cence of the wealthy and the united eontributions of all classes of the people. The discourse, which was delivered with extraor- dinary animation, and which was heard with distinct- ness over the vast space covered by the congregation, was listened to with marked attention.

A SHIP ON FIRE IN THE RIVER THAMES. On Sunday information was received at Gravesend that a large ship was on fire about two miles below the town. It was found that the ship Night Companion 1,421 tons burden, Captain Watt, from Calcutta, owners Carlisle Brothers, was on fire when about twenty-five miles from land. The discovery was made by the sailors in the forecastle, who saw dense volumes of smoke coming into the forecastle from the main hatch. The ship was laden with jute, ginger, castor oil, and tamarinds, and the fire was ascertained to be amongst the jute. The main hatch and all the vents were stopped up, and the vessel lay to all night on Thursday, off Portland. In the morning the ship Kelson came alongside, and the captain offered to remain near the burning vessel. During the day the vessels came into cc" sion, doing a deal of damage to both. After the vessels cleared, Captain Watt set all sail and ran his ship before the wind. On arriving off Dungeness he took in a pilot to Deal, where he ordered the ship to be towed up the river Thames. At two o'clock on Sunday afternoon the pilot noticed one of the planks of the deck burst up through the heat of the flames, but the sailors battened down a wet sail over the opening. At nine o'clock the floating steam engine from Woolwich got alongside of the burning vessel.

Late on Monday night the fire was still raging amongst the cargo. The unfortunate vessel was 120 days from Calcutta, and, during her voyage home she has had continual sickness on board, and it was en- tirely owing to the indefatigable exertions of Captain Watt that she arrived at her present anchorage in the river Thames, off Shorne Mead Battery. Early on Monday morning the steam tugs Enterprise and Re. nown took up their positions on each side of the vessel. The usual preparations were made to put out the fire by steam. The thermometer was placed on tha deck, and it was found to register 80 degrees, but towards six o'clock in the evening it registered 110 degrees. Soon after Bmoke was seen issuing from every crevice in the ship, and part "f the deck burst through. On the jute being brought to the air it smouldered like a cigar, but did not blaze. The opening was immediately stopped up with mud, &c. There is a large body of fire beneath the captain's chief cabin, as well as abaft the fore channels. Should the steam prove a failure in extinguishing the fire, a quantity of holes will be bored in her deck, and the fire-engines will play upon the ship. Should that fail, she will be run ashore and scuttled. The captain of the Coastguard stationed at Gravesend ordered the men under his command to render all the assistance possible in the absence of the Bhip's ciew, who are all suffering from dysentery, and during the day they cleared all sails away from the ship.

A CHARGE OF PERJURY AGAINST TWO POLICE-OFFICERS. A charge of perjury against two police-officers at Reading has been before the borough magistrates. The accused was Sergeant Fenner and Constable Palmer, the former having been a member of the borough force for many years. About three weeks ago, a Mr. Belcher, builder, of Reading, was appre- hended for being drunk and assaulting Fenner, whose evidence was corroborated by Palmer. Fenner denied having struck Belcher, although Belcher's face was gTeatly disfigured by bruises, and a witness, named Parsons, called by the defendant, positively swore that he assisted Fenner, on being called to do so, and while Fenner was taking Belcher to the police-station the former struck him several fearful blows, causing the blood to fly and spurt over his (Parsons') face. This occurred at midnight, and when Belcher left a public-house in Broad-street, Fenner was heard to exclaim that he would rather give Belcher a good thrashing than have a sovereign. The magistrates, however, after hearing the whole case, convicted Belcher, whereupon Fenner's attorney applied that Parsons might be indicted for perjury. The applica- tion was granted, and Parsons was charged with perjury, and some additional evidence which tended to prove his innocence was given. The magistrates felt that the case was of too important a character for them to decide, and sent Parsons for trial at the assizes. He was bailed out, and a good deal of public interest was aroused in his behalf. Mr. Purchase, the superintendent of police, inquired into the case, and at the close of last week a very different complexion was put upon it by fresh evidence being obtained. This evidence was adduced on Monday, and the result was that both Fenner and Palmer were com- mitted for trial at the next assizes.

A CHARMING CITY TO LIVE IN! The following account of Denver city, the capital of the mining district of Colorado, and the half-way house to the Salt Lake Valley, is from Mr. Hepworth Dixon's Nevj America. Ten years ago Denver had no existence five years ago it was a wifeless city. Five year8 ago," said one of the inhabitants to Mr. Dixoni I would have given a ten-dollar piece to have seen the skirt of a servant girl a mile off." Now, there are a good many English and American ladies—say a dozen or more—settled there with their husbands, and, in consequence, as the author observes, "a very charm. ing though very limited, society of the better sex." Still, Denver is scarcely the place in which one would re- commend a couple of elderly maiden ladies, hesitating between Bath and Cheltenham to pitch their tent. Here is its description :— Denver is a city of 4.000 people; with ten or twelve streets laid out; with two hotels, a bank, a theatre, halt-a-dozen ehape18, 11f17 gambliDC-housel, and 100 grogshops. As you wander aisout these not and dirty -tredl, you seem to be walking in a city of demons. Evoy fifth house appears to he a bar, a whisky shop, a lager beer saloon; every tenth house appears to be either a brothel or a gaming house very often both In one. In these horrible dens a man's life is of no more worth than a dog's. Until a C'uple of years ago, when a change for the better began, It was quite usual tor honest folks to be awakened from their sleep ty the noise of exploding puns, and when daylight came to and that a dead body had been tossed from a window Into the street. £ fo inquiry was ever made into the cause of death, Decent people merely said, "Well, there is one sinner less in Denver, and may his murderer meet his match to-morrow." Denver, and may hb murderer meet bil match to-morrow." Such a population as this needs to be ruled with a strong hand, and the strong band is forthcoming in the shape of William Gilpin, Governor of Colorado; Robert Wilson, Sheriff of Denver; and a Vigilance Committee. This Vigilance Committee is a modern reproduction of the famous Vehmgericht:— No one knows by name the members of this stern tri- bunal: every rich, every active man In the place Is thought to be of It and you may hear, In confidential wh spers, the names of persons who are supposed to be ita leaders, ministers, and executioners. The association is secret, its agents are many, and nothing, I am told, escapes the know- ledge—hardly anything escapes the action of this dread, irresponsible court. A man disappears from the town; it II an offence to inquire about him you see men shrug their shoulders; perhaps yon hear the mysterious word* "gone up." Gone up, In the slang of Denver, means gone up a tree—that ia to say, a cotton tree—by which is meant a par- ticular cotton tree growing on the town creek. In plain English, the man is said to have been hung. This secret committee holds its sittings in the night, and the time tor Its executions is in the silent hours between twelve and two, when honest people should be all asleep In their beds. Sometimes, when the storekeepers open their doors in Mainttreet, they find a corpse dangling on a branch; but commonly the body is cut down before dawn, removed to a suburb, where it is thrown into a hole like that of a dead dog In most cases the place of burial is kept a secret from the people, so that no If gal evidence of death can be found.

A FEARFUL STRUGGLE WITH A LUNATIC. A terrible tragedy has just been enacted in one of the most inaccessible parts of England-Tintagel, a watering-place on the north coast of Cornwall. Visitors to the famous Trebarwith Sands have been accustomed to take considerable interest in a thick-set, burly man, who has been employed, with the aid of donkeys, to convey the sand from the water's edge to the neighbouring farms for use as manure. The man and his donkeys have become so noted, and have formed so picturesque an adjunct to the views of that rocky coast, that in many of the sketches which viaitora have taken of the locality he and his donkeys have been prominent. During the past few weeks however, the unfortunate man, whose name was Smith has exhibited signs of mental derangement to so great an extent that his neighbours have taken it in turns to stop up with him at night, he having constantly given vent to threats of self-destruction. On Friday, one Thomas Baker, who lived near him, took his turn at watching, and in the course of the night, in order to humour one of the lunatic's whims, he accompanied him for a walk on the turnpike road, which is cut through the rock. At one point the road is open to the sea, and on arriving at this spot the insane man suddenly grasped his companion and attempted to throw him down into the water. A desperate struggle for life ensued, but the frenzy of madness gave to Smith such tremendous power that his watcher was but an infant in his grasp, and in a minute or two Baker was forced down into the water, his murderer falling with him. Passing near the spot were two women, who helplessly watched the affray, and saw that when in the water the struggle was renewed, Smith keeping his victim down until a heavy roller came in and washed them both away. On Saturday afternoon the body of Smith was cast on shore. Both men were widowers. Baker un- happily leaves a large family to mourn hia untimely end.

LETTING A FURNISHED HOUSE. In the Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday morning Mr. Justice Byles, with a common jury. finished the trial of the case of Watnev v. Lyne, which suit was commenced on the previous day. The plaintiff is a lady living apart from her husband, and on the 25th of February, 1865, she let a furnished house called The Lodge," at Hambledon. in Hampshire, to the defendant, who has become known to the public by means of his son, "Brother Ignatius." The action was to recover damages for injury done to the furniture and to the garden during the defendant's occupation. The particulars of the plaintiff's claims, as stated by Mr. Serjeant Parry, and proved in evidence, excited mucl, amusement. The defendant wa* a gentleman possessed of considerable property, and having adver- tised for a house he afterwards took The Lodge" at lOOt. a year, and in addition to ordinary furniture he Wall to haye the use of the, piano, < and also of the basket carriage. The letting was for three years, but there was a proviso that it might be put an end to by three months' notice. The occupation continued until the 29th of June last, and when the plaintiff took possession again the house was found to be in a very dirty state, and the furniture was a good deal damaged. Mr. Lyne had three daughters and two sons, and it appeared that sand had been allowed to. be into the drawing room, that the young C u- £ en ^if^t play at making gardens. The piano, which was a birthday present to the plaintiff, had had fu placed upon it without saucers for them, and the water put on to the flowers had sunk into the instrument and seriously damaged it. All the kitchen utensils were found piled upon the table and in a dirty state. A soup ''digester" had been used for cooking pigs food. There was a very hanosome Wedg- wood vase, which had been presented to Mrs. Watney's grandfather, and which was worth at least 20i. this had been broken, and all that remained were the small fragments upon a table. Another circumstance complained of was that "Brother Ignatius" visited at the lodge, and used to keep an uncaged owl in the drawing-room, and he had a couple of magpies in his bedroom. It was alleged against the birds that their personal habits were not altogether such as could be wished, and more particularly that while the magpies took a fancy to pecking holes in the curtains, the owl took up its residence in the vase, and broke it. The particulars of demand comprised 133 items. A verdict was given for the plaintiff for 20l.

A FEARFUL DEATH! Much sympathy has been expressed- in Lyons for the fate of a young and rising musician, who at the last conscription was unfortunate enough to draw a mauvait numero, and he was sent out to join a regi. ment quartered at Vera Cruz. He was at once employed in the band. In consequence of his good conduct, Benoit Denis (for that was the young man's name) succeeded in obtaing the colonel's permission to perform at private balls and concerts, and thus gain a certain independence. On the fifth of last December Benoit Denis, after executing a fantasia on the cornet- a-piston, at the country house of a wealthy American merchant residing near Vera Cruz, quitted the heated concert room to refresh himself in the pleasure-grounds and enjoy the cool evening air. Feeling thirsty, he took up an alcaraza which he happened to see near a fountain, filled it with fresh water, and put it to his lips. Frightful screams instantly attracted the com- pany to the spot. Denis was lying on the earth, his hair on end, his features livid, the body and tail of a monster scolopender (mille-pieds) protruding from his gaping month. The reptile, whose bite is more venemous than that of a scorpion, had taken shelter from the heat in the cool porcelain beaker. As Beniot approached the vase to his lips, the scolopender had sprung at his open throat. In vain was the reptile's body cut away. Once its fangs close on their prey it is impossible to tear them open. A surgeon who chanced to be among the guests proceeded to cut them out of the flesh, piece by piece, but by the time the operation was over the poison had produced its fatal results, and after three hours of agonising convulsions the unfortunate young artiste expired.

RHYMES FOR REFORMERS. If you'd make a demonstration Of desire for Refonna1 ion, Make it by the presentation Of petitions; and lenaation Rouse by their accumulation. Don't resort to the formation Of a monstrous aggregation, Which will cause an opstlpatlon Of the streets, with depredation, Harm, and loss by trade's cessation. If you do, you'll breed vexation, 4nd engender Indignation, And encounter execration, For endeavour at dictation, Bullying, and intimidation. Book you, friends, this observation: At mob-leaders Instigation, By a threatening conspiration, Nought you'll get but reprobation, Opposition, and frustration. Better try conciliation, And pacific operation, Which will prove, with commendatlo Quoted, your qualification For a share in legislation.—Punch.

SCOLDING FROM THE PULPIT. On Sunday, at morning service, the Rev. W. Valentine, M. A., incumbent of St. Thomas's, Stepney, and, who, it is said, is the oldest clergyman in the diocese of London, after giving out a text from Isaiah, said it was announced to the congregation twice on the previous Sunday that a collection would be made on the following Sunday to defray the church ex- penses. He was, therefore, not surprised at the scanty attendance of his parishioner. It had always been so, and was anything but creditable to his flock. If there had been no collection there would have been a larger attendance, and in spite of the bad weather. The treasurer, or, rather the person who paid the bills, had advanced 30l. more than he had received, and more bills were coming in. The collections were always insufficient, and he had never seen any gold in the plate except his own. The wealthy who had acquired riches and kept shops in the parish lived in the country, and con. tributed nothing to the church, to the schools, which educated 700 children, and would soon educate 1,400, or to the numerous charities in operation in the parish. They were principally supported by people at a distance. He was sure that those who had pros- pered in the parish, and who had neglected their duty to their church and to their poorer neighbours, would not always prosper. The collection after the rev. incumbent's sermon amounted to 41. 14s. 10d., which included his own guinea. In the evening, after a ser- mon by the Rev. Mr. Roe, the curate, and with double the congregation of the morning, the collec- tion was 21. 12s. 4^d., including 10s. from the curate. The churchwardens of St. Thomas's, who have no funds, and have never been intrusted with any, have called upon the treasurer to increase the insurance on the church from 1,000Z. to 3,600l, and he has expressed his regret that he is totally unable to do so. It was opened about 28 years ago, and cost 6,0002.

AN EXTENSIVE BANK ROBBERY. The last advices from Brazil mention that an extra- ordinary robbery had been committed at the Bank of Bahia (a local bank). It appears that at 3 p.m. on Saturday, the 22nd of December, the directors who were retiring from their weekly duties handed, all usual, the keys of the strong rooms and cash-chests to the direetors next on the rota, and who were then about to take charge for the ensuing week. The in- ooming directors pioceeded to examine the cash-chests in daily use, as was customary, and discovered that four bundies of notes, value 210 contos, had been ab- stracted. The reserve chest, which had not been ex- amined for a month, and had been opened only once during that time, was next examined, when a further deficiency of 56 contos was discovered, making a total of 266 contos, or about 30,000 £ The police were at once communicated with, but up to the time of the departure of the mail (on the 27th of December) had failed to trace the notes. Suspicion pointed to a con- fidential clerk in the bank, who had been accustomed to assist the directors on duty in opening and closing the strong rooms, but nothing had been proved against him. It appears that some time previously, conse- sequent on a change of offices, the locks of the doors and chests had been cleaned, and it is thought pos. sible that false keys might then have been prepared. As the notes were mostly of small denominations, and the parcels necessarily bulky, it is certain they must either have been removed in bags, and that conse- quently more than one person must have been impli- cated in the robbery, or that the parcels must have been abstracted at several different times if the robbery had been effected by one person only. A special meeting of shareholders was at once held, and after an explanation of facts and some d is (Mission, it had been adjourned till the following day,

ACROBATS FROM JAPAN. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's steamer Ncpaul brings from Yokohama, en route for Europe, a company of Japanese acrobats. They are said to be wonderfully clever, and we learn with regret that, before leaving for the west, they will not find it convenient to give us a taste of their quality" (says the Friend of China.) There is just a round dozen, viz., seven aoult males, three feminines and two children, all actors the feats in which they most excel being the butterfly trick, large and small top-spinning, and slack rope walking. The youngsters are both clever on the perch (La Perche of Lenton's), and must have curious brains to be able to retain their faculties under a spin, occasionally, in a large hummer. The costumes are magnificent, and will astonish our cockney friends at the Egyptian-hall, London, whither the troupe first proceed, and play till the commencement of the Great Exhibition at Paris in May next. Mr. Grant, who has lived seven years in Yokohama, acts as interpreter, and had, we learn, immense difficulty in getting the female portion of the company to leave their native land. No Japanese actresses ever crossed the sea before; indeed they are the first trio of Japanese women ever seen in China.

HIS CAREER STOPPED! At the Central Criminal Court in London, Henry Philip Dashwood Arthy has been indicted for unlaw. fully obtaining by false pretences from the Earl of Derby and other Lords Commissioners of Her Ma- jesty's Treasury a warrant for the payment of lOOl., with intent to defraud. Mr. Giffard appeared for the prosecntlon, and stated that the prisoner, who at the time was staying at Clifton, addressed a letter to Lord Derby purporting to be an application for assistance from Mrs. Caro ine Chisholm, a lady who had interested herself eminently in promo'ing emigration to Australia. His lordship forwarded lOOt from the Royal Bounty, and the prisoner forwarded a receipt, in which he imitated Mrs. Chisholm's writing very cleverly. He then applied for a further grant, not being aware that by the con- ditions of the administration of the Royal Bounty an inter- val of three years must elapse between one grant and another. Lord Derby directed his secretary to write and state this fact, adding that Mrs. Cilshnlra's case appeared a fair one for a Civil Service pension, and wonkl he taken into consideration at the proper time. Alter expending the lOill. the prisoner went to various hot 18 at Cheltenham arod Clifton, leaving without raying his hill, and thence weut to Sheerness, where he retorted to the suno practices. The result was that he was apprehended a lodging-hous" swindler, and was sentenced at the Kent Session? to three months' imprisonment. Upon a search of his lodgiDgs various documents were found which identified him as the man who had made the applications in the name of Mrs. Chisholm, and that lady, happening to be in England, was communicated with, and deuitd all know- ledge of them, sia'inff, however, that her signature had been so succes-fuily im'ta'ed that her own friends might have been deceived. The Court would bear in mind that this was not thA first frand whiCh he han committed, for III long ago R8 1857 h" was sentei ced at these sessions to 18 monihV Imprisonment lor hiving represented himself as a uephew of Sir J hr> Ku>-go>i e. ana having by mat pretence ob allied full inillmry equ paients, as well as arii'g which » soldier had found and sdvti iis. d and to which the prisoner alleged that he was entitled Mortover, in May, 1864, he made an application to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in tbe name of Dorothy Drummond Hayes, secretary of the Ladies' Society for Female Emigration at Liverpool, on behalf of a MrI. Wlffln, who, he said, had been left in a destitute state by her bu'* band, a literary man, who had translated Tasto and otbef works, she being desirous of emigrating. A prosecution was then instituted, but the prisoner wrote to Mr Gladsfon* and his brother. expressing great penitence, and they were induced to forego the prosecution. After hii discharge h« wrote to the officer who had had him in charge, stating tb» 1 if any Inquiry should be made tor Miss Hayes her rematnJ were to be found in Kensal-Green Cemetery where a marble monument recorded her many excellent qualities, FroBt that time to the present many complaints had been mads from almost every part of the country of frauds committed hy a person exactly answering the description of the pr*" soner, and he had been actually identified as having, ohtained goods and different sums of money at Plymouth. where he assumed the character of a nobleman. There con Id be no doubt that he had for years been a systematic swindler. The prisoner, on being asked It he had anything to say. stated that he was not the originator of the fraud, although he had takgn^gjrt In It and had written some of the letter!. He could fioctee, however, that he had committed forgery> for he believed at the time that Mrs. Chisholm was dead, and Mrs. Chisholm admitted before the magistrate that a" announcement of her death had appeared in the papef- The statement which had been made as to his antecedent* was cruelly exaggerated, and though he had led a very ad* venturous life, he denied that he had been a systematic swindler. As to assuming the character of a nobuman as Plymouth, he had been travelling tn a railway carriage wit" a nobleman whom he much resembled, and an officer oil board the Royal Adelaide Jokingly introduced him to • number of people in that character, but he did not obtain shilling's worth of goods from any person there. He alter- wards lived abroad for some years, and went to SheernesS after having been arrested on an IOTJ for l,500i. ordered a few groceries In the name of Dashwood, but had no fraudulent intention. His half-hrother, however, who was chief constable of Kent had always had an animositf against bim, and had succeeded In getting him convicted. The Common-Serjeant remarked that the prisoned on his own showing, had been guilty of conspiracy all well as forgery, and had on two previous occasion* been prosecuted for similar frauds. The only use he had made of the clemency exercised towards him by Mr. Gladstone had been to pursue the same course* and he had defrauded the public of money which wa; at the disposal of the Crown for the purpose Ó rewarding meritorious persons. He was evidently I man of whom it was dangerous to leave at large, and the sentence that would be passed upon him, though severe in itself, was not severe considering the carerf which he had led. The sentence was that he be kept to penal servitude for ten years.

A SHOCKING CASE-HEARTLESS GAROTTE ROBBERY! On Tuesday afternoon an Inquest was held In London respecting the death from want of Peter Morrison, aget Ilxty-s6ven yean, The deceased was at one time a baker in prosperous circumstances, but in consequence of failure in businesl, he and his wife and hia sister-in-law, Maria HonronA fell into a state of great poverty. They lived Belvidere-place, Borough-road. Their sole support was the pittance earned by the two women at shirfr makine for the contractors for the shops. They bafl not sufficient food, and although deceased wa givet as much as his wife and her sister could procure he was seized with giddiness, apparently frotfi want of nourishment, a fortnight ago. They decided, however, not to go into the workhouse* Last Saturday afternoon he complained of being il1, and the wife got three herrings, and, putting aside one of them for the next day, the deceased and the two women ate two herrings at a meal. The deceased then went out to buy 14lbs. of coals and half a peck of coke, and as he was returning with his stock 0 fuel he was observed by some persons in the street to reel and fall on the pavement in the Borough-road. The police raised him up, and thet found him to be dead. There was some blood floW ing from the back of his head from the injury froØl the falL His body was removed to the workhouse. When the distressing circumstances attending the deceased's death were made known on Monday by biØ widow and sister-in-law at the factorym'. the Poultry for which they worked, a little subscription of 6s. wøø raised and given to them. As they were going up Belvidere-place on their return home two stout-built young men rushed upon them, one placed his joined hands on Maria Honrond's neck, pressed his thumb* into the jugular veins and nearly produced insensi* bility the other seized hold of a bundle of shirts be* longing to her employer, aud valued at 71., and drag" ging them from her with a force that nearly broke her finger, which was caught in the string, made off. The widow screamed and ran to get assistance the garrotter then let go the woman Honrond, and giving her a blow in the forehead that caused a contused wound, endeavoured to rifle her pocket as she lay In the roadway, but she grasped it so tightly that he wall not able to succeed, and he ran off. The police came up immediately. The whole occurrence did not occupy more than three or four minutes. Neither of the men has been apprehended, and, of course, the shirts bave not been recovered. The widow stated that she and her sister would have to pay for the shirts. The Jury returned a verdict "Natural death ac- celerated by cold and want of food."

MR. SAMUEL MORLEY AND HIS AGED WORKMEN. The Nottingham Daily Express states that during recent visit of Mr. Morley to Nottingham, a portion of his time there was spent in the performance of an act of wise liberality. A short time since, a number of framework-knitters, who had been in the employ of the firm for many years, were invited to the establish- ment in Fletcher-gate, and after having partaken of refreshments they were addressed by Mr. Morley in a kindly manner, the sabstance of his observ3.tionll being, that he felt deeply interested in their welfare, and was desirous of promoting their happi^e*5- Acting on these feelings, he had dep;<lo<l apon allowing each of them a pension of 7s. 6d. per week for life. Some forty of these a?ed workmen had this weekly allowance granted them, independently of their earnings, and arrangements were made for its regular payment. On Thursday about the same number of framework-knitters, employed by the firm but rather more favourably circumstanced, met Mr. Morley also at the warehouse in Fletcher, gate, and after being supplied with refreshments were addressed by him in similar terms to each of these workmen a sum of 51. was presented. The Nottingham Express understands that it is the intention of Mr. Morley to continue this system of benevolence, the allowance being determined by age and circumstances.

IN A FIX-AND KNOWING IT! At the Clerkenwell police-court, in London, a respectahly- dressed woman, about 50 years of age, and who said her name was Dobson, applied to the sitting magistrate for an order to protect her property and earnings from her bus- band and hit creditors. The Applicant stated that she had been married a "lot" of years, and that her husband, who had treated her "moat shameful," had deserted her, and had gone to live with a bad woman for the la,t six years. He now wanted to come back to her, and to break up the home she had made and therefore she wished for the magistrate's order; and if he did not give her one she was sure that she would be ruined for life." The magistrate expressed doubts of being able to do anything for her under the circumstances, especially as it appeared that her husband left her with her consent, and she always knew where he was. He sug. gested the Divorce Court. The Applicant thereupon observed — That will hardly do for me (a laugh). I am not his wife, for I heard that he was married before I was married to him, and therefore you can indict him for bigamy. That puts you in a fix, and you can't help yourself (laughter). The magistrate said if what the applicant had stated was true she did not want a protection order. She had better mention the matter tc the police. The Applicant said she was in a fix. She did not wish to hurt the old man, though he should not have her property, She should go to a higher court about the matter. The applicant then left the court.

CHARGE OF EXTORTION AGAINST ENGLISH PILOTS. The committee of the Maritime Insurance Board of Havre has drawn up a memorial, signed by shipowners, merchants, and captains of that port, and which, after expressing its admiration of the institutions in Eng- land for the saving of life from shipwreck, calls atten- tion to the oppressive nature of the exactions in that country for assistance to vessels at sea, which it de- dares are unworthy of a civilised country, and such as to suggest a comparison with the wreckers of the Bahama Islands. A pilot, for the simple exercise of an act of his calling, puts forward the most extortion- ate claims for salvage, and the proffered assistance of boatmen, fishermen, and steamers, is feared by the- captains of vessels almost as much as the rocks from which they are in danger. Thus, the aid which among navigators should be a duty of humanity and fraternity is in England frequently only an act of spoliation and pillage. The document adds that the French underwriters frequently decline to insure vessels trading between France and England, through fear of the rapacity of the pilots, boatmen, and others in that country. In France pilots are satisfied with their dues, and have only a claim to a third for the rescue of ships abandoned, while simple assistance is fre. quently given gatuitously at the most, the Tribunals of Commerce allow a moderate indemnity, which does not destroy the benefits of the assistance rendered.

DEPLORABLE ACCIDENT. On Monday afternoon a deplorable accident, which has resulted in the death of Mrs. Scargil], the wife of General Scargill, took place in York. He left his residence in St. Mary's, Bootham, along with his wife, son, and daughter, in a light carriage which was drawn by two spirited horses, and as they were proceeding along Bootham, from some cause or other, the horses,, which were driven by the son of General ScargiJI drew the carriage between the flagged footway and a donkey cart that was standing there. The horses, in trying to get the carriage clear, gave it so severe a jerk that it was upset on the flags, All tv occupants of the carriage were thrown to th: ground, and the whole of them injured. The Qp which was found resting upon the head of M ',rra^fc' gill, was speedily lifted up, and she was ,L quite insensible. General Scargill wtw a E ThH'8 dauKhte;,wa« a]8.° the head and S^ral^edTal m" we^S, attended more particularly Jo ',lrs. Scareil] who wag found suffering from conoussrJa of the buin. She never regained her consciousmss and expired about 4 o'clock next morning, rne horn* detached themselves from the carnaga, and galloped madly through the strata with the carriage-pole and splinter-bar, and the latrer having comem contact with ashop-window, thehors-s were stopped before any further mischief was occa- sioned.

A NEW FOOD.-Mf. J. Hullett, of Clarence Lodge, Cosham, Hants, writes al'°* me to C!l retention of your readers to » 8 s"Kar KraS9 (Sorghum Tartaricum) as a va'uanin addlt. n to oar cereal cr p, ? 1c 1, not oniv perfect]™ and hears frDm six to eiaht times the quan'ity per ae-M thur wheat does but the bread made from it is more nourishin- and goes further than any other. Added to this the leaves and shoots are invaluable as food for cattle. As the true seed is not easily obtained, I shaU be happy to send a few gralna to any one tending me a stomped directed envelope.