The Aberystwith Observer

IJlisttllmmnis Intelligence, HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL, GAME IN PARIS.—The Paris correspondent of the Morning Star writes Paris was never so well supplied with game as this season. but most of the boars, ducks, hares, and rabbits come from the vast preserves of the grand Duchy of Baden and Wur- tembursr,—Heilbronn, in Wurtemburg, and Strasbourg being the chief centres whence the supply is des- patched for the French capital. Thence also come most of the pheasants and partridges. The grouse m the Paris markets come from Russia and England. M oou- cocks are rare in France, but abound in Corsica, Sardinia, abinti ..11, on the south coast of Italy, where they are captures in nets. for French consumption. Smaller game come from the Lago Maggiore and Garda. The larks, wemay remark, in poulterers' shops, in rows on slight wooden spikes, also come from the south and from the departments of Lot, Lot et Garonne, and the Loiret. W ater fowl, such as wild geese, ducks, quail, snipe, &c are sent from Holland in immense numbers and a small proportion from the coasts of Brittany, the Somme, Ariachon, near Bordeaux, and the Bouches. HARD LINES !—A somewhat hard case has been decided at the Cours d'Angers, in Paris. According to the terms of French law, the child of a widow, if born three hundred days after her husband's death, is considered as legitimate. Madame Mercier, a widow, pleaded for the recognition of her son, born three hundred days and six hours and a half after the de. cease of her husband. The decision of the court was that the child was illegitimate. Rather hard lines, as the fact prevents the child from inheriting his share of M. Mercier's property, which he would otherwise have claimed. A BIRMINGHAM SAUSAGE FACTORY.—At the Birmingham Police-court on Saturday Thomas Cham- bers, a sausage maker, was charged with having 411b. .iiseased pork in his possession. Chambers is a age maker in a large way of business, having a m engine and two sausage machines. The sanitary ector suspected that diseased meat was used. He 3hed for five hours till the steam engine was set to k. He then entered the place and found 411b. of hinous pork about to be converted into sausages. itobers blamed the butcher (Horton. Bull-ring, mingham), and the butcher blamed his wife. The jistrates ordered the meat to be destroyed—a deci- I which is not open to objection on the ground of erity. SATE OF MORTALITY IN NEW YORK.—In city of New York in the year 1867 23,170 per- s died, in a population now estimated at 900,000, 25-75 per thousand. In Brooklyn the mortality was 8,325, in a population of 370,000, or 22'50 per thousand. It is stated that more than 3,600 of the persons dying in New York were buried from the hospitals and public institutions, and that among the 19,500 persons who died in the dwellings of the city there were nearly 12,000 children under five years of age, 7,000 (in round numbers) being infants not a year old. More than a fourth of the deaths were caused by preventable diseases. The deaths in New York were 3,645 fewer than in 1866. MAINE LAW IN THE HIGHLANDS.—The Duke of Argyll has, it appears, established a kind of Maine law in his island of Tiree, one of the inner Hebrides. This island, which la twelve miles long and six in breadth, had in 1851 a population of about 4,000 but the proprietor will not allow a single public-house to be kept for their convenience. One of the results of this policy is described by the Rev. W. Tulloch, of Edinburgh, who recently landed on the shores of Tiree at nine o'clock on a Monday morning. On our approaching the harbour (says Mr. Tulloch) I was struck with the number of people with their horses and carts whom I saw on the shore, and asked the captain of the little steamer that had conveyed us whether there was a fair that day, or what the people had gathered for. No," he re- plied, "but as soon-as you and the other passengers are landed (there was not half-a-dozen of us altogether) these people will come on board and get supplied, with spirituous liquors from us—whisky, porter, and ales." Whenever a steamer arrives—and there are two every week in summer —this is the way the drouthy islanders slake their thirst, and sometimes, as I saw with my own eyes when leaving, it is difficult to clear the boat of them and get away. I expressed my astonishment at his statement, and said I questioned the legality of furnishing spirits to persons who were not bona ftde passengers by the steamers. AMERICAN PATENTS. — It is stated that 13,010 patents were issued from the United States Patent Office in 1867, which is a much greater number than were granted in England during the same time, but there is this important difference—in the United States not more than one distinct improvement is allowed under one patent, while in England there is no limit if the improvements relate to the same subject, so that it frequently happens, if an English patentee wishes to protect his improvements in America, that he will have to obtain several patents (the averege being three or four) for what is protected by one Eng- lish patent. How TO GET A GLASS OF ALE !—The other day, a man, apparently out of breath, knocked at the kitchen door of a house in Everton, and upon the servant opening it he sa?d, This is No. 26, isn't it?" She said yes. He then told her that she must go home at once, as her mother had been taken suddenly ill, and was at the point of death. He requested l £ d. to get a glass of ale for bringing the news, which the girl gave him. Her mistress told her she believed some heartless person had been hoaxing her for the purpose of obtaining the money, but she had better go home at once, which she did, and was happy to find her mother in good health. BEER AS A CIVILIZER.—A writer, in remarking upon the trade which Peru carries on by way of the Amazon, gives the following curious information in regard to English ale and its use among the inhabitants of the provinces lying on the eastern slope of the Andes. He says :— All the beer imported is consumed almost exclusively in Iquitos, where some Englishmen residing there have intro- duced it for the benefit of their tastes and of the interests of the London brewers. The seed thus planted has taken a hold unknown before in the beer trade, and now there is not a poor man or a rich man, a white or black, an Indian or a mulatto, a half-breed or mestizo, who does not every day quaff his bottle of ale to prove that he is a civilized" per- son. This sort of civilization a I'Anglaise is making such progress in Iquitos that many or most of the residents fill up their stomachs with a quart of English ale before taking the unfailing chicha. The number of inhabitants in Iquitos is 150, and for their use there were imported in the quarter ending September 30. 14,328 bottles of English ale, i.e., 156 bottles for each day, which would allow one bottle daily to each man, woman, or child. HOAXING THE PAPERS.—It appears that the circumstantial account (and which our readers will, perhaps, remember) recently published of a frightful accident on the ice at Mantas was untrue from be- ginning to end. The wager that a cartload of hay would be driven across the river on the ice, the nine- teen people drowned, the names of a Mayor and other victims whose funeral was attended by the whole population of Mantes, were all inventions. The paper in whose columns the false news originally appeared, confesses that it was hoaxed. The only wager in the case was that all the Paris papers would print the story, and that wager was won. A STRONG HINT !—A characteristic anecdote of Mr. C-, M.P., is now going the rounds of the whist coteries. Playing one evening at a strange club he had the misfortune to cut with a partner who was guilty oftheunpardonable crime (among whist players) of signalling for trumps with only a single trump in his hand. At the conclusion of the hand" J. C." mildly expressed his surprise at such an abnormal pro- ceeding, whereupon the offender attempted to justify himself in a roundabout sort of fashion by asking whether a Blue Peter" from a single trump might not be permissible under very peculiar circumstances. That is more than I can say," responded the veteran, "but I never saw it done but once before in my life, and that was by a poor old friend of mine." Here he paused and commenced dealing the cards for the next hand. And what of your friend, sir ? inquired the unsuspecting partner. "Oh, he—he died shortly afterwards—in a lunatic asylum." We need scarcely add, the conversation was not prolonged. MURDER BY A GIRL.—A girl of twelve years of age, Eugenie Enon, has been tried on a charge of murder at Osny, France. She had, much against her will, entered the service of a farmer there to take care of a little bor of five years old, and she conceived a violent aversion towards the child. One day its arm was broken, no one could ascertain how on another occasion the boy had swallowed pins and suffered greatly in consequence. Still the girl was not sus- pected. Determined to get rid of him and so be re- lieved from service, she caused the poor boy to swallow a quantity of sulphate of copper, which killed him im- mediately. The suddenness of the death excited sus- picion, and a medical examination. proved that a violent poison had been administered. In consequence the girl was at once arrested, as being the only person that could have given it. She was, however, acquitted by the Court of Assizes of the Seine-et-Oise, the jury believing that the charge was not satisfactorily proved. THE WAY TO REGULATE THE PRICE OF FOOD The Salut Public of Lyons (France) says:— The town of Tarascon has been recently in a state of some excitement. Butchers' meat has been 5c. a pound dearer there than at Marseilles, and the garrison lelt the extra cost. One fine morning the mayor received a message from the general in command, stating that if the town should not take upon itself the charge of the difference of price the soldiers would be taken away to another place. There was of course considerable agitation, because the presence of a regiment of cavalry is no slight aifair for a small community like that of Tarascon. The town council met, and the inhabitants were discussing the case when a second despatch arrived from the general demanding an immediate answer. Under the threat held out the municipal council lost no time in voting the necessary subsidy. THE LION ON THE FIELD or WATERLOO.—A Brussels journal states that a petition discussed in the French Senate prayed the Imperial Government to apply to the Belgian Government to remove the lion surmounting the mound which commemorates the battle of Waterloo. A M. Jules Berlin, the designer of the monument of Ambiorix, proposes that the lion, an emblem of sanguinary struggles, shall be replaced by a colossal statue of Peace, which, placed upon a sphere and supported by all the nations of the world, should be a true symbol of the dearest aspirations of the nineteenth century and of the reconciliation of men of all races-" a. monument," as he says, of the Holy Alliance of peoples united in the one feeling of brotherhood and civilization." A voluntary subscrip- tion is proposed to be started for the puspose of carry. ing out the idea. THE LAST NEW DODGE!—A gentleman with an inquisitive mind, being recently struck with the offer per bill in a parlour window in London to teach Hebrew at a remarkably low figure, stepped in, met an old acquaintance, who at once thought it wise to be candid, and confessed thus :—" Well, you see, air, this is an honest way of getting a living. Every Monday and Wednesday I take lessons myself, and every Tuesday and Thursday I give the same lessons to others. It pays me, and at the same time I am learning something myself." The gentleman asked, "But why not apply yourself to sotne modern lan- guage, such as French, Italian, or German 1 should think that you would get more pupils than you do for Hebrew?" Oh I no," he replied; "Hebrew is the dodge. Everybody can teach French and German, but there's only a few as can teach Hebrew. You see, young chaps now-a-days pretend to be learned, and when they are contending one against the other in Mechanics' Institutions and such places, the one as knows how to read Hebrew just puts a book into the other's hands, and says, read that for me it's a licker at once. All the clsver ones want to know is the alphabet, and then they can gammon others that they are Hebrew scholars." The ingenious teacher was evidently living comfortably. ANOTHER VICTIM TO CRINOLINE.—On Satur- day Dr. Lankester, the coroner, held an inquest in one of the London Hospitals, on the body of Catherine Bell, aged forty-eight, who resided with her husband, a carver and gilder. The surgeon deposed that the deceased arrived in a cab at the hospital on the 20th inst., at half-past six in the evening. She was severely burnt on the legs, body, and back of one arm, and, notwithstanding every attention, she gradually sank and expired on the 22nd, at three o'clock p.m. Eliza Bell, daughter of the deceased, aged eight years, stated that her mother, who wore a light cotton dress, with a crinoline, was standing in front of the fire, and on turning round to thread a needle her dress became ignited. She tried to double up her mother's dress, but being unable to extinguish the flames, Mrs. Bell was severely burnt. The Coroner remarked that, notwithstanding the very large number of women burnt to death in England every year, independent of those injured, it was almost impossible to persuade them to give up the use of crinoline. The jury re- turned a verdict of "Accidental death." FRENCH WOMEN.—The Bishop of Orleans, describing the modern Frenchwoman, says:- — A woman knows all the famous actors and horses, she knows by heart the performers at the Opera and the Yarietes; the stud-book is more familiar to her than Thomas-a-Kempis's "Imitation"; last year she betted for La Touque, this year for Vermuth, and she is sure that the Bois Roussel is full of promise she is enthusiastic about the Derby, and the triumph of the Fille de rAil' she considers as a national victory. She knows the name of the most celebrated milliner, the fashionable saddler, and the shop which has the greatest vogue. She will weigh the respective merits of the stables of the Count de Lagrange, the Due de Moray, or of Monsieur DelamaITe. She can only enter- tain young women and frivolous young men. Equally in capable of talking on business, art, politics, agriculture, or the sciences, she can neither converse with her father-in- law, her clergyman, or with ar.y man of a serious mind. And yet the first talent of a woman is to be able to converse with everybody. A NEW OPERA-HOUSE IN NEW YORK.—Mr. Pike, a successful trader in New York, has erected an Opera-house in Twenty-third and Eighth avenue. According to a correspondent it is built of white marble, and its architecture is Italian. One of its fronts is 120ft., and the other 112ft. wide, and the building is 325ft. long. The entrances, which are very wide and handsome, lead into a vestibule, which is 40ft. wide, 80ft. long, and 30ft. high. From this ante- room a staircase leads to the dress circle of the house. From the front row of the dress circle it is 185ft. to the footlights. Above is the family circle, below the par- quet, and the house will seat 2,600 people. From the floor to the ceiling is 70ft. the stage is 70ft. deep, 80ft. wide, and 50ft. high. Beneath the stage is a room 23ft. high for the traps and the lower machinery of the stage. For the interior decorations of the house the prevailing colours are white and gold, the curtains of the private boxes are white and blue the seats in the body of the house are crimson and there ia a profu- sion of statuary, chandeliers, candelabras, and paintings. PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF G. F. TRAIN.— Train (says a New York paper) is about thirty-five or thirty-eight years of age, well-built, broad- shouldered, with swarthy and regular features, an immense shock of iron-grey hair, almost so curly as to suggest African blood, emphatic but graceful gestures, a voice trained in all the modulations of oratory, and a mobility of expression in his face such as few profes- sional actors have attained. Add to this that he is rich—one of the wealthiest real estate proprietors in Omaha, as also all along the main line of the Pacific railroad. A STRANGE AFFAIR.—The Waterford cor- respondent of the Freeman's Journal writes that on Friday morning one of the guns at the fort of Dun- cannon, Passage West, near that city, was found spiked." No information was procurable on the subject, and he understands that no clue has been found to the "spiker." SIR G. CORNEWALL LEWIS CANVASSING.—It is told of the late Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, that when canvassing Herefordshire in 1852, be was in the midst of an inquiry into the truth of reported cases of longevity. This inquiry was so far uppermost in his thoughts, that when a Tory voter flatly declined to support his candidature, he placidly responded, I am sorry you can't give me your vote, but perhaps you can tell me whether any person has died in your parish at an extraordinary age." A SUPPLIANT FOX!—During a recent run with the Dumfriesshire hounds, the dogs got separated, some pursuing one fox, and the others another. Geddes, a shepherd at Thorniewhat, in crossing a field was astonished to see a fox, closely followed by a couple of hounds, making directly for him he stood still until it reached his feet, where it laid down and looked up at him with beseeching eyes," the mean- ing of which he instantly comprehended, and using his stick, the dogs were with much difficulty kept at a distance, during which time the fox-a vixen—re- mained quiet, only now and then making a snap at a venturesome dog. Another servant seeing the position of things brought a sack, and Geddes, taking poor foxy by the tail, dropped her in and carried her home and put her into a straw-house, where she continued during the night, and on the morrow, seeing that she appeared quite recovered from her fright, the door was thrown open and she took herself back'to cover. The incident having come to the knowledge of the master of the hunt—the Marquis of Queensbury—he sent a very kind letter of thanks to Mr. Dick, of Thornie- what, enclosing a sovereign for the shepherd. VALUE OF LAND IN PARIS.—A table pub- lished in the Afaniteur shows that the highest price of land in Paris is generally for places in the neighbour- hood of the theatres. Thus, the various sites near the Theatre Francais, either in the Rue Richilieu, the Avenue Napoleon, or the Place in front have fetched per square metre. l,056f., l,200f., and even l,300f. Near the new opera the figures have varied from 600f. to l,040f., the New Vaudeville from l,000f. to l,250f., the Gaite from 450f. and upwards. THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND.—The nickname of The Upper Ten Thousand seems to involve a nume- rical mistake (remarks the Spectator.) It appears from some tables just presented to the Statistical Society by Mr. Dudley Baxter, tables based upon income-tax returns, that 7,084 persons possess £112,640,000 a year, being one-seventh of the whole national income as re- turned, perhaps one-fifth of the whole real income— much income being returned twice, as that of the State employes-and one-fourth of all the income derived from property. The entire income of the 1,860,000 families which pay less than JE300 a year is not equal to that of these Upper Seven Thousand. There are, moreover, only 47,564 households in England returning more than £1,000 a year. It will be remembered also that only 32,000 persons possess in Great Britain more than ten acres apiece. The deduction from all these facts is; that there are but 7,000 families in England deserving to be called rich, that is, with more than £5,000 a year, and less than 50,000 who are comfort- able, that is, have more than £1,000 from all sources. DIFFICULT TASK.—The New York Times good- humouredly says :— The cable reports that the London police are on the track of the celebrated Colonel Michael Doheny, and are confident of capturing him. The vigilance of the London detectives is doubtless very great, and if it achieves this result it may well be deemed superhuman. The difficulties in the case are a good deal increased by the fact that the colonel died in this city two or three years ago. CURIOUS CLAIM.—Many years ago the Corpora- tion of Liverpool made a grant of land to the rector of the parish for the time being and his successors for the purposes of a churchyard. Modern town improve- ments now render it requisite that the Corporation should retake possession of a narrow strip of the churchyard (St. Peter's) for the widening of Church- street—on the line of the main thoroughfare out of the town. The rector claimed compensation for com- pulsory purchase; and the matter was recently reo ferred to the arbitration of Mr. Manisty, Q.C., who has awarded £5,000 as the value of the land required by the Corporation. This is subject to a motion in Chancery, the Corporation contending that, as the land was originally given by them for a parish church, if it was devoted to another use the ownership shoula revert to them. If the Chancery Court decides thafc the money is to be paid to the rector, it is understood that it will be devoted to ecclesiastical purposes con- nected with the parish. HINTS ABOUT POSTAGE STAMPS.—Complaints are often made of the nasty taste of the adhesive com- pound used in the manufacture of postage stamps, and it has been suggested that by wetting the envelopes inBtead of the postage stamp the inconvenience would be obviated. But a correspondent of a contemporary shows that this plan will not do:— Wetting the letter instead of the postage stamp, in the manner suggested by one correspondent, is a bad plan it will not secure perfect adhesion. The saliva is a powerful solvent, and in the act of damping with the tongue the siae is softened or wholly or partly removed from the paper. At once the moisture begins to sink into the absorbent surface, which in three seconds becomes so dry that a stamp will not stick firmly aud completely to it. In from five to ten seconds all trace of the moisture will pass away. Stamps are con- tinually falling from letters, and this damping of the en- velope is the cause. NEW GOLD SPECULATION.—I find a profound calculation in one of the French papers (says a writer in Once a Week). It is proposed to start a company in Paris to dig for gold in the cemeteries. What gold ? That which has been used in stopping teeth. There are buried in Paris every day more than 125 persons. It is reckoned that of these at lea3t ten have auriferous jaws, and that in these ten there may be an average of ten auriferous teeth. So the calculation proceeds, and Paris is threatened with a resurrection company. EARLY IMPORTATION OF ARABS.—Although the earliest edition of the stud-book mentions an Arab for which King James I. gave a Mr. Markham the sum of £500, as being the first of that breed which was ever seen in England, still further research proves this to have been a mistake, aa the Mr. Jervis (or Gervase) Markham referred to above states in a book published by him at the end of the sixteenth century that such was not the case, but that he had known both Arabs and Barbs in England at an earlier period than the time when he imported his one. Again, Blundeville, who wrote in 1558 on horsemanship, speaks of "the Turkie horse (doubtless the Arab), which he has seen come into Italy as into England." Indeed, it can scarcely be supposed that all the knights and others who followed King Richard to Palestine could have returned without a few representatives of the steeds of the desert. IRISH OPINION OF HER MAJESTY'S BOOK.— Copious extracts from her Majesty's new work have been published in the Irish papers. Most of them ap- pear highly pleased with the references which are made to Ireland, and many of them suggest that an annual visit of the Royal Family would do much to allay the discontent which is now so prevalent. Such a conces- sion would, at any rate, reduce the stock-in-trade of grievances of which a certain class of politicians make market. The Northern Whig speaks of the obvious sincerity of the book. It is truthful in every page the Queen has written "as she thought and felt." This paper believes that if her Majesty had given some of the affection which she has bestowed upon Scotland and her people to Ireland, Fenianism would not now be a power for mischief in it. Had she," it says, "taken as much pleasure in the scenery of Killarney, and have come and gone among the Irish with the same unpretending kindness and confidence after the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848, the Irish- American Fenians would have now found themselves powerless, and all classes in the South of Ireland would have been quite as loyal as the Scottish High- landers, who, not much more than a hundred years ago, were far more disaffected to the reigning dynasty, and far more formidable than the Irish Fenians now are." CONFERENCE OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.— On Sunday the half-yearly conference of the Latter-day Saints was held at Birmingham. Between 800 and 900 persons were present. Elder Moses M. Thatcher, the president of the Birmingham district, presided. The president remarked that the work that had been going on since the last conference indicated that the prospects of delivering the saints from this land of bondage and misery, and taking them to the land beyond the seas, was very encouraging. He looked forward to a great emigration of the saints this year, when thousands of the faithful would bid good-bye to the shores of England, and make a new home in the valleys of Utah. The statistical report for the half- year showed there were in the Birmingham district 11 branches, 81 elders, 51 priests, 32 teachers, 36 deacons, 32 members had been received, 3G removed, 22 excom. municated, 3 had died, 7 emigrated, 50 baptised, and the total number of the members, including officers, was S58. THE CHILDREN OF TOM SAYERS.—At Chancery Chambers, in London, on Monday morning, Mr. Marshall, chief clerk, heard an application (Sayers v. Stent), made by Mr. Johnson, for an issue to be directed to a court of law to try who were the legitimate children of Tom Sayers, living at the time of his death. Mr. Gay appeared on the other side—two children and the trustees in the suit. About £ 3,000 was col- lected shortly after the fight with Heenan and settled on Tom Sayers for his life, and at his death the fund was to be divided amongst his children then living. Mr. Johnson now appeared for three children born after the marriage with his wife, and there were other children born of the wife before her marriage with Tom Sayers. The chief clerk perused a statement of the facts, and intimated the intention to refer the matter to the Master of the Rolls. Mr. Gay said he had no objection to the course proposed. The question would be whether there should be an issue at common law or in Chancery. Mr. Johnson said the Master of the Rolls would decide whether it should be with or without a jury. The matter was accordingly referred to the court, THE MISSING CLERGYMAN.—The fate of the Rev. Benjamin Speke, rector of Dowlish Wake with West Dowlish, still remains enshrouded in painful mystery, and it seems that the unfortunate gentleman is as completely gone as if the earth had opened and swallowed him up. As a clergyman he was exemplary in the discharge of every duty that could be attached to his calling. He was in the habit of daily going from Jordans, his father's seat, to Dowlish Wake, where there was a small mansion, quite equal to the wants of the incumbent of a living of J2500 a year; but being a bachelor, he did not keep up an establishment. In manners he was most frank and affable-the most unlikely man to have an enemy. Of three out of four sons Mr. William Speke has been bereft: one fell, fighting for his country, before the the gates of Delhi; another, whose name will live as long as history lasts, through much peril and many dangers penetrated to the centre of Africa, discovered the Nyanza lake, returned home to be welcomed in triumph and to receive a magnificent testimonial, and then fell by the accidental discharge of hia own gun. Painful as these bereavements were, they pale before the extraordinary and mysterious disappearance of Mr. Benjamin Speke. The reward for the unfortunate gentleman's dis- covery is increased to £500. A TRUE LOVER'S KNOT DECLINED !—The son of a farmer named Howard, living at Senny Bridge, who by the loss of one of his legs has been incapacitated from following his ordinary pursuits, recently sent to the Princess of Wales a trne lover's knot," which he had carved out of wood with his own knife, and which he offered to her royal highness as a mark of respect- ful attachment. Howard has just received the follow- ing unexpected acknowledgment, dated from Sandring- ham Palace :— Sir,—I have received the commands of the Princess of Wales to thank you for your kind attention, and to say that she has pleasure in returning the offering which you have sent her, and that she regrets the circumstance under which your ingenious work was executed. Her royal high- ness has further directed me to enclose a cheque for ten guineas, as a little pecuniary acknowledgment, to which she hopes there will be no objection. I am, sir, your obedient ^5-vant, HERBERT FISHER.—^r- HoweU Howard. HYACINTHE" OF THE SWORD."—The armament mania, says the Steele, has seized even the Roman States, into which soldiers are rushing, and when bullets are in large stock. Who can be surprised at this when we find a celebrated preacher, Father Hyacinthe, thus apostropliisiDg the sword in the church of Notre-Dame ?— Give us, Almighty Lord, on fields of battle that faith which we received on the field of battle—that faith of Tolbiac which has constituted our graudeur, and which it is sought to take away from us. Let the blood of our young men, tuo precious to be wasted in idleness—to be corrupted in the pleasures of an unworthy peace-be poured out in war. Out from thy scabbard, sword of the Lord-Gladius Domini et Gideonis-out and do thy work: do it quickly and do it well. A COMPARISON.—The movement of the popu- lation in France presents some interesting features, especially when compared with that of England. It appears that in the five years between 1861 and 186G the population increased by 680,933, or less than one-third per cent. per annum. In England and Wales the increase was one and a quarter per cent., or nearly four times as rapid as in France. At its pre- sent rate of increase 183 years would be required for the population of France to double itself. But this is not all: of the 680,933 addition in five years, 328,412, or nearly half, is town population in 31 out of 89 de- partments there was an actual decrease. The length of life in France is improving, but the number of births continues abnormally small—no more now in a popu- lation of 38,000,000 than in 1800, when the population was only 27,000,000. The birth rate in France is 1 in 38 in England it is 1 in 29. The marriage rate is 1 in 127 in France in England 1 in 113. The death rate appears to be nearly the same, or 1 in 44 £

AN APPLICATION FOR DIVORCE. At the Divorce Court, in London, Mr. James Hill, of St. Eustatius, in the West Indies, petitioned that the marriage of his son, Johannes De Vere Hill, with Charlotte Johnson, might be declared null and void by reason of an undue publication of the banns. The petitioner was represented by Dr. Spinks, Q C., and Dr. swabey and the female respondent appeared in person. It appeared that young Hill, who in 1866 was studying medicine under Dr. Simmonds, of 13, St. J ames's-road, Liverpool, had formed an improper in- timacy with Charlotte Johnson, a nurse in the family. Charlotte alleges that she was in the family-way, and insisted on Hill's marrying her, and on his represent- ing to her that the singularity of his name would lead to the discovery of their design the moment the banns were published, it was agreed that they should be published in the names of John Hill and Charlotte Johnson. The banns were accordingly pub- lished in those two nawes, and the marriage took place, Hill then being between seventeen and eighteen years of age. Dr. Simmonds said that, though the young man was more usually called Hill," "e was occasionally ad- dressed as De Vere." After the marriage, of which witness knew nothing, the parties continued to live in the house till the female respondent went with her mistress to Belper. In the August following Charlotte Johnson, who had left witnesss service, came to the house and made a disturbance. The circumstance of the marriage had then been divulged, and witness took Charlotte into one of his rooms and talked to her about the affahv-told her how great a wrong she had done both him and his pupil She acknowledged that she had consented to the suppression of the "De Vere in the banns, but she that it had been done at the suggestion of Mr. Hill, and that she should make him a suitable wife. The marriage had taken place at Holy Trinity Church, ToxtethPark, which was close by witness's house; but it was not the church which witness's family attended. Mrs. Simmonds said that she had given Johnson advice respecting Mr. Hill. Johnson had once reo marked to her what a pretty name De Vere was, and witness observed that she supposed Mr. Hill was of French extraction.-—Cross-examined: Had certainly talked to her about Mr. HilL Respondent, no doubt, remembered the occasion too well- The examination of Mr. Hill, sen., taken by a com- mission, was read. The witness stated that his son was born on the 17th of September. 1846, and had been baptised Johannes De Vere Hill." Johannes de Vere Hill said: I was about eighteen when I went to Dr. Simmonds's. Charlotte came there about the end of October, 1864. Grew intimate with her. Cannot say that the intimacy had any precise commencement. She afterwards talked about being disgraced. She said she did not know what would be- come of her, and so I was obliged to promise to marry her. Tried to put it off as much as I could, but was at last obliged to do it. Suggested to her the sup- pression of the name De Vere, and that she should be called Charlotte Johnstone." Thought that at that time her name was really Charlotte Ann Johnson." The object of suppressing the "De V ere" was to pre- vent my name from being recognised. old her that I had better perhaps inform Dr. Simmonds but she would not hear of it. Informed her that I was going to put in the banns, and afterwards told her that I had published them. On the 15th of April I went out to be married, and she followed me. No fnend of either of us was present. We were married. the signa- tures on the register are ours. Remained in the same house with her for two or three weeks, and then she went away with Mrs. Simmonds. Told her that I did not think the marriage was legal because I was not of age. Saw her when she came to Dr. bimmonds in August. I had written to her, telling her that legal proceedings were about to be instituted, and she came m consequence of that. Had never lived with her after the marriage, but corresponded with her. She only wrote to say how she was. The legal proceedings were taken because Dr. Simmonds had come to hear of the marriage, and had communicated with my father. Cross-examined Told her that if my father turned me off I should not mind, but that I should go into the army. We agreed that I should suppress her name Ann," for I thought her name was really Charlotte Ann." Had had letters addressed to me by the name of "DeVere." By the Judge Ordinary Was afraid of the neigh- bours getting to know. I once had an idea of telling Dr. Simmonds, because I thought that if he had known the marriage would not have taken place; but when I had resolved upon it I thought I had better keep it absolutely secret. The female respondent was then sworn. She said My real name is Charlotte Johnson, though I have been called Ann, because at the last place there was another servant named Charlotte. My intimacy with Mr. Hill began very soon after I went to Mrs. Simmonds's. He said that he would marry me if he had the means, and that he would ask the doctor for some money for some purpose at the hospital. He did so, and put in the banns with it. I did not press him to marry me. He said he would marry me if I would conceal it till he was twenty-one. I replied, What if they should get to hear of it?" He said, "I shouldn't care; for I should go into the army." He i published the banns about two months after the mat- j ter was first talked of. He went several times to put I them in, but came back, for he said he could not see -f the clerk, whom he wished, with his (the clerk's) sister, to be the witnesses. He asked me if he should publish rfy name as Ann," and I told him that it was not Ann. He said nothing about his own name at all, I did not know anything about it except that it was Trn He was Dever palled anything in the house but Hill. I had asked him if his name was "DeVere," and he repeatedly told me that it was not. Cannot j tell wnat had put De Vere into my head. Must have ■ heard it somewhere. Never told Mrs. Simmonds that it was a pretty name. After the marriage Mr. Hill directed a number of envelopes for me to J. D. Hill," and then I knew that he was named De Vere. Before then the letters which came for him were all directed "J. Hill." [The witness put in a number of letters which she had received from Mr. Hill. They breathed a moderate degree of affection, but betrayed an awful sense of fright lest she should disclose her marriage and when it appeared that she had told her friends about it he was exceedingly angry. At last he in- formed her that the lawyers had taken the matter up, and that he could hold no more communication with her till the legality of the marriage was settled.] Cross-examined: My fellow-servant Emma had told me that she thought his name was De Vere and I asked him if it was hut ho denied it altogether, He told me that he had no means of supporting me and I suppose that, if Mrs. Simmonds had learned that I was a married woman, she would have dis- missed me. I had given Mrs. Simmonds notice, and my time was up but I stayed with her in order that I might go with her to Belper, where my home was. I have no relations. I was born in Belper workhouse' but I have an adopted mother in that town. Dr. Spinks You never had a father? (A laugh.) i Witness I didn't know even that until I was told of it. (Laughter.) i Dr. Spinks, upon this evidence, contended that the account given by Mr. Hill was trustworthy, whereas not only was that given by Johnson per se incredible, but the witness had been contradicted on material points by Dr. and Mrs. Simmonds. Under the cir- cumstances, therefore, the court had no option but to pronoun ;e null a marriage procured upon banns falsely published with the knowledge and connivance of the young woman. His Lordship said he felt great difficulty in the case, and would therefore take time to consider his judg- ment.

COLONEL BURKE on the CLERKEN- WELL EXPLOSION. It is said that the prisoner Burke having been in- formed of what was said about him in connexion with this explosion, writes to his solicitors on the matter as follows :— I have been informed that one of the warders of the House of Detention, in his evidence, stated that I stopped and of Detention, in his evidence, stated that I stopped and moved out of the ring while at exercise, and pretended to take a stone out of my shoe. I have frequently stepped out of the ring during the three weeks I was confined there, nearly every day—for I suffered from a corn between the toes, and still suffer from it, though in a less degree, and I while at the House of Detention I burnt it with some lunar caustic given me by the doctor for the purpose. This the warders know as well as I: but it is only fact, and not sensational enough perhaps to suit their purpose. What that Is, of course, anybody can see—to endeavour strongly to establish some sort of an understanding between myself and the authors of the deplorable occurrences alluded to. In general and emphatic terms he denies all prior knowledge of the catastrophe. With reference to his experience of the explosion itself he also says :— Forty seconds before it took place I was in a cell in that end of the prison, being identified. I had barely left the cell and had got back into my own one, which was on the other end of the building, when the explosion took place. I was at City Point when two vessels loaded with gunpowder I blew up; I was 300 yards from them. That was truly terrific, but after the body of the explosion was gone thero was virtually an end of it. Hero it was different, for after the explosion came the falling of timber and the shrieks of the prisoners—all blent in one Wild painful confusion. I was nearly suffocated in my cell by smoke and dust that rushed up through the ventilator. When the confusion sub- sided somewhat, and the position could be realised, I asked one of the wurders what it was. He made me no answer. In a few minutes after he had passed I looked out of my cell grating, and I saw a warder, armed with rifle and revolver, standing sentry on my cell. I then theu?ht that whatever it was, or how caused, the governor of the prison believed it must be in some way connected with me. Else how can I explain the unusual proceeding of put- ting an armed man a3 sentry over a prisoner who never violated the slightest order, or in any way stepped aside from the discipline of the prison Then I received the first faint glimpses of light. I recollected the manner I was changed from cell to cell during ihe day, especially after anybody had seen me—"lawyer," "iden- tifier," or friend. The guarded conduct in every case exercised in relation to me the whisperings of the warders and the governor and deputy-governor; the look-out kept by the governor and a warder on the central tower, wl ich at the time I noticed it, I did not think any way strange all these things rushed on my mind, and associating them with the explosion, and the man fully armed as sentry on my cell, I could not help thinking on the subject, in which I was apparently considered by the governor as some way connected. When I saw the deputy-governor I spoke to him, and asked him what did it all mean. He answered me, "You ask no silly questions; you know very well what it meaiu." A few hours after the lamentable occurrence I was visited by one of the visiting justices. At this time there were several police and a body of troops in the prison. I did not sleep during the night, my own thoughts, aided by the constant calling all right of the warder, kept me awake during the whole night. In the morning, as I was going out to the van, one 01 the warders said to me as I was vassing him, D n you, I have a mind to blowout your brains." So that, taking everything into consideration, I feel that this occurrence has undeservedly reflected upon me.

RATHER ROMANTIC! The following strange tale is published in the Paris papers, and is affirmed to be true. In England it would hardly be credible, but in France it is not un- likely :— The Countess de X-was reading alone in her boudoir when she was surprised by the sudden apparition of a little chimney sweep, who had slipped down into the fireplace and then stood up in the room, wonder-stricken at the elegance he saw around him, and showing two rows of pearly white teeth which contrasted strangely with a face as black as a negro's. lie had evidently mistalwn the chimney pot by which he had ascended to the roof. The first moment of surprise being past, the lady was touched with compassion for this unfortunate child, and questioned him in words of kindness. The patois of the little sweep, who was only seven years old, was not easy to understand, but the Countess nevertheless understood sufficient to learn from him that he had come all the wiy from Chamouni on toot, with a man who was not his father his parents, he said, were dead, and he had never seen them. This was the first winter that he had ever come to Puris he had learned his trade on the way, and his master beat him when he did not work well, but this was not often. The lady was moved at the tale, and rang for her chamber-maid, telling her to give the child something te eat and a five-franc piece. "The dirty little wretch," said the maid with a grimace. You aie right," said the lady, he is dirty; let us wash his face." The maid saw that she must indulge this caprice of her mistress, and at once volunteered to take him to her room besides," she added, 1 am curious to see what he will look like with a clean face." When she returned the child was completely transformed his mask of soot having disappeared, disclosed handsome and delicate features and a rosy countenance, while his cap no longer concealed his fine open forehead and hair, which last hung in clustering curls. The lady stooped down to kiss the child, but she instantaneously raised a loud scream and fainted away. The Countess de X-had perceived a tuft of hair, perfectly white, above the forehead, and (which separated the child's hair to the right and to the left like a natural parting. Her husband had had a lock of hair exactly similar, and if any doubts remained, the resemblance to him would have been sufficient to dispel them. Madame de X-was a widow when she married her present husband. She had had a child by her first marriage, born while she was travelling in Italy, and who was afterwards confided to a peasant's wife in Savoy to nurse. Her husband shortly after died, and a year later she became acquainted with the Count de X-, who made her an offer of marriage, which she accepted. She, however, learned by a conversation with M. de X-, that he would object to marry a widow with children, and resolved to keep secret the existence of her son, being sure of her husband's pardon when it should be known. A few weeks later she received a letter from the nurse saying that the child was dead. The poor mother for a long time pined in secret, but at length Time, the great consoler, gradually effaced the recollection of her grief. The sequel remains to be told. The little sweep was really her son; the nurse's owi child having died, the woman had kept her foster child, to bring up as her own, with the object of hiring the boy out to a sweep when he was old enough. The Countess confessed the deception she had practised to her husband and received the pardon she had rightly counted on. As for the boy, he has now changed his dry bread and hard Now: to a oom- fortable home and a fond mother's tenderness, and. fa fast forgetting big patois. The Countess is happy with her child, who fell from the sky—or rather from the chimney.

A TRAGIC END! The Paris correspondent of the Court Journal re- lates the following romantic story in connection with the Princess Bacciochi, whom the Empress Eugenie went to see the other day—the Princess having met with an accident, which, as the correspondent says, would be considered a bad one had it happened to a woman of her years in a workhouse. It has been de- scribed as a simple dislocation of the thigh-bone, occasioned by too hurried a motion in mounting the steps of her carriage, but it has been pronounced by Nelaton as orginating in the disease peculiar to old age, when the bones become brittle and break upon the slightest provocation." The Princess has lived a somewhat stormy and eventful career; but, priding herself on her stoical principles, has been but little shaken by the events of her domestic life, which would have torn and rent the heart of any ordinary woman into atoms. She is a Bncchiochi by birth, not by marriage, and being wedded to a man of somewhat inferior station to her, Count Camerata, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, resumed her maiden name when her petit cousin Louis came to the throne. The story of her young relative, who, having lost all for love, regretted not the loss, but com- pleted the ruin of his hopes by the most touching and melan- chGly suicide ever recorded in the annals of youthful folly, was the motive which induced the princess to give up all rule and influence at the Tuilleries, the domination, the homage, and the pleasure of a Paris life for the pursuit of agriculture and husbandry In the Landes of Brittany. The tale is one of the profoundest tragedy. The young man was thoughtless and extravagant, deeply enamoured of an act- ress belonging to the Vaudeville. He was in want of funds, and committed an unworthy deed to obtain them. As wrong had been done to none but his own relative, he had thought to have escaped with impunity; but, alas! Justice had already been informed of the breaking open of the strong box, and the subtraction of the diamonds, before the real author of the offence was even dreamt of. The actress who had been commissioned by the young man to dispose of the jewels had but that morning conveyed them to the Monte de piete, and her name and identity being established at once, the rest became clear and easy to the police. The actress was seated in her boudoir when the agents arrived at her house; the young xnan was lying in Sybarite voluptuous- ness at her feet upon the lion's skin he had himself brought home as trophy of his prowess from the African desert. He had just succeeded in quieting the scruples betrayed by the poor actress concerning the disposal of the diamonds, he had just beenjjpersuading her that they had been bestowed as a free gift by the fondest of kindly relations, who had no other help to bestow at that moment to free him from the difficulties into which he had fallen. The lovers were devising all kinds of plans for the future. They were to fly to Italy, to sail for America. They were to roam amongst the Abruzzi, they were to wan- der over the solitary prairie alone. The exact direction they were to take was undetermined as yet, but the solitude at all events was decided upon. The dream was enchant- ing, and they were inhaling the last breath of that azure fluid, more intoxicating than the strongest drug, when a struggle was heard at the door of the boudoir, a scuffling of I feet, a few words uttered in a gruff voice, and presently a loud knock upon the panel, with the words, so awful to a i French ear that they always seem like the summons of the headsman on the morning of the execution, Open in the name of the law The door was locked; the actress started to her feet, but the young lover rose slowly from his re- clining posture on the lion's skin. It needed but to look at the ghastly expression of dismay which had overspread his features to have the truth revealed at once. The gulf was yawning at his feet. She knew the worst at a glance, and with a resolution and courage worthy of a heroine of the olden time, she seized the bottle she had preparetl in case she, hid been destined to separation from her lover, and swallowed a draught of its contents without the smallest hesitation. As she sank backwards on the sofa the second summons was distinctly heard, louder and more peremptory than the first" Open in the name of the law The young man was bewildered and terrified at the result of his own folly and imprudence. He, too, felt not brave enough to face the consequences, and, perhaps scarcely conscious of the act, drained off what remained of the drug. The third summons was followed bi a tremendous crash, the bursting open of the door by the butt-ends of the guns of the guard, and the poor victims, already in the agonies of death, offered no resistance to the authorities they had seemed to defy. The actress lived for some hours, and it was from her lips ttaf^ie tale was gathered. The young man died, withouta word, before tlie guard had withdrawn from th^Bk^V The story is one of the most terrible that has hapJ|H^8ince the days of Louis Philippe, and is always quoted as the great criminal illustration of the Second Empire. No wonder that the Princess Bacciochi should have sought, in retirement and the contemplation of Nature, forgetfulness of the tremendous storm which had passed over her head, and, without any fault of hers, weighed her down beneath its Unrden.

EPITOME OF NEWS, BRITISH AND FOREIGN. A man at Detroit has skated sixty consecutive hours for 500 dols. Towards the last blankets had to be held up about him to keep the wind from blowing him over "A boy ten years of age, named Jacob Bullach, has committed suicide in his mother's residence, in West Twenty-fifth-street, in a fit of despondency, because his elder brother had been sentenced to the Island as a con- firmed drunkard."—fiew York Hera Id. It was determined on Friday, at the annual meeting of the Leeds Liberal RegistratjoTL Association, to memo- rialise the Mayor to call a public meeting in favour of the ballot and the repeal of the ratepaying clauses of the Reform Act. The Queen has sent to Dr. Jenner a box filled with copies of her Journal in the Highlands," to be distributed by him among the several hospitals, so that the library of each of these institutions may possess a memorial which none of them can fail to prize. The death is announced of Dr. Davy, the brother and biographer of Sir Humphry Davy, and eminent as a chemist, geologist, and physiologist, which took place on the 21th inst., at his residence, Lesketh-how, near Ambleside. The Banffshire Journal 'of Tuesday morning reports the loss in the Moray Firth in the storm of Friday last of twelve fishermen belonging to Buckie, leaving eight widows and nineteen children. The total amount subscribed in the locality for Con- stable Duggan, who was fired at and wounded when carry- ing despatches in Kerry, on the breaking out of the first Feuian revolt there, ia £110, which has been handed over to him. The magistrates at Waterford petty sessions have flued ono (Of their own order, Mr. Carew, n. L., £ 5 and costs, for sending into the city for sale a cow unfit for human food. If they thought he had been aware that the meat was un- sound they would (they said) have fined him the full penalty of £20. The certificate of Captain M'Nay, master of the steamer Chicago, which was lost on tho 12th inst. at the entrance to Cork Harbour, has been suspended for six months. The Board of Trade assessors were of opinion that the captain was at fault in approaching land during the thick weather which prevailed at the time. The Italia of Naples states that three handsome bronze bedsteads have been discovered at Pompeii, and that they are the most elegant yet found there. A Paris journal represents the arrest of Mr. George Francis Train—" one of the most illustrious orators and most powerful Individualities in America "—as likely to produce a conflict between England and the United States. Far-seeing politician It is becoming quite fashionable in London for popular preachers to publish their weekly sermons, and name them after their church or chapel. "A young lady of forty-eight, having a moderate mcome, but possessing a patent for a new lI1vention, wishes to marry a gentleman of sixty-five well versed in chemistry." Thus runs an advertisement which recently appeared. The other day an editor received the following mysterious telegram:—"From Geo. Francis Wayne. Ar- rested word spoken on Scotia saying in America pay Alahama claims or fight release American citizens or war. Ireland independence England Empire Lord RusseU." After meditating over the styles of various great mt-a, the clue was found, and it was unanimously credited to tne account of the great Train A fresh precaution to check any outbreak of Fenianism is being taken in London. Wherever colonies of Irish exist the police are making enquiries as to the billetiug accommodation which the licensed victuallers can aiford indeed they have gone so far as to warn publicans in some districts that very probably it may be found necessary to billet soldiers upon them. "The R, y. Charles B. Sruyth. addressed a large congregation at Banyan Hall, on Sunday evening, on the 'New York Press, Preachers, Demons and Dollars and the Dickens.—New York Hemld. The premises of a person named Casey, at Newport, in the county of Mayo, have been broken into by Fenians or burglars, and 8 cwt. of gunpowder stolen. Several young meIl have been arrested on suspicion. In the kitchens established in the building of Eugene- Napoleon, Faubourg St. Antoine, by order of the Empress, upwards of 300 children of both sexes were on Friday supplied w'th food. Her Majesty was present, and the little participants testified their gratitude by loud accla- mations. The Board of Trade have determined to present to Captain Antonio M. liudinich, master of the Austrian barque Ebe, a binocular telescope, in recognition of his services to the crew (twelve in number) of the Eudora, of Sunderland, who were rescued by him from their sinking vessel on the 30th November last, and landed at C mstantinople on the 5th December. Captain Budinich generously refused to accept any compensation for the subsistence of the ship- wrecked crew whilst aboard the Ebe. A brush with pirates took iplace on the 1st Decem- ber, by the Chinese £ unboat\5jtf#.«o(mgr, Captain Edwards, assisted by several Imperial junks. The pirates were defeated. At the fearful explosion which took plage near Hanlrew, at Wuchung, various accounts estimate the loss of Hanlrew, at Wuchung, varions aCC0unt.s estimate the loss of life (Chinese) at 800, 1,000, and 2,000. The destruction of property was most fearful, anti, it is believed, unparalleled r in the annals of similar accidents. The London Working Men's Association have re- solved to send a deputaiion to wait upon Mr. Gladstone,, to T'converse" with the right hon. gentleman "upon the actions and principles of trades unions," as criticised by Mr. Gladstone at Oldham. Mr. Gladstone has expressed his wil- lingness to receive tne deputation, and has no objection to the presence of a reporter, but he cannot fix an earlier date for the interview than the ISth of February. It is believed that the Pope will shortly promulgate an energetic denunciation of the Fenians. Last year, 837 inquests were held at the Liverpool Coroner's Court, at a total average cost of £2 Os. 2Jd. per inquest. The total number of deaths reported to the court were 1,211, showing a satisfactory decrease, as compared with the previous year, wlien the number waa l,G90. For murder six persons were c0mmitted for trial, and verdicts of wilful murder against twelve persons unknown were re- corded. The council of the Aeronautical Society have de- cided upon holding an exhibition in London of objects con- nected with aeronautical science in the month of June. Arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held at the Crystal Palace. A French medical journal announces the discovery of a perfect cure for the madness produced by the bite of a mad dog, the said cure being the venom of vipers, which reptile, adds the journal, will henceforth be considered as one of our mosG valuable domestic animals. To have vipers "on the loose" about a house is a new idea; whether an agreeable one or not depends on the taste of the inmates and their visitors. It will be better, we think, to prefer running the chance of a bite from a mad dog to the society of pet vipers kept as antidotes against hydrophobia Two more American "national" banks have met with misfortunes. The Commercial National Bank, of Mem- phis, Tennessee, suspended January 13, and its capital will be totally lost. A teller of the New York "City National Bank" absconded the same day with 350,000 dols. of its funds The bank will continue business, however, as it has an ample surplus to meet its losses. Disastrous speculations have caused the trouble in both banks. The first attempt to desecrate churchyards in Ire- land, by the erection of memorial crosses in honour of the men executed at Manchester has been promptly put down by the constabulary. A cross was put up in the graveyard of Rathowen by, as the Weekly News states, the Roman Catholic inhabitants; but it was immediately pulled down and cut to pieces by a constable, while an officer and some members of the force stood by to protect him. The Morning Post asserts that Russia has been at laat induced to postpone for a time the active advance- ment of her traditional policy in the East, and that this result is mainly due to the firmness and good sense of Lord Stanley. An artesian well of naphtha has beendiscovereq at Kudaco, in the Caucasus, by boring. At the depth of 274 feet from the surface the liquid was first struck, and for a whole month (from Nov. 24 to Dec. 24) gave a supply of 1,500 barrels daily. Since then a fresh source has been met, which rises with irresistible force to the height of forty feet above the ground; the jet being four inches in diameter, and delivering a daily supply of 6,000 barrels. At Preston, on Saturday, Wm. Barry, a private soldier in the 107th Regiment, stationed at Fulwood Bar- racks, was charged with using seditious language. Whilst drunk in a public-house on the preceding evening he cursed the Queen and the Government, and threatened to knock out a man's brains for speaking against Fenianism. It was stated that he had been in the army seventeen years. He was fined 5s. and costs for being drunk, and was then handed over to the military authorities to be dealt with for using tho seditious language. The Weekly Megister, a Roman Catholic organ, has "reason to believe that, before many days are over, a con- version to the Catholic Church will be announced that will cause more talk than even the reception of Dr. Manning, or Dr. Newman, or Mr. Oakeleydid twenty years ago. "If what we have heard is true," adds the Register, "the conversion to which we allude is more than likely to be followed by many persons who for a long time have been anxious, but afraid, to pass the Rubicon."—[Who is it?] On Friday night, about eleven o'clock, the barque Wampella, of Bath, U.S., 720 tons, Captain Orr, from New Orleans to Liverpool with cotton, stranded on the beach five miles north of Barmouth. All remained on board till morn- ing, when they entered two boats, wmch instantly capsized amongst the breakers, and out of fifteen persons only four- two men, a boy, and a woman—were saved. Captain Orr and the officers were lost. On Friday, at the Wigan borough sessions, the Re- corder sentenced David M WIlliam to five years' penal servi- tude. The prisoner was the collector of assessed and in- come taxes for the borough, and in the autumn of 1866 he absconded, leaving a deficiency in his accounts of £3,000. No criminal information was laid against him till a twelve- month after his departure, when it was found that he had collected income tax from several people in advance, and for a year for which he had not been appointed collector hence the charge upon which he was convicted. The progress of hippophagy is shown in the state- ment that thenrat shop for the sale of horseflesh was opened in Paris on July 9, 186G, and already there are upwards of seventeen such shops in different parts of the city, In twelve months 2,312 horses were slaughtered, yielding some 600,000 kilos. There were also in the same time 78 asses and some mules: is it possible the carcases were for consumption ? At Vienna 1,051 horses were slaughtered in 1863, yielding 341,950 kilos, of meat; at Berlllll,5UI; and at Turin 73 were killed in 1865. A vivandiere, who accompanied the armies of the First Napoleon, has just died in the Asylum of La Sal- petriere, at the age of 104. She went through the Russian campaign and was at Waterloo, and in the course of her long life traversed a thousand dangers. She retained her intel- lectual faculties to the last. The total length of railway in operation in France at the close of September, 1867—the latest date to which we have precise official information—was, on the old networks of the six great companies, 4,703; miles; on the new net- works of the six great companies 4 770 miles and on miscel- laneous lines, 151J miles; making a total of 9,C2is miles Three brigands named Coda, Quaranta, and Xardi, were executed at Marseilles on Monday mornmg. The tele- gram says Nardi and Coda asked pardon for their offences from Heaven and man, and died courageously; but Quaranta maintained silence. The sentence upon a companion of the men executed, named Alulatero, is reported to have been commuted. An immense crowd witnessed the execution, but no manifestation of popular feeling took place. A highway robbery committed at Swords, near Dub- lin, recalls the stories of the wild doings of Jreh Rapparees. As a baker was returning to Malaliide with his money, received for bread delivered throughout the district, three men sprang from a hedge, dragged him off his cart, rifled his pockets, and warned him, on leaving, the spot, that if he reported the occurrence or attempted to identify them ha. would "hear from them again. They wore the low hats which are the accepted mark of the strangers to whom most acts of violence of this sort are now imputed by the Irish police. The Scotch ironfounders have unanimously resolved to dispense with the services of unLa:, men on and after the 1st of February next until all the shops in the trade are opened free of all restrictions. There are about 1,500 men I connected with the union in Glasgow alone. It is confirmed that the mysterious velvet hat and sword blessed by the Pope for the Prince who best deserved of the Church in 18G7," have been conferred on Nanoleon III. It is said that the Queen sent three times within a few days to inquire after tho state of the health of Mr. C. Kean. In the seven years, lSG9-Gr" (in which 169 passengers were killed in railway accidents in the United Kingdom, and 4,468 injured, both classes from causes beyond their own control) the returns of the railway companies show that they paid £1,372,624 as compensation for personal injury, or an average of £296 per case. In the same period the companies paid £ 667,155 for damage or loss of goods. The following paragraph, copied from the Sydney Morning Herald of the 23rd of November last, is suggestive of the comparative value of advertisements and Parlia- mentary reports in the antipodes:—"Parliament.—In con- sequence of a press of advertisements, we are compelled to hold over our report-in-chid of the proceedings yesterday in the Assembly." 0 w has sent Mr. Disraeli a bank-note for l' which he desires may be placed to the public credit. somebody must fancy the country in want indeed, for he does rot style it, as usual, conscience money." In America the people are as eager to obtain the Queen's Journal as her Majesty's own subjects. The Harpers, New ork, have announced an immediate publica- tion from early sheets of the work. The Early Years of the Prince Consort was piiblisned by this firm, who are said to have been as much surprised at the demand for it as w ere the English publishers. Eighty-two of the Guards, who have been quartered at Osborne as a guard of honour to her Majesty during her stay in the island, were last week ordered back to London, the duty there being very heavy. This leaves now about 100 men still in attendance at Osborne. The statue of Sir R. Peel has been placed upon its pedestal in front of the principal entrance of the New Palace-yard, in Parliament-street, Westminster, London. It stands upon a double plinth, about six feet in height. The lower plinth is of grey and the upper of red polished granite, relieved by worked moulding, and are of an oblong octagon ihape. A correspondent draws a sad picture of the con- dition of the agricultural labourers in Yorkshire. The labour market is overstocked but, in addition to this the farmers have succeeded in reducing wages to an abnost starvation point. Cases of great suffering have been made known, but it is said there is a good deal of silent endurance which does net come before the public eye. A local mayor in the neighbourhood of Lyons was informed that a man was lying on the public road in the snow. The mayor and two of his assistants went to the place indicated, but declined to interfere, pending the arrival of a justice of the peace. They placed a lantern, however, at the man's feet. Next morning they proceeded with the magistrate to see the man, who was by this time frozen to death aud, what is worse, within a few hundred yards of his own farm-house. Do they manage these things better in England ? Fanny Kemble is to begin a series of readings in New York about the 1st of March, and afterwards to visit Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. The mine of Trienraisin, in Belgium, has taken fire, and 12,000 tons of small coal are burning. Measures are being adopted to prevent the conflagrations from extending. In 18G7, 117,591 immigrants landed at New York from Germany, 66,134 from Ireland, 38,712 from England, 6,315 from Scotland, 4,843 from Sweden, 3,985 from Switzer- land, 3,204 from France, 2,156 from Holland, 1,623 from Belgium, 1,372 from Denmark, 1,032 from Italy, and 1,744 from other parts of the world. During the last 20 years 3,739,498 immigrants have landed at New York, averaging 186,974 annually. 'i he Right Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, died at his residence in that State on January 9, after a short ill ness, in the 76th year of his age. Bishop Hopkins was the oldest American Bishop, and was President of the House of Bishops. Of late years his name has 1requently been dragged into American political dis- cussions on account of his pronounced Conservative views and his publication of a work asserting the Divine origin of slavery. Mr. James, the inspector of weights and measures for chtj Woolwich district, ri-cently presented himself at the mess-room of the Coast Brigade Royal Artillery, with a view of testing the weights and measures of the corps. The officer in charge relused tu allow hml to do so, and a sum- mons was in consequence taken out by Mr. James against the officer Tne case was heard in petty sessions, when it was decided to reier the question t" the War Department, and Sir John Pakingten has oecided that civilian inspectors ought not to examine or meddle with military measures and weights The O'Donoghue, M.P., writes a letter to an Irish paper authorising his signature to be placed to an address to Mr. John Martin, against whom a prosecution is pending for his participation ill the late funeral procession in Dublin. The O'Donoghue signs the paper "with the conviction that a more worthy representative of the national cause (than Mr. Martin) can nowhere be found." There is rather a singular dilemma on the East Indian Railway. The system is so vast-being upwards of 1,100 miles from end to end—that the same time does not prevail at either extremity. The management has resolved on adopting Jubbulpore mean time, but by this arrangement mean Calcutta time will be thirty-two minutes before rail- way time, while Bombay will be twenty-eight minutes be- hind it. A return issued by the Italian government shows that the different ecclesiastical estates offered for sale in the province of Genoa. between the 26th of October and the 31st of December, 1867, were originally estimated at a total of 626.3S6f. they, however, brought l,335,671f., or an increase of 710,295f. 011 the upset price. A Marseilles telegram gives the speech of the King of Greece at his official reception on New Year's Day, which in Greece, as in Russia, falls twelve days later than in Western Europe. King George said—" My heart and that of the Queen bleed at seeing so many thousand Christians obliged to find a refuge on the maternal soil of Greece. Humanity and the indissoluble laws of fraternity impose upon us a duty to give what succour we can under so great a calamity. I hope and trust that the New Year will be a happier one than the last." We are assured, on good authority, that on the skirts of the vast misery there hangs an immeasurable amount of imposture, vagabonding and idleness. In some districts the rush of vagrants to share the liberal dole of indiscriminate charity has been so great as positively to have raised the rents over a wide area."—British Medual Journal. An American telegram states that the House of Re- presentatives has passed a resolution requesting the Presi- dent to intercede with the Queen in behalf of Father M'Mahon, the Feuian prisoner in Canada, and also for Lynch, Warren, N agle, and other Fenians. Among the number of persons who were married in England during the past year, 22 per cent, of men and 31 of women could not write. In Scotland the numbers were 11 per cent. ot men and 22 per cent. of women while in Ire- land, during the same period, 4v per cent of men and 52 pep cent, of women were ignorant of this part of elementary- education. Last month the diligence carrying the mail bags be- tween Lipetsk and Rezzan was stopped by a baud of marauders, about ten versts from the latter town, and plundered of the large sum of 75,000 silver roubles. The postilion and driver were killed, and the horsell unharnessed and led off by the robbers, no trace of whom. has been hitherto discovered. At a recent ball given at the Hotel de Ville, in Paris, no less than seven thousand white and rose camellia trees were employed to decorate the apartments. Trees were sent from the city gardens. Mr. Moulton, the son of a Wesleyan minister, has come out senior wrangler at Cambridge.—Mr. George Dar- win, a son of the well-known author of the Origin of Species," is second on the list. In Edinburgh, a boy was attending to a revolving shaft, when it caught a long cravat which he wore, and he was strangled. A young Russian lady, aged twenty-four, has just been invested with the degree of Doctor of Medicine by the University of Zurich. "Sheriff Parkinson, in Dyersburg, East Tennessee,, attempted to arrest an old man named Duncan, recently,, when Duncan fired at Parkinson. Parkinson's son fired at and killed Duncan, Duncan's son fired and killed Parkinson's son, and old Parkinson fired and killed young Duncan."— New York Herald. It is said that the Queen is greatly pleased with the reception her diary has met with, and the effect is to mak& her more anxious about the publication of the second volume of the Life of the Prince Consort." The following is the product of the sport for four days, at Enville Hall, by Lord Stamford and Warrington and his friends 1,331 pheasants, 619 partridges, 281 hares, 247 rabbits, 7 woodcocks, 22 various, total 2,463. Stamp collectors are disgusted and indignant at the North German Confederation's new postage-stamps. They are the most comlllill-Iooking productions ever seen. A dispute has arisen between the Duke of Buckingham and the committee who have the management of the Colonial Bishoprics' Fund. It appears that the latter body nominated Archdeacon Harris to the bishopric of Gibraltar, apd signified the same to the noble duke. The Secretary for the Colonies resented this interference with his patronage, and refuses to acknowledge the right of this irresponsible boay to appoint clergymen to colonial bishoprics. v The Rev. Hugh M'Neile denies the statement of the London Guardian that he was at the high celebration at St. Alban's on Sunday last. Writing to the Record he saya: "I have not been in London since November. You wilt oblige me by adding to this that I am so conscientiously per- suaded that what is called the high celebration at St. A1 Dan's, Holborn, is idolatry, that I could no more consent to share; in it than I could to be wilfully guilty of Sabbath-breaking, adultery, or theft." The will of Edward James, Q.C., M.P., late judge of the Passage Court of Liverpool, attorney-general and Queen's serjeant for the county palatine of Lancaster,. who died at the Hotel dn Louvre, Paris, November 3rd last, at the age of sixty-two, was proved in the London court en the 3rd inst, and the personalty sworn under £16,000. It is contained in the following words: "This is my last will, dated July 20th, 1858. I devise and bequeath my estate to my wife, Mary James, her heirs, executors, aud adminis- traters, and appoint her the executrix. The Lancet announces that Prince Rama Varm* the first Prince of Travancore, has supplemented the purse already offered for the discovery of an antidote to the oobra poison, by 250 rupees, making a total of 1,750. In his letter to Dr. Shartt, the Prince remarks th:1t no sum of money can, be misspent in the furtherance of the cause of humanity and if the trifle he offers can enhance the inducement tor- the disclosure of any existing secret, or further the prosecu> tion of a well-directed inquiry in search of an effective remedy to however small a degree, he shall feel satisfied. The Irish Attorney-General, in reply to the Cham- ber of Commerce of Beifast, has stated that he concurs in the opinion that the law of bankruptcy 111 Ireland requires, amendment, and that it is desirable to assimilate It to th& law in England; but he thinks that until the English hill shall have made some progress It would not be useful to commence any Irish legislation. He propose! in case the English bill has *\ilT ProSress at Easter, to place it in the hands of our Irish draftsman to prepare a similar bill for Ireland, mutatis mutandIS." Peter ReiUy?''1, ™an about forty-six years of has been committed for trial in Dublin for killing his -wife by beating her. ihe case was an extraordinary one. a boy of thirteen reported to the neighbours the death of his mother by saying, My dadda is after killing my maaama; I know she s dead." The woman was found in a puo] of Mood she was perfectly naked. The prisoner's son said his father kicked his mother repeatedly tore her from under a bed by the hair of her head took a candle and attempted to set tire to her; again tried to set fire to her by putting her head under the grate. He was partly drunk. The woman died shortly after being taken to the hospital. Her body waa. covered with bruises aud wounds. An "attack on Duncannon Fort," Water-Cord, reported in some of the papers, has been explained. The men in the fort not having hoisted the ladder communis cating with the entrance door of the tower were awakened at night by a noise of blows upon it, which was not un- naturally attributed to a Fenian raiding party. On going upon the roof, however, after a short interval, they heard arise from under the wall of the tower at a little distance the chorus of the song, We won't go home till morning," sung by three not ill-dressed persons, who were indulging in a lark that might have had a bad ending. A native of Wurtembnrg, residing at Cincinnatti, writes to Secretary Seward, stating that hIS name has been published in the papers of his native country as a deserter from the army, although he had left that country when he was only five years old, eighteen years ago. He now inquires in case he should make a visit to his native country would he be liable to impressment into the army. Mr. Seward answers that he may be subject to some detention and trouble, to which the Government cannot recommend him [ to expose himself.