The Aberystwith Observer

THE SUPPOSED ASSASSINATION OF CAPTAIN KING. A correspondent of the Dublin Evening Mail, writing from Sligp, says:— The general excitement has prevented reliable in- formation being gleaned as to the circumstances of the death of Captain King, but from what I was able to learn within ten minutes of the occurrence it appears that he and his nephew, Captain Webber, accom- panied by Captain Jones, Harper Campbell, Esq., and another gentleman, were proceeding, a few minutes before eight o'clock a.m., up Jail-street to the court- house, when they were met by a violent mob in the inteiest of Captain Flanagan, at the corner of Castle- street, and Captain King and his nephew were knocked down Captain Jones and Mr. Campbell, who were in advance, getting off with nothing worse than the blows of a few sticks on the head. In the course of the struggle Captain King managed to gain his feet, Captain Webber being still on the ground, when the report of a' pistol shot was heard, and Captain King fell dead into the arms of a stranger in the crowd, shot through the heart. It is asserted by the friends of Captain Flanagan that either Captain King or Captain Webber had a revolver which was presented at their assailants, which was struck up by one of I them, when it went off; but, on the other hand, I regret to say that a vast number believe that the shot I was not the result of the accident. The deceased, though a very prominent supporter of Major Knox, and an earnest politician, was a gentleman universally esteemed. He was a nephew of the late Lord Lorton, was himself a gentleman of considerable property, and I regret to say, leaves a widow—his second wife—and fourteen children surviving.

A DECREE OF SEPARATION. In the Court of Probate and Divorce, the cause of Davies v. Davies (Clerk)" has been heard, and was a petition by the wife for a judicial separation, on the ground of cruelty. The husband answered, denying the charge. It appeared that the petitioner, Mrs. Emiline Davies, was married to the respondent, the Rev. Davi Barnard Davies, a clerk in holy orders in con- nection with the Church of England, in August, 1864, the lady having- been possessed of some fortune, which she inherited from her father and mother, who were t¿h,en dead. After the marriage they cohabited at various places in Lancashire and Yorkshire, at some of which the respondent held curacies. It was, how- ever, alleged that some five months after the marriage the respondent commenced to ill-treat his wife. Some misunderstanding seemed to have taken place between him and his wife's relations about money matters, and he would not permit his wife to visit or correspond with tnem. In the summer of 1865, a child, a girl, was born of the marriage, but that event instead of healing, seemed rather to have widened the breach be- tween them. Soon after the birth of the child the respondent was appointed curate to the Rev. Mr. Swallow, the rector of the parish of Blacktod, in Lan- cashire. While there he was stated to have given his wife a black eye (and had also threatened her with a bill-hook), and she went with her child to the rectory for protection, when a scene took place between them, but after some time they went home together. From that time down to August, 1867, matters seem to have gone on from bad to worse, and at that time the peti- tioner left her husband, unable longer to live with him, in consequence, as she alleged, of his cruel and unkind treatment. Mrs. Davies herself was the chief witness to make out her case. She was a person of education, but gave her evidence in a rather eccentric manner. When asked whether sl e was really alarmed at the bill-hook, she said that she thought her own thoughts, that she had stated the facts, and that the court must draw its own conclusions from them. When Sir James Wilde pressed her on the point she replied, "You are a jtidge, judge for yourself." At a later part of her cross -examination, Sir James put the question once more. Witness Can you make me answer you, judge Sir James No.—Witness Then drop it. (Laughter.) The Rev. Barnard Davies, the respondent, was put into the witness-box, and he denied seriatim, the charges of cruelty brought against him. At the conclusion of the evidence, the learned judge said that the evidence clearly proved that the parties had never lived happily all their mairied life, and that the quarrels between them had been chiefly caused by disputes which arose between the respondent's and the petitioner's relations. He could see from her behaviour in the witness-box that the petitioner was very eccen- tric, and not easily managed, but that there was no reason why she should be ill-treated he therefore would grant a decree of judicial separation, the wife to have the custody of the child.

THE LATE BARON ROTHSCHILD. A writer in the Journal des Debate dedicates an article to the memory of Baron James de Rothschild, whose death, he says, not only leaves a void in the world of business and in Parisian society, but takes from a generation which is now disappearing one of the most original figures, and the most solid in judg- ment. Though, from the circumstances of religion and of race, as well as from the magnitude of the affairs he was engaged in, he might, in some respects, have been regarded as a citizen of the world rather than as be- longing to any nationality in particular, it was yet easy to see that his heart was thoroughly French, and that it was not merely the interests he had in France which made him a resident in it. The sort of finan- cial royalty he was invested with, the tendency of the French laws to place under the control of the State so many enterprises, even of a private nature, compelled him to observe, in the midst of ever-recurrinar political dissensions, a prudent neutrality, which his natural moderation made easy to him, like those peace-loving persons who always recognize the de facto Governments of their neighbours, and scrupulously avoid even the appearance of the contrary. By his own fault AT. de Rothsch1 Id never imperilled the great interests in which hewas engaged, and nobody could everreproachhim with nofahaving at all times v ery punctually paid to Cffisar what belonged to Caesar. With all this, he had his pre- ferences, which prose, not merely from his personal recollections, but from his character. Certainly for him the most pleasing period was the Restoration it recalled the most agreeable days of his life, as it was that of the revival of the prosperity of France and the Orleans Government was also dear to him for reasons of a similar kind, not to say that his principles and his tastes in matters of finance and industry were in accordance with his attachments. It was not merely an affair of habit with him, for with his strong good sense he knew that real security exists only under a free Government. He took a serious view of affairs; he put no confidence in vain theories, and he had no partiality for adventurers. He had no reason to regret his prudence, but had every reason to congratu- late himself on not having adopted the new maxims. What deserves to be most remarked at the moment when he is lost to his friends was his constant fidelity to his old as well as to his new friendships amid so many vicissitudes, as well as his beneficence, always commensurate with his fortune, and. what is no small praise in such a position, practised with discernment.

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE IN A LONDON CHURCH. An extraordinary scene took place last Sunday at the church of St. Martin's, Ludgate-hilL It seems that while the communion service was being gone through by the Rev. Dr. White, a man in the garb of a sailor was seen to enter the church and make his way to the front of the communion table. While standing there his conduct was somewhat singular, and he was shown to a pew, in which he stood till the reverend gentleman proceeded to the vestry. Shortly afterwards Dr. White again entered the body of the church in a white surplice, it being the day appointed for reading him- self in." Having ascended the reading desk, he con- men ced reading the Thirty-nine Articles, and on his coming to the passage, And in unity of this Godhead there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity," the strange man exclaimed at the top of his voice, There's as powerful a God here upon which he struck himself and threw himself into an extraor- dinary posture. He then made a dash to get out of the pew, which was fastened. At this stage of the proceedings the beadle insisted on his leaving the church. On being removed from the pew one of the churchwardens and other persons remonstrated with him, but he made a rush in the direction of Dr. White. He was stopped, upon which he, with great vehemence declared, By heaven or hell, I'll be moved by no man A struggle then took place, and having released himself from those around him, he took out from his clothes a kind of bowie knife, and drew it across his throat, inflicting a severe gash. He continued to struggle and fell to the ground, and was then removed to outside the church. It was then discovered that he had a serious wound in his side, inflicted by the knife, a portion of the handle of wHich had entered his body. It is supposed that it was caused by his faliing upon the weapon. The blood, which was flowing profusely, was staunched with handkerchiefs obtained from members of the congregation, and the unfortunate man was conveyed to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in a cab. Little hope is entertained of his recovery. On being searched, a certificate of discharge was found in his pocket, which gave the name of John Solle, describing him as a. ship's cook, and a native of Charles- town. The certificate further shows that his last voyage was from China, and that he belonged to the ship Adeline; and the document, which is dated No- vember 5, 1868, is duly signed by H.B.M. Consul.

THE CRATER OF VESUVIUS. A correspondent of the Pail Mall Gazette furnishes to that journal an account of a visit to the crater of Vesuvius which is, as will have been seen from the telegrams, just now hiertiption. Thewritersays:- The suddenness with which you come upon it is quite startling. Going up you neither see nor hear any- thing. One moment you are clambering up the side of the cone amid profound silence the next moment, as your head rises above the crater lip, you encounter a roar and a blaze which make you shrink back a little. This surprise is occasioned, I suppose, by the forma- tion of the crater. It is a huge bowl which comes up to quite a sharp lip, about half a mile in diameter and some hundreds yards in depth. Towards the bottom of this bowl, on the opposite side to where we stood, was a great hole, from which all the projectiles of the eruption were shot the surface of the bowl being composed of lumps of lava, stones, and cinders, all of them smeared with sulphur, precisely like those upon which we were standing. As you mount the cone there is between you and the gulf an enormous wall, which dulls everything alike-Lir eye ana ear. Even while on the steeps of the cone itself you might be unaware that the mountain was disturbed. But a single step seems almost enough to transfer you from the most deathlike stillness to the grandest exhibition of force it is posiible to conceive. Instead of the monotonous dull black of congealed lava on the lowef levels, you have the deep brick-red of stones that have been under the action of fire, the brightest vermilion, and every imaginable shade of orange and yellow that sulphur deposits are capable of taking. The ground is hot too so hot, indeed, that you cannot keep your foot on the same spot for liiany beconds together. Between the chinks of the stands you can see that a few inches below the surface it is actually red-hot. You thrust in the end of your stick for a moment and you pull it out charred. Over the farther half of the crater there hangs a dense cloud of smoke and vapour; all around you there is an atmosphere of sulphur which sets you coughing from numberless small holes about your feet there issue with c; a hiss sulphurous jets of steam which nearly choke you as you pass over them and then as youlook down into the actual abyss you are face to face with the most appalling phenomena both of sight and sound which perhaps the whole of Europe has to offer. Amongst the crowd of strange sensations that are experienced at such a time the phenomena of sound are perhaps the most wonderful of alL What meets the ear is, if anything, even more terrific than what meets the eye. Even to sight the eruption is not exactly what the imagination paints it beforehand. It does not consist as the pictures necessarily lead one to suppose, of a continuous shower. Still less does it consist of a continuous shower of black ashes shot out from a fire blazing on the top.. of the mountain it is rather a series of explosions. "But the roar and glare of the great abyss is continuous. You look into the pit, and though you see no actual flame, yet its sides are in a state of constant incandescence; from the mouth of it there roars up incessantly a dense cloud of steam, and in the depths of it below you hear the noise of preparation that is next to come. Then you hear a sharper crackle, and then, without further warning, follows a loud explosion, which shoots into the air a torrent of white-hot missiles of every shape and size. So enormous are the forces at work that not only small pieces of stone and sulphur, such as you might carry away as mementoes of your visit, but huge blocks of mineral, each enough to load a railway ballast waggon, and all in a state of perfectly white heat, are tossed up as though they were so many cricket balls. The ex- plosion lasts, perhaps, no longer than a minute and then there is a cessation of some seconds with the noise only of internal preparation once more, after which the explosion is repeated. So it goes on again and again as long as the eruption continues. The noise that accompanies the projection of these enormous missiles, which from below seem to be shot up in profound silence, is something quite without a parallel in ordinary experience. One of our party said he had been shipwrecked three times, and the crash of the waves against the timbers of a helpless ship was one of the most terrible accompaniments of such scenes yet that was nothing to the almost stupe- fying din that was going on before us-moments when the daylight was over, and the world below could no longer be distinguished—when we had nothing but the clear starlight overhead, and were truly alone with the mountain; when the varied colouring of the ground had disappeared in the darkness, and nothing could be seen but the gleam of the burning earth I through the chinks at our feet; while the white-hot glaring ribbon of molten lava glided languidly down the mountain at our side, and before us was the flash- ing of the inner fire upon the cloud of vapour over- hanging the abyss. Take all these together, and the scene is indeed rather different from what you picture to yourself as you calmly read in your newspaper that Vesuvius is once again in a state of eruption. I spoke just now of the stream of lava which glides down the mountain. In the first place, two peculiarities were observable in it. One was the marvellous slow- ness of its motion In the early part of its descent the incline over which it had to pass was precipitous; yet so slowly did this mass of liquid fire move within its bed that its current was only just perceptible. It seemed to be only just in motion. Perhaps in some degree connected with the same cohesion which this langour of movement indicated, was the other pecu- liarity of the lava stream—the tenacity of its surface. In appearance, as we stood above it, it was in a per- fectly liquid state it looked as though you might ruffle its surface with the point of your stick. Great, accordingly, was -our surprise at finding that even with the very greatest force available on the spot we could make not the slightest impression upon it. The largest masses of mineral that we could lift we dashed down from above upon the burning stream but they simply bounded across its face, like a ball upon a floor, without producing the faintest apparent indentation. Moreover, it is commonly supposed that lava is always projected from the crater, and the language commonly used in description encouraged the idea. "A stream of lava was seen to issue from the crater" is the sort of phraseology with which one is most familiar in accounts of eruptions that took place in bygone days. I am not sure that this is ever strictly accurate but with the crater in anything like its present form it hardly seems probable. It would take a vast quantity of molten lava to fill that great bowl of half a mile diameter, which I suppose it would have to do before any of it would run over down the sides of the mountain. I saw no indication that this ever took place. While you are on the mountain, the streams of lava which have issued forth and cooled at the several previous eruptions are quite distinguishable from each other by their difference of structure and colour. We saw many such but I saw no indication of any one of them having come over the lip of the crater. In every single instance the source of the lava stream seemed to have been lower down the mountain. Certainly this was the case with the very fine one which burst out just before our visit. As we stood upon the lip of the crater it was below us throughout its whole length. The lava was issuing from a great fissure which it had made for itself some distance down in the side of the cone. The guides hurried us away from the neighbourhood of its source, because, they said, it was quite possible another orifice might open at any moment, and then it would be all over with the present spectators. The experience of these men clearly led them to regard this as the normal mode of the emission of lava. In the case actually before us, it was being poured forth evenly and continuously in a molten state from the fissure it descended for a short distance in a broad stream to a point where a bifurcation took place; and then the burning mineral went down to the base of the moun- tain in two streams of perhaps twenty feet each in width, looking in the darkness like two broad ribbons of lire stretching down into the plain. J

DEAN STANLEY on CHURCH and STATE. Dean Stanley preached to a large congregatien on Sunday afternoon at Westminster Abbey, selecting as his text the 1st chapter of Habakkuk, verse 1. I will stand upon my watch," &c. Although he made no direct reference to the circumstances of the times, all his remarks clearly pointed in that direction. The church and nation, he said, must have trials, and it might be impossible to foresee the issues. Whether our anxieties were public or private, whether they were the struggles of an individual or the struggles of a nation, our trials were the same, and our duty with respect to them was the same. No one sweeping judgment, no one undiscriminating verdict hadsettled, or would ever settle, the infinite complications which concerned the social relations of man to man, of employer to employed, of pastors to people; of churches to churches, of churches to states. There was no royal road, no short path which could clear at a bound these vast problems—there was no conqueror's sword which could cut at a blow this more than Gordian knot. Vast things were yet to be done both in church and state before the roll of history was accomplished. It was the privilege of a great national church, as distin- guished from a sect, that it could afford to wait, that it could afford to move onwards gradually towards its haven. They knew that the church had not yet reached it, and that there were still breakers ahead. When the Apostle's ship was driven up and down in Adria they did not pass at once to the nearest shore, but they sounded and found twenty fathoms, and when they had gone a little father they sounded and found fifteen fathoms; and then. fearing lest they might fall upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. So let us now (said the dean) cast out all the anchors we have, waiting and wishing for the day, but not anticipating it by want of charity, or want of faith, or want of hope.

THE EDUCATION OF PAUPER CHILDREN. The Rev. Henry Moule, of Fordington Vicarage, has sent the following to The Times for publication :— The statement in The Times of the 4th inst. of the cost of maintaining and educating pauper children in the Central London District Schools at Hanwell is in itself sufficiently startling. But it becomes doubly so when contrasted with what a body of 300 children might, if properly taught and directed, do for them- selves. About eleven years ago I published a scheme for self-supporting boarding schools for children of the industrial classes, and in 18611 published an extension of this scheme to day schools and of both these pub- lications I have received from several of the leading statesmen of the day, and from two or three of our bishops, expressions of approval. No valid objection has ever been urged against this scheme, 'and although none have come forward to test it by experiment, yet every year since its first publication has afforded me some additional confirmation of its soundness, its feasibility, and of the vast amount of benefit which, from a general adoption of such a system, would accrue to all classes. Pray allow me, then, to place before your readers, in contrast with the statement respecting the District Schools, at Hanwell, the introduction of one of my papers, together with a general view of the mode by which I propose to render schools self-supporting :— SELF-SUPPORTING BOARDING SCHOOLS. An education for the working classes, which shall be truly and largely beneficial to them and to their country, ought to consist not merely in the imparting of a certain amount of instruction in secular or even religious subj ects, but in a system of teaching and of training, which shall be at once intellectua1, religious, and industrial. Such a sys- tem cannot exist in our day schools. Useful as they are to a certain extent, and high as their standard of intellectual training occasionally rise, they altogether fall short of a system of education. For the very early removal of the children-a difficulty which no educational rate nor any scheme of compulsory attendance will ever obviate—renders even the intellectual training generally afforded very im- perfect. At the same time, partly from the children being so small a portion of the day under the teacher's influence, and so large a portion of it under counteracting influences, and partly from the want of opportunity, religious training and industrial training are altogether impracticable. In the boarding schools which I propose, there would be, on the contrary, full scope and opportunity for the most eomplete system of intellectual, religious, and industrial training, and if adopted even to a very partial extent, these schools would hold in relation to our primary schools the same position of influence which our Universi- ties hold in relation to public and private schools for the upper and middle classes. On the bare hope and probabi- lity of all this I venture to claim the most serious attention on behalf of. my scheme for the institution and maintenance of such schools. I will first show whence the funds for their maintenance are to be derived. These will necessarily be large. For, in order to induce the mechanic or labourer to part with his child, as the higher classes do, for the greater pertion of the year-in order to induce him to give up his child's earnings from 10 to 15 years, or from 12 to 17 years of age—you must first give him good ground to expect such an education as shall improve the child's con- dition in life. This will involve the necessity of a highly-qualified, and therefore highly-paid, staff of mas- ters. And in the next place you must lodge, feed, and clothe the child free of all expense to the parent. Now, this, if looked for from the pecuniary aid of the richer classes in the way of gift, would be the absurdity 01 extravagance. But if, with no more aid from the rich man than a temporary loan, which shall be a fair investment, it can be brought about by the working classes themselves, or rather by the children themselves, then we shall have in these schools a system which shall not only be worthy the name of education, but which for economy shall be so vastly superior to any system hitherto devised as to be independent both of charitable subscription and of Government grants. And this I assert can be effected. The well-directed labour of 100 boys bestowed on a sufficient extent of land suitable for the purpose shall, with God's blessing, raise an income sufficient to repay with interest the necessary capital to be borrowed, to pay rent, rates, and taxes, to provide food, clothing, and a savings' fund for the children in the way of encouragement, and to furnish good salaries for the best masters, directors of work, and servants. Such an assertion will doubtless appear to many perfectly visionary but both it and what follows in support of it rests upon facts and ex- periments, and on the opinions of men of the first intelligence and most practical knowledge. A healthy boy, only ten years old, working seven hours a day, with a steel fork and on light soil, can dig an acre in six weeks. If so, then under proper direction he may cultivate three acres, digging them twice during the year. And a school of 100 boys, averaging from 10 to 17 years of age, and working in companies of 20 with a director over each company, may thus keep 300 acres constantly under the fork or spade, and may produce, by wide and alternate cropping, and by the application of manure to the plant instead of to the ground, certainly two crops a year. From land thus under garden cultivation a much larger produce may obviously be expected than from an ordinary farm; and £20 per acre per annum is the lowest estimate of gross produce which, provided there be a due supply of manure, has been allowed me by men of great experience; while some of them have set their estimate so mueh higher than this that I consider myself quite safe in reckoning the value of the gross produce of 300 acres, so cultivated, at £6,000 annually."

THE BORDER EDITOR. The editor of the Owykee Avalanche, by way of describing his agreeable vocation, as conductor of a frontier paper, makes the following interesting reflections:— Oh, the felicity of editing a paper! Charming, agreeable, in a horn Fascinating, attractive occupa- tion, but so difficult to appreciate. How nicely and smoothly one gets along without an onpleasant- ness For instance, in a recent issue we referred directly to a ruffian known as Captain Prescot, and incidentally to a guerilla named Al. Cage. We did this in justice to ourselves and the community at large. The other day, while quietly seated in our sanctum, taxing our brain for more copy, in response to the everlasting cry of the" devil," the two above-named villains, one of them armed with a hatchet, and the other with a bowie-knife of large dimensions, made a violent attack upon our person. The only alternative was to fight or die. We accordingly seized a large knife, about two feet long, used for cutting paper, and bled our assailants pretty freely. They sued for mercy. We spared their worthless lives, and told them to dust, and they got up and dusted. We would take this occasion to state that if they or any one else attack us with the intention of doing us bodily harm, we will shoot them dead in their tracks, or cut their throats from ear to ear.

UNREQUITED LOVE, MURDER, AND SUICIDE IN AMERICA. (From the Madison (Wis.) Journal.) It will be remembered that in June last we pub- lished the details of a horrible murder in Grant County, Miss Catherine Jordan having been killed by her lover, William E. Kidd, in Glen Haven, June 15, 1868. There were circumstances of such peculiar atrocity connected with the crime that public indignation was aroused to the utmost, and large rewards offered for the arrest of the murderer as follows :—By the State of Wisconsin, 500 dols. by Grant County, 500 dols. by citizens of Glen Haven and Bloomington, 550 dols.; and by citizens of Fenimore, 100 dols., making in all 1,650 dols. This stimulated detectives and police officers to the utmost, and there were several dif- erent rumours of Kidd's capture, all without founda- tion. It appears. that he went immediately to the railroad, and thence through the heart of the State to its prin- cipal city, revisited Milwaukee, went to Chicago, and heard policemen talking of his crime and the chances of his arrest, then made his way westward to the mines of Colerado, and was finally arrested after many wanderings in the wilds of Minnesota. Mr. Dela- ware, a resident of Glen Haven, managed to trace him, and with the assistance of Frank Winship, of Sioux City, Iowa, arested him in Noble County, Minnesota, on October 8, Kidd giving himself up to all appearances willingly. He was taken to the railroad as soon as possi- ble, and while on the cars, October 14, near Jefferson, Green County Iowa, conrnittedsuicide by taking strych- nine. Careful search was made about the person and clothes of Kidd tor concealed weapons or poison, but no- thing was found. After taking the poison Kidd told of it, saying, You searched well, but the small paper of strychnine bad been sewed inside the lining of my pantaloons, where .its discovery was next to impos- sible." The poison had been provided for use in case of need. Kidd's death took place one hour and twenty- five minutes after taking the poison. At intervals between spasms he conversed freely and even with cheerfulness, giving directions as to what should be told to his friends at home. &c. The following is the substance of a confession made by Kidd to Delaware on the first night of his capture. He and Katie Jordan had always been intimate friends that he loved her, and told her that if she didn't marry him she never would marry any one. This was two months before the murder. A couple of days before the act he took his trunk to Casswell, and shipped the same to S. O. B. Martin, Mazomanie. On Monday evening thereafter he went with his horse and buggy to Malvers to see her, asked for her, and she came out to see him they talked awhile, and he asked her to take a ride with him, saying that it would be the last ride she would ever take with him. She got into the buggy he re- ferred to the presents he had made her, and that he had a set of furs in his trunk that he had intended to give her, and other articles; observed while riding that a ring he had given her was not worn; he then returned her picture, which she took and put in her pocket; He let down a fence and passed through a field, came to a ravine, turned his horses quartering across the road; then took out his revolver u.nd told her to shoot him; she refused, and answered, William what are you going to do ? I am afraid of you he then took out his knife, and she said, My God, William, are you going to cut my throat ?" He answered "I am ;he then placed his arm around her head and aimed to draw the knife across her throat: she seized the knife, and in so doing cut her hand severely he then wrenched the knife from her and cut her throat, holding her head with his arm until life was extinct; he then alighted and lifted the body out of the buggy, intending to throw it into a sinkhole nearby, when the horses started thinking somebody was coming he left the body and jumped into the buggy, drove to his father's, left his team, and got a horse and fled. The rest of his confession refers to his life after this diabolical murder, which was such as might be ex- pected of a wretch so abandoned and desperate.

EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERY IN FRANCE. The Court of Assizes of Loire-et-Cher haa just been engaged in the trial of five persons, the brothers Adolphe and Leon Thizeau, a man named Durivage, and the wives of the former, for an extraordinary robbery of a sum of 800,000fr., in plate, cash, and securities, from the residence of M. Bezard, of Romorantin. The property was contained in an iron safe weighing over three hundred weight, and which was carried off from the prosecutor's house on the night of the 26th March, during his temporary absence. The premises had been left in charge of two female servants who, however, heard no noise during the night in question, although the safe had been carried away from a room on the first floor. Two days after, a bundle of the securities stolen was found in a street of the town, and at about the same time the iron chest was discovered, empty, in the river Sauldre, about a mile off. Adolphe Thizeau ultimately confessed his culpability, and declared that he had been aided by his brother Leon, and that Durivage had received a small sum to purchase his silence, as he was privy to the affair. The property had been divided in presence of the two women. The brothers Thizeau had effected an entrance into M. Board's room, had thrown the safe out of the window, and had then removed it on a barrow, and concealed it beneath a dungheap, until they had an opportunity of breaking it open. Adolphe Thizeau was condemned to fifteen years' hard labour Leon to ten years' imprisonment; and the wife of the former to two years of the same punishment. The two other prisoners were acquitted.

THE MARKETS. MARK-LANE.—MONDAY. Most of the country markets held on Saturday were fairly supplied with wheat, but the trade ruled very dull, and prices had a drooping tendency. All kinds of spring corn were neglected, and were offered on easier terms. On the Continent very little has been doing in wheat on English account, and the quotations have been on the decline, in sympathy with the London market. Barley and oats have been inquired after for export. In America the receipts of best wheat and flour have been lees liberal, but the trade has been inactive, there having been little demand for shipment. The imports of foreign and colonial produce into London last week amounted to 16,803 quarters of wheat, 7,471 barley, 64,894 oats, 1,000 rye, 88 beans, 431 peas, 37 tares, 9,585 lin- seed, 170 rapeseed, 190 maize, 1,4u7 sundrv, and -64-0 sicks of flour. There was a fair supply of English wheat on sale at Mark-lane to-day, the quality of which was good. The de- mand for all descriptions, however, ruled quiet, and sales could only be effected at a redaction of Is. to 2s. per qr. The show of foreign wheat was somewhat extensive, but the trade was dull, and less money was, in some instances accepted. Beans were dull, and fully Is. per qr. lower to sell. Peas were a slow sale, at barely late rates. Trade was very inanimate. Town made qualities were unaltered in value, but foreign and country marks tended downwards. There was little inquiry for barley, and both malting and grinding qualities were the turn lower to sell. The malt trade was very inactive, and prices had a drooping tendency. The supply of oats on offer was moderately extensive, and, with heavy importations during the past week, values were barely supported. METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET.—MONDAY. There were fair average supplies of foreign stock ex- hibited here to-day, the quality of which was but middling. The demand, on the whole, was rather more active, and prices were well supported. IFrom our own grazing districts a fair number of beasts came forward, the con- dition of which was somewhat improved. There was a better feeling apparent in the trade, and in some instances really choice animals realised a trifle more money. The general top price, however, remained at 5s. 4d. per ilb. The arrivals comprised about 1,720 shorthorns, &c., from Ltli- cohishire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire; about 420 of various breeds from other parts of England; 16'6 Scots and crosses from Scotland; and about 160 oxen, &c., from Ire- land. The quality of the sheep was inferior, and, notwith- standing the falling off in the supplies, no improvement can be reported in prices. The highest price realised for the best Downs and half-breds was ÕS. per 81b. The calf trade was quiet, but prime small animals changed hands on former terms. Pigs were a dull sale, but without quotable change. HOPS. Very little animation has prevailed in the demand for hops. Fine parcels have commanded a moderate amount of attention but medium and inferior qualities have been much neglected and prices ore nominal. The imports into London last week consisted of 91Z bales from Antwerp, 143 from Boulogne, 549 from Rotterdam, 357 from Buenos Ayres, 138 from Calais, 395 from Dunkirk, 49 from Konigs- berg 272 from Hamburgh. 114 from Ostend, 310 from Derdt, and 100 from Ghent. Mid and East Kents, 21.10s. to 71.15i. Weald of Kents, 21. to 41. 10s.; Sussex, 21, to 41. Farnhams, 41. to ol. 16s.; Coventry, 41. to U.; Bavarians, 21, 10s. to 41. 6s.; Belgians, 21. to Sl. per cwt. POTATOES. Large supplies of potatoes are on sale at these markets The trade has been heavy for all descriptions, at drooping prices. English Regents, 60s. to lSOL; Scotch Bcgwnts, 60s. to 1SOS.; and French, 40s. to 80s. per torn.

FENIAN DEMONSTRATION IN HYDE- PARK. On Sunday last Hyde-Park was again disgraced by afield-day of the London "roughs," who assembled there in the names of the murderers who were executed at Manchester this day last year for the murder ot Police-sergeant Brett. The murderers are called the martyrs," and it was intended to make the London streets the scene of this demonstration, but effective police measures prevented this being done, as will be shown, and the proceedings took a different arder to tuat proposed by those who led on the misguided and ignorant mob which on Sunday flocked into the Park, The purpose intended, and the proposers of the demonstration, may be gathered from an inflammatory handbill which had been distributed among the dwellers in the courts about the worst parts of Bethnal-green, Whitechapel, Southwark, Greenwich, Deptford, liatcliff-highway, Gray's-inn-lane, Holborn, and other places about the metropolis. The bill was printed in green, with a deep mourning border, and headed by a funeral cross. Its printed contents were :— IRELAND FOB EVER! Anniversary of the martyrdom, of Allen, Larkln, and O'Brien. A funeral procession, with a select band, will march with all the ceremony due to the memory of our Irish martyrs at Manchester-Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien—on Sunday, Nov. 22, 1868, from Clerkenwell-green, through Farringdon-street, Fleet-street, Strand, Cockspur-street, Waterloo-place, Pall- mall, St. James's-street, Piccadilly, Hyde Park, < n routs to the Reformers' Tree, where orations in honour of the martyrs will be delivered by Messrs. James Finlen, James Doyle, Moldrum, Campbell, Wade, Healy, M'Sweeny, and other gen- tlemen who have promised to attend. R"quiescant in Pact. The procession will start from Clerkenwell-green at 2 o'clock, and will reach Hyde Park at 3 20." The great centre of attraction for "roughs on Sun- day morning was, of course, Clerkenwell-green—not that the working-men of Clerkenwell have anything in common to do with the peculiar class of agitators, for this industrious parish contributes nothing but the melancholy open space called the "Green" to these agitations, and a proposal to enclose the space has met with considerable support in the locality, so greatly is the disgrace of these demonstrations felt by the Clerkenwellers. The police orders were that no gather- ings were to be allowed on the "Green," and very large bodies of police were on the ground and about the adjacent streets to enforce the order. It was ex- pected that Finlen would come at about eleven o'clock to harangue the Irish and others, and people began to congregate only to be moved on. The morning was not an inviting one for out-door assemblages, and the police on the Green" had for the first two hours com- paratively light duties. But a little after one o'clock the roughs bi gan to arrive in droves, most of them dis- playing their popular sympathies by wearing green rosettes and streamers of the same hue. As fast as they came they were moved on, and presently, when Finlen himself came, he was followed off the "Green," round which he walked with a chagrined air. He and his associates assembled in a neighbouring publichouse, whence, after a short time, they emerged towards the city. The police never stirred from the neighbour- hood, and so effected the purpose of the authorities in preventing a procession beingformed on Clerkenwell- green. The processionists, thus prevented from carrying out their purpose with band and banners, proceeded to form their procession to Hyde Park in another fashion—by walking four abreast and forming line as they marched. In this way some two to three hundred of very rough fellows, without one decently dressed person among them, dragged their way through the dirty streets and drizzling rain towards the park. As they went their numbers were increased, and they amounted to between 500 and 600 by the time they paraded down Piccadilly, and as they entered the park their numbers received a still greater increase. They gave a loud shout when they found, most likely to their surprise, that their passage to the park was quite unim- peded. They marched straight towards the clump of trees where the Reform League people held their demonstrations last year, and on one of the seats around a tree was found James Finlen, with a select gathering of the class whose peculiar vocation it has become to demonstrate." The crowd soon came, and the Irish part of the mob was quite ready to assail Finlen as having nothing to do with Ireland or the Irish. There were some shouts, calling him all sorts of peculiar names, garnished with certain expletives, and forcible hints to him to look after his family. The secret of this untoward demonstration is to be found in the fact that other processionists had met and carried a resolution to the effect that James Finlen should be desired to refrain fromdamaging the cause of Irish liberty by his self-assumed championship, which all honest Irishmen must heartily repudiate and detest." Such were the sentiments of those who hissed Finlen, but it mattered little whether they were friends or foes, for the uproar, amid cheers for Ireland, the shouting to people to climb and not to climb the trees, and the swaying backwards and forwards of the mob, which had now increased to several thousands, was such as to drown any personal exclamations. For a long time no speech could be heard, and it was on1y when the chairman summoned the attention of the gathering by the utterance of some frightful expletives against the authorities for interfering with the pro- cession, that the least heed was paid to the "chair." Another man then spoke in the same strain, and with the like garniture of adjectives, and the mob became somewhat quiet for a short space, cu-ing which the first speaker harangued them in a speech, the only coherent part of which were bitter denunciations of the Government. He called upon the people of Ireland to be prepared to wrest their country from its rulers, and to maintain their right to a distinct nationality and Government. Three groans were given for Government officials- Sir Richard Mayne, Mr. Gathorne Hardy, and others. Finlen then essayed to speak, and commenced by calling for three cheers for Ireland and the glorious Fenians The cheers were given, and also attention to some extent to what the speaker said but of his speech it is not necessary to say much more than that it was its own confutation for, if the exaggerated charges of tyranny which he shouted against the Crown of England were in a twentieth degree true, it is not possible that he would have been allowed to stand there and shout them. He concluded by saying that he would issue a proclamation in the name of glorious Fenian Republicanism, and call upon the noble body whom he saw before him to do something more than mere talk, and this was to release Ireland from the "bloody odious rule of the British aristocracy." There was cheering at this, and the crowd seemed to get more unmanageable as the inflammatory language was spoken. Those around the tree allowed the re- porters to pass out, and were even courteous to the Press representatives, but outside the roughs were de- sirous of calling them police spies and treating them as such. It was impossible to hear what was said after- wards. The people stopped around thotrees, in the pouring rain, and cheered all the sentiments which were uttered, especially when anything was said about Fenianism. The meeting was not over at dusk, when, from the absence of police, It became seriously danger- ous for persons of decent appearance to stay longer. In the evening a meeting of the members of the Holborn branch of the Reform League was held at the Nag's Head," Leather-lane, to take into consideration the proceedings of the Hyde Park meeting Mr. Truscott occupied the chair. Mr. Osborne said they had met that night to take into serious consideration the proceedings of Mr. Finlen in Hyde Park. The branch had sent out a circular stating that Mr. Finlen had no connexion with any branch of the Reform League. They were quite justified in repudiating the demonstration, as Finlen was repudiated by Irishmen. He would read the following, taken from the Irish- man newspaper: London, November,16, 1868. At a meeting of Representa- tive Irishmen, held last night, It was resolved, tht to pre- vent concert, countenance, or support bi-ing given, taken, or implied to the demonstration announced by Jamea Finlen for Sunday next, Mr Patrick Hennessy be reqlleted to recall his announced mass meeting. Agieed to heartily. It was also resolved that Mr. Hennessy he requested to desire James Finlen to refrain from damaging the cause of Irish liberty by his self-assumed championship, which all honest Irishmen must heartily repudiate and detest._ I join cordinlly in this request, and will head no procession or take part in any demonstration on Sunday nest.—(Signed) Patrick Hen- nessy. Mr. Osborne went on to say that the meeting in Hyde Park was a mere caricature. The proceedings of Finlen, he contended, were calculated to do with the right of -public meeting, and he wished it to be known that the Reform League utterly detested Finlen and his proceedings. Mr. Johnson asked if anything had been done with a petition praying for a remission of the sentences on political prisoners. Mr. Osborne said he thought it would be better to wait till the meeting of the new Parliament. In the present state of political feeling it would be unwise to agitate the subject. A member said he could not svmpathise with murderers. After a short discussion it was decided to defer the question of the Hyde Park meeting till next Sunday.

ACCIDENT TO THE PRINCE OF WALES. A telegram was received in London last Saturday, announcing that on the previous day the Prince of Wales had met with an accident while out hunting at Compiegne. A wounded stag, it was stated, had charged at his horse and knocked it down, his royal highness being unseated, but so little hurt that he joined the Imperial party at dinner the same evening. Galignani's Messenger of Saturday evening gives the following account of the occurrence A rumour prevailed this morning in political circles of the Prince of Wales having met with a dangerous accident yesterday when out hunting at compiogne. On inquiry we learn that the account is marked by great exaggeration. His Boyal Highness having advanced somewhat beyond the general rush of riders, found himself between two stags, which, charging him simultaneously, knocked over his horse, and then passed on. The Prince escaped with a slight abrasion of the skin on the leg, and was so little affected by the shock, as to be able to dine at the Imperial table in the evening. The Gaulois of Saturday evening says that the Prince, while in active pursuit, came in front of a group of stags, and one of them rushed against his horse, which was thrown down, and unseated its rider. The Emperor Napoleon was the first on the spot (it adds), and his royal highness was so little injured that he re- mounted at once and rejoined the hunting party.

A communication from Naples, dated Nov. 19th, states that the eruption is still imposing and threaten- ing, and that all the cones emit formidable rumbling sounds, and eject large quantities of incandescent matter. The lava current is now 120 metres broad and from ten to twelve metres deep. A whole chestnut forest has been set on fire by the lava near Fosso Vetrana, and it has caused immense devastation. Many houses and farm lands have been overwhelmed, and the village of San Giorgio is in imminent peril. The population of the neighbouring villages are leaving their houses, and great misery and destitution prevails. It is proposed to open a subscription for their relief. All the authorities are on the spot, with a military division, to protect property and to assist in rescuing it from destruction.

THE GREAT CLOCK AT ST. PAUL'S. This celebrated piece of mechanism was made by Langley Bradley, clockmaker, &c., in the year 1708, in accordance with the instructions given by the great architect of the structure, Sir Christopher Wren, and which were in the form of a specification, as follows :— For a large and substantial turret clock, going eight days, and to turn the hour and minute hands on three several dials, viz., on the east, south, and west sides of the south-west tower; and to keep the same in good order for the space of seven years from the day of its comple- tion." The amount paid for the work, under these con- ditions, was B300 only. The clock is considered to be of a very superior description of workmanship, and has been pronounced by competent judges to be one of the largest in Europe. It has, at the present time, two dial-plates, which are placed due south and west. Each of them are 57 feet in circumference, or nearly 20 feet in diameter. The length of the minute hands is 9 ft. 8 in., and their weight 75 lbs. the hour hands beincr 5 ft. 9 in. in length, and weighing 44 lbs. each. The figures are 2ft. 2in. in height, small as they may appear to the spectator below. There are also, in the inside works, two email dials which work the reverse way, one showing the hours and the other the minutes. The pendulum is 16 ft. long, with a large "bob," weighing 180 lbs., at the bottom, and which is sus- pended by a thin metal spring, about the thickness of a shilling. The beat of the clock is technically termed a dead beat," or two seconds-thirty to a minute instead of sixty. Since it was first made it has been very much altered, in consequence of the repeated re- pairs it has undergone, but it still maintains its reputa- tion as a faithful time-keeper and hourly monitor to the citizens of London.

DUELLING IN ITALY. A Venice correspondent sends the following to the Pall Mall Gazette:- The question of duelling is attracting so much atten- tion just now in Venice (partly because Signor Fambri, the deputy, has written a book about it—partly because the liberty of the press in Italy is to a certain extent wrapped up in it) that you will, perhaps, allow me space for a few remarks. Hardly a week passes with- out some squabble between literary men. Sometimes these disputes end in a street fight, sometimes in a war of words (putting Billingsgate to shame), and now and then in a duel with swords. Five duels have been fought during the past autumn; and as many more have been prevented by the interference of friends and the decision of juries of honour. When these juries are composed of military men, the decisions are pacific; but when the verdict lies with men of peace, men who wield the pen instead of the sword, the result is invariably warlike. A meeting takes place at the Lido, and the victor goes home to receive the congratulations of his friends and to become for a few days the hero of the cafffes and club-rooms. Up to the present time no lives have been lost in these en- counters, but a good deal of blood has been shed, and many minor quarrels—sometimes leading up in their turn to duels—have grown out of the original one. Singularly enough the law takes no cognizance of these doings. A prefect or delegate of police may be asked to give his opinion on a "nice point of honour, but he cannot take upon himself to prevent the duel by sending a couple of gendarmes to the place of rendez- vous. Neither can he cause either of the duellists to be arrested after the fight unless he kills his man; and a magistrate may himself become a party to a duel either as principal or second. A few months ago. the military governor of Venice (General Mtzzacapo), assisted by Admiral Lungo and other officers of the fortress and arsenal, sat on a jury of honour to decide a doubtful case. One of the dis- putants was M. Rigondeau, a Frenchman, and editor of a journal (now defunct) called La Revue Orientate, published in Venice in the French language. The other was Signor Fambri, M.P. for Venice, and author of a work on and against duelling above alluded to. The gentlemen could not make up their minds what weapons they were to fight with, one wanting a pistol at ten paces and the other a broadsword. But the jury compromised the matter by deciding that they were not to fight at all, and carried their point. But the affair did not rest here. The seconds quarrelled about a trumpery question of eti- quette, and the matter being placed in the hands of certain men of letters, it was decided that a meeting should take place. The gentlemen fought; one of them was wounded, and both tben declared that their honour was satisfied. Another duel took place between officers, each getting a scratch, and a third was fought between a literary man (wounded) and one of the seconds of Signor Fambri-both duels with swords. A number of other duels and disputes followed. The last qiifcrreOjkvvery public one indeed, is one between two journsa|tts—the editor of the Little Chronicle and the editbr of the Cronaca Turchina, I or "Blue Chronicle," who fought, not with swords, but with fists, on Sunday last, outside the Caffe Florian- rendezvous of the aristocracy-in the Piazza San Marco. The affair is thus described by the editor of the Littlf, Chronicle, in his own journal-a journal < which deserves the name of little," so far as size is concerned, and which devotes a whole number, all but half a column, to an account of the affair :— When I started my Little Chronicle (says the editor in question) I intended it as a sort of breakwater to the inun- dating impertinence of the Blue Chronicle, which was the first to inaugurate in Venice the system of sustaining false principles by means of scandal, calumny, and defamation. To do battle with such people, who every day drag some honoured reputation in the mire, to whom no names are sacred-not even those of Victor Emmanuel and Gari- baldi, not even that of Daniel Manin—it was necessary to adopt their weapons. 1 also, I admit, have lost caste among those who judge matters superficially, but I believe I have rendered an important service to the public. What I gained by entering Into the contest openly and with raised vizor was seen on Sunday afternoon. But no matter. My line of conduct is traced out, and I shall not deviate from it. even if it costs me my life, for 1 believe that my adversaries are capable of using the knife of the assassin Passing down the Piazza San Marco on Sunday afternoon between two and three o'clock, accom- panied by a friend, 1 saw in front of the Caffe Quadri, Signor A T-, who, on recognizing me, began to make signs of provocation. I continued my way, not wishing to create a disturbance, and, finally, went over to the Caffe Florian. When 1 next saw Signor T-, he was standing beside me, and in the act (WOI thy of him; of spitting in my face. In the surprise and shame of such an indignity, I forgot for a moment that the insulter was not worthy of my anger, and threw a tumbler at his head. This T-, who was followed by some eight or ten bully-dogs (cagnotti) re- torted furiously, and a struggle ensued. In conclusion, I hope that the la< y—quite unknown to me who sat near me in the caffè, the lady whose sacredness as a woman was insulted by this scandal, will forgive me for having been the involuntary ca1ise of 80 i8tressing a scene. The editor of the Blue Chrortide does not deny the truth of his rival's statement, but excuses his own con- duct and renews the warfare with his pen. He says he is very sorry for what happened on Sunday, both on account of the time and place of the combat; and because he broke his nice walking-stick on such an ignoble back as that of Signor B-, What can be said for journalists who conduct them- selves in this way?

OLD PENSIONS. T A curious pension list has just been issued as a Parliamentary paper. The arbitrators appointed under the Crown Lands Act of 1866, Mr. James and Mr. Pickering, two of her Majesty's counsel, have awarded 2496,000 as compensation to be paid to the land revenue of the Crown for the transfer to the Board of Trade, for the benefit of the public, of the Crown's rights in the foreshore of the sea and of navigable tidal rivers. This sum is to be paid partly by charging upon the Consolidated Fund some four or five hundred pensions and annuities which are payable out of the land revenue. Most of the pensions are very small. The majority of them were granted to churchmen by pension deeds of King Charles II. The Archbishop of York has three pensions of £ 216s. 8d., £ l 4s., and 212 12s. 2d. The Dean and Chapter of York have also three- 21 10s., 16s. 8d., and 214 17s. 8d.; and the Dean has one of 21 to himself. The choristers of York Cathedral have also Cl a year among them. The Bishop of Winchester has 10s. for each triennial visitation. The grants to the Bishops of Carlisle, Chester, Dur- ham, Lincoln, and Worcester are larger and the Welsh bishops have small grants from P-3 to 215. Several Deans and Chapters are on the list-Sarum, Chester, Glocester, Lincoln, Oxford, Litchfield, Hereford,—the last for only 18s. 4d. A host of vicars and curates have grants of pensions ranging from less than 21 up 2100. The key-bearer of Hereford Cathedral has his grant of 16s. 8d. a year for ever. Masters of grammar-schools come in for their share of these grants, Oxford professors, the poor of various parishes, the owner of Cheshunt-park, one or two lords of manors and under a modern Act of Parlia- ment, the Master of the Hawks has his £1,300 a year. Ireland gets but one of all the pensions, and that is for a constable—the constable of the fort of Hills- borough. The grants to Scotland,are chiefly for University professors, but one or two ministers are on the list, the minister of Dunkeld receiving the price of 43 bushels of meal and a like quantity of barley under a grant from King George IV. The gross amount of these pensions is £ 7,946 a year, or £ 7,210 net. They will materially lengthen the already long annual list of pensions charged on the Consolidated Fund.

THE CURATE QUESTION. The Free Church Society of London and Manchester have addressed the following letter to assistant curates in and near London 16, Northumberland-street, Charing Cross, November, 1868. Rev. and Dear Sir,—The plan of self-supporting mission or school churches, originally proposed and carried into effect by our society, is earnestly submitted to you, as bearing materially upon the positiof unbeneficed clergy at thit time. By means of the offertory (collected secretly, as in bags, at every service) and frequent services—all the seats being free-an income may, with good management, be obtained considerably larger than incumbents now offer to assistant evirates. :• V "A plain structure holding o 00 people, one half at every service giving Id. and the other 2d. each, yields about L500 a year. The cost of such mission churches allows of their being established as fhot as the permission of the incumbent* can be obtained. "The direct result of this self-expanding system is to create a minimum of curates' income of J6160 to.,C200 per annum. "Hence the opposition to the society's work-, and the refusal to allow Church services to be provided for the thousands of families shut out of their parish churches by the pew-rent system. May we hope that you will candidly examine the system for yourself, and aid us in working it out by giving your name on the committee now being formed in connection with the National Association, with the special object of creating the demand for and thereby gradually augmenting the discreditably low stipends of curates—an object, it it submitted, better both for them and for the Church than a merely eleemosynary addition.—Yours faithfully, EDWARD HEREFORD, Chairman of the Council."