The Aberystwith Observer

(Dor IMwm Carmpitkni 0V 8 deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify ourselves with our correspondent's opinions.] Personal rumours relative to high life are plentiful. On dit that the Princess Louise, her Majesty's fourth daughter is to be married to the Prince of Orange, heir apparent of the Netherlands; that Sir Roundell Palmer, with the title of Lord Selbome of Selbome, is to become Lord Chancellor, Lord Hatherley resigning; that Mr. Chichester Fortescue is to have a peerage, and the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, vice Earl Spencer, who is to resign and that Mr. Denison will resign the Speakership at the end of the session, witha peerage of course, and that Mr. Cardwell may proba- t y be the new Speaker. Some correspondence has taken place with regard o the decay of the Houses of Parliament, from which S clearly appears that something ought speedily to be one. Many parts of this noble pile of buildings are bsolutely crumbling away. It is very strange that othing has yet been discovered to stop this premature lecay. Tempos, edax rtrum, of course causes every- thing to decay, but Westminster Palace is toe modern I, to attribute this marvellous decay to this cause. A very few years after the building had been commenced, and long before it was finished, it was found that the stone was decaying. At the present time on the river front the decay is perceptible. Projecting cornices, plinths, and mouldings, have been gnawed and cracked; the fine tracery of panels and other ornaments has been corroded, and even on the fiat surfaces patches of the outer skin, as it were, of the stone have peeled off from utter rottenness. More than twenty years ago Professor Faraday and Sir Roderick Murchinson reported that a remedy had been found, and parts of the building having been washed over with a prepara- tion this was found to arrest decay, but it is strange hat no effectual preventive has yet been discovered. It would be easy to moralise on the decay of our Palace of Parliament, but I leave the reader to do his own moralising. While public attention is being directed to the exterior of the Houses of Parliament, the members are con- templating improvements to make themselves more comfortable. It is intended to form a splendid dining-room for members of the two Houses, and from a reply by the First Commissioner of Works to a question, it appears that it is intended to make con- siderable improvements in the ladies' gallery in the House of Commons. The little gilt-barred cage in which these pretty birds are confined, does not deserve the name it bears, for not more than a dozen ladies can peep through the bars and see and hear anything of what is going on. But Mr. Ayrton throws out pleasant hints of not only a tea-room but a toilet- room. What a delightful place the ladies will then find it! The ladies dearly love a cup of good tea (and that the tea is unexceptionable in the House of Commons I can personally vouch), and of course they also dearly love to make themselves "look nice" through the arts and mysteries of the toilet-room. Another improvement, more important to the public generally, ia contemplated in the House of Commons —or, at least, a member who is knows as the pro- prietor of a newspaper has taken preliminary steps to bring about such an improvement—the enlargement of the Press gallery. Considerable alterations have been made for the better of late years, and the mem- bers of the Press have no reason to complain of the desire to accommodate them as far as existing arrange- ments f"1 permit; but still the accommodation is not adequa 0 requirements the fouctv ^e." All these suggested improvements are bo -^anx>A ications of the desire to bring Parliament and putitwA ato more friendly relations. The first of an annual series of International Exhibi- tions will be held in London next year. The Prince of Wales presided th other day at a meeting held for the purpose of organising arrangements for the educa- tional department of the exhibition. In this matter he follows in the footsteps of his fathsr, the late Prince Consort. In the same room in the Society of Arts in which this building was held, the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the International Exhibition, of 1862 were planned. Subsequently to this meeting there has been held, in the same room also, a conference on the repre- sentation of the fine arts in the forthcoming series of exhibitions, Prince Christian presiding. When royalty leads the way there will always be plenty to follow, and there is every prospect of the International Exhi- bition of 1871 being worthy of the name. Other nations will no doubt cordially co-operate. Already in France a committee has been officially nominated to adopt measures for facilitating the participation of French exhibitors. As far as can be at present seen the pro- posed Exhibition will not be quite such a holiday show as previous Exhibitions have been, but it will be per- haps more instructive. In many towns, and certainly in London, it will have been remarked that the older places of Dissenting worship are situated in very out-of-the-way corners, but that the newer chapels are both more pretentious in their architectural character, and in their situation. Of late years great progress has been made in this way, and many Dissenting chapels are splendid structures. I noticed that at Exeter a Congregational church of more than ordinarily ornamental character," with a spire 155 feet high, has been opened. We, too, have Dissenting chapels with spires, and why not ? A very fine chapel, it has been stated, is to be built at Penton- ville, for Dr. Parker, the minister of the Poultry Chapel. The latter building (near the Mansion House, and therefore standing on most valuable ground) is to be sold, on dü, for £10,000. This is an enormous sum. for even a large chapel which is "up a court." A wilful attempt to upset a railway train is certainly one of the most horrible crimes that can well be ima- gined. The .extent of the loss of life and injury to property cannot be foretold. To aay nothing of the train itseU, several people may be killed, and several more may be injured- It is not surprising, therefore, that the Home Secretary has been questioned with regard to a sentence of only a year's imprisonment on a man found guilty of this offence. Mr. Bruce says that the sentence complained of Wall inflicted by a learned judge, and it had never been the practice of the Secretary of State to call a judge to account for any sentence he may pass. And no doubt Mr. Bruce is quite rigM no doubt, also, that the learned judge acted in strict accordance with the law. But, if so this .aw is cenl^ not stringent enough. The crime I is most serious, ana punishment ought to > proportionately heavy. Few people, perhaps would think fourteen years' penal servitude too much. In contra-distinction to too light a punishment or none at all, first let me note a case where punish ment is deservingly inflicted. Two persons are found guilty of forging the trade-mark of an eminent firm of pianoforte makers, and sending out pianos ostensibly of that firm's make when they were really not made by this celebrated house. Thus the legiti- mate profit of selling pianofortes is to some extent taken from the well known house, and their reputation is injured by their name being placed on inferior instru- ments. I certainly think that two months' imprison ment is not too much for this offence. There is no doubt that this sort of thing is done to a large extent I remember some time time ago selling a piano to a dealer. The instrument was not exactly the kind of piano that Misa Arabella Goddard would choose for a sonata, Op. 45, at Hanover-square Roomø; in fact it deserved the classical epithet of a duffer, and for that reason I sold it. But happening to be in the dealer's shop a few weeks afterwards I fancied I saw my old piano; I looked, and looked again. Yea, it was my old friend with a new iaee; it had been furbished up, and a "Broadwood" lah^i had been placed on it. Such occurrences cannot be. uncommon, and they ought to be severely punished. What strange tasks some peopj* uti themselves! Here is Mr. Elihu Burritt, "the learn*},blacksmith," reckoning up the expense of the letter u, words as labour, hononr, &c. He comes to the «*»olWon that if we take into account ink, pens, the wag* of compositors, copyists, &c., the letter « costs Engfi^ speaking people £10,000 annually. How he arrives this result he does not tell us, but nobody can con- tradict him unless the same amount of trouble is taken. Mr. Burritt might go into still nicer calculations, and tell" us how much it costs to dot our i's and cross our t's; and then perhaps he might tell us of what use are such calculations. Early next month Mr. Allen intends to move that it is desirable that the British Museum and the National Gallery should be open on the evening of week days. I hope the abstract resolution may be passed, so that ultimately so desirable » result may be attained. It is a question that interests the provinces as we as the metropolis. Where shall we go this evening, is a frequent question among visitors to London, who per- haps object to theatres and music-halls; and the open- ing of these national institutions would afford a ready answer to the question. The week-day opening would also do much towards meeting the views of the National Sunday League while it would strengthen the hands of those who are opposed to the views of that association.

THE (lAME LAWS. "Grantley F. Berkeley," writing from Alderney Manor, Poole, to a London contemporary, says :— There has just been forwarded to me "A Bill for the Abolition of the Game LaWl;" presented, I suppose, by a eouciave of April "philosophers," the only lively thing about it heing the name of Mr. Jacob Bright." In this wild docu- ment there occurs the following passageWhereas such excessive quantity of the said wild animals," viz., wood- cock, snipe, quail, landrail, conies," &c., "have greatly con- tritmted to the demoralisation of the people by affording continual temptation to breaches of the law." The statutes protecting these creatures are to be abolished. o happens-and I aay It in the teeth of these philoso- phers of April notoriety—that all those creatures on whom they Met to lay this heavy charge have of late immensely decreased, from the woodcock to the deer, so that even there is no truth in their allegation. It Is similarly untrue that the large preserve of game tempts to crime." The temptation to ofiend the law exists where there is no large preserve of game, but where there happens to be a few heads of game indigenous to the land, unprotected by any keepers and left to the depredators without a chance of de- tection. I speak from personal knowledge and long ex- perience as a magistrate and country gentleman, and not from vague theory, and certainly not from any clap-trap desire to gain popular favour with the masses." If it is wrong to let property be seen—for game is pro- perty now—then I would recommend Messrs. Taylor, Bright, White, and Co." to run a tilt against the silversmiths, jewellers, watchmakers, butchers, and bakers for the display In their shop-windows in all our large cities and towns; for such excessive quantity as they so temptingly expose to the eyes of thieves, and among them poor starving wretches, with but the thinnest glass between their mouths and a large sausage must be much more "demoralising to the people" than snipes and woodcocks that have wings. A looker-on at these bright vagaries, as I am'now, I cannot help laughing to see that the wise Liberals," as they call themselves, in one session pass a law for the preservation of gulls," which are not food for the people, though a bird perhaps of a feather," with their protectors, and on the next seek to break down and abolish a protective enactment which gives to the masses an immensity of food and vast employment, and keeps the nobleman and the esquire upon their estates, to the great benefit of the surrounding poor, and the extreme contrast to the absenteeism which has been one of the banes of Ireland. If this conclave of legislators really desire to be consistent, let them wear no watches for, if they do, according to their tenets, that is a temptation to snatch at the watch-guard.

MB. J. NORMAN LOCKYER ON "THE SUN." In London, last Saturday, Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.. delivered his fourth and closing lecture at the Royal Institution, on The Sun." In the course of the lecture he observed that when the flame of a com- mon candle is examined in the same way that the sun is observed with a spectroscope, it is found that when the flame is in any way disturbed gases of different kinds are thrown out from its interior towards its exterior. In like manner, when from any cause disturbances are set up in the sun, there are storms or outbursts of luminous iron, magnesium, barium, and other vapours. It is evident, therefore, that there are layers under- neath the external envelopes of the sun, portions of which layers become visible to us whenever there is the least disturbance. Spots being depressions in the external envelopes of the sun, it follows that an ex- amination of the solar spots brings the astronomer nearer to the centre of the sun than does the ob- servation of any other part of the orb. On ex- amining the spots with a spectroscope, a general absorption of the rays of all parts of the solar spectrum is seen, as well as a selective absorption, the latter being especially noticeable in the sodium linoa and the greater the pressure of the sun's at- mosphere the thicker are these absorption lines. In order to prove that increase of pressure, without variation in temperature, broadens the absorption lines, Mr. Lockyer threw upon the screen a continuous rainbow-like spectrum of the electric light, the dis- persion being produced by means of two hollow glass prisms filled with bisulphide of carbon. Just outside the slit of the electric lantern, the light was made fo pass through a glass tube filled with attenuated hydrogen gas; the tube contained also a lumr of metallic sodium. Heat was applied to the botbm of the tube, so as to gradually vaporize the sodiun, and the vapour was at first, of course, densest xear the bottom of the tube, rather than at the tq). The vapour intercepted none of the rays of thedpectrum, except a portion of the yellow, consequeitly a dark band was cut in the yellow part of tie spectrum upon the screen, but this band was thickest where the light had previously passed through tie denser por- tions of the sodium vapour. The abearance of this tapering dark line, consequently paved that where the pressure of the sodium was denest, it broadened the dark line in the yellow -of the spectrum. Thus, the broader the sodium absorption lines pro- duced by a sun-spot, the grvater is the pressure and quantity of the sodiun atmosphere over that spot. There are low many large spots upon the solar disc, and it j, a very curious fact that they give scarcely any absorption in the yellow part of a spectrum, showing theeby that the spots are not alike at all times. There are, in the ordinary solar spectrum, bright linep as well as dark ones, and he thought that these vould be found to be the most un- changeable lines in it, for the dark ones are constantly varying. The yell<w line, so often seen in the spectrum of the solar proonnences, was once surmised to be a line belonging to hydrogen gas when the gas became luminous und«r certain very unusual conditions, but after many experiments with hydrogen, tried by Dr. Frankland And himself for more than a year, they were unabb to make the luminous gas produce any such line It was only on the previous Saturday, that while (Mr. Lockyer) was examining the spectrum of a <olar prominence, he saw the bright hydrogen lines of the prominence disappear almost entirely, while the yellow line retained its full luminosity and length. It would appear, therefore, to be certain that it is not a hydrogen line; neither is it a sodium line, for it does not fall at the right part of the yellow of the spectrum. Probably this per- plexing line is due to some new substance common in the sun, but not yet known upon earth. A very valuable paper on solar physics, once communi- cated to the Royal Society by Messrs. Balfour Stewart, De la Rue, and Loewe, set forth that the photosphere of the sun might be considered to be a plane of conden- sation, and any changes in the pressure of the plane of condensation, will cause very considerable changes to take place in the spectra observed. For example, when the pressure of the plane of condensation of a common candle flame is reduced by the aid of the air- pump, a halo of blue light begins to spread outside the dame as the pressure is diminished, and at last the candle fiame Will give the spectrum of nearly pure carbon. The F line of hydrogen varies very much when the pressure is reduced, so this line is a very delicate indicator of the pressure of the atmosphere of the sun. Light is composed of waves varying in length, so that when a prominence bursts out upon the sun, and in the direction of the eye of the observer, more waves are thrown into the eye in a second of time; if on the other hand, the prominence be receding with a velocity at all comparable to that of light, the waves will be lengthened out, and a smaller number will enter the eye in a second. This variation in wave-length caused by the rapid motion of solar flames, produces zig-zag and irregular lines in the spectrum, and by measurement of the deflection of the "bright lines from their normal position, the velocity of motion of portions of the solar prominences may with- in certain limits be determined. The flames often rise er recede with a velocity of from fifty to one hundred miles per second, which, considering the size of the sun, is not a very excessive rate of motion. It seems as if the chromosphere is the outer limit of the sun, for very little absorption takes place outside it, and there is evidence that the absorbing atmosphere of the sun and the photosphere begin together. As to what is below the photosphere, spectrum analysis gives no information whatever, and he thought that in a sun- spot astronomers never get below the photosphere he considered the spots to be purely surface phenomena. The photosphere may be gaseous, cloudy, or even liquid, but certainly is not solid. He did not know the origin of the continuous spectrum of the snn; a continuous spectrum may be thrown by dense lumin. ous gases, as well as by white-hot solids; but it is con- soling to be aware that it is equally unknown whether the continuous spectrum of a candle flame due to solid, liquid, or gaseous matter. He would close his lecture with ft 6„ueral remarks about the nature c. the sun. The sun after all is nothing but tb" nearest star it is also a variable star, for the spots upon it, as proved by observations extending over the last fifty years, are very plentiful at some periods, and very scarce at other periods; the interval between two maximum periods or two minimum periods, is about eleven years. We are now in a maximum period. There is also some connection between *he spots on the sun and the sun's family of planets, for the positions of the planets, more especially of Mercury and Venus, have an influence upon the area of the spots on the sun. The sim cannot be a ball of fire, for if it were it would bum itself out in a ridiculously short space of time, and there is reason to suppose that it is a hot globe now slowly cooling. If we accept the hypothesis of Laplace, that the sun was formed originally by the condensation of a tremendous nebula, it is not difficult to imagine that it is now slowly cooling and as it had an enormous initial temperature to start with, the cooling will go on through untold ages until at last, having absorbed all its surrounding planets into its mass, it will in the end roll through space a cold dark balL Afterwards, perhaps, it may clash against another dark ball like itself, and the force of the blow may be proved by calculation to be sufficient to generate light and heat, a new sun, and other worlds.

THE QUEEN'S PRIVATE SECRETARY. The Saturday Review, whilst paying a deserved tribute to the memory of the late General Grey, gives an interesting sketch ef the important duties constantly devolving on the Queen, who, it may be added, not only performs her State duties Intelligently and conscientiously, but always has a helping hand ready to assist the needy, and a sympathising heart for the afflicted and disconsolate:— A servant of the Crown holding a place of very con- siderable importance, the functions of which he dis- charged with great success, has just passed away, and yet the English public knew literally nothing of him or of his office. General Grey was not only the son of a Prime Minister and the heir presumptive to an Earl- dom, but he was a man of masculine mind, of great readiness and sense, and of highly independent charac- ter. Nevertheless he was contented to be the Queen's Private Secretary, and he found ample scope for his clergies apd satisfaction for his ambition in his em- perhaps, could illustrate more forcibly the real wo^' of gome of the chief institutions of the country \b8Iå the satisfaction which such a man found in holding office assigned to him. The Private Secretary of Queen has to lead a very laborious life, for the simpu that the life of the Sovereign he serves is necessity yery laborious. He has the reward of doing re«Uy g<x £ j Work, and of doing it under the eyes of a pe*»on who can appreciate what he does. He has also the toward of exercising an im- portant but very indirect i*fluence over the course of public affaus. But it is a neat mistake to suppose that the Queen's Private Secretary has power in the shape of commanding patronage, of influencing the mind of the Sovereign on questions wWn the head of the Ministry is brought into direct contact with the Queen. What amount of influence he has will indeed depend, not only on the man himself but on the accidental circumstances in which he may find himself. The Queen has an enormous amount of daily business to go through. In her early days she had Melbourne to advise her in the conduct of thisbusineo). and then for many years she had the happiness of being aided by the supreme good sense and the untiring in- dustry of Prince Albert. When there is attached to a Queen a person who has this special claim to guide her or a recognised habit of guiding her, the Private Secretary acts under the guidance of a person who is really a private secretary of a higher kind. But in later years the Queen has done her vast business un- aided, and General Grey has had to shape the form in which her wishes were expressed; and necessarily this became a very important task, for the expression of thought is always in some degree a limitation of the thought itself. The Private Secretary soon forgets all party feeling, for the Sovereign is of no party; and he soon gets to ooncentrate his whole mind on carrying out the views and defending the position of his mistress and he cannot job; but he is the vehicle through whom the Sovereign conducts a vast amount of most multifarious and grave business; and when there is no one to interpret the wishes of the Sovereign to him, and to be a kind of higher functionary in his own de- partment, he has to carry on day by day the routine of this business, and he has all the influence which a man must have who has to clothe in language that which the head of the State wishes or requires to be done. The Sovereign has always a very large amount of hard work to do every day, and now that the Queen has to do it herself, and haa the experience and ability to do it, she must labour very hard. This constant de- votion to the public service and to the maintenance of her inherited position has of course its drawbacks. A Queen is only a crowned woman, and the strength of women is limited by nature. An hereditary monarchy is to be taken with all its advantages and disadvan- tages, and if the Sovereign, has delicate health, as the Queen often has, then the work belonging to her office must exercise its natural and physical effect. The nation takes its Sovereign much as husbands and wives take each other, for better and worse. The in- dividual life rolls on, and much is lost, and much is gained as the days go by. It is only an idiotic sort of loyalty to pretend to believe that the Sovereign has not to live the life of an human being, and to affect to think a Queen must always be the same. The Queen, as she has often given it to be understood, and hAs expressly recorded in her book, feels the physical fatigue and oppression of work, and of shews and sights, and the life of cities. She gives her whole powers to the per- formance of that business in the highest departments of public life which her striking natural aptitude, her constant willingness to learn, and her immense expe- rience enable her to carry on with a success that is of the greatest benefit to the nation. This business absorbs her strength. It is not to be supposed that she is of so feeble and sentimental a character that the mere waywardness of grief for her great loss would in- duce her to withdraw from the view of her subjects. But she naturally feels that to carry on her Government in the best possible way, so far as she can determine the mode in which it is carried on, is her primary duty, and she has not strength or spirits for much more. This appears to us to be the simple truth aa to what is called her seclusion from social life. There must, however, be some sort of limit to the work of a Sovereign, and it can never be desirahle that the Sovereign should work too hard. As the Queen spends her whole strength in the service of her people, she must be allowed the greatest latitude in the mode in which she lays out her life. But the peculiarity of the life of a Sovereign is, that it is scarcely possible for the occupant of the throne not to do one thing without neglecting to do some other thing. This may perhaps be avoided under the happiest circumstances, and in the flower and per- fect time of life. But as years go on each Sovereign in turn will have to leave some things undone in order that ether things may be done. No part of a Sovereign's work can surpasss in value thlltpart which the Queen performs so admirably— the part of superintending the machinery of govern- ment. But it is also true that the participation of the Sovereign in the social life of the people is very good work too in its way. Royalty, in order to do good, must exist as a living force, and in order to exist in this way it must be seen, must bring itself home to the general mind, and become a part of the daily life of men. The English Sovereign is dear to the people of England as the embodiment of English history, and the living visible expression of ancient law and government. The monarchy reposes on the con- tinuance of this sentiment quite as much as on the utility of the functions which the Sovereign discharges in the active working of the scheme of government. What pleases and in a sense ennobles the people is the thought that the state and grandeur of royalty is something that belongs to them. In a sense the Queen belongs to the nation, as the nation to the Queen. When the Queen's carriage goes by, is it not, in the eyes of the poor, like the passing of the carriage of a rich and great man ?

FIRE AND LOSS OF FOUR LIVES AT CARDIFF. The following sad calamity occurred on Saturday morning at Cardiff:— Shortly after two o'clock, several persons living in North Church-street, Bute-town, were aroused by what they described as a sharp crackling noise. They were alarmed, and rose from their beds to discover the cause, and on going to the windows saw that the Glamorgan Hotel, which was on the corner of the street, was on fire. There was at that time only a faint light visible in the windows of the ground-floor, but dense clouds of smoke rose from the building; and within a few minutes afterwards huge flames darted up as it were from the vaults in the foundation of the hotel, and suddenly the bar and adjoining compartments were enveloped in a mass of flames. An energetic alarm was immediately raised by several persons, and active efforts were made to rouse the landlord of the hotel and his family. The hotel was occupied by a Mr. Stacey, a widower, one daughter, two grandsons, a sea-captain, and a traveller. An old lady who lived on the opposite corner roused her three sons, stalwart fellows, who immediately dashed missiles up to the windows, with a view to attract the attention of the unfortunate persons within, but without avail. Suddenly again the flames had mounted higher and higher, and lighted np the whole atmosphere around and above with a lurid glare, and still crackled and clambered up the upper storeys of the house. A number of police constables were soon on the spot, followed shortly afterwards by the fire brigade. But although there was a plentiful supply of water, it was hopeless to attempt to save the house. A ladder was placed against the building, and two or three members of the brigade attempted to force an entrance of the upper windows, bnt were unable to do so, in consequence of the heat and smoke. An entrance was at last forced at the back of the house, and crouched in one corner of a club- room the exploring party discovered two human figures charred and burnt, and covered with ashes, and apparently dead. They removed them, and found they were Mr. Stacey, the landlord of the hotel, and his grandson, a child of five years. The latter was wrapped up tightly in blankets, and folded in his grandfather's arms. There was life in the child when found, but it expired in a few moments afterwards. Mr. Stacey was also alive, and was at once removed to a neighbour's house across the street. His injuries were found to be serious, but it is hoped that he may recover. He is much burnt about the stomach and chest, and all day throughout Saturday violently delirious, and quite un- conscious of all that has passed. Before any further way could be made into the house the building was completely gutted; all the upper floors having fallen, together with the roof, right down into the cellars beneath, bearingall that was contained within the house before them. The remaining bodies of the unfortunate victims were subsequently dug out of the debris in a frightfully charred state, and were with difficulty identified. The names of the deceased are— Miss Sarah Stacey, daughter of the landlord, 30 years of age Sidney Stacey, 5 years of age and Frederick Stacey, 3 years, grandson of the landlord and Alfred Giles, 30 years of age, a lodger. The latter was a young man who assisted in the house, and it was the first time he had slept on the premises. He was found lying on the remains of a bed amongst the shattered heap of burnt timber and material, and his remains presented a fearful spectacle, burnt as his body was to a cinder. Miss Stacey was found with the youngest child folded tightly in her arms, and a portion of her night dress in her mouth, seeming, as it were, to have given up despairingly to the death which was inevitable. There was also in the house a Captain Manning, master of a vessel lying in a dock, and he was roused by Mr. Stacey who, it appears, when he became aware thpc the />Jtei was on fire, immediately procepflk*3 to apxtke the house- hold. He directed thp caPtam to make his escape through th«* b,.ck vY* and in rushing back, it appears, to awakehlS daughter and save the children, was him- self struck down by the flames, with one of his grand- children in his arms, as already described. Captain Manning escaped without injury. It has not been ascertained how the fire originated.

A strong feeling prevails in the town in reference to to the conduct of the fire brigade. The organization of the brigade is denounced as thoroughly inefficient, and unequal to the work of saving life and property. In reply to the magistrate at the borough police- court, the head constable said thll disastrous delay of the fire brigade was owing not to the insufficiency of the men, but to the faulty organization of the brigade.

CARRYING IT WITH A nIGH HAND! The New York papers of March ?6 report a very high-handed proceeding on the part of hu officer of the United States steamer Severn towards t'e captain of a Danish schooner, the Skul Betcdl, at C'pe Haytien, in the Republic of Hayti, which, they \ell us, has caused some excitement at that port. It appears that shortly after the Skul Betall arrived at Cap? Haytien from St. Thomas and Turk's Island, having four pas- sengers on board, an officer and six men *rom the Severn came alongside and sprang on deck without permission. The officer then proceeded to q<estion the captain concerning the name of the schvoner, where she was from, her cargo, how many passengers she carried, and who they were. The captain teing unable to satisfy him on this latter point, he demand the ship's papers, and after examining th^ inquired if the schooner had stopped on Ve way from St. Thomas. Being answered in tl^ affirmative, he asked whether she took any passenge. on board where she stopped, and was told that one was taken from Turk's Island. He then asked eagerly whether it was not General Luperon, one of the leaders of the insurrection against President Baez, of San Domingo, and the captain being unable to tell him, he demanded to see the passenger in question. The passenger came forward and introduced himself. The officer inquired his business at Cape Haytien, to which the stranger replied, with much spirit, "What is that to you?" Finding himself thus defied, the officer turned to the Danish captain and said: I would like to see Latour and Luperon, anvhow, cap- tain. I only came to notify you that, the Republic of San Domingo being under the protection of the United States of America, should you take Luperon or any munitions of war from the Eastern ports, your vessel will be sunk, and you and your crew will be taken prisoners by any vessel of the American navy." General Luperon, it would appear, was already at Cape Haytien. He was immediately informed of what had taken place, and at once called on the American Consul to demand what right the United States had to interfere with him or the revolution in San Domingo. But the only satisfaction he received from the consul was an assurance that he was not before aware of the occurrence, and that it was nothing more than a formality on the part of the officer.

MR. J. S. MILL AND THE EDUCA- TION BILL. The following letter appeared in the Spectator of last Saturday:— Having full belief in you" not intending to mis represent, though (if you wilt allow me to say so) not equal confidence in the care olness and accuracy of al your representations, I df not doubt that you will permit me to correct a serious misstatement which pervades the whole of year last Saturday's comments on the education meeting at St. James's Hall. The writer affirms again and again, with sundry uncom- plementary remarks" n the inconsistencies and other irrationalities therein implied, that in my speech at that meeting 1 advocated and Mkedjjfor the system of the British schools, which he describes as the merely formal reading of a portion of the Bible as a kind of grace before meat toBecular lessons.' I challenge your writer to point out a single word of my speech which either expresses or implies approval of the British system,* or ef the employment of the Bible in rate-supported schools at all I referred to the British system only as a proof that the Dissenters do not desire their distinctive doctrines to be taught in schools, and would consequently derive no advantage from the fund which the bill gives them, where they are the stronger party, of practising this injustice to the detriment of the Established Church. For myself, though I regard the British system as greatly preferable to the merely denominational, yet, on any other footing than as the less of two evils, I decidedly object to it, as unjust to Catholics, Jews, and Secularists, and for other reasons. I am, Sir, &c., J. S. MILL."

PRINCE NAPOLEON on the PLEBISCITUM The Franeais reproduces the following opinion recently expressed by Prince Napoleon (Jeronre) on the subject of the appeal to the people upon which the Emperor's Govern- ment seem now irrevocably determined:— I do not approve the Plebiscitum it only bears the semblance of Democracy. It is the legislative power directly exercised by the people. This power seems to me, unless it be in very rare cases, an illusory power. If the Emperor has a right to make a direct appeal to the people, that right should be seldom used—perhaps, never; for a PUbiscitum is a sheet anchor it is the last stage before a revolution. What an error it would be to ask of a PUbiscitum the appro- val of a modification in the Constitution If the people answers Yes,' it is a delusion; if it says No.' it is a revolution. I admit that the people may, under exceptional circumstances, be consulted with respect to a person, with respect to a definite question of peace and war, with respect to the cession of a province in the event of a disastrous war; but even in such cases it is necessary that he who answers should know and understand the purport of the question. It is neces- sary that the question should be clear and simple. How many such questions have occurred to us in our public life ? Let the PUbiscitum therefore, be reserved as a right of the Sovereign, but on condition that he should have recourse to it as little as possible. To consult directly the people is a kind of coup d'itat, and it supposes a dissent between the Emperor and the representatives of the people. Were it otherwise, the Emperor would find it more natural to go hand in hand with the representatives themselves.

HINDOO THEISM. Last Sunday morning a sermon was preached at the Unitarian Chapel, Little Portland-street, Regent- street, London, by Keshub Chunder Sen, the well- known leader at Calcutta of the Brahmo Somaj, a society of Hindoo Theists, the chief object of which is the destruction of idolatry and caste throughout the Indian Empire. This gentleman has for a considerable period been the minister of a spacious church in Cal- cutta, where he regularly preaches to a large number of his countrymen, and there are about fifty other churches where similar religious doctrines are taught in different parts of India. The announcement that one who holds so peculiar and interesting a position in relation to the Hindoo race and idol-worship was to appear in an English pulpit, naturally caused the con- gregation to be unusually numerous and it included representatives of both Houses of Parliament, and several men of eminence in science and literature. After the usual service had been performed by the Rev. James Martineau, minister of the Chapel, the special preacher of the day delivered his sermon upon the text, 11 In Him we live, and move, and have our being." The preacher commenced by remarking that it was of the utmost importance to them that they should realise the presence of that great and holy God whom they professed to worship, and the solemn relation in which they stood to him, as without this religion was almost powerless, and though it might satisfy the understanding and the intellect, could not exercise any influence upon the life and conduct. There were thousands of nominal theists, he went on to say, who entertained very accurate theological notions of the Divinity, who boasted of havinggivenup idolatry, and who consequently thought themselves very near the Kingdom of Heaven, but beneath their boasted theological scholarship there lurked unbelief in its milder but not less insidious forms. They thought of God as one who was remote from them, and had very little to do with the direct administration of the affairs of the world and when they professed to pray it seemed as if their prayers went out into empty space, where there was no present God. If men were really anxious about their salvation they should not boast of mere intellectual ideas of their Deity. It was one thing to say with the understanding that Ged exists, and quite a different thing to say with the whole heart and soul My Lord is before me and behind me, and fllleth all my space." It was one thing to talk of God as the eternal, infinite, majestic Sovereign of the Universe, and another thing to feel Him very near our hearts, the living and loving Fathe- When God had created the universe He did not go away it; He lived among men. dwelt in their homes, was pretontwith them in the varied concerns of life; wherever they were He was with them, and in that light should they always regard Him. He did not merely hold the same relation to the world He had created as the watchmaker did to the watch; but He animated aU the spiritual movements of the universe and of mankind. He was in the midst of history, and His merciful finger lurked beneath all the events which gave to history its chief interest. When they looked up and saw the vast starry convex, or when they saw the moon bathing the whole of nature in one flood of sweet and serene light, they ought to feel that the Power of all powers was still quickening every movement in the universe. His presence might also be felt amid the little details of daily life and even when they entered the arena of public life they would find that the Lord had not deserted them. Nations as well as individuals, were governed by the Supreme will, and there was no spot where the Lord was not present. God was a friend and a companion to men for time and for eternity—One who sympathiaed with them in all their diffi- culties and trials, ADd CO, whom they might open tbeir hearts in earnest supplication. Such a God was the need ef the world, and the sinner peculiarly felt the want of Him. Unless and until a man had such a God before him—unless and until he could satisfy him- self of being in the presence of such a God, he could not realise the blessings of true religion. Men who rested satisfied with a negative religion might have come out of the Egypt of idol-worship, but they had not reached that land where alone they could find true peace and comfort. A sense of God's presence was necessary to enable any of them to resist the rushing torrent of temptations, and to arm them for the great battle with the evils around them. Fortified with that, they could say amid all the difficulties and sor- rows that awaited them, Lord, help Thou Thy poor and helpless Child," and a few words, poured out in the spirit of earnestness and sincerity, would bring down from the Father of Mercies strength to resist temptation, to endure the loss of rulers. and to bear up against domestic afflic- tion. With God's presence joy became enhanced, and all that was painful in life was mitigated. The presence of the Lord was not only a school of discipline, where the character was purified and temptation guarded against, it was also a source of happiness. Let them realise the pre- sence of the Lord, wherever they went, and when they came to die the loving Countenance of their Father would reveal itself, the darts of death would become Inoffensive, all the sorrows of depørture would be taken away, and they would feel that they wers going to mansions of righteousness and peace. In conclusion, the preacher expressed his delight which he had felt in joining in the service of that morning, and in mingling his voice with the voices of the congrega- tion, adding that he felt that he and his brethren In India were all children of the same Father and Lord of the Universe as those whom he had addressed. The sermon, which was extempore, and occupied about half an hour, was delivered in a clear and thoroughly audible voice, marked by a pure English accent, with great ease and fluency, and with a simple, earnest, and impressive manner.

WILL OF THE LATE EARL OF DERBY The will of the Right Hon- Geoffrey, Earl of Derbv K. G P la,te °* Knowsley Hall, Lan- and oames square, London, was proved in her Majesty's Court of Probate, on the 2nd instant, by his eldest son, the Right Hon. Edward Henry, the present earl, the sole executor. The personalty was sworn under £250,000. The will is dated February 21,1865: and there are three codicils, dated May, 1868, March and September, 1869. His lordship died October 23 following, at the age of seventy, having held the title since 1851. The will is of considerable length, extending to 79 folios. His lordship has be- queathed to his countess, Emma Caroline, daughter of the fast Lord Skelmersdale, an immediate legacy of £ 3,000 and an annuity of £ 3,000, in addition to a like annuity under settlement, and closes the bequest to her ladyship in the words—"To whom, under God's Provi- dence, I have been indebted for more than 39 years (then in 1865) of much domestic happiness and uninter- rupted harmony." He also leaves to her ladyship all his plate, with the exception of his racing cups and racing plate, and a selection of his books from his library, together with furniture. He devises to his eldest son and successer the manor of Knowsley, with the estates at Hayton, Eccleston, and Bickerstaff, and all ether his estates in the counties of Lancaster, Chester, Westmoreland, York, and Middlesex, and to his issue male and leaves to his trustees, the Hon. Charles James Fox Stanley, his brother, and the Right Hon. Edward, Lord Skelmersdale, in trust, all his racing cups and racing plate, to be held and pass as heirlooms with the title of earldom. To his second son, the Hon. Frederick Arthur Stanley, he leaves his estates in the counties of Limerick and Tipperary, and elsewhere in Ireland, with the option of taking, within six months, the sum of £1?5,OOO in lieu thereof. His lordship has made provision for bis daughter, Lady Emma Charlotte Stanley. He leaves to Colonel the Honourable Edward Bootle Wilbraham (Scots Fusilier Guards) and Lord Skelmersdale each a legacy of £1,000. Legacies are left te his cousins, nephews, and their chil- dren and legacies and annuities to servants To his stud-groom, Timothy Forshaw, he leaves an annuity of j260, when he may cease to be employed as stud-groom to his successor. To his valet, Josapn Blake, he leaves an annuity of JE50 and all his wardrobe, with the ex- eption of his robes of state and the Order of the garter. The testator appoints his son, the present residuary legatee.—Illustrated London News,

PAUPERISM AND SELF-HELP. ^In London, on Monday night, at a meeting of the N ation-t Association for the Promotion of Social Science, Mr. Hastings in the chair, Mr. C. Lamport read a pa,er upon Pauperism and Self-help." After giving a >i8torical sketch of the pauperism of the country fr-m a remote period down to the present time, Mr. Lamport submitted the synopsis of a scheme to et.¡Ørblish a National Friendly Society in connexion wi^ and by means of the existing Poor Law system. The primary object of the society would be to Gminish pauperism by instituting a counterpoise in mf-help. The secondary objects would be to raise the wooing man's self-respect, to render the efforts of the pool to become independent, more sus- tained and efficient to remove the public distaste for a system of relief i&ntified with Poor Laws, parishes, paupers, and poor-hinges, and to promote sympathy and moral support ft. a national provision for sick- ness and unavoidable want. Mr. Lamport proposed to divide recipients of relief into four distinct classes, viz.:— Class A, composed of per&>ng verging towards criminality, including able-bodied mendiwnts and vagrants. The source of relief for this class shouh be a subsistence rate, now levied as a poor-rate the reliè: ordered by police magistrates and admistered under police supervision and a bare sub- sistence should be given in ret\m for a certain amount of labour under police or prison arrangements. Class B, composed of persons v^glng towards pauperism, includingable-bodied but unsteady Vorkmen, labourers not in regular employment, reduced tradesmen, and clerks, all persons unwilling or unable to join ;he National Friendly Society," and widows of the above. }or this class the source of relief should be also a subsistence rate—the relief to be ordered by Boards of Guardians as nov formed, and to con- sist only of indoor relief in return for labour. Class C, composed ol persons desirous to be provident and independent, the recipients to be voluntary subscribers to the "National Friendly Society," composed of artizans, clerks, labourers, small tradesmen, and their widows. For this class the source of relief should be Friendly Society allow- ance for sickness, non-employment (temporary), migration expenses, superannuation, and burial—the relief to be or- dered by a Friendly Society Board, consisting of Guardians ex officio and members elected by subscribers; and the condi- tion and mode of relief should be periodical payments at members' houses, or at the society's offices. Class D, comprising persons unable to work, including the aged and Infirm, cripples, incurables, lunatics and idiots, and orphans. The source of relief for thj £ class should be a sub- sistence rate as now levied in aid of charitable endowments and private subscriptions, the relief to be ordered by a Board of Guardians and members appointed by subscribers, and the condition and mode of relief should be admission to refuges, asylums, school establishments, and reforma- tories. An nteresting discussion followed the reading of the paper, and in it great doubts were expressed as to the feasibility of the plan. Mr. F. Hill said if pauperism were to be diminished a chance ought to be given to English workmen to eompete with foreign workmen. Mr. Alsager Hay-Hill said one great objection to the plan was that being affiliated to the Poor Law system, I the prejudice of the people against that system would he applied to the plan proposed. Self-help he thought could best be promoted through the agency of the Post-office Savings-banks. Mr. Collins. a guardian of St. Pancra", believed the administration of the Poor Law was its bane. Dr. Stallard contended that power should be given to Boards of Guardians to bring before the magistrates habitual paupers—indeed to have an adult reformatory in which to place them. The Go- vernment should be asked to extend the Post-office Savings-bank system, so that a man could go to a Savings-bank and buy a ticket, which would give him an allowance of 3s. a week in the event of his being out of work. The proceedings were brought to a close by voteB of thanks to Mr. Lamport and the chairman.

THE MURDERER RUTTEBFORD. With reference to the case of James Rutterford, now under sentence of death in the prison of Bury St. Edmund's, we are authorized to state that Mr. Bruce, not having the power to give effect to the sentence by any but the ordinary means, and finding by the follow- ing report from a Board of medical gentlemen that the risk of a very revolting spectacle was imminent, had no alternative bat to reprieve the convict:— County Gaol, Bury St. Edmund's. April 8, 1870. "We, the undersigned, John Kilner and Thomas Coe, two duly qualified medical practitioners, being duly appointed by James Johnstone Bevan, Esq., Visiting Justice of the said gaol, in pursuance of a letter from Mr. Secretary Bruce, bearing date the 7th day of April inst., have, together with Dr. Macnab, the surgeon to the gaol, proceeded to examine James Rutterford. a prisoner now lying under sentence o death, and the cicatrix which he has in his neck, do hereby report that, in oar opinion, he cannot be hanged by the ordinary means, for, to secure against the risk of failure and a prolongation af suffering, it will be necessary to use very considerable and unusual amount of constricting force before the rope can be adjusted in such a manner as to sustain the weight of the prisoner's body. "(Signed), "JOHN KILNER, F.R.C.S. Eng., &o., "THOR COB, F R.C.S. Eng., Ac., "ROBERT MACNAB, M.D., F.R.C.S. Ed."

SOMETHING THE MATTER WITH THE SUN! The following letter has been sent for publication by the Rev. Frederick Howlett, of East Tisted Rectory, Alton, Hants :— The interest of the public having seemingly been consider- ably awakened in regard to the present unusually disturbed condition of the solar surface, I venture to again trouble you with some few further observations. Another enormous spot of very irregular ferm, but, up to this date, of one continuous surface, 54,000 miles in mean length and 30,000 miles in mean breadth, is traversing the sun's northern hemisphere, and possesses a superficial area of about 1,620,000,000 square miles. In addition to this great single spot there is agroup of two fair-sized spets in the northern hemisphere, besides six other groups in the southern hemisphere, mostly of a very scattered and irregular description. The total area of the whole of these spots cannot be esti- mated at less than 3,000,000,000 square miles. I have never, during a period of twenty years, seen so great a disturbance. The great northern spot will pass off the disk about the 14th inst., and previously to that date may very probably re- solve itself into a group of spots, as it shows symptoms of breaking up.

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH FRANCE. A meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects was held last week in London, when two papers were read advocating the establishment of a line of train- ships between Dover and Calais. One was by Ad- miral Belcher, who gave an elaborate explanation of his theory by frequent references to diagrams. The vessels which he would build would be of a light draught, and so constructed that there would be no rolling, and as a consequence no sea-sickness. Mr. Scott Russell, who read the second paper, ex- plained that the train on arriving at Dover would on two lines at once pass on to the deck of his steamer, which would be 400 feet in length and 40 feet in beam, and that when the vessel arrived in Calais it would pass on to the French railways, and so on to Paris. Should there be any difference between the level of the deck and that of the pier, the difficulty would be got rid of by the use of an inclined plane. It might be asked what was the use of this, but the answer was a ready one. It was not to save^ the passengers the trouble of getting out of the train into the steamer and from the steamer again into the train, but it was to save the cost, the trouble, and the damage which at- tended the frequent transhipment of merchandise. Un<*»*' this ■r«4om gooda might be put into a waggon at Manchester or Birmingham, anit remain undisturbed until it reached its destination in Vienna or Paris A vessel which he had built to ftfiil those objects had been for years plying on Lake Constance. The result to passengers would be that the railway companies could establish American trains with sleeping apart- ments. and would thus enable the passengers to reach their destination without the fatigue and trouble at- tendant upon journeys undertaken at the time. The benefits to be derived from this system would uot be exclusively confined to passengers, but would be evi- denced in an immense saving with regard to goods,

THE PRINCE OF WALES. According to the Oxford Chronicle, in a lecture on "Eng- lish Universities," delivered at Philadelphia, Mr. Goldwin Smith said, in reference to the residence of the Prince of Wales as a student at Oxford:— I see scandal is again busy with the name of the Prince of Wales. Evil reports about him fill our Transatlantic telegrams and our newspapers at this moment. 1 lived, even when I was in England, far from the Court, and I cannot say how much of this scandal is true or how much is false I can only say that it is all loathsome. But this I know, that home false reports have been circulated and eagerly believed; and, moreover, that no class of people is more likely to swallow and propagate scandal about royal personages than those who, when brought into contact with royalty, or when they expect any advantage from its power, are most servile in their adulation. The conduct of the Prince of Wales as a student at Oxford was in every respect unexceptionable. Yet even at that time were rumours that he was leading a vicion» Ufe. I was once anxiously interrogated m to tiieir truth by a person of eminence, who had heard them on what he believed very good autho- rity. I ventured to express my conviction that they were utterly untrue; and subsequent inquiry perfectly satisfied me that my conviction was well founded. There are some who avow their conviction that here- ditary institutions have played their allotted part in the development of humanity, and that they are now ceasing to be necessary or useful to mankind; and who wish to see them speedily withdrawn from the scene, because while they linger on they prevent us from turning our attention to the defects and liabilities of the elective principle, which, in its turn, requires regu- lation, lest in the place of the tyranny of kings, which is now fast becoming a shadow, and is quite one in this new world, should arise a tyranny of the sovereign people. But the most irrational and ignoble course of all is to keep Royalty alive and at the head of the nation, and at the same time to exult in degrading it, and the nation with it, by scandal and abuse.

A LADY ACCIDENTALLY POISONED. Mr. Wasbrough, the coroner for Bristol, held an in- quest on Saturday, on the body of Mrs. Goyder, a resi- dent of Clifton, whose death was occasioned by an overdose of Batley's solution of opium. The deceased, who was forty-five years of age, was the wife of Mr. Goyder, surveyor-general for South Australia, and for the past two years she had been staying at Clifton with her family for the benefit of her health. The com- plaint she was suffering from caused great weakness and sleeplessness, and she was recommended by a medical gentleman to take a few drops of Batley's sedative. She adopted his advice, and a couple of doses were administered to her by her sister, and from them she derived great benefit. On Thursday morn- ing, after passing a sleepless night, she took an over- dose of the mixture, and although every effort was made to restore her, she succumbed to the effects of the poison on Friday. The evidence entirely negatived the idea of suicide; and the iury returned a verdict of Died from an overdose of Batley's solution of opium taken by misadventure."