The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

EPITOME OF NEWS It is estimated that 90,000,000 tons of water per hour pass over the Fails of Niagara. A meeting was recently held at Liverpool for the PJSose ?f establishing a training ship for orplians and other children m the Mersey. The head-mastership of Gateshead Grammar School has been conferred on the Rev. J. J. Day, M.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The old man Fleming, says the Scotsman, whose name was so intimately mixed up with the Sandyford murder case two years ago, died on Tuesday at Dunoon. What is the difference, asks the Arrow, between tiie English and the American soldier P One fisrlits for tlte crovn and the other for the dollar. News has been received of the loss of a Wick fisnmg Doat and five of her crew. Fears are entertained that other boats which had left Wick on fishing expeditions have shared the same fate. During the past few weeks locusts have been caught in almost every direction in the west of Cornwall, and particularly in the district of Land's End. They have done much mischief among the cabbages. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Prin- cess de Joinville, with some members of their family, were expected to arrive in Constantinople at the close of last week. The young Marquis of Bute, who has been 'f! j P Mountstuart for some time past, has just com- pleted. his seventeenth year, aad the occasion was eelebrated with great éclatin the Island of Bute. In a town not a hundred miles from Warwick, society has been much scandalised by the elopement of a rich heiress with a poor but respectable parish schoolmaster. He taught her the organ. The Wife of President Lincoln is now claimed as a Scotchwoman. It is affirmed that she is the daughter of Mr. John Clark, a farmer belonging to the Braes of Donne, who emigrated to America about forty years ago. A sad accident occurred to Thomas Winters, mate of the Jane Harmer, Captain Munday, of Whitby. He was struck by the mainboom as the ship was tacking in Long Reach, knocked overboard, and drowned. The deliveries of herrings at Great Yarmouth during the past week have been small, but the quality of the nsli sent in has been good. Prices have ranged from £14 to 1-25 per last. The Tyne Iron Ship Building Company has just launched their third vessel, the Star Queen, of 377 tons th.e slip she has vacated will be at once occupied by a steamer of nearly double her capacity. The Eton election vacation terminated on Wednesday, on which day the lower form boys returned to college. The fifth and sixth forms arrived on Thursday and Friday. Enormous and almost unprecedented quantities of mushrooms have been gathered in many parts of the country during the last week, which is accounted for by the long drought and the rains following upon it. A boy, named Robert Fair, was standing in a skiff, the other day, holding on to the rope of a steamer, at Blackwall, when the tide drifted the skiff away from the vessel, and the boy fell into the water and was drowned. The British Prince, a fine vessel of 1,275 tons, built for the British Shipowners' Association, was launched last week from the building yard of Messrs. J. R. Clover and Co., Woodside. It is estimated that the population of South- ampton and its postal suburbs is now about 70,000. Fifty 15 000 ag° the popuIation of this ^strict did not number The treasurers of the Art Exhibition for the Relief of the Distress in the Cotton Districts have issued their balance-sheet, from which it appears that the large sum of £2,550 was realised, and paid ever to the objects of the charity. A terrific thunderstorm passed over Wolver- hampton on Saturday afternoon. During its continuance there was a very remarkable whirlwind, which unroofed four houses and occasioned great alarm. Fortunately no one was hurt. We (United Service Gazette) understand that Sir Charles Wood has prohibited the Indian Government from taking any offensive measure against Bliootan. This step has been taken without consultation with Sir John Lawrence or any of the Indian officials. At the Court of Bankruptcy a first meeting was held concerning Mr. Paul Bedford, the comedian. The debts were shown to be of small amount, and a proposal, it is said, is shortly to be made which will secure payment in full of all the creditors. A few days back a baptised Jew was brought before one of the tribunals of Vienna for judgment for having relapsed and returned to the creed of his forefathers. The tribunal decided that a conversion from one cread to another was not, as apostacy merely, punishable by law. A drinking fountain has been erected at Black Gang, at the back of the Isle of Wight, dedicated in an in- scription to the memory of Shakespeare." The fountain has been erected by Mr. Letts, a gentleman residing at Black Gang. At the agricultural competition of Vaucluse, lately held at Thor, the prize for ploughing was carried off by a young woman twenty years of age, the trial taking place with a plough drawn by four oxen. The competitors of the other sex were numerous. The liquidators of the affairs of the East of England Bank have made a call on the several persons who have been proved to be on the list of contributories. The call is £ 5 per share on the contributors in Class A, and JE13 10s. per share on the contributors in Class B. The coolest robbery, says a facetious contem- porary, committed by the rebel raiders in Maryland was at an ice-cream manufactory about fourteen miles from Balti- more, where a small body of cavalry devoured one hundred gallons of that seasonable article without waiting for spoons. A young lady, daughter of the Mayor of New York, recently fell from a pleasure yacht into the city harbour. She was saved by a United States naval officer, to whom the young lady's father shortly afterwards pre- sented a cheque for a thousand dollars. The change that has superseded the wooden walls of Old England" is indicated by the formal abolition of the officer under the Admiralty of Timber Tester;" in his place we are to have a new officer, called Issuer of Iron." The statistics of the import of petroleum oil, received from Liverpool, show what a very important trade it has become. America has exported 19J millions of gallons this year, as against aJittle more than 20 millions last year. A large proportion of the exports came to the United King- dom. The Government emigrant ship Sandring- ham, 1,126 tons, Mr. J. Lorden, master, which sailed from Plymouth on the 5th March last, arrived at Sydney, New South Wales, on the 26th June, having on board 389 Govern- ment emigrants. Four births and six deaths took place on the voyage. The jury have returned a verdict of "Accidental death in the case of the Seghill colliery explosion, near Leeds. It appears that the accident could not have been anticipated. Gas from an old working came in contact with a lamp which had been broken by a fall of stone. The men injured by the explosion are said to be recovering. At the last meeting of the executive committee of the Church Congress, a resolution highly complimentary to the Dean of Bristol was passed on the occasion of receiving his letter of resignation as one of the vice-presidents. The com.mittee thank him for his courtesy and kind assistance and regret his retirement. Advices from Bermuda to the 29th ult., re- ceived by the Darian, arrived at Torquay, report that yellow fever was on the increase. The captain and most of the crew of the merchant steamer Powerful had died. The papers also notice that there have been no recent arrivals of blockade-runners. Leotard, the famous gymnast, has terminated his engagement at the Paris Cirque. He is going to Rochefort to give a gratuitous representation for the benefit of the sufferers by the fire at Limoges, after which he intends taking some repose on an estate he has purchased in the neighbourhood of Toulouse. Messrs. Dawson, Graham, and Pugh, colo- nial produce agents, have stopped payment, owing chiefly it is stated, to losses by bad debts. Their liabilities amount to about £ 2o,000,.andit is believed that a satisfactory dividend will be realised. The books have been placed in the hands of Mr. S. Lowell Price, the accountant. In the alleged swindling case in the City Messrs. Montagna and Co.—that is to say, Charles Davis and James Cooper—charged with getting extensive samples and making money ef them, have, been committed for trial by Mr. Alderman Lusk, who showed his opinion of the case by refusing to reduce the substantial bail on which they might have gone at large. There has been a frightful fire at Vichy. On the spot were plenty of fire engines, but in consequence of the peculiar dryness of the season there was no water to be had nearer than at the distance of one mile. However, a chain of four thousand persons was organised, and a suffi- cient supply thus obtained to prevent the fire spreading over the town. Last Sunday was set apart in a large number of Churches in the metropolitan disteicts for the united national consideration of the question of free and open churches, in aid of the National Association for Promoting the Weekly Oltertory and Freedom of Worship. Appropriate sermons were preached and collectioiis made towards the objects of the association. The trade over the Panäma Railroad is rapidly increasing. The employes have but little rest, day or night, ana buimays do not often form any exception to the rule. The jirst six months of 1863 the number of passengers trans- ported over the road was short of 17,000. During the cor- respi melius: six months of this yearjnearly 25,000 were trans- ported. There is a corresponding increase also in the freight. ■i.'he Postmaster-General has given notice that on the 1st of October the scale of progression for charging letters addressed to any state on the western coast of South America, sent by packet, will be modified by substituting for the esistiiig scale a scale of weight having half an ounce as a unit, with the postage advancing by single rates for' each additional half ounce or fraction of half an ounce. I The visitors to the South Kensington Museum during the past week have been as follows :-On Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, free days, open from ten a.m. to ten p.m., 11,126; on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, students' days (admission to the ;public 6d.), open from ten. a.m. to six p.m., 1,206-total, 12,332. From the opening of the museum, 4,843,788. A sad and fatal accident occurred in the bottling establishment of Mr. Sloan, spirit merchant, High-street, Ayr. It appears that while one of the workmen, an old man of about sixty years of age, named Robert Norman, was engaged at a soda-water machine, the receiver suddenly burst, and a portion of it striking the unfortunate man on the back of the head, his skull was fractured, and he was instantaneously deprived,of life. M. Verner, the proprietor of the Zoological Gardens at Stuttgardt, and who is engaged in taming two fine lions, was bitten a few days ago by the male animal, and dragged about in the cage. The lion, getting alarmed by the voice of its master, at length let go its hold. M. Verner, although bleeding profusely from the wound he had received, did not quit the cage until he had inflicted a severe chastisement on the lion. The Journal de Rouen states that a house in the neighbourhood of Yvetot was very nearly set fire to a few days ago in a singular manner. A decanter full of water had been placed at a window exposed to the sun, and the rays being concentrated by passing through the water, set fire to the table on which the bottle was standirg. Fortu- nately, the smoke attracted attention, or serious damage might have been caused. At the Cockermouth petty sessions last week, Mr. R. Bell, "a county magistrate, was charged by the con- servator of the Derwent fishery with having infringed the Salmon Act of 1861, by not removing certain obstructions to the free passage of the fish up or down the river at Fitzmill, between noon on Saturday, August 28, and six o'clock on the following Monday morning. The question rested on certain technicalities, and the case was adjourned for a month, in order that eminent legal opinion might be obtained. The inquest on the body of Mr. Stevens, ink manufacturer, &c., of St. Martin's-le-Grand, who was dis- covered lying dead on a seat in the station of the Metro- politan Railway in Farringdon-street, has been held by Dr. Hardwicke, the deputy-coroner. The evidence conclusively established that the deceased gentleman suffered from a long-standing heart disease, which was the cause of death. The jury at once returned a verdict in accordance with the evidence. A scene of rare occurrence took place in the Manchester Cathedral on Sunday morning. During the reading of banns by the Rev. Mr. Troutbeck, a woman rose from her seat, and when two names were mentioned, she said, in a loud tone of voice, I forbid that." She was re- quested by one of the apparitors to make her objection in the vestry after service, and she resumed her place The scene caused some commotion in the crowded church. The Independence Belge gives the following curious particulars of the amount received by various artists as the result of single performances. Malibran at Drury-lane re- ceived £150 each night. The same price was paid to Lablache for two performances. Grisi at New York re- ceived £400 for one performance, and shortly after obtained £2,400 as the result of one night's entertainment in London. Taglioni received £150 for every performance at Hamburg, and at her second benefit at St. Petersburg she realised the extravagant sum of £8,160, in addition to a m:1gniiiccnt pre- sent of diamond ornaments made by the Czar.

AGRICULTURE. -+- As an illustration of one of the effects of the late drought, which has ruined the turnip crop and burned up the pastures in England, we heard the other day, says the Ayrshire Advertiser, of a Scotch dealer who, in driving a flock of cattle to the English market, had to pay X6 10s. for water for them for a single night. A CONTEMPORARY, speaking of the profits to be de- rived from exporting valuable stock to the colonies, says:—A number of rams, bulls, and stallions were sent off a few days ago to the Cape of Good Hope in the mail steamer which would make enormous profits. A ram worth X3 or £ 6 in this country, and the freight for which, by the steamer, is about as much, will fetch fifty or sixty guineas at the Cape. TALKING of large farming, one of the speakers at the recent meeting of the Wigton Agricultural Society said he had lately been on a visit to Mr. Alderman Mechi, and he met there a farmer indeed—a Mr. Campbell, who farms 3,400 acres of his own; he had 11,000 sheep and 1,200 head of cattle; he lately sold his wool for .£10,000, bought it back for < £ 11,000, and sold it again for £ 12,000. That gentle mm told him that he bought £ 10,000 worth of oil-cake at a time had. spent < £ 28,000 in draining, and had covered up twenty six million of tiles. That was something like farming. I Varieties of Potatoes. Carrying out our avowed intention, says the Field, we now proceed to give the results as to produce. merits, and general capabilities of ten varieties of potatoes grown by us in our little experimental gar- den. We took the first decade as our limit, as we justly thought that ten varieties were sufficient to judge of in one season. It is no joke having for dinner on ten different days ten different sorts of potatoes, and keeping a mental catalogue of each day's flavour, colour, produce, and general qualities. Hap- pily, we hit upon a plan:—We keep a bit of paper and pencil at our elbow, and through the meal dot^down' our ideas as they are dictated by the potato, catching the fleeting visions as they rise. Well, then, to begin at the beginning We take first, Daintree's Earliest; we place these as first and A 1. We were pleased to receive the gentlemanly testimony of Mr. Francis Francis to the merits of these unequalled potatoes, because it fully bore out all that we had formerly said about them, and also what we have now to say. This has been a trying season, yet Daintree's have come out strong, full-sized, plenty at the root (fifteen to twenty eating potatoes at one root is not amiss), and their table merits are indisputable. When they were stopped being taken into the kitchen, we received through the culinary chef a very anxious inquiry as to the reason why, and a most earnest hope that they might have them again; but we were obliged to harden our heart and say, "No, most decidedly not." Last year we were weak enough to yield to this sort of pressure, and they nearly left us without seed for the present year. Once burnt, twice shy." 2. Oldbury Kidneys.—Early and good, but spare croppers. They don't do when the demand is great, and the quantity of ground of the smallest. 3. Ashleafs.-The old ash tops;" not so early as Oldburys, but better croppers, and, we think, better on the table. 4. Crystal Palace Kidneys.—A local name for the best second early kidney grown. We believe they are what is grown in the south of England as Haigh's kidney. A friend of ours decidedly says that they are Lapstones, but we have had Lapstones out of York- shire (the county where the Lapstone kidney was raised), but they are quite different. Tha Lapstone, though a good potato, is but second to our variety. They have the name of Crystal Palace kidney, because they were brought into our neighbourhood by a gen- tleman who bought them as prize potatoes at the Crystal Palace. We should be delighted to change a peck of ours for a peck of Haigh's with any of our readers who may be potato enthusiasts, and who grow that variety. The Crystal Palace kidney is a heavy, very heavy cropper, ready to dig in July, and when boiled (they will be a ball of flour in ten minutes) are the best and purest-flavoured potato wa ever tasted. They have but one fault, they are delicate, soon cat jh the disease; but our practice is to plant them, sprouted, the second week in April, then, in a favour- able season, they will be ready to dig in July, before the rains come, and if we have a suspicion of wet coming and they are not quite ripe, we up with them and house immediately. 5. Bagley's Seedlings.-A variety raised by the great market gardener, George Bagley. They are all that can be desired for a market potato-strong in consti- tution, heavy cropper, growing very evenly (by which we mean not many little ones at the roots), and a very good table potato. 6. Shaws.-A potato heavy as a cropper, but a little too close in texture in the eating to those who have been indulging in Daintrees and Crystal Palace kidneys; besides, that inestimable potato for a general crop, 7. Dalmahoys, comes into use at the same time, or thereabouts, and does away with the need of Shaws entirely; but as an old and most useful friend, we generally contrive to find it a corner somewhere. The I' Dalmahoy is all that can be desired in a potato for the main crop; it is a Scotch seedling, an improved- variety of the old and universally-esteemed potato, the Prince Regent. It will grow to immense size- I has done this year, when potatoes generally are small; is round, not too deep in the eye, white in colour, and I a perfect flour-ball when boiled. The same praise may also be given to 8. Lincolnshire Pink-eyed Regents. These are a fine variety, but coarser in texture than Dalmahoys. For those who want weight. rather than extreme quality, they will do better-than Dalmahoys for our- selves, we prefer the former to the latter. 9. Flukes, which as a winter supply are unequalled, and particularly as a late supply, Froixt May til] new potatoes come in they are super-excellent. They are a moderate crop this year-very even, clean, but not heavy; what there are, however, are good. 10. Handsworth Early Round. — This potato we have left to the last, because we can say no good of it. It is early;" but it is also delicate-not a heavy cropper; and if it were not a new potato, it would not get eaten at all. It is a pretty potato, with clear skin, and not many eyes, but the sooner it is dis- carded for more improved varieties, the better it will be for the grower and consumer too. In. the matter of disease, we have but one or two roots affected, and we are getting on fast with taking up—indeed, have nearly finished. On the whole, the crop is moderate, but then it will be healthy and there- fore good; and another thing, the increase of Bant- ingites, who abjure potatoes, will leave more for those whom potatoes do not hurt. We should be glad if our readers would compare notes. The Crops of 1864. Mr. Turner, a land agent, living at Richmond, York- shire, has written a letter to the Times, in which he asserts that he has travelled through the greater por- tion of the Northern and Midland counties, and com- pared notes with many agriculturists. He expresses his gratification at the productive nature of most of the crops, but says:- There is considerable difficulty in conveying a cor- rect idea about this crop, owing to that of last year proving an unusually great one, and of the natural tendency of the mind to compare this year's crop with that of what we must regard as the crop of an excep- tional year. "After careful examination (he continues), I am satis- fied that we have this year, in bulk, a full average crop of wheat; but I do not think, according to all the samples I have seen, and from all the other evidence I have obtained, that wheat this year will weigh so much by 21b. per bushel as it did last year. A casual observer might say that it is a trifling difference, but when is is remembered that the 21b. per bushel consti- tutes one thirty-second part of the whole crop, its serious importance will at once be admitted. "Wheat, however, in all the southern counties, and, indeed, as far north as York, has all been secured in excellent condition. I do not mean in condition to keep, but it is sufficiently dry to be at once brought into use, and most of it has been got in without a damaged grain. The samples I have procured, where the weight is really known, are mostly 631b. per bushel; the highest weight of all my samples is 661b. per bushel; this last is an uncommonly bold sample of red wheat from Norfolk. "A good deal of wheat in the northern counties has been carried during the last few days and, owing to the frequent showers we have had lately, its condition is much inferior to that of the southern counties. There is no fear of it keeping well, but much of it will not be fit to grind until it has had the benefit of October's winds. Barley.—This crop varies a great deal, but over the whole kingdom I think it is unquestionably above an average crop. Owing to excessive drought and other circumstances, a greater proportion than usual will, I believe, be found unfit for malting purposes. For reasons I shall afterwards give, I do not think this will prove any loss to the farmer. Oats are an irregular crop; on the whole under an average in bulk, but their condition is unusually good. I have before me some fine samples. I have one, grown in Yorkshire, plump, thin in the skin, and as white as rice; and in all districts where heavy crops of oats are grown the sample will be found unusually free from inferior grains. "Beans.—This crop is a very unequal one; in some places it was good and well podded, in others not half a crop; in not a few fields they have been ploughed down. I have before me a beautiful sample I got in Cheshire, but the crop was a miserable one. On the whole the bean crop is clearly under an average one. Peas I think an average crop, and they have been got into the stackyard in unusually good condition. Turnips.—I am deeply grieved to have to report very unfavourably on the crop of this important root; but there can, I think, be no doubt that, over the kingdom, the crop is not half so heavy as might reasonably have been expected. In many counties they have not a quarter of a crop and it is lamenta- ble to see acres upon acres of bare fallow where fine swedes ought to have been growing. The swedes of the northern counties, though much inferior in weight to what was hoped for, are far superior to those grown in the south. In a very regular crop which I examined yesterday I measured one which was fully eighteen inches in circumference, and in another good field I walked over to-day I found one measuring fully twenty-one inches round it. Grass.—With few exceptions, chiefly in Westmore- land and Cumberland, with some dales in Yorkshire, grass-land has been completely burnt up. Pastures have long ago lost their ordinary green colour, and have resembled a close-cut oat stubble. Most farmers have found it absolutely necessary to give their stock cake or corn; and, with such addition, it is wonderful to see how well animals have kept their condition. "After-grass, or fog, as it is called in Yorkshire, is absolutely worthless. Hay was a moderate crop, and in consequenco of the scarcity of grass is held at extravagant prices. It will thus be seen that, owing to the total want of after-grass and of grass in our pastures, our present means of making fat are much curtailed; and when the great failure in the turnip crop is taken into con- sideration, it seems clear that our ordinary mode of fat- tening stock during next winter will have to be consider- ably modified. A liberal supply of cake, or bruised barley, or oats, or inferior wheat, must be given to stock, along with a very limited quantity of roots. The rough barley will come in well for this purpose, and reduce the outlay for cake; and, with beef and mutton at the high prices they are sure to bring, barley used in this manner will probably make as much money as that sent to the maltster."

A WIDOW AND HER TWO SONS: UN- NATURAL CONDUCT. The Court of Assizes of the Oise, France, has just tried two brothers named Pierre and Louis Petel, the former charged with attempting to murder his own mother, a widow, residing at Venette, and the latter with being the instigator of the crime. About 3 in the morning of the 23rd of May last, the garde-cham- petre of Venette, named Matton, was awakened by widow Petel, who told him that an attempt had been made to murder her during the night. The poor wo- man being covered with blood, and in a state of great exhaustion, Matton and his wife gave her every assist- ance in their power, and as soon as she was able she told them that a person had entered her bedroom about midnight and had attempted to strangle her by putting a cord with a slip knot round her neck, but that she had managed to get her hand into the noose so as to pre- vent complete strangulation. She cried for help, and resisted her assailant as well as she could, but he thrust a handkerchief into her mouth to stop her cries, and then pulled the cord with such violence that she was drawn off the bed and fell on the floor in a fainting fit. The murderer, thinking her dead, took the hand- kerchief from her mouth and fled. She added that she believed her younger son Pierre to be the criminal; that her elder son Louis had twice tried to poison her, and that the motive for these crimes was her sons' desire to obtain possession of her house and property. Pierre, who was in the service of a farmer at Com- piegne, was at once arrested, and on his person was found a handkerchief stained with blood, as were also his own clothes. It was likewise proved by his master that he had been absent part of the night from the farm. Before the examining magistrate Pierre con- fessed his guilt, and stated that he had committed the crime at the suggestion of his brother, who had pre. viously tried to poison their mother, but failed. As this confession was fully supported by collateral evi- dence, the jury found both prisoners guilty, but with axtenuating circumstances, and the Court accordingly sentenced them-to hard labour for life. Government Emigration. The Government

emigrant ship, Eastern Empire, 993 tons, Mr. George Jury master, which sailed from Plymouth on the 16th March last, arrived at Adelaide, -South Australia, on the 20th June, with 387 Government emigrants, under the care of Mr. Isaac Baker Brown, surgeon superin- tendent, assisted by the Rev. L. W. Stanton, religious instructor, and Mrs. Mary A. Lamb, matron. Three births and four deaths took place on the voyage. The Emigration Commissioners chartered last week the Hannah More, 1,129 tous, belonging to Messrs. T. M. Mack&y and Co., London, to convey emigrants to Brisbane, Queensland, at .< £ 12 19s. 3d. per statute adult.' The Hannah More is appointed to receive her na^sengers BirisseheaS ,on the 8th November next. <

TOPICS OF THE WEEK. -+- THE MARQUIS OF TOWNSHEND'S PHILANTHROPY. -Lord Townshend, whose affection for dumb animals is well known, has just discovered a new variety of the genus and a new sort of oppression. A farmer on the Yorkshire Wolds expects his, or rather her, servants to go to church on Sundays. They are hired by the year, as is usual in that part of the country; they live in the house, and are as much domesticated as those who are more immediately called domestics." Per- haps the lady goes to church herself, and does not quite like the notion of leaving people at home of whose character she has no better evidence than that they prefer practical heathenism to any known form of worship; perhaps she is a Christian, and wishes her servants to be Christians also; perhaps she has found (as Yorkshire agriculturists not unfrequently do) that the special time fixed upon for mischief, of whatever sort, is generally that during which the master or mistress is pretty certain to be at church. For whatever reason, Mrs. Harrison chose that her servant should attend to his duties on Sunday as regularly as on other days; and a recalcitrant labourer was instructed by the magistrates that the law is per- fectly clear on the subject. Lord Townshend writes an indignant letter to Sir. G. Grey, and-meeting ap- parently with no encouragement in his crusade against the law-rushes into print, one of the newspapers tak- ing up the strain with aterrible howl about persecution. Lord Townshend should learn a little logic. The magis- trates inform the man that he must "attend some place of worship." This is not exactly equivalent to com- pelling him to attend church, though apparently his lordship does not see the difference. The persecu- tion" amounts to just this-thn man may not have certain hours in the week set apart for his special amusements, of whatever kind, with a guaranteed immunity from the chances of discovery. Lat his lordship, or those who sympathise with him, try the expedient of leaving a new servant—farm labourers in Yorkshire are almost changed annually-of un- known character in his house with the promise that during certain hours in the week he shall have the house to himself, free of oversight. Lord Townshend would also do well to read a little book called "PJoughing and Sowing," which has attained more than a local reputation. He will find that the York- shire farm labourer is not at all an animal in his lordship's line. He is a clever, sturdy, manly fellow, that may be made almost anything of under good training; he is also too often grievously ignorant; and his class has been sadly neglected in all higher matters by many of those who ought most actively to have cared for it. Altogether he will discover that he never did a sillier thing-and we fear this is saying a good deal-than when he -did what little lay in his power to hinder a Christian widow in her kind endeavour to do her full duty to those committed to her charge;-The Press. PRUSSIA AND THE GERMAN STATES.—The jealousy of the great Powers towards each other may for the moment be sleeping, but it is not extinct. Prussia has allowed it to be understood that she wished to annex ,the Duchies, but she has not ventured to carry her plan out. She may possibly succeed still; but the rebuffs she meets with, and the cautious way in which she feels compelled to proceed, show that an increase of territory by the mere exercise of the strong arm is not a gain that comes very easily to a great Power. Nor is it true that Denmark was a little Power abandoned by her big friends without any just cause when she was being robbed of what was incontestably hers. She has for years enjoyed the possession of the Duchies on a different tenure from that on which she held the other parts of her dominions. It was the intervention of Russia, with the sanction of England, that gave her that possession, and she was placed there on her good behaviour. She did not behave so well as to enable her to appeal very confidently to her friends, and her subjects in the Duchies did not wish her to rule over them. Nor were the Duchies claimed by a big Power. They Were claimed by that most harmless of men, the Duke of Augustenburg, and it is at this moment only a piece of pure guesswork to say that they will pass into the hands of Prussia. An open aggression by a large State on a small one is not at all a probable event in these days, for it would provoke a great contest and create a great scandal, which it would obviously be much wiser to avoid if quieter means would bring about the desired end, or if the territory annexed were sure to become a centre of local disaffection. The reason why Prussia may be trusted not to invade and appropriate Saxony is that, if Saxony is worth having, it may be obtained in a surer and less objectionable way, and that, although there is some chance that -no power would interfere to save Saxony, there is also a great chance that aid would be forthcoming. Saxony might fight, and then the lesser States of Germany might help her, and then France might help them. The risk, in fact, is greater than the prize. And then the question is not forced on Prussia whether she will have Saxony by violence or not at all. She may, without striking a blow or awakening any opposition, acquire a political supremacy over Saxony which will give her all the accession of strength and consequence that the incorporation of Saxony could give her. But in order to effect this she must satisfy the Germans generally, and Saxony in particular, that she is worth joining. In order to do this, however, she must show herself to be moderately liberal and just. The Germans do not want much in the way of political wisdom, but they want something. It was because she took the lead in what, thirty years ago, was thought a liberal commercial policy, that Prussia became the head of the Zollverein. If, however, Prussia becomes mode- rately liberal in politics, she will not be ruled by men capable of wantonly and without excuse appropriating a neighbouring State. There is every reason to sup- pose that, during the lifetime of the present genera- tion, there will be great changes in the smaller States of Europe, but there will be changes also in the internal composition of large States, and we may venture to hope that these changes will not be in a direction which would make acts of shameless rapacity viewed with less indignation abroad and less compunction at home.—Saturday Review. PROFESSOR FAWCETT ON REFORM.—Professor Fawcett made a speech on Parliamentary reform at Brighton on Monday evening which, though it may serve his purpose well as a candidate for that consti- tuency, will scarcely, we think, add to the political reputation of that thoughtful and able writer amongst men of his own calibre. Mr. Fawcett takes a firm stand, like many other parliamentary politicians, when- ever he can feel the ground of economical science strong under his feet; but otherwise, also like them, he drifts into the democratic view, partly in deference to the beokonings of Liberal constituencies, and partly from want of some tangible intellectual principle to hold by, short of complete democracy. For instance, in this very speech he reiterated the expression of his mild intellectual contempt for the principles of the Financial Reform Association, and even ventured to assert, what is most true but not a very popular view, that clerks who receive quarterly .£150 to X200 a year, are really poorer and more heavily taxed men than working-men who receive their X3 or X4 a week. On matters of this kind we are sure that no wish to be popular will warp Mr. Fawcett's clear intellect, or even keep him silent when he ought to speak. But the moment he passes the comparatively solid ground of figures and finance, you begin to see the thoughtful Liberal who is guided by facts only in his inferences, fading away into the hustings Liberal whose convictions are, for want of a firmer root, considerably affected by his wish tosecurepopnlarsupport. We have reiterated our desire for the admission of the working-classes into the pale of the representative system at times when no political I change could seem less agreeable to the public. But we have always maintained that the trnejusticeistoadmit them to a share in the representative system, not to hand over to them the monopoly of the representative I system, and we cannot conceive how any one who really values the principle of national representation, can differ from us. Mr. Fawcett apparently does not, but has recourse to the old and, we must say with respect, childish intellectual expedients for persuading us that the numerical magnitude of the working-class, if admitted en masse, would not in any way affect the influence exercised over the choice of a representative by the middle and more educated classes of the com- munity. "It was another most singular fallacy," said Professor Fawcett, "to say that the extension of the suffrage to the working man would overwhelm the votes of every other section of the community. The argument implied that the working classes would always unite themselves in a solid phalanx with motives and aims opposed to the rest of the com- munity. There was no ground for saying that. Those I who knew the working classes knew that, upon all great questions affecting them there was a great difference of opinion among them. In regard to the question of the relation between capital and labour many working men were strenuously opposed to trades' unions and strikes. In regard to the closing of places of public amusement on Sundays, a great diversity of opinion also existed. In regard to the question of war with Poland, he had attended a meeting in the London Guildhall where a Tory peer stood almost alone in expressing the desire that Eng- land should go to war on behalf of the Poles, and he never witnessed such a manifestation of enthusiasm as that expression had drawn from the working men present. These illustrations would show that people had no right to assume the opinion of the working classes on a-ay great question would be this or that. He believed they took as much interest in politics, and had the interest of the country as much at heart, as any other section of the community. Spectator.

Epigram on the Belfast Riots. BY A VENDOR OF FINE ST. MICHAEL'S." The rows at Belfast Are over at last, Having shown up some local abuses. Speedy steps they should take, And forbidden fruit" make Of the Orange these rows that pro-juices.

TELE-GRAFINNS.—The Telegraph Department in India is to have its efficiency increased to a fair ex- tent, by the introduction of nine hundred clerks belonging to the fair sex. We need hardly say that the tender of such service was most appropriate, for the young ladies are naturally well acquainted with In the working of the needles. GET ALONG WID'EE !—We are deeply pained to ob- serve the following paragraph extracted from the Mo- ravian journals The Government of Moravia has decided that widows who pay taxes have a right to vote in municipal elections. This is a most distressing development of the rights tf woman, and one which we trust will not extend to Great Britain. If this additional motive ior desiring, to become widows were to be allowed to tempt the sex the result would be awful! A RETORT THAT IS A LITTLE TOO SPIRITED.— Retaliation in commerce, as in other things, sometimes takes a most savage form. Now lock at India, how we treat her in our commercial relations! Because India sends us her cotton badly ginned, is -that any reason, we ask, why we should send her our sherries- so fearfully brandied ? DIFFERENT WAYS CF TRAVELLING.—Man travels- to expand his ideas; but woman—judging fram the number at boxes she invariably takes with her-travels only with the object of expanding her dresses. His GRANDMOTHER.—" Poor thing very painful!" said Old Mrs. Bowline (grandmother of the lamented Tom Bowline the darling of his crow), on reading a, letter from her nautical relation, wherein he told her that he had seen the Needles right in the eye of the- Wind. A QUESTION FOR NOTES AND QUERIES.-SUppos- ing you found a greenback, would you, when found, be able by any means to make a note of it ?" A RmDLE.- Why is a gentleman enjoying a snooze, and refreshed by it, like a hunter who goes at a jump. with a number of other ? Because he takes his (s)leap with the rest. + A Chapter of Accidents.-A farmer living near

Clonmel, some few mornings ago perceived two goats creating an awful havoc in his cabbage garden. The marauders in question were attached to each other- with a rope, and when apparently luxuriating on ourlyheads, &o., their banquetting was disturbed by the owner, who, with the aid of a long stalk, caused then to retreat. Instead of taking the gate, however, they made for the fence, topped it and off; when, terrible to relate, they found themselves one at each side of a colt's back and being strangled. Away dashed the affrighted horse; the more the goats kicked and plunged the faster went he, until the lot- came to a quarry, when over went the three, falling a considerable distance, and coming to smash. All three were found dead, and on dit that legal proceedings will be the result. The question arises, Who was in fault ? One man had his cabbage garden injured, and the perpetrators thereof were hung, inducing a loss to their owner, and a good young horse came "to grief," for which his master seeks compensation. Drunk for Twenty Tears.—At a recent inquest held by Mr. Richards, at the Wellington Tavern, Can- non-street, St. George's-in-the-East, Sarah Whaley, aged fifty-nine years, was shown to have died from excessive drinking. The evidence went to prove that the deceased was the wife of a mariner, who was in- dustrious, and left her his half-pay, which she squan- dered away in drink. A short time since she was found in a destitute state at her lodgings, and was removed to the infirmary at St. George's Workhouse, where she received every attention. On Monday morning last she was seized with illness, and expired suddenly in bed. William Whaley, her husband, said she was a continual drunkard, and had spent a fortune in drink. She had not been sober for twenty years. Dr. J. S. Belcher, of the New-road, St. George's, said that a post mortem, examination of th.9 body showed that the left lung was studded with tubercular abscesses. The immediate cause of death was disease of the heart from excessive drinking of ardent spirits. The husband said that the deceased's favourite drink was rum. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony. The Value of Property in the City of London. -At the Lord Mayor's Court, a compensation case, Jones and Cohen v. the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company, has just been heard. Mr: Serjeant Parry and Mr. Raynard were for the claimants, and Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr. Gadsden for the com- pany. The claim was £3,000 for three freehold houses in Fleet-lane, which had been pulled down. An offer of £1,760 had been made and paid into court. Several witnesses were called on both sides a,s to the value, and the usual difference in the opinion of values was given in evidence. Both parties admitted that property in the City had greatly increased in value, and it was stated on oath that three companies ha.d been estab- lished to purchase property in the City for the pur- pose of selling it again. Mr. Commissioner Kerr told the jury they were to assess the present value. It was remarkable that where railway companies were con- cerned there was a wide difference, as to the opinion of the values. The value should be the same as between John Jones and Thomas Smith, but he was bound to say it was not so. The jury awarded £2¡45(].