The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard

%kmi THE A Cnil; Ikbcl," whose lettcr .ppears in the Days Fens, writes to urge the great desirability of satisfying the Irish demand for self-government. He says— It is the worst and most fatal'dsfcision to imagine that any lar^e body of Irishmen are at the present moment loyal at their beans to England. Again I appeal-to Englishmen not to wil- fully shut their eyes" to the all-pervading conviction among Ir's'imen. It is needless to mince the question—the Irish nation is at this moment in the balance for independent unioa with England, or an independent Republic without it. Heaven only knows on what little provocation the weight might incline to the more desperate side. It will not he necessary for me, sir, I apprehend, to pile up evidence of this fact to satisfy anybody acquainted with genuine Irish feeling. Such evidence must lie in abundance at the hands of the officers of the Crown in this tcountry. It will be no news to the authorities in Dublin Castle to learn that the active semblance of -disloyalty is in full activity, and that step by step the entire middle class, as well as the lower and farmer classes, have notoriously thrown themselves in with the popular cauie- tliit, in fact. disloyalty in one shape or has become the creed of nine-tenths of the popul- ation. The writer poins out the advantage to England of having Ireland loyal, and says he is persuaded that a conference of a few of the leading men of both nations would result in such a comprcraise as would for ever cement the con- nection of those countries, and re-establish them in the position of a European great Power. A number of Roman Catholic peers and gentlemen, in- eln ling Lord Denbigh, have issued a formal protest against the invasion of Rome. In the protest they say- As subjects of tte British throne we contemplate this event with sorrow and dismay. We fear the a-. enging hand of Provi- dence. Our country is not without ifs dteaffections; our legis- lation and history have not been such as utterly to deprive conspiracy and revOit of all palliation. When we shall be in difficulties, domestic treason may assume, by foreign instigation, dimensions far beyond any ever attained in the Rome of our days and there may be those found too and too willing to plav the fictitious part of liberators, with motives and means such as those that h-.i\ e now prospered against Rome. Thirdly, as Catholics, rejoieit s in the faith and Church of Christ, we (Vt-ply feel the peculiar aggravation which attends this crime. it is a sacrilege of deepest "dye, ami of widest consequences of evil. It is an open blow struck at the cai seof God and His Christ in the person of the servant of His servants. It is a blow struck at the centre whence now, the very life-blood of the Church. The work of evangelizing the world is impeded, and is meant to be permanently arrested at the main source of its action. This is, indeed; outwardly the work of an ambitious and aggressive state, but behind it are the associated enemies of the ntIne and the very thought of God. A daily contemporary makes merry over the Hock in the following style :— We are sorry to perceivc that our contemporaiy the Bock has in one instance fallen away from that strict path d virtue which we had expected it to follow. It may be the Christmas season which is responsible for a display of levity, and a desire of carnal indulgence, not pleasant to observe in a journal of exalted principles. Its latest nuiK'ter presents us with & poem—ap- parently appropriate to the time of the year—which is called, How old art thou ?" A -question of this kind, however awkward, not to say impertinent, is generally accompanied by sound advice but in the present case our reckless contemporary exclaims, Carouse thee and live." We hope that this advice will not be accepted as seriOlis by the gentle curates who are accustomed to look to the for instruction. The result might be disastrous, not only to their constitutions, but to their household affairs. The admonition to carouse may he more or less suited to Christmas-time; tut why hint that indulgence tends to give one length of days The Wellington (Xew Zealand) correspondent of the Time* publishes a letter from one of the chiefs, which does that "stvagn's" head and heart credit. He says there has been a great native gathering in the Taupo country, result- ing in an openly-expressed determination to encourage-the settlement of Europeans and the formation of roads. The following letter, sent to the native minister by one of the most influential chiefs at that meeting, may be taken, he says, as expressing the feeling which obtains very generally among the inland tribes :— -Mahia, October 10. Friend, salutation* to you. I have received your circular giving a report of the proceedings of the Parliament. You say truly that it is because there are so few Europeans in Xew Zealand that there is neither work nor money. I have one word to say to you. Let Kuropeans be sent here to cover the ground. This is another word of vours to ui--voll say feat certain natives have requested that spirituous liquors may not be allowed to be sent to their districts, and that you, the .\s,<mlJly, consented thereto. I fill], consent that drink should not be brought into cur districts. That is all.—From your loving friend, To .Mr M'Lean. I A French lady writing to the Times, says— Deeply and fearfully impressed by what my own country has incurred and is suffering, I cannot help feeling sorrowful when I see in England signs of our begetting sins appearing also. Paint and chignons, slang and vaudevilles, knowing Anocymas' by name, and reading doubtfully moral novels, are in themselves small offences, although not many years ago they wotid have appeared very heinous ones, yet they are quick and tempting conveyances on a very dangerous high road. I would that all Englishwomen kiv.w how they are looked up to from abroad— ■wh.it a high opinion, what honour and reverence we foreigners have for their principles, their truthfulness, the fresh and pure innocence of their daughters, the healthy yuiithfulness of their lovely children. May I illustrate this by a short example which happened very nevir meDuring the days of the emcutes of 1848 all the houses in Paris were being searched for fire-arms by the mob. The one I was living in contained none, as the master of the home repeatedly assured the furious and incredulous Re- publicans. They were going to lay violent hands on him, when his wife, an English lady, hearing the loud discussion, came bravely forward and assured them that no arms were concealed. Vous etes Anglaise, nous vous croyons les Anglaises disent toujonrs la verite," was the immediate answer, and the rioters quickly left. A lady named Crawford attended before the Guardians of the North Dublin Union, last week, to claim a singular legacy. She asked that a little girl named Murphy, eight years of age, might be delivered up to her, stating that the ehild s mother, before entering the workhouse, where she died, made a will leaving her guardian of the child. Mrs Crawford is a Protestant, and avows her intention to bring the child up in that faith, though the mother was a Iloman Catholic. The guardians resolved that, on Mr Crawford taking out administration to the deceased womjn, they would not resist her legal claim. It is highly probable that Catholics will dispute the claim. Here is a tic-bit from the Church Herald for our readers to laugh or cry over, as they feel inclined- As long as Mr Gladstone and his Popish and Infidel allies are in office, so long will he play into the hands of either, to the detri- ment and damage of the ancient National Church. The rapscallions of the Reform League, as well as the cantm" hypocrites of the Liberation Society, must be appeased anil satisfied. They must have s >ps and good things thrown to stop their noise and employ their time. And as often as the exigen- cies of the Great liberal party" need, the church must be robbed and insulted by Mr Gladstone and his followers. We don't wonder at this. It is part of the "liberal" programme. Witness the proceedings of Victor Emmanuel at Rome,"of Gari- ba'di in France, and of Gladstone in Ireland. Men in England, who have the wits of a Hat-fish, ought to be able to see what further libera} blessings are in otoro for the Chinch of England if the unprincipled crew now in office remain thm, The SUI, Francisco Bulletin contains the following :— A late number of the Commercial Advertiser of Honolulu re- lates the fact that one of the whale ships in that harbour recently captured a whale in the Arctic seas which had in its carcase a harpoon. This harpoon was known to belong to a ship which wa.s at that time cruising in the northern seas on the other side of the continent. The whale had evidently passed from one open sea to the other by way of the Pole. He must have found open water, for even a whale must come up at sh0rt intervals to blow. It is certain that the Polar Sea is navigable for whales from one side of the continent to the other. But while it does not follow that ships could pursue the same track, the fact cited is one of considerable inte:t. Shipmasters may be able to ravigate the Polar Sea when they know a.s much about naviga- tion in hio;<;h latitudes as this whale with a l-arpoon sticking in his The late Earl of Aberdeen seems to have passed an eventful life. He left England for America in 18GG, and became a sailor, Subsequently he settled at Pensacola. He remained at Pensacola several months, and acted as a clerk in a lumber establishment, and became a great favourite with his employers. But his health becoming impaired lie again wen t to sea,f and passed an examination before the Marine Board in Xew York, from whom he received a certificate of competency as chief mate. With this certificate he came to Boston, and, after knocking about several weeks, took a fancy to the three- masted schooner Hera, then on the berth loading for Melbourne, in Messrs Henry W. Peabody and Co.'s line of packets. He told the shipping master and the captain that wages were not an object he liked the vessel and the voyage, and accordingly was shipped at forty dollars per month. lie joined the vessel several days before she sailed, and worked as hard as any longshore- man oil board. His friends in Great Britain, very anxious to have him return, sent commissioners to this country to find h;m, and after a great amount of searching traced him to the Hera, and soon afterwards learned that he had been lost over- board. The Daily News thus comments on the death of Prim — The assassination avl death of General Prim, just as he had necoinphshed his a-Kiieation of power, and at the very moment fchut tuo Kixisr Il ia chosen w:is (lniwmnf ne.ir to nf Spain, is one of the most startling and striking incidents n the history of p.. itusJ murders. Here was a"man wlm had i un u;e g.iuntle. of ah sorts of dangers during an adventurous and busy l:ie a man whose existence had been passed amid plots, intrigues, and m urrections of every form and colour and T. sooner has he reached the goal of his career—no sooner has he declared his intention of retiring into private life and binding over to another the authority be v>i,i with firmness and prud -ence-tllin he is shot down bv his own countrymen in the streets of the capital over which he had ruled. He did not evcP- live to see King Amadeus arrive Admiral Topete, once a Montpensierist, and now Presi- dent of the Council, set out for Carthagena and has welcomed ashore the Prince whom Prim had selected for the crown. Not- withstanding the number and severity of his wounds it was con- fidently expected that he would recover and, indeed, the latest news we we're enabled to publish on Saturdav was an announce- ment from Madrid that upe Marshal was better his wounds show- ing no serious symptoms. °Vlr Gladstone, we are afraid, has made a mistake in the reconstruction of the Cabinet. Mr Stansfeld is left out, when both he and the party he represents had a claim to a seat foi him in the Cabinet. The Daily Xews says Mr Gladstone's Xew Year announcement is not, we fe-ir' of a character which will oe very satisfactory, either to the Liberal party or to the c umtry-. He has oil meeting the P-iriia- ment of 1*71, th" unexampled difficulties in foreign noKt'es which challenge the wisdom oi the < .'overnmcnt, and the serio,i problems in ))o,.ic legislation await it with a Ministrv weaker than that which confronted the ta-ks of the two prl. vious sessions. Mr Bright retires and if Mr Bright had been Mr Otway ov .Mr Trevelyan his withdrawal could not have had less effect on the r> construction of the Ministry. It is as it was less effect on the r> construction of the Ministry. It is as it was before. miiiits Mr Brignt. But thi-; minus is a large negative quantity, and represents the substruction of a vast amount of the confidence f. il. in the administration out of doors, and by that part of the House of Commons which sits below the gang- way. The refusal of the Government to introduce any new element into the Cabinet is apparently felt to need apologv, for in the olii.-ial announcement which we are authorised to publish to-dav, it is said that the Cabinet i.s now reduced to the number beyond which it was temporarily enlarged during the illness of Mr Bright. It is difficult to interpret this assertion. An obliging spiritualist (says a, contemporary) has sent br the first number of the Christian Spiritualist, a periodi- cal which is evidently intenr1.d to "supply a want long felt." It is edited by the Rev. F. R. Young, who contri- b'ltes the m.vsterioiis account of the withdrawal of the i ft of healing power On Saturday afternoon, October 1st, 1870, I was sitting with my hand upon the indicator, together with the hand of Miss Sarah Ridout Wreford, when a message, purporting to come from a verv dear departed friend of both of us, was spelt out. The following is the latter part of the message, which I "lye verbatim et literatiui leaving my readers to judge it as they please :— "And now for a real surprise. This is the first of October. From this date your healing power will leave you for ever. It Was oranted to you, tJ:rouh Dr Newton, as a reward for him; but especially as a trial of your own faith. The ends contem- plated have been fully answered, aud the power ceases. It only "tm,:ÙI' '"nr will to say, Behold Ok, -wmaai- 3f the Lord, ne it accruing to Thy word.' Publish th-h; part oi the message in your wr.v periodical. It will be sneered at: .b1:t nevermind: tor greater is He that is in you than he "chat -is in the world.' Celestials always pity all sneerers. Enough for this time. I must go." When I first became conscious, by-actual experiment, of the possession of healing power, I made it a matter of very earnest and definite prayer to God that I might not be lifted up by its possession, nor depressed should he be pleased to with- draw it from me, and that in my every use of it my eye might be kept" ringle," and my heart have no anxieties about couse- (oiences- That prayer was answered to the full, and I now resign the power delegated to me for the past two years without a solitary regret, and with a quiet consciousness that while I "had it 1 a sed it righteously.

(Ecclesiastical The Act disestablishing the Irish Church came into operation on Sunday. It is now stated that the Rev. R. H. Baynes, vicar of St. Michael's, Coventry, has refused the Bishopric of Madagascar. The late Rev. Dr Ryan, vicar of Bradford, spoke at a meeting held at Bradford on Monday night, in coniiectier. with the Wes- leyan Missionary Society. The Bishop of Winchester has been speaking at Hastings upon the spiritual destitution prevailing in populous cistricts. His lordship regards the endowments to the Church of England as gifts to parishes or districts, and not to the nation at 1 irge. He pointed out that the present age is. not one of endowment, the relative position of rich and poor having undergone a great change, and there being much uncertainty as to-the mode in which endowments may be applied fifty years hen-cc It was, he said, a fallacy to suppose the Church of England richly en- dowe(l. There are a good many dissenters who are not of his lordship's way of thinking. At a meeting of the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh, last veek, T)r Candiish, referring to Mr Gladstone's recent letter to Mr Dease. moved a resolution expressive of the apprehen- sion which this letter is fitted to awaken in the minds of all true Protestants within these realms," and emphatically and solemnly protesting "against the doctrine or opinion that the rulers of this Frotestant country may or oeght to charge them- selves with taking any concern about the dignity, freedom, or independence of the Pope." The reverend doctor explained that, at the request of a few friends, he had written to Mr Gladstone upon the subject, and had received a most courteous replv, in which Mr Gladstone referred him to a letter-privately sent to another friend a week or ten days ago, a copy of »/hich had been sent to him (Dr Caiullish), and after reading which the impression left on his mind was that the language used was eapable of a more favourable interpretation thin had been put upon it. That letter was almost to his mind, though not alto- gether, satisfactory. Mr Gladstone in his letter to him stated that at one time he intended to publish that private letter, t ut that afterwards, by the advice of his colleagues, he thought it better to abstain from siich a course, and rather to awail the meeting of Parliament, when he would be prepared to offer any explanation which any party in the house might think proper to require. That was, perhaps, a more judicious course than-the publishing of the letter. Dr Begg seconded the motion, which wa, unanimously agreed to.

SUrifuUuval At the close of the nutumu session of the Royal Agri- cultural College, the college diplomas were awarded amongst others, to Thomas Stephen Minton, Severn' Bank House, Shrewsbury; and Edmund Charles Wad low, Ackleton, Hridgnorth. The list of prizes and distributions included Ploughing Prize, Minton. Farm book, class 3 Certificate, Minton. Book-keeping, class 3: Prize, Minton. Practical Chemistry, class 3 (quantitative analysis) Prize, Minton. Botany, class 3 Certificate, Minton. Mathematics, class 3 (mechanics) Certificate, Minton. Veterinary Surgery, class 3 Prize, Minton. NATURAL FARMING- IN SUSSEX. During the recent journey through the Weald of Sussex, and an inspection of many clay farms, we were much struck with the farming of that district, representing, as it does, what perhaps may be called the "natural" prin- ciple of management with the least possible assistance from the various improvements which? capital has intro- duced into farm practice. The parish of Rsper, reached from either Crawley or Horsham station, may be taken as tke head-quarters of the "natural" process of farming, but there are scores of parishes and scores of thousands of acres of land where exactly the same system is pirated. The common rotation is First, fallow; second, wheat; third, oats fourth, seeds. This simple rotation of thrae crops and a bare fallow is sometimes modified by transposing the oats and seeds; in no case, however, is any quantity of roots ventured on they are considered to "poison the land." The only exception to bare tallow, with four or five ploughing", is a patch of tares for the horses, and, in favourable seasons like the present, a patch of trifolium incarnatum. On the best land, and when the manure can be spared, a few peas are sown in- stead of the seeds, but this is on a small scale. To grow an acre or two of mangel and white turnips on a hundred- acre farm is a bold adventure, only attempted on some few farms, and on spots that are supposed to be pecu- liarly favourable. A few scores of bushels of Swedes are usually bought for the horses. As to the other live stock, a couple of sows are kept, and their produce partly sold and partly made into pork and bacon for the men and boys who do the field work, a couple of cows for butter and for rearing calves, a few" yonng things" of the hardy Sussex, breed, and a score of Kentish sheep running in the leas and stubbles and over the little fields and their margins, and into the lanes, wide hedges, and copses dur- ing the winter, complete the head of live stock. A little cake is bought, for cake is cheaper than roots, and it is given to the yearlings, or to a cast cow that it has been decided to fatten. Wheat is the only produce sold, ex- cept butter of late years, and the little yard of yearlings with the spare pigs, and, in some cases, capons among other poultry. The apple orchard yields cider for the family. This is the primitive agriculture that prevails in many parts of the Wealden, with little variation. The clay farms seldom exceed 200 acres, and often fall below 100 acres, bearing rents that are not often more than 20s. an acre, and frequently do not exceed 7s. Gd., ranging very commonly from 10s. to 15s. That the system has not been profitable during the last few years there can be no doubt, for farms were scarce three years ago, and rents in many cases had risen, but at present there are many farms to let. That improvements have been attempted, and sometimes unsuccessfully, we have been assured; and, indeed, we know of several instances where covered home- steads have been abandoned by those who built them, and similar works of enterprise have been discontinued in consequence of loss and discouragement. We do not doubt that a large tract of bottomless clay land, on which oaks grow like willows, and attain a great size, might be obtained in the district we have indicated at 15s. an acre, if any capitalist farmer is willing to buy or hire it, and undertake its improvement.— A(/ricullural Gazette. POULTRY. Mddle. Millet Robinet thus describes cramming, the most effectual and economical method of fattening :— This requires the use of coops, in which each fowl has its own compartment. The coop is a long, narrow wooden box, set on short legs; the outer walls and partitions are close boarded, and the bottom is made with rounded •pars, loin, in diameter, runninglengthways of the coop; on those spars the fowls perch, their dung falling' through the bars. The top consists of a sliding door, nearly as wide as the compartment, by which the chickens are taken in and out. The partitions are 8 inches apart, so that the fowls cannot turn round. The length of each box may be regulated according to circumstances, care being taken that the attendant has room to pass along and sit down and furthermore that cocks, capons, and pullets, or the lean and the fat lots, be not mixed up indiscriminately." Fowls of different degrees of fattening should not inhabit the same box, because their rations will differ. The food for fatting fowls in France is chiefly buck-wheat meal, kneaded with sweet milk till of the consistency of bakers' dough. It is then cut up into rations about the size of two eggs, which are made up into rolls about the thicknsss of a woman's finger, but varying with the size of the fowls. These are further divided into pellet-s about 2i inches long. The food is thus administered. The attendant puts on an apron, and has pellets at hand, with a bowl of clean water. She takes a fowl from its cage, gently and care- fully, seats herself with the fowl on her knees, putting its rump under her left arm, by which she supports it; the left hand then. opens its mouth, and the right hand takes the pellet, soaks it well in the water, shakes it on its way to the open mouth, puts it straight down, and carefully crams it with the forefinger well into the gullet. When it is so far settled down that the fowl cannot eject it, she presses it down with the thumb and forefinger into the crop, taking care not to fracture the pellet. Other pellets follow the first, till the feeding is finished, in less time than one would imagine. The chicken ought to have two meals in 24 hours, and the fatting process ought to be com- pleted in two or three weeks.

———————————————. -SSSStSB.r Thomas Tappin, a boy six years old, has died in London from the effects of a blow on the leg from a stone thrown bv another b ,yo It has been resolved at Blaenau Festiniog to apply for a School Board, and a committee has been appointed to select candidates. Mackay, one of the Fenian prisoners, has written to his wife to intimate that he is not at all sure he shall accept the offer of the Government and leave prison to expatriate himself. In his letter he says—"Good hye, dear love. Don't let this disappointment make you sad or downcast. God worketh all things well, and. however much men may scheme and devise, it is He who will finally dispose of us. Relying en His love and goodness, we need not fear. His all-powerful arm will protect us; and even in the midst of sufferings and disappointments, He will, as in the past, pour such joy and consolation into our souls as shall make us exclaim—Truly, 0 God our sufferings are good." THE NEW YORK PRESS ON SCOTCH LANDLORD IXTDI- IlU noN. -lteferring- to the late election for Dumfries- shire, and the penalty incurred by Dr Macaulay, Canon- bie, for exercising his right of voting independently, the New York Tribune says:—"It is wonderful to observe how feudal authority, especially in Scotland, is still as- serted and submitted to. His Grace the Duke of Buc- cleuch had employed a certain Dr Macaulay to attend upon the sick among his miners, and the doctor was also medical officer of the parish of Canonbie. Dr Macaulay, with real Scotch independence, saw fit to support the Liberal candidate. For this iniquity he was commanded to cease his attendance upon the colliers and by the in- fluence of the great man, his apxjointment as parochial doctor was cancelled. The tenants petitioned to have Dr Macaulay retained, and were laughed at for their pains. The workhouse people might as well have petitioned, with Oliver Twist at their head, for the removal of Mr Bumble. The persecuted VhYllician tried to make a living in Can- onbie as an independent doctor but the Duke set up a Tory doctor in opposition, and commanded everybody to be physicked by his protege. Consequently, Dr Macaulay was forced to flee to some other part of this lovely land of liberty. Petty despotism like this would certainly drive free and enlightened Americans to insanity or rebellion fortunately, our political system, with all its faults, allows us to be killed or cured bv t'n- HK.-i of our own choice."

THE ROVING OSWESTRIAlH. (Frori 4ke' Jswestnj Advertiser.) C;- rit-tmas number of Chambers's Jvu/rtxli consists of a. dashing story, full of life and adventure, entitled The Winning Hazard.' With the plot I have nothing to do my purpose is to comment on the absurd way in w'h.ich the writer alludes to things Welsh. Of late years it seems to be a-sure card to throw into contempt Welsh customs and habits:;—witness the papers on Eisteddfodau that are given forth annually by our Superfne Revilers and Cockney Critics but in these there is this excuse, that, too often, Welshmen themselves are silly enough to Kit in grave judgment on compositions that would only merit a bircli Ii emanating from the first form of a National School. When our censors do more than this when they invent the facts on which they launch tilieir satire; a mild expostulation will not be out of place, and I am sure the time-honoured arid talented conductors of Chambers''s JTorirndv&re not the men willingly to malign individuals or £ nation. I Wii i-in- Hazard," I say, is a dashing -story, and amoncrst the scenes there are some extraordinary ones laid in Wales. For instance—John Griffiths, a Welsh coroner, occupies himself at three o'clock on & May morning, watching for poachers, at the side of a pond which he rents, some three or four miles from his home. He has a loa-dell gun with him, when suddenly there appear on the scene a couple of men struggling. One has got the better of -the other, and is about to panish him, when- crack goes the coroner's gun, and down the fellow drops, dead 1 Beth parties turn out to be acquaintances of G-rif- fiths's, and the one leaves him with his dead game on the spot, because he has urgent business in London. But the coroner is equal to the occasion for after the body has been removed, he calls a jury, and directs it to find a verdict of 'Temporary Insanity.' The man saved by Griffiths, w"hile in London, tells his sweetheart of the escape he has had, arid how the coroner acted, on which she very naturally asks whether it was not an 'illegal' business? "Oh," replied the Welshman, we dorSt think much of that in Wales. Griffiths made all straight by acting as chief mourner at the funeral Now, was ever a greater tissue of improbabilities put together? or was ever a cooler lie forged? No doubt the writer has made a flying visit to the Principality some time or other, for he has learned a few Welsh words and phrases. In taet he has picked up words as pigeons peas and utters them again as God shall please As a sample, we have Dear Anwyl" repeated more than once. Our WeKk readers know this is simply nonsense, and is an expression never uttered between Holyhead and Milford Haven Then he has got a smattering of local history, and his "little -learning is a dangerous thing." His fable relates to a .place he calls Dinorwich, t,) arrive at which he goes from London to Chester, by the Irish Mail, then has another railway ride into the Principality, and finally takes a forty miles jolt in a car, mountain- wards. Thus, it follows, that Dinorwich must be pretty far north in North Wales yet he tells us that the owner of Plas Dinorwich has his doors barricaded to keep out Rebecca ? Those who know anything about it know that that mysterious and avenging female never came into North Wales at all, and no one in the locality the writer describes ever dreamt she would But these are only amusing absurdities let me proceed to some graver ones. The Welsh, we all know, are a devout people. True tney uo not worsmp largely in tne parish cnurcti, nut they subscribe largely to build Presbyterian chapels, and sup- port many educated and God-fearing ministers to supply the pulpits. But the writer in Chambers attempts to describe a 'Plygain' (a meeting held in many churches and chapels early on Christmas mornings) thus:—"At three o'clock on this Christmas morning all the windows of Llandanog are lighted up. and the mountain roads are sparkled with moving twinkling lights, and all the men and women from the hills, and the men and wonien from the valley, and all the townsfolk too, are crowding into the church. Perhaps not a dozel people of all these crowds have ever consciously been to church, except at a Plygain they have mostly been christened at church, and mostly will be buried in the churchyard,—married—no ill such an unimportant affair as David acts on commercial principles, prefers the cheapest article. That is. according to the author, they go before the Regis- trar. Whv this sneer? If Welshmen do not worship at church, is there any reason why thev should be married there ? I presume they obey the law of England when they are married at the Registrar's office; and, are not their own chapels largely licenced for the observance of matrimony ? And is not the blessing of a Presbyterian minister— chosen by the worshippers—as holy in the sight of God as that of the clergyman—chosen by the State? And have not the Welsh dissenters a perfect right to the nil tonal graveyards? When Mr Osborne Morgan's bill cimes again before Parliament, who is to gainsay it? Nay, have not Welsh dissenters even a right to use the parish churches themselves for their worship on one portion of the Lord's Day ? What right, I ask, has the writer in a, magazine hailing from a Presbyterian nation, to assert that it is only from an unworthy motive that a Welsh Presbvterian does not get married in church? Then the writer describes the Plygain' as an unruly flffair-a mixture of all sorts of songs, glees, and carols If such is the case, what is the clergyman doing, and where are the laws against brawling in church ? No, my readers, the tale may be a clever tale, or it may be a highly absurd one. Of this I have nothing to say, but I do call upon the conductors of a popular magazine, pub- lished in Presbyterian Scotland, to say where Llandanog is, who is its coroner, and who its parson ? It will be idle to say, Oh, Winning Hazard is only a novel dashed off to amuse. Llandanog is an imaginary place, and nothing personal was intended." We know all that, but the route is si described that we know the scene must be laid in Carnarvonshire or Denbighshire and the manners and customs of a nation—a small one—are professedly photographed. For the benefit of the author I will transcribe some extracts from a juster estimate of Welsh- men, by one who knows them better, which appeared in a more popular periodical than even Chambers's Journal. I refer to the racy address^Punch to Wales,' which appeared last autumn — I went to Taffy's house, Several things I saw, Cleanliness and godliness, Obedience to the law. He goes to chapel regular And sends his boys to school. If all Victoria's subjects Were half as good as thou, Victoria's subjects would kick up Ulicommon little row. And Punch, incarnate justice, Intends henceforth to lick All who shall scorn or sneer at you, You jolly little brick Let Chambers's Journal borrow a page from Punch and in its next number, do 'Justice to Wales The foregoing has put another InjustiCè to Wales into my head. We have had a good deal of talk of late years about 'Welsh Bishops for Welsh sees,'and this has always seemed to me rather a Sentimental grievance. Welshmen don't want Bishops,—indeed for mv own part I don't know who does want them. And if they are a necessity for Wales it can only he felt by the Clergy, and these all speak English A Bishop's revenues could certainly be better employed in the Principality than in the way they are devoted, but this is not mv grievance just now. An old and honoured Welshman (Mr Johnes) has just retired from the bench as County Court judge for Mid Wales, and an Englishman has been appointed to succeed him. I have nothing to say against Mr Serjeant Tindal Atkin- son. He would, doubtless, make an excellent County Court jllrle-for an English circuit. It is a mistake to appoint him in Wales. In a series of letters I wrote some time back to a London paper I pointed out how unjustly English critics condemned Welsh juries, by shewing that, really, in manv cases, the jurymen did not understand the language the Bar and the Bench talked in And I gave an instance—an instance, curiously enough, occurring in one of the most English towns of Wales, and one in which Mr Atkinson will have to hold his court. I refer to New- town. The late Mr Justice Crompton was holding an assize, and the jurymen were chiefly from Llangurig. The case (a nisi prius one) was complicated, and it required the closest attention from, perhaps, brighter men than some of the jury, to follow its windings. An unmistak- able snore from the box attracted his lordship's attention, and he thundered out, "Wake that juryman!" "It dunna matter, my Lordship," said the next man in the box, he canna understand a word of English The judge appealed to the High Sheriff, when it was discovered that five of the jurymen were unable to follow the English of the court, at all, and, doubtless there was another five who could only do so imperfectly. Of course had the jury stumbled on a foolish verdict, the English press would have resounded with "A Welsh jury, again!" and the like. Perhaps it is too much to expect that we should have Superior judges who talk Welsh, but in a County Court it is absolutely necessary, if justice is to be done, or who is to watch over the interests of, professionally, un- protected suitors December 31, 1870.

WHOLESALE NOTICE TO QUIT.—We are informed that an English landed proprietor, with an enormous rent-roll, has given notice to quit to nearly a hundred of his ten- antry. Virtually, these occupiers are warned to take themselves and their families away from their old homes, away from their present means of livelihood, and to take their chance with the thousands who are seeking in vain for desirable holdings, to engage their capital, perhaps, in some other business than farming, without technical and commercial knowledge ard aptitude for the change, or | possibly to expatriate themselves from a country which has small hospitality for humble men whom the .great ones of the earth once view with disfavour. — Chamber of Ayri- culture Journal. A Goon SUGGESTION.—A correspondent writes to the Times :-The recent melancholy accident in Berkshire, resulting in the sad and premature death of one who will be much missed among a large circle of friends, induces me to suggest a very simple precaution, which I can only hope will be adopted. On every pond or piece of water, while the ice continues, let a long builder's ladder be sup- pik-d, with a rope about 12 feet long at either end. If any one is immersed the ladder can be run at once thc towards the hole till such a por- tion overlaps as to enable those immersed to cling to it. The ladder has this further advantage, that it does not necessitate any person approaching too close to the hole, and thus breaking the ice. A person sitting at the extreme end is a sufficient counterpoise to prevent the lad- der toppling into the hole, and a boy crawling alonar it can afford assistance to the persons in danger. I saw this plan adopted when I was at Oxford, and with the greatest success. The ladders used by the Humane Society are perfectly useless all of them are too sli-ort, and in the majority of those T have inspected, the wood, through disuse, was rotten. The ladder I speak ofs- otilcl I;e -about HZ' feet long.

GKTTENTL Lord Fred-erick Paulet died at his chambers in the Albany, London, on Ssnday, in his sixty-first year. A barber at Bolton lias been fined 5s. and costs for shaving on Sunday. A case was granted to defendant. It is said that nearly 106 British subjects die every twenty- four hours in India, from s^ake-bites! A woman in London, who had been suffering from intense pain, shot herself, the other dry, with a revolver. The day before Christmas-day seems to have been the coldest of the winter thus far The price of the stamp on which the inventory of the late Mr George Baiwfs property of Statchell is written is £ 13,400. It is stated that General Schenck, the new American Minister at the Court of St. James's, will leave for this country on the 18th of Jaiit-ary. Of fifteen -coroners' inqaests held in London on the 28th nit., as many as thirteen related to cases of persons who had expired suddenly In consequence of the excessive cold. A man named M'Aree, while under the influence of delirium tremens, amssed himself the other night, by running about the streets of Paisley (x.r.j without a stitch of clothes on. It has been discovered that large quantities cf poisoned sweetmeats have been sold to children at Dublin. The poison was used to make the sweets look tempting. A few day ago Madame Hamelin, whose husband ws amhas- sador at Constantinople under Louis Phillipe, was 10und dead in a garret in Belleville, Paris. Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, from tea to fifteen persone; have been bathing every morning in the Serpen- tine, Hyde Park, Lon,lcn, a piece of water being kept clear from tee for their accommodation. Sir -J. Kay-Shuttleworth writes to the Standard, to urge the importance of at once increasing the supply of schoolmasters, an I suggests that scholarships should be formed, to be competed for by pupil teachers. Karl Bective (formerly Lord Kenlis), eldest son of the late member (who has been raised to the Peerage, through the death of his father, the Marquis of Headfort), has issued his address to the electors of Westmoreland in the conservative interest. St. Luke's Vestry, London, has decided to employ patent salt to lay the dust in summer. The cost is said to be less than that of horse and cart, and the sanitary advantages of using salt are also alleged in favour of the&ew system. The inquest on the victims of the Hatfield railway accident resulted, last week, in a verdict that the accident arose through the breaking of the tire of a wheel, but the jury de- clined to express any opinion as to the cause of the breakage. Charlotte Elliott, the young woman who was sentenced to death at the late Liverpool ¡1.sizes for murdering her Illegiti- mate child, in that town, has been respited. The woman had been seduced and deserted, and. in a fit of desperation had de" stroyed her babe's life. The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol has replied approvingly t,) a memorial censuring the recent proceedings of the Gloucester Branch of the English Church .Union, expressing dissent from the views of the Archbishop of Canterbury, that the Church of England does not recognize prayers for the dead. It is stated that Hoivrood House Palace, Edinburgh, is to be renovated, and made suitable for the reception of her Majesty the Queen, who, on her journeys to and from Balmoral, will spend a few days in the Scotch cal) The Manchester Chamber of Commerce has memorialized the Government to take steps to secure railway travellers against a reCHrrence of such preventable accidents as have of late been so frequent. It is understood that the subject is under the con- sideration of the Board of Trade. It cannot be too generally known that during severe weather, such as is now being experienced, the eha-nces of accident, and even loss of life, from escapes of gas are much greater than trader ordinary circumstances. We believe we are correctly informed when we state that, since her election to the London School Board, Miss Garrett has accepted an offer to preside at another and more domestic board. Her future husband took great interest in the candi- dature of the lady representative of )Iarylebone. -Court Journal. On Sunday morning, the guard of a goods train on the Mid- land R,ti1 way, named Isaac Bosworth, was found dead at Knighton .r llucti'!1l, near Leicester, in his van. The remains of a small charcoal tire were found in the van, but it is supposed he died from the severity of the we:Ltiwr. The revenue returns show that the gross receipts during the quarter eeditig December 31st, amounted to £1:>)!).182, and for the year to £71,GS,95,5. Compared with the corresponding periods of tho preceding year, there was a net decrease on the of tf502,920, but on the twelve months the net increase was £ 553, .031. Mr George Wilson, who will be remembered as the chairman of the Anti-Corn lAw I..eagu(" and more recently as the presi- dent of the National Reform Union, died suddenly last week, while traveling upon the railway between Manchester and Liverpool. The deceased was the chairman of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. In a case heard at :llancI1e',ter County Court last week, 220 per cent. interest had been charged As the defendants had agreed to pay it, the judge had to decide aaiust them, but he would not suffer execution to take place without leave and he intimated that he would not allow that court, either by im- prisonment or by ordering a person to be sold up, to be made use of to enforce such exorbitant interest. A young man named Thomas Waters, a proccss server, said to have been for some time a marked man, was shot dead last week near Mutlingar workhouse, about half a mile outside the town. The police first found his hat and coat, which they recognized, as they were in the habit of escorting him. The gunshot wound was in the breast, and the body was still warm. Three men have been arrested on suspicion. Deceased was a Protestant. A hen, during incubation, some two or three months since, was frightened from her nest by the passing of a traction engine which was being driven by a humpbacked man and, strange to say, that six out of the batch of eggs produced humpbacked chickens, and these may be seen alive at the farmhouse of Mr Barrett, of Saddlebow, Lynn, \v110 vouches for the truth of the above statement An underlooker at Messrs Hargreaves and Co.'s pit, Baxenden, was, last week, fined .< by the Accrington magistrates for having employed a boy named Baines, who was only eight years of age, and was killed at the pit on the 9th of November by being run over by a waggon. Defendant said he had employed the boy out of pity for his father, who had been hurt, and who had six small children, and was in great distress. A Manchester hop merchant, Mr Henry Turner, has been fined £ 10 and costs, at the Dudley police court, for having sold two pockets of hops without having the proper name of the grower and the place and year of growth attached to each pocket as required by the Hops (Prevention of Frauds) Act, ls06. There were six other charges against the same person, but these were dismissed on his undertaking to pay the costs in each case, and to give to the local dispensary the sum of £ 25. The Prefect of Savoy is not a very great man, but the comple- tion of the perforation of the Mont Cenis tunnel has brought him to the front in the double capacity of patriot and prophet. The finishing of the colossal work was celebrated by a banquet at which the Prefect was present and proposed a toast which may become famons-" Rome which you have conquered, and Paris which we shall not lose." An extraordinary accident happened the other morning to two young Scotchwomen at Castle Douglas, who slept together. A suffocating smoke having awakened the master of the house he arose an(I foitiitl that it came from his .laughters' bedroom, and, on going there, he found the bed on fire and the two girls dead from suffocation. To warm their feet they had taken to bed with them a hot brick, which being overheated ignited the feathers. A fatal accident occurred on the 30tli ult. near Ferry Hill Junction, on the North-Eastern Railway. A mineral train was proceeding down the Hartlepool and Fe.ry Hill line, when the brake became clogged with snow, and not acting, the brake van was overturned and pushed along for some distance. It then crushed against a locomotive which was standing in a siding, and two brakesmen were killed, and a guard was mortally in- jured. The detached engine, striking against a bridge, was thrown into a field beneath and was destroyed. In the West Midland counties the frost appears to have ben very severe. Correspondents writing from Worcester and Gloucester stated that the River Severn was blocked up with i ;e at different points between Stourport and Gloucester, in- clnding the whole of the navigation, and that people were dis- porting themselves on the ice in several places. The canals also, including the Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal, which con- nects Gloucester with the Bristol Channel were choked with ice, and navigation was stopped. It would appear that we are fated to have every possible variety of accident which can occur on railways. A locomotive engine, standing at the down platform of the Northallerton Station, suddenly exploded. Fragments of iron were driven with terrific force in every direction, and much damage was done to property. The escape of the drfver and stoker was marvelous. They were standing in their usual place on the front of the engine, and sustained no inju-y except a severe shaking and a slight cut on the head of one of them. A telegraph clerk who was close by, and talking to the driver, had his leg broken by a piece of iron being driven against him. L-iml and Water says the frost has upset the prediction of many a prophet regarding the condition of Cheapside asphalte, proving it to bo a great success, and making Clicapside the best street in London, notwithstanding the gradient at the east end. There are ten boys employed to keep this clean; their wages, at 14d. each a day, amount to lls. 8d., to this add Ss. 4(1. for man, horse, and cart to remove two tons of di!2)g, dropped by highly- fed horses in twenty-four hours, and the whole cost of cleansing C >mes to 20s., realizing a profit of 10s.—f-.r we are informed this manure fetches 15s. a ton—no bad result for the employment of street orderlies. Her Majesty's nsw year's gifts to the poor of the parishes of St. John, New Windsor, Holy Trinity, and Clewer, we;e last wejk, for the first time since the death of the Prince C publicly distributed in the riding school of the Royal Mews at Windsor Castle. The gifts consist of meat and coals. The ioint-s of beef vary from 31b. to 71b. in weight. The coal, in quantities of from 1 CIVt. to 3 cwt., is conveyed to the homes of the recipients. The value of the beef and coals thus annually given by her Majesty the Queen generally amounts to nearly £ 200, making, with the £ 100 presented to the Royal Clothing Chib', a sum'of about £ 300, bestowed upon the Windsor poor at this inclement season. An accident befel the Liverpool and Manchester portion of th North auxiliary mail, early on the morning of the 30th ult. When near to Burton-and-Holmc, in Westmoreland, and while the train was running at express speed, the tyre of one of the wheels broke, and the couplings snapped. After ploughing up the road for some distance, these carriages left the line and plunged down an embankment into a field. It seems almost plunged down an embankment into a field. It seems almost incredible that the carriages should have kept their equilibrium, bat so it was, and none of the passengers sustained any worse i ijury than a violent shaking. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, the liberal member for Calne, is far more decided in his utterances than most members of the aristocracy. Addressing his constituents, the noble lord promised, in the next session, to give his vote and his earnest aid to the Tests Abolition Bill, the Trades Union Bill, the Par- li mcntary Elections Bill, and the Licensing Bill. His lordship further said that he should vote for Mr Miall's motion for the disestablishing of the English Church. He believed the days of Church Establishments were numbered the English clergy, however, deserved all praise, and ho hoped Mr Miall would bring forward the question in ati unsectarian spirit. As to again opening the Education question, although he was a mem- ber of the Education League, he should oppose opening the question until llie present measure had had a fair trial. her of the Education League, he should oppose opening the question until the present measure had had a fair trial. People who think of emigrating to the United States had better revise their conclusions, or, if they must go, they should take care to avoid New York. The papers of that city speak almost with despair of the overcrowded labour market. The Xew York Times, one of the most careful and best informed American journals, says "the number of unemployed in this city was probably never much greater than it is at present. Every business man could tell us that his office. is besiegQrl by clerks, book-keepers, and others, anxious to find some sort of occupation. People who fill prominent positions are almost weary of replying to these distressing applications. An adver- tisement for "an assistant, in almost any branch of business, will bring hundreds of .answers." The most terrible destitution, the writer adds, prevails among the classes which depend for tlkir daily bread upon daily labour, and, as the winter sets in, the melancholy ranks of the unemployed will inevitably re- ceive many additions." Clearly, New York is no place for the emigrant. A melancholy event lias just occurred at Winchmore-hill. On Monday week a Mrs Gardiner drove over from Edmonton for the purpose of visiting her sister, Mrs Eaton, the wife of a market gardener residing at the former place. Mrs Gardiner was invited to partake of a glass of rum, and a bottle of the supposed liquid was placed on the table, and a wineglass full handed her. After sipping a small quantity, she complained of the taste, observing that it was very hot. whereupon Mrs Paton had a, little diluted with water. Immediately after drinking both of the females were taken seriously ill, and it was then discovered that, in- stead of rum, they had drunk some disinfecting fluid which had been kept in the house, as some of the family were suffering from smallpox. Mrs Gardiner only survived a few hours. She leaves a-family of six young children but hopes are entertained of the ultimate recovery of her sister, though she still lies m a very precarious state. To add to the melancholy nature of the event, Mrs Eaton's eldest son died from smallpox on the Tuesday evening previous, and her husband, who was thrown from his cart- and severely inured about a week ago, lies ic a very critical CI,mÎ,iQll The, ssacertent is revived that the next army estimates will provide for a considerable augmentation of all the depart- ments, several thousand men being added to the service. According to the Echo, the proceedings against Mr Frank Noel for supposed implication in the Marathon massacre have been stopped. Although the name of Robinson has disappeared from the House through the unseating of the late member for Bristol, there are seven Smiths, two Browns, one Jones, two Whites and one Greene. The liberal gains during 1870 have been at Bridgnorth, Dublin Nottingham, and Norsvieh. The conservatives have won seats in Brecon, Colchester, Isle of Wight, Shrewsbury, Southwark and West Surrey. As was anticipated at the time, the American papers are mak- ing merry over the statements recently published by the Inde- pendence Beige, to the effect that President Grant had offered to the Czar the services of an American fleet in the event of war The contest for the representation of Newry is not to be one between young Lord Newry and Mr Benjamin Whit worth. A nationalist" candidate is in the field, namely, Mr Campbell wh) is said to be an attorney. Really the rejection of treaties is becoming so common that the announcement that the Roumanian Government has declared its independence and repudiates the treaty of 1856 will hardly cause any surprise. Prussia is supposed to be acting with Russia in the matter. I- On Saturday afternoon, the body of a child, which appeared to have died in a convulsive fit, was about to be interred in Salford Cemetery, with the body of its father. A cry was heard to proceed from the coffin at the grave it was opened and the child was found to be alive. It has since died. The good work wrought by the National Lifeboat Institution in the year which has just passed away may be briefly summed up thus: Lives saved, 503; vessels saved, 21. All this was accomplished through the direct instrumentality of the institu- tion. Indirectly, it contributed to a still larger preservation of life and property. Mrs Goss, of Orland, Me., has just died at the age of 107 years. All that we know about her is that during her whole life she was greatly addicted to tobacco. The Xe/e York Tribune thinks that if it is to be one of the results of tobacco that its votaries may live to the age of 107 years, every sensible man will at once refuse to run the risk of becoming a nuisance to himself and his fellow creatures. The re-arrangement of the Cabinet rendered necessary by the retirement of Mr Bright is announced by a London coiitem- porary. ft is settled that Mr Chichester Fortescue will take Mr Bright's plac and that the Marquis of Hartington will have the offer of the Irish Secretaryship. This will 'eave the have the offer of the Irish Secretaryship. This willleave the office of Postmaster-General vacant, and it is thought likely that Mr Stansfeld will take it. The Ormskirk Guardians have just granted the workhouse porter, Luke Hemer, a week's holiday. The fact is that Mr Hemer, notwithstanding his humble position, is going to spend a few hours at Hawarden with no less a personage than the Pre- mier. Luke and .Mr Gladstone were schoolfellows together and, although they now stand so far apart in the social scale, Luke every year pays a short visit to the right honourable gentleman. Two railway collisions occurred in the neighbourhood of Man- chester on Saturday. The first was between a passenger train from Buxton to Manchester and a pilot engine. Five persons were severely hurt, and others much shaken. The second collision happened on the Lancashire and Yorkshire line, between Salford and Oldtiehl-road stations, but no serious damage was done. Two collisions also happened on Saturday night tt f)ews- bury. A Leeds and Htvddersfield passenger train ran into a goods train, the occupants of the carriages getting off with a good shaking. The other collision was between two ijooils trains. This disaster resulted in a serious destruction of rolling stock and interruption of traffic. This formidable list of acci- dents is supplemented by two other collisions on the Midland Railway, on Saturday night, near Barrow-on-Soar. Four passengers were seriously injured in one of the crashes.

The Birminaham Post calls attention to the alterat.ira in the tone of English feeling with reference to the ^ar" After alluding to the working men's manifestoes, th" ^os, says As to the Liberal middle class, the altered t0"? 01 the Dailu News—once German in sympathy, but n^v.al1^- ated by the prosecution of a war of conquest- illustrates that. Another indication is fu'"n11^ Si ■tator which, like most English journal w a* decidedly German at the outset, but whwh now gees cause to express opposite views. Speaking for the educated clasps, tne ^^Tlie* unscrupulous intrigues of Bismarck that barrack-room pietv of the King, which thanks God for victories, and cuos rovidence in a seasnn of defeat; the barbaric Spirit of the sauireen caste which is permitted to rule the best instructed people in the world the detestable military spirit which threatens to make Prussia the pest of Europe the sanguinary evangel of professors who would set Europe in a flame to make, i o-ood their own ethnological dogma, that Germany is gifted with it, divine right to rule everybody who speaks a German patoU the abominable wickedness which has punished the firing of stray shots bv setting fire to whole villages and sending innocent women aud children adrift on the .worh-all this display of a dall brutality and a blind fury which history will execrate and God will judge wrings from many of the best Englishmen the comment'of silence or of condemnation.

zripyn » m tth. t fACmovement s on foot in Llanrwst to establish *»*•«. o™ thfi™ h*" £ r> "> be SI™' in '">1 for dl'vTnSr 'S: -I' 'n '■t't-r for iSU\veSfe«l!sut'"s "a « It is understood that the biography of tt.^ iat(J -\rr i'ras. sey will be written by Mr Samuel Smile^ author of Lives of the Engineers." autnor ox w:?vh^SloP a"(1 ]''ar Hospital has been pressed Shrewsbury 0,lwin> Provision dealer, of Mardol, The North IVales Chronicle accuses the "dissenting preacherdom of Wales of "the blindness of avarice." m attackmg the Established Church "Let them rail." -o -a A,lorn1', ff Penrallt Villa, Upper Bangor. r>fhpr^rvlln"i. 010 t^le fire in her bedroom tl' burnt to death m^ht~dreHS caught fire, and she w t(i Churrh Herald the Bishop of Clu S te ofn lVL ince 0f Pr°™ti°n to the positio- r if the Archbishop of Canterbiu resigns, as some parties expect he will do. A poor ol(I inan w' Is lilleci'oy the cold on Fri(liv night Nveek,- Where he had lain down through !3t li -I r Pevsons saw him, and passed by OTl tllG other Side. T-ht* inrv i J r A! who gave evidence at the inq^4tepnmanded °ne °f them'' A contemporary relates how t Shrewsbury the other day, four paupers accompanied the coffin of a deceased fellow pauper, which was convtverl m heirse to the wasetmnVvntd ^0^ f,m'^ that the coffin body C0UrSe returned and fetched the At Mr West's rent audit dinner he offereG totakeoh ir of any seeds for the distressed French peast,-itrv, aii,l communicate with the Central Committee. Mr We, strongly denounced the conduct of the Prussians in cor. tinuing the war. The King, he said, had advanced tht most unreasonable terms of peace, and had staked his honour to enter Paris as a conqueror, wading through a sea of blood, and praying with pharisaical piety all the while." The line must be drawn somewhere. In Liverpool, it seems, the Mayor always dines at Christmas with the policemen, and sometimes with the muckmen. But this year the Mayor turns up his nose at the latter, and will have none of them, so the Health Committee have voted E15 with which to dine the scavengers, but we are not told who is to preside. The cost of officers' rations in the St. Asaph workhouse has increased from £ 54 for the half year endingMichaelmas, 1860, to S117 5s. O, 1. for the corresponding period of 1S70, The master made some explanation, which did not satisfy the guardians, and it was resolved to send a report to the Poor-law Board. The master admitted that once a week, or nine days, he entertained his friends at the expense of the Union, but this, he said, was a common thing. Is it ? The Llangollen Advertiser publishes a curious article about Festiniog. It informs us that the "place is at last awakening from Its stupor," and the first act. of wakeful- noss is to apply to have petty sessions held in the place, that the inhabitants may be "within range of modern civilization t" Then Blaenau wants a County Court, and a Local Board--two good things in their way, and necessi- ties of the times. Gas works are in the course of erection, and water works are talked of. Lastly, "To add to the attractions of the place, a traveling menagerie has halted there for a few days, and although the collec- tion of wild beasts was a good one, the want of funds has considerably interfered with the patronage which would otherwise have been bestowed on them. To those who know the difference between noise and music the band must cer(a uly have been appreciated, as it was a matter of remark that all the instrumentalists kept sober" Mr H. Bowen, of the Fox Vaults, Shrewsbury, aceord- ding to annual custom got up a handicap for pedestrians in Christmas week. The following Is -the result of the heats :—1st, C. Jones, Shrewsbury, 15, beat F. Browi Rednal, 1.2; 2nd, C,. Astlev, 15, beat J. Staint Shrewsbury, 10; 3rd, G. Griffiths, Madeley, 9, beat K Finch, 13 11 4th, R. Downes, Madeley, 11. beat T. Fullerton, Shrewsbury, 13 5th, R. Yates, Shrewsbury, 12, beat R. Evans, Shrewsbury, 11 Gth. J Thomas, Shrewsbury, 11, beat E. Flowers,* Shrewsbury 11; 7th, W. Shakespeare, Shrewsbury, 12, beat E. Boss mer, Shrewsbury, 15 8th. L. Barrett, Oswestry. 9, be." J. Trevor, Hadnal, 13 9th, E. Jones beat J. Thoma. 10 h, 11. Downes beat W. Shakespeare 11th. G. Griffitl beat L. Barrett; 12th, G. Jacks beat R. Yates; 13th, Downes beat Jones 14th. Jacks beat Griffiths 15th, Jacks beat Downes. Mr Bowen officiated as starter, and Mr William Pugh as referee. From the above return it will be seen that G. Jacks won the first prize, £ 7 R. Downes the sconl, -22; and Griffiths the third, tl. Most of our contemporaries give reviews of the year just closed. Do newspaper readers ever consider how hanl it is to write on periodical topics. Let them try to describe a Derby Day, or a Royal Agricultural Show. When you once get into the heart of the subject, it is plo:- 1 1 sailing, but to start effectively is difficult. Here a-r i 1 few samples from the reviews of the year After to-day j I the figures 1870 will no more be required as the fixture of v. i the year." True, but not brilliant. Tempus fugiv". How often does the phrase tremble on our tongues." Xovel, but quite seasonable when teeth are chattering. Ere we again address our readers the eventful year of 1870 will have taken its departure." An undoubted fact. Eighteen hundred and seventy has nearly passed away. Eighteen hundred and wv-enty-one lias not yet come. Xot very editing intelligence. "The year 1870 has no doubt had its fair -share of happy marriages, joyous births, &c" &c. but An expressive word th:tt-'bnt!' In a very few hours this earth on which we live and move, will have completed another of its annual revolu- tions round the sun." Instructive intelligence in the very first sentence And so on. All, however, agree in placing the year down as a memorable one in history, and the articles are tinged with radicalism or conservativeism, as the case mav be. At the last meeting of the Conway Board of Guardians the following formed part of the conversation.—-Mr T. Parry It is a great pity Mr Williams does not stop away altogether, for he only comes to the Board to make his own"speeches, and then runs away, and leaves us to do all the work.— Mr Williams That is simply not true.—Mr Parry You scarcely ever stop here, and I have plenty of witnesses of the fact. You only come here to make your own speeches and blow your own horn to the parsons in this country. You are only putting a nail in the coffin of the Establishment every time you come here. (Roars of laughter.)—Mr Williams: Is this a political meeting, Mr Chairman?—Mr Parry: You don't care what it is; you I hring everything Williams: Any glaring jobbery I do.—"Mr Parry There is another nail.—Mr W. J Go in for dic;e-,tablishment.-Pev. D. M Thomas Are the Conway assessment committee tl undertakers? (Loud laughter.)- [Mr Williams, we shon explain, is the Rev. Venables Williams, formerly of Llan gedwyn, who has caused chronic excitement amongst the guardians ever since he joined them. by his attempt to reform what he considers abuses. Hitherto he has cer- tainly earned more abuse than thanks.] At the Rhyl Petty Sessions last week, W. H. Lucas, of Birmingham, was summoned bv Inspector Tooth, of th London and North-Western Railway Company, "f that he, on the 5th of October last, unlawfully trave in a certain carriage on the Chester and Holyhead Ra way, he not having paid his fare, and with intent to evad> payment thereof." The defendant resided at Birmingham, but during the summer season opened a lapidary's shop at Rhyl. It would seem that excursion tickets were issued from Birmingham to Rhyl and back, upon which "not transferable" was printed. The defendant met with sone person at Rhyl from whom he bought one of these tickets, and when he presented it at the station he was told by Mr Lewis, the station-master, that he could not travel by it, because he bad not bought it himself, but he replied that he had bought it from a man he did not know, and per- sisted in going by the train. He was again warned at Chester, but he went on to Birmingham. Evidence having been taken, Mr George (the magistrates' clerk) asked Mr Preston, the Company's solicitor, to show him the Act of Parliament authorising the Company to prevent people selling excursion tickets. He had read over the 103rd sec. of the Railways Consolidation Act, undl' which this case was brought, and lie could not see any* thing to prevent persons selling tickets.—The justices missed the case, but, on the application of Mr Pres*)n> a case was granted for a superior Court. In tlie course of a sermon delivered at Prees r| S»ndav week, Archdeacon Allen said- -As we co-,iler these Christmas Day lessons, the thought may ix* 1'^11S an|e ?n our minds as we endeavour to realize ot w misery attendant on the terrible war.. g<^ng 011 be." tween France and Prussia, how ^y tbese great nations, hurried by passion, throw' V £ h™st s teaching, and refuse'to beat the*' ™ds '"to ploughshares and their spears into prunin' ^e^' as Je £ v' W, these nations now doing alljI10 m,lschl"f th^ cfvn ,to jac 1 r other, we can interfere i' ,no for them good. except by earnest supp'f.atlrtn to the.thr,me of "r;ic' God will be pleased o/.Hls mem- to bring peace upon this earth. But we, as rltlzens .a free country may take warning from wl^ ls 11OT» taking place m France, not to let the newsnvers persuade us that because Russia arms at Conr'tan^°f^e' or because Prussia will extend her scherne's Vfl>0':i'er.v> therefore we in England ought to in- terfere -fivery one of us in our daily talk may contribute „ I'm? to the formation of public opinion, and humanly „ -xing, public opinion rules the world. Let us en- (-i .'ivour to realize how great is the misery of war, or rather, j) put the matter more truly, how great is tlie crime of war. How alien war is from the spirit of Christianity Let us study seriously the teaching of Holy Scripture on this matter How God may be expected to scatter the people that delight in war. The English people haw been far too meddlesome, far too ready, tor the last eight hundred years to rush unthinkingly into war. Men have gone into war with the ringing of bells, but they have come out of war with the wringing of hands.

THE L VTE RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.-In the recent collision at Harrow, one of the passengers who was unfortunately killed Mr J H Jordan, had taken an insurance ticket of the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company befoie commencing his journey, for which he ,°.nly pani threepence by whicli he has secured £ 1 000 for his family. In the same accident, Mr G. H. Smi^b of Manchester, was killed, who held an annual policy for a like sum with the same company. In the collision at Brockley hms, last week, besides many injured, t *'0 annual policy-holders for Cl,ooo each were also killed, one of them being the comedian, Mr Younge. It is satisfactory to find that if the present season seems fruitful in disasters of the kind, the number of those who have the wisdom to provide against them 15y an accidental insurance policy appears to be on the increase.