Monmouthshire Merlin

EXTRAORDINARY IMPOSTURE. During the past week Bath has been the scene of a scandalous, though well-planned, imposture, carried on by a person representing himself to be a Roman Catho- lic priest. Itappears that on Tuesday evening a gentle- manly-looking man took up his abode at the Midland Railway hotel, and spent the evening in the taproom although he was offered a separate room. He left the house to see a person home, and returned aoon after eleven o'clock with two companions, for whom he asked lodgings. This being refused, the "priest," who gave the name of Mr Brisbane, went to his sleep- ing apartment, and early the next morning paid a ▼isit to the Roman Catholic Priory on the South- parade He there saw the Very Rev. Dr. Sweeney, and, producing a number of recommendations purport- ing to be from foreign dignitaries of the Church, and representing himself as a Benedifctiue, who was re- turning to California from the Continent, was offered the hospitality of the Priory during his stay at Bath, which he at once accepted, at the same time asking to be allowed to officiate at some of the daily services. He remained two days, and on Thursday, the feast of All Saints, took part in the celebration appointed for that day. On the following morning, at 8 e clock, he was to have officiated at mass, but was found to have departed, taking with him a large sum in bank Botes and gold, amounting to about £40, the property of Dr. Sweeney, and which was stolen from an escritoire in one of the rooms. It was afterwards ascertained that he ro le away from the Priory in a cab, and in the evening called at the Midland Railway hotel, and said he should not require a bed, as he was going to Liverpool. On being told there was no train to the aorth duringthe night, he observed that he should drive to Bristol, but instead of doing so, walked across to the station, and tinding there was no train for Liver- pool, he at once went to the Great Western station and left^by the up express, having surprised the porters by the .liberal manner in which he dispensed his money.

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THE MARQUIS OF BUTE AND THE CARDIFF TOWN COUNCIL. We stated last week that the Marquis of Bute had been invited to a banquet by the Mayor of Cardiff, acting on behalf of the Corporation, and had declined the invitation. This fact, with a somewhat sarcastic and irritating reference to it by the Western Mail, was made the subject of 4an angry speech by the Mayor, in reporting the result to the Town Council. Con- sidering the turn the matter has taken, the Marquis has deemed it necessary to send a letter to the Mayor, of which the following is a copy :— I Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Nov. 2, 1877. DEAR MR. MAYOR,—OU consideration of what (as I see) has taken place regarding your visit to me on Monday, and the matters connected with it, 1 think it best that I should write to you in order that, if I may do so, I may remove on or two misapprehensions under which yourself and others may labour. I regret that what has appeared in the newspaper should have done so but such having been the case, I shall ask the editor of the Western Mail to do me the favour of making public this letter also. As regards Mr. Shirley, I did not "send for Mr. Shirley," nor anyone else, nor ask his or their advice as to my accepting or declining the invitation which you brought me. Mr. Shirley and Mr. W. T. Lewis, Aberdare, came to the Castle together on Monday e afternoon, by an appointment of several days' stand- ing, in order to discuss with me a matter of business of a kind quite irrelevant to the present subject. In a short conversation which occurred before we settled down to the matter in question, I remember that I spoke successively of two other things the first, some private news which I had received from London the second, your visit. I mentioned that I had declined the invitation, and related some details of what had passed. I neither asked, nor did they offer, any advice on the question (and indeed there never was in my mind any question) as to whether I could accept or not. It distresses me that anyone should have thought that I tried or wished to give you a. snubbing' (as it has been expressed). I think you will agree with me that anyone who bad been present at our conversation would have credited me with the intention of showing all courtesy to yourself, and to all to whom I may show courtesy, while simply explaining by word of mouth the impossibility of my accepting the invitation. I regret that you should have spoken of my having hostility" towards the town. You will forgive me for saying that any hostility has been the other way. Had I asked anything, it would have been to have been left alone-and that more especially in my private life and family matters—which, as you well know, has not been the case. But I conclude by having the pleasure of agreeing with you that political and sec- tarian differences were not the cause of the attacks upon me originated in Cardiff and propagated else- where, to which you alluded, although such differences may have been, more or less, used to subserve the real motives. The real motives (as 1 believe) were, and, as far as they may exist, are (at least as regards the original authors), purely and simply personal, and rest upon the least respectable grounds. I beg to remain, very obediently yours, BUTE. P.S.—My letter ta you was written about 7 p.m., and it was by accident that it did not reach you earlier than 10 though I hardly think these details worth mentioning. Perhaps, also, I need hardly add that our conversation becoming the subject of leading articles was a matter outside my knowledge, and for which I am not further responsible than as stated above.-B. COLLIERY EXPLOSIONS. Mr Macdonald denounces as a crime the recent accident at Blantyre, but it is a matter of fact that we have not yet accurately traced its cause. The opinion is therefore a harsh one and premature, and only the deep feeling under which he spoke could have excused the utterance. He, however, does well to point out that the first general rule of the Mines Regulation Act was that iu every coal or iron mine the gas should be diluted and rendered harmless to such an extent that the working places and travelling roads, stalls, and shafts should be in a safe and fit state for working and passing therein. The law, he said, was framed in a great degree oa a joint agree- ment between the mine-owuers and the miners' repre- sentatives, who had declared that it was possible to dilute and render harmless the gas in mines to such an extent that the workingB and roads should be safe for passing and travelling therein. He had been accused of using harsh language. He asked, if the gas was diluted and rendered harmless in every miue and in every part of the mine, would there have been the accident in the Pemberton mine? Could there have been the fearful slaughter of 225 human lives in the Blantyre mine in Scotland ? Could there have been such a slaughter as occurred at the Moss pits ? Could there have been such a slaughter such as that at Bryn Hall ? Could there have been a cloud so thick with colliery disasters in and around Wigan that he thought the very sun itself refused sometimes to shine on it ? Wherever gas was not diluted and rendered harmless, wherever human lives were taken away through a colliery explosion, wherever an arm was maimed or a limb destroyed, he held that that was a crime^ against the law of the country, aud that it ought to be so considered by intelligent men. Not- withstanding the epithets that were sometimes applied to him, he was prepared to utter a challenge to all mine owners and their representatives to meet them on auy platform and he would prove to the satisfac- tion of the meeting that every colliery disaster was a crime. Mr Macdonald we think has undertaken to prove too much. From 1859 to 1867 inclusive, there occurred 2,956 deaths from explosions, 4,763 from falls of coal, 2,030 from shafts, and 2,841 from miscel- laneous causes, so that of the 12,520 lives lost, during the period in question, less than 3,000 were due to explosions. It those 3,000 could have been saved by diluting and rendering harmless the gas, then, indeed, a responsibility rests upon the Government to see that this is done, but no such precautions could have pre- vented the deaths which have occurred from the other causes which we have named. Between 1871 and 1875 inclusive, when the Mines Regulation Act of 1872 was in force, the deaths by explosions were 689 by falls, 1,794; by shafts, 603; miscellaneous, 1,174; the total being 4,260. There has been a marked) diminution in the number of deaths by explosions, j but the other three classes remain much about the same. In fact, we are able to raise 50,000 tons more per death now than prior to 1869. The causes of explosions, with which we have more immediately to do, are detined by Mr Hyslop under the four following heads Accidental disturbances, carelessness or igno- rance on the part of the manager, carelessness on the part of the firemen, and carelessness and recklessness on the part of the workmen. On the latter point, he says, it has very frequently happened that colliers have left trap-doors open, and drawers have broken them down or injured the brattice without saying a word to anyone in charge, thus deranging all the ventilation and leaving large quantities of gas to ga- ther over-night and endanger the men next morning. Lucifer matches, false keys for opening lamps and lamp-tops off, have but too often been silent but powerful witnesses against the poor fellows found dead after an explosion telling that for the selfish gratifi- cation of a smoke, or a little better light, they peril- led and bartered all the lives within the pit. Now, Mr Macdonald must deal with cases such as these, as well as with those in which he considers the colliery owner solely to bl ime. He may say that to dilute air 10 as to render collieries perfectly safe from explosions is necessary, and so it is, but no forethought will be proof against such cases of gross carelessness as Mr Hyslop points out. Mr Burt and Mr Macdonald con- cur on the subject of the duties of inspectors. They very properly say that they ought to be less of a sham and more of a reality. Mr Macdonald knows one mining inspector in Scotland who only considers him- self bound to visit mines when notice is sent him. Now these functionaries are paid high salaries, and the public expect that they will do their duty, for there is a belief abroad that some, at least, of these accidents might be prevented by better attention to the provisions of the Mines Regulation Act. It would be as well, also, to visit its pains and penalties upon those managers and proprietors who are found transgressing its provisions.- ,Mining World.

__0. i TRADE PROSPECTS. I I In an article published in the current number of the Fortnightly Review, Mr Robert Giffen, chief of the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade, dis- cusses the question what are the special features of the present depression in trade. We are first, he says, struck with the universality of the depression. Almost every civilised country has been affected. The begin- ning was in 1873, with the great Vienna panic. In the autumn of the same year came the crash in the United States, perhaps the greatest to which that country has been subject. Then followed monetary disturbances in South America, a great fall in prices at home, on the Continent, and in the United States. In 1875 came renewed disturbances in South America, more agitation in the States, and in Germany, the Im Thurn, Aberdare, Collie, Sanderson, and other fail- ures, and a great collapse in foreign loans, to which there succeeded renewed depression and stagnation in trade, the whole being aggravated by the apprehension and outbreak of war. Italy, Spain, and France have, perhaps, escaped with little hurt, but Austria, Ger- many, Russia, the United States, and the South American countries have all been in deep distress. This extension of a commercial crisis is doubtless due to the better communication, by means of steam and telegraphs, which communities now have with one another. The next important characteristic in the depression is that the conspicuous industry which has failed is the exploitation" of new countries, that is, produc- ing raw materials and food for export, by old countries which have large surplus capital, and are engaged in manufacturing. Austria, the United States, the South American countries, and Russia, may all be said, to a more or less extent, to be developed by English capital. The crisis in Austria in 1873 was followed by a succession of crises in the countries dependent on England. In 1875 they were succeeded by one in this country, which naturally led to a renewal of crises and distress everywhere. Mr Giffen adduces, in evidence of the great expansion of foreign invest- ment before the depression, the loans raised by other States in this country. There was a loan of £ 32,000,000 for Egypt for Chili, between 1867-73, one of £ 5,250,000; for Peru, £ 24,000,000; Brazil, £10,000,000; Russia, £ 77,000,000; and Hungary, £22,000,000; exclusive of minor borrowings by guaranteed com- panies, and otherwise. These were the nominal amounts; the real money's worth ever transmitted must have been much less, but they indicate the immense direct eredit opened up with the States named. Most of the money was spent in railway construction, Russia, Austria, South America, and the United States, all having been endowed with the greater part of their railways since 1865. Out, total annual import and export trade, which was £ 500,9S6,0K0 in 1867, rose in 1873 to £682,292,000, or 36 per cent. The quantity of iron and steel ex- ported rose from 2,042,000 tons in 1868 to 3,383,000 tons in 1872, or 66 per cent. in four years. It is clearly shown, when comparisons are made between the trade of the year before the Franco-German war and that of a year long after, that that war did not create the extraordinary demand for our goods but it is evident that the demands for iron and steel were owing to the increased railway construction abroad. I The stoppage of the foreign investment business goes far to account for the present depression. Mr Giffen doubts if foreign issues, as distinguished from home enterprises, have ever been so completely stopped as they are now. We have evidence of their decline in the financial and industrial embarrassments in new countries, of which the great railway strikes in the United States furnish illustration. Further, the diminution in our export trade has been from £256,257,000 in 1872 to £200,649,00U in 1876. Not since the Free Trade period has there been such a decline, just as there bad been no previous example of so great an expansion. The exports to the United States alone have fallen off from £ 40,737,000 in 1872 to £ 16,834.000 in 1876, the lowest since 1864. Iron and steel have especially diminished; in 1872 the exports of these to all countries were 3,383,000 tons, valued at £35,996,000; in 1876 they were 2,224,000 tons, valued at £20,737.000; while to the United States they fell from 975,000 tons in 1872 to only 160,000 tons in 1876. These diminutions are not only I unusual, but they are diminutions in exports to new countries, and this would go far to account for the general depression, which is thus again traced to the failure of our foreign investments. A very consider- able amount of the railway and other speculation during the past few years has been proved to have been wholly in anticipation of the wants of the world. There was, Mr Giffen thinks, an over-production of wheat in 1875, as was shown in the low prices it fetched, and it has been the same with cotton, though not to so great an extent. A third distinguishing mark of the crisis appears to be the lightness of its effect upon English industry and wages. This goes far to contradict the common impression of its severity, which has been due, first, to the evident magnitude of the financial collapse in foreign loans, which affected mostly the richer classes, and next, the magnitude of the decline of the foreign trade of the country, which is erroneously identified with a decline in its whole trade. The collapse of the loans for Turkey, Egypt, and Peru, destroyed or sus- pended incomes to the amount of £ 20,000,000 a year I but this simply means that a certain number of people were prevented from living on the interest of their capital; and, great as the collapse was, it has, probably, affected very little the real wealth of the country. As regards the decliue iu foreign trade, it must be remem- bered that we have a larger proportion of it than any other nation but yet we are very far from exchanging more than a small part of what we produce. The re- cent decline is almost entirely in optional'' business, such articles as we have been in the habit of exporting as a means of investing capital. Instead of looking merely at the foreign trade, we should, in times of de- pression, look at the aggregate. Although we import more than we export, it is certain that we get nothing upon credit. What increase of imports there has been, is a sign of real ability to pay for them, and pro tanto of the undiminished prosperity of the country. To the same effect, we have the facts that railway traffic is increasing, pauperism decreasing, and the national revenue of the savings-bank deposits steadily rising. There has, probably, never been a great commercial crisis in England which has caused so little suffering to the mass of the nation as the present. It may be that we have been befriended by the peculiar events in the money market in connection with the German coinage, and in the normal high wages workmen have received. But this last cause may be doubted. Work- men will suffer, it is to be feared, in a way in which they have Dot lately suffered, if another time of ex- pansion, such as that of 1872, should reach its full term, and industry be subjected to the strain of another reaction. Short of the depression being permanent, its effects will not, Mr Griffen thinks, be worse than usual, if, in- deed, the worst be not already past. The disorder bas been general throughout the world, because, in- dustrially, the world is getting to be more and more one country. All that has happened to England is that her foreign investments have failed, and that therefore her exports of domestic produce and manu- factures have been momentarily weakened, just as in former times the home trade dependent on railway contractors or bubble companies was weakened. This is clearly no reason for any prolonged stoppage or diminished use of the industrial machine for all the miscellaneous purposes of life, although it will only be by degrees that new outlets for our surplus capital can be found. There is nothing on the face of the facts to lead us to expect an aggravation of the present evils. A great deal of the apparent foreign competition with which we are now threatened by the United States, Be Li im, and Germany is due to the search for a mar- ket which occurs in every time of depression, and which furnishes no sure indication of any real change of the currents of trade. The complaints abroad of English competition are loudest at such a time and in every period of depression during the last half-cen- tury English manufacturers have complained of foreign competitors. Workmen, no doubt, are often foolish in their own interests, and some English trades may be diminishing still, the question is as to the general prosperity and the facts that our workmen succeed in getting higher wages, as a rule, than foreign work- men, that they do not emigrate, that pauperism does not grow, all show that manufacturina as a whole, is on the increase, and that it is more1 profitable than abroad. Even should America produce all her iron herself, England, says Mr. Giffen, will only lose the profit on so much trade, which is iu comparison with the whole of the profits on our foreign trade by no means a large sum. That loss, too, will be diminished by the new markets which will be opened. Possibly, also, the growth of the world may be such that the expansion of the American industry will not be ex- clusive of, but will be coincident with,a similar expan- sion of our own, —there may be room for both of us. America, having become richer by her iron trade, would be a better customer for other things but if it be extended by protection only, it can do still less harm. Mr. Giffen's conclusion is, that we should fully expect, when the liquidations now in progress are over, to see once more a great revival of prosperity. Still wore according to all former experience, the prosperity to come must be even greater than anything yet seen. -Capital and Labour.

SUBSTITUTE FOR MILK.-The Editor of the Medico, Mirror has called the notice of the medical profession to Cadbury's Cocoa Essence, which he calls, Oadbury's Con- centrate:! Vegetable Milk, and remarks The excess of fatty matter has been carefully eliminated, and thus a compound remains which conveys in a minimum bulk a maximum amount of nutriment. We strongly recommend it as a diet for childiea."

I HYDROPHOBIA. J The recent prevalence of this terrible malady was J commented upon a few days ago by a writer in the Lon- don Telegraph. After mentioning that the disease seems to have recurred in this country at somewhat regular intervals, the writer proceeds, as below, to dwell upon the nature of the malady, and its fatal issue when the poison has been absorded into the system after a bite from a rabid animal. As probably no place is more infested than Newport with unowned and mischievous dogs, the following may be com- mended to the attention of our local authorities The ascertained facts with regard to hydrophobia are very few, but at the same time they are for all pratical purposes certain. The dog, the cat, the wolf, the fox, and other animals of the same kind are liable to a malady under the influence of which they become delirious and aggressive, and attack and bite everything that falls in their way. The disease always terminates fatally, and during its continuance the saliva of the animal becomes poisonous and capable of infecting men, cattle, or any other creatures bitten. It is as indisputable as any well established fact can be that the contagion of the disease lies in the saliva of the rabid animal, and is communicated in exactly the same manner as the venom which is carried by the bite of a poisonous snake. It does not follow, because a man is bitten by a rabid dog, that I he will necessarily contract the disease. He may be bitten through his clothes, so that the venomous matter is rubbed from off the tooth or he may be wounded slightly, and in such a manner that his system does not absorb the poison or perhaps he may be constitutionally proof against the deadly influence. All we know is that of many persons who are bitten but few fall victims to the fatal infection. Should it ¡' happen, however, that the venom—if we may use a familiar phrase, borrowed from the process of vacci- nation-" takes," should the man who is bitten by a mad dog absorb the poison into his system, his fate, as far as all expereince has hitherto gone, is absolutely sealed. Within a somewhat uncertain period after the original inoculation he is attacked with symptoms of malaise and nervous irritability. Light or noise, or the touch of any external object, throws him into con- vulsions. Delirium in most cases supervenes, and ultimately the unhappy patient succumbs, with all the symptoms of what is commonly known by medical men as "traumatic tetanus." He dies, in short, an agonising death, cramped, racked, tortured, and twisted by spasms and convulsions of the most excru- ciating nature. All cures that have b?en tried for this distressing malady so far have failed. There is Hot on record a single well authenticated instance ot recovery. The Calabar bean, chloroform, the W ourali poison opiam, ammonia, strychnine, belladonna, nicotine, prussic acid-these and other remidies equally potent have all been useless. Dr. Watson, the Cicero of medicine, assures us as the result of his long experience that when hydrophobia has once set in hope is past. In his y own words. "Medicus xpedetur mors," and so convinced is he of this fact that in his judgment the wisest course which can be adapted with a man who has been bitten by a rabid animal is immediately to amputate the limb upon which the wound has been inflicted, or should am- putation be impossible, to cauterise the bitten part with the most unflinching severity. So much he would do by way of merely preventive treatment; but were the disease actually to set in, he would, he assures us, seek euthanasia by taking a large dose of opium, and then opening his veins in a warm bath. Whatever may be thought of this last couise the opinion of Dr. Watson has now all the weight that attached to it when it was first delivered. We have heard since then of the use of chloral, of stramony, of the xanthum spinosuni, of curare, and of the so-called Birling recipe. But there is not a single instance well attested by competent witnesses in which any one of these specifics has proved efficacious. It is a serious matter that a disease so terrible as hydrophobia should become prevalent. Prevention is better than cure and we have to consider by what means the ravages of this fatal and appalling visitation can be best kept in check. We need not be altogether at a loss for an answer. Hydrophobia is propagated by the bite of a rabid animal, almost always that of a dog, and if their were no mad dogs at large there would be no hydrophobia patients. It must be obvious to every one that the restrictiona upon the keeping of dogs in this country are more lax than they ought to be. Any man can keep a dog who chooses to pay five shillings a year for the privilege, and many people keep dogs who, as a matter of fact, pay no license at all. The consequence is that the streets and roads are in- vested with underfed, ill-cared-for, masterless, diseased curs, amongst whom the contagion of rabies spreads exactly as pestilence always extends amongst the poorest and most neglected portion of the community. If inquiry is made it will be found that in almost all instances of death from hydrophobia, the patient has been bitten by some stray mongrel. The inference is obvious. Steps ought to be taken to secure the better care of dogs, and with this view it is a serious question whether the dog-tax might not be increased. If a man can afford to keep a dog he ought to be able to pay for the luxury, and twenty shillings a year for every dog that is kept would be by no means an cxcessive impost. Upon the man who keeps a dog without a license and to the danger of his neighbours a severe penalty ought to be inflicted. Nor is this all. On the Continent there are very strict rules as to the keeping of dogs. In Austria, for instance, each animal has to be licensed by the police, and to wear a collar marked with an official number, while any dog found at large without such a collar is mercilessly slaughtered. These regu- lations may seem excessive, and may forcibly remind us of the old saying that our friends on the other side of the Channel are over-policed. At the same time, when we consider how fearful and hopeless a malady is hydrophobia, no restrictions that are liable to hold it in check can possibly seem too onerous.

ACTION AGAINST A MONEY LENDER. In the Exchequer Division of the High Court of Justice, Lord Chief Baron Kelly and Baron Huddle- ston, sitting in banco at Westminster, had before them, onl^y, the case of James v. Blaiberg, an action which was brought by a landed proprietor and magis- trate of the County of Monmouth against a money lender for seizing certain cows which the plaintiff alleged were his property. It was tried before Mr. Justice Lopes at the last Monmouth Assizes. The learned judge, on the finding of the jury, directed a verdict for the defendant, but staying execution to enable the plaintiff to move the proper Court in Lon- don on the subject. Mr. Bosanquet now moved the Court accordingly, on behalf of the plaintiff, for a rule nisi calling on the other side to show cause why there should not be a new trial or why a verdict should not be entered for his client. The defendant justified his seizure of the cows under a bill of sale given by Lewis Williams, tenant of a farm belonging to the plaintiff. In September, 1876, the tenant desiring to go out of l 1 plaintiff bought all his stock, and the defendant sought to justify the seizure under a bill of sale dated in February of the same year. It was admitted that up to September, 1876, Lewis Williams was the plaintiffs tenant, and that being desirous of leaving the farm he arranged with his landlord to take the stock off his hands at a valuation, and take the farm back, paying him for the stock, which he did. Evidence was given on both sides, and Mr. Justice Lopes, in summing up, told the jury what the question was which they had to determine. The plaintiff said the defendant had improperly seized three cows, while the defendant held that he was justified in doing so under the bill of sale. It was not disputed that mechanically Lewis Williams's mark was put to the bill of sale. The question which the jury had to determine was whether when he did so he knew that the person to whom he gave his mark could take his property in consequence whether he knew the effect of the document. The jury were unable to agree, and counsel said they would take the opinion of the majority, which was that Lewis Williams signed the bill of sale with the knowledge that he was rendering himself liable, but that he did not fully understand the nature and contents of the document. Thereupon both counsel claimed the verdict, and Mr. Justice Lopes said he understood it to be a verdict for the de- fendant, directing the jury to fiud a verdictlfor the de- fendant accordingly. It was under these circumstances that Mr. Bosanquet now moved the Court for a rule to the effect already stated and in the result their lordships g. tited a rule to show cause.

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t THE NEW CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE OF YORK. Sir E. Beckett, Bart., Q.C., so long known as Mr. E. B. Denison, Q.C., who has been appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of York, was called to the Bar in 1841. His distinguished career at the Parliamentary Bar is before the public, and in all Church and all social matters he has for years taken a very leading part. He is married to a daughter of the late Dr. Lonsdale, the well. remembered Bishop of Lichfield. The Archbishop of York by this appointment secures for the clergy and laity of his diocese a powerful legal adviser. Sir E. Beckett is also closelv connected with the diocese of York through his father, the late baronet and banker at Doncaster, and through his own property near York. The Worshipful Chancellor Granville Vernon has only just resigned ihe Chancellorship of the diocese of York, the emoluments of which are about J6300 a year. j

I MR. ARCHIBALD FORBES ON THE ALLEGED RUSSIAN ATROCITIES. Mr. Archibald Forbes's article in the Nineteenth Century on "Russians, Turks, and Bulgarians,r which sums up in admirably clear and vivid form the results of his observations at the seat of war, will produce a profound effect wherever it is read. Of the bravery and humanity of the Russian soldier Mr. Forbes speaks in the highest terms. The Russian officer," he says, has the splendid valour of his nationality; he is no braggart, but does his fighting as a matter of course, and as part of the day's work, when he is bidden to do it. As for the Russian private, I regard him as the finest material for a soldier that the soldier- producing world, so far as I am acquainted with It, affords." The stories of Russian atrocities which have been trumped up by the Turks, Mr. Forbes, having used every opportunity to test the truth of them, meets with an angry denial. The Turks have tried to blow hot and cold-to profit by their barbarism, and plough with the neifer of civilisation. While slaving and sparing not, they have addressed whining, and it may be added lying, appeals to Europe, invoking the enactments of the Geneva Convention, which they themselves set at naught. Wielding the axe and chopper of ruthless savages, they have acted like a pack of querulous and mendacious old women, in cackling to Europe their trumped-up allega- tions of violations of civilised warfare on the part of their enemies." Of the multitudinous atrocities on Turkish refugees charged against the Russian soldiery with so persistent circum- stantiality by Turkish authorities and their abettors, I have never found the smallest tittle of evidence, and on KOUI and conscience believe the allegations thereof to be utterly false." The Russian of my experience is instinctly a humane man, with a strong innate sense of the manliness of fair play." But while Mr. Forbes is warm in his admiration of the raw material of the Russian army, he has little good to say about its organisa- tion.-Examiner.

THE JESUITS AND THEIR LABOURS. The greatest enemies of the Jesuit society have never refused a certain admiration to the vic- torious persistence with which it has won and kept for itself a place in the story of Europe throughout the four centuries of its existence. It has been during its whole life a sort of modern Ishmael, with its hand against all the Powers of the world and with the hand of most of the Powers of the world against it. It has been charged with atrocious crimes, credited with fabulous influence, supposed to possess almost superhuman cunning. But through evil report and good report it has pre- served its existence, and has made itself a factor not to be neglected by any statesman or historian. Even in its forty years' abeyance, from the time when the bull Dominus ae Redemptor theoretically put an end to it, to the time when the bull Sollicitudo Omnium gave it once more the recognition of the see of Rome, it flourished, having secured in the dominions of avowed freethinkers a retreat from the persecution of kings most Christiaii. and most Catholic. Nor since its revival has it been, allowing for the changes of the times, any. the less active and influential. The feeling against it has perhaps become stronger than ever. Excellent persons in England have come to see all things in Jesuitry. French novelists have drawn pictures cf generals of the order poisoning their suc- cessors as a matter of course, and of Jesuits planning the destruction of families as a means of securing their wealth. In Switzerland the war of the Sonderbund, the only instance in which the pretensions of the order were fought out in the actual field, and terminated disastrously. Italy, and Spain, and Portugal have proved themselves once more stepmothers, and Germany has de- clared war to the knife against it. But, on the other hand, it has learned something by its mis- fortunes. It has not again tried to obtain direct political domination in the way which once proved fatal to it in Paraguay. It has abandoned the habit of loading itself with the thick clay of commercial operations, which contributed so largely to its former fall. It has undertaken with redoubled energy the work of education, which once gave it such a hold on the young, and which, if we may trust recent statements, is giving it now in Belgium and in France a greater hold than ever, and the multiplication—nearly threefold, report has it—of its professed members Eince the accession to office of the present General Father Deckx is the best proof of its dangerous advance in clerical favour.-Daily News.

It may bo a cause of gratification, or otherwise, to John Bull to know that Brother Jonathan, at least, knows how to make the Turks pay cash down. Mr. Azarian, of the Providence Pool Company, which furnishes the Turks with arms, always manages to get paid in ringing coin for his wares, and only quite lately received 300,000 Turkish pounds in go.d.-E.rainiiier. CRUEL PERSECUTION.—Justice was vindicated in a remarkable manner at the Liverpool Assizes on Saturday. Captain Macintosh, of the Glasgow ship Narcissus, was indicted for several serious assaults upon members of the crew of that vessel. Several sailors came forward with extraordinary stories of outrages" and assaults, but it was clearlv shown to the satisfaction of the jury that these' witnesses were mutineers, who had im- perilled the safety of the vessel by refusing to obey orders during heavy weather, and that Captain Macintosh had not exceeded his legal right to restrain a mutiny by force. The jury immediately acquitted the accused, and Mr. Justice Lush ex- pressed great sympathy with him in the" cruel persecution" to which he had been subjected. A PHILO-TURK.—The Examiner says:—Mr. But- ler-Johnstone's Oriental career has at last come to an end. For some time he had been driving the Turks to their wits' end by bis ill-advised interference in everything that did not concern him, till Savfet Pasha at last sent a telegram to Musurus Pasha, asking him to induce the Foreign Office to "recall him." Mr. Johnstone, hearing of this telegram, obtained an audience of the Sultan, and accused Refeed Bey, the son and secretary of Savfet Pasha, of selling State secrets to Russia. In consequence thereof Refeed Bey was dismissed. But on Mr. Johnstone's return to Constantinople—which he had left, as rumour says, to direct the great Hungarian raid—Refeed Bey wrote to him to demand proofs of the charges Mr. Johnstone had made against him. After a short correspondence between the two, Mr. Johnstone considered it most advisable to leave Turkey by the next boat of the Messageries for Marseilles, whilst Savfet Pasha and Refeed Bey have sent instructions to their solicitor in London to prosecute Mr. Johnstone for libel and defamation of character. So the story goes. SAD SUICIDE OF A BOOK-KEEPER.—On Saturday, the Leeds borough coroner held an inquest on the body of Luke Ripley, a book-keeper, until recently employed by Messrs. Clough Brothers, corn millers, Famlev, and which had been taken out of the river between Armley and Kirkstail. Deceased had been missing since the 2uth October. and previously to his disappearance on that day had been observed to be somewhat depressed in spirits. His sister, Sarah Graham, acted as hie housekeeper, and shortly after he left the neigh- bourhood she teceived a letter from him, of which the following is a copy:—" October 20, 1877-My dearest Sarah—I am an honest man. I had an arrear in my cash last Saturday of 21s., which I can't make out. I wanted to give it to Mr. Clough to-night, but he would not take it, and from the manner in which he spoke to me I fear he suspected me of dishonesty. That I cannot bear. If, after 17 years of faithful and humble services, he will declare it, I shall soon have to meet my Lord and Judge, who knoweth all things. I trust in him whom I have loved and served, though imperfectly. Dear Sarah, yon must struggle on, but it will not be long. I hope and believe we shall meet in heaven. The Lord bless you.- Your dear brother, as ever, L. RIPLKT." The jury returned a verdict of Temporary ;p*anit> The judge of the Banbury County Court has stated that he looked upon the Bankruptcy Act as a legalised robbery, for it was very often the division of a "lan's goods between solicitors, auctioneers, and accountants.

I LIQUOR TRAFFIC LEGISLATION. (To the Editor of the Monmouthshire Merlin.) SIR,-I read with unfeigned pleasure your leading article in the last week's issue of your paper-an article that I hope will commend itself by the cogenoy of its reasoning, and the fairness of its tone, to all of my countrymen and women, whether by conviction favourable or indifferent to the permissive extinguish. ment of the national vice of public drinking. Jhe 1uestion how to grapple with this vice is, through the sufferings and penalties it exacts, day by day forcing its consideration more and more upon the thoughts of every thinking man and woman who enjoys the privilege of living a subject to our Queen, and who inherits the freedom of our Island Home and I venture to predict, if this question is not rendered repugnant to our feelings as Englishmen, by assuming a fanatical aspect, it will assuredly culminate in an almost unanimous national will to subvert a state of things that binds down in moral slavery, very many of our nation, with bonds not less oppressive, and even more detrimental to physical and mental health, than do the bonds of an actual slavery, so abhorrent to our natures. A nation in a free and healthy state may truly be likened to a well-regulated family of young children, growing up to maturity under loving parents and social and political problems, by a wise ordination of natural laws, are, from time to time, pressed upon us as a nation, first to study amid years of thought, mental anxiety, and doubts, but ultimately to solve. I am glad to think that the phase for the study of this the gravest of all the moral and political ques- tions I have kenned during the short span of my life, seems now to approach the end, and that the time when it may be solved, and without injury to anyone, is nearly reached to bear fruits in the lengthened lives, the diminution of crime, of suffering, and of pauperism, amongst those who live contemporary with ourselves. To achieve this end, I would most humbly add what I hope may aid in guarding against the spirit of fanaticism so apt to lurk unknown in the measures advocated by the most worthy, honoured, and per. sistent disciples of any new truth, against which a I strong opposition, passive as well as active, has been felt; and I would urge upon those who lead the move- ment, the wisdom, the justice, to see and to acknow- ledge the claims for compensation those who, having engaged (rightfully or wrongfully, it is too late to ) consider now) in an occupation whereby they have calculated upon earning a livelihood for themselvea may (in the event of their calling being taken from them) reasonably expect to receive. Wisely I think compensation may be accorded, as it will rally to the standard of the Permissive Bill many who now hold aloof, either from a generous desire not to inflict pecuniary loss on any man or from an inborn antipathy to coercive and what they believe to be tyrannical legislation. Justly, compensa- tion may be granted, as the Government controlling our political and social condition (and for whose acts we all are responsible) has and still does recognise the occupation, aye, and the raison d'etre, of those who gain a living by keeping public drinking houses. Financially, the compensation question, if grasped by the Government, and not saddled upon individual, possibly poor parishes, is but a scarecrow, likely to frighten only those whose vision extends not beyond the nine figures it might attain as benefits, nay profits, to the Chaucellor of the Exchequer could easily be shewn as certain to accrue upon the suppres. sion of a trade that strikes, direct and deadly, at the industry, the thrift, and the productiveness of the nation. Do we deceive ourselves, in now believing we dis- cern the edge of the silver lining that is hopefully believed to be behind every cloud, dark though it be, of ignorance, adversity, or of oppression? I hope not. The enthusiasm of those crowded meetinge lately held in Newport, assembled to listen to my noble friend Sir Wilfrid Lawson (noble in philanthropy he prove* himself to be) and his zealous coadjutors, who came from a distance to aid us here in studying the Permis- sive Bill followed by the enlightened comments of all our local Press, has confirmed a hitherto sanguine hope into a belief thus, the silver lining to that dark cloud of the Liquor Traffic is not wanting thus it is there in all its beauty, ready to burst upon our ex- pectant sight, in the glorious effulgence of the bright and chaste light of a generous act of Permissive Legislation. I have the honour to be, Y our obedieot servant, LAWRENCE HEYWOBTH. Wain Vawr, Nov. 6th, 1877.

FOOTBALL FIXTURES, 1S77-8. Saturday, Nov. 10th—Swansea v. Newport—Newport. Thursday, Nov. 15th-M. G. School P. Newport-Mon- mouth. Saturday, Nov. 17th—Roath v. Newport—Cardiff. 1 hursday, Nov. 22nd—Rockieze v. ?<ewsort—Bristol. Saturday, Dec. lst-Cllrctiff v. Newport-Cardiff. WJ ?' 1>e^- 15th~M.G. School v Newport-Newport Wednesday, Dec. '26th—Town v. Suburbs—Newport. Saturday, Dec. ::9th- Rock leze v. K e'iVport- Newport. Saturoay, Jan. 5th—10th R.G t*. Newport—Cardiff. Saturday Jan. 12th—South Walts v. Clifton—Newport, Saturday, Jan. 19th—Cardiff v. Newport—Newport. Thursday, Jan. 24th—Swansea v. Newport—Swansea, Thursday, Feb. Htb—Pontypool v. Newport 15-Ponty- pool. Thursday, Feb. 21st-Pontypool v. Newport—Pontypool.

Byron a "Manfred," with Schumann's music, has lately been performed several times at the Stadtheater, Frankfort-on-Main. »\ French Politician," whose letters in the p uly News give a striking picture of the situation in France, is M. Scherer, one of the editors of the Temps, and a Senator. The business of Mr. Saml. Tinsley, of Southamp- ton street, London, which was established some six years ago, will in future be carried on undei the title of Samuel Tinsley an 1 Co. Curiosity is but an appetite after Knowledge.—Many years ago, when the^ Importers originated their system of supplying Pure Tea in Packets, it was constantly asked,— Why is Horniman's Tea so much better than the ordinary kinds ?" The reason why is now so well known that it is only necessary to record the startling fact, that 5,000,( 00 (fire million) Packets are annually consumed in this country, a sufficient pro«f that the British Public know and appreciate Horniman's Tea, because it is pure Strong, Delicious, and always good alike. Sold in Packets only by 3 528 appointed Agents, Chemists in the Country, and Confectioners in London. A list of Local Agents is printed in this paper, to which please refer.

TRAFFIC RETURNS. GREAT WESTERN. Week ending Nov. 3, 1877 £ 127,387 0 0 Corresponding week, 1876 £ 128,806 0 0 BRECON AND MERTHYR. Week ending Nov. 3, 1877 £ 991 0 1 Corresponding week, 1876 £ 994 16 0 TAFF VALE. Week ending Nov. 3, 1877 £ 7,125 0 Corresponding week, 1876.. £ 8,520 0 0 PENARTB HARBOUR, DOCK, & RAILWAY Week ending Nov. 3, 1877 £ 1,030 0 0 Corresponding week. 1876 £ 1 647 0 0 RHYMNEY. Week ending Nov. 3, 1877 £ 2.085 3 6 Corresponding week, 1876 i.2,394 19 6

At Consett Police-court, last week, a married woman named Judge was charged with an assault on Bridget M-Clr.sky, another married woman. The women, who are neighbours, quarrelled, and whilst struggling together, Mrs. Judge got com- plainant s linger into her mouth, breaking it in two places with her teeth, and tearing away the flesh the whole length of the finger. Mrs. Judged defence was, that complainant thrust her finger into her mouth with the intention of pulling out her tongue, and she only bit her in self-delenoe. A small fine was imposed. The usual meeting held before the opening of Parliament, at which the members for Birming- ham, the Right Hon. John Bright. Mr. Muntz, and Mr. Chamberlain will address their consti. tuents, is fixed to take place in the Birmingham Town Hall on the evening of Monday, January 21. On the 2nd inrtant Lady Seaford died at Hamp. ton Court, aged 90. Deceased was the relict of Captain Sir Thomas Hardy, flag captain of Lord Nelson when he met his death. Deceased wu found by her maid in a fit in her bed room, and she never recovered oosscionsness. Colonel Mare, member tor Renfrewshire, ad- dressed a large meeting of his constituents at Pollokshaws, last week. The Colonel in hit speech dwelt mainly upon the Eastern Question, While condemning the conduct of the Turks from first to last he spoke i; severe terms of the atti- tude adopted by the Russians, and the cruel repri- sals they had made. He expressed himself ai gravely doubtful as to the solidity of Britain's sway in India, and said he entertained little confi- dence in the policy of Lord Lvttnn Mr. Cross is to be nominated for the Lord Rectorship of Edinburgh University, in opposition to the Marquis of Hartington. THE INDIAN FAMINE FUND.—The subscriptioDl received at the Mansion House on the 2nd inst. amounted to about f2000, -naking the total amount £ 439,000. Great distress prevails among the Cornish tin miners in consequence of the closing of many Of the mines through the large imports of tin from abroad. It is said to be now definitely settled that M. Gounod's new opera, Polyeucte," is to be pro- duced at the Paris Opera during next year's Ex- hibition. The principal parts are to be sustained by Mdlle. Krauss and MM. Sellier and Lassalle. Jean Jambon," whose Trip to Blunderland has just been published by Messrs. Blackwood and Sons, is no less grave and learned a person than a well-known Edinburgh lawyer, Mr. Mac- donald, the newly-appointed Solicitor-General foe Scotland.—Athenaunu SEWING MACHINES ONLY THIRTY SHILLINGS TAYLOR'S NEW PATENT TWISTED LOOP SEW. ING MACHINE, with all necessary apparatus TÍz. Tucking Guage, ielf-Sewer, Remmer. Braider, Oil Can- and Needles. It will Stitch, Hem, Fell. Braid, Bind, Quilt, Tuck and Gather, and do every kind of Domestic Work. The extraordinary cheapness of this Machine brings it within the reach of all. Whclesale and retail at the Manufacturers. Taylor's Patent Sewing Machine Company, Limited, Driffield, Yorkshire and 97, Cheap- side, London,E,C