Pontypool Free Press and Herald of the Hills

fiUtropoIrtan: (Sossip. BY OCR OWN CORRHSPONDENT fThe remarks under this head are to be regarded as the ex. pression of independent opinion, from the pen of a gent1e n whom we have the greatest confidence, but for which wr aavertheksa do not hold ourselves reapocatNe.) Parliament will have re-commenced its labours in a fortnight, and in the mean time public interest in the coming session is increasing. It is hoped that Her Majesty will inaugurate tin parliamentary campaign, and whether we are thus favoured or not, the Court, the drawing rooms, and the levees announced will tend to the activity and gaiety of the London season. Among the matters whieh will be referred to in the Queen's speech will no doubt be retrenchment, which Ministers appear anxious to make a char- acteristic of their policy. We have indeed already heard a goofcl deal on this subject, and Govern ment has not waited for parliamentary sanction to effect a number of reductions. But these are as nothing compared to what is to come. In the army, the navy, the coastguard, the naval reserve, the yeomanry cavalry, the dockyards, the arsenals, and numerous public offices, we are to have retrenchment. The reductions in the army, for example, bid fair to be very considerable. The Army and Navy Gazette, particularises a great number of reductions that are probably to be made, adding that nothing is finally decided upon save the numbers to be reduced—from 9,000 to 10,000 men. We believe," it continues, we represent the views of the authorities in saying that the reduction of officers will be effected by absorption, and with as little injury as possible to the interests of those concerned." This is the old tale. It is astonishing how tender over the feel- ings of the officers the authorities always are. The officers, poor fellows, are to be reduced by absorption but what about the nine or ten thousand men ? Per- haps they will be reduced by absorption—into the Workhouses. There has been for some time a rumour of another reduction, which will be of serious conse- quence to the working classes, the abolition of Wool- wich and Deptford dockyards and it is now said that these establishments are to cease on the 1st of October. The importance of this step will best be seem by a re- ference to what is paid to officers and men in these establishments. As respects Woolwich Dockyard, the salaries of officers, etc., amounted last year to £:¿2,743, and the wages to workmen, etc., £126,847; and for Deptford dockyard, the salaries were £10,770, and the wages £39,858. Of course, we cannot suppose that offices and work to these amounts will be absolutely lost, as there will probably be absorption elsewhere (especially for the officers), but the number of men thrown out of employment, together with the disband- ing of nine or ten thousand soldiers, and numerous reductions of clerks, etc., will, at all events, prove that the policy which to the nation at large may be so de- sirable has its dark side. We are promised, almost as a matter of course, another amendment of the law of bankruptcy, and the proposals of Government will probably be in the main similar to the bill which was withdrawn last session, from want of time to carefully discuss its important provisions. Two or three celebrated cases which have lately occupied public attention seem also to point to the necessity of some modifications in the law of limited liability. Without going deeply into this matter, I would ask whether it is not desirable that the articles of association, together with every deed, contract, or agreement, which may form part of the foundation or the structure of a company, should be open to the inspection either of shareholders or non- shareholders, on the payment by the latter (or perhaps by both) of a. certain fee. As to the articles of asso- ciation (infinitely of more importance than the pro- spectus) it is frequently most difficult to see this docu- ment. If you are in London you may see it at Serjeants' Inn, on paying Is., but even then must not take the most minute extract. In an im- portant trial which attracted great public interest some months since, and in which a then mem- ber of Parliament was deeply concerned, we heard incidentally of two contracts, the mere existence of one of which was unknown to the shareholders; and, now, during the evidence on another sensational case, we hear of two deeds, one of which was a secret compact. Shareholders ought to have the right of access to all such documents, and their non-confirma- tion at a meeting of the company ought to render them illegal. Let the reader trace the history of a dozen limited liability companies that have failed, and he will probably find that at least half of them have come to grief through some transaction on the part of the directors on which the shareholders have not had an opportunity to express an opinion till too late. An attempt will doubtless be made next session to procure municipal government for the Metropolis. In many respects London is about the worst-go vefned town in the empire, and the vestries and the parochial system generally have been long enough tried, and are now found wanting. A deputation having waited on the Home Secretary to urge on him the advantage of metropolitan municipalities, Mr, Bruce has stated that he feels much interested in the question, and that he will do his utmost to secure for it that legislative attention which he considers it deserves. That is some little, though not much, towards the desirable end. The idea of a municipal council for the whole of the metropolis is a grand one but of course the City authorities will oppose it tooth and nail, although it is impossible for unprejudiced people to see why what is good for the City should not be good for the metro- polis at large. The absurdities of our parochial system would afford ample material for two or three faroes, but we who suffer from them cannot laugh at them. 0 That our law and police courts should be closed to the public is what no one perhaps would have the courage to propose, but, perhaps, something might be done to prevent them being turned into places of public entertainment. Readers of the proceedings in the celebrated case of Overend, Gurney & Co. will have noticed how the court was on each occasion crammed by an excited auditory, and how hissing, cheering, groaning, and hand-clapping occasionally were mingled with the judicial proceedings, in spite of magisterial warnings and threats. This sort of thing, to a-greater or less extent, is common in the police-courts especially, and in the Nisi Prius Court the case of Willis v. Parker' has been regarded by the auditors as if it were a comedy got up for their amusement. It is worth while to quote a brief description of one scene in court. The case having been adjourned for refreshment, the jury found that they could scarcely struggle back to their seats. "One jurymen said that his coat had been torn off his back another said that the miseries of a common jury were most uncommon. Mr. Digby Seymour said that the Bar had quite as much to complain of; they had daily to go through a series of pugilistic performances with bystanders. 'In the morning,' said he, in a ludicrously piteous tone, 'my wig was beautifully powdered, and now look at it. I have only just saved my gown from destruction.' Mr. Justice Brett said, This Ccurt is dreadful, but there are others that are worse. The only comfort we have is that in about twenty-five years we shall have new ones; meanwhile it is dis- graceful that a couple of constables cannot be spared to keep order but I have DO power. Public opinion is all very well in its place, but ita demonstrative ex- pression18 sometimes out of place, and certainly a court of law is not a fitting scene for the display of the individual opinions of those who may happen to con- stitute the audience. Carry this sort of thing a little farther, and we shall have a judge cheered or hissed, as the case may be, while passing sentence of death. But one would think that judges and magistrates have it in their own power to preserve order in their respective courta; and if Brown, Jones, or Robinson choose to hiss a witness or applaud a counsel, and is turned out of court for hia pains, would not the public verdict be— Served him right ? Although there are plenty of arguments against women being admitted as clerks in the Civil Service, there is no reason why the men should have the clubs all to themselves. The Women's Club and Institute is nearly ready for opening, and applications for membership are invited. The object is to provide for respectable women "who have no homes or places for seeing their friends"—(there are many such anomalous as it may seem)—a place where they may spend their evenings and Sundays, enjoy society and reading, obtain refreshments at a moderate cost, and receive visits. This last was rather an awkward ques- tion, and at one time the project appeared likely to fall through, but it has now been arranged that male as well as female visitors may be admitted, though under such conditions as to avoid any cause for scandal. It will be worth while to watch the progress of this women's club. Intrinsically there is nothing in the scheme to prevent its success, and much to guarantee it, but a little bad management goes a long way in a novel experiment, and the least failure in the arrange- ments will lay the club open to exaggerated and unfavourable comments. Though we are yet far from the London season proper there is great activity in theatrical, musical, literary, and artistic circles. The theatres are in full swing. The club movement, however, appears to have been rather overdone, and it is said that three of the more recent London clubs—the Arts Club, the Fine Arts Club, and the junior Athenaeum—are to be amalgamated. Artists are hard at work preparatory to the picture exhibitions which are so pleaaing a feature of the London season. We are to have a new Shakspearean actor in the person of Herr Formes, hitherto remarkable for his fine bass voice in opera and concert-room. Apropos of voices, people are talking of the wonderful "organ" of Mr. Joseph Lander, a new singer. His compass is "from double C to treble G," or nineteen notes, so that virtually he is a bass and a tenor singer combined. I have nut yet heard him, but take it for granted that when" treble G is spoken of, all that is meant is the G immediately above the stave as a tenor voice would sing it, and even this, bearing in mind the bus C, is sufficiently marvelloua.

A SHERIFF'S OFFICER'S FEES. In the Court of Queen's Bench an application has been made on the part of Sir Fitzgerald Fitzgerald, for a rule for an attachment against one Moses Levy, for extortion upon the occasion of an arrest lately executed upon Sir Fitzgerald. The alleged extortion consisted in taking the sum of £ 9 instead of about £ 3, the amount of the regular fees. The case on behalf of bhe officer was that he had been kept up, not only all night, bat until between one and two in the morning, in order to meet the convellielice of Sir Fitzgerald. The case arose thus :— The arrest was between seven and eight o'clock in the evening, and the baronet it was said, begged that he might be allowed to dine, and afterwards that he might write various letters before he was removed, which was acceded to, and this delayed his removal until ten o'clock at night. He was then, it was said, taken, not to a lock-up house, but to the private resi- dence of the officer in Doughty-street, and then some hours were occupied in sending for an attorney and procuring the attendance of responsible persons to execute a proper bail bond, and that all this was not concluded until nearly one o'clock in the morning, and that the baronet was told that as the officer had behaved very handsomely he deserved some additional remuneration for his extra trouble, and that thus it was the officer received the JE9; and, according to the officer, the attorney of Sir Fitzgerald was distinctly told that the money was charged not only for the bail bond and the legal fee, but for the extra accom- modation, and that all parties shook hands at parting. The attorney of Sir Fitzgerald made no affidavit, nor the gentlemen who entered into the bail bond. Mr. Smith appeared for Sir Fitzgerald Fitzgerald. Mr. Day appeared for the officer, and acknowledged on his part that he could not return the money, but submitted that there was no case, under all the cir- cumstances, for an attachment against him. Mr. Justice Blackburn said the officer could not take any sums beyond his legal fees, whether as fee, reward, or gratuity, and he must have known he was doing wrong, and if the execution of the writ had been dalayed or managed in order to enable him to extort the additional sum, probably the Court would have thought an imprisonment necessary by way of punish- ment. As it was there was a contempt which must be punished by a fine of £10, and, in default of payment, there must be an attachment.

DREADFUL SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP'S CREW. By the arrival at Liverpool 011 Monday of the African mail steamer Biafra, we have details of the loss of the barque Florence Nightingale, of London, Captain Bright, and of the fearful sufferings of the passengers and crew. The Florence Nightingale left Bathurst, Gambia River, for Sierra Leone, on the 24th December, with seven females, two priests, two Kroo- men, and nine ship's crew. On the night of the 26th the barque unexpectedly struck on a sandbank not marked on the charts, and which was not at the time surrounded by broken water. In attempting to get her off two boats were stove in, and one of the Kroo- men drowned. All hands then set to work and made a raft, on which some provisions, brandy, and sherry were placed, but the captain in the hurry forgot water and his charts and instruments. After trying- for some time to tow the raft by the aid of a small boat—17 feet by 6 feet—they were forced to leave it and crowd into the boat. The provisions were soon exhausted, and under a hot sun, without water, they all took to drinking salt water. This soon made one seaman named Brown, crazy, and so violent that he had to be forcibly kept at the bottom of the boat. The captain bled him twice, and each time he did so, the blood was greedily sucked up by the others who were very quarrelsome and violent. They at last resolved to draw Jots who should kill Brown before he died. The lot fell upon a coloured boy from Bathurst, who, however, re- fused to act. Just then the captain providentially caught a fish of tbrepounds weight, having made a fish- hook from a woman's hair-pin, and baited it with a small crab he caught in some floating seaweed. This was eagerly devoured, as were also some crabs and butter- flies, which showed that land was near. In fact, they soon after reached the Isle de Los, where Captain Curren, of the whaler S. A. Paine, of Provincetown, Massachusetts, not only treated them with the greatest kindness, but took the crew on to Sierra Leone, whence they were sent home in the Biafra as distressed British seamen. These twenty persons were nine days in an open boat, under a tropical sun, with only 20lbs. of provisions and no water. They drifted in that time over 200 miles.

THE SIAMESE TWINS. The Siamese twins are in correspondence with the famous Paris surgeon, Nélaton, who, contrary to the opinion of their Edinburgh advisers, regards an operation for their severance as very possible. Noticing this fact, the Daily Telegraph has the following leader upon it It is now many years since a Dutch ship brought over from Siam, where they had been born, two un- fortunate human creatures in whose case the fair and wonderful order of Nature had been strangely' per- verted. The" Siamese Twins," as they were called, excited curiosity everywhere, and awoke a deeper and more legitimate attention among scientific investiga- tors. The two brothers were in all other respects perfectly formed, and well qualified for the enjoyment of life but they were linked together, in the region of the chest, by a band or ligament, which doomed them to go through existence, as they had entered it, chained to each other by a living bond. They were poor heathen people, and those into whose hands they came made a show of the inseparable Twins; so that a great many persons saw and examined the singular phenomenon. Physiologically, there was no particular marvel in it; the records of medical science mentioned several similar instances in which Nature had thus diverged from her ordinary course. Arrest or confusion of development produces those un- happy monstrosities, which, even in their abnormity, follow a certain law; as, for example, that in all such cases the bodies are linked by corresponding organs. A well-known example is that of a double female, born in Hungary at the beginning of the eighteenth century, who, although dual in body, was uniform in sex and functions. Her twin trunks were coupled at the back she was christened by the two names of Helen and Judith and to the age of twenty-two years she—or they—lived this two-fold life. Judith was then attacked with pulmonary disease; whereupon Helen instantly took the malady also, and the bi-une creature died simultaneously. The" Siamese Twins" were remarkable rather for the slightness of the de- viation from nature in their case—although it was quite sufficient to make them prisoners to each other and fill the minds of thoughtful spectators with pity and horror. They passed from this Continent to the New World, and were forgotten, or only mentioned as a bye-gone sight. But about two years ago people were much astonished at reading in the journals that the Twins were still alive, and, during the long interval of their disappearance, had managed to lead an existence very much like that of other persons. It was related that the brothers had gone South, had taken a plantation or farm, and had become well-to-do proprietors. What was still more strange, they had both found wives, had married, and their wives had duly borne chileren, we believe, to each. The bare conception of such a career perplexes and bewilders the fancy, since anybody who shared it must have adopted the same strange law of double life which the hapless Twins were compelled to obey. Family quarrels," for instance, must have been out of the question in this singular joint-stock company of unlimited liability. Yet, so far from finding life in- tolerable under such extraordinary circumstances, the Siamese Brothers have come to our knowledge once more through the impulse of a desire which proves that they have been far from miserable during these many years. They have grown to be middle-aged men, or a little more and, amid domestic Snd other in- terests which are not quite identical like their physical conformation, they begin to be anxious about each other's health. If one should fall sick and die, the reciprocity of sensation and constitution between them renders it probable that the second twin would take the same malady and succumb; and this fear, with other veiy natural sentiments, has inspired a stronger wish than ever for the dissolution of their too close partnership. Accordingly, they have corresponded with several eminent surgeons; and, in the hope of receiving from science a guarantee for the operation, they have come over from America, and are now in London. The opinions pronounced as to the safety of that physical freedom which they desire have been various. In Edinburgh, the weightiest surgical authority, after careful examination, was against running the risk; but it is reported that the illustrious Ndlaton, judging from the same facts, has declared that the operation may be hazarded without any very great cause of ap- prehension. The question, of course, regards the vital share of the uniting ligament in their conformations. They were born as one child in every obstetric sense and the union between them appears to many eminent tavants to be no mere cartilaginous or muscular band, but an essential conductor of nervous and circulating Dismissing this part of the problem as a matter which cannot be properly discussed here, we come to t ie incident which has attracted attention towards a subject so inexpressibly sad and painful. We have observed the subjoined advertisement in the columns of the daily journals: The Siamese Twins. Ihese wonderful living curiosities will make their first appearance in London at the Egyptian HalL Piccadilly, on Monday, Feb. 8." Thus it would seem that some speculator ir strange and horrible sights has once more got hold of these poor creatures, and means again to make tliem a show. London will be invited to gaze upon the Brothers so frightfully and unnaturally linked. The proposed exhibition recalls the morality and ideas of Trinculo, who says, Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver any strange beasts there makes a man." If these ill- fated victims of Nature's error have been heavily bribed for the "entertainment," or if their necessities be urgent, then pity, forsooth, as well as vulgar and un- kind curiosity, is to be invoked, and this living monstrosity will be exhibited at so much "a head, children and servants half-price infesting the capital with hideous and dangerous advertisements, and giving a false excuse to foolish people for staring at that which it were decency—nay, even common humanity —to keep concealed, and mention with awe and sorrow. in any and every case, and under whatever arrange- ments, we denounce this projected "entertainment," and we call upon those who have the morality and de- corum of public exhibitions under their control to pro- hibit even a single display of the unfortunate Brothers. Their position is in every sense terrible. Bound to each other by a living chain, they have had to pass a fettered existence beyond the sight of mankind, and the necessities of their existence are too pitiable and pathetic to be forced on the public eye. If they have found patience and solace—nay, even domestic happi- ness, and something like equal rights of life—under such grievous conditions, let praise be given to Heaven, which never neglects the most hapless of its children. But now they are on an errand which renders their strange doom more tragic, and less fitting for public contemplation, than it was before. The shadow of a horrible destiny hangs over them; since, unless Science dares to promise their deliverance, and to exe- cute the promise with a bold and skilful knife, the day must come when one brother living will be bound to the other dead, and, instead of an operation to which they should mutually agree, one moiety of the double man must be lopped away to save the other—if, indeed the operation do not also prove fatal to that other. Is it endurable, then, that the decency and humanity of London should be outraged by such an exhibition as that which has been announced ? When the Twins were last made objects of show, they were young; the thing was new to the public they themselves were contented with their fate, because there seemed no hope of severance. Let us add that the generation which first saw them, differed greatly in taste and morals from the present. In no case, and at no time, should such examples of broken physical laws be made a vulgar spectacle. As well expose to idle or diseased curiosity the hideous cases of the hospital operating table, or open to foolish gazers the dissecting rooms of medical colleges, as flaunt in the face of the public these sad aberrations from the divine form of man. But to do such a thing at a time when the poor souls have emerged from their hiding-place, and are on their way from surgeon to surgeon, praying for some one daring enough to save them, at the risk of death, from the death in life which threatens them—this appears a cold-blooded contempt of all that is reverent, all that is pitiful, all that is ordinarily human; and the scheme of public exhibition is so gross and disgusting, that im- mediate steps will doubtless be taken to forbid a specu- lation so abominable.

A QUESTION OF DEGREE. In the Court of Queen's Bench application has been made for a rule calling upon a Mr. Oldham to show cause why he holds the office of town councillor of Wallingford when he was at the time of the election a regular minister of a Dissenting congregation," and so disqualified under the Municipal Corporations Act. It was contended on behalf of Mr. Oldham, who is a deacon of a Dissenting congregation, that, though he had been in the habit of preaching in villages, and had for some .time preached every Sunday in a chapel at Pangbourne he had never been elected a regular minister of the congregation. Mr. Justice Blackburn observed that it was a question of degree. No one could say that Oliver Cromwell was a Dissenting preacher, and yet he had undoubtedly often administered to Dissenting congregations. On the other hand, no one could deny that John Bunyan was a dissenting minister, although he carried on business as a cobbler. He thought that the question was whether the person had been de facto in the posi- tion of a regular minister—answering as far as possible to the case of a beneficed clergyman in the Established Church. If it had appeared that Mr. Oldham had been really in that position, even for a short period, and especially if he had received any salary, however small, he would have been disqualified. But upon the facts it appeared to be otherwise, and there was no reason to disturb the election. Mr. Justice Mellor and Mr. justice Hayes concurred, and the rule was refused.

MISS SHAW IN A NEW SPHERE. A grand wedding at the Tuileries! (writes the corre- spondent of the Morning Star). Miss Shaw is going to marry M. Thierry, ex-captain of the Imperial Guard, and treasurer of the Emperor's private charities. Miss Shaw's story is well known. Before the birth of the Prince Imperial, the Empress requested a cele- brated Court physician, much consulted on such emer- gencies, to send over an English head nurse, qualified to take charge of and direct the nursery of the future heir apparent. If my memory serves me, Dr. L despatched not one, but sixteen equally qualified persons. These arrived at the Tuileries, and were ushered into an apartment where they awaited her Majesty's entrance. The young Empress walked round the room addressing a few gracious words to each, and in a few moments sent for Miss Shaw, intimating to her tifteen companions that she hoped they would remain a week in Paris, and assuring them that during their stay at her expense every attention would be shown to them and accordingly they were taken to see the sights, theatres, &c., and most hospi- tably entertained. Miss Shaw has during the thirteen years which haveelapsed since that morning proved fully worti v of the trust placed in her by the Imperial parents. Sim iias had the sole charge of the young Princu's health, and till lately never left him day or night. He was, at he age of seven, formally taken out of the hands of his governess, Madame Bruat, widow of the admiral, and of sub-governesses, and trarsferred to the care ot a head tutor, M. Monad but Miss Shaw has still been retained about his person. 1 It is but right to tnei Uon that her judicious care &Mi. unwearied devotion "hare befen repaid by the utmost kindness on the part, of both the Emperor and Em- press. Up to the age of seven Miss Shaw was invari- ably to be seen in attendance on the Prince in his drives, and during all out-door exercise. Since that period one of the Court broughams have been placed at her disposal, and her life at the Tuilieries made as easy and agreeable as possible. The Prince Imperial is warudy attached to his faithful nurse, and during a severe attack of scarlatina from which she suffered two l years ngo manifested the strongest affectiin f lr her. He owed the fluency with which he spoke English when a very young child mainly to her—a fact which has greatly facilitated his study of our language. The future bride is as fair a. specimen of the Saxons of Yorkshire as could be found, and the respect and goodwill she has won in a foreign palace does credit to her north country origin.

BARON BRAMWELL ON "BETS." A new and somewhat surprising view of the law affecting bets and wagers has been taken by Baron Bramwell in the case of "Maitland v. Jones." decided recently. Two persons agree to perform a partner- ship for the purpose of making a series of wagers on horse-races, and sharing the profits and losses on these transactions. The speculation resulting in a 10sH, the one partner sues the other for the moiety of several bets paid on their joint account. Baron Bramwell says, "A bet itself was null, but there was nothing illegal in an arrangement between two parties to the effect that the one should make bets and pay losses, if there were any, and that the other one should indem- nify him against part of them." This ruling, if upheld will materially alter the legal position of the numerous class of persons who make bets upon commission. Hitherto it has been considered that the agreements between such agents and their principles were not under the protection of the law. The Gaming Act of 1845 says that No suit shall be brought or maintained in any court of law or equity for recovering any sum of money or valuable thing won in any wager," but it says nothing about money lost. Baron Bramwell holds that money lost in such cases as the present may be recovered. But if the partnership had resulted in a profit, it is clear from the statute that the partner could not have enforced a division of profits. Where is the mutuality of a contract which is enforceable only on one side ? Either the late decision is anomalous. or the statute relating to wagers is a flagrant example of ambiguous and confused legislation.

SHOULD CHRISTIANS COMMEMORATE BURNS'S DEATH. On Sunday morning the Rev. Fergus Ferguson, minister of the East United Presbyterian Church' Dalkeith, addressed his congregation on the above subject. The deliverance fills two columns of the Scotsman, and gave a negative answer to the question. Among other things the rev. gentleman said Smith says, "If he (Bums) drank hard, it was in an age when hard drinking was fashionable thousands of ordinary blockheads" drank hard. Is that any ex- cuse for a man who was not a blockhead drinking hard ? It is said—" His own age treated him harshly, and we of this time should speak kindly and respeetfully of him. He was given as a great and priceless gift to the eighteenth centurv, and that blind or ungrateful century made him a gauger of ale barrels. The simple fact is that it was on Burns's own repeated and earnest appli- cation that he was made an exciseman. Well then it is further said, "we offer no apology for his errors let us accept the good that is in him, and reject and forget the bad." That, unfortunately, cannot be done. The evil that men do lives after them. Burns lives as a whole, or not at alL You can no more divide his influence—extracting the sweet and wholesome from the poisonous—than you can divide a principle. He has one influence, and that influence is an evil one. We have said enough—some will perhaps think more than enough. Is not poor Burns dead? Should we not speak of the dead with kindness and respect, whatever their errors may have been? Why not allow him to sleep ? That is just what we say. Why not allow him to sleep ? Why bring him to mind at all ? Why continue, year after year, to feast and sing over such a baneful memory ?

A LUCKY INDIVIDUAL.—For several months past a rumour has been circulating at Oxford that a tradesman of that city had become the possessor of a large and valuable estate as the result of certain Chancery proceedings. The report has turned out to be perfectly true, the fortunate individual being Mr. W. H. Walter, of the High-street, who has unex- pectedly become the owner of landed and other pro- perty valued at 1:80,000. Some twenty years ago a sister of Mr. Walter was engaged to be married to a gentleman named Dancer, the owner of large pro- perty residing at Harrow-on-the-Hill. The wedding- day was fixed, and all the preparations were made, when Mr. Dancer was seized with an illness which terminated fatally on the very day that had been appointed for the marriage. Before his death he had made a will bequeathing the whole of his landed estates to his intended bride. A Chancery suit wa" immediately instituted by the friends of the deceased with a view to set aside the will, and while this was pending the lady in question was married to another gentleman although several children were born they all died in infancy, and the lady herself died about two years ago, when her legal claim to the property was yet undecided. After a long course of litigation Mr. Walter has succeeded in obtaining a decree of the Court of Chancery, establishing his claim as heir-at- law, and last week he took possession of the property, one estate being situate in the neighbourhood of Har- row, and another in the county of Northampton.

Jpsdlaramts Jfnftllijjetta, COME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAIh FRIGHTENED OUT OF HIS WITS.—A strange story—stranger than fiction, as truth sometimes is— came from Wairoa—says a New Zealand paper. After eight days from the engagement at Moturoa, a missing man has turned up. On Saturday one of the garrison was out after horses, when he saw a man armed and accoutred as our men are. He cooeyed, but the poor half-demented man (as he proved to be), fear- ful of everything, ran a.s terror-stricken at the sound. The other pursued him, and in time overtook the man, and brought him back to the redoubt. He proved to be a. man of the name of Kennedy, of the 6th division. His story was that he, along with three comrades, was leading out of the fire Serjeant Kerwin, of the 6th division, who was wounded in the neck. While so engaged they were discovered by a party of Hau- haus, and fired upon. Self-preservation actuated them in each looking for safety. They scattered in all directions. From that time Kennedy, unhurt, had been lost in the bush, living through eight days and nights as he best could on fern-root and nikau palm fruit. He knew nothing of the country, and wandered about over the country. In the course of his journey he had reached the Moturoa pah, which our forces had so unsuccessfully attacked. He found the place deserted, and, as far as he could judge, the wnole native force had withdra Nn from the district. He states it as his belief that if, after the bat tie, abugle had been sounded, or rockets fired, the majority of the missing men, nearly aU of whom were strangers to the country, would have come in. CHARGE OF ATTEMPTING TO BRIBE LORD FERMOY. —Mr. Downing, of Ashfield, in the county of Cork, has been committed for trial at the assizes for having enclosed £200 to Lord Fermoy, the lord-lieutenant, to induce him to place Downing on the commission of the peace. Lord Fermoy stated that he had recommended the defendant for the coveted honour some time ago, but the Lord Chancellor had declined to make the appointment.—The following is the letter :— 14th December, 1861. (Strictly private and confidential). My Lord,—Now that the new Lord Chancellor is appointed I presume that you have, in accordance with your kmd promise, sent forward my name. Your lordship has had a great deal of trouble on my account, and I must endeavour, as I before intimated, to mark at once my sense of your kindness. You hold, my lord, a high public position, which entails much expense, and I beg as a friend your accept- ance of the enclosed (others will follow to-morrow). This is but Ml instalment of what lowe, for I feel under a debt of gratitude to your lordship, which my friends and myself will not forget, and which we hope soon to have an oppor- tunity of repaying in a tangible way. Lord Fermoy replied that he had received the letter "with surprise and extreme disgust." Mr. Downing subsequently apologised, and threw the blame upon his "inexperience." THE MARQUIS OF BUTE.—Noticing the report representing the Marquis of Bute having joined the Romish church, the Daily News says it was true. It wasn't. It could not, must not, should not be trwe. But it was, for all that. The marquis—the marquis, with three hundred thousand a year—had become a Roman Catholic 1 A bomb shell as big as the dome of St.tPeter's itself could not have caused greater con- sternation. There was wailing in Mayfair, and "Belgravia would not be comforted. The beautiful "Coronach of Scott, familiar to all young ladies, was in the mouths of each of them and it was pitiable to hear the melancholy refrain, Like the bubble on the fountain, he is gone—and forever." But the despair of the young is often somewhat hasty. Luckily, how- ever, it is about as transitory. So when the veterans of the domestic camp began to hint that after all hope need not yet be abandoned, that though a Roman Catholic in the abstract is rather a terrible thing, a Roman Catholic husband in the concrete, and parti- cularly one who is a Marquis, and has £300,000 a-year, is perhaps a proper object for the exercises of a little Christian toleration, the young ladies began to take consolation, and try to see the matter in a different light. A LEPROUS HUSBAND.—A curious matrimonial case recently came before the Bombay High Court. A leprous husband prayed for the restitution of con- jugal rights, which his wife had denied him through fear of being affected with the disease, and thereby endangering her own life. The Moonsiff of Surat, before whom the case came first, threw out the plaint. The judge of the district reversed the decision, because it had been made on the extra-judicial ground that it would be cruelty to compel the woman to live with her husband. The High Court, however, thought the Moonsiff's view of the easy correct, since where there is cruelty the court ought not to interfere, and the district judge's decree was reversed. This decision is of some importance in the Bombay Presidency, where one in every hundred cf the population is a leper, and where the disease is said to be steadily on the increase. PRINCE KUDDER OF A PILGRIMAGE.—Prince Sooleiman Kudder, cousin to the ex-King of Onde, who for bis alleged complicity in the murder of the child of his maid servant gained a notoriety which cost him his seat in the Governor General's Durbar, has left Lucknow on a pilgrimage to the shrine of his Holy Saints in Arabia. Before leaving, however, he took the precaution of settling a dispute with his wife by fixing 300 rupees as her monthly allowance. On reach- ing Bombay he sent instructions to his chief eunuch to curtail his establishment, and thus reduce the expendi- ture. It is reported that from Arabia the Prince pro- ceeds to England to shake hands with his Grace the Duke of Argyll, aad obtain restoration to his former I honours and privileges. A Lkae»^ I* TJW^FTTRii. Da the person of the ciwrman of a "Friendly Lead," held in one of the worst slums of London, to assist a "pal" who had got into trouble was found a card containing this touching snatch of poesy :— Days like years are snre to pass, Let's hope to have another glass, And sing a song, and do our part, To give our mites with all our heart. The worthy chairman was also arrested whilst presiding at the Friendly Lead," to the great disgust of the elite of the fancy who had assembled in great numbers. MIDDLE-CLASS EDUCATION.—A spirited effort was set on foot some two or three years ago in Bed- fordshire to meet a want felt in most of the agricul- tural counties of England—viz., a thoroughly good educatioB for the sons of farmers and other middle- class people at a cost within their reach. A large school, calculated to receive 300 boys as boarders, has been built at Kempston, near Bedford, and which is about to be opened. The necessary funds were raised by shares among the landed proprietors and leading farmers. The Duke of Bedford supported the move- ment by taking shares to the amount of £10,000. Lord Cowper, the lord-lieutenant of the county, also subscribed largely, and is president of the school board. An education of a superior order, with board, lodging, &c., without extras, is to be imparted for the low sum of £30 per year, the object in view being, not so much a commercial project, as to bring down the cost of a suitable education for the middle classes to the lowest remunerative point. The school will be open to boys from all parts of England. TIMOUR'S LIBRARY.—According to the Spectator, a treasure of priceless value has been found among the stores of the India House. Oriental scholars all over the world will feel their blood quicken at the news that the library of Timour, collected in the course of his conquests, has been discovered.. "Among other treasures are documents of extraordinary value con- nected with the biography of Mahomed." THE FUTURE OF THE RITUALISTS.—The fol- lowing concluding paragraph is contained in a circular just issued by the Rev. J. Going, incumbent of St. Paul's Walworth, to his congregation, inviting their aid to clear off the existing liabilities on account of church expenses and the schools :— At this time, when Catholics are attacked on all sides by their enemies, they need the vigorous help and co-operation of their friends. We have nothing to few as long as we are Arm and faithful to each other and to the Vburch and that (God helping us) we will always be. We will not make a schism on the one hand, or secede to Rome OD the otner, as our enemies invite us to d-they care not which hut ill live for, and, if need be, die for that branch of the Catholic Church into which Our Lord called us at our baptism and in which, for so many years, He has led uS with His Bouy and Blood. A YOUNG SOLDIER.—Queen Victoria's eldest grandson, Prince Frederick Wiliiam of Prussia, the other day entered upon his eleventh ye&r^-an event at which, of course, no loyal subject of Yicfom, I. or of William I. can be otherwise than most gfS- At the same time, his little Highness entered something else—even £ he duties and emolument* slteatenancy in the 1st Tlegiment of Guards, vjiieh*i|»/4.. an old family custom to confer on the bo;/ PrinceiwrPrussia. When we think what manner of "men guards of the great Frederick—those huge stupid jftfcts whom he bribed and filched from all parts of hit is impossible to avoid a smile at the notion of the tiny ten-year-old Highness standing in front of his met, and putting them through the manual exercise. Loss OF IDENTITY.—Lady Sott, ne of her novels, tells a touching story of a, lady who, being obliged by a sudden alarm of fire tc' leave her room without having her body prepared," as the phrase is, could not be identified by her nearest and dearest friends. Without hair, complexion, teeth, eyebrows, bust, and other artificial continuations apd surround- ings, she was an absolute stranger to everybody but her maid. A LUCKY POACHER.—A few ago a very successful poacher in this district (S! rathdaaa) went to the hill with his gun and his sagacious collie-dog (says the Inverness Courier). It was early in the morning, and having come to the oase of* at. in all eminence, round which was a narrow path, the man took up his position. The dog, knowi..JJIr e duty he had to perform, immediately started round tasph.»dder of the hillock, and in a few minutes thr.opoiUman was gratified to see a large flock of mountain hares running precipitately along the footpath. On coming within proper distance, the poacher fired his first shot, and laid low four hares the second brought down two more, and wounded a third, which the trained coolie soon tracked out, thus bagging seven hares with two shots. As an instance of the abundance of hares in this Strath, we may mention that the same sure hand a short time previously, bagged six couple in a iew hours, and had he been able to carry more, he might have killeddouble the number. RATHER PRACTICAL IN HIS GRIEVANCES.— A story of tarring and feathering which, though not very creditable to the social customs of the district, has a humorous side to it, is told in a Melbourne letter. A respectable man named Black went, accompanied by a surveyor, to a milling claim, known as that of the New North Clunes Company, respecting the proprie- torship of which there is some dispute. While in the act of pegging off a portioiv>f the ground, he was seized by a number of ruffians in the employ of the company, stripped, bound hand and foot, smeared all over with hot pitch or tar, and then, in the absence of feathers, coated with fragments of wool straw, or whatever rubbish came to hand. One would have supposed that the first step taken by Mr. Black would have been to rid himself of this uncomfortable suit of clothes. But no. Mr. Black was a methodical, far-seeing man. He -vent direct to a photographer, and secured indubitable evidence of the brutal treatment he had received, in the shape of a photograph of himself. Hia next act was to commence legal proceedings against the com- pany, laying his damages at no less than £2,000. Mr. Black is evidently a business man. The New North Clunes Company cannot afford to quarrel with SUM a man. They should make him a director. THE NATIONAL DEBT.—The London Gazette states that the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury having certified to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt that there was no surplus of actual revenue over the actual expenditure of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the year ended the 30th September, 1868, the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt hereby 'give notice that no sum will be applied by them on account of the Sinking Fund under the provisions ef the Act 29 and 30 Vict., cap. 39, sec. 16, during the quarter ending March 31, 1869. NAVAL RETRENCHMENT.—Mr. Childer's scheme for reducing expenditure in the great department over which he presides is, it is stated, prepared, and only requires a few alterations to render it complete, and fit to present to Parliament. Among some of the impor- tant changes which the First Lord has resolved upon will be the abolition of the office of admirals and cap- tains-superintendents at the different dockyards, and already, we are informed, intimation has been con- veyed to these gentlemen that their services will not be required after the 31st of March. The Army and Navy Gazette also gives currency to a statement that all unimportant foreign commands will be abolished by Mr. Childers, and that in future he will substitute flying squadrons under rear-admirals. The United Service Gazette also says :— Matters are really becoming serious, and Mr. Childers seems to be as much in earnest as the player who, as Mr. Dickens describes, went so entirely into his part that in playing Othello he blacked himself all over The Admiralty in visiting Chatham Dockyard had no guard of honour, and went to the yard in cabs Our correspondent (though we are constrained to confess that on this one occasion, to speak clearly, we do not believe him) says that all five went in one cab, and that a lively discussion with the driver on the subject of an extra sixpence took place at the dockyard gates. LIVERIED REPUBLICANS. — The postmen of New York have got into uniform at last, and a very good uniform it seems to be. That public opinion has undergone some change during the last few years is plainly shown by the matter of course acquiescence in such things as uniforming policemen and postmen, and in permitting even servants in livery to pass through the streets without being mobbed. Twenty years ago this would have been impossible. What will twenty years more bring ? Loss OF ONE HUNDRED POUNDS IHE GALE. —During the high wind which prevailed on Saturday forenoon, while a lady was leaving the National Bank, in Andrew-square, Edinburgh, where she had been drawing £ 500 in notes for various amounts, a sudden and violent gust of wind caught her, forced open a reticule which she carried containing the notes, and scattered them in all directions. Notes to the value of about JE300 were found and returned to her by the persons who picked them up, but notes for about £100 were supposed to have been blown over the housetops and have not been recovered. PUGILISTIC LAWYERS.—The amenities of the American bar are not always of the highest kind. The defending attorney in a murder case at Nashville understood the Attorney-General of Tennessee to say that he lied, whereupon he struck him at the back of the head. A hand-to-hand-fight ensued, and the parties were finally separated. The Attorney-General then explained that his learned friend had misunder- stood him, and that he had intended no insult what- ever. The Judge smiled serenely, related an anecdote appropriate to the occasion, and trusted that the little incident would be forgotten. MERIT VERSUS INTEREST.—The Lords ot the Admiralty have, in view of the alterations and re- ductions they are about to make in the various offices under their control, very properly issued a circular, warning officers and others from exerting parliamentary and other influential interest in order to secure advance- ment and promotion, and desiring that all applications shall be sent through a professional superior. Their lordships state that they consider such a line of conduct to which they have referred to imply that the cases so advocated do not possess sufficient claim to attention on their own merits, and add that in future such steps will rather retard then advance the interests of those who so act. OFFICIAL DELAY.—The New York Times gives the following specimen of Red Tape in America :— Some five or six years ago Captain Creighton, of a British steamer, rescued, with great gallantry, a large number of United States' troops from death on board the shipwrecked vessel San Francisco, on which they had beeD mbarked. Congress voted him-a medal, in acknowledgment of his services—and to-day he is to get it. It has only taken six or eight years to accomplish this little feat How fortunate it is that in this cojintry there is no such thing as redtape, but everything is done promptly—at just the right time and in just the right way. Whether Captain Creighton still lives, and is sufficiently in possession of his memory to recollect the service for whieh he is to be rewarded so munificently, we cannot say A QUAKER'S RIGHT TO WEAR HIS HAT.—On Friday Mr. Joseph Smith, a member of the Sooiety of Friends, made his appearance in the Police-court, Liverpool, and stood for some time with his head covered. One of the magistrates desired him to re- move his hat, but Mr. Smith declined to attend to the request, saying he had worn his hat without inter- ference in the Birmingham Police Court. The magis- trate directed the OffiCHS of the court to remove him if he did not uncover immediately. The dispute was ultimately settled by Mr. Smith consenting to allow a policeman to take off his hat, and by his remaining un- covered during the time he stopped in court. CHIGNONS DOOMED !—The Sport, a Parisjournal, announces that the graafS ladies of the French capital have determined to abolish chignons. The character of the head-dress," it says is to undergo an important reform the command has gone forth that false hair and wigs must be repudiated." And not only so, but ladies are always to appear as if they dressed their own hairi for, "when the work of a professional is manifest on their heads, prestige ceases. In the day-time the hair is to be simply plaited, and confined in a net-in other words, instead of assuming a pyramidal form, it is to have a tendency to fall like that of Niobe. In the evening it will only be necessary to put on the head a crewn, or a wreath of roses, or ivy, or of some creeping plant." The Sport adds :— "All is over with false hair. decked with gilded or metal articles. Henceforth false hair at best can only be tolerated as a detail, as a modest auxiliary—it can no longer be the principal or the only ornament of the bead." TURN ABOUT.—The Gazette de Lausanne says in the villages of Meisterschwanden and Fahewangen (Aargau), has just been celebrated, in accordance with ancient custom, the Fetes des Femmes," the women taking the plaoe of the men for the one day. The girls conduct the youths to the festive board and invite them to dance, paying likewise all expenses. In one word, during the fete the weaker sex have completely the upper hand. PAYING DEARLY FOR "HONOUR!" — The returns of election expenses incurred by various candi- dates supply the material for some curious comparisons. It costs a great deal to contest a county, as everybody knows, but the honour of representing a small con- stituency is one which must be valued highly if we judge from the price often paid for it. Baron Roths- child's expenses at Hythe were 8s. 7d.—within about JE600 of the total costs incurred by Baron Lionel in contesting London. The total number of electors on the new register at Hythe is 2,275, and 1,268 voted for Baron M. Rothschild. It cost about £1 12s. 6d to record each vote. At Dover less than 3,000 electors voted, and the candidates between them spent £2,520 lis. lid. Mr. Abrahams had thirty-five votes registered in his favour, and they cost him £293 13s. 9d. By this time Mr. Abrahams is probably of opinion that he paidjtoo dear for his whistle. It cost Viscount Barrington £185 15s. lid. to be returned for Eye, jalthough there was no contest—the members for South ESbex got clear for jE180 each. Captain Sherard Osborn spent more than twice as much as his success- ful opponent at Liverpool. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Grenfell were out of pocket £11,500 by the election in South-west Lancashire. SAGACITY AND KINDNESS OF RATS. — It has often been noted that rats are very clever in the plans they try to secure plunder, and it also deserves men- tion that they are frequently found to exercise great kindness towards those of their number who may have sustained some injury. The following story frJm the Caithness Courier illuHtrates the second of these traits more than the first :—"While Alexander Gunn, cattle dealer, Braehour, was lately passing the Mill of Dale, his attention was directed to a large rat coming out of its hole, which, after surveying the place, retreated with.the greatest caution and silence, It returned soon afterwards, leading by the ear an- other, which it left close by the hole. A third rat joined this kind conductor, and the two then searched about and picked up small scraps of grain these they carried to the second rat, which appeared to be blind, and which remained on the spot where they had left it, nibbling such fare as was brought to it. They seemed then to relax in their exertions, and only re- maiaed for a short time after which one of the rats seized a small stick about five inches in length, which he inserted in the blind pne's mouth, and in this way conducted it to the water, of which they all partook, and afterwards led its companion back to its hole." FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Saturday morning Mr. Robert Walsham, of Haigh, near Barnsley, corn miller, died from the effects of injuries received on the pre- vious night. Deceased had visited Wakefield-market on Friday, and returned in the evening by the 6.20 train. On the train arriving at Haigh station the unfortunate man was found lying on the rails-with both legs and one arm severed from his body. He was conveyed home as quickly as possible, apparently dying, and expired on Saturday morning last. It is supposed that the deceased had got out of the carriage on the wrong side, as he was found on the off side of the line, and had been knocked down by the pilot engine in going round the train. Deceased is fifty years of age, and leaves a widow and eight children. AN EXPLANATION FROM PRESIDENT JOHNSON. —The United States Senate having requested^ Presi- dent Johnson to inform it by what authority his pro- clamation of amnesty was issued on the 25th December last, he has stated in reply that it was issued in virtue of the power vested in him by the constitution. That constitution, he says, is understood to be, and is re- garded by the Executive, as the supreme law of the land. The second section of Article 2 provides that the President shall have power to grant reprieves and pardon for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. President Johnson adds that his amnesty proclamation is in strict accordance with the judicial expositions of the authority thus conferred on the Executive," and he sent papers to the Senate to show that it is in conformity with prece- dents established by Washington, and followed by Adams, Madison, Lincoln, and the "present Execu- tive." VERY AWKWARD — When Stephenson was asked what would be the result if a cow were to stray upon a railway, he replied that it would be verra awkward for the coo," hut the eminent engineer never dreamt of such a contingency as an elephant getting on the track. An accident of this kind has, however, recently occurred in India. One of a batch of seventy elephants that were being driven from Calcutta to Dinapore, strayed upon a line of railway, and was run into by a goods train. Of course it was verra awk- ward" for the elephant, but it was also disastrous to the train. The engine was thrown on its broadside, clear of the rails, several coal trucks were smashed, three of them being thrown over a bridge into a stream and the engine-driver was rather seriously injured. In America owing to the insecurity of the fences, the railway engine? are furnished in front with clearers, called "cowcatchers in India, it would seem, they need to adopt "elephant-catchers." A REVIVALIST HYMN.—The new style of hymn introduced by the "Revivalists," and written not merely for this generation but for this year, says the Western Morning News, really surprises us by the desoent which it makes into irreverence, not to say blasphemy. The most recent specimen of this kind of literature is from the pen of Mr. Wm. Weaver "the converted clown." Here is the first verse :— I've given my heart to Jesus, And mean to keep it so If the devil wants to have it all, 111 tell him—"Not for Joe. And so through other five verses, "Not for Joe" is the refrain. The last is, perhaps the most extra- ordinary :— Lord give me strength to fight, And battle every foe; If tempted to forsake my God, To cry out—"Not for Joe." KEEPING HOUSE RIGHT ROYALLY !—To have a sure idea of what a French house of the old noblesse can be, a visit to such a place as Dainpierre (the Due de Luynes') or Rochecotte (the Marquis de Castellane's), or La Guadinifere, would suffice. At the latter residence M. de la Rochefoucauld, its proprietor, exercises almost Royal hospitality during six months of every year. The woods are nine leagues in extent, and here, in autumn, when the master of the house and his visitors ride or drive out, or hunt, øne hundred and twenty horses leave the stables, and a garde a cheval of more than fifty men in uniform assemble round the company for the departure and return. A private orchestra of thirty musicians is always in attendance indoors, and in such houses as these every detail is in keeping. A CURIOUS CEREMONY.— On the 3rd of August, 794, Mary W rag-g, rehct of a London merchant, resident in Beckenham, Kent, departed this life, leaving behind her a bequest to the poor of the parish, who were a?ITU to receive bread, flour, and coals, on the 28th of January, on which day also a dinner waa to be pro- vided for the vicar, wardens, and tradesmen out of money "devised for that purpose. These benefits were dependent on her coffin, which is deposited in a vault under the church, being yearly dusted on the day in question. Should this interesting operation be omitted on any occasion the bequest passes to the adjoining parish of Bromley. Thursday, in last week, being the 28th of January, the sexton, in the presence of the vicar, the Rev. F. Chalmers, the wardens, Messrs. Purvis and Goodheart, an-1 a large number of spectators, descended into the vault and dusted the coffin, which is of peculiar construction, the lid not being fiat, but ridged like a church roof. It is made of cedar wood, strongly bolted together. The gifts were then distributed to the poor, and in the evening the vicar, wardens, and tradesmen dined at the "George Hotel." DEATH OF AN OPIUM EATER.—An inquest has been held at St. George's Workhouse, London, on the body of Elizabeth Ann Busby, the widow of a tailor, and who bad for some years past assisted in the ser- vants' hall at Lord Sefton's, Sir John Pakington's, and other members of the aristocracy. The deceased had been in the habit of taking opium for years, and when cautioned about it by her stepson she said she could not help it if it killed her, and further said that the doctors had cautioned her about taking it. She was, according to her statement, unable to sleep. In her pocket a tin box was found with opium in It, and the following letter :— This is a memorandum of what I wish shouli be known to my friends, as I much fear a sue'.den death from the feel- ing I have long had, ever since the accident to me in July last to my breast, as there is a continual pain there, and I suffer more than either of them know, and I wish my'friend to know at St. John's Wood, and also my dear Mrs. Creswell, Great Marlow, Bucks. Dear Tom, if I should be taken off sudden, you would be most likely to come to my home, and I hope you will write to Emma White, and let her take any- thing she likes for her trouble, and she will find enough to pay her; and I have alo paid for my funeral at the club. If you will send to Mrs. Gordon, Regent-street, Westminster and tell her I wish to lie as near Allen as I can ihe says £5 will pay all expenses at the Brompton Cemetery.— ELIZABETH ANN BUSBV. The medical evidence showed that death resulted from aneurism—which pain opium would relieve—and so the jury decided. THE WORKING POOR OF EUROPE. — Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, whose labours among the working poor of London and Paris have long been known and acknowledged, has just started on an important tour of inquiry into the continental systems of poor relief, and into the constitution, efficacy, and actual condition of the public and private charities of the great cities of Europe. Mr. Jerrold travels under the most Colis tinguished auspices, and much valuable information is naturally expected from a mission he is so well quali- fied to fulfil. SUICIDE AT ST. HELEN'S.—On Friday a young man named Lyttle shot himself dead in the avenue leading from Eccleston-hall. A young woman named Elizabeth Nevitt was proceeding up the avenue just before the rash act was committed, and she saw him standing on a small path that winds among the trees. He was very close to her, and as she passed he looked into her face with an expression she was unable to define, and which rather alarmed her so she quickened her steps, having only had time to observe that he was leaning against a tree and holding something very like a gun. She had not gone more than fifty yards, when she beard a loud siii<T tlfrning suddenly round, she saw him fall on the grass. He was in the employ of Messrs. Bishop for a couple of years, and was highly respected by them. He was a native of Enniskillen, and was first engaged as a glass sorter. In this posi- tion his demeanour and intelligence were observed and he was made a warehouseman. Some days since it was intimated to him that as it became necessary to dispense witli one of the warehousemen he could go back to his old post, which he declined, preferring to leave. On Thursday evening he was speaking to one of the glassmakers, and he then appeared to be in low spirits, but up to the time he shot himself no one for a moment suspected he had any such inten- tion.

EPITOME OF NEWS, BRITISH AND FOREIGN. It is generally understood that her Majesty will open the coming session of parliament in person. According to the Epoca of Madrid, it has been decided that a directory shall be established in Spain as the definitive form of government after opening the Cortes, be. cause if the latter decided in favour of a monarchy, con- siderable time would elapse before the choice could be finally settled. The Pope has sent a letter and his blessing to the editors of the Paris Union, congratulating them upon the ardour with which they combat the spirit of iniquity and defend the cause of the church. Prince Leopold was confirmed on Saturday at Whippingham Church by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is reported that an attack on the cathedral system will probably lie in the House of Commons by a dis- tinguished member of the Liberal party. Letters from Russia draw a gloomy picture of the I situation in Lithuania. The population is said to be perish ing of cold and hunger, the mortality in the government of Kowno reaching from GOO to 700 daily. A murrain is also apprehended. An excuse was made for an acrobat, employed at some of the mnsic halls, who was summoned at a London police-office, tor assaulting an officer, that his education h1«1 heen neglected. The magistrate said a man might have had a bad education and yet have ood senBe. One of the cleverest men he had ever known could neither read nor write. lie remanded the defendant. Monsignor Capel (whose name, distorted as Bishop Kppple), had heen mentioned as the authority for the state- ment that the Marquis of Bute was about to be admitted to the Romish priesthood, writes from Pau :—" Will you do me the favour to say that I never heard of, much less originated, any report of the kind." The Horse Guards have raised the standard for re- cruits for infantry regiments to 5 ft. 8 in. A meeting of distressed clerks was convened in Liverpool on Monday, at which measures were taken, under the joint co-operation of the Central Relief Society and the committee of the Provident Clerks' Society, for the relief of the existing distress. A strange accident has just occurred at Riom, France. An elderly woman went to bed leaving II. brazier alight. While 8he was asleep some coals fell on the floor and burnt it to such an extent that the deceased fell through into the cellar, where she was found almost completely car- bonised. A conference on Courts of Conciliation and Technical Education was held between Mr. Mundena, M.P., and several of the members of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce and other gentlemen at Leeds, on Monday. Mr. Lupton, the president of the chamber, presided, alld a long and interesting dis- cussion took place on the two important subjects. The little difficulty which had arisen betwean Brother Ignatius and a Miss Robinson, respecting the p08868sioD of the new chapel in the rear of his "monastery, at Norwich, has been satisfactorily settled. Miss Robinson is to be al- lowed to preach, and Brother Ignatius has publicly stated that he sees the image of Jesus very clearly reflected in her face and spirit The services of the police had been at one time invoked by Brother Ignatius to clear the chapel. Mr. Trafford, the stipendiary magistrate at Man- chester, has had before him four tradesmen who were accused of fabricating the voting papers of two electors deceased at the recent election for the Gorton Local Board of Health. He sentenced them to fourteen days' imprisonment, but as first-class misdemeanants. The advantages of this character, Mr. Traftord explained to the prisoners, would be that they would be permitted to wear their own clothing, receive at stated periods visits from their frienos, would not be required to do any of the general routine work of the prison, and might receive newspapers lurnished by their friends. In London, a middle-aged woman, named Francis, while in a state of intoxication, fell off the platform at the London-bridge railway-station on Sunday evening just as a tram was coming up A ticket-inspector caught hold of her an v out of the way of tbe train, or she would probably have been killed. She was brought up at the Southwwk police-court the following morning and fined 5s. The action for libel brought by Mr. Leonard Edmunds against Mr. Greenwood, the solicitor to the Treasury, which was to have come on for trial in the Court of Common Pleas, will not now be tried, all the questions in dispute between Mr. Edwards and the Crown having ùecn referred to arbitration. At a meeting of the Chadwick Charity trusteees at Bolton, Saturday it was intimated that Dr. Chadwick, of Southport and formerly of Bolton, had munificently placed at their disposal a further sum of £5,000 in addition to the £17000 previously given, making in all 22,000. The money wili be devoted to the erection of artisans' model dwellings and an orphan asylum. A singular suicide is reported from Brussels. A young woman, slightly deranged, poisoned herself by eating the phosphorus on a large number of lucifer matches. At Liverpool, Christopher Hughes, a firrman, was hrought before the magistrates, CT", ving e- verely injured his wife by bit'"„ i that the prisoner and the injured WOL.m were quo.iielling ill the house where the woman lived, when the prisoner seized her by the hair of her head and bit off the lower part of her nose. He was remanded, as the weman was not able to attend in court. Much gloom has been caused throughout under- graduate circles in Oxford by the almost sudden deaths of Messrs. John Moore, commoner, of Brasenose, and John Morgan, commoner, of Jesus College. Mr. Moore was out with hl8 rifle corps on iViday, when he took a chill and was attended by l)rs. Gray aud Acland, but no danger was apprc- hended until Suuday, whf'11 be hecame suddenly worse, and expire-1 in the evening. Ml1. Morgan was attended by Mr. Hitchings, surgeon, and had been ailing some time America, the land of prodigies, is about to supply Uti with the Infant Gymnast, aged three and a half years The Duke 0( Coburg has abolished the ballet in his theatres. A velocipede club is about to be established in Liver- pool It is stated that 30,000 cattle have perished near Delhi tor want of fodder. The controverses in the columne of Ths Times re- Ilarding the advisability of ceding Gibraltar to the Spaniard has terminated, as far as argument goes, in the total discom- fiture of Admiral Grey anù other advocates of such a mea- sure. Two of the highest tides known since the tremendous storms of the year 1831, occurred at Portsmouth on Friday morning and afternoon in last week. A grand-neice of the naturalist Buffon, Mdme. Nadault de Buffon, has just died at Montbard at the age of eighty-eight. A Soutbern paper wants" a stop put to the foolish habit of shooting one another prevalent in the South! The discussions which have taken place on the wan- ton destruction of Ilea. birdll have leù to the formation of an influential society for their protection. 1\1. Banés, a Paris stockbroker, hung bimself, in consequence of having received intelligence that his confi- dential clerk, now in custody, had misappropriated funds to the extent of £ 120,000. Considerable excitement has prevailed in Bolivia in conSH/uenee of the new ami extensive gold mines discovered at Santa ltosa. ncar the Brazilian frontier, which are ro- ported as being exceedingly productive. The celebrated Madame Rachel's shop has been closed for reparations." A waggish boy scratched on thu shutters, Beware of the paint." The following is a translation of an Ivertisement il1 tne second column of The Times :—" One h;> i mcp gppmt uijt ujnf; (one got two fools thb time;, yujou tuare fuan suotulher (you are another). A Freneh corresPondent that knows London bettor than Londoners, says An asylum tor cats ;"15 bcen cstab- lished in a square near Regent's Park. It is a small house of two stories, with a large garden attached, where the numer- ous cats have their sports and pastimes. The asylum is conducted by a matron, an assistant, and a cook." Dr. Helmbold, the well-known patent-medicine millionaire, is creating quite a sensation in X ew York by his new equipagtl-a landau, drawn by four high-spirited steeds, with gold-mounted harness. We noticed last year that a lubricating and a salai oil had been extracted from cockchafers. We now read that another ahemist obtains a beautiful golden ycllOl\" colouring matter from them.-MechalHcô Magazine. It has been noticed in select Parisian circles thi winter that it has become decidedly unfashionable to Uc powder. In Tennesse, on Christmas Eve, a large eagl ■ IIwooped down on a cluld, and flew off with it. A selvan woman rushed after it, and encountered a sportsman, wh" also gave chase, and when the eagle alighted tired a shot which scared it away, leaving the child 011 the ground un- hurt. A correspondent of a French paper announces that the Kin; of Prussia is about to emùrace Rouiau Catholicism and that he will be crownell Emperor of Gcrnuny 1 Pope Pius IX. Indian advices ay that retribution has overtaken Ileer Hadjee, one of the murderers of Captain Douglas and other Europeaus at Delhi iu 1857. On the :19th December, nearly twelve years after the murders, leer Hadjee waR hanged III front of the Lahore Gdte, Delh', facing the apart- ments whereiTl he butchered his victims Postage-stamp8 perforated with initials of person;! using them are recommended "as an effeclual preventive of fraudulent removal of stamps. New York has a "bootblack co-operative society," by which, tor two dollars a month, every nne can have his boots polished every morning at his house, and as often during the day as he may choose to call at head-quarters." The Prince Royal of Belgium expired in the room in which his grandfather, Leopold I., drew his last breath. Mdme. Sainte-Caroline, a Sister of Mercy engaged iu the Hospital of Dieppe, has just lost her life by a sad accident, 11avin¡;r contracted a mortal disease from the virus remaipjng on a dissecting knife of Dr. de Broutelles which she was cleaning after it had been employed in an operation. A newspaper is published on board the steamer Richmond, one of the huge passenger palaces which ply between Louisville and ew Orleans. It is called thu Richmond Head-Liyht It has two compositors and one editor, and is published six times during each trip, or about three times a week. It is intended to be a faithful expositor of river life, affording racy entertainment for the passengers, as well as an advertising medium for hotel proprietors and merchants. W. B. is entreated to communicae at once with his anxious wife, as the suspense is killing her.-K S. B. "— Advertillement in Daily Telegraph. r In the Senate at Washington, on the 15th instant, a resolution was offered by Mr. Moreton anù referred to the Committee on Pensions, providing that a life pension hI) granted to Mrs. Lincoln, as wiùowof the Commander-in- Chief of the armies of the United States. Mr. Morton claimed that Mrs. Lincoln was as much entitled to a pen- sion as the widow of any military officer. Mrs. Charles Barnard, wife of tbe Rev. Charle3 Barnard, who, under the pseudonyme of Claribel," has ae- quiredllo much popularity by her songs and ballads, died ou Saturday, at Dover, of typhoid fever, after an illuess of three weeks. In a cave at Rock Island, Illinois, the statue of an Indian maiden has been discovered. It has a solid e pper pedestal, seven feet high, and obelisk of selid brass. Other Indian clolriosities have been lately discovered in the sarno vicinity. Econemy is an excellent thing, but those who love it should take care that they always stop short at the line which borders on niggardliness. We fear that in our present rago for retrenchment we are in some cases approaching danger- ously near to that line, and run some risk of neutralising penny wisdom by pound foolishness. "-Daily Telegraph. Tbe Il.gistrar-General, in his weekly returns from London, thus makes use of a new word-" two persons havIJ died from alcoholism." The statement made ¡.¡y some of the morning papers that it is settled that the Eastern volunteer review is Rot to be held at Portsmouth this vear is prenBiture, as the 8" comwitte have not yet made their tt to tho' geneiiu commi of commanding officers. A youn child was on the lth instant lost in the bush at Talhrngar, near Denison Town, and was nnt dis- covered until aftur ahout thirty hours' search. When the little fellow was asked where he had slept on the night he was out, he With the ll«rald. An English gentleman named I3bir has just been converted here to the Roman Catholic faith," so writes the Roman correspondent to the Pall Mall (.Jazdtc. Tlli" gen- tleman is Colonel Blair, (1f the Scots Fusilier Guards. A year ago, he says, he thought Catholics were idolaters, and now he wonders how he ever could have been a Protestant." -Tabll!t. Miss Johnston, an old lady, who died at Montrose last week, has left about £ 2,000 in property, about £ 600 of which go in lef1;acies to relatives One of them, whe) has to take care of the cat alld do, received £ 60 in addition, as compensation for the trouble. William Thomas GilJ, a beerseller of Ovendon, near Halifax, was on Saturday fined £ 10 and cost-s by the Halifax bench for permitting cock-fighting in his house, and resisting the police. The Civil Service Gazette understands that the Board of Inland Revenue have obtained from the Treasury authority to increase and present allowance to supervisors for horse keep, hire, &c., £ 15 per amium, so that it will in no case exceed £ 45 per annum, and the present allowance to ride otficers £ 10 per annum, so that it will in no case exceed £ 30 per annum. The Jews of Brussels held a funeral service for the late Prince Royal on Sunday last, whieh was attended by all the Jews of the dty. The synagogue was draped ill mourning. There were suitable musical services, and the chief rahbi, M. Aatruc, offered up a prayer that divine consolation might be granted to the King and Queen under their affliction. A movement is on foot in Portsmouth to prevent funerals on Sundays. The employes of the undertakers and coach proprietors have already drawn up a memorial 0»' th6 subject, and at a meeting of the principals, it was resolved that they should also memorialise the various burial boards, [ soliciting their co-operation in the movement. A great and unaccountable mortality has for the last few days been prevalent among the salmon in the Tweed and Ettrick. In thepools and eddies dead salmon, of from i0lb. to 30 lb. weight, are to be seen at every turn of the rivers. l\1r. Childers has recommended Commodore Sir Leopold Heath, K.C.B., to her Majesty the Queen for the post of Naval Aide-de-Camp, rendered vacant by the pro- motion of Captain Shadwell to the rank ôf Rear-A dmiral, and her Majesty has been graciously pleased to confirm the recommendation. Sir Leopold was the senior naval officer during the late Abyssinian expedition. The Liverpool eoroner has held an inquest on the body of a stonemason, named Roberts, who was well known ill the neighbourhood of Manchester. On Tuesday in last week he eloped from Ince, near Wigan, with a married woman, and the two went to Liverpool. On Thursday the woman expressed a wish to return to her husband, and in the evening of that day Edwards went into a public-house and suddenly cut his throat with a razor, death bEing almost instantaneous. The jury returned a verdict of Temporary insanity." All Sorrento was out this mornin to witness the edifylrlg sight of two little girls, the one about 16, tl1G other alJOut 11, abjure the Protestallt faith. The bishop who preached on the occasion alluded to it as a proof of the truth of thc Roman Catholic religion. The Church was now sufferInii persecution, but, as always happened, it became stronger in Heaven in proportion to its sufferings on earth. Of that they had had a proof that morning. The young ladies, Miss Turner and Miss Kelsey, are both Irish."—TimtV Correspondent The merchants of Mincing-lane. London, have jut presented to the National Lifeboat Institution the munifi- cent surn of £ 1,000, to defray the cost of a new lifeboat for Montrose, North Britain, and to assist in maintaining it in perpetuity; and the London coal merchants also handed a few days ago a contribution of £ 703 to the instItution to pay for the large lüeboat at Southwold, Suffolk. It appears from the Oude Administration Report that during the past year 1,127 persons died from the effects of snake bites in that province, and from the Central Pro- vinces Administration Report, that 1,S74 deaths had oc- curred in them from the same cause during the three pre- ceding years. It is stated that the Prince and Princess of "Wales will visit Ireland on their return from the East. Nothing is said as to the probable length of the visit. At the Spanish Protestant services in Madrid last Sunday hundreds of persons were unable to obtain admission owing to the want of room. The owner of the house ill which worship is held has receivcù an anonymous letter threatening him with apsassination.-In the afternoon thero was a manifestatiun in ladrid in favour of religious liberty. Perfect order prevailed General Prim and Senor Ortiz addressed the people, and sl1id that frdom of worship was an :1ccomplished fact, but added that the Provisional Govern- ment preferred leaving to the Cortes to decide the question ot separation between Church and State. A girl named Elizabeth Bently, twelve years of age, has drowned herself at Manchester. Her father had found fault with her, and immediately after she told her mother that she would drown herself. The mother does not appear to have regarded thIS in a more serious light than being a fooIlsh tnreat, but the girl was in earnest. She was seen by a boy named Fox to go to a reservoir in the neigbour- hood and deliberately throw herself in. The Rev. C. Parnell, of St. James the Less, Liver- pool, haR intimated 10 his congregation that, in obedience to the ruling of the Privy Council, he will discontinue the use of altar lights. At the same time he considers that judg- ment will have a great effeet in advancing 1Utualism throughcut the country. May I venture to allude to the suppression of por- poises and bottle-noses in England? The pl adopted on the Mediterranean, where porpoises, or fer01P-, as the natives call them, abound, is simple and inexpensive enough. En- gage a priest, row him out to sea, and there let him curse the fish. I have known it done often, Rnd seen it done several times, but I certainly cannot guarantee the results Whether Mr. Briht 01' his correspondent will be disposed te tr; the expeiimcnt is perhaps more than doubtful; at all events it would require no Parliamentary Corresvondent at Naples. "Death from starvation" has, for the second time within a week, been the verdict of a London jury. The deceased, a yonng woman only one-and-twenty years of age, was a match-box maker, hut had heen out of work for a long time. In her destitution she applied iu vain for food at the h011se of her sister Homeless, friendless, aud starving she was found by a policeman crouched on her sister's door- step, and was taken to the workhouse. There she stated she hall not tasted food for three days. anti hart not slept III a bed J,,1' ft\ >■ weeks. This occurred on Monday night. he died vII tlw following day. Nothing i6 needed to point the moral oi tbia aad. story.