Pontypool Free Press and Herald of the Hills

A THINKING MACHINE! It is a pity the members of the Goldsmiths' Com- pany who formed the jury for the annual trial of the pyx a few days ago had not the power of appending to their verdict their opinion of the machinery in the Royal Mint. People may not, perhaps, be able to gather from the fact that the chief motion-wheel was disabled for five out of the past twelve months, that the coining machinery of the richest nation in the world is the oldest, most ricketty, and most obsolete coining machinery to be found in Europe; and the wonder is, not that so little is coined, but that any money can be turned out in a perfest state. There is, however, one small and simple-looking, but really marvellous machine which, to a great extent, redeems the character of the establishment. This is the weighing-machine invented by Mr. Miller, a gentleman connected with the Mint. A coin runs down a shoot, and falls upon a centre-plate. Here it is automatically weighed, and if it is correct it is turned over into one box; if light, into another; and if heavy, into a third. The weighing process takes but a second, but there is a perceptible pause and it was while regarding this little machine that the Shah of Persia said, perhaps, the best thing he uttered during his visit to this country. It seems," he said, pointing to the weighing-machine, "it seems to think.' -Mayfair.

DISCOVERY of a SHIPWRECKED CREW. Some time in May last, Rear-Admiral Reynolds, of the United States Navy, heard at Yokohama that there were a number of shipwrecked persons supposed to be on some island near Dampier Straits, in lat. 0.34 S., and long. 130.32 E. It appears that the whaling barque Agate, which was in that vicinity in February last, was boarded by natives from the Island of Ballanta, King William, and other islands, and the captain of the barque was informed by one of the chiefs that on an island to the northward there were sixteen white men and one woman. The informa- tion was communicated in broken English, and was hardly intelligible. In the direction in which the chief pointed lay the islands of Garmen, Lama, and Maygieu, as well as several smaller ones, and it was impossible to tell how far off the shipwrecked people were. Acting upon this information, Admiral Reynolds despatched the steamer Alert to search for the cast- aways among the islands about Dampier Straits. A San Francisco despatch now states that the schooner G. S. Stevens had arrived at that port, and re- ported having fallen in with the barque Panic, of New Bedford, on the 2nd March, the captain of which signalled that he had on boaid the crew and passengers of the schooner Urania, wrecked on the island of Lokin (?) The discovery of those unfor- tunate people is most extraordinary, considering that the schooner Urania has been missing since December, 1875. It appears that the Urania sailed from Kodish, Alaska Territory, on the 29th December, 1875, for San Francisco, since which time nothing has been seen or heard of her. She had then on board, besides her crew, Mr. Sheeran, the United States collector at Alaska, Captain Lee and his wife, and others, making a total of sixteen men and one woman, which is exactly the number given to the oaptain of the Agate by the chief of the Island of Ballanta, in February.

THE TWO AMBASSADORS. The World says :—" The second State Concert is over. It is a pleasant duty to be able to report that none of the Chinese present disturbed the sweet sounds by their inharmonious regurgitations. A system of strict surveillance was apparently kept on them, and the slightest signs of somnolency were checked with vigour for fear of consequences. But if the Chinese were thus decorously unamusing on this occasion, among certain inquisitive people curiosity was excited as to the attitude which would be assumed by the representatives ef the Sublime Porte and of All the Russias toward each other. It must be acknowledged that it was likelv that a small amount of malaise might exist. Count Schouvaloff, however, was equal to the occasion. Before the music began, and while the various diplomatists were discussing the question of the war or the eccentricities of Lord Salisbury, he retired to an opposite corner to that thus occupied, and only returned at the last moment to the privileged seats. He then so managed that Count Beust should be placed between himself and Musurus Pasha. The Austrian made himself most agreeable to both his neighbours, but there were not a few who sympathised with his position, as they do with that of his country. If Austria were by any chance to be implicated in the war, the position of the ambassadors at the Court of St. James's migh become still more embarassing. It is fortunate there are no more State Concerts this year."

PEACE OR WAR WITH THE GREEKS. The Correspondent of the Daily News, writing from Athens, says" If anyone should ask whether the Greeks are glad or sorry just now to avoid a quarrel with Turkey, I should answer that they do not know. They themselves cannot tell any better than a stranger whether they would be glad or sorry to take the plunge. The common people would certainly cheer on their Government to a war, how- ever rash. The soldiers and sailors would like it,' as a matter of course. But the upper classes in Greece, the men with something to lose, who know more of the difficulties in the way, and on whom the losses would chiefly fall, are not by any means sanguine about a war. They see the' danger of not fighting, clearly enough. But they see also the im- mense risk of beginning a struggle, even with Turkey, until Greece has had time to prepare It is dangerous for the politicians to lose their popularity by maintaning peace when the world is ringing with war news. It is dan- gerous for the rich to risk social convulsions and class jealousies by being thought unpatriotic. Yet neither politi- cians nor rich men seem inclined to move at present. There must be some great Turkish defeat in Bulgaria—nobody here cares about Asia-or some rising in the Greek provinces of Turkey, attended by massacres of Greek-speaking people, before the popular feeling against Turkey can become irre- sistible. At present there is only strong excitement. The Greeks do not forget that numbers of their countrymen are in Turkish bondage. They remember it only too bitterly. But the comforts and responsibilities of free national life make them fa. less ready to run tremendous risks than they would be if still under the yoke." The Bremen Weser Zeitung, a journal not unfriendly to Russia, says It was discovered on the eve of the war that only thirty per cent. of the Russian Navy wece fit to go to sea. Even some iron-plated vessels were found unfit for active service, having boilers and engines of an impossible description. The fact that of ten iron steamers of the Caspian flotilla only five are in serviceable condition tends to retard the reinforcement of the Caucasus Army. It is stated that the Russians have been experimenting at Odessa with a new engine throwing some dreadful liquid on to the deck of hostile ships to remove the crew before the torpedo attack is made. An iron boat for the discharge of Whitehead torpedoes is being built at Mr. Baird's wharf in the Neva, 115ft. long, 16ft. broad. The boat will be 7!ft, at bow, and 10ft. at the stern. The engines will be powerful enough tor the boat to attain a velocity of 17 miles an hour. The name of the boat, which costs 100,000 roubles, will be Very-A nglicë, Explosion. The exact losses sustained by the Russians in the passage of the Danube on June 27 have now been ascertained, 289 were killed, 398 wounded, and 38 are reported as missing. • '^le i!?' ^e^er8burg Ruski Mir says there is reason to be- lieve that the new French Cabinet have agreed with England as to naval operations in the East. The article of • *lr concludes with the words, caveant Consoles ne quid detrimenti capiat Respublica." A telegram to the Augsburg AUgemeine Zeitung states that the losses of the Russians in the recent engagements nave been enormous. The hospitals in Roumania are already crowded to inconvenience. The general results of the week's fighting and bombard- ment along the line of the Danube are, immense destruction of property, and great loss of life amongst the inoffensive inhabitants."—Correspondent of Daily Telegraph. A Vienna telegram says that in Montenegro the whole of the Zeta Valley, formerly the richest part of the country, is now devastated, and its most gallant defenders are dead or wounded. The Montenegrins have been victorious, but their victories have also been ruinous. Thousands of corpses are hidden in precipices and forgotten and are tainting the air. Typhus and famine threaten the land. This dangerous state of things also influenced the Turks to withdraw. The Correspondent of The Times, writing from Therapia, says:—"There were some successful torpedo experiments made in the Arsensal a few days ago. The construction of the torpedo was very simple, consisting of gun-cotton in a preserved meat tin at the end of a pole, and fired by electricity from a small battery placed in the boat. It is very remarkable how little noise there was or throwing up of water. There was o*ly a slight upheaving of the sea and a very subdued sound of explosion. The vessel, an old merchant ship, gave a slight lurch and then sank rapidly. As she has not yet been got up again, the extent of the harm done to her is not yet ascertained." One thing is certain. At any time now one great battle may settle the whole question. If the Turks can suc- ceed in hurling back the Russian Army upon the Danube, its chances for this year are over. If, on the contrary, the Russians, in one pitched battle, defeat and destroy the Turkish army, the Balkans cease to be an obstacle, and Adrianople lies open to the invader. Any day we may learn that the Turkish army is defeated, and, not to waste time over the successive steps of the argument, that Constanti- nople and Gallipoli lie at the mercy of Russia." —The World.

AMERICAN HUMOUR. The following entry appeared a short time since in the register of a Chicago hotel: J. B. Strafford and father, Buffalo." A San Francisco paper prints an advertisement which reads Wis, if this catches your eye, write, as we think you are dead." The paper has an extensive circula- tion, but it is doubtful if it reaches the proper locality in case the advertiser's fears are well founded. Speaking of the sentiment—"She who rocks the craále rules the world," an American paper says: In this section she is generally a coloured girl, and we don't believe a word of it." This ia the way the American Belle at Raleigh elevates her dress. Planting her left foot square on the ground, she gives a sudden kick with the heel of the right foot, and the tail is instantly elevated to its position in the right hand, extended to receive it. Every dog that steps into the street in New York is now compelled by law to wear a string not more than four feet long, and have a responsible person at the other end of it. The reason of this arrangement is, that if the dog should wish to go mad while out, it will have some one to lead it home. A North Carolinian, annoyed by two men outside disputing, quietly got out of bed and shot both dead, then wrapped the drapery of his couch about him, and laid down to pleasant dreams. Mark Twain in his ode to the nightingirl says :—Of all the birds that please me most with their lays, the most so is the hen. A Philadelphia judge and punster observed to another judge on the bench that one of the witnesses had a vegetable bead. How so ? was the inquiry. He has carrotty hair, reddish cheeks, a turn-up nose, and a sage look." Mr. James Russell Lowell is reported as telling this story about his butcher—"One morning the man expatiated upon the loveliness of the moonlight of the night before, and, just as the poet was thinking that he had done him an injustice in never having given him credit for refinement of soul, the butcher added, the night was so fine I could not sleep, and had to get up and kill some sheep 1"

EPITOME OF NEWS. BRITISH AND FOREIGN Last Sunday the town of Rensaukee, in Wisconsin, was struck by a terrible whirlwind. Only three houses were left standing. There were eight persons killed and twenty injured, and two others are missing, Very severe thunderstorms have been experienced recently in different parts of Essex, accompanied by copious showers of large hailstones. Many animals have been killed and buildings damaged by the lightning, and injury has been done to crops by the hail. At A veley, the residence of Ir. E. Wood was struck by the electric fluid, which travelled through nearly every room of the house, throwing a domestic servant out of her chair a distance of twelve feet, knocking down a stack of chimneys, smashing the rain pipes and pump, blowing out windows, dislocating coppers, and doing other mischief The master cotton spinners of Bolton and neighbour- hood have resolved to reduce the wages of their work- people five per cent., provided the masters representing two- thirds of the spindles in use sign an agreement to this effect It is stated that all exertions have failed to procure more than £10,000,000 of subscriptionstowards the internal loan of £30,000,000 recently issued by the Russian Govern- ment. The Mark Lane Express of Monday says that the heavy showers of rain which have fallen, have, on the whole been favourable to the crops Haymaking has indeed been hindered by the weather, but a large proportion of the crop has now been gathered, the yield being everywhere good. Reports as to the wheat plant somewhat vary. While in some localities it gives promise of an average crop, in others it appears thin and dwarfed. As to barley and oats, the reports are not favourable, and the fonner at pre- sent does not appear likely to yield more than half a crop. Beans and peas promise well. The new service of express trains between Man- chester and Liverpool was inaugurated on Monday. The trains invariably completed the distance within the 45 minutes allowed. A bulky volume, of over 1.100 pages, has recently been printed fn America, at the expense of the government giving a full account of all the public libraries in the United States. In 1776 there were only 29 public libraries, with 45,623 volumes; in 1876 there are 3,682 public libraries, containing 12,276,964 volumes and 1,500,000 pamphlets. Of these libraries, nearly 3,090 have been organised since 1850. An appendix contains some very valuable papers, parti- cularly one on the best method of preparing catalogues. This report deserves to be well studied by all English librarians. The anti vivisectionists have hit upon a new and ingenious method of furthering their views (says Vanity Fair). On the last Hospital Sunday many reverend gentle- men who had made impassioned appeals for these charities were gratified at finding in the collecting-plates a more than expected number of donation-slips. But on examining them, most of them were found to be inscribed not with a donation or even a legacy, but with a signed statement to this effect, I declare that I will not subscribe to any hospital where the revolting practice of vivisection is carried on." Lord Beaconsfield, who arrived at Windsor Castle on Sunday, and had an audience of the Qujeen returned to Loudon on Monday. An accident occuwed last Friday near Privas (Ardeche) to a party of seventeen pilgrims on their way to La Louvese. They were surprised by a fog, and the vehicle in which they were travelling fell down a deep ravine. One woman, named Duchamp, of Caux, was killed on the spot, and ten others were seriously injured. On Saturday her Majesty the Queen drove to Old Windsor, and visited Mrs. Bagster, widow of the late Samuel Bagster, the publisher of the Polyglot Bible. Mrs. Bagster will attain her hundredth year next month. Official news has reached Washington that a detach- ment of United States troops has pursued a band of maraud- ing Indians into Mexican territory, recaptured the stock which had been stolen, and wounded some of the Indians. William Cureton, a private of the 36th Regiment, was shot on Saturday while engaged as a marker for a de- tachment of his corps who were practising at Ernesettle, near Saltash, and he died on Sunday. The accident arose from one of the soldiers misunderstanding the bugle call to cease firing after the danger signal had been hoisted. The Quinine Committees which have been formed in many Russian towns will not obtain full supplies of the potent tonic without a large expenditure. What with the great demand caused by the war, a partial failure of the crop of cinchona bark, and the difficulty of getting it to ports, owing to the insurrectionary outbreaks in South America, quinine has greatly advanced in price. It is now retailing in England at about 18s. per ounce; not many months ago it was only 8s."—Mayfair. At the Glasgow Police Board it has been agreed, on the suggestion of the Lord Provost, that a vigilant look-out should be maintained, lest the Colorado beetle should visit our shores. The Privy Council instructions were ordered to be sent to the "Glasgow Agricultural Society, with the request to warn farmers on the subject. The Lord Provost said he had seen thousands of beetles heaped upon the American shores as they had been washed in, after at- tempting to cross the Atlantic. While returning home from New York he had seen them on board on the second day at sea. General Ladmirault, military governor of Paris, has sent an order to the physicians of military hospitals, pro- hibiting the patients- under officer's rank to receive any newspapers whatever. Officers will be permitted to receive "Conservative newspapers" (i.e., those in the interest of the Government), but they must make a formal application to that effect. Now we have adopted the Whitehead torpedo as the weapon of the future (says the A rmy ad Navy Gazette). it is gratifying to find that no pains are being spared to en- sure their being worked efficiently in ships which have been fitted with the mode of ejection. The Shannon, for instance, will carry a torpedo lieutenant, and her chief engineer and special engineer for torpedo service will also be fully qualified by passing through a course of training in the con- struction and use of this lliventlOn. A new metal, according to the Golas, has been found in platinum mines by a Mr. Kern, wfio has named it "Davy," in honour of Sir Humphry. The NouvelUste of Rouen states that, according to an official inquiry in the wine-growing districts, the crop in France this year will be one of the most abundant of the century, and will exceed in quantity that of 1875. Each sprig holds from 30 to 35 grapes of unprecedented size. An American officer named Sale is said to have invented an aerial machine for use in warfare. It consists of a slight framework, covered with loose canvas, which be- comes filled with air, and thus the apparatus is kept afloat. In order to make observations of an enemy's camp at night the machine is made fast, and a kind of parachute provided with fire balls is sent up the line, which at the proper point ignites the fireballs, and thus illuminates the surrounding country for a considerable distance. A trial of the apparatus Is said to have been satisfactory. Apropos of the rapid printing in connection with the Caxton celebration, I am reminded of an incident which actually occurred at Ormskirk, Lancashire, a few years ago. An old lady walked into a shop and asked to be supplied with a Bible of the same bold and black type as a venerable specimen she carried with her. Being told that there were none like it in stock, the ancient dame, adjusting her skirts to a sitting posture, replied that she would take a seat whilst one was being printed."— Mayfair. Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., in presiding at the annual meeting of the Cebden Club on Saturday, remarked that from many communications which he had received from America, and from an exchange of views with Americans visiting this country, he had good reason to believe that there was the dawn of an improved state of things in the United States on the free trade question. Americans had begun to see the evils of protection, and the disadvantages of restrictions upon navigation and commerce. Not a single carcass of either beef or mutton arrived at Liverpool during last week from America, a circumstance which has not happeued for many months past. There were landed, however, on Friday a consignment of 300 head of fine oxen from Boston. From Canada 876 quarters of beef arrived, and from New York about 3,000 packages of fresh butter, brought by the Inman steamer City of Richmond. Aceording to the Temps the military authorities of France have decided upon issuing an order sanctioning the wearing of spectacles by the officers and men of the French army. In Germany spectacles have long been worn by both officers and men in the ranks. It is recognized as essential that an officer should be able to see his men, and that these latter should be able to clearly distinguish the target at which they have to fireand therefore, unless spectacles or eye-glasses are permitted, every short-sighted man must lie excluded from the army. The return of Wrecks, casualties, and collisions from July 1, 1875, to June 30,1876, shows that the total number of vessels reported to the Board of Trade as wrecked or as having met with casualties at home and abroad was 7,998. Of these 1,148 were total losses, 2,344 serious casualties, and 4,506 minor casualties. The total number of lives lost was 2,486. In British ships only the total loss of life was 2,283. The American papers publish a private letter from General Grant to a friend in Philadelphia, written in London in the midst of the festivities with which youhave honoured him. co I appreciate the fact," says the General, "and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally. I love to see our country honoured and respected abroad, and am proud to believe that it is so by most all nations, and by some even loved. It has always been my desire to see all jealousy between England and the United States abated, and every soTe healed. Together they are more powerful for the spread of commerce and civilization than all others com- bined, and can do more to remove causes of wars by creating mutual interests that would be so much endangered bywer." The late Queen of the Netherlands was laid in her coffin dreBBed in her wedding gown Attention has been called to the fact that apart from Queen Anne and other royal ladies, no woman in England has ever received the honour of a public statue. Mrs. Elizabeth D. Gillespie, a great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin, the President of the Committee of the Woman's Branch at the Philadelphia Centennial, has arrived in Paris, and is stopping at the Hotel de Holland. A new temperance crusade is reported in the Southern States of America. An Elmira letter alleges that whole committees have resolved themselves into temperance organizations, and" developed effective temperance orators from confirmed drunkards almost on the instant." Mr. Ward Beecher has been offered £5,000 for a lecturing tour in California. An attempt has been made to perform an operation on the Pope, whose feet have lately become powerless. Philippe de Angelis, the senior of the Cardina priests at the Vatican, has died in his eighty-sixth year, having belonged to the Sacred College for nearly forty years. The rifle is a weapon which may be used either as a firearm or—when the bayonet is fixed—as a pike. When the Martini-Henry was introduced, it was found that we had the shortest staff for a bayonet of any army in Europe. Very properly ignoring the declamations of those theorists who declared that the bayonet was an obsolete arm, the War Office determined to compensate for the shortening of the rifle by the lengthening of the bayonet. Last year 35,000 long bayonets were constructed, and the manufacture is continuing. With these bayonets we shall have a pike equal in length to the longest in Europe.—Vanity Fair. On Saturday a report on the Paris Exhibition of 1878 was read to a full meeting of the French Committee. The works are described as in a more forward state than the most sanguine anticipation could have predicted, and the building will certainly, it is said, be ready at the appointed time. In London, last Saturday, when the Lord Mayrr took his seat in the Justice-room of the Mansion-house, there waB not a single prisoner for trial, a most unusual cir- cumstance there, and the Chief Clerk, in accordance with custom on such occasions, presented his lordship with a pair of white gloves. The journals of Finland announce that a large quantity of smoke is issuing from a mountain situated near the river Tarra, and that the snow is melting throughout that neighbourhood. Hitherto, that mountain had not been remarked as voloanic. The colliers on strike in West Lancashire have been reduced to great straits. The union men have received strike pay," but the non-unionists have had nothing what- ever to draw The belief gains ground that many of the pits will again start running in the course of the next few days, and that a considerable number of the men on strike will resume work. On Sunday, Dr. Vaughan, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford, made some remarks on the present posi- ticfn of the Pope. He condemned the action of the Italian Government in reference to the temporal power, and said Catholic Christendom wowd not cease to continue by means of every energetic power which it could legitimately use to agitate until the Sovereign Pontiff became the father of all. The practical question was that the Pope should be thoroughly independent and subject to no monarchs and that he should live in a territory which was governe4. by himself Lecturing in the theatre at the Royal United Service Institution, in London on Monday ening, upon "The Discipline of the Volunteer Force," Captain H. W. Hummell, of the St. George's Rifles, said that there could not be any doubt with regard to the present value and efficiency of the volunteer force, but he thought the discipline maintained in their ranks was of a description barely sufficient for the proper fulfilment of their present duties, and that the only method to make them perfect soldiers was to place them under the powers of the Mutiny Act. In London, on Monday, Mr. Hardwicke held an inquest at the St. Pancras Coroner's Court, concerning the death of John Page, 77. The evidence showed that the deceased, an inmate of the infirm ward at St. Pancras Work- house, asked one of the helperB to give him some house medicine, upon which she went to a cupboard and took therefrom a bottle and poured out a glassful, which Page took and drank off at a draught. He immediately found that there had been a mistake, and that instead of medicine carbolic acid had been given to him. Although everything was (1o lie ior the deceased he expired in five minutes. It was clearly shown that it was against the rules of the house for anyone except the paid nurses to give anyone medi- cines, and that the bottles were of a similar kind.—The jury returned a verdict of Death from misadventure." His Royal Highness the Duke of Oonnaught visited the Queen's County Rose Show, which was held in Mary- borough, on Saturday afternoon, and everywhere received a cordial welcome from a large number of visitors. The Prince afterwards inspected the camp of the Queen's County RieB, and in the evening dined with the officers, after which he drove to Stradbally Hall, the residence ef Captain Crosby, where he remained until Sunday evening. A ludicrous incident occurred on the Duke's arrival at Mary- borough station. After his lugggge had been put on a car, an elderly lady, who did not recognise his Royal Highness, went up to him on the platform in an excited state and told him she had lost her bandbox. Her tone and manner sug- gested that he knew something about it. Receiving no reply she ransacked the Duke's luggage, and, not finding the object of her search, returned to his Royal Highness and, with gestures which implied suspicion, said, Mind, it was a white one His Royal Highness was much amused, and the spectators also enjoyed the scene. Speaking at the opening of a coffee-room tavern in Manchester, the Bishop of Manchester said he waa afraid that until it became a fixed idea in the minds of iõhe people that thehealth of the body and mind, tbe comfort of people in their homeB, the morality of our young men and young women, was infinitely of more importance to the country and an infinitely greater source of wealth to the country than the 20 or 40 millions which were derived from Customs and Excise, all the dealings with this demoralising element in the life of our countrymen would be nothing more than tinkering. The old lady who, man and boy, has for thirty years sold apples in Westminster Hall, had a great fright on Tuesday morning. She had been over to Covent Garden to buy her store for the day, and was, at a quarter past seven, approaching her familiar stand, when she saw Mr. Whalley issue from the Hall and rapidly cross the yard. Then came Mr. Parnell, and, lonyo intervallo, the Major. The old lady dropped her basket, and, standing staring at the hon. members as they passed at this unwonted hour, exclaimed, 'Bless my soul! The war must have broke out. —Mayfair. The Gardener's Magazine, in speaking of the rose season, says "One conclusion will, we expect, be pretty generally accepted. There can be no question now that we have had a good rose season, and the bloom of 1877 must be pronounced satisfactory on the whole, although this is not, in the fullest sense of the term, a season for roses. The warm winter, the cold spring, and the sudden burst of heat in the early days of June, were circumstances unfavourable to the development of first-class flowers, and yet we- hare Been two good rose shows In L0ndon, and several good ex- hibitions in the provinces, and we are satisfied that the season is not a bad one, although, perhaps, it might have been better." All persons will be glad to hear that the Russian painter Verestchaguine is rapidly recovering from the wound he received the other day while serving as a volunteer on board a torpedo vessel. His loss would, indeed, have been irreparable. The Russian school af painting is not large, and few artists have contributed so much original matter to it as the great delineator of life in Central Asia. On Monday morning the body of a gentleman (was found upon the London, Chatham and Dover Railway near Kearsney Station. It is supposed that he was run over by a train on Sunday night while attempting to cross the line. I is stated that the French clericals are impor- tuning the Pope to live in France, and in this they have the support of the Freuch Government. Hitherto Piux IX. has resisted these appeals, and they are now being renewed. Amongst the French there is a saying that prayers should be short and sweet. General Grant has a similar idea of eloquence. When he arrived at Ostend a few days ago, he answered the compliments of the burgomaster with these words, "I am obliged for your sentiments."—The World. M. Gambetta has been waited upon by a deputation composed of French residents at Berne, mostly from Alsace and Lorraine, who presented him with an address and a gold watch. In reply M. Gambetta assured them that the cause they had at heart was assured of success. The Republic was Hireatened, but its destruction was impossible. Their enemies hall seized on power and would keep it for three months, but those three months were a gain of three years. There was no sort of doubt about the issue of the struggle. No excuse would be given for violence by illegal acts, and when the solemn verdict of the nation had been rendered, right would naturally and peacefully assume its place. The London Hospital Sunday Fund (Mansion House) on Monday amounted to £24,700. A despatch to the Daily Telegraph says that a distinguished Prussian officer, serving in the Russian ranks as a volunteer, was killed in the battle at Sevin. In the Town Hall, Leicester, on Monday night, a banquet was given to&eicestersliire veterans who had served in the army and navy. There were 74 present, 65 of them being medallists. Thos. Broomfield, a pointsman at Crewe, has been run over by an engine and instantaneously killed. The deceased, who was almost cut in two, leaves a wife and seven children. The German Crown Princess—our English Princess Royal—last week had the misfortune to lose, while bathing, a valuable bracelet, a present from his pei-ipatetic Majesty of Brazil. The forest-keeper searching the bed of the river, succeeded in recovering the bracelet. He hurried to Potsdam, and Her Imperial Highness, thanking him heartily handed him a small packet, which he found to contain J675 in bank notes.—Mayfair. The Bishop of Manchester preached at St. James's Chucch, Blackburn, on Sunday evening. In the course of his sermon, he said that a statement had been made, by which he was much misrepresented, to the effect that he had been connected with the Society of the Holy Cross and their book entitled The Priest in Absolution." This asser- tion he denied, anù said he was utterly opposed both to one and the other. The movement was about to be dropped, and he hoped all further agitation would cease. Prince Leopold on Saturday afternoon unveiled a monument in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, London, to Alberico Gentili, a great Italian jurist and founder of the science of International Law, who. being driven from Italy by persecution in the sixteenth century, came to England and devoted himself to teaching at Oxford, and was buried in St. Helen's churchyard. The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in The Times (as Conscience Ioney ") the receipt of £ 26 48.. sent anonymously. The iron Clyde-built ship Roxburghshire, 929 tons, Captain Christie, sailed from the Tail of the Bank, Greenock, on July 5, bound for Brisbane, Queenbland, with the following number of emigrants on board—viz., 114 single men, 57 single women, 64 married people, 43 children between the ages of 12 and 1, and 4 infants, making a total of 282 souls, equal to 256J adults. The single women are under the care of Mrs. Ware, Dr. J. Raphael Joseph acting as Surgeon-Supefintendent. During the past week the catch of salmon in the Tweed and along the sea coast has considerably decreased, and prices have risen. On Saturday afternoon Mrs. Clayton, the wife of a miner, was killed by lightning at Woodthorpe-park, near Sheffield. She and two other women were haymaking, and sought shelter under some trees during a thunderstorm. All of them were struck by lightning, and Mrs. Clayton was killed instantaneously. A bronze statue of Robert Raikes, the founder of the Sunday school system, is about to be erected by national subscription in his native city of Gloucester. The movement is promoted by the Sunday School Union. As a merely dramatic event, the collapse of the Russian campaign in Asia is certainly equal to anything that has happened in recent warfare. Not even the events of 1870, notwithstanding their greater suddenness and enormously larger scale, can compare with it as a reversal of previous conditions and expectations, though, of course, the disaster is not, as was then the case, a final one, and the tables may any day be turned on the Turks by the arrival of reinforcements, or by their incautious substitution of a policy of injudicious attack for a policy of judicious defence."—Leader in Daily Express. The Governor General of Canada received the following messages from Lord Carnarvon on Saturday The Queen is much ooncerued at the report of the great fire in St. John. Please report for her Majesty's information." I am commanded by the Queen to express the great sor- row with which she has heard of the terrible calamity that has befallen the city of St. John, and also to. express her Majesty's sympathy for the sufferers." The streets of Constantinople were surely never so full of strange faces and costumes as at this moment. Re- presentatives of all the Mussulman tribes of Asia Minor Arabia, and Egypt crowd the nalTowstreetsllndalarm timid visitors from Europe. Many of them are rascally-looking fellows, and have already distinguished themselves by their cowardly behaviour. The police, however, keep a sharp look-out upon them, the Government knowing how dangerous it would be to have a repetition in the capital of the acts by which the Bashi-Bazouks are known in Bulgaria. Thai might offend the diplomatists of Pera. Therefore thøøe men are sent off to the seat of war as rapidly as possible. Correspondent of Daily News at Constantinople.

ur anbon Comspmbtrct. fWs deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.] The destination of the fleet ia always a source of interest to a powerful maritime people like those of Great Britain. It has cost them an enormons expendi- ture in time and money, and they eagerly follow the record of its movements, whether it is riding at anchor in one of the roadsteads of the Channel, or cruising ife-t, over the titleless waters of the Mediterranean, or listlessly simmering in the heat of the Persian Gulf, or suppressing the slave traffic on the Coast of Africa, or guarding British rights in the West Indies, or making way along the coasts of our possessions in North "i-'rica. Just now the Mediterranean Squadron is lying at a very familiar anchorage—Besika Bay, from which it was withdrawn last winter, partly because of the failure ■->: the Constantinople Conference, and to some extent because of the exposed situation of the place. But there it is again now, within the boundaries of the /Egean Sea, not far from the shores of Asiatic Turkey, and sufficiently near to the Dardanelles to be enabled to pass through those historic Straits should occasion demand. At present the ships of war belonging to no nation whatever oan enter the Dardanelles without violating the rights of the Sultan, and when the English and French fleets passed through in 1854, it was at the Sultan's request. But should the Czar's armies be successful in Europe, and move on towards Constantinople, there is little doubt that the British fleet now in Beeika Bay would pass the Dardanelles, and steam up to the Turkish capital for its protection. Lord Derby has told Prince GortschakofE that the Russians must not possess themselves of the shores of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, and this declaration will, if necessary, be enforced by the presence of a number of British ironclads. Those who keep watch and ward at our ports of landing are preparing for the arrival of a dreaded enemy. Not a foreign army, nor a hostile fleet; neither squadrons of cavalry, batteries of artillery, nor battalions of infantry, for with anch we should know how to deal. But we are taking every pre- caution against the landing of an insect not much larger than a lady-bird, but which has proved one of the most terribly destructive pests ever designed for the chastening of man. It is known as the Colorado beetle, and vies in mischief with some of these plagues which hardened the heart of Pharaoh and afflicted the people of Egypt three thousand years ago. In America it has crossed mighty rivers like the Mississippi, and giant heights like those of the rocky mountains, it has invaded State after State, turning fertile fields into deserts, and blighting the aspect of the plain as though the curse Anathema Maran-atha" had there been too literally fulfilled. Its voracity is described as something marvellous, its tenacity of life as unparalleled, its powers of reproducing its own pecies appalling. The statistics showing how many Billions a single beetle can be responsible for may well nake the farmers shudder, more especially when it is mown that these unwelcome visitors from Colorado lave a strong partiality for potatoes. It has succeeded n making its way over the Atlantic, and has been seen i Germany. Instructions have therefore been given D our Custom House officers to examine carefully all irgoes of foreign potatoes with a view of preserving our pops from the onslaught of such an insiduous and for- lidable foe. Some have expressed an opinion that our amp, moist climate would not suit the constitution of his insect; but a creature that can live throughout he winter in the frozen ground, and can survive an nclosure in a sealed letter from New York to Sngland, is not likely to be very particular respecting he results of climatic influences. Once more have the riflemen of the United King- lom gathered at Wimbledon, this having been the ighteenth annual meeting. The experiences there iave been of a very varied description. Sometimes, .8 in 1868, the firing has been carried on amid tropical teat, and the volunteers have returned to their friends vith an appearance more suggestive of a campaign in Vfrica than of a little shooting exercise in the imme- liate neighbourhood of London. In other years, as n 1875, the incessant rain turns the camp into a freat lake, and the ranges are sought by sodden, niserable-looking men, who wade through their duties ip to knees in water. Few spectacles can be more Ireary than the camp at Wimbledon on a wet day. rhe tents look soaked and draggled the velunteers ihivering and dejected; the misty landscape looks as ■hough earth and sky were united by one great nterminable sheet of water, for although the drenching •ain comes down in torrents hour after hour, and day liter day, there is no perceptiblo thinning of the ilouds, for as rapidly as those overhead discharge heir contents, reinforcements come up te continue he supply. Few sights can be more dismal; but on t fine sunny afternoon, when an aristocratic match is leing shot off, like the Lords and Commons, nothing an be more remarkable than the contrast. The com- lany is certain to be numerous as well as distinguished, nd an air of cheerfulness pervades the place, which ender it difficult to recognise it as the same under .ripping skies and pouring rain. In many a county town of England just now is the amiliar spectacle presented of the judges of assize ntering in the equipage of the High Sheriff, and duly rigged and robed, proceeding to the Shire Hall, and here opening the royal commission of oyer and 3rminer and general gaol delivery. It is singular ow even to this day both in assize courts and in the louse of Lords, when the Royal assent is given to a till we adhere to the old Norman French. The words yer and terminer, which have often sounded so mys- iriously to the unitiated crowd in the Shire Hall, mean "'thing more than that the judges shall have power to iar and determine treasons, felonies, and all the other lines named in the calendar. Again there is the roclamation, 0 yes 0 yes 0 yes all manner of jrsona are required and commanded to keep silence hile the business of the court proceeds on pain of im- risonment." The exclamation with which this begins < a corruption of the French oyez, hear ye A very igh authority has laid down the principle, He that ath ears to hear, let him hear," and the tone adopted y the criers in the assize oourts is usually such as shall isure their being heard. The assize is one of our most ncient institutions for the administration of justice. L thousand years ago King Alfred defined it as an 38embly of knights and other substantial men, with le justices, to meet at a certain time and place. The istitution was regulated by Magna Charta; and so ialous were the representatives of the people lest ICal influence should be brought to bear upon 1e judges that in the reign of Richard II. n Act was passed declaring that "fhe king oth will that no lord or other of the county na.11 sit upon the bench with the justices to lke assize in the counties of England, upon great )rfeiture to the king." Even to this day, although le judges are sometimes the guests of a nobleman rhose seat happens to be near the assize town, no peer r influential commoner would think of sitting with er Majesty's representatives and attempting to bias hem in the discharge of their duties. Last week's extraordinary sitting of the House of Commons, when an adjournment was not agreed to util a quarter past seven in the morning, has been the nbject of much conversation, and it is impossible to lnd a precedent for it in modem times. In the days f the old Whigs and Tories, during the forcing through Committee of the first Reform Act, there was many a light of obstructive divisions, and on one occasion Sir Charles Wetherell and a few of his friends kept the House sitting until seven in the morning. But we have beaten even that, although the Reform Act was passed five and forty years ago. What would the Speaker of the House of Commons give for the application of the eight hours' system to his exacting labours ? On this occasion the House sat fifteen hours and a half, a long strain upon a gentleman sixty-three years of age. And it must be remembered that after the adjourn- ment, at a quarter-past seven, the Speaker had to sign the official record of the proceedings, to revise the Parliamentary notices for that day, and to scru- tinise the questions to be put to Ministers, with a view to eliminate anything that might trench upon dis- order. He had to be in the chair again at two o'olock that afternoon, and the House, with a brief interval of two hours, sat on until past midnight. Protests have -been made against this legislative turning of night into day but thus far without result. It is in strong contrast with the customs of other countries, notably with the line followed by the Greek Parlia- ment, which meets at seven in the morning, sits until eleven, and then closes its work for the day. It is questionable whether any other Parliament keeps such hours as that of the United Kingdom. The resolve of the Corporation of Manchester to tap one of the Cumberland lakes, a hundred miles off, for the purpose of supplying that "great and busy com- munity with water, at a cost of several millions sterling, is a proof of the immense importance which is attached to thorough and perfect sanitary arrange- mentf. In the proudest and most palmy days of ancient Rome, there was nothing upon which the sturdy citizens more prided themselves than'upon their works of utility. They ceuld overrun the known world with their armies; they could send forth splendid fleets of biremes and triremes from the Tiber, to sweep the sea of the enemy'& flotiUa; but their aqueducts were amongst the wonders of the city, and their roads were marvels of strength and durability. The buttresses of the: bridge built by; jfche Emperor Trajan over the Danube still exist; it was c&rried on piers 150 feet high and 60 feet wide, and the number of its arches was twenty. The bridge was destroyed by the Emperor Hadrian, but Tpajan's wall remains, andit is »long this line that the tide of battle now rolls in Eaaterr Europe. It is between 35 and 40 miles long, and extends from Rassova to the shores of the Black Sea. In Gur own times bridges and public buildings are expected to last a century or so; the structure which crossed the Thames at Blackfriars, opened in 1760, had gone to decay, and had to be taken down in 1863. But the Romans did their work so that it might defy the attacks of Time for a thousand years. Look at the work which the Romans left in this country—the castles, the walls, and the roads,—and it is not difficult to understand how such an energetic people bore down everything before them, and succumbed at last only to a weight of luxury and magnificence. People have sometines wondered why old Sevres china commands such enormous prices. We live in a more enlightened age, when our workers in china and porcelain have the benefit of the experience of the past, and have before them everything that is beautiful in art and costly in material. Yet a piece of Sevres china turned out now, would be nothing like so costly as one of the olden time, and the idea of giving £10,000 for a couple of vases of modern manufacture would be repudiated. Why is this? Because it is known that, like the Romans, the workmen of old did their duty effectually and efficiently. Whatsoever their hand found to do, they did it with their might. Time was of little importance; competition was un- known and the more time they could bestow upon the finishing of a vase the better they were pleased. That cannot be done now—it would not pay and so, although those potters of a former age have long since crumbled into dust, they have left memorials behind them which might well teach a useful lesson amid the hurry, and the turmoil, and the race for riches of to- day. The efforts of the railway companies to give better accommodation to their customers have been readily recognised during the past few years, and notably the third-class traffic, which was formerly driven into cattle pens, with narrow straight backed benches, is now cultivated and sent at express speed at ordinary fare. Instead of attempting to drive people in second- class carriages by arranging third-class trains at the most inconvenient hours possible, second-class carriages are now often appropriated to third-class passengers, with the view of making railway travelling popular and attractive. In the mode of issuing tickets, too, a very considerable improvement has been effected. The South Western Company has an office in Piccadilly-circus, and the Midland one at Charing- cross, where tickets can be bought and baggage left for despatch by a particular train. The convenience of this will be recognized at a glance by those who have been enclosed in a struggling crowd in front of a booking-office window, irritated by the coolness of a non- chalant clerk, and confronted by a placard which tells them that unless they see their luggage labelled it will not be put into the train. How to be in the luggage department and the booking office at the same time is an insoluble problem, and while the luckless passenger is rushing about between the two places the train moves off without him. The companies now see that it is better to hold out inducements to travellers than to repel them, better to put good dividends into the hands of their shareholders than to terrify the timid and alarm the weak by a crush and a scramble at the last moment.

REVOLTING MURDER IN FRANCE. A trial for murder under most atrocious circum- stances has just taken place at Marseilles. The accused were a young man named Leon Yitalis, and a young women, Maria Boyer, and the victim was the mother of the female prisoner. The elder woman who was a widow, kept a small general shop, with her daughter, and besides possessed a little fortune of 30,000f. or 40,000f. The man, assistant to a dealer in secondhand books, courted the daughter, and the mother at first promised her in marriage, but shortly afterwards illicit relations sprang up between Mdme. Boyer and Vitalis, and she then refused to consent to the mar- riage of her daughter with her paramour. The man, however, pressed her to fulfil her promise, and Maria Boyer was also anxious for the marriage. Not being able to overcome the resistance of the mother, they resolved to get rid of her by a crime. The woman was murdered in a room behind the shop, the daughter looking on and handing Vitalis a large cheese-knife to despatch the mother, who resisted while he was strang- ling her. The body was then cut up in a cellar by the man, the daughter from time to time pulling up the trap-door to inquire how he was getting on. After the face had bee* afctilated so as to render identification impossible, "he remains were put in a sack, and, a barrow having been hired, were wheeled at night down to the sea-shore, and left there. This ghastly work accomplished, the worthy couple went back to the house and shared the same bed. The crime was discovered the next morn- ing, and the young woman having given a very un- satisfactory account of the disappearance of her mother, she and her accomplice were at once arrested, when they both confessed their guilt. The trial lasted three days. At the close of it, the advocate who defended Vitalis only attempted to obtain the admis- sion of extenuating circumstances for his client by which a capital sentence would be escaped. The counsel for Maria Boyer asked for an acquittal on the ground of insanity. The Court condemned the man to death, and the daughter to hard labour for life.

I WAR NEWS. The Sublime Porte has addres el the following telegram to its representatives abroad :— CONSTANTINOPLE, July 8. Our authorities notify us of acts of the greatest gravity committed by the Russian troops in those parts of our terri- tory which have been invaded, and from these acts it will be seen that the enemy is systematically taking a course of massacre, pillage, and incendiarism. Among these deeds the Imperial authorities mention the following, the reality of which is absolutely established. On Wednesday last the Russian troops invaded a Mussul- man village in the district of Sistova, sacked it, set fire to the dwellings, and massacred a great number of peaceable individuals. Six inhabitants of the same village, having been met by the enemy, were attacked, and although they offered no resistance, one of them was killed and the others were made prisoners. Seven other persons, while on their way from Rustchuk to Ritona. their native place, were slaughtered by the Russian Cavalry. One only escaped the massacre. The bodies of the unfortunate victims were sub- jected to horrible profanations, their eyes were torn out, and the sockets touched with bread. "The Bulgarians of Sistova, incited by the presence of the enemy, are massacring the fugitive Mussulmans, and eight lurkish soldiers, having fallen into the hands of the RussIans, were beaten down with sticks. "Similar atrocities are communicated to us from Asia, notably the following:—Fifteen hundred families belonging to boukoum Kaleh, having taken refuge in the woods to escape the barlwirous treatment to which the Cossacks sub- •PK oie e.ntire .Mussulman population, died of inanition, ine Russian division which occupied Ardanaclie, in its retreat towards the frontier put to death 50 persons of both sexes and of various ages, and set fire to the dwellings in several villages through which it passed. "The Armenian Bishop of Utch Kilissa was seized, brutally garotted, and carried away by the troops in this frightful condition. "These deeds, any comment on which would but weaken their horrors, and which I beg you to lay before the public conscience, are becoming general along the whole passage of the Russian troops both in Europe and Asia, and leave no room for doubt as to the programme of murder and devas- tation adopted by the enemy in order to strike terror into the country and exterminate the non-combatant population."

THE BRITISH FLEET AT BESIKA BAT. The Correspondent of the The Times, writing from Syra, on July 8, says Turkish opinion as to the arrival of the British Feet at Besika Bay is much divided. The average popular view seems to be that England is pursuing a policy of desertion and selfish isolation, and has come merely to look after British interests, attracted by the news of the Russian passage of the Danube, and feeling that if the Otto- man Empire is tumbling to pieces she must secure her are of the spoil; that instead of helping her old ally, she raises unfounded pretensions to the Suez Canal, the Dardanelles of Egypt. This anti-English sentiment prompts an inclination to treat directly with Russia, as an open enemy, instead of through false friends. In other quarters the arrival of the n Si regarded as at last a proof of English readiness to fight for Constantinople, and therefore of Turkish and British interests so far coinciding. It is even expected that England, with Austria, will resist Russia if she advances too far or refuses to make peace after certain successes. In that case there are good reasons to believe that Greece would be ready to join the Anglo-Austrian alliance, as she fears Russia far more than Turkey, while hating both. These speculations, however, are modified by the news of the com- plete defeat of the Russians in Asia, which is attributed here to a general insurrection in the Caucasus. Dervish Pasha is said to be advancing from Batoum into Russian territory." The Constantinople Correspondent of the Standard says that the arrival of the fleet in Besika Bay has caused great irritation here There is at the present moment among the Mahometans, and especially in the higher circles, a bitter hatred of the English, who are accused of thinking only of their own interests and of caring nothing for Turkey. Many leading Turks declare loudly that if Turkey is compelled to sue for peace, she will do well to dispense with the advice or assistance of England, and to treat directly with Russia. This is the general feeling in Constantinople." Mr. Layard has not, as some people allege, made any ap- plication for permission to the English fleet to pass the Dardanelles. He has merely intimated to the Porte that England not being satisfied with the explanations of Russia on the subject of Constantinople, has sent the fleet to Besika rr.»»' 80lng to send troops to Malta in order that she TtiimiaTis^hn?i!?'°sltl0Il t° take the necessary steps if the ^anHnoni?" a Cro.ss, Balkans and draw near to Con- C(maUnUifoplefPeC CorresP°^ent of the Standard at The Russian journal the New Time remarks that the twh Bntl,ah fleet in Besika Bay last May, ♦Tal-v offont Turkey by a miracle, had the con- nlftZai the. Eastern Crisis to its present critical position. This time (it says) the mission of the British fleet is significant in another sense. The question now is not of saving 1 urkey, but Constantinople only not, of course for the advantage of the Turks, but for that of the English. the presence of the fleet in Besika Bay," the article concludes, "can only have the effect of destroying the good impression which was produced by Lord Salisbury's declarations at the Conference, and at the same time of in- spiring the Porte with illusions which will be disastrous to itself and no less disadvantageous to England."

SUICIDE OF A BLUE COAT BOY. In London, on Friday in last week, Mr. Payne held an inquest in the Infirmary of Christ's Hospital, Newgate-street, as to the death of William Arthur Gibbs, 12, a scholar, who committed suicide on Wednesday last by hanging himself. William Gibbs, a glass painter, identified the body as that of his son. The deceased was naturally of an open and kindly disposition, but was possessed of a some- what stubborn temper. He had been for several years at the schools belonging to the Hospital at Hertford, and only came to London just after the Easter holidays. Since Then he had twice run away. The deceased had complained to oneof his sisters of the treatment he received from one of the monitors. On Monday the deceased ran away again, and when found said that he would rather hang himself than remain under the monitor. The deceased also told witness that when at the baths some time previously this monitor held him under water for some time, and fre- quently made him "fag." MajorBrackenbury, the Warden of the School, said the boy was rather trouble- some, and of a determined and bold character. The de- ceased received a flogging after his return. Mary Perrin, assistant nurse, stated that she went to the infirmary to see if the deceased required anything, and found him suspended by the cord attached to the ventilator in the window. Mr. Alder Smith, the surgeon, stated that the cause of death was strangulation by hanging. The Rev. Charles A. Lee, head-master, said that if there had been any terrorism he should have heard of it. Major Brackenbury, recalled, said that a few months since a boy attempted to commit suicide in the school. The jury returned a verdict of Suicide while in a state of temporary insanity."

MR. ALBERT GRANT'S MANSION. Mr. Albert Grant's costly mansion (Kensington House), opposite Kensington Palace, was offered for sale at the Mart, Tokenhouse-yard, London, on Friday in last week, and bought in for £165,000. Mr. R. C. Driver, the auctioneer, in a speech lasting three-quarters of an hour, described the house and grounds. According to Mr. Driver's statement the cost of the house and lands was either £300,000 or £350,000, both amounts being mentioned at different parts of his address. Of this sum between £175,000 and £200,000 was expended in building. The rest was consumed in gradually buying up the site, which occupies seven acres, and is freehold. The auctioneer said delay had been caused at the last moment as to some of the trellis work at the back, but that would be adjusted at the vendor's expense. He himself had sold some neighbouring land, near Mr. Millais's house, at £100,000 an acre. and the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 had let one piece of land with 70ft. Uentage to Mr, Samuel (or £700 a year, while half an acre opposite was let at a rent which, capitalized, would give the price of £100,000 an acre. That would give some idea of the value of land in South Kensing- ton. The house might be divided into two or into four, and, giving each of the four houses three-quarters of an acre of land, there would remain four acres to build upon. The auctioneer described, amid manifesta- tions of weariness, and occasionally of amusement, the uses to which the mansion might be put. Some said, he remarked, that Government ought to buy it as a house in which to receive potentates, and there might be present an agent of the Government to buy it for that purpose. He could not calculate how many potentates could be placed in it, but you could put a great many there. Several persons had been over to see if it could be appropriated as an hotel, and he could not help thinking it was appropriate for an hotel. Others stated that it was adapted for use as a club, and he thought they were right there too. The rooms were spacious and cheerful. Others said it was adapted for a convalescent hospital. There was no doubt that since Hospital Sunday was established people's attention had been called to the subject of hospitals (a voice—"Lunatic asylum ") and there was some talk of buying a large piece of land for the pur; pose of building a hospital for the middle and upper classes. The house was well adapted for the purpose for which it was built, a reception house, and a person who had been living in a good house before would only have to engage four or five more servants and two or three more gardeners on moving in. One thousand five hundred cards to view had been issued, and a considerable sum realized by the sale of particulars of the property. After two pauses for the purpose of starting the bidding the bids began in the third pause for £50,000. Then £51,000, and then £55,000 followed after an interval. Mr. Driver here announced that the addition must not be less than £5,000 at each offer, and the price ran up at this rate of progression to £80,000. An interval occurred then £85,000, £95,000, £100,000 were offered. A pause supervened, during which the auctioneer stimulated the flagging spirit of specula- tion by relating that he had been told the Duke of Northumberland had bought the house for half a million, that Lord Dudley had acquired it for £350,000, that the Emperor of Russia had secured it for his daughter. The name of the King of Hanover was further suggested from the crowd, who raised shouts of laughter when the auctioneer paused after the word Emperor, as if hesitating which particular Sovereign he should quote. The biddings rose to £105,000 and £110,000, and after a remark from Mr. Driver to the effect that he had no doubt the increase of population would induce the Court to remove from Buckingham Palace to its old residence at Kensington, they went to £115,000. After some delay the price offered rose to £120,000, £125,000, £130,000, £135,000. An appeal to the old associations of the site was followed by a rise to £140,000, but there was no life or quickness in the bids; and at £160,000 the once," were said. At £165,000 £165,000 once, £165,000 twice £165,000 for the third and last time," was aai and the auctioneer made a final remonstrance. The sum bid was absolutely under the cost of the house, independent of the land. It was not necessary, he continued, after consultation with Mr. Grant's solicitor, to take up their time any further. He had kept his eye on the gentlemen who bid. He had no doubt that they had somewhat traded on the fact that a large thing like this would not be disposed of at the first time. He was instructed to say that £165,000 would not buy this property. He would not say it was near to, or a long way from, the reserve. The property was worth a good deal more than £165,000, and therefore, on behalf of the owner and the other parties concerned, he bought the property in. If those desirous of buying liked to come to him the next day he would disclose to them what would buy the house, but he would not put it in writing. He added that he was not disappointed, he did not expect to sell a large property like that on the first attempt, and that he was glad that there had been biddings for it. The actual biddings, it may be remarked, occupied about_half-an-hour. A handsome- looking folio book of particulars, including a view of Kensington House, was seen in the hands of a few persons in the room, a charge of 10s. 6d. having been made for it.

ESCAPE OF A TIGER FROM A TRAIN. A telegram which was received in London on Tues- day morning by the authorities of the London and North-Western Railway at Broad-street, states "that the tiger which escaped last night from a railway train has been pursued and shot." The animal in question, which is said to have been a fine specimen of its species, belonged to fr. Jamrach, of Ratcliff- bighway. On Monday night it was consigned to a dealer in Liverpool, and was despatched by the 8.20 train from Broad-street, in what is technically known as a "low-sided junction waggon." Upon the arrival of the train at Rugby, it was dis- covered that the tiger had contrived to make its escape from the train while in motion. The wire was at once set going in search of information as to the whereabouts of the delinquent, and it was subse- quently ascertained the beast had been seen prowling about in the neighbourhood of Weedon, and had con- trived in the course of its reconnoitring expedition to kill and partly devour a couple of sheep. Mr. Jam- rach was communicated with, and he sent down a man by an early train this morning with instructions to shoot the tiger. Upon his arrival at Weedon a party of two or three men armed with rifles went in search of the beast, and succeeded after a short pursuit in finding the lair of their unsuspecting victim where- upon, according to the telegrams received, they suc- cessfully brought their weapons into use, and thus allayed the excitement and terror of the inhabitants of Weedon.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR ON COFFEE HALLS. In London, on Saturday afternoon, the Lord Chancflllor presided at the opening of a new Workmen's Coffee Hall in Testerton-sfcreet, Notting-hill. In speaking of the objects for whjch the meeting was assembled he said that he was not one of those who thought it desirable to pass laws for the restriction of the liquor trade, and he could not advocate coercive legislation of that kind. Such legislation would De merely destructive, and the proper course was to create places of rational amusement. No doubt it would be a very good thing to remove temptation as far as pas- sible but the best way to do so was to cultivate the tastes and feelings of the working men. In a country where there is so much prosperity and domestic happi- ness it was difficult to estimate the temptations to which labouring men were exposed; and it was to be remem- bered that many of them had not homes, but lodgings, and were without resources during their leisure hours. There was, indeed, one resource-the public-house— always open to them, and ready to provide warmth and light, upon one condition—namely, that they should dnnk and continue to drink. That was the rent they paid for their comforts. As for the coffee halls, he had seen some of them in the East-end of London, and was glad to know that they could not be considered as specu- lations. They were much appreciated, and in one of them as many as 140 dinners were served daily, except on Sun- days. He knew that Englishmen usually wanted to know how a thing would answer, and he would mention three conditions of success. One of these was that a thoroughly good article should be given for the money; that the food should be perfectly good of its kind, and the management civil and forbearing. In the next place, the money paid should be neither too much nor too little, but simply a fair price, so as to leave a margin of profit, as it was not intended to undersell the tradesman or to dole out charity. The third element of success was not of a commercial nature, and many persons would altogether ignore it: but for his own part he believed that it was very important that opportunities should be given for moral and religious instruction. It was very right that such topics should be presented for consideration, and he was sure that, if offence were given, it would be by the manner in which the subject was treated, rather than the in- trinsic repulsiveness of religion and, as a matter of fact, he knew that lectures of that kind had often proved attractive and beneficial.

lllistcllancotts |ntcliigeita. HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL, DEATH OF MB. ROBERT DALE OWEN.—The New York papers announce the death, on the 24th of June, of Mr. Robert Dale Owen, at the age of seventy-six. Mr. Owen was the eldest son of the late Mr. Robert Owen, and was associated with his father in many of his attempts to carry out practically the social theories which he advocated. Mr. Owen was a voluminous writer on a variety of subjects, and took an active pu-t in American politics on the Democratic side. He vas twice elected to Congress, and in 1853 President Pierce appointed him charge d'affaires at Naples. Fnm 1855 to 1858 he acted as United States Minister at ihe same Court, and, after travelling for a short time in Europe, returned to America in 1859. When the Civil War broke out, he strongly supported the cause of he Union, and in 1864 published a work against slavery. In his later years he became a believer in spiritualism, and published several works on the subject, the best known of which was the book entitled "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World." A LIFE SAVED AND A LIFE LOST.—fn London, on Safrurdav last, an inquiry was held at the London Hospital, relative to the death of Thomas Cornell, asied 26, who was described as a "copper collector," in the employ of Messrs. Hanbury and Co., brewers. The body was identified by James Cornell, father of the deceased, a butler in the service of Mr. Hanbury, and from his and other evidence it appeared that on the 5th inst. the deceased was returning to the brewery with a light-cart, containing upwards of half a ton of bronze money. When in Black Eagle-street, Spital- fields, a boy ran across the road in front of the horse, and to avoid running over him the deceased pulled up so suddenly that the horse fell and he himself was pitched into the road, and the wheel passed over his body. A verdict of Accidental Death was returned. A BACHELOR'S ESTABLISHMENT !—Strange are the ways of bachelors, and stranger still those of their men (remarks Vanity Fair). The mother and sisters of one who has not long enough succeeded to his title to get married, asked themselves a few days back to tea at his bachelor lodgings. Everything went well until the tea itself was demanded, when it was dis- covered that nobody had thought of making that cheering beverage, and, moreover, that there was no such thing as a teapot in the establishment. The man was told to do the best he could, and after some time time he reappeared with a teapot full of champagne VACCINATION AMONG THE CHINESE.—We are in- formed that vaccination is greatly appreciated by the Chinese, especially in the southern part of the em- pire, and in the southern part of the Island of Formosa. The rule in China has been inoculation but in the parts we have mentioned vaccination is pre- ferred, and it is so prized that the people are willing to pay for it. Chinese medical students that have been trained by Dr. P. Manson, of Amoy, are frequently called upon to vaccinate Chinese children. Some of these, with others that have had no special t/aining find it a profitable employment to go round the country from village to village for the simple purpose of vaccinating. They charge from 50c. to one dollar, and it is said that some ef them gain enough from a few months' practice to support them for the rest of the year. Such intelligent appreciation of the value of an innovation on the part of a very conservative people is interesting, and may well be taken as a re- buke by the enemies of vaccination in civilized coun- tries, who hail with delight any stray case that seems to detract from the credit of the operation, and have not eyes to see that it saves millions of lives.—Lancet. THE QUEEN'S GRATUITY.—The wife of a barman named Brown, living at Kentish-town, London, re- cently gave birth to three children, and the husband applied for the Royal gratuity usually granted under similar conditions. In reply he received the following communication :—" Sir Thomas Biddulph is com- manded to express the Queen's regret that the request contained in Mr. Brown's letter cannot be complied with. Her Majesty's donation of j63 is only granted when the three children all survive." In this instance the three children were born alive, but one died before its father could get its birth registered. A SECOND CAMPAIGN PROBABLE.—The Times re- marks in a leader :— Unless the Turks should be sorasb as to come out into the open field, the campaign cannot be short, and the coming of Winter may find it still unfinished. Prince Gortchakoff has said that Russia was prepared for a greater power of re- sistance than the Turks were generally believed to possess. Indeed, the idea that their country could be overrun in a few weeks evinced a strange forgetfulness both of past cam- paigns in Turkey and of its rare territorial facilities for de- fence. The Turks knew these facts when they refused to obey the Conference. They knew that in a defensive war it would need the whole strength of Russia to crush them; and they may be excused if the memory of the last defence of Silistria made them believe that they could hold their own against even the masses of the Qzar. There can be little doubt that in the end they would be crushed by the weight of superior numbers, superior skill, superior civilization. But it would not he surprising if a second campaign should be needed to make them accept the political necessities which have been shaped by their own misrule far more than by the force of Russia. A WONDERFUL BUILDING.—A correspondent writes that a gigantic lodging-house is to be erected on the east side of the Albert Hall. In height it would emulate the Tower of Babel; in shape it will resemble a grand pianoforte." It might further be added that in cost it will go to a very pretty tune.—Judy. TRICHINOSIS-POISONING IN ALSACE.—The Journal de St. Pitersbourg says that a fresh case of death, occasioned by trichinosis, has been reported from Alsace, making the seventh victim from the same cause. This time, however, it has not happened in the military hospital, as in the previous six cases, but in the house of M. Salies, a butcher, one of his assistants having succumbed to this terrible disease, after long and frightful sufferings. This ease is the more remarkable as it is the only one in which, during the whole course of his illness, the patient had been treated as suffering from a fever, the poisoning by trichinosis having only been ascertained after death had taken place. A piece of muscular flesh had been cut off from the corpse, when a microscopic examin- ation fully established the presence in the flesh of an innumerable quantity of tricBinse. CATTLE DISEASE.—A novel form of disease amongst cattle has just broken out at Beighton, near Sheffield. In a case which came before the magistrates of the Eckington police division on Saturday, the cattle on the farm of Mr. John Burrows were stated to have suffered severely from the malady, nine beasts and three pigs having died from a recent attack. Mr. Moore, of the Privy Council Office, Liverpool, inspected the cases, and reported the disease wa.s splenic apoplexy. This, it was subsequently ascer- tained, did not come within the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, but precautions are to be taken to prevent its spread. TIT FOR TAT!—Vanity Fair says: "Two ladies were at a dinner-party a few days since, sitting opposite to each other. The younger and more remark- able of the two wore long gloves, and was decolletee after the extreme manner of this generation, her shoulder-strap consisting, as far as could be seen, solely of one immense diamond. Her opposite neigh- bour, after inspecting her for some time through an eye-glass, said to her across the table, I think it would be a good thing if you could" put some of your gloves on your shoulders.' Ah!' replied the other, calmly, if I were as old and ugly as some people I should certainly do so.' See how these ladies love one another." AUSTRALIAN SOVEREIGNS.—In the last 21 years the Sydney Mint has coined and issued more than 37,000,000 sovereigns; and the Melbourne Mint has coined and issued nearly 7,000,000 sovereigns since it was opened to the^ public in 1872. These two branch Mints together coined and issued in 1876 as many as 3,737,000 sovereigns, which is a larger number than the sovereigns coined in the year at the Mint in London. MANCHESTER IN THE FRONT !—When Manchester undertakes anything it generally contrives to do it well (says the World). The Assize Courts are the best in the kingdom the Town Hall by far the largest and handsomest municipal building in Europe; the Woodhead Waterworks, as good as those of any provincial town, and far better than those of London. It is thought, however, that they will soon become in- sufficient for the supply of the town and, as a con- sequence, the City Council have just decided to build an aqueduct from Thirlmere, in the Lake Country, and to bring in a supply of, to begin with, 50,000,000 gallons a day. A million and three-quarters will be spent on this work, but the local taxation will not be perceptibly increased—the gas and water, which are managed well and cheaply by the corporation, will pay the greater part of the cost of this mighty work. CURIOUS DEATH.—A Devonport jury, after two days' sitting, have returned a verdict of "accidental poisoning" in the case of an iron-founder in the Government employ at Keyham Factory, Devonport. It was shown that deceased, without orders, went into a house where moulds are dried, and was there found dead. The medical evidence proved that death resulted from poisoning by noxious gases; and some of the jury, who had evidently been in the Admiralty employ, elicited from a witness that the ventilation of the whole factory was lamentably defective, and that strong complaint had been made, as yet with no result. The jury requested the Coroner to impress upon the Admiralty the need of at once improving the ventila- tion of the factory, which was dangerous to the health of the operatives and injurious to the public service. CLEVER IDEA.—Some genius ha.s discovered a remedy for destroying the Colorado beetle. It is to hunt up every individual insect, and, as each is found, to explode a torpedo under him. This, says the inventor, if persevered with, is certain to succeed; If the Colorado beetle is wise, he will give England a a wide berth.—J tidy. OLD CUSTOMS.—Mayfair remarks :—" It is remark- able what tenacity of life an old custom has. The farmers of the West of England have, as they say, from time immemorial, given back a small sum as money,' on every transaction in wheat and barley, the amount varying in the different markets. In the Wmshire markets the general custom is for the farmer to throw back the buyer a shilling on every ten sacks of wheat, or ten quarters of barley; at Bristol it is a shilling on every hundred bushels of either wheat or barley; in the Midland markets the sum ia a shilling on every twenty sacks while further North, three months' interest on the purchase-money is deducted. The custom is pretty general throughout the country, but whether it originated in the practice of washing down a bargain, or, as in the North, because farmers are paid ready-money while dealers have to allow credit, is a question that folks versed in ancient lere can alone decide. The practice exists, and was gene- rally concurred in until a few weeks ago, when the Wiltshire farmers resolved to give no more draw- backs—or, rather, some of them—260 out of 2,800 so resolved. The dealers have met this movement with a counter-resolution, not to purchase from any farmer who does not allow the lush-money and here the matter, for the present, stands." THE BASKET AT THE FOUNDLING.—A basket was hung at the gate of the hospital in London, in which the children were deposited, the persons who brought them ringing a bell to give notice to the officers in attendance. In order to forward the "little inno- cents up from the country, a branch of the carrying trade was established, and babies arrived in London in increasing numbers from the most distant parts of the country. Large prices were in some instances paid for their conveyance, a fact whi.h more than hints at the position of the parents, and, as the carriage was prepaid, there was a strong inducement on the part of the carriers to get rid of their burthens on the way. Many of the infants were drowned; all of them were neglected, and that, in the large majority of cases, was equal to their death. It was publicly asserted in the House of Commons that one man, having the charge of five infants in baskets—they appeared to have them packed like so many sucking pigs—and happening to get drunk on his journey, lay asleep all night on a common, and in the morning three out of the live were found dead. Many other instances of negligence on the part of carriers, resulting in the death of infants entrusted to them for carnage to London, are on record. Even the clothing in which the children were dressed was often stolen on the way, and the babes were deposited in the basket just as they were born. It is reported that a foundling who lived to become a worthy banker in the north of England, but who was received into the hospital at this time, being in after life anxious to make some inquiry into his origin, applied at the hospital, when all the informa- tion he could obtain from this source was that it ap- peared on the books of the establishment that he was put into the basket at the gate naked.—Old and New London, A PUZZLING LETTER.—She took the paper out of his hand, and studied it attentively. Its contents ran as follows Expensive Is.—I expect 6 U 7.—Yours, 6d." After a few minutes she began to laugh heartily. "Has not Bob some friend in this neighbourhood of the name of Tanner ?" she asked. I think he mentioned such a person the day that Lucy and I arrived when he returned to us after his escapade at the station." Mr. Stuart assented. And has there not been some plan on foot; some pleasuring got up by this young man, in which Bob wanted to take part, and in which his parents did not wish him to join ? Anabel con- tinued. Her companion looked at her with a wonder- ing gaze. "I can't remember anything of the sort," he answered. Stay, though—yes—Tanner asked the young fellow to go out with him for a night's sea-fish- ing, and Lady Ussher would not hear of it. Bob was very angry about the disappointment." "I feel quite sure that your pupil has set off upon that delightful ex cursion now," the young widow observed, sagaciously. See, this is how you are to read this hieroglyphical epistle, which is written in school-boy slang Dear Bob,—I expect you between six and seven. Yours, Tanner. We have come to the bottom of the lad's bad headache at last," the tutor exclaimed, laughing.— The Argosy. WAR RUMOURS.—Artful Assistant. Yes. Mum, these are real Turkish Towels can't get any more when these are sold, Mum. All the Towel-makers have been called out now Mujn, to fight the Russians. —Judy. THE BUNMOW FLITCH.—Mr. William Tegg, the publisher, has consented to act as judge at the trial of candidates for the Dunmow flitch of bacon on the 23rd inst. The trial will be held in Dunmow Town-hall, and the jury will consist of an equal number of bachelors and maidens. The flitch is claimed by two married couples, one couple being Mr. Andrews, F.R.H.S., of Hull, and his wife. Mr. Harrison Ainsworth is a patron of the festival. WHAT THE CONFEDERATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE MEANS.—It means that, instead of sinking into a small money-loving State—a second Holland— she is to retain in her own dominions her subjects and their wealth, and not to drive them abroad. The enterprise of her people is to be devoted to enlarging their country, instead of their diminishing it by be- coming the subjects of other nations. The trade which she is losing, as other nations are able to supply themselves with their own manufacturers, she will more than regain through the wants of millions of her people dwelling within her various dominions which she will have to satisfy. She will look forward not to declining trade, but to its unlimited increase. For the great mass of her population, the toiling millions, she will retain the possessions which will open to them and their children and children's children the means of rising to distinction and wealth if their ambition so prompts them. The most powerful of nations, with irresistible naval armaments, she will be able to stay war. The pauperism of the country will be reduced by the increased demand for labour and portions of the British possessions, which are now wildernesses, will be covered with useful works and teem with pros- perous communities.—Nineteenth Century.