The Brecon Reporter and South Wales General Advertiser

THE NEW BREECH-LOADING COMPETITION. The sub-committee on breech-loaders has now eo ^luded the first stage of the inquiry. It has gone caref ul through the whole of the arms submitted, and has fired. Nominally for accuracy and rapidity, but in reality rather with a view to observing the actual working of the guns, all those arms which were not prima, fac.e inadmissible or dangerous. By far the larger proportion of the arms failed to comply in every minute respect with the conditions laid down, and to which the committee have very properly closely adhered. Some were submitted too late others Were too long or too short or too heavy, or otherwise 0llteide the limits prescribed and all the guns which So faIed are out of the competition for the prize. Buttle question of their ultimtte adoption is not prejudiced by this failure nor are the committee bound to re- conamend for adoption the arm which may chance to "aiu the ffrst prize. The course which it is understood will be adopted 18 this. From the arms which are within the prize competition a certairf number have been selected for further trial. For the best of these arms, whether adopted for the service or not, 1,0001. will be awarded. Sjfid for the arm which, while attaining a satisfactory ^gree^of excellence in other particulars, is selected for erit in respect to its breech mechanism," 600J. will e, the prize. If the best arm appears to the com- mittee to be worthy of adoption, it will be placed in COpetition with the Snider rifle, which it will be re- ared to beat before its adoption is confirmed. If, on e other hand, none of the prize arms should, In the opinion of the committee, satisfy the eryice requirements, then the best of those arms 1 r*°h from failure to fulfil the conditions win v, (^<yvvT1 are of the prize competition he selected on their merits to continue the contest; sar ( eeT1 the two sets of arms it is to be hoped that a .^factory weapon will at last be found. The in- „ therefore centres for the time upon the arms rn?lch have been selected to compete for the prize. hi'?8? are 15™e i]1 number, and with these will probably rifl Though not as a competitor for the prize, a th ^r' -^ichards's, as the best representative of « self.consuming or partially self-consuming cartridge fo? > .the whole of the nine prize rifles being adapted r cartridges, either of paper or coil or copper, which Ve to be withdrawn after firing. *;a°h « the accepted competitors will be required, ni l7ln ^our months of his receiving the notice, to fur- CQSf 0r experiment at Woolwich six arms in strict "ro (^nnity to the specimen arm submitted, with 1,000 Wink8 ammunition per arm and a sum of 300?. U be paid to each such competitor to cover the ex- Ose of the six rifles and of the supply of ammunition. Pro f comm}ttee may fairly be complimented on the ijj ^ress which they have made in this important l{lxllrY. To examine, measure, weigh, and classify (for the original 93 have been swelled by late j^ttissions to this total); to fire twenty rounds from evp these guns, noting the accuracy, rapidity, and list^ rn,'3^lal) and failure and last, but not least, to higCtl a'^ that every inventor has to say in praise of it .• WearKjn7--is a task of no ordinary magnitude but "He °n? w^°h Colonel Fletcher and his associates have alv>C(^ ^y zealous application in getting through in two months and a half.

MURDER BY A LUNATIC. ■en&k0 ^.ourt °f Assizes of the Yomie has just been v»„ in a trial for a murder which took place seven ^yeara ago. *llaia ?le month of April, 1860, a resident of Appoigny, stan Guyot> aoG(i twenty-six, and in easy circum- he S^v^ddenly furiously attacked his wife, to whom marrie(i three years, and after cutting her ail i at from ear to ear with a knife, disfigured the head body with wounds inflicted with a pitchfork. aj.*j '"Wrested he was in a state of great excitement, .^ttered some incoherent words, but which were Wivi to an endeavour to simulate insanity, fell awaiting his trial he attempted to murder a Uovr prisoner, and this act also was supposed to have ,1 premeditated with the idea of maintaining part he had assumed, of a homicidal monomaniac, .he medical men who visited him being divided in their .Pmipns as to his sanity, he was sent to a lunatic, a.sy- m order to be carefully watched. He remained ttiad6 v,1" s'x years> the result of the observations a,!fe hag been to prove that his madness was not iW He was found to be subject to clearly i «*"ned fits of insanity, with a regular period of °f a• *on and decline. Advantage was now taken Th ln^.erva^ lucidity to bring him up for trial, "av Sector of the asylum in which he had remained jp, e as his opinion that the two crimes with which "ip W as charged had been committed in moments of ->f derangement, when he had no control over his and the jury in consequence having returned a ^aict of not guilty, the prisoner was acquitted. lie as then taken back to the asylum.

THE FARMER'S ANXIETIES. t Rally attempts have been made to obtain agricul- k statistics, and make them a branch of every-day pledge but we are still left to exchange the ah Snesses) and the most visionary anticipations ,]e^ut the crops and the future prices, when we |>end from the weather to its ffec .s on the land. ■' haps there is nothing of materii 1 interest in which of -are 80 ignorant, though certainly not for want tjj lll(luiring (remarks The Time*). The truth is that an/6 13 110 occupation so engrossing, so concentrating, fart Realising as that of the farmer. He buries his js tsin his head as in his land. Deep in his brain he funning up an account of strength put in the l°tiiid, or taken out of it, as, mav be, manure Q^*8hed in or perhaps the weeds jvist hidden, this or th Suocessi°n °f crops, this or that yield last year or before, x>lagues showing themselves, and all "b i1'ts of Peculiarities in the soil that nobody knows b llt he and his best man on the farm. Then he knows a why the cattle enjoy themselves on this spot, or }s e sure to ail something on that; that no good butter theV&r ^)e &°t °n oae slope of the hill, while that, on jj e, °ther slope is the best in the neighbourhood. Then and 'tS ^ttle dodges," inherited from his grandfather, eoi .Wr'inkl'is acquired by time, of which he keeps the Py^ight. He learns a little by looking over his ■- fences, but does it on the sly, and would if n, cau&ht looking often. Nor does be tell much lea 6 ls misc^'e^ or mistake. Let his neighbour he ril.^or himself, as everybody else does and perhaps h.«vight not bethanked for his humanity if he warned WP Neighbour that his hay was musty, that his cows n ere eatincr too many dead leaves, that his sheep would do much good on frost-bitten turnips, or that they ?J*id get the rot where they were lying. Let it be ^(lerl that nature itself is silent and full of reserve. lr'e is a very Sphinx for the puzzles she sets, and the titles she inflicts for not solving them. The shep- i has a word or two in the course of the day for his j,0^ and the ploughman for his team but they have to themselves, whether a forty-acre field or a pP'le down and woe to the shepherd, or anybody j,ne>. if his master sees him often talking to his own i^Cles- The farmer, too, has a good many sore Tories and small grievances, and is not altogether of i^ed. with Providence, or his landlord, or the laws i J 8 country, or anything else of importance. He tiV res a good deal, and endurance is a silent occupa- He- has a load upon his mind, but the mountains ^selves make no noise.

EXTRAORDINARY DEMONSTRATION AT ANTWERP. The late murder of M. Lenglet, station-master a' Antwerp, and the suicide of the man Schutz, by wlion the crime was committed, have given rise to a singular manifestation of feeling among the working classes oi that city. M. Lenglet appears to have been considered •>f a tyrannical and unjust disposition towards the ser- vants of the company under him. as he is accused of having procured the dismissal of Schutz, who had lost an eye in the dischargeof his duties, and whose conduct is said to have been at all times regular. Great sympathy for Schutz is consequently felt among the workmen of Antwerp, who look upon him rather as a victim than a murderer, and 3,000 of their number resolved to or- ganise a grand funeral ceremony on the occasion of his interment. The Mayor of Antwerp, to prevent this manifestation, ordered the body to be buried secretly during the night, and on the procession arriving the following day with a funeral car, the interment was found to have already taken place. Th.* disappoint- ment of the people was so great that the police had considerable difficulty in preventing a serious riot. In the absence of the body, the people covered the henrse in which it was to have been placed with wreaths of immortelles.

THE CAUSES AND CURE OF STAM- MERING. The following i. extracted from a paper, written by the late Dr. A. Coombe, on the causes and cure of this unpleasant impediment in the great gift of Nature—speech :— First. It is not unusual for a person who is perfectly fluent in conversation, and who has never before stammered, to become grievously affected with that impediment. The brain, the organ in man of the mind, is irregular in its impulse of the organs of speech, and a conflict results between the desire to speak well and the fear of speaking ill, or from consciousness of a paucity or a bad arrangement of the ideas, or a dearth of words. In every instance, the essential circumstance is a. conflict, or the absence of co-operation, among the active faculties, necessarily producing plurality instead of unity of nervous im- pulses. Secondly. A person who is unexpectedly beset by danger, stammers from head to foot, until the restora- tion of his presence of mind supplies a unity of pur- pose, and enables him to decide upon his course of action. Thirdly. The effects of wine and spirituous liquors prove the influence of the brain in the production and cure of stammering. A person who is sad, silent, and spiritless, on being moderately excited by wine, be- comes gay, talkative, and witty. If he drink to excess, his mind becomes embarrassed, and his intellects dis- turbed. The muscles, subjected to the guidance of a will which is without power, contract feebly, and the most marked stammering is the result. According to this view, the cure of stammering consists of bringing the vocal muscles into harmonious action by determined and patient exercise. The oppo- site emotions, so generally productive of stammering, may, especially in early life, be gradually subjugated by a judicious moral treatment, by directing the at- tention of the child to the existence of these emotions as causes,—by inspiring him with confidence,-by ex- citing him resolutely to shun all attempts at pronun- ciation when feeling unable to command language, —by employing his tongue, when alone and free from motion, in talking and reading aloud for long periods of time, so as to abituate the muscles to simultaneous and systematic action.

NEWSPAPER SIGNATURES IN FRANCE. The signatures make a notable difference between French newspapers and ours, not in form merely, but also in substance (says the North British Review.) It is obvious that the proper name at the end of an ar- ticle has some influence on its style. A man who signs what he says to the public, will naturally be more prudent.and courteous than one who speaks unknown from behind the broadsheet. Compare, as is right our neighhour's best with our own best. In the one there is a tone of high breeding which the other scarcely condescends to use. Anything sharply said, even to the verge of coarseness, seems to us well said, if we be but convinced that it is well deserved. Justice in substance, as we reckon it, atones for many sins of form. The French journalist signing his name, writes as he would speak within hearing of his adversary be- fore a select assemblage of well-bred critics his polite- ness in the use of his weapon serving at times to sharpen its sting. The English journalist shrouded behind his editorial "we" uses no polite circumlocution. He speaks the strong, fearless, authoritative language of a public functionary fulfilling a public duty. This is the language we understand and like, and therefore it is spoken. It is best spoken anonymously.

=:t' CHANGES OF THE COUNTENANCE. To turn for a moment from the more sentimental aspect of false faces (says the London Review), it is curious to notice what complete changes in the character of a countenance is effected by age, and above all how great is the change when death lays its hand upon it. Apart from the alteration due to physical reasons, there is unquestionably an unaccount- able relapse into phases of expression which we have seemingly dropped years ago. One of the most touch- ing incidents of the deathbed is the recognition by parents and relatives of a youth and freshness on the face of the departed, and of an expression associated with school-time, boyhood, and the spring of life. Harsh and hard-featured men and women when lying at rest, have little of the ruggedness and the ungracious- ness which they carried with them through the world. Even old age—old age sinking out in decay-takes a strange beauty at the close, and a score of years, with the furrows and the lines of years, disappear, to permit, as it were, a trace of the beautiful child-time to return again. Or is it that all our other faces were "faise faces" except this? Perhaps so. Death is very sin- cere and very truthful. It would be pleasant at least to think that when passion was spent, the socket burned down, and thought and brain asleep, nature herself comes to vindicate whatever is good in us by a distinct and final manifestation. The brother of Death, as the poet calls Slumber, does not treat us so. In dreams our faces often seem worn and weary, and even convulsive tc those who look on us in that state. We do not cast away the false face at night. We bear it as our thoughts have formed it, and our working- existences, but at the finish we are done with it. The face of a dead wife will seem far more familiar to those who have known her in girlhood, than to the man who has known her as husband for more years than they have seen her.

THE LIBEL BILL. The following has been sent to The Times for publica- tion The President, Vice-Presidents, and Members of the Provincial Newspaper Society submit to the Members of the Legislature the following observations with reference to the Libel Bill: They wish to disclaim any desire to open the door to the publication of libels, but they think the present state of the law is so very unsatisfactory that it would be beneficial to the public and to the press were its position more accurately defined. They would repeat the observation made in their circular of the 10th of May, that they should not re- quire any alteration in the law, if the speakers at pub- lic meetings were invariably accurate. No matter how libellous the statement may be, the press is pro- tected by law if it be true. But if the speaker states that which is untrue, the press having no means of sifting the statement, and being often limited for time, may, in the hurry of business, publish a report of an important public meeting, which, though accurate as a report, may be incorrect as to the facts, and for such unintentional error the proprietor of the newspaper may be liable to legal proceedings, while the speaker who has misled the reporter escapes. It is said" Why should newspapers publish these reports ?" The answer is, Because the public require them." The press does not seek greater licence than it enjoys. It only asks a clearer definition of its rights. If the Legislature decides that the press is not to be trivileged in publishing accurate reports of public oeetings, then the newspaper reporters will endea- vour to make them inaccurate by suppressing any- hing which may seem actionable. If, on the other nmd, Parliament should hold that those who are ntitled to attend public meetings, but unable to do so, "we a right to accurate reports of the proceedings, hen it ought not to subject the press to actions for ulfilling an important public function. Newspaper proprietors have no direct interest in an 'xtension of this right. They are obliged to curtail nost of the reports they publish. Their own wishes, aid the taste of their readers, discourage the publica- tion of libels. But it seems inconsistent with public nterests and public morality to oblige them to publish Its an accurate report that which is intentionally altered. The cases in which intentional libels are pub- lished are very rare, and a newspaper proprietor can nave no intention to malign when he merely publishes from the notes of his reporter an accurate account of what is uttered at a public meeting. It would meet one of the objections made to the measure were Parliament to draw the line between nrivileged and unprivileged meetings. The Provincial Newspaper Society adopted some months since a resolution which shows that its members do not desire unbridled licence. It was submitted to the Select Committee, but not introduced into the Bill. They asked for an interpretation clause to the following purport That the words A meeting lawfully convened for a lawful purpose' shall be held to mean all meetings held in accordance with Acts of Parliament and all meetings convened and presided over by the high sheriff or lieutenant of a county, or by the mayor or chief magistrate of any city, town, or borough, and no other." Such a clause would not interfere with the right to hold public meetings, nor would it affect freedom of discussion—it would leave the press in its present position with regard to all meetings not included in the above definition, while with regard to the others, which are mostly of a representative character, in which the entire community is concerned, of which it is important that the reports should be full and accu- rate, the press would be privileged, if it published fair and accurate reports of that which was spoken. The Libel Bill is on the paper for Tuesday, the 25th inst. The President, Vice-President, and members of the Provincial Newspaper Society hope you will attend and support it. JOSEPH FISHER, President, W. E. BAXTER, Hon. Secietary. Salisbury Hotel, London, June 17.

UNQUALIFIED PRACTITIONERS IN MIDWIFERY. At the recent session of the General Medical Council, in London, a discussion occurred on this im- portant question. Mr. Rumsey said :— T think it right to express my full conviction that at no distant day this council will be compelled to take action on the great question of obstetric medicine—(applause)—that is, they will have to say whether they will insist upon qualifica- tions by all those who practise midwifery. I I persons," to use Mr. Mill's phrase, rather than men. We may for a time ignore it, but if we are a council of medical registration and education, whose duty it is to see that no one assumes titles of competency without possessing that competency, we shall have some day to determine on the question of what qualifi- cations possessed by practitioners in midwifery shall give the right to register. Dr. Alexander Wood said :— Sir, we have been told that "coming events cast their shadows before," but I hope we are not going to vote with these shadows to-night. Dr. Cooper said They are not I I sliadows," but very stern realities. There is very great danger in the present state of things, "and hun- dreds of women's lives are endangered annually. At a public meeting of the Female Medical Society in Fitzroy-square, in London, it was said by Dr. Farr, of Somerset House :— Mid wives have never hitherto, in this country, been taught the mechanism of child-bearing, yet they attend large num- bers of women in their confinement. In the United King- dom more than a million births occur every year, and many lives are lost because poor women get no skilled attendance in their lying-in. In child-birth two lives are at risk, and sometimes both, are lost, when, by judicious art, both may be saved. Midwifery is certainly one of the employments which instructed women may practise. It is now quite in a state in which it may easily be taught to well-educated women, and it is probably the most advanced and useful branch of medicine. On another occasion Dr. Edmunds, the honorary secretary of the Female Medical Society, said:- It is a singular anomaly that up to this day in England the practice of midwifery is altogether unprovided for and unregulated by the state that any worn-out old woman can set up and practice midwifery with impunity; that women who wish to qualify themselves properly have no means of doing so and that there is no recognised examination open to women which would enable the public to distinguish the qualified from the linqualifted, and save respectable practi- tioners from being confounded with the careless, ignorant persons who deliver thousands of our poorer class women. It has been stated that the Female Medical Society is about to develop its medical college on a large and sound public basis, so as to provide a satisfactory re- medy for this state of things.

"MURDER WILL OUT!" The extraordinary disclosures concerning the murder of the man Linley, recently made before the Sheffield Trades' Union Commission, will be fresh in the reader's recollection and the following account of the circumstancesattenùing the murder, which was committed in the year 1859, and which is extracted from the columns of a contemporary, will prove interesting :— The dreadful crime which has been confessed by the witnesses Hallam, Crookes, and Broadhead, was one for which an innocent man incurred much suspicion at the time, and underwent the pain and suspense of detention in gaol on a charge of wilful murder. The temporary but only partial recovery of the victim, who lingered for some months, led to the prisoner's dis- charge. It was on Monday, the 1st August, 1859, about ten o'clock at night, that, James Linley was shot in the head, as he sat in the snug" of a public- house. It did not then appear that the wound was fatal, though it was of a most dangerous character. It was at once called to mind that the same man had been tho object of deadly attack on two previous occasions. Once he had been shot at, and another time it was attempted to blow up the house in which he was sleeping. He lived at No. 5, Milk-street, and worked at the Tower grinding- whecl. The third attack upon him, the subject of the recent revelations, was made at Wreakes's Crown Inn, Scotland-street. The ball came through the yard window of the back room where he sat. A man was then seen rushing out of the yard, but he succeeded in escaping, as it seems, unrecognised. Linley was re- moved to Mr. Booth's surgery, where it appeared that the skull was fractured by a wound through the left temple. It had been inflicted with a remarkably small ball, which was not extracted from the head. On the following Wednesday a man named Richard Brown was apprehended on suspicion of being the criminal. He was observed 'a the room where Linley was sitting, both a few minutes before and a few minutes after the shot wiis- fired. The prisoner him- self declared that he was talking to Linley at the very moment he was shot, but unfortunately no one else seemed to remember him then in the room. Two pistols were found in his house—in fact, he told the police where to look for them, on his being asked if he had any. -One of these became immediately a circumstantial witness against him, on account of a correspondence between the peculiar smallness of the bore and the size of the hole made by the shot in passing through the window frame of the snug." The prisoner was brought before the magis- trates at the Town Hall. Linley was alive, but not able to appear. As soon as the surgeon had described the character of the wound, and a detective had de- scribed the pistols, balls, and bullet-mould he had found in Brown's house, he had to be remanded, bail refused. The prisoner was, no doubt, as much at sea as the prosecution in trying to identify the criminal, for he had told one of the magistrates before whom he was taken that "there was a big man came in (into the snug') and supped out of a quart of ale with a man who was sitting in the bar and he (prisoner) thought that man had something to do with the affair." It does not appear, by reference to contem- porary reports, however, that any other person, stout or slender, was more distinctly pointed at in con- nection with the matter. The unfortunate prisoner had still a good deal of trouble before him. On the Wednesday following, when he was again brought up, the evidence against him was apparently strengthened by a witness named Eliza Dewsnap. She was confident that the prisoner was the man whom she saw running out of the yard, immediately after the shot. It was also held to be "proved" that the prisoner had left the room four minutes before the shot entered. He was again remanded in custody, and it was not until Saturday, the 13th, that the magis- trates, having made no further progress in the case, felt at liberty to remand him on bail. The accused, it was then reported, "appeared to feel his position more acutely than on any previous occasion. He kissed two or three of his relatives during the proceedings, and frequently burst into tears." He was still under remand, though at large, from week to week, till the 26th, when Linley was able to appear in court, though so feeble that he was scarcely able to speak. He had apparently nothing to say which could support any charge against the prisoner. The witness Dewsnap had also mysteriously disappeared. Under these circumstances, the prisoner was at length discharged. Brown was then described as a bailiff, debt collector, and furniture broker, and the only shadow of a motive which could be attributed to him as a supposed assist- ant of Linley was some utterly indefinite suggestion of j ealousy."

THE PRESS AND THE PARIS EXHIBITION. It has been stated by a contemporary that proposals are being made for conveying a certain number of gentlemen belonging to the metropolitan press to Paris, They are to be taken there, boarded and lodged for a week, given a free ticket for the Exposition, and all the other sights of the French capital, and then brought back, for the workman's figure of 23. Of course, this figure implies a certain amount of "roughing it"—sleeping in wooden huts with dormi- tories, &c.,—and living on plain, but wholesome food. It is said that Mr. Layard, M.P., has charge of the arrangements, and that a good number of gentlemen, amused by the novelty of the proposal, and not insensible to the economical advantages of the organisation in question, have given in their names and adhesion. The proposed visit is to come off at the end of the session-that is to say, about the beginning of September. If the project has any cha- racter of acceptability about it to gentlemen on the piovincial press, no doubt but that Mr. Layard would be ready to offer them the same facilities and assist- ance which he tenders to their metropolitan brethren. The nucleus of an organisation could soon be formed in any of the great centres of press influence in the country. As all the members of an editorial and reporting staff could not be spared at once, a series of two or three visits on the part of the Eng- lish press might be made, with the result of con- verting the entente cordiale into the entente intime. Mr. Layard is exceeding by desirous that as many members of the newspaper press as possible shall visit Paris during the Exposition, and if a "little bird' is to be believed, the hon. member is only carrying out a wish entertained by an illustrious personage. In this case the visitors may find themselves the objects of certain flattering attentions. In any event they may rely upon having the opportunity of seeing the lions of the French capital under the most favourable auspices.

HOW NEWSPAPER REPORTS DIFFER! Mr. Bright, in his speech on Lord Amberley's Sunday Lectures Bill, in the House of Commons, the other evening, quoted a couplet from Herbert's poem on Sunday," and out of seven independent reports in the London papers there were four different versions, and not one of them correct. The one nearest to the original was :— The week were dark without thy light, Thy torch doth point the way. Then there was variation number one The week were dark without thy light, Thy torch to point the way. The third version was The weeks were dark without thy light, Thy torch to point the way. Variation number four The week were dark but for thy light, Thy light doth point the way. What George Herbert really wrote was :— The week were dark but for thy light; Thy torch doth show the way. Two of the reports attribute the lines to Heber, and one makes Mr. Bright talk of their author as a poet who wrote very beautifully, particularly on religious subjects. |, j,< twmui IMWMIM

ATTEMPTED INVASION OF THE PAPAL STATES. A letter from Florence, dated the 21st inst., and published by the Dcbata, says On the night of the 19th an armed band, composed of from 300 to 400 persons, attempted to enter the Pontifical territory. It was stopped and dispersed by the Italian troops stationed along the frontier. About fifty arrests were made. The invaders offered no resistance. The importers of this event arises especially from the fact, thus clearly proved, that notwithstanding the apparent calm, the idea of over- throwing the Pontifical government has not been given up. According to the information which has reached me, Garibaldi had nothing to do with this at- tempt. Efforts had been made to lead him into it, but without success-at all events, for the present. The initiative of the movement appears to come from elsewhere, and it would seem that the especial desire was to throw difficulties in the way of the ministry. There are two plans for the overthrow of the Pontifical government; one consists in invading the provinces, and in morally forcing the Pope to call in the Italian troops to restore order the Pope would thus be reduced to the city of Rome, where he would be allowed to reign peacefully. The other plan, which has the support of Mazzini, consists in effecting a revo- lution in Rome itself, so as to allow of the principle of non-intervention being invoked. Although the attempt of the 20th June has failed, it appears to me difficult to believe in an indefinite prolongation of the statu quo.

A CAUTION TO TRADES' UNION MEN. A savage assault by a trade unionist, was the sub- ject of inquiry at the Oldham police-court, on Monday. Martin Hughes was charged with assaulting John Iveary. Both parties were masons' labourers. It appeared that on the night of the 18th ult. the prisoner went to the house in which Keary resided, and called him out. When the man went into the street, he was denounced as a "knobstick" by the prisoner, who, with two other persons not in custody, commenced to strike and kick him in a savage manner. He was knocked down and kicked violently about the head, body, and legs. Two policemen, attracted by the noise, ran towards the spot, but the prosecutor's assail- ants made off. Hughes was not apprehended until Saturday night. In reply to the bench, Kearv stated that he did not belong to the union, but had often been asked to join. There was a strike in the trade in Old- ham when the assault took place, and he inferred that the prisoner, who had never worked for the same employer as himself, was put forward to assault him by persons connected with the union. The presiding magistrate said the whole country had within the past few days been startled by the awful accounts of what had taken place in Sheffield under similar circumstances to the present. The bench were determined, so far as lay in their power, to put a stop to such proceedings, and they therefore felt it to be their duty to inflict the full amount of punishment —namely, imprisonment with hard labour for two months.

AN INTERNATIONAL PEACE CONGRESS. The following letter, addressed to the President of the Reform League, enclosing copies of circular and resolutions annexed, was submitted to the executive council of the Re- form League in last week 25, Rue Monsieur le Prince, Paris, 19th June. Sir,—Just at the moment when you were addressing on behalf of the Reform League yourgreat and elegant appeal to the peoples of Europe, a few French men made arrangements to invite the leaders of European democratic opinion to co-operate in the establishment of an International Peace Congress at Geneva. Your great League has enunciated with admirable clearness that all the peoples of Europe, and, indeed, of the world, are united in one common interest of right and liberty and our society will either totally fail in their purpose, or the democratic sentiment will reanimate and invigorate all consciences and stimulate individual energies. It is this idea which has induced us to pro- pose the formation of the International Congress at Geneva for we feel that now, more than upon any previous occasion, there is an opportunity for the party of Liberty to affirm its principles, and to proclaim the alliance of the peoples. Please to receive this expr sion of my consideration and my warmest syznpathrj „ T) (Signed) EMILE ACOLLAT. L, Leales, Esq. (Circular.) Geneva, June, 17, 1867. Sir,—The recent misunderstanding between thtf (jovernments of France and Prussia has nearly dragged the populations of France and Prussia, and with them all the populations of Europe, into the horrors of war anc, although the conflict has been temporarily avoided- it has produced in all directions, and especially in France, an energetic reaction in favour of peace. This movement has a meaning. It signifies that men be-I gin to understand at last the injustice and dangers of a situation in which it is possible for the particular will of the few, inspired in the will of the many, ta exercise such power as to arrest work and stop tha sources of general prosperity. Under these circum- stances it has appeared to a certain number of our- fellow-citizens that there was an opportunity for the collective action of European democracy, and they have considered that the best form to give to this movement was that of an International Peace Con"\ gress. In handing to you a copy of their resolutionit they venture to ask for your support, and that you wil give us the favour of your signature.—We have th honour to be, Sir, THE COMMITTEE OF THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE CONGRESS. (Resolutions.) The undersigned, consideriug that the establishment and maintenance of peace are of the first order in tha duties and interests of nations-that that object cannot be better attained than by the confederacy ofi the peoples which is inseparable from their political emancipation considering tha,t peace results fronr liberty, as war necessarily does from oppression con. sidering that in the absence of an international law> assuring at once to the peoples peace and liberty, only means of preventing the evil and crimes of warj of conquest, and oppression, can be found in the free Union—permanent and public-of all nations whiclr comprehend the nature of the great work and wish foe its effectual fulfilment--urge the formation of an In- ternational Peace Congress, whereof the first sitting will be opened on the 5th of Sept., 1867, at Geneva, an<f of which the object will be in all countries, and by every means at the disposal of its members for the establishment and maintenance of liberty and of rights and peace in Europe.

A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY. Last week, as some labourers were employed in baI lasting on the works of the North London Railway, neatif the new station at Old Ford, near London, they came upon a large stone coffin, which lay some 2Mt. from thd surface of the ground. After clearing away the eartli from round it, the lid was raised, and the coffin waS found to contain a perfect skeleton, the teeth being iijf a good state of preservation. On being exposed to thtf air, however, the rib bones fell in and other portions ofi the frame slightly parted. The coffin is about 7ftii in length, 2ft. 4in. in width. There is no in3 scription or figures upon it-at least, none coulcl be traced; but it is considered that it must haves been buried many centuries back. It is formed out of; one piece of stone, the inside having been hewn. on chipped out. The lid is two or three inches in thick- ness, and the top is slightly rounded off. The spot where the coffin was found is close to the old Roman- road, which was the high road from Middlesex intoi Essex, over the old ford of the River Lee, which was there of greater dimensions than at present. A num- ber of old coins and urns have also been turned up iir the course of the excavations about the railway, and some two or three years since another stone coffin was: discovered in the upper part of Old Ford. After a good deal of exertion the railway men succ, eded in removing the stone to a neighbouring hut by the side of the line where it has been seen by some hundrecls ot persons.

PRESIDENT JOHN SON ON HIS TOUR. At Raleigh, his native city, the President made a short: speech the other day, and said in the course of it In entering this city my mind involuntarily wan- dered back to the time when I left its streets a penniless and inexperienced boy to make my way in.' the world. When I went out from among you, and from the time I became connected with politics, I laid down as my rule a conscientious performance of duty and adopted the Constitution of my country as my ii, guide; and by these, whether in prosperity or adversity I have always been guided and controlled and come weal or woe, in high places or low places, with the Constitution as my guide with my hand laid on the altar of my country, I will leave these great principles for those who are to follow. One of my leading tenets has been the prosperity of the great mass of the people, holding that all persons, without regard to condition or colour, should be esteemed according to their intrinsic merit or worth, leaving each to rise en his own merit, courage, and energy. Let this be the standard, so that to every one may be assigned his true position. I trust and hope, instead of discussing party issues, creating factions between North, South, East, or West, that all will exert themselves to the restoration of the union of these States, so that thrs flag may float over a contented and prosperous people. Let us, my friends, repair the breaches made by the war, and restore the Union. This being accom- plished, we may then make such issues as the public prosperity and safety may demand. Let us efface from our minds the memory of the past; let us pour oil on the troubled waters, and restore peace to the States. This has been my constant object.

THE LATE ARCHDUCHESS MATHILDE. The grievous death of the Archduchess Mathilde has pro- duced a profound impression in Vienna, and of which medical journals give the following details :— The great ravages caused by the burns, and the con- sequent destruction of large surfaces of the body, produced mental exhaustion. In her last days the patient was constantly in a bath, which contributed greatly to lessen her sufferings. At five o'clock on the morning of her death, the Archduke Albert ap- proached the patient, who addressed her father in these words in a voice hardly intelligible:—"How are you ? Have you slept well?" The father, bowed y down with grief, replied only by .addressing the same question to his daughter. She said, "I have been very quiet all night, and feel myself very weak." A moment after she gave a deep sigh and breathed her last. Dr. Schmerling was the only witness of this moving scene. The countenance of the princess was in no way changed by death, and bore no marks of the agony of the struggle it retained its loveliness; no burn had disfigured it. In the morning Dr. Rokitansky performed the autopsy, and embalmed the body. The two arms presented extensive burns from the shoulder to the elbow; the left arm was almost completeiy burnt the back of the neck was only slightly burnt, but from the back to the hip was one extensive wound. The ankles were also burnt. The Archduchess Mathilde, a beautiful blonde, was born on January 29, 184G.

A RESULT OF TRADES' UNIONS. The recent labour strikes in America have produced one result which was not unforeseen by shrewd ob- servers. The labourers of the iron works at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have been on strike for a long time, and their employers could make no agreement with them. In this emergency agents were sent to Europe, who have employed experienced puddlers and other iron- workers, and are sending theni over to America. The old workmen of Pittsburg will soon have all their places filled by strangers willing to work at the wages the former have refused. There are going to be diffi- cult times for working people in all parts of the country, owing to the great decrease in manufacturing and building. The New York SlIn, a working man's paper, says that at no period within the last ten years have there been so many unemployed workmen in New York as now. These troubles ahead have caused the New York Trades Unions to be very cautious about "striking "for the eight-hour system. Though their eight-hour law has been on the statute-book for a month, no efforts have yet been made by them to enforce it. In Chicago, where the men procured a reduction of hours only by submitting to a propor- tionate reduction of pay, a general wish is reported to return to the old system. The men want ten hours' pay, and adversity has made them willing to give ten hours' work for it.