The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

L ALLEGED- CRUELTY BY A SCHOOL- MASTER, A tall and powerful man, named George Wilson, master of the charity school of St. Botolph Without, Aldgate,_ on Tower-hill, adjoining the Royal Mint, and distinguished as the "first Protestant charity school," appeared before Mr. Partridge, at Thames-street Police-court, on a summons, to answer a charge of assaulting John Edmund Jones, one of his pupils. The summons was taken out at the instance of the mother of the boy. She is a poor and industrious widow, of good character, and when she applied for the summons appeared in great distress of mind. Her son, a delicate boy, only nine years of age, had been moat cruelly flogged, as was indicated by the state of his person. His back and posteriors were covered with bruises and discoloured from the infliction of the punishment. It appeared from the evidence that. the boy had been severely flogged with a cane and a strap on several occasions, and he had seen other boys punished very badly by the schoolmaster. The complainant, notwithstanding his tender years, had been chas- tised forty times. His hands were mercilessly cut with a cane in June last, and the mother then complained to Wilson of his brutal treatment. The boy's hand was cut with a eane a fort- night ago. The last cruel infliction was on Monday afternoon last, after school hours. The defendant pulled down the blinds of a room in which he punished the boy, put a handkerchief over his eyes made him pull down his troupers, and then flogged him over his naked body with a leather strap. The boy counted as many as thirty blows. The defendant said he did not inflict more than twenty nor less than fifteen, and produced the leather strap with which he inflicted the punishment. It was by no means a heavy or fbr- midable weapon, but, in the hands of a giant lhe the defendant capable of injuring a child of tender years with a soft skin like the complainant. Mrs. Jones; the mother of the boy, said he had come home- frequently with his hands cut and his person bruised; and she complained that it was not proper or humane to punish a child so brutally. The defendant made a lengthened exculpation, and denied havmg punished tlle boy "with uimecesB«try severity. The tn- flictions were requisite for the discipline of the school. He punished the boy on Monday for telling a falsehood. He put in a letter, of which the followjngis a copy:- The Rev. Mr. Robertson, incumbent of St. Botolph, Aldgate, begs to state that John Edward Jones is a boy of bad disposition, that he has been reproved by the trustees of the school for in- subordinate-conduct, and that he'has only been permitted to remain in the school on promise. of amendment, Mr. Robertson beg3 to state further that he has reason to fear that the boy has been encouraged in his bad conduct by his mother, who appears to have given him injudicious advice, and that the trustees of the school have the greatest confidence in the master Mr. Wilson, and believe that be wmid not inflict unnecessary or excessive punishment. "16, Devonshire-square, Sept. 24." Mr. Partridge said the statement in writing of the Rev. Mr. Robertson was no evidence whatever, and he could pay no attention to-it. The defendant said the summons had been served upon h;m so recently that he had nothad an opportunity of calling witnesses, and wished for an adjournment. Mr. Partridge would certainly give the defendant an oppor- tunity of calling any witnesses he thought proper. The charge was a serious one. The defendant must recollect that he was charged with flogging the boy in private during the play hour," as it was called, and that the punishment was inflicted with a leather strap on the naked parson of the child after he had been blindfolded. The defendant would also recollect what was the state of the child's body jasteKpoied to view, and that the mother said when the boy came home on Monday there were red and blue stripes on his body, and that his hands were cut on -a former occasion. The case was then adjourned, to give defendant an 1 opportunity of calling witnesses to character. j

MM, BEhTWCK, M.P, ON THE AGRI- CULTURAL INTEREST. At the Wayland Agricultural Society's annual meet- ing at Watton, Norfolk, the proceedings passed off very successfully, the most prominent personages present being Lord Walsingham, Mr. B. Gurdon, M.P., Mr. G. W. P. Bentinck, M.P., &c. Lord Walsingham presided at the dinner, which took place in the Way- land-hall, Mr. Bentinck, M.P., replied to the toast of the County Members," and argued at some length that agriculture was the first, most valuable, and most important science within the four seas of Great Britain, and that any reverse in the great rural districts of England must be felt throughout the length and breadth of the lana., There had recently been deplor- able depression in one of the greatest commercial interests of the country-the cotton trade. English- men had witnessed that depression with the deepest regret, and had seen with the greatest admiration the manner in which the artisans embarked in that industry had borne their sufferings. They had also seen with the greatest admiration the boundless generosity with which the whole country had stepped forward to alleviate the distress. But one.thing had been learnt from this melancholy state of things. Not many years ago it was the belief of almost every man in this country that the prosperity of England was identified with the prosperity of the cotton trade, but we had now seen that England was independent of that great industry, and that even the sufferings which the people of Lancashire had undergone had not produced any material effect upon the wealth or prosperity of the country. But the same rule would not apply to agriculture, for it would be impossible for the rural districts to experience any great amount of depression without the suffering extending throughout the length and breadth of England. Yet the rural districts had been made a stalking-horse-and beast of burden for the country generally. He was not going to rip up the old question of free trade and the thousand other subjects which might be brought forward but he would ask whether periods of agricultural depression did not frequently arise ? Did not agriculturists in such cases say to themselves, "We wish this was taken off and that we were relieved of that," and We are worse off than other people P" Why was this the case P Agri- culture comprised a larger amount of wealth, industry, and he would venture to say intelligence, than any other branch of enterprise; but those engaged in it failed, like those embarked in other pursuits, to band themselves to fight their battles. The result of the absence of this combination on the part of the agricultural interest was that its members were made 1 bhe stalking-horses and burden- carriers of the country. Ii distinguished member of the House of Commons J lag lately said that we were to look forward to the ntroduction and discussion of further measures of 'eform. Without giving any opinion upon that sub- ect, he must contend that the whole matter involved n the question of reform was the incidence of taxation, s Che horrible strife now going on between the Northern p Jid Southern States of America was nothing but the t liscussiou of tub tile Americana went I to work in a different manner. They dealt with blows instead of with words; but they were only discussing the question of the incidence of taxation. The Americans were, in fact, fighting about taxes, and nothing else. Happily, in this country, we had a more good-humoured and agreeable way of dealing with such subjects; but if the hon. gentleman who had taken upon himself the office of a prophet were right, and we were to have sooner or later the question of 1 reform brought before us, he would ask the rural districts to remember that they were the superiors in point of wealth and numbers, and the equals in point of intelligence to any other part of the country, and that they must unite as one man to claim their rights. The only existing grievance in this country which any man could fairly and frankly lay his hand upon was the want of adequate representation for the rural districts and he attributed this to the neglect of the agricultural interest to make itself heard. The hon. gentleman was invited to enter more fully upon the present aspect of American affairs, but he did not respond to the hint.

WITHDRAWAL OF THE CONFEDERATE- COMMISSIONER. The following is the letter in which Mr. Mason announced his recall to Earl Russell:— "24, Upper Seymour-street, Fortman-square, September 21, 1863. "The Right Honourable Earl Russell, her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. My Lord,—In a dispatch of the Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America, dated 4th day of August last, and now just received, I am instructed to consider the commission which brought me to England as at an end, and I am directed to withdraw at once from this. country. The reasons for terminating this mission are set forth in an extract from the dispatch, which I have the honour to communicate herewith. The President believes that The Government of her Majesty has determined to decline the over- tures made through you for establishing, by treaty, friendly relations between the two Governments, and entertains no intention of receiving you as the accredited Minister of this Government near the British Court. "c Under these circumstances, your continued residence in London is neither conducive to the interests nor consistent with the dignity of this Government; 'and the President therefore requests that you consider your mission at an end, and that you withdraw with your Secretary from London.' Having made known to your lordship, on my arrival here, the character and purposes of the mission intrusted to me by my Government, I have ieemed it due to courtesy thus to make known to bhe Government of her Majesty its termination, md that I shall, as directed, at once withdraw rrom England. "I have the honour to be your lordship's very obedient servant, "J.M.MASON."

THE HON. CHARLES SUMNER'S SPEECH AT NEW YORK. The Hon. Charles Sumner delivered a long and eloquent oration at the Cooper Institute, New York, on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 9, on the "Foreign Relations of the United States." His speech occupies about nineteen columns of the New York Times, from which we give a few extracts:— English Neutrality. Mr. Summer began by saying that it might be well for them to turn aside from the consideration of battles and sieges at home to glance at the perils from abroad. "Of course," said he, "I mean from Eng- land and France, for these are the only foreign Powers that thus far have been moved to intermeddle on the side of slavery." IIAobserved that the present war Had warnings tliat sotae interference by England and France was not improbable. Considering first the perils from England, Mr. Sumner said that the recognition by the British Govern- ment of the belligerent rights of the South stood foremost as an omen of peril. The proclamation by which this recognition was made in May, 1861, declared neutrality between two equal parties, as if the declaration of equality was not an insult to the National Government, and the declaration of neu- trality was not a moral absurdity, offensive to reason aiid all those precedents which make the glory of the British name. Even if the proclamation could be other- wise than improper at any stage of such a rebellion, it was worse than a blunder at that early date." The apparent relations of the two States were more than friendly. The Prince of Wales had been recently wel- comed in the United-States, except at Richmond, as in the land of kinsmen; and yet immediately after the rebel assault on Fort Sumter, and before the arrival of Mr. Adams in London, this proclamation was launched. Its effect was that Armstrong guns, warlikemunitions of all kinds, and, as LordPalmerston had said, even ships- of war might be lawfully sold to be used in behalf of slavery. There was no necessity for the step, and such a concession to slavemongers fighting for slavery would be vindicated only as slavery is vindicated. Its effect was to create throughout England an unfriendly senti- ment towards the United States, easily stimulated to a menace of war. The proclamation as to the belli- gerent rights of the slaveholders declared neutrality. That was bad enough when the question was between a friendly Power and an insulting barbarism; but it was worse after the declaration to depart from it, if in words only. And yet the United States had been spoken of offensively. Several 1 of the British Cabinet, including the Foreign Secre- 1 tary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, two great masters of words,' have allowed themselves in public < speeches to characterise offensively our present effort) t to put down rebel slavemongers, as 'a contest for ] empire on one side and for independence on the other.' i Not only this, but these same orators of the British f Cabinet had allowed themselves to pronounce against I them on the whole case. They declared that the s National Government cannot succeed in crushing rebel 1 slavemongers, and that dismemberment is inevitable s "Jefferson Davis," says one of them, "has created a a nation." Thus do these representatives of declared "neutrality" degrade us and exalt slavery. e French Interference. Turning to France, there was not much encourage- ment, and yet the Emperor, though acting habitually in concert with the British Cabinet, has not inter- meddled so illogically or displayed a temper of so little international amiability. The correspondence under his direction, even at the most critical moments, leaves little to be desired in respect of form. Nor has there been a single blockade-runner under the French flag; nor a single pirate ship from a, French port. But, in spite of these things, it is too apparent that the Emperor has taken sides against us in at least four important public acts-positively, plainly, offensively." These were, first, the recognition of the belligerent rights of the slaveholders secondly, the interference in Mexico and the placing the Archduke Maximilian on the Mexican throne; thirdly, the attempt to induce England and Russia to mediate in the war; and fourthly, the reception and countenance given to Mr. Slidell. Only recently, however, had they been menaced with the sword. By his conduct in Mexico the French Emperor seeks to play on this continent the very part which of old caused the contrition of Maria Therpsa; nor could the partition' of our broad country—if in an evil hour it were accomplished-fail to be the great crime of the present century. Trampler upon the Republic in France-trampler upon the Re- public in Mexico-it remains to be seen if the French Emperor can prevail as a trampler upon this Republic. I do not think he can; nor am I anxious on account of the new Emperor of Mexico, who will be as powerless as King Canute against the rising tide of the American people. His chair must be withdrawn, or he will be overwhelmed." Mr. Sumner then proceeded to deal with the question of foreign intervention by mediation and concession. He went at great length into the his- torical part of the subject, and contended that there was no precedent for such intervention. Shall Slavery be "Recognised?" It was, however,, impossible that a State Ibased on slavery should be recognised, even though it were inde- pendent, and in the case of the South its leading poli- ticians had declared that slavery was its corner-stone. Unhappily (said-Mr. Sumner); there are old nations, still tolerating slavery, already in the family; but now, for the first _time in history, a new nation claims admission there, which not on! tolerates slavery, but, exulting in its shame, strives to reverse the judgment of man- kind against this outrage, and to make it a chief support and glory, so that all recognition of the new Power will be the recognition of a sacrilegious pre- tension, With one vast blood-stone for the mighty base. Elsewhere slavery has been an accident; here it is the principle. Elsewhere it has been an instrument only, here it is the inspiration. Elsewhere it has been kept back in a becoming modesty here it is pushed forward in all its brutish nakedness. Elsewhere it has claimed nothing but liberty to live; here it claims liberty to rule with unbounded empire at home and abroad. Look at this candidate Power as you will, in its whole continued existence, from its alpha to its omega, and it is nothing but slavery Its origin is slavery; its main- spring is slavery; its object is slavery. Whereever it appears, whatever it does, whatever form it takes, it is slavery alone and nothing else; so that, with the con- trition of Satan, it might cry out— Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath and infinite despair? Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell." The rebellion is slavery in arms; slavery on horse- back.; slavery on foot; slavery raging on the battle- field; slavery raging on the quarter-deck—robbing destroying; burning, killing-in order to uphold this candidate Power. Its legislation is simply slavery in, statutes; slavery in chapters; slavery in sections— with an enacting clause. Its diplomacy is slavery in pretended ambassadors, slavery in cunning letters, slavery in cozening promises, slavery in persistent negotiations, all to secure to the candidate Power its much-desired welcome. Say what you will, trv to avoid it if you can, you are compelled to admit that the candidate Power is nothing else than organised slavery which now in its madness-surrounded by its criminal clap, and fed by its felon chieftains—braves the civili- sation of the age. Therefore any recognition of this Power will be a recognition of slavery itself, with wel- come and benediction imparting to it new considera- tion and respectability, and, worse still, securing to it new opportunity and foothold for the supremacy which it openly proclaims. If recognition of a de facto Power were a duty, there would still be objections in such a case as this. But there was no such duty. Practical statesmen had always treated the question of recognition as one of policy. If the present claim for recognition were brought to the touchstone of these principles, it would be easy to decide it. It was vain to urge the practice of nations on its behalf. Never before in history had such a candidacy been put forward in the name of slavery, and the terrible outrage was aggravated by the Christian light which surrounded it. The case is plain nor is any language of contumely or scorn too strong to express the irrepressible repug- nance to such a pretension, which, like vice, "to be hated needs only to be seen." Surely there can be no Christian Power which will not leap to expose it, saying with irresistible voice 1. No new sanction of slavery. 2. No new quickening of slaveryin its active and ag°res- siye barbarism. 3. No new encouragement to° the .nlibusters engendered by slavery. 4. No new crea- tion of slave territory. 5. No new creation of a slave navy. 6. No new slave nation. 7. No installation of slavery as a new civilisation. But all this Litany will fail, if recognition prevails-from which, good Lord, deliver us Nor will this be the end of the evil. Slavery, through the new Power, will take its place in the Parliament of mankind, with all the immunities of an independent nation, ready always to uphold and ad- vance itself, and organised as an unrelenting propa- ganda of the new faith. A Power having its inspira- tion in such a barbarism must be essentially barbarous founded ora the asserted right to whip women and to sell children, it must assume a character of disgusting hardihood, and, openly professing a determination to revolutionise the public opinion of the world, it must be in open schism with civilisation itself, so that all its influences will be wild, savage, brutal, and all its off- spring kindred in character. Ocean Belligerency, Mr. Sumner proceeded to contend that there should be no concession of ocean belligerency without a prize court. He argued this point at some length, and said that m this case the conceasion of such a belligerencv was aggravated by tlie fact that all the ships by which U nited States commerce was outraged were built rigged armed, and manned in Great Britain. A ship fitted Dut with the law of slavery on its deck, and with the ttag of slavery at its mast-head, sailing for slavery burning for slavery, fighting; for slavery, and knowing 10 other sovereignty than the pretended Govern- ment of rebel slavemongers, would be nothing .ess in spirit and character than a slave pirate md the enemy of the human race. The fatal conces- sion of ocean belligerency, made in a moment of jclipse, when reason and humanity were obscured nust be annulled by Great Britain. The blunder- irime must be renounced, so that the slave-pirates nay no longer sail the sea, burning, destroying, rob- bing, with British license. Then will they' promptly iisappear for ever, and with them will disappear the occasion of strife between two great, Powers, who ought to be, if not as mother and child, at least as Irothers among the nations. And may God in his aercy help this consummation! The America of the Future. Passing to the consideration of the duties of the 2i x>nS °li^e States, Mr. Sumner declared that the Kepubhc must resolve to crush slavery. That the rebellion was based on slavery was clear. To tolerate it would be practical atheism. Mr. Sumner concluded as frtlie+?eF^lic Tere less strong, yet I am glad to believe that the rebellion must fall, from the essential impossibility of any such wicked success. The responsibilities of the Christian Powers would be increased, by our weakness. Behind our blockade there would be a moral blockade. Behind our armies there would be the aroused judgment of tha civilised world. But not on this account can we hesitate. This is no time to stop. Forward! forward! Thus ,i x10 formerly pleaded so often for peace, now sound to arms. Give me any peace but a liberticide peace. In other days the immense eloquence of Burke was stirred against a regicide peace. But a peace founded on the killing of a king is not so bad as a peace founded on the killing of liberty nor can the saddest scenes of such a peace be so sad as the daily life which is legalised by slavery. A queen on the scaffold is not. so pitiful a sight as a woman on the auction block. Therefore. I say again, Forward! for- ward I know not if a Republic like ours can count even now upon the certain friendship of any European Power, unless it be the republic of William Tell. The very name is unwelcome to the full-blown representa- tives of old Europe, who forgot how proudly, even in modern history, Venice bore the title of Serenissima Respublica. It will be for us to change all this, and we shall do it. Our successful example will be enough. Thus far we have been known chiefly through that vital force which slavery could only degrade but not subduo. Now at last, by the'death of slavery, will the Republic begin to live. For what is life without liberty? Stretching from ocean to ocean—teeming with popula- tion-bountiful in resources of all kinds, and thrice- happy in universal enfranchisement—it will be more than conqueror. Nothing too vast for its power nothing too minute for its care. Triumphant over the foulest wrong ever inflicted-after the bloodiest war ever waged-it will know the majesty of Right and the beauty of Peace—prepared always to uphold the one and to cultivate the other. Strong in its own mighty stature—filled with all the fulness of a new life and covered with a panoply of renown, it will confess that no dominion is of value which does not contribute to human happiness. Born in this latter day and the child of its own struggles, without an- cestral claims, but heir of all the ages, it will stand forth to assert the dignity of man, and wherever any m ember pf the HumanFamilyis to be succoured there its voice will reach, as the voice of Cromwell reached across France even to the persecuted mountaineers of the xJps. Such will be this Republic; upstart among the nations. Aye as the steam-engine, the telegraph, and chloroform are upstart. Comforter and helper like tliese, it can know no bounds to its empire over a willing world. But the first stage is the death of i Slavery.

» — The indictment against Alfred Styles for a breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act, by enlisting men for service in Poland, has been removed, by writ )f certiorari, to the Court of Queen's Bench. The charge is preferred at the instance of Russia, and it s stated that an offer has been made to Mr. Styles jhat if he will plead guilty, and promise to abstain in htnre from similar ftoceedings, judgment will not be iskedibr. 0

NEGLECTING TO BURY A CHILD. Mr. John Humphreys held an inquest last week on the body of a female child which had been found in a coffin in Homerton-churchyard. A constable proved that he saw a coffin lym? on the around in l™?1'1? at Homcrlon- He t00k it to the station-house, where it was found to contain the body of a female child, which was wrapped m a night-dress. The coffin was fastened in a manner usual with undertakers. A medical witness said the child had been stillborn. A man named Runmans stated that the coffin had been made by an undertaker. It had been knocked up cheaply, a bit of flooring-board being used as a lid. A juror remarked that this was another instance of the dis- graceful frauds practised by the cheap undertakers The coroner said it was possible the parents had purchased the coffin for Is. 9d., the usual price, and had themselves deposited it in the churchyard in the hope the ..child would receive a decent burial without payment of the cemetery fees. But it was certainly more probable that an undertaker, who had received the body at the parents' house, had, to save himself further trouble, thrown it where the constable found it. Cheap under- takers pretended that they would bury children for sums even as low as 3s. But it was clear they could not, and never intended to do so, for the cemetery fees alone were 3s. 6d., except in one instance, where they were 2s. 6d. After paying in addition Is. 9d. or Js cost price, for a coffin, it was evident that an undertaker would lose by the fulfilment of his contract. He was convinced that the popular idea of the great prevalence of child murder WiiS exaggerated, and that it took its rise in a considerable measure from the culpable practices of unscrupulous undertakers. The jury returned a verdict, "That deceased was found in a coffin in Homerton-churchyard stillborn; and the jury expressed a hope that the police would not relax in their efforts to discover the guilty parties."

SIR ROBERT PEEL AT TAMWORTH. "No man is a prophet in his own country." Sir Robert Peel had some experience of the truth of this saying at Tamworth the other day. He was present at a meeting to further the election of the Hon. Mr. Cowper, and wanted to make a speech upon the occa- sion. The meeting for the most part refused to hear him, or rather interrupted him so often that his observations had little consecutiveness. He was even threatened by some bold speakers with rejection at the next election, and charged with improperly coercing his tenants to vote for Mr. Cowper; he was contra- dicted when he sang Lord Palmerston's praises, and told he was compelled by the Premier to be attentive to his duties; and altogether he was rather roughly used. He bore it, however, good-humouredly, and appeared to laugh at the idea of his being rejected by the people of Tamworth, assuring them that, as he had been their member for thirteen years, he intended to remain so, and with much clamour and confusion he sat down, after making the declaration that Mr. Cowper would win.

THE GREAT EASTERN IN ANOTHER STORM. The Greenock Advertiser publishes the following aa an extract from the private letter of a passenger by the Great Eastern in her last outward voyage :— "I left Liverpool on the 12th August per Great Eastern for New York, which place I reached on the 25th, after a very stormy and dangerous passage. We had strong head winds all the way, arid the ship having but little cargo rolled about fearfully. On the tenth day out, when near the side of the ocean, we encountered a most fearful hurricane, such as the cap- tain and oldest sailors in the ship had never seen the equal of. It came on about six in the evening, and lasted till about midnight. During part of the time we all completely despaired of ever seeing the next day; and if the storm had continued two or three hours longer we should have been dashed to pieces. The great ship was tossed about on the waves like a cork. She was entirely beyond control, and lay in the trough of the sea during the entire storm. It was what is called a 'cyclone'—a description of storm very rarely seen anywhere except in the Chinese seas. Everything moveable about the ship was dashed to pieces, and many of the passengers lost their luggage, and some of them severely hurt themselves. The third officer had his leg and arm broken; three or four of the boats were broken to pieces; one of the boilers burst, filling the ship with hot steam: the galley got on fire with the cook-stoves upsetting, and altogether it was a fearful time, enough to frighten any one from ever going to sea again. We have all reason to feel thankful, however, it was no worse. as very little more wooM have ended the affair most deplorably. We had twenty-three men lashed to the wheel all night trying to right the ship to the waves, with as little effect as a child would have."

OCCUPATION OF FORT WAGNER BY THE FEDERALS. On the evening of the 6th September General Gil- more, it is known, ordered that an assault on Fort Wagner should be made the following morning. The special correspondent of the New York Herald writes: The scene which presents itself to the eye of a visitor at Fort Wagner this morning is one of utter wreck and ruin The broken parapets*, the dismounted guns, the sand piled up'before the entrances of the bombproof, the bolts and fragments of ex- ploded shell with which the terreplein is paved, and more than ill, the heaps of rebels slain, some lying in the sun, and others half buried in the loose sand, show what a fearful ordeal the g-arrlsonpassed through. The stench arising from the decaying lead is sickening and overpowering. Many were buried at night lust below the surface of the terreplein, to be unearthed and tern .o pieces by the missiles which on the following day continued to plough through the work. Here an arm sticks stiffly out of the -round, and there a shoeless foot is visible, while in another ;orner are three bodies, one clad ina major'suniform, laidjaside or b^t left in the hurry of departure for us to put awav Within the Bombproof. Existence must have been terrible while the bombardment was going on. Even now the odour of the apartment is almost in. l tolerable. The garrison, which consisted of about fourteen ) I hundred men, was here huddled like sheep in a fold, without sunshine to illumine or air to breathe. The ceiling, formed of a huge logs, is so low as scarcely to afford standing room. Dead bodies are scattered here and there, contributing their effluvia to the horrid stench arising from human filth and nastiness. I could only remain for a moment in the place. Officers and I soldiers who enter it flee hurriedly away as from a plague or • pestdence. The only furniture of the room was a table made of One or two rough coffins were there, whether r emPty or not I did not endeavour to ascertain. A row of shelves on either side of the main entrance contained a number of shot and shell of various calibres. The floor was strewn with papers old rags, pieces of greasy bacon, and other filth which in ordinary camps, finds its way to the sinks. Until disinfectants are freely used and the work thoroughly policed it will be im. possible for our men to remain there. Already General Terry has ordered them out of the fort, and forty barrels of chloride of lime are on their way.up the beach to be employed in making the atmosphere of the place in some degree tolerable and wholesome.

COMPLETION OF THE GEARING-CROS8. RAILWAY. Formal notice was on Saturday given to the Railway Department of the Board of Trade that this important metropolitan railway would be completed by the 1st of November, and requesting that the official inspection should be made by the officers previous to the open- ing of the line for public traffic. The time specified in the contracts for the completion of the works has already expired, and the delay in opening has been solely attributable to the slow progress made in the preparation and delivery of the ironwork for the bridges and stations. The most strenuous exertions have been made during the past few weeks by Mr. Hawkshaw, the engineer, to stir up the contractors for the iron work; but the dispute in the iron districts has retarded the delivery of a large quantity of the girders and'other portions required for the Charing-cross station. It is probable that the whole of the works connected with this large and handsome station and the hotel will not be finished by the 1st of November; but as the whole of the permanent way will be ready by that time, it has been thought advisable to open at once, leav- ing the completion of the roof and some other ornamental works, which can be carried on without obstructing the trafiic, to be proceeded with after- wards. The station has a bold semicircular span of one hundred and seventy feet, constructed of light iron work and glass, and will be furnished with suit- able platforms for the short City traffic and for the main line of the South Eastern Railway. There are io-lmes of rails on the bridge, but these expand on the Charing-cross side into seven lines, which are in- cluded within the station. The accommodation for foot passengers across the river will be provided for by means of a projecting pathway seven feet in width on each side of the bridge, and the steamboat passengers will still have the benefit, as before, of a, pier at Hungerford. The signal posts and the points at the junction with the South Western Railway in the Waterloo-road were tested and adjusted on Satur- day, and from the excellent manner in which the whole of the works has been carried out by Mr. WTythes, the contractor, there is no doubt that the report of the Government inspector will bo of such a character as to-admit of the opening of the railway by tho time specified.