Papurau Newydd Cymru
Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru
7 erthygl ar y dudalen hon
THE WAR IN AMERICA.
THE WAR IN AMERICA. —♦ The Cunard steamer Arabia, from Boston on the 30th ult., and Halifax on the morning of the 1st inst., and which called off Cape Race on the 3rd inst., arrived at "Liverpool on Sunday morning. We extract the following facts from the American papers:— Situation of Affairs. The latest advices from General Rosecrans, dated Sunday afternoon, state that the rebels had not made any attack since the 21st, and that he did not fear they would make one at that late day. General Meigs, who is with the army of the Cumberland, declares its position "cannot be taken short of a regular siege," which Bragg does not seem to be attempting. The rebel news from L' Chattanooga reports a loss to their army of 5,000 men, including Major-General Hood, and five brigadier-generals killed, and several generals wounded. The Richmond papers are quite desponding with regard to affairs in Northern Georgia. General Bragg reports that after two days' fighting the Union troops still confront" him. It is reported in Richmond that Rosecrans has been heavily reinforced by troops from Grant's army. This is partially confirmed by a dispatch from Louisville. News from Knoxville, up to Thursday, 24th Sept., had been received at Cin- cinatti, and it is there stated that Gen. Burnside still had his head-quarters at that place. The xebel forces in East Tennessee appear to be quiet, and no danger is apprehended. Rumours were afloat in Washington last evening that the Union forces in Georgia and Tennessee had met with a serious disaster, but nothing definite had been ascertained from the war department. If un- favourable news had been received by the Govern- ment, it had been kept a profound secret from those who usually find out such intelligence. It is reported that the rebels have concentrated a force of about 10,000 men at Mount Jackson, with the intention of making a raid through the Shenandoah Valley. Heavy firing was heard yesterday morning in the neighbourhood of Racoon Ford, but no particulars as to the cause hacl been ascertained at Washington last evening. The arrival of the steamer S. R. Spaulding puts us in possession of Charleston harbour dates to Friday, the 25th Sept. The army under General Gilmore was busily engaged in re-modelling bat- teries Gregg and Wagner, and were making rapid progress towards completing the final arrange- ments for bombarding the city of Charleston and -1 cl Fort Moultrie. General Heron's expedition has been heard from at St. Louis. It is reported that he has cleared the entire country between Red River and Port Hudson of all the guerilla parties who have been firing on the vessels passing along the river, and that he has driven General 'Green's rebel forces beyond the Atchafalaya, with considerable loss. Among the prisoners captured was a Government agent of the rebels with important papers. General Grant has recovered sufficiently-to be removed to Vicksburg. It will be some time before he can re- sume active duty. Colonel Cloud, of General Blunt's command, arrived at Little Rock on the 19th ult. with a small force of cavalry. Colonel Cloud, with a battalion of the 22nd Kansas Cavalry, 500 strong, attacked General Cabell's rebel forces, 2,000 strong, in the defences between Perryville and Fort Smith, Indian territory, and succeeded in routing them with considerable loss. He also defeated a rebel force at Dardonelle, on the 9th ult., capturing their camp and commissary stores. Over 2,000 Union Arkansas had joined his command, and deserters from the rebel forces were. arriving at Little Rock daily. The United. States revenue st.eaxn.er Hercules, while lying under the Virginia shore of Chesapeake Bay, was attacked, on the 20th Sept., by guerillas; but after an engagement of about twenty minutes, the rebels were driven off. We understand that General Hooker has been appointed to command that column of the army in Tennessee lately under Burnside, and that he has accepted the command. Feeling of the South on the Occupation of Mexico by the French. 'I A correspondent of the New York Herald lately arrived from Richmond, says:— Singular as it may appear, the feeling of the Southern people is decidedly against the occupa- tion of Mexico by the French. Public men at public meetings do not hesitate to denounce in the strongest terms the prospect of an empire being established on this continent. They also say that if the United States would consent to a cessation of hostilities, the army of the South would combine with that of the North, and drive the Frenchmen into either the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. They do not desire, and will not submit t-o Frenchmen being upon American soil, or the French Emperor having anything to say in the affairs of this continent, and fear that his designs are not upon Mexico only, but also upon Texas and Louisiana. Another Bread Riot at Mobile. The New York Herald gives the following :— Another female bread riot is reported to have taken place at Mobile, on the 4th September. The 17th Alabama Regiment, ordered to put down the disturbance, refused to do duty. The Mobile cadets tried their hand, and were defeated, and forced to fly by the women. Peaceful measures finally quieted the famine-stricken wretches. The rioters proclaimed openly their determination—if some meanswere not rapidly devised to relieve their sufferings, or stop the war—to burn the whole city A letter from Memphis states that a formidable expedition is on foot against Mobile. Occupation of Chattanooga. A Richmond paper says:—" After two distinct efforts for the recapture of Chattanooga, we have now the intelligence that the enemy is still in possession, of that stronghold, and strengthening its works. While events linger in Tennessee, the situation in Northern Virginia has become critical. The enemy is preparing for a general attack on the line of the Rapidan, and massing his forces on the Culpepper. He is also reconnoitring and encroaching on the railroads and river, and indi- cates a determination to fight." A Further Federal Draft. The New Torli Eva-wing Post's Washington letter says :—" The reverse in Northern Georgia compels the Government to raise more troops than it had contemplated. The present draft will not give the Government over 75,000 men, and it is said in some quarters that this estimate is too high by 25,000. Another draft will undoubtedly take place very soon, except in those States which, prefer to raise the full quota, and cando it by volunteering. Nearly all the Western States will raise their (laotas liy volunteering, as the Government offers a bounty of 300 dollars. The next draft will, probably, be for 600,000 men; and the expectation of the Government will be, under new instructions, to-obtain one-third of the men drawn as soldiers. The two drafts and the volunteering,, it is esti- mated, will give about 300,000 men by the 1st January next." Ihike Augustus of Saxe-Coburg has met with a serious accident whilst stag-hanting- at his estate of Siamenthal, in Moravia. It appears that he was attacked-by a stag which had been wounded by a shot. Flie Date was so severely inusrofl that for several days hidifo was despaired of. He is now stated to be out .o? danger. r'i ,< r
EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT OF A…
EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT OF A CLERGYMAN. On the 25th ult. a poor man named John Alcock, a parishioner of and residing at Cauldon, died from age and paralysis, after having been in a very helpless state for years. On the following Sunday —viz., the 27th ult.—the body was taken by his friends and relatives to be interred in the usual way at the parish churchy when the Rev. Rowland Henniker, the incumbent of Cauldon, refused to perform this solemn duty, and this without as- signing any reason for his strange behaviour. This, of course, created great excitement. The body still remaining unburied on the 30th ult., information of the fact was sent by the parish clerk to the Bishop of Lichfield, who wrote an ex- postulatory letter to Mr. Henniker. His lordship wrote to the clerl- requesting him with the churchwarden to endeavour to get the body interred. With the bishop's letter in hand they, with some friends of the deceased, appealed to the clergyman to bury the body. Mr. Henniker, however, still refused, giving permission to the clerk to put the body in the grave, but refusing himself to read the burial service. His continued refusal was again made known to the bishop, who wrote to the clerk and churchwardens requesting them to get the nearest clergyman to bury the body, and promising to indemnify them from any consequences which might result. The Rev. W. C. Weird, the clergy- man of Calton, volunteered to perform the service, and fixed a time, but Mr. Henniker, who had got. possession of both keys of the ehureh doors, positively told Mr. Ward he should not do so, still refusing to read the burial service over the body himself. On Sunday, the 4th instant, Mr. Henniker tried by offers of beer and money to get some persons to remove the body out of the church, but as the inhabitants were determined that the body should have Christian burial, he was unabled to accomplish his object, and the churchyard was described as being on that day more like the scene of a riot than consecrated ground. As the friends of the deceased were afraid that the body would be clandestinely removed at night into the grave without Christian burial, a watch was kept day and night for .several days and nights. Mr. Henniker had a short time previous given notice to his clerk that he should not inter the bodies of any more dissenters, telling him he must take the responsibility of the interment of dissenters on himself. After repeated endeavours to obtain Mr. Henni- ker's consent to give the body a Christian burial, the Rev. W. C. Ward, and the friends of the de- ceased, determined to do so without his' consent. Accordingly, on Thursday, they all proceeded to the church, and, in the presence of a very large number of people, forcibly obtained possession of the body. They were proceeding to bury it when Mr. Henniker arrived, and, after taking the: surplice off Mr. Ward, locked himself up in the church. The burial service was then read by Mr. Ward, in the churchyard, without a surplice, and the corpse was thus interred, after remaining above ground fourteen days. As showing the excitement which has been created by the affair it may be stated that during the last twelve davs the church has been watched by as many as sixteen men at night, in order to prevent the clandestine removal of the body out of the church.
TOO. TRUE, WE. FEAR.
TOO. TRUE, WE. FEAR. A correspondent, veiling to. the Times, refers to the prevalence of scarlet fever at Eastbourne, which, he says, has recalled to his mind a fact which fell under his notice not long since. The narrative may be not without interest as bearing on the possible causes of the spread of such a malady in a town generally re- puted healthy. He says Four or five years ago I was spending, a few weeks at a mucli frequented watering- place in England. A friend who had joined us there was, during our stay, attacked by scarlatina, con- tracted, we had reason to believe, in lodgings else- where. As soon as she could travel we quitted the place. On the morning of our departure a notice of Lodgings to let appeared in the window; the house was evidently being prepared to receive new inmates, and the bed which our friend had occupied was under our own eyes made up for the new comers, with clean sheets certainly (they, would be visible), but with the very: same blankets on which the patient hadlain, not even washed, much less subjected to any disinfecting process. If necessity or cupidity leads often to similar neglect, may not the annual migration to the sea-side of the, upper and middle classes have much to do with the unaccountable appearance from time to time of zymotic diseases intlouseholds and localities where all the con- ditions of health seem to be present ? I fear also that convalescents from scarlatina and measles, especially children, are, while still centres of infection, often placed in lodgings at the sea-side with- out any warning being given to the proprietors of the character of the disease. Is it impossible that some penalty should be by law affixed to such criminal neglect ?
THE PRINCE. OFPRUSSIA:'S VISIT…
THE PRINCE. OFPRUSSIA:'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. A Berlin letter has the following relative to the visit of the Prince of Prussia to England:— The organs of the more: or less official press affect to repre- sent the journey of the Prince Royal to England as a simple pleasure trip; but it becomes more and more certain that the Prince left Germany in order to escape our internal embarrass- ments and to remain completely irresponsible for the measures which the Government may take; for the latter inflexibility persists in its views upon the military organisation and the budget question. The Prince has several times consulted the members of his wife's family upon the course to be taken in this crisis, his representations to the-King being of no avail. At the interview at Gastein between the King and his son, the Prince urged that the Bismark ministry should be replaced by a Liberal one; .but the King offered immediately to abdicate. The Prince was much moved; father, and son em- braced, and the matter went no further. Since then, however, the Princ.e Royal, in passing through Cologne" stated to persons who enjoy his confidence, that if the King again offered his abdi- cation, he, the Prince, would not refuse it. At Brussels the Prince had a long conference with the King of the Belgians, who promised to go and see the King at Baden. This he is about to do; but his representations will probably have little effect upon King William, who. is convinced that the system whieh he has .adopted is the only one capable of saving Prussia from the domi- nation of democracy.
DEATH OF MRS. TROLLOPE.
DEATH OF MRS. TROLLOPE. The death, after a illness,1 at Florence, of Frances Trollope, one of the most gifted and accom- plished women of the day, is announced. Mrs. Trollope, who had ceased to exercise her pen for years past, and lived in a happy retirement at Florence, was born at HeckSeld, Hants, in 1779. Her father, the Rev. Mr. Milton (who held the New College living of Heckfield), was the designer of the wet dock at Bristol, and was well known as a most accomplished man of science. The old Wykehamist connection brought s T 11 about Miss Milton's marriage with Mr. Thomas Anthony TrolloDc, B.C.L. of Oxford (1794), and Fellow of New College, who was called to the bar in 1801, and died at Bruges; Oct. 23, 1835. Mrs. Trollope's first appearance as an authoress was on her return from a visit to the United States, in the latter part of the reign of George IV. The comic power of Mrs. Trollope's genius had full play in those volumes. The anger of the Americans at this book was prodigious. One reviewer called Mrs. Trollope an unsexed creature," and generally throughout the United States sha was vehemently abused. But this work had one good effect. It reformed the minor morals of the Americans, angry as they might be at a Britisher coming among them and taking notes of their goMcheries. ".America and the Americans," with its companion novel of the "Refugee in America," established Mrs. Trollope's reputation; and she forthwith entered upon that long career of author- ship which has been as prolific as it has been success- ful. In 1833 appeared Belgium and Western Germany," a work marked by shrewd observation and a lively style. "Paris and the Parisians was published in 1835. Then we had "Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw," a novel bringing out the peculiarities of the black and coloured races of the Southern States (1838), "Vienna and the Austriana," with a novel, The Romance of Vienna." It would take a good deal of space, however barely, to catalogue the authoress's works, and we only mention that in 1839: she published no less than three novels, and her literary activity was continued down to the year 1856, when she published Fashionable Life in Paris and London." She has died at the good old age of eighty- four, loved and regretted by a large circle of friends. Two of Mrs. Trollope's sons have distinguished themselves in the world of letters. Mr. Anthony Trollope, the author of "Barchester Towers," Framley Parsonage," Doctor Thorne," The Ivellys and the O'Kellys," "The Three Clerks," "Orley Farm," &c., is as prolific and powerful a writer as his mother. Mr. Thomas Adolphus Trollope, educated at Winchester and at Cambridge, has written two de- lightful volumes on Brittany, "The Life of Filippo Strozzi," The Girlhood of Catherine de Medicis," "La Beata, "Marietta," and other charming stories of Italian life.
SOOIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS AT…
SOOIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS AT EDINBURGH. The seventh annual meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science opened at Edinburgh on Wednesday. A sermon was preached at'two o'clock in St. Giles's Church, before a large audience, by the Rev. Dr. Arnot, one of the incumbents, and in the evening the general meeting of members and associates took place in the Free Church Assembly-hall. The Right Hon. Lord Brougham, President of the Association (who arrived the previous evening, and was the guest of the Lord Provost), occupied the chair, and was enthusiastically received by the crowded assemblage. The noble, and learned lord read a very lengthy address, in which he touched upon nearly every prominent subject of public interest, from the American, Polish, and Mexican wars, to the esta- blishment of Sisters of Charity, education in general, and the great principle of co-operation. On the two latter subjects we give the following extracts:— Education. The Educational Institute of Scotland, at its last yearly meeting, received an address of its president, Mr. M'Master, containing important suggestions on the training of candidates for ex- amination, and the willingness of the institution to examine and grant certificates to teachers. But the objection to all superintendence of Boards or other bodies authorised by Government on the ground of expense that might be saved is more than doubtful, and deserves full inquiry in our Education Department, as does the great contro- versy between the Privy Council and our worthy colleagues the Lord Advocate and Mr. Black upon some points, especially the support refused to ragged schools. It would be wrong to pass over the fact of the Scotch system having for more than a century anticipated the im- portant step of late taken in England, of granting substantial advantages to competitive er- amination. Reference is here made to the general course of advancement by bursaries in the schools, and by exhibitions in the Universities, of which there are only a very few instances out of Scotland. These benefits extend to all ranks. A dis- tinguished professor in one. University had in early years worked at his father's loom. A learned friend of mine, who became judge in the Supreme Court, owed his education at Oxford to an exhi- bition from Glasgow College.. He was a baronet's son; but the son of a peasant on his estate might have gained the same place at Oxford, and then, instead of being called to the Bar, he would have gone into the Church. The mixture of ranks in schools, male and female, has important ad- vantages, both. social and political. It is im- possible to avoid remarking the wholly erroneous inference against education, drawn by many who have observed with horror the dreadful excesses of the 'ffi.11titùde in wKat is believed to he the eemzatry in the world best educated, the American States. It must, however, be remarked, in the first place, that Irish mobs at New York had the principal part in the outrages, especially those on the un- happy negroes; and, next, that the Americans themselves complain of the defective kind of edu- cation afforded to the people. The report of the City Superintendent of. Schools at New York, made only three years ago, dwells upon the "large masses of ignorance" (these are his words) combined with destitution and vagabondism which are to be found in all our cities and towns," and he calls for a compulsory education of the multitude. The effects of education in this island have appeared most strikingly of late years in many respects; but perhaps sufficient attention has not been given to the extraordinary diffusion of useful knowledge, as well as harmless amuse- ment, in cheap publications. The subject was dwelt upon at our former meetings, particularly at Liverpool, and the progresshas since been very great. The Value of Co-operation. But the most important of all the subjects con- nected with their welfare which can occupy the promoters of social science is one which was only briefly alluded to at our last congress, the progress of the preceding year not being then sufficiently 11 9 recorded. I need hardly say that I refer to the establishment by the working classes themselves of co-operation upon sound and rational principles -in other words, to the securing of their own in- dependence, and the improvement of their habits and their character with their circum- stances. This great matter was broached at our Glasgow Congress three years ago, and enough was shown by our colleagues—among others, Mr. Fawcett, Mr. Watts, but espe- cially that eminent philanthropist the Recorder of Birmingham, Mr. Hill—to prove that the suc- cess of the worthy and enlightened men who II. many years before laid the foundations of the system at Rochdale had been not only con- tinued, but amply increased, and that co-opera- tive societies had been formed in various parts of the country, more especially in Lanca- shire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is truly gratifying to find that by the reports of the learned and able Registrar of Friendly Societies, Mr. Tidd Pratt, there were in December last 332 of these co-operative institutions, with 90,458 members, having 351,613 shares, and holding a property in value of .8584,766. The sums paid for goods bought in the year 1862 amounted to £ 2,067,867; the cash received for goods sold to < £ 2,331,650; and the realised profit to £ 165,770. But this is not the whole as it at present stands, for Mr. T. Pratt informs me by letter, dated the beginning of August, that the number of co- operative societies registered by him amounts to 521. The progress of co-operation at present may be proved from this, that of the 90,458 members in December last, 24,308 entered during that year. But to-perceive the progress from the beginning, 6 94, we have the remarkable origin of the movement recorded. It began by forty working men at Rochdale raising among themselves £ 28, and their stock was such that a jealous shop- keeper told them he could carry it off in a wheel-barrow. Their weekly sales -three years ago amounted to < £ 2,700. The business transacted by them now amounted to .£150,000 yearly. The profits are 20 per cent. on the capital, of which part is devoted to a library and reading- room, and five per cent. distributed to the share- holders. Similar results have attended the co- operatives at Leeds. Well, therefore, might I affirm at our London Congress last year, on a view of this extraordinary progress, that co- operation was becoming a power in the State. The "Co-operator," a monthly work, most ably con- ducted by Mr. Pitman, of Manchester, well deserves the attention of this association. There were hopes of his being able to attend the congress, but at all events he will send a paper on the subject, with which no one is so well acquainted. It must be observed that ep-operation, like' all other im- provements, whether, in physical science or art, or in moral and social science, has been made by steps, and in a long course of time. Anticipations of a Future Life. His lordship concluded his address with the fol- lowing beautiful remarks, which, as applicable to his own old age, was received with most sympa- thetic interest;- The ancients have told us what was their idea of happiness in the Isles of the Blessed, where they conceived the lot of the wise to be that, freed from all care, their whole existence would be passed in investigation and gaining a knowledge of nature. How they would have pitied if not despised us when told that without undervaluing the plea- sures of extended knowledge we yet regarded it as the greatest happiness which Heaven could bestow, to be graciously allowed the solace of look- ing down upon the scene of our earthly labours, and seeing with eyes which age and sorrow can make dim no more, the great body of those for whom we had toiled and suffered, exalted by the possession and by the right use of the gifts we had helped to bestow. Some, unhappily, there be who will not permit us to indulge in such hopes; who believe, at. least maintain, that our death and our extinction happen together. Men, it seems, have been sent from the South to inculcate this dismal error, while those who will believe anything oppose to those who will believe nothing their visions of i sm and direct communication 'with the departed. The promoters of social science regard such errors with contempt, only softened by pity. Theirs is the belief held, theirs is the hope cher- ished by Hale, and Bacon, and Locke, and Newton -belief in the King Eternal, immortal and in- visible, the only wise God" -hope inspired by the study of His works, an (31 confirmed by His Revealed Word. At the close of his address, Lord Brougham was enthusiastically cheered. The Lord-Advocate moved, and the Right Hon. Joseph Napier seconded, a vote of thanks. Mr. Hastings read the annual report of the Council. Thursday. The sittings on 'this day were resumed by Lord Curriehill, one of the judges of the Court of Ses- sion, who delivered an introductory as president of the department of jurisprudence. Prince Alfred was present, and was received with loud cheers, the whole assemblage rising to receive his Royal Highness as he entered the hall. Lord Brougham and the Right Hon. Joseph Napier were also among the gentlemen present. The departments met immediately after the close of the address of Lord Curriehill, and were all well attended during the day. Prince Alfred was present in several of the departments, and lis- tened with interest to a discussion which took place on an important paper contributed by Miss Nightingale upon the cause of the excessive mor- tality of our Indian army., Friday. The six departments met on this day, the second (Education) in the Assembly-hall of the Church of Scotland, and the rest in the Law and Justiciary Court-rooms. There was a large attendance in nearly all of them. In the Jurisprudence section a singular paper was read by Dr. Barclay, sheriff- substitute of Perth, on the "Curiosity of Legisla- tion." Mr. P. Fraser, sheriff of Renfrewshire, also read a paper on "The Consolidation of the Statute Law previous to the Union." In the Education section papers were read by the Rev. Gk R. Badenoeli, On Morning and Evening Classes in Universities;" by Mr. W. A. Brown, "Against the Admission of Women to Academical Degrees;" and by Dr. Lee, St. Andrews, On the Extension of Open Teaching to all the Faculties in the Scotch Universities." Professor Blackie ridiculed the idea of young lads engaged during the day attempting a uni- versity course after work hours. What Scotland wanted was not greater faculties for elementary or fragmentary education, but for thorough educa- tion. They wanted a foundation to stand upon and a prize to run for. Professor Lee, D.D., contended that the effect of Mr. Badenoch's proposal would be to depreciate education. He objected to open teaching as destructive of University interests, and differed from the opinion expressed against female gradua- tion. He was at a loss to understand why there was any more incongruity in a lady who had been a great mathematician or Greek scholar, or a great theologian, to come to his own profession (laughter), receiving a degree than in a, man doing so. What- ever a woman was capable of doing by nature, by education, by physical power, or mental capacity, that she ought tobeenabledto do, and no fashion, or custom, or law should prevent her from doing that which her Creator had qualified her for (applause). Professor Blackie begged to add that, as a man and a gentleman, and an admirer of the fair sex (laughter), he was decidedly in favour of the ad- mission of women to academical degrees (hear, hear). Woman was naturally a ministering spirit, and she ought to be allowed to get her medical degree; and no professor, if he be a gentleman, ought to behave in an unkind and unpolite way to any woman (laughter and cheers.). Mr. Hastings, honorary general secretary, vin- dicated the granting of degrees to women, whether with a view to medical or educational pursuits. Professor Struthers, Aberdeen, said he had been applied to some time ago by a lady of great ability (Miss Garrett) who was desirous of entering the medical profession, and who he considered was as able to take her place as any doctor or pro- fessor he ever met. He felt that he had the monopoly of teaching in this matter, and that if he refused the lady would be shut out. He said he would not teach one lady pupil (a laugh), but that he would take up a ladies' class if one or more ould be got to join her, and that though he would o t like to do it, he would do so from a sense of duty. A ladies' class soon appeared, and he was gaing to teach them, when his medical colleagues objected to it, and, consequently, he did not do so. He would not like to see a sister or daughter of his entering the medical profession; but if women wanted to enter any profession, he felt that they had no right to throw any obstacles in the way C" hear, hear," and a laugh). Mr. Ernest Noel said that in the State of New York they had, after consulting eminent educational men, passed an Act of the Legislature for estab- lishing a female college for medical purposes, and this college had received the sanction of most of the leading men in that State, and it was believed by some most eminent men who had given their minds to the subject that that college would meet a very much felt want in this and all countries (applause). Several papers were then read on mechanics' institutes, working men's clubs, and kindred insti- w 6 tutions, and the section adjourned. Lord Brougham's Address to the Working Classes. The working men's meeting in connection with the Social Science Association was held in the evening, the assemblage numbering nearly 4,000. Prince Alfred entered the hall exactly at eight, and the crowded multitude rose with, one accord and cheered him for several minutes. Lord Brougham came in a few minutes later, and was greeted with an immediate and long sus- tained burst of cheering. The Lord Provost, Sir David Brewster, M. Garnier Pages, Mr. Brougham, Dr. Playfair, Professor Archer, and other gentle- men, were on the platform. Lord Brougham, in opening the proceedings, said: Fellow-workmen—I have been a workman like you all my life ("hear" and cheers), and even when old age has come upon me, the habit is so strong that I cannot give over working now (loud cheers); and really it must be admitted that there is not only great profit and great usefulness, but great pleasure and comfort in work (hear). All well regulated minds must feel what has been very well said on several occasions, that the worst of all is to have no work to do (cheers and a laugh). I don't want to detain you by making a long preachment on the present occasion, but I have one or two things that I would first call your attention to; they are of the greatest importance to all classes of the community, but to no class more than the immense body of the working classes, whom I am happy to see before..me (hear, and applause). The most important class, in the country are the working men; on them all de- pends, and he who does good to them and provides them the means for their improvement and their best welfare, does good to the whole community- to the non-working classes, to the idle as well as L, to the workman (applause). Our Association, which is assembled for the seventh time on the present occasion, pays more attention to what concerns the working part of the community than to all the rest of the community together (Hear, hear). Now, I cannot help feeling that one of the most important things for the people of this country., and above all for the industrious people, is the improvement of their minds by education (hearty applause), and I am most happy to find that a great improvement of late has been made, not only in the mode of instructing, but also in the course of instruction in respect of time. There has of late years prevailed, and now is becoming uni- versal, the opinion that a great deal of time is wasted and thrown away often in elementary in- struction. For instance, instead of 12 hours' work for boys and girls at school, it has been found that six hours is not only enough, but that it is better than the twelve; it is better for their bodies and better for their minds. They learn more, and their minds are more on the stretch, and they actually profit more in learning, independent of the great benefit which this shortening of the time is to their health. This has been a doctrine which of late has been adopted and introduced into the army by general orders from the Horse Guards. I reckon education to be highly important in every sense, I lately read a book which I would strongly recommend to your attention. It is an excellent book on every part of the working man's fortune and labour; it is by a rev. gentleman of this city, the Rev. W. G. Blackie, and is called "Better Days for Working People." In this small volume I find the best rules on everything relating to the working-men; on everything which relates to the improvement of the mind. I was much pleased with the passage which I read this morning, because it contains this quotation from an old author which gives a very accurate account of the merit of books. The quotation is to this effect, Books are masters, who instruct without rods or rules or wrath." If you go to consult them they are never asleep; if we ask them questions they don't run off; if you make blunders they don't scold you, or if ignorant don't daunt you (cheers). I think that is fully as good as all that my learned friend, who calls him- self an ex-Radical, Mr. Roebuck, lately said, at Swanage, on the subject. I prefer this old gen- tleman's statement, which is 600 or 700 years old, to Mr. Roebuck's (laughter and cheers). It is very short, very clear, and I think it is very aptly introduced. This being the case it will not, I hope, fail to call your attention; and if at any future time you look back on this night, and con- sider that to the hint I have given, or the suggestion I have made-for I am like the book, and I don't wish to scold you on the subject,-if you find that from this has arisen a habit of reading-a pre- ference of reading to other leisure employments, it will be well. And I would say, gain information by reading as well as entertainment. I greatly prefer that reading which leads to useful and profitable instruction to that which merely possesses the power of giving amusement. The noble lord also urged his hearers to establish club-rooms for social intercourse, so that those who spend their mornings in labour, might devote their evenings to conversation and improvement (cheers). He concluded by again expressing great delight at seeing this immense assemblage, and at knowing that so many thousands of the working .people of this country take an interest in the pro- ceedings of the National Association (loud and prolonged cheers).
A DANGEROUS LUNATIC.
A DANGEROUS LUNATIC. Daring the last few days considerable excitement prevailed in Paddington, in consequence of a deter- mined attempt of a man named Belcher, living at 3, Union-place, Wharf-road, upon the lives of five per. sons, one of whom is his brother, John Belcher, a private in the second battalion of the Grenadier Guards, who is now confined to the hospital of the regiment in Rochester-row. It appears that on Satur- day night Belcher reached his home in a state of in. toxication. He had not been long there before he showed symptoms of a derangement of intellect. Two females, named Jones and Hanks, endeavoured to pacify him, when he assaulted them with a clasped knife by stabbing each in the arm. While attacking them his brother arrived. Upon seeing him he made a plunge at his chest with the knife. The blow was warded off by his brother, but the instrument entered the chest just below the heart. Loud cries of Mur- der" were now uttered, which brought Meadows and Webster, constables of the D division, to the house, who seized hold of the would-be assassin. A desperate struggle took place, in the course of which each of the constables were struck with the knife. The man was eventually overpowered, but not before he had inflicted IY in on himself a most dangerous wound. They were all taken to St. Mary's Hospital, where they were promptly attended to by the surgeons. The women were soon after allowed to leave, as were also the con- stables, but the two Belchers, as their wounds were dangerous, remained there. John Belcher was removed to the hospital of the regiment. His brother, it was stated by the surgeon of the hospital, was labouring under an attack of delirium tremens when he com- mitted the assault. He is now under the surveillance of the police. "• 't Death of Lord Lyndhurst.-We regret to say that Lord. Lyndhurst expired a few minutes before three o'clock on Monday morning, at his house in George-street, Hanover-square. Poisonous Flies.-The Prefect of the Depart. ment of the Eure has addressed a circular to the mayors in his department, reminding them that great alarm prevails among the population in consequence of the number ofdeatha caused by the bites of poisonous flies. ^Medical men are of opinion that these flies derive the poison with which they inoculate the persons whom they bite either from the bodies of animals who die of carbuncle, or from any animals arrived at a state of putrefaction. In such cases, the prefect observes that the negligent habits too preva- lent in agricultural districts contribute to increase the danger. Thus it happens that the carcasses of horses which died of carbuncle remain entire weeks exposed in fields constantly traversed by herds of cattle. It is likewise remarked that the destroyers of moles or other noxious animals hang the carcass on a tree where flies may imbibe a dangerons poison. The prefect further reminds his subordinates that a decree was published in the year 1855 prescribing measures of precaution and repression, which are not strict y observed. The decree commands that all dead animals shall be interred six feet deep, within twenty-four hours, and it expressly forbids the hanging dead moles from trees or exposing them in any manner to 1119 the air. Any violation of ths decree is to be severely punished.