Potter's Electric News

f THE POPE AND THE CATHOLIC LAITY OF I ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. The Pope has forwarded the following; answer t~> the address recently sent him by the Catholics of England and Scotland :— 4 Beloved, Sons, Health and Apostolical Benediction. 'We congratulate you, beloved sons, that show yourselves true offspring of saints. Proof of this is t.1 a: grateful remembrance with wVlch you foster the blessing of the faith, once carried from this Roman chair to your island, and of late restored and increased. Pro-if, too, that holy transport with which you commemorate thp constancy of your father?, and their sufferings for tl Catholic faith. Proof, again, of that unquestioning obedience to this Holy 8«e, whose primacy of honom and jurisdiction you assert, whose doctrine you declare that you vene'-ato and embrace with you- whole heait, whose civil rights you bold sacred and necessary «n! the free government of the Church, to which, in fine, you acknowledge yourselves most devoted, and pr "niae a perfect and perpetwd adherence. And, ind«ed, y<-u could put forth nothing m re excellent than these duties which are the signal approval of your faith, and iv'tMnt; to us niore agreeable, to whom they ,me the gre* CH delight, because we de?ire nothing more than f hat all should have one soul, one heart, 1>11 he one wish us, »t. that we all may 'be one in Christ. United with thin 'E ly See your fathers fought, and suffering with fO)I':t:H),' the lossnf .goods, imprisonment, tortures, and tf'ttth, handed down to you the faith which t'lley bad received I whole aTsd-eritire, and sealed with their blood, "Am! you, closely'treading in these noble foots»ei>s-Uj> to thii- time, have sustained, together with a more perilous, though it be not so ferocious a rortn of confket; hu' it was wiih'tk'3 assurance that so long as you were fixed in this rock, against which the gates nt heil t.hall n.u pre vail, victory must he with you. Go on, jthefi, evn- in tnis wav tha more firmly; proceed together wit ua to I contend 'by -the arms of justice against the haters of rt-li- gi"n and tristh endeavour yet «a->re studiousk/ to propi- tiate GoS'by your zeal and works of mercy, in which He takes most delight; persevere in prater, and., ao q;ji1 tis>t; yourselves as men, wait for the Lord, who, &•; length pre- vailed <i?poo by entreaty, wfll scatter the d rknesa "I errors, still disturbances, and without douh-f, restore the reign of justice and of peace. We au«ur'f,.r you t ij k)- of tbia result, and the at-mnr!a:1ce of (ill heavenly gr*. es, 1 in token whereof, and in witness likewise of our pA>ernal goodwill and kindly affecti -n we roost, lovingly imoar! to all of you, and to the wa Ie of Engltnd, our Apostoli- cal 'benediction. 'Given utRome, at St. Peter's, on the 10th day of July, 1857, of our Pontificate the 22nd year. 71 rius P.P. IX.' <8» 'COMMUTATION OF SSXTENCE.—The sentence of death passed on James Scott for the murder of Mr J .hn Pryse, of 'Birmingham, has been commuted to that of per.al servitude for life. •EETRAOHDINAVY ACCIBEST —A -YOUNG man, AGED 'So, named J<iS.»ph Milter, a guard on the Bristol and Exeter Railway, WHS kill-d last week in a most extraordinary manner. He was in charge of the train from Tsnntrui to Wafehe' junction. Ata and tlis I wife get into the compartment next tc. the guard's van 'alone. When the train was proceeding they •vr-ere startled by a sudden crath of the -n't horrified to see that the bleeding head of a mats had been forced through the thick plate glass, and that the body was hanging by the neck from the ho!« in the fractured pane. They remained in this terrible position till the train trot to Wafchet, when they summoned assistance. The 'I body was that of Miller, the guard. He was quite dead. The doer of the van was .pen, and Miller's feet restt.d on the step, while he hung by his neck from the hole in the glass of the side light, where his head bad been dashed through. It was clear that, prompted by curiosity, he had got out of his-van, and with his hack toward the engine leant forward watching the inmeies of the carriage. While in this position, as the train.passed a bridge, his head was stricken by a beam with which it came into contact^ was forced through the glass, »nd his body hung thus till it was extricated. Death must have been instantaneous, f»r the shall was horribly fractured. At the coroner's inquest on Wednesday the jury found a verdict of accidental death. I RoviX CHRISTENTKG. — On Saturday afternoon, the infant daughter of ihe Princess Mary Adelaide and the Prince of Teck was baptised in the Chapel Royal, sKensington Palace. Amongst the illustrious persons J present at the ceremony were .the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke of Cambridge, the Grand Duke and Grand .Duchess cf Meoklenburg-Strelitz. the Duchess of Inverness, his Excellency the Austrian Ambassador and Counters Apponyi, and his Excellency the Danish Minister and Madame Jhdow. The cere- mony was performed by the Archbishop of Canter- bury. Her Majesty the Queen, represented by the Princess Mary Adelaide of Teefr, ?11d the Duchess of Cambridge were godmothers, and the Prince of \7f.Iea was godfather. The names given to the infant Princess were Victoria Mary Augusta Louise 01 >a Pauline Claudine Agnes. At the conclusion of the solemnity the baptism was recorded by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the chapel book. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, pad the Grand Soke of MecklenburK-Stre 1 itz left shortly after live o'clock. Later in the evening the Prince end Princess of Teck received a select .pa.rty at dinner at the Palace. THE LATE EMPEROR IklAXMTLRAK. — The American papers received on Saturday contain detailed reports of> she trial of M ejill, Miramon, and the late Emperor Maxi- milian. It appears that illness prevented Maximilian from appearing; in court. In addressing the court for the defence, M. Vasques spofcy as fo) Ion's:—'If you con- demn the archduke to death, I am not uneasy about a coalition in Europe, or the threatening attitude which the United States may as&nune towards the republic. I have confidence in the Liberal armies that hnvcrooted out the French from i's soil, but I fear the universal reproach that will fall upon our country as an anathema more than even the sentence of death, because of the nullity of the proceedings of this cotir, When kav- ing tbe convent for the plfl.ee of execution Maximilian ft!ejia, and Miramon were dressed with scrupulous j care. The officer of the firing party begged Maximi- lian's forgiveness, saying that he disapproved of the execution, but was a soldier, and must obey orders. Maxitnih&n replied, '.A soldier must always comply with his orders; I thank you with all my heart, for your kind sentiments, but exact that you comply with the orders given you.' Maximilian gave Mirsmon the centre as his pest. Mejia's wife ran distractedly thr ugh the ttreets. just before the execution, carrying IA new-born babe. There is great antipathy towards Ame- ricans because they asked Maximilian's life. Princess Salm Salrn devised means for the escape of the Em- peror, but it was betrayed by an officer, to whom she confided the secret, who took a bribe of 2;1,000 dols. in diamonds. She was ordered to leave Queretaro with all her attendants. LIJSS OF THREE LIVES AT MAIDENHEAD RK- GATTA. After the races at Maidenhead Regatta 011 Ihursdav had concluded, a deplorable accident, re- sulting in the loss of three lives, occurred on the Thames near the Great Western Railway Bridge. eeli Till Between nine and ten o clock a pleasure-boat, con- taming eight persons, was being pulled across the stream, and an etght-oar, manned by Etonians, came into colhsion with »t. and, both boats being overturned, the occupants ltere immersed. A scene of painful excitement, and anxiety suc- ceeded. The Eton boys, who were good" swim- mer. did their utmost in endeavouring to save the lives of the parties thrown out of the other boat, and to some extent succeede-d but notwith- standing their efforts, George Tubb, a carpenter; 20 years, Annie Pocock, 22 years, and Eliza Ayres, 10 years, whose lather is a carman, were drowned. Tubb was a sailor, and could swim well, but it is supposed he was borne down by one of the females, All the bodies were recovered on Friday, j THE HARVEST IN" FRANCE.—The whoit has been cut in several parts of Franco, and in sosae of the baker's shops in Paris bread may be had of the produce of the present year. THB SCARCITY OF HARVEST LABOURERS. — The scarcity of labourers competent to reap the corn in southern counties has induced farmers to form small companies for the purpose of horse reaping-machines to cut the corn at the approaching harvest. Many of these will cl'r ten to fifteen acres a day, and women and ohildren are • mphsyed in tying the corn into sheaves. Much "f thw corn is now lodged hy the rain, and fine ripening weather is much needed to save the crops. ALLEGED MURUCT AT WALSALL—On Wednesday an inquest was held at Walsall on view of the body of a tackrawiker named Charles Somerfield. Ir seems that for some years past the deceased j had been in the habit of visiting the house of Henry Beauntund, a shoemaker, and was knowa to be improperly intimate with Beaumond's i, i f'e. At about midnight on Tuesday Mrs Beau- mond and the deceased, who had been in the town together, returned to the woman's 'home, and at oiiee began quarrelling. Henry Beaumond was nt that time in bed in an upper room, and on hearing the 'row went down, and found that the deceased; had knocked the woman to the floor. A struggle then began between the two men, which seems to have been of a terrible character. In a short time Somerfield was seen to run out of the house, shouting for the poiice. Blood was flowing freeiv from his breast, and his strength failed him before he had gone far. He leaned upon a tub, then sank upon his knees, and rolled over, dead. It was supposed that Beaumond had stabbed the deceased, but no direct evidence respecting the actual stabbing was obttuned.. Both Beaunumd and his wife were taken into custody. The inquest was adjourned. Both the prisoners were tak-en before the magistrates at Walsall on Thursday, and after several witnesses had been examined were commifted for trial on a. charge of man- slaughter. The man said h's wife had nothing to do with the 'scrijnmage,' and he did not know anything about the knife. tie had not even seen it. THE LOST SHEEJ?.—An interesting custom which has prevailed for more than a he? rid red years in the extensive range of moors in Derbyshire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, is the annual summer meeting of the shepherds, brinsrins: with them the sheep that have strayed into then" flocks, and restoring them to their rightiul owners. Every 20th of July the meetings are held, and as they are different from any other gatherings, and have not hetherto been described, a notice of the last may not be out of place. The appointed place for assembling on Saturday last was the Saltersbrook turnpike road, distant rather more than two from the Dun- ford Bridge Station on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, and at a point near where the three counties abovenamed meet. On walking from the station across the moor the turnpike was reached, and then after a long march uphill, a sharp angle of the road brought the visitor into the midst of a colony of dogs, num- bering from eighty to a hundred, all fine specimens of the sheep-dog breed. Thev were playing, quarrelling, and a few were having a quiet round' to themselves. Not far from them were their owners, each with a long stick, by which the shepherd indicates to his dow in many instances what he is required to do. After partaking of a good dinner, provided by Mr Taylor, a large moor- land proprietor and sheep breeder, the men, with their dogs, proceeded to a large yard, in which were about one hundred sheep which had strayed away. Each animal was examined and claimed by. certain marks and indications, the dogs occasionliy appearing to recognise some of the truants. In the course of half an hour, with the exception of two or three, all the animals had found their way bad, to their lawful owners, and shortly after the shepherds, with their dogs, and found sbeepj de- parted. for their respective stations, miles distant and far apart, most of them not to meet again for months, or until they once more assembled, brinsr- ing with fhem the lost oiias, and claiming their own truants. ° WIT.—For the production of these apparent sillinesses containing reai point which are called wit no special rules can be given. But that thev are made by rule is manifest in the practice of pro- fessional jokers. Their method seems to be to select a certain number of types after the pattern of which they make their witty sayings. No man's jokes are more instructive in this point than Syd- ney Smith's. He has a certain number of mother ideas by which he generates his jests. Ideas of this kind may be catalogued like the topics of Aristotle's Rhetoric. For example, one fertile source of jests is misplaced sympathy—fellow feel- ing pLtced on the wrong side. Thus when Lord Sidmouth said one day, Aiy brains are gone to the dogs this morning,' Sir Nicolas at once ejaculated 'Poor Dogs!' A French lady, hearing how a Ca. puchin had been devoured by wolves, exclaimed Poor beasts! mingat* is a terrible thing.' And Peter Pinda, on a stone being flung at George I! I, and narrowly missing his head, celebrated the lucky escape for the stone.' Akin to this topic of misplaced sympathy, is that of misplaced choice. Two things may be inseparably joined—one evil, the other good. To shuftie their characters often has a whimsical effect. A young fellow was tak- ing of the time to come—' A hundred years hence, when we shall be in heaven.' illy dear,' said his mother, don't talk of such horrid things.' Clougii writes, 'Did I ever tell you of the Calvinist woman who, being asked about the Universities, said, 'Yes; they expect that everybody will be saved; but we look for better tbhigs These are sub- stantially the same as the sentence in Sir Ague. cheek's challenge God have mercy upon oue of our souls! He may have mercy upon mine; but my hope is better, and so look to thyself.' Akin to both of these topics is the confusion of meum and tnum r io matters of very exclusive property. Take a wife, Tom," said Sheridan to his son. Whose shall I take?' was the answer. You should take a. walk every morning upon an empty stomach,' said a docter to Sydney Smith. 'Upon whose?' asked the patient. Another species of conclusion is when such a distinction is made between the constituent elements of a thing and the whole which they constitute, that the same thing is affirmed of the one and denied of the other. lie cannot see the wood for the trees,' or the town for the houses,' are cases in point. Horace Wal- pole said he believed he should Jove his country very well, if it were not for his countrymen. Au opposition may be made between the constituents of an act and the act itself, analogous to that be- tween the whole and the mere assemblage of its parts. Thus it has been said of a successful woer, 11 £ ubit coui'ageusement son bonheur.' A story is told oft a lady saying to her lover, 'Eh bien, Raoul, je me damne pour toi'—' Et moi, je me sauve,' says be. All these topics may be reduced to the single head of a crafty mistaking in hand, making the end contradictory to the means, the parts to the whole, the thing suggested to the sug- gestion, and the characterization to the character. —TM Chronkk, A GENTLEMAN DROWNED.—Mr James King, a soli- citor, and clerk to the justices at Stourbridge, drowned in the river at Stafford on Saturday. Behaa been attending the assizes on business, and he and 8 friend went out in a couple of canoes. Mr King, no" being very skilful, capsized his canoe, and fell into the water. He was assisted out, and aain entered the canoe. After some time he again capsized, and W¡¡! drowned. Is MAX A rvT ONKEY ? To those who miy not ba in- elined to claim relationship with the gorilla or chipanze0 the following summary of a paper reeeutly read to tb; Academy of Seiences bv M. Quartrefrnges may be 0- some interest. The learned academician had on that oc' easion to present a work, by M, Vogt, on Microcephaly or Monkey-men,' the author meaning thereby huraa2 beings in whom the brain is exceedingly small. The eases examined by him, being exclusively confined to specimens that have actually lived or that were still living at tha time he was engaged in his searches, are very rare. Those quoted from the authors b.y M. Vogt do not exceed forty; his own enquiries only enables him to find ten instances of microcephalism, comprising men, women and chiliro0. After the requisite anatomical descriptions, he proceed tc examine the cause of these aanormal growths, and & so doim; considers them to be owing to a tendency t3 return t > the r ritrinal formation of the human species- To this view M. Quarterages does not subscribe, since it leads to the conclusion that man may be descended from the monkey and to refute it, he pain's to the fact especially remarked on by various nhysiol ogists, "i¡;" I that man is a walker while the monkey is essentially 8 elimber. In these two groups the whole locomotive lip- peratus is therefore s'rikingly different; the monkey calJ I walk, but prefers climbing man can climb but prefr1' walking. The labours of Duvernoy on ihe gorilla, ar.d°» Gartiolet and Alix on the chipanzee, shows that monkey type, as it approaches to perfection, develop63 the climbing faculty more and more and that the con' trary ia the case with the human type, M. Quartrefrag^ then proceeds to explain that even if Darvin's theory?1 derivation be adopted, the phenomena in question abouial according to that theory, be read differently. We kno* a large number of terms of the Simian series. We see1' ramified into secondary series, all equally tending to, wards the anlhropomorphnus type, and constituting,1101 the members of a same family, but the superior corres- ponding terms of three distict one?. Notwitnstanding tbr, secondary modifications introduced by improveme,ts 01 the same nature, the orang-outang, gorilla, and isee still fundamentally remain monkeys tbat 19i climbers; while man constantly preserves his di:tinctÍ\'Ð quality of being a long walker. — Galginani. DAMAGES FOR SLANDER.—A remarkable case tried at the Jury Court, Edinburgh, last week- i\,r W S. Mackenzie, of Seaforth, Rosshire, pursuer, and Mr H. Dundas Drummond, No. 12< Devonshire Place, Portland Place, London, vvaS defender. The ease was presented on four issued namely,—1. Whether, on October 22 last, withn> the railway station of Dingwall, the defendant,^ the hearing of Mr Cash, Adjutant, Rosshire RJ1J0 Volunteers, and I)r Dingwall, said of t^ pursuer, 'You are a liar;' 2. Whether dzCe¡¡- der, on the same occasion, said of the pursuer tb^ he was 'A lying thief; 3. Whether he had s<i^ the pursuer was a I and 4. defender had said of pursuer, 'Your word is f'0' worth a and it is a wonder they don't tUrtJ such a beggar out of the counts v.' Damages vre^ laid at £ 1,000. The pursuer deposed that he at Dingwall Raifway Station with his wife family on the 22nd 01 October. lIe saw Mr Dnitf' mond there, whom he knew slightly. He addressed him. saying, 'How are you?' and defendant r," plied, I am surprised you should speak to n^: you are a bar; you tell one story in dou and another in the north.' Witness ask01' him what he meant by auch language, when. taW^ a paper out of his pocket, defendant said, Yo« are a —— lying thici-a great scoundrel—a blacK- guard;' adding, that he was a disgrace to th,¡J country, and lie wondered they allowed suc'1 a beggar to remain in it, and that his word «'?s not worth a —— in London. Several other nesses were called to prove the use of these abus\ve appellations. The defender, on being placed i» box, stated that he had, on one occasion, T"IKCLI lease of Inchroe shootings, on Seaforth's estatc. but could find no grouse in them. He had mct: tioned this to Mr Mackenkie, who said that b" (defender) -> ust be mad, for it was a fishing pli»c& 11, t and not a shooting place at all, and that be let place to an innkeeper named Finlayson (who b.1 sublet, it to Mr Drunimond) for £ 50 a ear for tbe fishings, giving him the shootings for nothing. an action defender had raised against Finlays0'" pursuer gave evidence to quite an opposite effect. Accordingly, when pursuer accosted him on one occasion in 1865, saying How are you?' defeD^ replied, saying 'I don't see how mv health afiect you. A man who cannon-speak the truth not a tit acquaintance for me. I decline to hands with you:' On the 22nd of October last be saw pursuer again at Dingwall Railway StalJ°:1j Pursuer pointed out witness with his stick, f1'1'* j laughed, which he believed he was it the habitI doing. When the train stopped Seaforth sa^' 4 How are you, Drunimond V when witness Mackenzie, after what has passed between y°1' M flckenzie, after what has passed between yotl and me, the .state of mv health cannot collee yon very much.' He said, Hov/s that?' ^'ll' ness said, f told a year ago I did not want to n nything to you about it, but since your memory p, defective, there.' With that the witness pu'H- the paper which he had got in Inverness out 0 his shooting coat pocket, and put it into tile Pill j, suer s hand. Upon which he turned round al11 said, It is a pack of I'es.' Witness said, Nobody is better aware of that than you are, because are ties of your own making, with your own sig11'' ture to them. Seaford then said, Everyb0^ knows what sort of a fellow you are.' WitnsS answered, 'Thank God, lam an English geB* man. You call yourself a Highland chief, btit_' would take a dozen of you to make an Eng' gentleman,' He would swear he never called S0?' forth a thief. Counsel were heard at length. H. Young, for the pursuer, maintaining that d'e,fC"der. statement in the witness borewns only a partlft repetition of the slander, and aSordedno exte" ation or apology; while Mr Fraser, for defendJ denounced the action ItS contemntible and slid that although the fourth charge was partiallV ? nutted, that would not justify the jury in oamages. The Lord President summed up, P inKout mat such language, which when used JJ persons in a low condition of life mi^ht »ot thougnt much of, became serious when used W one gentleman of birth and station to aiiotl*' The defender had met the case on the record by appiogy.butby dental, althougli he had oi'11 a partial admission in the witness box. The d" or tiie jury under the issues was to find the words were used they had not to consider1? cause of the irritation, thoinrh they must keeP,. view the fact of irritation. If the jury found the pursuer, the damages must be more than 11 nal, though rot extravagant or vindictive. jury found for the pursuer, with £3,000 damaSe Printed and Published, on behalf of the Fro r^et by JOSEPH POTTKU, at the Dffice in Uigh-,itre tI tDa, the Parish of Saint Mary, in the County 0 Town of Haverfordwest. Wednesday, July 31, 1867.