The Aberystwyth Times Cardiganshire Chronicle and Merionethshire News

gtfewtt the "odd.. Among those who addressed to the National Emigra- tion meeting letters expressing sympathy with the move- ment were Mr Carlyle, Mr Tennyson (Poet Laureate,), Mr Ruskin, Mr John Stuart Mill, Mr Froude, and Mr T. Hughes, M.P. Mr Carlyle wrote— es, With great readiness I send you my signature to your petition about the colonies completely agreeing (for the last torty years Or so) with everything set forth therein. Mr Tennyson, in his letter, said— Your tables do but confirm my own very strong conviction respecting the value of the colonies to Great Britain, even in the matter of national wealth. I need not say that I shall sign your etition, not only with hand but heart. Mr Froude wrote— We are governed just now by the great moneyed classes, whose lirst- idea is cheap labour, and they dread and shrink from any- thing which threatens to promote emigration. They are blind as Elymas, for no emigration couid be carried so far as to decrease the price of labour to a degree which could not be compensated by the increase of trade. Hundreds of thousands of children who now die of want of proper nourishment would live to take the place of those who go, if the pressing poverty was only a little relieved; but they cannot go beyond the position of their noses, and their highest notion is to go to the devil, that their business may not be in danger by being curtailed. The history of England can produce no parallel to such preposterous conduct. It is not atall pleasant to think of drinking a decoction of shop sweepings, but some of our poorer brethren enjoy that beverage, we suppose. Here is a. uhort account of what took place in a London police court the other day- Three grocers of Sboreditch were summoned for having in their possession a quantity of adulterated tea. According to the evidence of an assistant chemist in the Laboratory at Somerset House, three sorts of tea in the possession of one of the defend- ants had been analysed. The selling price was 8d., Is., and Is. 4d. per lb., and the samples contained respectively 40, 30, and 25 per cent, of shop and warehouse sweepings. The defence was that the article was sold as "tea dust," of which some descrip- tions were imported at the docks at the low rate of 2!d. per lb. It was, however, admitted that ilb. of good tea was equal to lib. of dust, and it was explained by one of the defendants that "the people at the East-end were quite aware of the kind of article which they purchased. Sir Thomas Henry inflicted a penalty of Lioineac case. A romantic statement was made at one of the London Eilice courts last week, by a man named William Gregory avies, charged with stealing goods of the value of £ 500 from Messrs Leaf and Co., to whom he was a salesman. A woman named Grantham was accused of "receiving" the goods. She said she did not know they were stolen, but both were committed for trial. The following was the male prisoner's statement- I herewith make a true statement of m).crime. I met about ten-months back the prisoner, Alice Grantham, then resident at Albany-street, Regent's Park. I fell in love with her, and on or about my third visit made her a present of a green silk dress. When I asked her where one of her dresses was, she told me she had had to pawn it. I was in the habit of seeing her nearly every-evening, and then escorting her to the Holborn Assembly- rooms, where I had first made her acquaintance. As she could not pay her rent, I volunteered to bring her a couple of dresses, and told her, if pawned, they would pay her rent. One of the dresses she pawned in the name of her landlady, who found it out. The result was a quarrel, and she was obliged to leave. She then went to live in a house in Paultons-square, where she fot flJ. She then asked me to keep her, which I at first refused 3 do. But as she had no place to go to, and said she would kill herself if I left her, which she tried twice to do, I acceded to her request. She then took a room in Fulham-road, in the name of Hartley—a name I assumed—and said I was her husband. She became very ill there, had fits, and spat a great deal of blood, so that I dared not leave her to her own resources. I there kept her entirely on the money I got by pawning dresses and on my salary. During my holidays I took her with me across the water, and lodged her in a small village for about a week or ten days. I had to leave her and come back to London: As soon as I left her she became dangerously ill and miscarried. I pawned my watch for £ 10 and sent her a, but the letter was lost, and I sent her the othert5, which she got safely, and she came back. I continued to keep her. When she came back she was taken seriously ill, and I was obliged to have a doctor twice, and very often three times, a day to see her. At one time she was not expected to live. I sat up with her nearly every night during her illness. When she was able to walk I had to ask her to pawn some more dresses, so as to be able to pay the demands and standing bills. She lingered ill for months, and the doctor said if she ww not taken very great care of and kept very quiet she would not live. We left Fulham-road and took rooms in Albany-street, where she was first living, but stayed there only about a week. From there we went to Argyll-street. Still I had to give her dresses to pawn so as to be able to keep her al- though she lived very economically, a doctor always still visiting her, as she had an internal complaint. I loved her too much to leave her, as she would then have to become a prostitute again, and I believe her constitution could not stand it, and I could not bear the idea. At last I bepau to reflect on my conduct, and with a view of getting rid of the connection I had formed I told her I had to go to Paris, so I left her. I saw her twice after this, on the iatitrdLy and Sunday before I was taken into custody, merely to see if she was well. I had given up all wrong- doing, and had determined to do so no more. As I took a dress away I always contrived as a rule to charge the customers more on the goods till I thought I had made up the amount stolen. The amount I took I know not, and would never have believed it came to such a large amount as sixty-four dresses. I most positively declare it to be my firm opinion that Alice Grantham never knew better than what I told her, which was that I was a shipbroker, and bought the goods on six months' credit and I know positively she would never have pawned any had she thought they were stolen. As to the dates, I do not remember. I herewith acknowledge that all the goods which I gave to Alice Grantham came from the department I was in at Leaf, Sons and Co.'s. I also declare that nobody ever assisted me in taking them out of the warehouse. I took them out under my coat and waistcoat in the morning, but principally in the evening, when the warehouse closed for the day. Whatever the Standard is dealing with-Welsh Dis- senting Ministers, or English liberals, or any similarly distasteful subject-it displays an ingenuity in slander that continually astonishes by the novelty with which fresh imputations of the most odious nature are heaped upon respectable men. Here is a recent specimen of abuse by the organ of the gentlemanly "party: it is not neeessary to inform our readers that Mr Goldwin Smith, whatever his opinions may be, is a man of sterling virtue, as far removed from Broadhead in character as the Standard is removed from anything like courtesy or decency, to say nothing of charity- Is it tolerable that we can see our greatest and our best thus going away, man by tnan, into the camp of our rivals without yeaniing to follow them 1 Goldwin Smith is gone, and Broad- head is gone, and now they have annexed our Louis. We can imagine the exulting chuckle with which the American President and his Ministers regard these runaways from England—tha joyous pride with which they ery to one another, • i» Another Britisher come to be reconstructed!" At the Preston County Court (Mr W. A. Hulton, judge), Anna Redmayne, a Quakeress, was sued by Joseph Goodier to recover possession of a house and shop occupied by her in London-road, Preston, together with 22 3s. 8d. due as rent. Instead of appearing in answer to the summons, she addressed a long letter to the judge, which was handed up to his Honour, and in which she says You wish to know why I don't quit these premises according to notice. You may prepare yourself for a good sound tongue- flogging. I don't value the premises a straw; but>here I am, and here I shall remain, with the help of the Lord, to make rogues into honest men. I have always paid my rent, and more than the place is worth. To put any more on my rent would be ex- tortionate, and I am not going to encourage wickedness, in any shape or form. I shall not come at your call. I have given no cause for any court summons, neither will I pay any court ex- penses. I am glad that the summons has come under my notice, seeing that it is so worded as to mislead any one not wide enough awake to detect your wickedness in giving rogues a chance to claim three years' back rent that has already been paid. You are no judge at all, and I condemn you both for the wickedness herein mentioned, and for insulting a righteous person with your cursed summons.—Yours truly, ANNA the Prophetess, or the Goddess Diana the Great. An order was made upon the defendant to give up posses- sion in eight days. The claim for rent was withdrawn. TheClon.mel Chronicle gives an account of the moving bog of Clonkelly, in Tipperary. Three times within a century it has shifted a considerable distance. On the llth inst., after an unusually heavy fall of rain, a portion of the bog, upwards of an acre, on which there were some deeply cut turf banks, became detached, and floated eight or ten perches over some waste land, when its further progress was stayed by the rising ground. The great cavity left by the detached mass may be seen from a public road that traverses Clonkelly bog, which is of very considerable extent. Much excitement has been caused in Tiverton and Crediton (says the Western Morning News) by the arrest and imprisonment of the son of a respectable farmer, who resides in a parish about midway between these towns. About five years ago the young man in question, who was then a youth of 16, shot a pheasant in the Tiverton turn- pike road, and was caught in the act by a policeman, through whose information he was summoned before a magistrate at Tiverton. The youth, having probably been told of the severe punishment inflicted on those convicted of night poaching, did not appear to defend himself, but left the neighbourhood, and remained in concealment three years and a half. Meantime his elder brother died, and hi s parents getting inconsolable at the death of one son, and the enforced absence of another, made bold to sound the authorities to ascertain whether they did not think the youth had already undergone sufficient punishment with- out the degradation of being obliged to consort with felons, and receiving a hint that the original offence was probably forgotten, they informed their long absent boy that the way was now clear for his return. He accordingly came back about eighteen months ago, and remained unmolested until a few days since, when a policeman, armed with a warrant for his apprehension, suddenly pounced upon him, and he has been sent off to undergo his original punish- go ment. It appears to be the general belief that both the original prosecutor and the public authorities view the pro- ceedings with unfeigned regret. The Daily News gives the following account of the way in which schoolmasters are paid in France- Their salaries—that is, the reward for their education, their patience, and their arduous duties—are miserable. What the actual pay is may be surmised when we learn what the French schoolmaster will do to earn those little extras absolutely neces- sary to keep soul and body together. For an example we seek naturally among the worst instances, and these are to be found in the rural districts. The general ambition of a schoolmaster is to become secretary of the mayor. When school hours are over, the fortunate secretary, weary and harassed, hurries to the mayor's house, where he sits and writes the whole evening for the august functionary. He is paid for the most part once a year; and what does he receive ? From twenty to thirty francs i i other words, not quite a penny a day. Money is not the only advantage enjoyed by the poor schoolmaster. He cannot go to bed with the sun; and in the mayor's abode he has the privilege of fire and candles. There is another grievance Schoolmasters have a presumptuous tendency in favour of matrimony, and their wives have to work from morning to night. These ladies are generally seamstresses that work for some great firms in the neighbouring cities. They receive from Paris the material of shirts ready cut out, which they have to sew together the fronts having previously been worked by machinery. Their pay is a penny a shirt, or elevenpence a dozen. A mother and daughter working from morning to night can, if very industrious cam between them a shilling a day. It seems that one school- master had the bright idea of enlisting himself in the service of iJe P?™* priest, and undertook the double duty of ringing the church beQ and of singing in the choir. For recompense the priest gave him on Sundays after vespers a cup of coffee.

]lrTier has determined that the administrators J?™? country shall not intermeddle—as they have ill the fficlal Journal, in which he forbids magistrates, on pam of dJ81 from office, to offer themselTea for election ltlier to the or to an1 municipal

ffettcral At a fox hunt at Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight, last week, seeerai persons followed the hounds on bicycles. Mr Martin Tupper wiU give readings in London from Ie ,Pro- verbial Philosophy" during the present season. Can he not get Mr Whalley to take the chair ? The Echo learns, on good authority," that the negotiations in reference to the settlement of the Alabama claims are at present at a standstill. The established" hands in Chatham Dockyard of 69 years of age and upwards are to be superannuated, the Admiralty having issued an order to that effect. Mr Bright has informed a deputation-that in the coarse of the coming session there would be an inquiry relative to the ex- cessive damages awarded by juries against railway companies. The gold-headed cane of Lord Lovat, which he gave to his cousin on the scaffold, came to the hammer In London the other day, and fetched £ 2410s. A man named Donald Stewart was fined £ 5 at the Edinburgh police court last week with the alternative of sixty days' im- prisonment, for having oil various occasions assaulted his daughter, aged eight years, by striking her with a walking stick. A case has just come obefoPe the Bankruptcy Court, in which an adjudication was made as far back as 1810. The bankrupt set the Court at defiance and died in prison. There are now between £3,000 and £4,000 to be distributed. A strike of cotton operatives, who are demanding an increase of ten per cent, in their wages, has taken place at Wigan. About 3,000 hands are out of employment in consequence of this movement. The funeral of the unfortunate persons who were killed at the Liverpool chapel oh Sunday week took place in the presence of an immense assemblage. The oiraciat* n priest stated that the accident was caused solely by the disturbance created by a drunken man who shouted Fire." The cashier, John King, who absconded from Manchester, after having plundered his employers of bills and cash, amount- ing to £ 3,866, has been arrested at Exeter. He had gone to Antwerp after leaving Manchester, but returned to this country, and after landing at Plymouth, made his way to Exeter. The landlord of the Museum Hotel, where he put up, recognised him by the police description, and had him arrested. He confessed his identity. The Court of Common Pleas have given judgment in the case of Dickons v. Haywood," in which the plaintiff, a farmer, had obtained £ 500 damages against a local game association for libel. The slander was contained in a letter written to the agent of the Duke of Portland, plaintiff's landlord, and through the letter having been written, Mr Dickons had been ejected from his farm. A rule nisi to set aside the verdict had been obtained, but the Court had decided that the decision of the jury must stand. In the French Chamber, on the 27th, M. Thiers made another Protectionist speech, in the course of which he alleged that the Treaties of Commerce were held in abhorrence by a large majority of the country. This statement elicited loud exclam- ations of Oh oh M. Thiers admitted that the commerceof France with England had greatly increased, but said the French shipping trade was thereby ruined. He maintained that the French cotton trade was also ruined, owing to the impossibility of competing with this oountry. Prince Arthur was, it appears, abusively attacked by several New York papers on his arrival in the States. The Tribune, in defending his Royal Highness, says he has behaved in a man- ner entirely becoming and modest, and deserves to be treated with courtesy and respect. If flunkeyism be out of place on the one hand, so are all meanness, vulgarity, and impertinence on the other." The Bishop of Rochester presided over a conference of clergy and laity in the chapter-room of that city on the 27th ult. Most of the speakers denounced the proposals of the Birmingham League as "fraught with danger" to the country, and one gen- tleman contended that the instruction of our youth ought to be retained in the hands of the Established Church, which was the sole depository of the truth." Another educational gather- inh was held the same day at Leicester, at which the Duke of Rutland, the Bishop of Peterborough, and Lord John Manners were amongst the speakers. The general opinion of those present was in favour of the present system. An extraordinary divorce case was heard by Lord Penzance on Saturday. The petitioner (wife of a Mr Braham, who was con- nected with a Liverpool music hall) some four years ago obtained a divorce from her husband on the grounds of cruelty and adultery. Subsequently she became reconciled to him, and they were again married, but the husband does not seem to have mended his ways, and his wife has once more applied for a divorce. The Court acceded to the application. A town's meeting, on'the subject of drunkenness, was held in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, on Friday week. The hall was crowded, and the orchestra was occupied by about a hundred of the local clergy of all denominations, and as many influential laymen. A resolution was passed expressing regret that the Bill devised by the Magistrates and Town Council in 1868 was not adopted, and the Government was called upon to introduce an equally restrictive measure. There was a strong feeling in favour of closing public houses altogether on the Sunday, and a resolution favourable to that course was carried with acclamation. A passenger by the Bristol and Exeter Railay, on arriving at Yatton Station, dispensed with the step in alighting, fell between the carriages and the platform, and was severely i jured. He -sued the company at the assizes, and obtained A:1,500 damages. There was, however, no doubt that he was well acquainted with the station, and although the train had not been pulled up at the usual spot, the company contended that the plaintiff knew how the platform was constructed, and that if he had used the step in all probability the accident would not have happened. This view has been taken by the Court of Exchequer, which directed a nonsuit or a new triaJ, as the railway company might elect. Through the Atlantic cable we get a brief account of the mournful ceremony of handing over the remains of the late Mr Peabody to the guardianship of the Governor of Maine. Captain Commerell, of the Monarch, made a brief but manly speech, and expressed sentiments which all will reciprocate, when he said that the suffering artizan, widow, and orphan, on both sides of the Atlantic, would henceforth bless the name of Peabody Mr Chamberlain, Governor of Maine, in his replv said "the Monarch had achieved a greater victory than her guns could ever win." The body was afterwards laid in state at the Citv Hall, Portland. y The "party by the name of Johnson," who came forward at the meeting of the National Emigration League, in London, on the 26th, received a prompt and. tolerably convincing proof that it is dangerous to flaunt the red flag of Republicanism in the faces of Englishmen. His resolution, which he had the effrontery to thrust before the meeting, declared that the only panacea for destitution was the government of the people by the people, and it called upon the Queen, Lords, and Commons to resign. At first the audience were disposed to receive these extraordinary statements good-humouredly, and to treat the fellow as a harmless fanatic; but, when they found him deter- mined to proceed, the laughter and hisses changed to shouts of Turn him out," and the speaker was summarily cried down. This is how people who insult the Lord Mayor" are treated. -At an emigration meeting a Mr Owen referred to the an. nouncement of the preliminary subscription-list as "a mere chairman's dodge." The remark was followed by loud shouting and hissing, and demands that a person who had insulted the Lord Mayor to his face should be ejected. During the uproar Mr Owen said he recalled the remark, and would apologize for it; but in the confusion this was unheard, and the meetmg passed a resolution not to hear him. Mr Owen, however, proceeded to explain that he had apologised, when a tall gentleman hurried to the platform from the body of the meeting, collared him hurried him across the room, and, being joined by two or three others, thrust him outside. On sun lpv afternoon an accident of an appalling character occurred at Rishton Reservoir, about two miles from Blackburn. The crowd of skaters and others on the reservoir was enormous, and although the ice was rough, hundreds ventured upon it. During the afternoon one or two men on skates, dragging after them a number of women, forming a chain of nine or ten per- sons, ventured on the centre the ice oscillated, gave way, and the whole number were thrown into the water. A rush was at once made to the place by two or three hundred persons, but they did not approach. A number of men threw off their jackets, and by this means formed a rope, which they east out to the unfortunate persons. Six persons were safely brought out of the water, but although every effort was made the others perished. A deputation from the Exeter Total Abstinence Society, waited on the Bishop of Exeter last week, and presented to him an address welcoming his lordship to the city and diocese, and expressing an earnest desire for his valuable support and co- operation in their work. The Bishop, in reply, expressed his sympathy with the temperance cause, and his strong convictions of the great evils resulting from intemperance. Although he did not approve of all the measures proposed, nor of the manner in which some persons had advocated them, yet he quite agreed with the objects of the society, and believed that nothing but the pledge would save the drunkard. His lordship addedIn heart I am with you. I scarcely know yet what I can do, being strange as yet to the work of the diocese; but you may rest 'assured that I shall do what I can to further your cause, both in thts diocese and in the Legislature." It has been announced by telegraph that the Viceroy of Egypt has forwarded to the Porte a little bill for £ 800,000 on account of the ironclad vessels he has just surrendered to his chief. The Viceroy's hesitation, however, in delivering up these vessels has afforded the Sultan time for reflection, and he has decided if we may believe the Levant Herald, that he is quite .t entitled to confiscate the Viceroy's breechloaders and ironclads, since, in the first instance, their purchase was illegal and uncon- stitutional. It is said to be the opinion at Constantinople that if the Turkish Government were ndw to take this materiel off the Viceroy's hands at cost price a very bad precedent would be set, which might be used to the serious disadvantage of the Parte on other occasions. In fact, the Viceroy might thus con- trive to enrich himself by enormous commissions on worthless goods. However this may be, it seems to be tolerably clear that this Eastern difficulty has not yet been adjusted. It remains to be seen whether withont the price paid down in hard cash the Viceroy will surrender either guns or vessels. In addressing his constituents, Sir J. Coleridge, after review- ing the past session, spoke in favour of a comprehensive system of education, to raise our workmen to the level of those in other countries. Regarding the religious difficulty, no education was, he said, complete, in an intellectual sense, without in- struction as to the relations of man to God ahd to his fellows; but if they could not get all they wished they should accept what they could get, if it waa not radically wrong. He hoped the liberals would unite to support the Government measure. The House of Lords had lost the chance of passing a moderate measure of University reform, and the Government would pass a more comprehensive and sweeping one than any private individual could have taken up with a hope of success. The ballot would pass ere long by a large majority. The Irish land question would, in his opinion, be settled with a view to giving the tenant a secure holding of what he put into the land. The Government Bill would only give the tenant what he was fairly and equitably entitled to. Mr Stansfeld, M.P., received a deputation from the Halifax Licence Amendment League, last week, on the subject of the licensing system. After a conference of considerable length, the hon. gentleman said the Bill of the Government was in draft, but it had not, so far as he knew as yet, received final correction, and therefore, even if he were at liberty to speak upon it, he could not speak of it as a measure finally adopted by her Majesty's Government. Without going into details as to his own views, the hon. gentleman reminded the deputation that he had already expressed an opinion that the granting of licenses le to individuals was a judicial or a quasi-judicial function, which ought not to be entrusted either to the ratepayers themselves or to any representative body. At the same time he admitted that, on the other hand, there was a field, subject to the restrictions of general legislation, within which a local power of law-making might, in his opinion, be accepted; and he was not without hope that in some way or other that principle would find expression in the Government Bill which was about to be laid on the table of the House. At the meeting of the Juridical Society on Wednesday week, under the presidency of Sir Roundell Palmer, who delivered a short but valuable address, it very clearly appeared that he did not assent to the Bill of last session respecting the rights and liabilities of married women. Regret was expressed that the Commons' Committee had bestowed so little or rather no atten- tion on the wife's protective remedies in France and in other European countries which have adopted the rule of the Code Napoleon enabling parties about to marry to declare beforehand whether they mean that their union shall be under the regime de c immunaute or under the regime dotal the former corresponding with the Roman and Scotch law as to communio bonorum; while the latter-the dotal system—has for its object to protect the wife, and peradventure the husband himself, from the conse- quences of nis improvidence, misfortune, or misconduct. The dot or dowiy coming from the wife is appropriated to the sup- port of the family, and cannot be alienated. The wife's other property is kept back for her, and her earnings are safe. This system works well; and the adoption of it, or something like it, in England would be a far less violent alteration than that pro- posed by Mr Russell Gurney's Bill, which enacts that married women shall hold their property precisely its if they were sole, without any provision for the sustenance of the family. Accord- ing to this American scheme, a wife may keep her money accu- mulating at compound interest, while her unprosperous imsband and family are without bread or she'may elope, and bestow all on her paramour. That the English law calls for legislative interference all agree; but, as Sir Roundell Palmer observed, the principle of making wives absolutely independent of their husbands is one for which the people of this countryarIdly yet prepared. 1 ^tr (Siafles Darlufe'^OWtfcrly governor of Victoria, is dead. Lake Windermere ha» ween frozen over this year for the first 4ime since 1854. Aime since 1854. The Duke de 35r#glio, a well-known French statesman, and son-in-law of Madame de Stael, died last week in his eighty- fifth year. A According to the last returns, the death rate in the large towns varied from 19 per 1000 in Wolverhampton to 17 per 1000 in Bristol. Her Majesty has been obliged to give up her inberaies of open- ing Parliament in person, in consequence of her We indis- position. The Army and Navy Gazette says it is reported that half a squadron will be deducted from each cavalry regiment at home and abroad. It is probable that Lord Cairns will give the usmal leader's' dinner to Opposition peers on the evenmg before the opening of the session. A Dickens party" was recently given in Boston, at which each of the participants was dressed to represent one of Dickens's characters. A prosecution of Dr Manning, under the Ecclesiastical Titles Act, for assuming the title of Archbishop of Westminster, has failed, in consequence of the consent -of the Attorney-General not having been obtained for the proceeding. At St. Mary's Church, Dumfries, on Sunday week, there were two precentors, each of whom brought a choir. When the second psalm was given out the new (and rival) precentor started off with a tune of his own, but was speedily overpowered by his opponents. The Roman correspondent of the Freeman's Journal" states that the Pope has just issued a decree, in which it is expressly asserted that the society of Fenians was included amongst the secret societies against which censures of the Pontifical Bull of last October were directed. The latest advices from New Zealand—which come by way of Sydney, under date of 3rd January-represent that a more friendly feeling than has for some time existed is growing up between the colonists and the Maories. The latter are uniting with the colonial forces to put an end to the career of the arch- rebel Te Kooti. The Greenwich Hospital Commissioners are about to take pro- ceedings against the so-called Countess of Derwentwater, and all who have aided and abetted in the late demonstrations in her favour. "The claims of this woman," say the impolite Com- missioners, to any portion of the estates formerly belonging to the Earl of Derwentwater are perfectly frivolous, and without a shadow of foundation in law or equity." Dr Knaggs, of Kentish Town (says the "Medical Press"), speaks highly of the value of smearing the whole surface of the body of children with olive oil every six or four hours in cases of atrophy, bronchitis, convulsions, and diarrhoea; so that, after all, we are to have another trial of the old fashion of anointing the body of the sick. A young Irishman, named M'Carthy, boasted at a "wake" held at Valentia, county Kerry, the other night, that he could drink more whisky than any one else in the house. A large bottle of that spirit being handed to him, he drank off the con- tents and immediately lay down and expired. He was to have been married the following morning. Sir George Bowyer has written a letter in which he declares that, in his judgment, an Irish Parliament in Dublin" presents the only complete remedy for the evils from which Ireland is suffering. Until there is an Irish Parliament," he says, Ire- land will always be made a tool of by English party leaders in the House of Commons." Coal-picking," otherwise coal stealing, prevails largely in the Black Country during the winter months. The other day Dennis Eley, an Irishman, was charged with stealing a lump of coal from the cart of Mr Thomas Turley, of the Fullwood End Colliery. This was the prisoner's defence-" I wint to the wag- goner, yer honour, to beg a pipe o' bacca. and shure enough the lump o' coal tumbled clane from the cart, and fell into me very arms." Recent French medical statistics Have demonstrated two facts which the Medical Press and Circular thinks worthy the serious attention of the better half of mankind. The first is that since women have loosened their corsets the annual mortality has de- creased 18i per cent. The second is that since women have loaded their heads with enormous and hideous chignons, cerebral fevers have increased 72i per cent. Mr Elliot, one of the magistrates at the Lambeth police court, has given an opinion upon a question which had been submitted to him, whether a lunatic was entitled to a sick allow- ance as a member of a friendly society. He could find no decision of any court that incapacity to work caused by insanity was not a ground for sick relief, and intimated that he did not agree with the ruling of Mr Tidd Pratt, who steadily declined to certify the rules of any society which proposed to give a lunatic sick allowance. A charge, which we venture to say neither Mr Newdegate nor Mr Whalley ever dreamed of, has just been preferred against the Jesuits by a veracious correspondent of an equally veracious Boston newspaper. The substance of the story is that the Pope was once the hero of a love romance, and was, when a young man, actually engaged to be married to a Miss Foster, the daughter of an Irish bishop, and the sister of the Countess de Salis, famous at that period in Italian society. The young lady and her friends waited at the altar of the Church of St. Luigi de Francesi for Count Mastai-Ferretti to appear and complete his marriage vows, but the young Count never came. The explan- ation given to the lady before her death was that his Jesuit relations had forcibly abducted him and sent him abroad under oath of secrecy, which he never divulged till after he was Pope, and this he caused to be communicated to her to ease his own conscience and her broken heart.

tdtiatitld. The popular American preacher the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher has refused to have his salary, as pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, raised from 12,500 dollars to 20,000 dollars. The Rev. Alexander Seton, of St. Andrew's Scottish National Church, intends to make a motion in the Presbytery to the effect that a union of all the Presbyterian bodies in England is desirable. The Municipal Council of Munich has granted the freedom of the city to Dr Dollinger, the famous Roman Catholic theologian, on account of his manly conduct in opposing the dogma of the Papal Infallibility." The Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin, and Ardagh, Dr Hamilton Verschoyle, died last week, at the episcopal residence at Kilmore. in the county of Cavan. The deceased, who was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, was consecrated in 1862. It is not expected that the convocation of the province of Canterbury will meet for the despatch of business on Wednes- day, February 9th, according to arrangement, but that it will be adjourned for two or three weeks, in consequence of the illness of the archbishop. The appeal of Mr Voysey cannot be heard at the time ap- pointed. The case is in a very peculiar position for hearing There are only three bishops who are Privy Councillors. The Archbishop of Canterbury is too ill to attend the Judicial Com- mittee; the Archbishop of York sent the case by letters of request; and the Bishop of London issued the commission of inquiry. The only question is whether another bishop will be made a Privy Councillor. At the meeting of the General Assembly of the Irish Presby- terian Church, last week, a letter was read from the Chief Secretary for Ireland, stating that as the Government understood the Presbyterian bodies did not desire the continuance of the Regium Donum, the usual vote would be omitted from the esti- mates. At a subsequent meeting it was decided by 337 against 8 votes to commute the life interest in the Regium Donum. The assembly then deliberated respecting the details of the sustenta- tion fund. We learn from a private source that an enterprising northern M.P. is meditating to introduce a Bill next session to repeal the statute prohibiting the clergy from sitting in the House of Com- mons. The honourable member's notion is that there are many clerics hanging about town without duty (either voluntarily or involuntarily idle), who, as men of sense and business habits, would be acceptable additions to the Lower House. From another quarter we hear that, if a Bill of the kind should pass the Rev. W. G. Clark, ex-public orator, would offer himself for the University of Cambridge. —English Churchman. A correspondent of the Daily News" gives a further account of the work of evangelization which "Ned Wright" is carrying on in London. Last evening," he says, "a curious and mourn- ful gathering was held on the south side of the water. At the invitation of 'Ned Wright,' himself a converted deserter, prize- fighter, and housebreaker, about seventy female thieves and about half that number of similarly bad characters belonging to the other sex, assembled in the Gospel Hall, New-cut, Lambeth, to eat a supper of peasoupand bread, and to listen to the preach- ing of the Gospel.' This strange audience behaved very well but found it difficult to attend to Wright's discourse, except when he touched very closely upon his own or their own experiences. The opening of a new Roman. Catholic Chapel at Lewes, the other day, afforded occasion for a disgraceful display on the part of the more zealous and demonstrative Protestants of the town. During a two hours' service, which was held in the chapel, a crowd, which had assembled in front of the building, kept up a constant howling and noise, and any member of the congregation that appeared was assailed with a volley of hisses. Matters took a still more serious turn when, at the conclusion of the service, the priests made their appearance. They were hustled by theerowd, several stones were thrown at them, and ultimate- ly they were compelled to take refuge in a house into which they were invited. The fervour of the" Protestant" roughs of the town had, it appears, been stimulated by the previous circulation of inflammatory handbills. The Birmingham Post' says-An estimate of the strength of the Evangelical party in the Church of England wasgiven at the Islington clerical meeting, in London, last week. The Rev. H. Barne, vicar of Faringdon, Berkshire, stated that of the 18,000 clergyman in the Church of England, 5,000 were probably men of evangelical principles." This number is less than we should have thought, but the Record" confirms it, saying that, the computation is based on actual facts, gathered from the sub- scription list of our great societies, and may be accepted as substantially true," It would be interesting to ascertain to what divisions of church opinion the rest of the clergy belong. The ritualists and high churchmen have never, we believe, claimed more than 2,000; and about the same number would probably be a liberal estimate for the broad church clergy. This, however, disposes of only half the total number. How are the rest to be classified ? On Tuesday evening week an entertainment full of interest, and in many respects unprecedented in its character, was given at Westminster. Archbishop Lycurgus, one of the principal hierarchs of that portion of the Greek Church belonging to the kingdom of Greece, was invited to dinner, and the use of the Jerusalem Chamber was granted for the occasion by the Dean of Westminster, who presided. The number of those who could be present was limited to forty by the size of the apartment, but the following were among those occupying seats at table :-The Archbishop of Syra and Tenos, his Excellency the Greek Minis- ter, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Rochester, the Bishop of Ely, the Bishop of Colombo, the Earl of Glasgow, Lord Elgin, the Very Rev. the Archimandrite in the suite of the Archbishop, the Rev. theArchimandriteMorfinos, the Rev. the ArchirtVaJVdrile Stratuli, a deacon of the Greek Church; Mr Crawford) M.P. Sir R. Phillimore, Mr Mavrogordato, Mr Ralli, Mr Freshfieltt Mr Agathides, Rev. W. Rogers, Mr Gilbert Scott, Mr Gibbs, Ac.

The Senior Wrangler at Cambridge this year is Mr Pendlebury, of St. John's Cellege, and son of Mr Pendle- bury, of Fairfield, Liverpool. An American expedition, under Admiral Davies, s about to leave New York for the purpose of surveying all the proposed routes for the Darienship canal. The report is to be made to President Grant. You say that the Lucifer Matches you use, Are the patent" of Bryant and May's; Pray tell me, still further, why is it you choose Their best specials,"—do tell me, pray ? I'll tell you most readily—listen to me, And the fact, then, most widely make known From danger, through fire, with their matches you are free, For they light on no box but their own !—A. M. R. MODERN CUSTOMS.—Presentations and testimonials are largely on the increase this modern custom appears to extend to almost every household, for no auspicious event is allowed to pass without its being marked .by some pleasing souvenir; Birthdays, Christenings, Marriages, the seasons of the year, such as Christmas, New Years &c., invariably receive special commemoration. The at- tention of one of the great London Manufacturers, Mr J. W. BENSON, of 25, Old Bond-street, and of the City Steaft Factory, Ludgate-hill, has been directed to this subject. With the view of giving more artistic effect to this custom of society, he has published a most interesting Illustrated Historical Pamphlet upon Watches and Clocks, also one upon artistic Gold Jewellery, Silver and Electro- plate all are profusely illustrated with choice designs, and are -sent post-free for 2d. each, thus bringing within the r-of those who live even thousands of mile s away from London, one of the largest and most artistic collec- tions which can be seen in any part of the world and, it necessary, designs are prepared to illustrate any special case.

lipp 0 f flfr f gfilk The Ruabop Water and Wrexham Gas Bills have been declared to have complied with standing orders. Sir Baldwin Leighton and his daughters took part in a recent entertainment at Alberbury. Sir Baldwin read The Crows." The directors of the Shropshire Banking Company have declared an interim'dividend at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum, for the half-year ended on the 31st of December last. At an influential meeting in London-Sir George Grey in the chair-it has been resolved to take steps for forming a company to establish communication with Australia in forty days, via Milford Haven, Portland, and San Francisco. A conference of the clergy of different denominations, to consider the question of national education, has been held at Chester. The Dean, who presided, made an ex- ceedingly impartial chairman; and the result was, a resolution that at a future conference deputations should be invited to attend to state the views of the League, the Union, and the Manchester Committee-the latter being an organization which seeks to combine the principles of the two former. In the beginning of December a man entered the shop of Mr Leadbeater, watchmaker, Wrexham, and asked for a watch which he had left to be repaired, at the same time pointing to one worth five guineas. Mr Leadbeater unsuspectingly delivered the watch, and subsequently discovered that he had been cheated. The case was put in the hands of P.C. Jones of the Rhos, who has found the swindler in the person of Thomas Ridgway, a moulder, now lying in Flnt Gaol to await his trial on a charge of stealing boots. The death is announced of the Rev. James Hawley, rec- tor of Norton, Kent, youngest son of Henry, first baronet, by his second wife Anne, eldest daughter of William Humphreys, Esq., of Llwyn, county of Montgomery. The reverend gentleman was born in 1791, and married, in 1831, Henrietta Margaretta, eldest daughter of the late Peter Pegus, Esq. The rectory of Norton, near Favers- ham, thus rendered vacant, is of the value of £306; popu- lation, 124. The Bishop of Worcester is the patron. The adjourned inquest on the bodies of the two persons who lost their lives in the explosion at Brynmawr, one of them being the youth who took a lighted candle into the store of his master's shop, where blasting powder was kept, took place on Friday. The jury returned a verdict of Accidental death," and appended a long presentment, in which it was stated that the consumption of gunpowder in Brynmawr was from ten to fiteen tons a month, and that there was no supervision of the dealers so as to ensure the public safety. A farmer named Hayward, residing on the Acton Bur- nell estate, was returning from Shrewsbury market on the 15th ult., being "excited by drink" at the time, when he fell in with John Diar, an Irish labourer Residing at the same place. After awhile they quarreled and went into a field to fight, and there, according to Hayward's statement, Diar pushed him down, kicked him till he became insen- sible, and then left him. When he was medically exam- ined it was found that two ribs and a small bone of the breast were dislocated. Diar has been arrested and remanded, Hayward's life having been declared to be in danger. A recent number of the Daily News contained the follow- ing:- With reference to the Van Mining Company (Limited), the following official communication was this day posted up in the Stock Exchange, and contributed to cause a fresh rise of about 49 in the shares:- The Van Mining Company (Limited) Office, 9, Union-court, Old Broad-street, London, E.C., Jan. 29, 1870. Sir,—I am instructed by the directors to inform that, having regard to the future of this mine, they have deemed it important to have the same thoroughly inspected by two experienced mining engineers. The report of one has this morning been received, and is of a most satisfactory character; the other is expected on Monday. As soon as these reports can be printed, a copy will be sent to each shareholder. I am, sir, yours very obediently, To M. Slaughter, Esq. W. J. LAVINGTON, Secretary, Between eight and nine on Thursday morning week a plumber and glazier named John Thomas, working for Mr R. Conway, Llandudno, was engaged in attending to a skylight upon the roof of a house in Gloddaeth-crescent, Llandudno, when his foot slipped, owing to the slipperi- ness of the roof from hoar frost. He fell over, a height of at least fifty feet, but in his fall descended upon a large bay window, and from thence he was precipitated to the hard ground below. When picked up and removed home it was found that the unfortunate man had fractured both his legs below the knee, that he had broken several ribs, was injured internally, and had sustained serious injury to the spine. Medical aid was promptly rendered Thomas, who was perfectly conscious all through, but late on Thursday night he sank and expired. Deceased was a young married man, and leaves a widow and babe desti- tute, for whom much sympathy is felt. Subject to the approval of the inspector, the important link of railway completing the communication between Silverdale and the important towns comprising the Potteries, will be opened for traffic next week. Silverdale is an important mineral district, the prosperity of which will be further increased by a more complete development of the mines, the deeper portion of which, west of Silver- dale, have not yet been touched. This additional means of intercommunication will lead to still further activity, by means of the outlet it will afford to the West and South of England, by means of the Great Western lines from Market Drayton, Shrewsbury, and Crewe. Accommoda- tion branches have already been made to and through the collieries, particularly that of the Leycett and Crewe company, who have spent large sums in new machinery, and in improving and opening their shafts, so as to reach the third and lower series of coal, for which this rich field is remarkable. The Engineer says that the difficulties experienced in sinking to the coal in the new district near to Wrexham has been of a truly formidable character, and most dis- heartening. In February, 1864, the Wrexham Colliery Company, Limited, broke ground, and commenced sink- ing, but it was not until about a fortnight ago that the coal was reached, so that nearly six years have been occu- pied in sinking to a depth of 200 yards. That, however, is only the upper bed, or, as it is locally termed, the "douggy seam," being about 7ft. 6in. thick, whilst the company purpose sinking down to the main coal (before getting the former), which, it is expected, will be reached at a still further depth of 100 yards. The entire cost of sinking and machinery, &c., up to the present time has been from R90,000 to £ 100,000. As showing the difficulties which had to be encountered, it may be stated that the water accumulated to. such an extent that it had to be got out at the rate of 6,500,000 gallons every twenty-four hours, and although the pumping apparatus was of the most powerful character, yet the water so mastered it that the work had to be suspended several times, on one occa- sion for no less than five months. The apparatus consisted of three 18in. bucket lifts and a 23in. plunging lift, with a direct-acting engine working a 15in. lift in No. 1 pit. There are also an 80in. Cornish beam engine, a 48|in. direct-acting pumping engine, two 30in. horizontal engines, and a 22!in. high-pressure beam engine, with ten boilers 30ft. by 6ft. There is now every prospect of the colliery turning out highly successful and fully repaying those who have so long been looking forward to return of the very large capital expended. The Lichfield Diocesan Church, Calendar, which has just, been published, contains a list of the clergy of the diocese, with the net income of each, and the population of the various parishes or ecclesiastical districts in the diocese, which list presents some curious inequalities as to the stipends of the clergy. There are in the diocese 58 livings each worth B500 and upwards a year there are 86 rectors or vicars whose income from the church (not including chaplaincies to workhouses, hospitals, &c.) is £100 each per annum or under and 12 of them do not exceed 250 a year. The income of the clergyman at Betton Strange, Salop, is returned at £ 31, and the population under his spiritual guidance (according to the census of 1861) is set down at 70. The vicar of Hednesford, Staffordshire, is returned as receiving £ 33 a year, and the population of his parish is not stated. The vicar of Dresden, Staffordshire, receives, according to the Calendar, 248 a year, and his parishioners numbered 3,000 in 1861, and are rapidly in- creasing. The rector of Edgmond, Salop, has a living worth P,2,100 a year, and the population of his parish is returned as 1,030. The rector of Stockton, Salop, whose parishioners number 488 receives £1,000 a year for his duties as clergyman. The rector of Stoke-on-Tern, near Market Drayton, and the rector of Aston-on-Trent, Derbyshire, each receives from the church an annual in- come of 2950. the parishioners of the former numbering 1,000 and of the latter 550. The rector of North Wins- field, Derbyshire, and the rector of Hands worth, Stafford- shire, each do duty in a parish containing 2,500 souls, the former reeeiving £1,150 and the latter £ 1,100, while a Derby incumbent receives 260 a year, and his parish con- tains 4,000 souls. There are in the diocese 41 parishes the rectors or vicars of which each receive^ more than £ 1 a head per annum for attending to the spiritual welfare of the parishioners, and in most of those cases the incomes are large. The ecclesiastical district of St. Matthew's, Walsall, contains the largest population of any in the diocese—38,000, and the income of the vicar is 2300 a year. Jfcaffreson's Book about the Clergy" contains the fol- lowing with reference to a former Bishop of St. David's— But of all the anecdotes of martyrology which exemplify the domestic kindliness and parental affcctionateness of the married clergy of Edward the Sixth's time, none have a stronger vein of comedy running through their deep, tragic interests than the records of Bishop Ferrar's (of St. David's) tenderness towards his little boy, whom the prelate used to amuse by whistling him tunes whilst the child lay in his nurse's arms. In proof of the Primate's criminal folly, it was gravely urged against him at his trial, that, to the scandal of relig ion, he thus amused, nr endeavoured to amuse, his helpless infant. In reply to the charge# respecting (his labial music, snd the circumstance of his child's baptism, tne bishop replied nr writing" To the List, he saith that, after lawful prayer, it pleased God to give him a son begotten and born in honest marriage, whom he therefore called Samuel, presenting him to the minister to be received into Christ's Church as a poor member of Christ. By the holy sacrament of baptism was this done openly in the cathedral church, with earnest gravity, and without offending any man; and also two wives, being before at variance, desired both to be godmothers, which they both received to make unity between them, not knowing any law to the contrary, nor any offence con- ceived of the people. To the Llld. he said, that he doth use with gravity all honest-loving entertainment of his child, to encourage him hereafter willingly, at his father's mouth, to receive wholesome doctrine of the true fear and love of God and saith, that he hath whistled to his child, but saith not that the child understood it; and that he hath answered to one that found fault with it, as it is contained in the article." But the brave old prelate—who, born under Henry the Seventh, had been a loyal servant to that king's son and grandson, and was bentOh serVhigQueen Mary, 'truly, withhisheart and word'—had committed the'héinous offence of marriage, and would not con- form to Cath61ic:requirements to the extent of putting away his wife, though most of the married clergy preserved their lives by timely submission <u this point tJ the Church's orders. To the Bishop of Winchester's exclamation, 'You made a profession to live without a wife 'the-pretate -on trial replied in words, which show the evasion by which married priests in Catholic times « justified to their consciences their ireach of canonical law, No, my" lord, if it like your honour, that did I never j I made pro- fessioei to live cht.te-itot withorit aivife.' This answer was enou-,ii,to secure the condemnation of'the prisoner, %Yho in due cours<?,\wa« burnt in the aaaarket place of Caermarthen. —— iTi-a rr r i rr ^—TT-Ti n Mf Aifehetoh Smith has a fine doftectktil of wild animals at vaenol, and has just erected a spacious building for them. Shrewsbury School boys are getting on. The Bishop- nominate of Manchester was educated there, under Dr Bfctler. A few days ago a fortune-teller called at a tradesman's house, at Wellington, and induced the cook to give her a sovereign to wrap in a handkerchief for a charm. The handkerchief was duly returned to the girl, with instruc- tions not to open it for a few days, in order that the charm might have time to work. The woman also obtained a number of garments, for the purpose of performing some operations in connection with the cook's planet, and, having levied contributions upon the housemaid, took her departure. The curiosity, or suspicion of the girls in- duced them to open the handkerchief soon, and they found two farthings, in the place of the sovereign, and also a few beads and pieces of card. The fortune-teller has been arrested. A curious confusion of ideas is manifested in the follow- ing conversation between Mr Moses Benson, magistrate, and Mr Walker, solicitor, at Church Stretton police court. The case was one in which a man charged a driver with injuring him by negligence, and Mr Walker, who appeared for the defendant, was contending that there was no negligence. We are afraid it will be obvious that, although Mr Benson accused Mr Walker of talking nonsense about right and left," it was the magistrate who was really guilty of that offence.— Mr Walker—The defendant saw the man, and at once called out to him, naturally expecting he would go out of the way; in- stead of which, however, he took no notice, and the defendant again shouted to him, when, instead of going to the left of the road out of the way, he actually turned to the right, and the left shaft struck him on his right side as the defendant was pulling his horse to the right side of the road to evade him- Mr Benson—Impossible, Mr Walker. Mr Walker—It is not impossible, sir; this is the very manner in which the accident occurred. Mr Benson-Don't talk such nonsense, How could the left shaft strike him on his right side ? Mr Walker-Very easily, sir; the right shaft could not strike him. Mr Benson (warmly)—Yes it could, if he was on the right side of the road. Walker—Pardon me, sir; the right shaft would then strike him on his left side. Mr Benson (excitedly)—No it would not. How could the man be thrown on the right side of the road if the left shaft struck him ? I tell you the left shaft could not strike him. You are showing a little temper, Mr Walker. Mr Walker—Well, however that may be, the defendant was driving past the complainant on the right hand side of the road. Mr Benson—Then he'd no business to be. Mr Walker-I thought that was customary. Mr Benson—It's neither customary nor according to the law of the case. Mr Walker-I am not aware that there are any statutory pro- visions on the subject. Mr Benson-Yes, there are. (To the clerk)—Refer to them. The Clerk then read a section from the Turnpike Act, which set forth that when two vehicles ran in opposite directions on the turnpike-road, the drivers were required to drive to the left- hand side of the road. JJr Benson—Now I hope you ara satisfied. f ^l?eF—^es> sir, but that is a case where two vehicles meet. This is a very different case. The man was in advance, going in the same direction, and we wanted to pass him on the right side. Mr Benson—Then you had no business to do so. Mr Walker-But supposing you were driving, and had to over- take a vehicle in advance, would you not pass on the right side? Mr Pemberton-That is a different case. This is a foot passenger, and the right side of the road was his proper place. Mr Walker—I think what applies to a vehicle applies also to foot passengers. Mr Benson—Now stop it, Mr Walker; we'll have no more of it. After a few more words Mr Walker did stop it," and the defendant was fined 5s., and costs.

SHOCKING TRAGEDY NEAR NEW YORK. MURDER OF AN ENGLISH EMIGRANT. The New York Herald, of the 3rd ult., gives an account of one of the most atrocious murders ever committed. One of the victims, Mr Alfred Rendall, will be remem- bered by numbers in the neighbourhood of Kington and Hay, as well as in Hereford. Mr Rendall was articled to a solicitor at Kington, and having completed his term was duly admitted, and commenced to practise at Hay. He afterwards abandoned the profession of the law, and applied himself to farming, occupying for some time the Pipton Farm, near Glasbury. Sleepy Hollow, where the tragedy took place, a spot immortalized by Washington Irving, is situated about two miles to the north and west of Tarry Town, and commands a magnificent view of the Hudson river. The pastoral lands are owned and tilled by the numerous farmers whose comfortable dwellings dot the hill-sides, and the valleys impress the beholder with ideas of primitive simplicity and industry. Isaac Van Wart Buckhout, the man who has imbrued his hands with the blood of his wife and that of two of his neighbours, is the son of a farmer, and lived with his wife iii a story and a half' cottage, situate on the upper Siig Sing road, at the place above named. The neighbours award Buckhout the credit of being a quiet, orderly citizen, but his home, and she whom he had sworn to cherish were at intervals saddened by his fondness for intoxicating liquors. At a distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile from Buckhout's dwelling lived Alfred Rendall, an Englishman, who did business as a wine importer and insurance broker, in Pine-street, New York, owning the farm on which he resided, and which adjoined the property of Buckhout. Rendall was in the habit of going to and returning from the city daily, and the two families have always been excellent neighbours, Buckhout frequentlyseeking counsel of Rendall on business matters and the latter as often assisting him, not only with advice, but in a pecuniary way. With Charles Rendall, the son of the man named, and who is about twenty-three years of age, Buckhont was equally intimate, the two being constant companions while hunting, fishing, or enjoying other rural pastimes. On Christmas Day Buckhout and his wife dmed with Rendall and his family, and after the .festival had been heartily enjoyed by the.guests and their hosts, Buckhout requested that Rendall, his son, and the youngest daughter should partake of his hospitality on New. Year's Day. When Saturday morning arrived the daughter, it appears, had other matters to occupy her attention, and abandoned the idea of visiting. Young Rendall also seemed disin- clined to leave the parental roof, but his father urged him, saying that Buckhout was low-spirited, and they would go and cheer him up for an hour or two before dinner. This was about half-past ten a.m., and a few minutes later Mr Rendall, accompanied by his son, was seen by some neighbours entering the residence of Buckhout, and what followed can only be gleaned from the appearance of the premises as they were found shortly afterwards. Not more than ten minutes had elapsed after the Rsn- 1 dalls were seen to enter the fatal house, when Mrs Francis Weeks, living near Buckhout, heard two reports from the discharge ef a gun, in quick succession; but she at first 7 ■' 1. paid no attention to the matter. Her womanly curiosity" prevailed in a shorttime, and she proceeded towards the house, meeting Buckhout, who passed without speaking. On entering the open door a terrible scene presented itself to the woman s hornfied vision, and she fled in terror fronf tne spot, borne other persons who were near caught the %n<k01i g°mJp fcThe h?use> discovered the dreadfvd Son ™ trage(V- *n sitting-room Alfred Ren- Sl v Seated ,on a chair> Us crossed, dead, surrounded by a pool of blood, his neck having received a murderous charge of buckshot, which separ- ated the carotid artery, and divided the spinal chord, ^T^Stan deatk The deceased still held in his hand a portion of a goblet out of which he had been dnnking cider. And it is thought than when he S saw Buckhout point the weapon at him, he instantly raised Protect himself, and the shot striking tLs car- ried away the upper part of it. Lying bleeding and1 Cfoarfes>RendaU Wi aPartment was found riabt tlS^ v,^t ?gieceived a terrible wound in the right temple, which had penetrated the eye and carried away a portion of the face. In the kitchen adioi™w £ T sitting-room Mrs Buckhout lay apparently dead, her skull smashed in m a sickening manner by blows from a ^iT the stock of which lay in splinters around the ill-ffted. room Having emptied both chambers of a double- C^Vnt^the h*61*9 o{ the Recalls, itd £ Xi b?K entered the kitchen, and, having bfa stock of the gun to fragments on the head of his wife, struck her again with the barrels, ainTn'nrr the ha™TVf £ ? triggers into her brain. She expired shortly after being discovered. Charles Rendall at^mre- had surgical attention, but he was still insensible last evening, and it was thought impossible heoSl«Lvive i gAftpr t injuries being considered of a fatal nature. After leaving the house Buckton walked about a mile to the dweUing of Ira Miller, made T confess^ and requested to be taken to Tarry Town as he fbl Town, and gave him into the custodv of pSS?Sd Lawrence, who took him to W?ute Mr Rendall was about fifty-five years of age, and was esteemed by a numerous circle of friends. His bodv was removed to his late residence yesterday afSrriooT Tht W b were also conveyed to'Sing Smg by her afflicted relatives. No motive has yet X advanced for the assassination, and the general impression appears to be| that Buckhout was labouring under a fit of inanity when he perpetrated the shocking deed T. The decased, Mr Rendall, was uncle to Mr R H Barrett, station master, Wem. He came o^r to this country m July, 1868, and was visiting his nephew at Wem, for a fortnight at that time. p ew, at

CURRENTE CALAMO. A j* (From the Oswestry Advertizer.) Acccording to the John Bull, great changes in the con- stitution of the yeomanry are in contemplation Every regiment with less than four troops is to be suvvressU and in no case is there to be a second heutenant-co W1 or +v £ JOr' Ihe are b« extended from seven days to thirty, and every regiment is to be converted into mounted nfles, like the present East Kent. Our con- temporary thinks it would be more honest to suppress the yeomanry at once as that will be the practical rSt of these changes. Now thirty days' continuous S may not be possible, but the John Bull, very likely has^iot obtained accurate information. It is probablJ'that the effident^odv tortinUe to emcient body. Some of our readers may dislike the prospect-but English ratepayers, as a rule! will hardl? object t° a proposal that the public money, if used at all shall be used to some good purpose. The conservative journals may cry out—but the country, if it wants to pay government. WiU haVC t0 Upset Mr G1*dstoL'* The Peterborough Advertiser has done us the honour of devoting a leading article to our defence of Welshmen from the charges of stupidity and vindictiveness andin- Seee8f £ J?^pinion that our Welsh countrymen are not free from these evils because we only explain away instances which it gave in a former numbe/of cuS decisions of jurymen and a case of threatened aSarian violence. Our method of explaining away was this We t°t0 the threatening letter business, and, whilst admitting that our juries were not immaculate, we pointed wiles wereaconcwSf •pr0Cefdin°s in the law courts of Wales were conducted in a, langu e t e jurors did not understand. Then we resorted to the tu quoque argument, and gave some instances of extraordinary conduct on the part of English j urymen who did understand^ lan JiSt spoken by the judge and counsel. All we claimed^ for Welshmen was an average understanding with Enrfish- Eurone^' "R it 7 WT tbe best educated people in \v i v,' I contemporary, not content with putting the Welsh down very low indeed in the scale of nations in the illustrations he had already given, adds one other and says:— It is impossible for us, writing in Peterborough, to underestimate the intellectual status oi a race which has given our city its Whalley!" This is a facer, but how the blow rebounds! If Wales has bv accident produced a Whalley, Peterborough has thrice chosen him, by large majorities, to be its representative" in the Imperial Parliament!" ?l £ TS t° be a radiea1 °f the radicals, and* this is why he inclined to Col, Tottenham, and washed his hands of Mr Holland in Merionethshire—" Mr Holland is reported to have stated that he will not vote for the disestabUshment of the church in Wales:" therefore Mr Whalley WTil none of him. What Mr Holland really said Tuf^wr n the Propriety of such a motion as- Mr Watkm Williams's. Mr Osborne Morgan, we believe, holds the same views on this question as Mr Holland, and so do all the advanced liberal M.P.'s in the Princi- pality except Mr Watkin Williams. These are, of course all unsound liberals, and their faith is not to be accepted by the great hberai party. Then Mr Holland has de- clared that he will support the policy of Mr Gladstones so have nine-tenths of the liberal party in the House of Commons; not so Mr Whalley, because "if that policy consists, 9A has been stated, in conciliating and satisfying in the priesthood of Ireland, the result must be that no Pro- testant or loyal man will be allowed to live in that. • • •" A fearful state of things, truly; why didn t Mr Whalley, as a magistrate," go boldly into Merionethshire, and tell this to the infatuated Protestants there who, by a majority of 647, returned so dangerous a, man as Mr Holland for their representative The only ?.rt us,isin .tIie thought that perhaps, after all, Mr Whalley may be mistaken, for we do remember a time when he was said to have held different views on the dis- establishment question, at any rate. Some half-dozen years ago it was stated in our columns that Mr Whalley (when he stepped into the shoes of that estimable old tory gentleman, the late Mr Spooner), was challenged by a clergyman, because he, the self-appointed groom to the- Protestant religion, had attended a meeting of the then much-condemned Anti-State Church Society, and the- member for Peterborough was said to have escaped from this difficulty by writing to the clergyman the following reply I have now come to the conclusion, which I first expressed, that the Church is really our hope alike against Infidelity and Popery, and most earnestly do I pray that I may never again find reason to waver in my- confidence and veneration for the church of my childhood:" Mr Whalley never denied writing this letter, as far as we know; so, by the light of Mr Whalley's first expressedr opinions, afterwards altered and again endorsed Mr Holland's views and the position of Merionethshire may not be so fearful as we were at first led to imagine. Are we living faster than we used to do ? I mean we in little towns like Oswestry. Time was when the even- ing lamps were lighted soon after four o'clock in the- darkest months, and we went to bed at eleven or twelve. Our habits and our gas bills tallied, and we knew where we ware. But now-judging by our gas bills-if we don't light the candle at both ends, by doing a few hours' work in the early morning, and Nature has not altered her hour of twilight, our time for retiring must have been altered from eleven and twelve (p.m.) to three or four (a.m.) If your readers doubt this, let them look at their gas bills for the quarter ending Dec. 31st, 1869, and they will find that in nearly every instance they have paid more than they did in the corresponding quarter of 1868. If their hours have not been altered, and they have not lived faster, per- haps some of your readers will account for this singular fact. The Daily Telegraph jokes about the slanders of the Standard, and perhaps the best way to treat the utter- ances of that most vituperative of all journals is to laugh at them-if we can. But is it not rather hard to expect- the dissenting ministers only to regard it as a jest, when their good name is traduced almost every day before the eyes of numbers of their clerical brethren in England ? We, who know how ludicrous it is to talk of the Welsh preachers' "howling damnation at the squires," can afford to laugh; but then there are people, we suppose,, who believe all this stuff, or it would never be written, and the ministers can hardly be asked to enjoy the fun- The Standard, however, is defeating itself by its violence- Here is the latest specimen- We should not have drawn attention to this well-merited ex- posure of the traducer, but that it throws a light on the tactic* which are in vogue amongst the Welsh radicals of the day, and on the degree of credibility that is to be attached to the stories of landlord tyranny that are being raked up right and left, to convince the Welsh electors that their only real friends are the dissenting ministers, who howl damnation at the squires frof!1 their pulpits, and the radical M P.'s who faintly echo their senti- ments—in Welsh—at public meetings. Mr Morgan Lloyd, we suppose, is the "radical M.P.'s'* to whom our contemporary refers; and since the truth oi a story is quite immaterial to our contemporary, it ig hardly worth while explaining, perhaps, that the Welsh members almost exclusively confine themselves to the English language in their speeches, and that Mr-Lloyd, so far from being several "M.P.'s" rolled into one, has not yet secured a seat in the House.

There is a story of a witness in a court of law who called to attest to a person's insanity. "I know heS mad," said the witness, -'because the poor fellow imagine3 himself to be.the prophet Jeremiah." "Do yon consider that to be a proof of mental derangement?" asked the ex- amining counsel "I should rather thjnk so," confidently replied the witness, '"seeing that T myself am the prophet Jeremiah." On the 28th, the inquest upon the remains of the un fortunate persons who were killed in Liverpool on Sunday night, was resumed before the eosoner of that borough* One witness stated that the misconduct of a drunke man first led to the panic. It was added that the voic which was heard to call out fire" was that of a boy^ The school was lighted with gas, and, according to t evidence.jthere were no candles burning, at the time £ he disaster. The jury found that tk.e deceased perso died fr«m suffocation in a panic, the result of brawn » by a drunken man named Nevin, and by a person known crying fire The widening of the north-w door of the chapel was recommended. J