The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

and he informed the director. The prisoner, on being
charged with the criminal design on her child, at first
indignantly denied it, but afterwards confessed the
fact, and stated that she had intended to kill herself
afterwards. At her trial her general brutal treatment
of the infant being established, the jury found her
guilty, with extenuating circumstances, and she waa
sentenced to ten years' penal servitude.
MIMIC Wen.—During the late meeting at
Berlin of the Society for Giving Aid to Sick and
Wounded in Time of War, the Prussian army had a
grand manoeuvre. In this they imitated exactly an
actual field of battle. Men were supposed to be killed
and wounded, and were borne off the field. The ambu-
lances were all equipped as for war, and the army sur-
geons were on duty and watching over the carriage of
the wounded men, as if the field of battle were a real
one. To test the medical arrangements the number
of men supposed to be wounded was made greater than
would actually be the case, and wounds of all kinds
were supposed to be inflicted. Every wounded man
was attended to on the field, and the probability is
that the medical department was harder worked for
the time than even at Koniggratz. At any rate, they
received a most instructive lesson, which it would be
most useful for us to repeat sometimes at Aldershot.
CROSS-CLIPPING.—Tbe following memorandum
has been issued to all the medical officers in the army
With a view to remove all misapprehension regarding the
medical treatment of soldiers while in the service, or about
to be invalided, it is to be clearly, understood by every
medical officer in the army that no measures are to be resorted
to in any else with any other view than the treatment of the
malady. The measures adopted must be such only as would
be bad recourse toil similar cases by physicians and surgeons
practising iu civil life.—T. G. LOGAN, Director-Ueneral.
THE EMIGRATION FROM LIVERPOOL. —The great
exodus still continuee from Liverpool, and the number
of steamships which sailed from Liverpool during the
past week was seven. The foreigners again mustered
in full force, and eclipsed in numbers the emigrants
from all other ports. The English were also above the
Irish in numbers, and the Scotch emigrants, as is gene-
rally the ease, were the minority. It is the general
opinion of the most experienced emigration officers in
Liverpool that the exodus during the half-year ending
June will be the largest on record from Liverpool.
SEA BIRDS (to be carefully preserved).—The
Flying Squadron.—Punch.
BOXING AND DIPLOMACY—The telegraph Con-
veys to us the melancholy news that "the French
ambassador has had his face slapped by a high Chinese
official at Pekin," upon which the Pall Mall Gazelle
remarks :

France may be assured of our sympathy at the insult thus
offered to her representative but, in the midst of our Indig-
nation, we cannot but feel that possibly good may arise out of
evil, and that this slap may be the commencement of a new
order of things May we not learn a lesson from a barbarous
nation? flow much blood and treasure would be saved if
two manly representatives of different nations, when argil-
meats were exhausted, were to strip sad have it out, then
awl there, without the intervention of fleets and armies !
We should only require foreign ministers with plenty of bone
and muscle and good staying power. We fear it would
necessitate the use of boxing-gloves by the Civil Service Com-
missioners when examining candidates for diplomatic ap-
pointments, hut they are zealous public servants, and the last
men in the world to shrink from ally addition to their duties,
however Inconvenient and unpleasant, it the interests of the
service required it

LORD AMBERLEY AND MR. BRIGHT.— (From the
Court Journal) .
' ' " • '

The following story has been in circulation at the clubs
apropos of Lord Russell's outburst Lot week, and having ,
reference to the time at which he first began to coquette '
socially and personally with Mr. Bright, so many years aso
that it may be new to some of our readers. When Mr.
Bright was first asked to dine In Chesham-place, he arrived of
course in very good time, and so early that he found himself
alone in the drawing room. Ile was soon joined by Viscount
Amberley, then an ingenuous boy, who, after surveying the
stranger curiously, put the question, "Are you the Quaker
gentleman that was to conic to dinner 4" Yes, my dear,"
was the reply, "why do you ask?" " Because," was the
innocent rejoinder, "papa and mamma were wondering how
you would behave" '• Papa " has now had ample oppor-
tunities of discovering how "the Quaker gentleman" would
behave, and seems at last to have conic to the conclusion
that Mr. Bright is a little out of place in an English Cabinet.
AN ETE TO BUSINESS !—The Englah grave-
yards yield some curious fragments in the way of
epitaphs, but we have never yet met with such a mar.
yellows combination of business and pathos as is con-
tained in the following obituary notice, culled from a
Spanish journal :
TIM mortimr our Saviour summoned away the jeweller
Piebald Illnat.ta from his shop to another and a better
world. The undertigned, his widow, will weep upon his
tomb, as will also his two daughters, Hilda and Emma. the
P wince of whom is married, and the latter is open to an
offer. The funeral will take place to-morrow—llls discon-
solate Widow, VERONIQUE MEM/03)1.-1'EL This bereave-
ment will not interrupt our business, which will be car, led
on as usual, only our place of business will be removed from
No. 3, Tent de Teienturiers, to No. 4, Rue de 3lissionnaire,
as our grasping landlord has raised our rent."
MURDER BY • MANIAC—In Main-street, Glas-
gow, the other night, James M•Breardy, a dyer, in a
fit of insanity murdered his youngest child, a girl aged
three years, by cutting her throat. The head was com-
pletely severed from the body. He then ran to the top
of the house arid threw himself from the window, and
was lying on the ground insensible when his wife, who
' had gone out shopping, returned and discovered the
frightful tragedy. Wllreardy was taken to the hos-
pital, where he lies in is hopeless state. He had shewn
SOME aberration of mind for several days past.
"THE DOUBLE EVENT.”—Twins !—Padet.
SINOULAR ACCIDENT AT ABTLET'S THEATRE.—
A singular accident occurred at Astley'a Theatre dur-
ing the performance of the "Battle of 'Waterloo." In
one of the scenes Napoleon, accompanied by his staff,
rides on to the stage. On this occasion an aide-de-
camp's horse suddenly became restive and unmanage-
able. It pranced about the state, then backed on to
the footlights' which he smashed, and finally fell back-
wards into the orchestra, throwing his rider and
creating considerable alarm among the occupants of the
stalls. The musicians tried to escape from the dan-
gerous proximity of their unwelcome and unexpected
visitant; but one had his collar-bone broken, and had
to be conveyed to the hospital. The damage done to
the instruments was considerable. Violins, violincelios,
flutes, and flageolets were broken to atoms, and the
music was torn and scattered in every direction. The
horse was with some difficulty extricated, after a delay
of about twenty minutes.

FATAL DETEL.—Two Belgian officers, Captains
J. and D., recently quarrelled, and one slapped the
other. A meeting with pistols consequently took
place. Two shots were exchanged without result. At
the third fire Captain 1). was shot in the arm. In the
fourth round the pistol of Captain D. missed fire.
Captain J. hail not yet fired his shit. The seconds
pressed him to wing his opponent, but tie preferred to
give Captain I). another chance, and therefore fired
into the air. The pistols were now re-loaded, and the
parties placed at twenty-five paces distance, with the
option of advancing five steps beforefiriog. Captain 1). I
was the first to fire, and lodged his bullet in his anta-
gonist's head, inflicting a mortal wound. The ball of
the latter carried off part of Captain D's whiskers.
OCR FEATIIERED FRIENDS.—The usefulness of
small birds as destroyers of insects is thoroughly re-
cognised by the Saxon Government, as is shown by a
curious scene witnessed last week on the market-place
at Dresden. A body ot police suddenly made their
appearance, and, without any previous warning, seized
all the cages containing singing birds exposed for sale
and released their inmates. A decree has also been
issued, forbidding, under penalty of a fine' the killing
or trapping of these useful songsters, and containing
especially severe regulations with regard to birdnest-
ing. In France, notwithstanding all the efforts of
Government, the slaughter still continues. At a
rook-shooting party last week in the Bois de Boulogne
no less than 5,0(.0 of these useful birds were destroyed,
though at the very time the trees were swarming with
caterpillars.
EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF DROWNING.—AR
inquest has been held in London, by Dr. Lankester,
respecting the death of Robert Parkinson, aged forty-
two, who was found in a cistern, containing only a
depth of seven inches of water. From the evidence of
the wife, it appeared that the deceased was a chimney
sweep, a water-drinker, who had never spent a penny
in any kind of alcoholic drink. The other morning
he rose at five o'clock, taking a pitcher out of the bed-
room to fill it with water. At a quarter to seven she
went into the yard, and saw the empty pitcher. She
made an unsuccessful search for her husband, and re-
turning to the yard, saw her husband's feet sticking
out of the top of the cistern. Assistance was pro net
when it was found that the deceased was head fore-
most in the cistern, containing only seven inches of
water, and the lid or flap resting on the lower part cf
his legs. The medical gentleman called in said he
had been dead about two hours. The jury being satis-
fied that it was not a case of suicide, as had been sup-
posed, returned a verdict of Accidental Death.
NEW READING OF SHAKESPEARE.—Varions are
the readings of Shakespeare, and many are the
blunders of his printers. Of the latter we have this
amusing instance, says a New York paper :
' In Cymbalisc, where Orden serenades Imogen, he says :
"It is a vice in her ears, which horse-hairs and cat guts • "
can never amend." In the handy volume of " Shakespeare "
lately published In London, the passage is thus given : "A
voice in tier ear which horse-hair and calf's-gut • • • can
never amend."

LORD SOMERVILLE AN AUSTRALIAN COLONIST.
—" The mail from England, which arrived here in
January," (says the Sydney Morning Herald),
"brought news of the accidental death of Lord Somer-
ville. The title has thus descended than Australian colo-
nist, who returns to England by the next mail steamer.
The present Lord Somerville has been for some
time a resident of Port Macquarie, where he has been
engaged in the formation of one of the largest sugar
plantations in that district. We understand that his
recently-acquired honours will not induce him to sever
his connection with the colony; but that after arrang-
ing his affairs in England be will return to watch the
development of the new industry, of which he has been
one A the most practical advocates."
THE Two DEANS.—A good story is afloat,
(says The Rock) for the truth and accuracy of which we
can vouch. A certain Dean, of known Evangelical
opinions, was complimenting a brother Dean, as
famous for his Broad Church notions, upon the im-
provements he had introduced in his cathedral.
"Really," said he, " Mr. Dean, it is quite miracu-
lous ! " "Not at all," replied the former; "I assure
you it was produced by natural causes." "Ah !" re.
plied the orthodox Dean, " the world says that is
the way by which you account for all miracles "—a
hard hit!

A STRANGE DELT7SION.-011 Sunday morning,
Mr. Gray, owner of the steam wherry at Jarrow, en
going down to remove it from the quay, was surprised
to find an Irishman lying completely undressed on the
deck. On rousing him, it transpired that the man had
got insensibly drunk on the previous night, and while
in that condition had undressed himself on the quay,
laying his coat in one direction, his trousers in another,
his boots and stockings carefully away somewhere else,
and so on, And then put himself to bed on the hard
boards of the wherry. When aroused, the Irishman
could only find a portion of his clothes—his waistcoat
and necktie, Sin., being missing.
CONSPIRACY TO MURDER.—A trial for attempted
murder has taken place before the Court of Amines
of Gaen, France. The accused were a young married
woman named Deshayes, wife of a small farmer, and
their servant, a young man of 18, named Gagneur ;
the intended victim was the husband of the female
prisoner. The woman, whose morals were of the tamest

charactsr, had first taken Gagneur as her paramour, I
and then, under the promise of buying him off from mili.
tary service and marrying him when she should be a
widow, had persuaded him to shoot her husband as the
latter was returning home at night, she providing the
I gun, powder, and shot for the purpose. The husband,
however, escsped with some rather severe wounds, and
at since suspected his wife and the man with being the
authors of the crime ; they were both arrested, and
ended by mutually accusing each other. Being found
guilty, the wife was now condemned to 20 years' hard
labour, and the male prisoner to 12 years' of the same

punieliment.
How TO DIE.—A man named William Fitch,
a provision dealer, was brought up at a London police-
court the other day, charged with bigamy. It ap-
peared on examination that everybody had been
married to everybody else, and that nobody s marriage
was legal, so the accused was discharged, whereupon
his first wife, who brought the action apparently
5s be-
cause her alimony of . a week was not p i aid, n a
transport of wrath, cried out, 'You are a very wicked
man, and will die in your shoes!" On this the Spec-
tator remarks :-- _

The notion that it is proper to die in bed, so proper that
to die dressed is shocking, seems to be universal in England.
The angry wife only said what we all say in the Litany every
Sunday, when we pray to be delivered from battle, murder,
and sudden death. Is the wish merely the conventional
one to die in the most respectable way, or jolt a relic of the
old notion thct the Almighty cannot work a ruled-three
sum, that sudden death diminishes the spiritual chances a
slow death would have allowed?

SAD ACCIDENT TO A WEDDING PARTT.-011
Saturday, a sad accident happened to a wedding party
from Bacup, when passing through Accrington. The
party was live in number, including the newly-married
couple, named Hargreaves, the bridesmaid and best
man, and were in a cab. When about a mile from Ac-
crington the horse took fright, and sped along at a
terrible rate, the road being a steep decline. Just as
it enters the town the road takes a curve, and the
driver, a young man, did his best to turn the horse but
could not. It ran against the corner of a shop, break-
ing several windows, and then against a wall, a por-
tion of which it knocked down. The driver was
pitched over it several yards on to the top of a cote.
Ile was picked up insensible. The man was very
badly injured about the face and head. The cab was
smashed to pieces, and of the parties inside the marrieu
couple escaped unhurt.
BIRTH OF "SIAMESE TWINB."—A remarkable
birth of united twins has taken place in London. The
children were the daughters of the wife of a respectable
mechanic, an Englishwonian, aged twenty-three, who
has been married twelve months. She was always a
person of a nervous and excitable temperament, and
these were her first children. They were born without
life. Their appearance was very singular. They were
united by a band of flesh and cartilege five inches in
breadth, and extending from the upper Fart of the
chest to the naveL They were fully developed, and
their united weight was SAlb. One was sixteen inches
long, and the other was half an inch taller. Each
child had all her external and internal organs com-
plete. The circulation was carried on through one
umbelical cord. Each child was perfect in itself, and
they presented the appearance of having been joined
together while embracing each other. Dr. Rogers,
who attended the mother of the twins in her confine-
ment, has had photographs taken of the children, and
he has alio had the bodies preserved in spirits. The
mother is doing well, and likely to make a good re-
covery. [The parents of the twins wish their names
and address to be suppressed.]
- -

-
EDUCATION IN LIVERPOOL.— A public meeting,
pre-ided over by the Bishop of Chester, and influen-
tially and numerously attended by clergymen and
gentlemen of all denominations interested in education,
was held in Liverpool on Monday afternoon, for the
purpose of forming an Education Aid Society, similar
to those which have been so successful in Manchester,
. . . . .

.........--- -- —..— .... ,
Birmingham, and Nottingham. The object of the
society is the asdsting of poor parents to obtain educa.
tion for their children in any schools on the society's
.. .... . . . . . . .. , . , . ,

Resolutions in furthWance of the end for which

iri;meeiin-;;;;;-ci-iiiie-cl;;;;;—;;i:ipted, amendments in
favour of Scriptural instruction, and separate funds
for different religious bodies being negatived by a large
majority.
Antic:AN EXPLORATION.—Miss Alexandre Tinne,
the Dutch lady who became so well known a few years
ago as an African explorer, has according to letters
received at Malta from Tripoli, reached Mourzonk in
safety, and was awaiting the Chief of the Tarouks to
escort her and her numerous retinue to the starting
pnst of the annual caravan for Soudan. Miss Tinne

recently imported into Barbary a velocipede of the
latest Parisian manufacture ; but finding it not adapted
for the sands of the Great Desert, she presented it to
the l'asha of Tripoli.
ALLEGED CENTENARIANS.— Mr. Wm. J. Thom,
in a letter to The Times on the errors made in regard
to the age of people, says :
Baptismal certificates alone are among the most fruitful
tom-erect error in these matters. Witness the well-known
case of Mrs. Mary Billinge, whose death at the advanced age
of 112 was reported to The Times by an eminent medical
man ..f Liverpool, who stated that the fact had been mtab-
lbheil to the satisfaction of the Board of Health there by
the production of her baptismal certiflmte. Subsequent in-
quiries, pursued with great ingenuity and perseverance by an
accomplisned gentleman of Liverpool, satisfactorily esta-
blished the fact that such baptismal certificate referred to
some other Mary Billinge, and not to the supposed Cen-
tenarian, who was eventually proved, on the most satisfactory
evidence, to have been at the time of her death not 112, but
in her 91st year. In this acid in all similar instances, just in
proportion an the caoe is exceptional, so the evidence by
which it is sought to establish it must be complete, conchs-
Mae, and with no missing link.
[Mrs. Billings is interred in the Smithdown.lane Ceme-
tery. and on her monument her age is stated at 112
years 6 months.]
CHARACTER OF A PRINCE.—The following " cer-
tificate " of the progress made by the present Em-
peror Louis Napoleon in 1821-2, when he was a boy at
the College of St. Anne, at Augsburg, will be read
with interest :

No. 21, Prince Charles Louis Napoleon, son of the Due de St.
Lea of Rome ; born at Furls; belonging to the Catholic re-
ligion ; aged fourteen years and five months. lie is gifted
with many good qualities, in the development of which he has
laboured with mach zeal, lie has made good progress in
the German language, In Latin. and in arithmetic ; pretty
good in Greek and in history ; in general, therefore, con-
siderable progress. His quiet manner towards his fellow-
pupils Is deserving of all praise, as also is the respect and
gratefulness with which be has accepted even disagreeable
tasks. lie has the twenty-fourth place ; the difficulties of
the German language, of which he is not yet master, have
prevented him from obtaining a higher rank. Besides, he
is publicly commended, and he can pass into a Buy erior
class.
The certificate for the previous six months is much the
same ; but to it is added a remark to the effect that
"this pupil possesses an ardent feeling for all that is
elevated, good, and beautiful; and he would have
made great progress if illness had not several times
prevented him from attending the clans."
A BABIES' CLOAK Room—The managers of the
Royal Alfred Theatre have resolved on the exclusion
of all children under five years old front the theatre.
For the reception of such children, while their mothers
are at the play, a babies' cloak room has been esta-
blished in one of the large rooms at the theatre. The
charge is twopence for each baby; and nurses, feeding
bottles, milk, and all the necessary etceteras of a
nursery are provided for that sum.—[Would it not be
better for these mothers to stay at home']
LIABILITY OF RAILWAY COMPANIES,—AII im-
portant point affecting the liability of railway com-
panies was decided in the Court of Queen's Bench on
Saturday. A gentleman had booked himself for con-
veyance on the South Eastern Railway to Paris, and
his luggage was lost on the other side of the water.
The question was, whether the company was liable for
for the loss of that luggage after it had been duly de-
livered to the French company. The jury had found
a verdict for the plaintiff, subject to the question of
law, and a rule nibi had been obtained under this re-
servation to enter a verdict for the defendants. The
court unanimously gave judgment for the railway com-
pany, on the ground that the plaintiff, having accepted
the conditions printed on his ticket, that the South
Eastern authorities would not be responsible for the
default or negligence of any but their own servants,
was not entitled to recover.
TIME AND SPACE.—A Malta paper records the
following :
- - -

On Tuesday morning, soon after 8 o'clock Am., a telegram
arrived from the Admiralty ordering the Caledonia and the
Lord Warden to repair immediately to Gibraltar, to turn
ever there to the Revenge. At eleven o'clock am., an answer
was telegraphed back to Whitehall pointing out the status
quo of the two ships. At 6.30 p.m., the same day, their lord-
ship's reply arrived, rescinding their order of the morning.
WORK FOR THE DIVORCE COURT.—The Divorce
Court sat on Saturday for the first time in Trinity
Term. In the cause list for the term there is a total of
161 cases. Of this number 25 are suitz for judicial
separation, four for restitution of conjugal rights, four
for nullity of marriage, and the remainder for divorce.
Twenty-two of these cases, including four of the suits
for judicial separation, are put down for trial by
special juries, and 15 by common juries. The rest are
for trial by the court itself, without juries. Among
the latter class is the case of "Vivian v. Vivian and the
Marquis of Waterford," but as it stands 103 on the
list there in little chance of its being reached during
the present sittings. On the probate list there are 35
cases. Of these 18 are to be tried by the court itself,
one by a common jury, and 16 by special juries.
Among these is the case of " Tichbourne v. Tich-
bourne," which is a suit in which the gentleman who
is claiming the Tichhourne estates as heir to his father
sues for letters of administration to the estate of his
mother, who died Borne time ago in Paris, and also the
celebrated CAA9 of "Faulkner v. Smith," in which the
testator is alleged to have contracted bigamous mar-
riages, and where his son by the first wife now disputes
his will. In the divorce list there is a decrease in the
number of cases as compared with the number in the
list for last term, which was 174, but there is an in-
crease in the number of suite for julicial separation,
which are increasing every term.
SIX STEAMBOATS BORNED.—A despatch dated
Cincinnati, May 12, and published in the New York
papers, says :
The most destructive steamboat fire that ever occurred in
this city raved tins mornirg at the landings of the New
Orleans and Memphis packet companies. The fire broke out
in the steamer Clifton, and extended to the Wedmoreland,
Melnotte, and Mary Erwin above, and to the Cheyenne and
Darling below. The six boats were soon enveloped in flames.
The hulls of the 111•Inetle and Darling may be used again;
the others are a total loss. The fire originated in the cham-
bermaid's room on the Clifton, by the upsetting of a coal-oil
lamp. Fourteen kegs of iunpowder on the Cheyenne ex-
ploded and scsttered the flames to the Wontnwreland. There
were 200 barrels of coal oil on the Cheyenne, and 25 barrels
on the We4atorelarul. The loss of freight was 100.000 dots,
which is nearly all insured. The total loss is 235,000 dole.
THE LADY AND THE LACE.—The Figaro re-
lates the following incident :
lime. X—, an elegantly dressed lady, entered one of the
emporiums of fashion the day before yesterday, and re-
quested to see some Valenciennes lace, but after some time,
not finding any to suit her, withdrew without making any
purchase. She had, however, been observed by one of the
shopmen to slip a piece of the goods under her shawl.
Nevertheless, she returned home as it were unnoticed, but
on reaching the door of her house, was accosted by a
niessenger, who handed her a small parcel and a letter
which was thua worded " Madame.—l am afraid that the
fifteen yards of lace which you selected in my shop will not
be sufficient to trim our tress; I therefore take the liberty
of sending you a second piece of the same pattern. I beg to
be informed whether you acceht it." The signature
was that of the master of the establishment. It is needless
to say that the lady was only too glad to escape, by prompt
payment for the whole, from &owe very unpleasant con.
11141101101/

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Tipperary journals mention that numerous
threatening notices are sun being sent to landlords in that
district.
-

We (United Service Gazette) have reason to believe
that a high official is shortly about to retire from his con-
nection with the Patriotic Fund.
The New York papers contain long accounts of the
festivities which took place along the Pacific Railroad, to
celebrate the completion of the hue, on the 10th inst. the
Ist spike was driven into the last red at Promontory Point.
Utah, and the fact was at once made known by telegraph all
over the country.
- -

The French Derby was run last Sunday. Count
Lagrange's horse Consul won easily by two lengths. Fourteen
horses took part in the race.
- - - - •

The Mona Herold states on authority that there is
no. truth in the report of the Queen's intention to visit the

Isle of Mau.

Mr. Logan a Scotchman, poisoned himself with
laudanum, in Ramsey, isle of Man, and died on the following
day at the Royal Hotel, ills said he had been rejected by a
young lady in Scotland.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland have adopted an
address to the Queen, in winch they travel once more over
the old grown', and declare that the maintenance oi the
Protestant religion is of the essence of the Constitution.
Admiral Hastings died at his residence, near Wor-
cester, on Friday morning, after a brief illness. The deceased
admiral was held in very high eateem.
The committee of HarnpAiire magistrates, to whom
the duty of selecting candidates for the vacant p,st if
governor of the county prison has been referred, have decided
to disqualify all bachelors.
It its stated that the Pope has given M. Gonna,'
three commissions---the composition of a roue, a national
song, and an oratorio. The last must be in thi ee parts, end
lie written for three choirs—a terrestrial hoir upon the
stage, an infernal chorus below it, and a celestial choir upon
the scenes.
- • • -

The Dublin. Gar, tie of Saturday contains a letter, con-
veying the Queen's commands to the Lord Lieutenant to
ex press her Majesty's deep gratification at the warm-hearted
reception given to Prince Arthur in Ireland.
A French fanner has found that the addition of a
quantity of hops to the fodder of his cows produces a large
increase in the production of milk.
It is stated in a report just presented to Parliament
that the fortifications of the dockyards have cost £6,060 000,
and will cost another million : that they are, on the whole,
good works, and that they may be trusted to resist the latest
improvements is artillery.
Dr. Rives, of Prince George County, Virginia,
whilst passing out of his house with hie gun on his shoulder,
wa, called back by his wife He turned suddenly in answer
to her voice, and in turning accidentally struck the gun
against the doorpost with such free as to cause its discharge.
The entire load entered the holy of Mrs. Rives, causing
almost instant death. The pair had only been married a
few days.
The Irish "National" journals of the past week
are comparatively tame. The Weekly News eays "If the
Lords pass the Church Bill, it is well if they reject it, bet-
ter still." In the latter event, "it cannot be pretended that
the claims of Ireland are likely to obtain fair consideration
at St. Stephen's. Let the Lords, then, do their worst; the
people of Ireland are prepared."
• • •

- •
The editor of the New York Sun having been recently
arrested, he gave the deputy sheriff who arrested him a
first-rate notice. He is described as a "perfect gentleman,"
aid the notice concludes, " We cordially recommend Mr.
',Mocker to all persons who wish to be arrested."

An old bachelor was lately murdered in Arkansas,
and his murderer was acquitted on the ground that the de-
ceased was a " useless animal."

On Saturday, a young woman named Ann Harrison,
In the service of a farmer, residing near shetheld, was com-
mitted tor trial to the assizes, on the charge of having wil-
fully murdered her newborn child.

An Inquest haa been held at Manchester, touching
the death of Frances Ann Jelly, daughter of George Jelly,
aged thirteen years, who was drowned In the Rochdale
Canal, on the previous day. It appeared from the evidence
that the deceased left her own house in a passion saying she
would go and drown herself, and shortly afterwards she was
found in the canal. The jury returned an open verdict.

By way of proof that property is not depreciated in
value in Tipperary, it is mentioned that a nobleman has just
purchased a demesne on the banks of the Suir for £30,000.
which was bought fourteen years ago for £17,000, and had
been in the interval resold for £24,500.

•
Monday, the 24th, wan the fiftieth anniversary of the
Queen's birthday. At Windsor, the principal streets of the
Royal borough were gaily decorated with gags, the bells ot
St. George's Chapel and the parish church were rung at
intervals throughout the day, and at noon a Royal salute of
21 guns was tired from the Long Walk. Royal salutes were
also fired from Fort lielvedete and the Royal Adelaide
frigate on Virginia Water —The Prince of Wales has been to
Sandringhani to view the progress of the very extensive im-
provements which are being made there.
• •

A New York physician reports a curious case of a
dog, which has just died, having fresh blood passed into the
carotid. The dead animal was revived, stood on his feet,
wagged his tail, and lived over twelve bouts, when he died
agsm.
The other evening, a gentleman named Mandeville,
who was staying at the "Great llotel,” Tremor°, opened a
window on the third story, and, walking deliberately out,
fell a distance of over 30 feet, and received such injuries that
be has since died. At the inquest the jury found, in accord-
ance with the evidence of his brother, that he committed the
act while tan state of somnambulism
_

About 1.200 persona attended the Presbyterian
meeting in the Tontine-room. Armaith, on Monday, to pe-
tition against the Church till. Dr. Cumming presided. De-
solutions were parsed condemning the bill.

Civita Vecc na has just been lighted with gas, but
there are still in the Papal States only two towns, Rome and
Civita Vecchia, that have abandoned the old oil lamp ; and
even in these last gas has only been introilnced into the aria
tocratic quarters. At Velletri, Viterbo, Frosinone, Ac., the
streets me still lighted with oil, and by candles burning
before the images of the Madona.

The Earl of Sandwich. and his tenants in Limerick

are at variance. Ilia lordship has announced his intention
of selling certain of his estates, and some forty of his tenants
protest against his determination as one likely to cause them
great inconvenirnce, and as having been formed because of
their inability to pay the exorbitant rents demanded if them
They conclude by suggesting that Government might try the
experiment of a peasant proprietary 7 purc using the pro-
perty of Lord Sandwich

-.--
From the New York papers of the 13th instant, we
learn that some excitement had been camed In New York
and Washington by the publication, in the former city on the
previous day, of a cable telegram, stating that an eff.,rt was
biing made to form an alliance between England, France,
and Spain against the United States, on account of its foreign
policy. The news was, however, pretty generally dis-
credited,
Mr. Br'ght has prohibited smoking by Government
officials during office hours.
An attempt was made to hold a mass meeting at
Cork, last Sunday, to denounce the ex-Mayor, but only thirty
persons attended, and the project was abandoned.
- -

- -
A young gentleman, heir to extensive property in
(lare, attempted suicide the other night in consequence of
his family declining to sanction his marriage with a domestic
servant. He fired a pistol at his breast, and the ball took
effect in his left arm.
Mr. Elbridge Gerry, an otherwise forgotten Gover-
nor of Massachusetts, has had the honour of contributing a
word to the rich amt eccentric political vocabulary of
America. "Gerrymandering" is in the United States a term
of art. It consists in the manipulation of constituencies so
as to ensure a majority for the party in whose favour the
operation takes place.
Chief Justice Chase has ruled that the United
States Government cannot collect income-tax from foreigners
who hold its bonds, and that the sums already collected must
be refunded. The New Fork 7'imes says that the Internal
Revenue department is preparing to carry out thin decision,
and that It will ievolve the reimbursement of several hun-
dred thousand dollars.
A love-smitten swain recently sent some verses to a
Milwaukee paper, and they were headed, '' I kissed her reit
rose" They appeared as "I kissed her snub flora." The
young lady did not much admire the poetical genius of her
inamorata.
A duel was fought on Sunday at the Ile de Croissy,
near St. Germain, between NI. Baudeuf, the Secretary of
Location of Haiti, and M. Lenormand de Villeneuve, nephew
of the Secretary. General of the Minister of Justice. Shots
were exchanged without effect, and then the seconds declared
'honour satisfied," and the affair ended.
The public debt of the United States amounts to
£500,000,000, and as the interest carried by it is nearly six
per cent ' it follows that the yearly charge is little short of
£00.000,005. Actually it amounted last year to about
£29500,000 After tour years ,d peace, the army and navy
of the Americans cost them £21,050,000.
The Emperor Napoleon, on hearing of the catas-
trophe at the coal-pits of Firming, where fifteen persons
lost their lives, sent off £l6O as a first contribution, to be
distributed amongst the families of the victims.
At the annual meeting of the Royal Agricultural
Society on Saturday, the Duke of Devonshire was selected as
the President for the ensuing year.
Mr. Roswell Sabine Ripley, late a general in the
Confederate army, and the man who, according to his own
statement, fired the first shot of the war from Fort Sumter,
received his discharge in the London Court of Bankruptcy
on Monday. His liabilities are stated at £36,020, covered by
securities valued at over £50,000.
The huge Blue-bunk just issued upon local taxation
In England and Wales shows that it now amounts to 161 per
cent, upon the annual roteable value of the country, and
: 15 per cent upon the gross estimated rental. The total DOW
amounts to £16,660,459, or nearly double the cost of the civil
administration of the United Kingdom, Of this enormous
sum the poor-rate is £11,061,502.
Three men have been arrested at Queenstown for
having illegally practised drilling. The police had ordered
them to desiat, but instead of doing so, they made an attack
upon the constabulary. The latter, having been reinforced,
returned the charge, and succeeded in capturing three of
their assailants.
A singular defence to an action has been made in
the Court of Common Pleas. A nifiliner sued for the balance
of an account, when the defendant pleaded that she was a
bad character to the knowledge of the plaintiff, who hail
supplied her with goods to enable her to carry on her call-
ing. The plaintiff denied these allegations, and the jury re-
turned a verdict in her favour.
At a hook sale a few days back, at the Paris Auction
Mart, a " Rabelais," quarto, which at the Brunet auction sold
for 3 7001 r., fetched 4,110 tr.
We regret to learn that the favourable statements
which have recently been in circulation respecting the
Bishop of Salisleiry's health, have giveo too hopeful a view
of his lordship's condition. Ills true that the bishop has re-
covered from the extremely critical condition in which he
was three weeks ago, but he has by no means reached that
point at which we may look for a speedy recovery.
"It is rumoured that it is the intention of the Queen
very largely to contribute towards the income of the Prince
of Wales for the future out of her Majesty s private purse, in
order to aid his Royal Highness in supporting esti& court
gaiety. Those who have been aomewhat clamorous on this
score will doubtless hear this annomicemeni with gratifica-
tion. The addition to the Prince's income will, we believe,
be £50,000 a year.—Court Journal.
During a concert held in London, recently, when the
organist was exhibiting the full power of the instrunient, a
lady was enthusiastically conversine with a neighbour about
her household arrangements She suited the tones of her
voice to those of the organ, but reckoned without her host
this time. The organ st made a sudden transition from
" fortissimo " to "pianissimo," without giving the lady
warning ; consequently the audience were somewhat amused
at being informed by her in a shout, that we fried ours In
butter !"
"Mr. Sumner, when he was in this country, was the
toady of every man of title who would take noi ice of him,
and, on his return to America during the war he never
desisted from secret insinuations that Mr. Seward was a
sworn forts England, and that he ;Sumner) alone kept the
peace between the two countries. Now, to gratify his
inordinate self love and conceit, he excites Ms countrymen to
regard urns enemies with whom, at an early and favourable
moment, they are to proceed to direct, instead of suppressed
warfare."—.4 nay end Nary Gazelle.
" William.—l promise, without reserve, all you
require You may have the most perfect confidence. Money
duly received.-11. ' Royalty—Any one giving infor-
mation which shall lead to the discovery of the Writer of an
anonymous letter, signed ' Royalty,' and addressed to •
lady, Saturday last, 15th inst. shall received a reward of £5O,
on ai plication to Mr. Poilaky, private Inquiry-office.
13, Paddington-green."—" The Lady Spiritealist, who for-
warded an anonymous letter to A 15., k S., S. W., is in-
formed that it has entirely failed in effect, having been
shown to the gentleman whose name wu,uaerl in so unwar-
rantable a manuer."—lrrem .beasatiou Column 111 ma
Times