The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-14 00:00:00

THE CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA.

At tho monthly meeting of the English Church
Union, held last evening at Freernasoes'-hall, • special
resolution was submitted with reference totbe ecclesiastical
troubles in Natal. The Hon. COLIN LINDSAY, president
of the emanation, was in the chair, and amongst the
audience were Dr. Gray, Metropolitan of Cape Town ;
O Bishop Twells, of the range River Free States ; Mr.
Brett, the Stoke Newington churchwarden ; and other
leading ritualists.
The Rev. Mr. DOUGLAS, who regretted that the sub-
scriptions for the Natal bishopric fund were not greater,
moved :—" That this union deeply sympathises with the
Most Rev. the Metropolitan of South Africa and his co-
provincial bishops, in the troubles they have had to endure
in the defence ofgthe faith in the diocese of Natal; and
would strongly impress upon all churchmen and church-
women the urgent necessity of providing adequate means
for the support of an orthodox bishop in that diatraeted
diocese."

The resolution was seconded by Mr. STEWART, and sup-
ported by the Bishop of CAPETON N.
Other speeches were made, and an appeal for aid towards
the Natal fund, and the meeting separated after the usual
formalities.

VICTOR Htoo AND TER CENSORBRIP.—M. Victor
Hugo having been informed by the manager of the Odeon
Theatre, in Paris, that the performance of Rug Blas had
been interdicted "by superior orders," addressed the
following letter to the Emperor:—" To M. Louis Bona-
parte.--Sir,--I acknowledge to you the reception of the
letter which the director of the Imperial Tbeetre of the
Odeon has written me.—Vicroa Htco, Hauteville-hottee,
December 8, 1847." It appears that the official interdict
was notified on the 2nd December, the 17th anniversary
of the exile of the great French dramatist and poet. So
that now, not only the author but his works are pro-
scribed.

Dr. Daubeny, Fellow of Magdalen College, and
Professor of Botany and Rur►l Economy, died at his resi-
dence at the Botanical-gardens, Orford, on Thursday
might at twelve o'clock, after a severe illness of some
weeks. Dr. Daubeny was 72 years of age, having been
born in 1796. He wag a younger son of the Rev. James
Daubeny, rector of Stratton, in Gloucestershire.
INDIA, CHINA, ♦ND AniTHALIAN MAlLS.—These
mails reached Dover late last night, and were forwarded to
London at 1.40 this morning.

The Council of the Royal Horticultural Society
have just completed their arrangements for next year,
and, following on the success that attended their first pro-
vincial show at Bury St. Edmund's in July last, have re-
solved to hold a grand summer exhibb ion next year at
Leicester, in July, in conjunction with the show of the
Royal AarlculturalSociety. The exhibitions to be held at
the Gardens, South Kensington, next year, are three,
swing shows in March, April, ►nd May ; a great show in
J'unii; and special prize and pelargonium show and rose
show the same month. Mr. W. Paul will make a con-
tinuous show of spring flowers during March, and Messrs.
Lane and Sons alike display in April ; Messrs. Waterer
and Godfrey, a display of rhododendrons, under the great
tent, during the month of June. The fortnightly meetings
and show of new and rare rlonta will be continued
throughout the year. Altogether, the programme cannot
fail to give saUafaction to the fellows of the society.

TERRIBLE FENIAN OUTRAGE

IN
CLERKEN WELL.

ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP THE HOUSE
OF DETENTION.

THREE PERSONS KILLED, AND

FIFTY INJURED.

A Fenian outrage, the enormity of which tran-
scend* by far that at Manchester, was perpetrated
in London yesterday. It had for its object the
liberation of Fenian prisoners, as in the Man-
chester case. It is unnecessary to inform our
readers that Burke and Casey, two noted charac-
ters in Fenian circles, were apprehended a short
time since in London, and that they have been
examined on repeated occasions at the Bow-street'
police court. During this time they have been de- I
tained at the ClerkenwellHouse of Detention, from
which the purpose of the outrage in question was,
it is believed, to release them. In that purpose the
perpetrators were defeated, the Home-olfiee having
had Um* warning of their plot ; but they have
nevertheless done that which will carry their names
—if ever discovered, as is hoped will be the
case—down to, and render them infamous in the
eyes of, posterity. They have, by means of gun-'
powder, destroyed the lives of certainly three in-'
nocent persons, and greatly imperilled the lives of
at least fifty others. The facts were as follows :
At about half-pact 3 o'clock or a quarter to 4 in
the afternoon—the time is variously stated—aloud I
,explosion was heard in the neighbourhood of '
Clerkenwell. Persons who were in Cheapside and
elsewhere in the City also heard it. Various
statesnents immediately found circulation as to the
locality and the cause, but eventually it was ascer-
tained that an attempt had been made to liberate
Burke and Casey from their confinement in the
Clerkenwell House of Detention, and this in the
monk dastardly way, and with very painful results,
the means employed being gunpowder, and the
eilees of the explosion as already stated.
House of Detention is bounded on one side
by rporation-row, the roadway of which, being
earl about 20 feet in breadth, may be said to be
nan4ow. The prison wall on one aide of the road
is akout 25 feet in height, and at the base is 2ft. I
fin. thick, while at the top it is only a brick and
ahalf, or 14 inches. It is entirely composed of
brick and mortar. The surface of the ground on
the prison aide of the wall is from Oft. to 6ft. below
the Olidway on the opposite side. It is used as a
parade or airing-ground for the prisoners, and is
about 100 feet square. Two wings of the
prison building, at right angles to each
other, occupy the second and third sides
of the area, while the fourth side which
is at right angles with Corporation-row, is over-
looked by the backs of houses three or four storeys
high, and which are only separated from the prison
wall by a very narrow passage called Stratton's-
yard. These houses front into Woodbridge-street.
The houses in Corporation-row are three storeys,
and were occupied chiefly by artificers and warden
of the prison. The top front room of one of these
houses had been unoccupied for some time, but
yesterday one of the warden of the prison called
the attention of an officer of the prison named
Moots to a circumstance which he considered
suspicious. The room commanded a full view of
the ;prison-yard, and from its opened window
was leaning a woman with a jug in her hand, and
belitud her were four or five men, all straining to
be as near the window as they could, with the
object apparently of seeing something that was
taking place in the street below. It was five
minutes after this circumstance that the explosion
occurred.

As an ordinary rule, Captain Codd, the governor
of the prison, has been in the habit of exercising
his prisoners in the yard between three and halt-
past four o'clock in the afternoon, but yesterday
he exercised them from a quarter-past nine to a
quarter-past ten o'clock in the morning. This he
did as a precaution. He had been visited on the
preceding evening by Mr. Pownall, the chairman
of the Clerkenwell Sessions, who directed him not
to exercise the prisoners at the ordinary hour.
Mr. Pownall gave this direction in consequence of
a communication he had that afternoon received
from the Home-office, who it would seem had
been apprised of the intention to attempt
the release of Burke, although it can
hardly be supposed that they for a moment
imagined the attempt was to take the dastardly
form it did. But for this timely warning, the pri-
boners would have been exercised at the usual hour,
and the perpetrators of the outrage would have
accomplished their purpose. The governor of the
prison took the further precaution to communicate
with Sir Richard Mayne, who, however, had
already stationed • large body of police outside '
the prison walls. They formed a cordon round the
prison, and had done so night and day for the'
past month. Inside the prison with which Captain
Codd had really only to concern himself, there were
six oreight warden, as an additional force during
Thursday night. From the House of Correction
other six were sent, but Captain Codd dispensed
with them,.thinking they were not necessary.
A boy named John Abbott, 13 years of age, who
is at present a patient in St. Bartholomew's Hospi-
tal, in consequence of an injury to his hand which
he received in the explosion, has made the follow-
ing statement which explains fully the cause of the
explosion :
' I am an errand boy, and lived at 5, Corpora-
tion-lane,
Clerkenwell. About a quarter to 4 I
was standing at Mr. 'Young's door, No. 5, when I H
saw a large barrel close to the wall of the House of
Detention, and a man leave the barrel and cross'
the road. Shortly afterwards he returned with'
a long squib in each hand. One of these he gave
to some boys who were playing in the street, and
the other one he thrust into the barrel. One of
the boys was smoking paper, and he handed the'
man • light, which he applied to the squib. The
man stayed a short time until he saw the squib
begin to burn, and then he ran away. The police-
man ran after him, and when the policeman ar-
rived
opposite No. 5 the thing went off. I didn't
see any more at that time. I was covered with'
bricks and mortar. The man who put the light to
the squib was dressed something like a gentleman.
He had on a brown overcoat and black hat. He
had light hair and whiskers. I should know
him again if I saw him. There was a
white cloth over the barrel. The barrel itself was
black. It was like an ordinary beer barrel. When
the man came out of the court (St. James's-
buildings) he partly uncovered the barrel, but did
not wholly remove the cloth. When I first saw
the thing I thought it was one of those large
baskets which japanners carry on their heads when
they take their work home. There were several
men and women in the street, and children playing.
Three little boys were standing near the barrel at
the time. Some of the people ran after the man
who lighted the squib."
Mrs. Holder, who lived at 4, Corporation-lane,
says she is a widow, and that about half-pant
3 o'clock yesterday afternoon a man knocked at her
door, and upon her son answering he asked to be
allowed to go to the top story of the house, in order
that he might see his cousin and speak to him
when exercising in the yard of the prison. His
application was retused, and he went away. About
10 minutes afterwards the explosion occurred.
Oliver Cromwell Holder, the son of the above, says
he is able to identify the man.
A little girl, who was an invalid, and had been
removed from her bed to the window in one of the
houses overlooking the prison-yard, says she saw
the cask, and thought it was treacle. She ex-