The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-14 00:00:00

FEARFUL EXPLOSION IN THE COMMISSION

COURT, DUBLIN.—(Twis LAY.)

(11T TELEGRAPH.)

DUBLIN, THU RNDAT.

A fearful explosion took place st the Commis-
sion Court this morning shortly before the court sat. It
is supposed to have been caused by the ewape of gas.
Happily no lives were lost. The roof of the building was
blown off.

The additional party of non-commissioned officers
and sappers of the Royal Engineers, who proceeded from
he.mlquarters, Chatham, on the 12th inst., for Abyssinia,
Included detachments of photographers, teleaaphists,
signallers, well•sinkers, and artisans, the whole of whom
had none thrcibgh • special course of instruction in the
particular service they will be called on to discharge
during the time they have been ►ttached to the Royal
Engineer establishment.

Mr. W. M'Cullagh Torrens, M.P., and Alder-
man Ludt, H.P., addressed their constituents last evening
in Mytidelton-hall, Islington. Mr. H. Spicer was voted to
the chair. A vote of confidence was passed unanimously,
with three eheere for the hon. members.
CONVOCATION.—It is understood that the Houses
of Convocation, which stand adjourned until Wednesday
next, the filth inst., will not proceed to the despatch of
business on that day, but that they wilt be further pro-
rogued until February next.
THE BISHOP or BATH AND WELLS.—We are
glad to be able to contradiot a report in a London paper
that the bishop of this diocese was again seriously ill.
His lordship was present at divine service in his cathedral
at Wells on Sunday last, and on Tuesday, as Archdeacon
Brewne stated at the S.P.G. meeting here, he left
the palace with his family for Weymouth to be out of
the way of fever which had attacked some of his lordship's
servants. We have good authority for adding that the
health of the bishop has decidedly improved.—Batt
Chronicle.

CHURCH-RATES AT TAM soars.—lt may be in the
recollection of our readers that some time ago Mr. James
Redfern, a highly-respectable farmer of Cotou, near Tam-
worth, and one of the temente of Sir Robert Peel, was
summoned before Mr. John Peel, M.P., and Mr. Daniel
Shaw Stewart, for non-payment of 4f. Re. lld., the amount
assessed upon him for church-rates. Mr. Redfern then
gave notice to the bench that he disputed the validity of
the rate and his liability to pay it, but the magistrates
made the order. Mr. Redfern then applied to the queen's
bench fur a rule for a certiorari to quash the order, and
we perceive that, on Thursday kat, Mr. Henry Matthews
(of the Oxford Circuit), instructed by Mr. M. Maher, of
this town, applied for this writ, and that the court has
ordered, in the absence of cause shown to the contrary,
that the rule be made absolute. —Binning/tam Post.
THE FXPECTED DISPLAY OF METEORS.—Whether
there were any meteors this morning, as astronomers an.
pounced would be the case, it is impossible for the inha-
bitants of the metropolis to judge, the sky having been so
dense and murky during the period when they were to
light up the firmanent that no human vision could possibly
penetrate the curtain of mist. About midnight the
prospect of a recurrence of that of last year seemed by
no means hopeless, not only the moon, but half a dozen
stars, king visible; but as morning advanced those
who were on the watch, and numbers no doubt were so,
saw the sky gradually overcast with dull grey clouds, and
all they could do was to picture to themselves what was
passing on the other side. Soon after six o'clock, when
the anticipated spectacle was to have reached its finale,
there was a gentle rainfall, and the weather is still wet.
THE NVALRCS AT THE ZOOLOGICAL GaRDENS.—
The walrus calf lately brought to England, although but
a few days domiciled in the Regent's-park, has already
made himself quite at home in his new quarters. He is a
fine male specimen, but has attained little more than a
third of him natural growth. He occupies the tank or
Qua
d in which the sea beer of unhappy memory used to
during his brief existence. The water supplied to
him is strongly impregnated with salt, and as his cave
or bedroom adjoins, he can, when so minded, avail him-
self of that highly vaunted sanitary arrangement, a cold
salt-water bath before breakfast. He passes the
(riveter portion of his time at the bottom of the tank,
nuns occasionally to inflate his lungs, but he is not curious
so far as strangers are concerned, and does not much care
to quit the water and show himself, mile.' fora consider-
ation. The keepers have christened him " Jemmy," to
which name he responds with extraordinary alacrity, ea he
knows that when he comes to the surface eis usually re-
warded with a few mussels. These he can catch with his
open mouth when thrown to him.

AN HUNOARIAN OUTCAST.—The correspondent
of the Times at Peeth, describing a debate in the Chamber
on the sth inst., and after referring to a speech by a mem-
ber who concluded with an apotheosis of Kossuth, adds,
" Desk himself came forward to listen to the speech, and,
strange enough, another man, who himself contributed not
a little to turn the tide in 1848-49, happened to be present.
He was not down in the house, as might have been ex-
pected, but in the common gallery, leaning with his tall
spare figure against one of the columns. From his high
bald forehead, the spectacles on his eyes, the bushy beard
aid moustache which covered the lower part of his face,
and his careless, rather neglected appearance, you would
have set him down as a German professor, but
you would never have guessed that he was Arthur
G•ney, the once victorious general of the national
Hungarian army. You had to look closer to discover, in
the straight eyebrows and that powerful head, some of the
old strength and of that pitiless energy by which he fuel-
rated, or rather made to yield, everyone he came in coo.
tact with. That man never knew what fear was, yet it
was bold of him to appear there. As Kossuth is the
Popular idol of 184849, Gorgey is the scapegoat. People
who know the history of those times may smile, or more
Probably sneer, at the idea of his being a traitor, who ban
sold his country for Russian or Austrian gold ; but
it will take generations to efface this idea front
the minds of the people ; nay, this idea is almost
necessary to reconcile them to the fact that Hungary could
sot triumph over Austria and Russia combined, for it is
consoling to persuade oneself that it was treason which
led to the catastrophe. With what feelings he must have
Waled to the apotheosis of his old adversary it would
be difficult to say, but no one could look at that great ruin
without feeling sad—the man to whom Hungary owed her
most brilliant success in arms, to see him there as an out-
east, and every moment exposed to some cowardly insult.
The unguarded word of one of the speakers below, or the
petulance of some beardless youth in the gallery, might
have led to a lamentable exhibition. But all went off
quietly. When he left, however, he did not escape mob-
bing. The popular decree has gone forth, and lam afraid
be must henceforth remain a stranger to him own country."