The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-07 00:00:00

THE WEATHER IN SCOTLAND.

On Saturday the intense frost still continued,
and all the lochs in the neighbourhood of the city were
much frequented by skaters during the day. The whole
of Lochend, St. Margaret's, and the greater part of Dun-
'apple is covered with ice in good condition. Only • narrow
stripe of the eastern portion of Duddingsten Loch wag
considered so far safe as to permit of skating. In the
afternoon, a gentleman ventured on a portion of the loch,
near the boat-house, to test its strengtii. He had not
gone above two paces when he was quickly obliged
to retrace his steps, the ice having split up in
all directions with • roar resembling a peal of
thunder. The streets of the city being encrusted with a
glassy coating of ice, sleighs were driven thre.,;ll several
of the thoroughfares of the New Town. The horses at-
tached to them were decorated with silver bells, and the
occupants of the vehicles wrapped, Canadian-like, in furs,
presented a sight seldom witnessed in this locality. The
toe at the Royal Gymnasium was in remarkably good con-
dition, and the ponds were visited during the day by
nearly 1,500 ladies and gentlemen. In the evening several
enthusiastic devotees of the winter sport, determined to
prolong this exhilarating exercise, continued by torchlight
to flit like so many " Will o' the wisp." upon St. Marga-
ret's and Dunsappte till a late hour. Moat of the trains from
the south were considerably behind time,the rails being in
a very slippery condition. Through the breaking of the tire
of a wheel of awargon at Dartmouth, b.'tween Berwick-on-
Tweed and Ayton, a goods troth ran otf the line, blocking
up the road for upwards of two hours. Five of the trucks
were totally destroyed. The London express, due in Edin-
burgh at a quarter to eleven in the forenoon, did not srrivs
at the Waverley-bridge Station till half-past two o'clock
yesterday afternoon. The fast train leaving Carlisle for
Edinburgh at five minutes past two in the afternoon, and
due here at twenty minutes to six o'clock, was an hour
late, the engine having broken down near Oalashiels. The
thermometer on the wall of a warn, building in town regis-
tered 24 deg. Fahr. None of the accounts from the north
show a lower temperature than 21 deg. Keener frost has
not been experienced since the Christina"; of 11400, when
over the greater part of the country the thermometer fell
several degrees below sera—Scotsman.

Mn. East=er Jonas' Levrrns. —Mr. Ernest
Jones on Friday night delivered in the Music-hall, to a
crowded and well-satisfied audience, his reply to Professor
ISlackic's argument against " Democracy," upheld in the
seine place on the previous evening. Starting from the
I ground that democracy " does not mein the rule of a clans
but of a nation—cmbraces all, and tempers one class with
another," Mr. Jones contended that former failures were
no good argument against democratic institutions; and
proceeded at great length to show, frau. the highest his-
torical authorities, that in Greene, Rome, France, Aus-
tralia, and America, "democracy had been the founder
and the saviour of the people's greatness." He vindicated
I the formation and defended the operation of trades
unions ; traced to the influence of the people all the
great humane and liberal measures of the last forty
years ; demanded to know on what ground " this
noble people " was shut out from the constituencies ; and
charged Professor Blackie with having " invented a new
crime- the crime of numbers." He went on to maintain
that manhood suffrage met the very objections of the oppo-
nents of democracy, for it winnowed the chaff from the
corn better than any other mode of qualification, and,
above all, made sure of the good. He cited the purity of
large constituencies like Birmingham and the Tower Ham-
lets in vindication of this view ; urged that immediate re-
form was needed to save the country from the fate of
Rome and medieval France • and quoted the writings of
Mt. Paul and of the Evangelists, against Plato and Aris-
totle, in support of his principle of the equality of all
men in respect of political power. A vote of thanks to
Mr. Jones was moved by Mr. Duncan M'Laren, M.P., who
seized the occasion to say the only nasty thing that has
been said during the controversy—winding up his speech
by the rratmtously ungracious assertion that Mr. Jones
had "completely refuted " his opponent.--Brotnisaa.