The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-01 00:00:00

THE FENIAN TRIALS.

DUBLIN, TUUDAY NIGHT.
At the special commission to-day, Mr. Butt,
Mr. Dowse, and Mr. O'Loghlen addressed the
jury on the part of the prisoners Burke and Doran.
The Solicitor-General replied, and the court ad-
journed until to-morrow, when the Chief Justice
will charge the jury.

EVANGELICAL ALLiaatot.—Last evening t 4
friends of the Anaralied Allienee held a *air* at thil
Freemasons'-hall. Having partaken of tea and coffee, the
company assembled in the large room, where the chair wse
taken by Lord nary, who was supported by the Hon. A.
Kinnaird, M.P., the Rev. Canon Battersby, the Rev. G.
A. Rogers, the Rev. B. Gregory, the Rev. G. Kies, from
India, &c. A hymn having been sung, the Rev. Canon
Battersby read a portion of Scripture, after which prayer
was offered up by the Rev. Mr. Wormicott. The chairman
delivered an address, in the course of which he asserted his
adherence to the principles upon which the society bad
been founded. He referred to the room which had been
opened at the Paris Exhibition for religious worship in
unison with the views of the Alliance, and congratulated
his hearers on the success with which it had been already
attended. The Rev. Mr. Rogers said he believed in unity,
but not in uniformity. Nature was consistent in its unity,
but there was no uniformity in nature. We had our
plains and our valleys, but we had also our rocks and,
mountains. People were too fond of talking of their reli-
gious views, not with regard to the points on which they
agreed, but to those on which they differed, and the ob-
jeat of the society waa to promote a union of Christians
who should agree to differ upon minor points. The Rev.
Mr. Kies gave many anecdotes from his experience as •
missionary in India, illustrating the concord in that
country amongst the missionaries of different denomina-
I tons. The Rev. Benjamin Gregory and other gentlemen
addressed the meeting, after which the proceedings ter.
minuted.

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CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. —Last evening the Lord
Mayor presided at the anniversary of this society, which
woo established in 1772, under the patronage of the Rev.
J. Wesley, for visiting and preaching the gospel in work-
Mork lodging-houses, asylums, rooms, and the open air.
The annual report gave a satisfactory account of the ope-
rations of the society during the past year. It stated that
during that period there had been 6,558 services and 7,524
addresses, the number of hearers, including the attend-
are at open air meetings being 410,670. The number of
of tracts distributed had been no ler than 410,670. His ,
lordship, before the motion in favour of the adop-
tion of the report was put, took the opportu-
nity of making a few remarks in reference to the
working of the society. He said that notwithstanding
the provision which was made in the metropolis for the ,
spiritual and temporal wants of the poor, the Christian
community was alone in the work in which it was engaged. '
In London, where there was a great deal of vice and
human misery, and where large numbers of persons were
in consequence a kind of incubus on society, an institution
which sent its agents to the homes of such people, and
administered to their spiritual wants, conferred advantages
the importance of which could not be exaggerated. The
visits to lodging-houses, which were the abodes of those
prowling Arabs who were so constantly brought before the
m 'strata', were, in his opinion,productive of much good.
Ad were also' delivered by the Rev. Dr. Burns, the
Rev. T. Peckham, the Rev. J. Glanville, &c., after which
the_proredings terminated.
BRITISH ANTI-TOBACCO SOCIETY. —The fourteenth
nnual meeting of the Anti-Toba or Society was held last
evening in Exeter-hell, Dr. Copland, F.R.S., in the chair.
The report stated that the only perceptible facts in re-
lation to tobacco since the commencement of the society
were that the shops for its sale and the quantity con.
sumed had largely increased. Tobacco was permanently
injurious to the human system—it was destroying the
French and Germans, and would, if its use were persisted
in, ultimately ruin the Anglo-Saxon race. The noxious
weed was described as • " Satan-pleasing scourge." Dr.
Copland said he could endorse every word of the report.
In the course of his practice he had had abundant evidence
of the noxious influence of tobacco. He had seen persons
who bad killed themselves by smoking. Mr. Smith moved
the adoption of the report, which was seconded by Mr. S.
Thatcher, and passed. Di. Edmunds enlarged upon the
narcotic properties of the weed, and was followed by other
spakers. The proceedings terminated with • vote of
thanks to the chairman.
Tit s E ran Nu Dmvsan'Srul KR. —A special meeting
of the general comtnitteeand delegatesof the Engine-driver-
and Firemen's United Society was held yesterday at Ander.
ton's Hotel,Fleet-street, to consider the present position of
the strike on the North Eastern Railway, and the propriety
of recommending a general strike of the drivers and firemen
on all the other lines of railwaT until the North Eastern
directors had conceded the claims of their late employes.
The various delegates having given in their reports as to
the state of feeling amongst their constituents, a long and
animated discussion ensued, lasting throughout the day
and until a late hour lest night. The whole subject, in
all its bearings, was well and carefully discussed, and the
following were the resolutions agreed upon :—" That the
information before this committee of the inefficient way in
which the traffic is worked on the North Eastern Railway,
and the loss and waste of property incurred thereby,
induces them to believe that the company cannot much
longer continue to contest ; they therefore advise the men
to hold out for the present. and assure them of every
assistance the society can tender them." " That the com-
mittee deem it unadvisable, in the present stage of the
contest, to ask the men on other lines to withdraw from
their employment." The remainder of the sitting was
occupied in arranging the necessary measures for the effi-
cient support of the men on strike, and in defending theme
men who, convicted before the magistrates, had appealed
to • higher court against the *melanoma.