The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-07 00:00:00

THE DREADFUL TRAGEDY AT BUCKHURST-

HILL.

EXAMINATION OF THE PRISONER (THIS DAY

WALTHAM ABBEY, TUraDAT.
This morning, at a little after eight o'clock,
the prisoner, Frederick Alexander Watkins, was
conveyed from Ilford Gaol to Waltham Abbey
police court. The prisoner was brought by the Wanatead
and Chingford road, and the journey was over 14
miles. The accused was handcuffed, and he was in the
custody of Mr. Stringer, the governor of the gaol.
At 10 minutes to 11 o'clock this forenoon Mr. Davies, the
chairman of the bench of magistrates, took his seat.
Mr. Abrams—l appear as before on behalf of the prisoner,
and I presume as the prosecutrix is not well enough to
give evidence today the accused will be remanded after
the evidence of Dr. Horne has been taken as to the state
of the young girL
Clerk—Will you tell us how the girl is progressing
Dr. Horne—She was progressing favourably up to Fri-
day last, when serious lead symptoms supervened, and
since Sunday another change has taken place, and she is
now better.
Mr. Abrams—Do you now think that the chance of
danger is over ?
Dr. Horne—l cannot go so 'far as to say that she is
entirely out of danger, but I think that if things go on
favourably she will be out of danger next Tuesday.
The bench then remanded the prisoner, and he was then
removed from the bar and taken back to gaol.

EGYPTIAN HALL. —tinder the title of A Man's
Metamorphoses, an entertainment was produced at this
hall lag night which may be shortly described as a ecien-
tifie drama. On a regularly fitted stage two or three little
plays are worked out by the aid of an improvement on
Messrs. Dircka and Pepper's apparatus for producing ghost
effects. Nothing so horribly illegal as spoken dialogue is
heard, the words being supplied by a lecturer, and the
actions, very imperfectly, by the actors. The principal
merit of the performance ilea in the ingenuity with which
persons and things are made to appear and disappear, and
when the machinery gets into smoother working order the
entertainment may probably please that portion of the
public who like theatrical amusements, but object to go to
theatres.

DECLINING INFLUENCE OF CASTE IN INDIA. —That
the advantages of cute privileges and the hardships of
expulsion are beginning to lose their influence over the
more enlightened natives of India, when they stand di-
rectly in the way of moral and intellectual advancement,
is abundantly manifested by the numbers proceeding to
Europe this summer, to visit the Paris Exhibition. By
the mail leaving for Sues on April 3rd, and by the present
mail, there will proceed to Europe two Nudes, two Bhat.
tias, two Bhonsallees, one Punjaubee, one Brahmin from
Guzerat, three Purboos, and four Parthes. The terrors of
excommunication from cute privileges—far more instant
in their action and dread in their effects than the thunder
of Borne—have already been held over the head of the
majority of these ; but they persevere in their intention
notwithstanding.—Tiales of India, April 13.
. _

SINGULAR FATAL ACCIDENT. —An inquest Was
opened at Croydon yesterday on the deaths of two children,
one named Sophia Hawkins, aged five years, and the other
Mary Ann Finn, aged only three years. It appeared that
they were playing in the footpath in Windmill-grove on
Friday, when the wall of • house fell outward, and buried
them under it. They were quite dead when their bodies
were recovered. The house had been let on lease to • car-
penter, who was making such alterations as were necessary
before he could open it, as he intended, for the sale of
beer. He had dug • cellar, and it was alleged that tha al-
terations had so weakened the outer walls as to cause the
accident. The inquest was adjourned.
THE SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY.—" No idea," re-
joins the believer In • spiritual philosophy, " could be
more shallow. Your logic is utterly futile : I refuse to
put my trust in your puny deductive and inductive ma-
chinery. Your pretty system of inference breaks down
when it goes beyond a certain narrow range of things that
you can grasp, see, count up, and put into your pocket.
Why, your logicians can't agree about • simple political
problem, such as the question en what my right to the
ownership of this walking-stick is based ; whether that
right has its root in the nature of things, as the logical
M. fliers maintains ; or, whether it is purely the crea-
ture of law, as the logical Mr. Bentham contends. You
can't agree about the conclusion, for the simple reason
that you do not and cannot agree about the premises. In
spite of yourselves, you all take for grouted some-
thing that ought to be proved ; something that
education or temperament has taught you to regard
as indisputable. Unconsciously you assume this or that ;
then you build up a brave induction ; or apply a beau-
tifully precise syllogism, and your results differ from each
other, just se much as the oolour of your hair or the shade
of your complexion ! If you would give me some guide to
• man's religious, political, or philosophical opinions, don't
tell me he is a capital reasoner ; tell me who were his
father and mother, whether he has had the measles, what
is the girth of his cheat, whether his digestion is good,
whether he stoops or carries his head erect, whether he is
modest or self-conceited, whether he is tuariied or single,
whether he is fonder of claret than of milk-punch,
whether he thinks Plato or Aristotle the bigger man. If
logical inference thus errs in dealing with every-day
matters, how can we take her as • guide when we come to
that mystery of mysteries—a Supreme Maker, a living
principle independent of matter, a life of which death is
but the birth! Were we to do that, we should,
according to our friends the positivists, have to
call the best men who ever appeared on this
earth mistaken if well-meaning fanatics, and to smile
at the beliefs which have cheered the grandest and de-
voutest of our race in the midst of sorrow and of death.
Nay, we should have to say that the half of our nature is
a lie. We should have to say that we had been dowered
with religious instincts which point to ends that have no
existence ; which delude us with promises that shall never
be fulfilled ; which speak of an Almighty Father who
reigns over all things, while in mality there reigns over
all things only an Almighty Force ; which whisper that
after death there comes everlasting life, while in reality
there comes but everlasting sleep. Let positivism be true,
and our existence loses half its beauty, sentiment is dead,
poetry is banished by science, arithmetic takes the place
of religion, and the world becomes so frightfully dull that
we must all take to bard drinking to keep ourselves
awake. No, positivism will not do. It may find fault if
it pleases with the form of Buddhism, Mahometanisrn, and
Christianity. We admit that religious forms must decay,
but the spirit that animates them lives for ever, and age
by age is giving man clearer and clearer hints of the life
which is veiled by the gross covering of material things.
Some generations may doubt that great truth ; for it needs
more than a keen eye to see far ; it needs also a clear
atmosphere. And just as the bodily eye sees farther on
some days than on others, so, in some ages, the intellec-
tual eye pierces deeper than in others into the sphere of
religions and philosophies. Just as a thunder stores or •
mighty wind may clear the air of vapour, and give the W-
aft hills • new sharpness of outline, • new brilliancy of
tint ; so, when an age is stirred by the hurricane of revo-
lution, the distances are seen to be peopled with shapes
that were before bid from sight, and that lived but in the
minds of visionaries. That is what we say to science
when, leaving her proper place, she enter into the temple
of religion and contemptuously calls as dreamers. Yes,
we see dreamers, and into the immortal future none but
dreamers can see !"—Fraser's Magazine for May.

LATEST SPORTING INTELLIGENCE

ASCOT MEETING.-(THIS DAY.)

VISIT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.
ASCOT HEATH, TCZSDAY.

The lovely May weather has drawn together
an unprecedented assemblage of the aristocracy and Elite
of the sporting world. The last spring meeting at Ascot
was, it is believed, far from remunerative to its projectors,
and perhaps the possibility of a meeting of the kind this
year was made known to the public early enough. The
weather at the commencement of the year was not favour-
able to spring meetings, bat the glorious weather now pre-
vailing has completely altered the face of matters. To-day,
although the traffic was of course not so great
as that at the summer meeting, a large number of visitor@
proceeded to the heath, while many reached the vicinity
of the course last evening, remaining at Windsor, Staines,
Egham, and other places for the night. The possibility,
too, of a visit from his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales induced a large ►ttendance.
As usual the South-Western Railway Company carried •
large number of visitors this morning to the Ascot station,
whence in a few minutes they found their way to the
course.

The Great Western was not behind in providing accom-
modation. The constant arrivals and departures at
Vruldsor made the royal borough look extremely lively
while the traffic lasted.

On the heath everything bad been done by the stewards,
Lord Colville, Admiral Roux, the Duke of Ileaufort, and
the Duke of Newcastle, to ensure success, Mr. James Man-
ners, of Newmarket, being the clerk of the course, and Mr.
S. Weatherley, the stakeholder and secretary. There was
• large mass of spectators on the course at the time of
this despatch, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Prince of
Wales and bis suite.

(BT TELEGRAPH.)
TRIAL STAKES. One mile.
Ostreger (not to be sold), Sweet Rome (:001.), Nursery
Girl, and Rhymer (1001. each). All are here.

FIRST SPRING BIENNIA. One mile.

Knight of the Garter, Opoponax, and Friponnier are

BRABANT STAKES. One mile five furlongs.
Taunuslin, Sealskin, Proserpine, Conundrum, N An Am.
burgh, Monitress, Ailesbury, and Mayonnaise f are here.

PLATE OF 100 SOWS. T.Y.C.
Clodhopper, Jack of Clubs, Vandyke, Wild Moor, Monk,
Gordian Knot, Watehbox, Cleopatra, and Cauthleen are
here.

GRAND STAND PLATE. Five furlongs.
Kettleholder, Nutpecker, Humdrum, Manton, Merry
Sunshine's dam c, Dr Vernon, Jenny, La Belle Jeanne,
Peter, Witchcraft, North Marston, Si. to Maid Marian,
Prince George, Lictor, Limner, and Bravado are here.

PATE OF 00. One mile.
Adjutant, Duffer, Lauribelle c, Nursery Girl, Holkar,
Court Card, Topsail c, Gentle Cale, and Watchbox are
bare.

HANDICAP PLATE. Half a mile.
Ostreger, Landlord, Clodhopper, Satyr, Lady Valentine,
King of Spades, Monk, Bessie, Xi, Ammunition, Jack of
Clubs, Vandyke, Haidee, and Secrecy are here.

YORK MEETING.-{THIS DAY.)

CRAVEN STAKES. One mile.
aeter, The Dybbol, Paxton, Honesty, and The

Skipper are here.

ZETLAND STAKES. T.Y.C.
Stella, Lady Alhash, E►a de Vie, Viscount, and Caplets
are here.
GREAT NORTHERN HANDICAP. Two miles.
Rama, Strathoonan, Fitzroy, Hawkeswell, Bracken, and
Policy are here.
STAND PLATE. T.Y.C.
Captain Hogg, Lady Alleash, Verdi, and Lillie c (sold
for 4W.). All are here.
KNAVESMIRE PLATE. Half a mile.
Liberal, Honeatish, Victrese, and Scartb Nitch are here.
UNION HUNT CUP. Two and a half miles.
All horaes engaged in this race are trained in the neigh-
bourhood.

CRICKET.-( THIS DAY.)

GENTLEMEN OF THE M.C.C. r. GROUND
PLAYERS. _ _ .

This match was resumed to-day at half-past 11,
the weather being again delightful. The gentlemen con-
tinued their innings to the bowling of Wootton and Shaw.
Mr. Mitchell played a good innings of 20, in which was
included a fine hit for four. Mr. Tuck also made a similar
hit. The innings concluded just before 1, the total
being 91.
M.C.C.