The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 28, 1866.

Mr. T. Hughes, M.P. on the Prosecution Richard then went on to speak of the many dodges M
' Naval and Military
Intelligence.
of Governor Eyre. adopted by the Conservatives to win. Among the
rest was that of bribery. He could assure them he
did not think for one moment that Captain Talbot
was aware of what his underlings were doing.
He was sure he was far too honourable a man
to connive at such practices ; but still he
knew it to be the case, and could prove it, that they
offered one farmer £2O to vote for Talbot. He un-
derstood that Captain Talbot was only coming for-
ward to act as a warming pan for a junior member of
the house of Beresford—Lord Charles Beresford—
(hear, hear, and cheers)—but he was sure Captain
Talbot was too honourable a man and too gallant
an officer to be spared by the service and by his
country for such a use. (Laughter.) He concluded
by proposing Mr. De la Poer as a fit and proper
person to represent the county in Parliament.
Mr. BAGWELL, M.P., seconded the nomination.
The SHERIFF then asked if any gentleman had
another candidate to propose, and there being no

Yesterday a meeting, convened by circular, was
held in the committee room of the Town-hall, Bir-
mingham, for the purpose of hearing an address by
Mr. T. llughes, M.P., with respect to the proposed
prosecution of ex-Governor Eyre by the Jamaica
committee. The Mayor (Mr. G. Dixon) presided,
and the meeting was a large one.

The MAYOR, in opening the proceedings, expressed
his opinion that at present there were two classes
of people in the country. On the one band they
had the Jamaica Committee ; and on the other they
had a class of people who believed that if Governor
Fyre had done wrong he had simply made a mis-
take, and therefore he deserved sympathy instead
of censure. Apart from these there was a class of
people who, though they had read much and thought
deeply on the subject, were yet unwilling to com-
mit themselves to an opinion on the grave legal
questions involved. To this class the Jamaica
Committee appealed, mid for that purpose Mr.
llughes bad been invited to come to Birmingham.
Mr. T. HUGHES, after stating the circumstances
attending the formation of the Jamaica Committee,
said he believed it was owing to the pressure
exercised by them that the Government had
determined to suspend Governor Eyre, pending
the inquiry which was made by the Royal Com-
mission appointed for that purpose. He thought
that report disclosed a frightful state of things,
which made the deliberations of the committee
most serious. But when it became evident that
they must face the probable necessity of placing
Governor Eyre on his trial for having taken away
life, which would, according to the English law, be
murder, many who had previously acted on the
committee withdrew their names. He thought
they had acted in a harsh and unadvised manner,
for nothing personal entered into the matter. It
was not a question of Governor Eyre or Mr.
Gordon, but one involving the most precious birth-
right of Englishmen. The present Government
had refused to take up the matter, and Mr. Disraeli
had given a refusal of the most contumelious kind
to their request, his answer being that such acts
were under martial law, and when martial law was
proclaimed all other laws were suspended. The
committee had determined, therefore, to take up
the matter themselves, and they wished to obtain an
authoritative judgment on the law as it bore upon
the case. Their first position was the English law
as it had been since the great Charter. The sove-
reign had no power to declare martial law in any
of the English dominions, and that being the case
had no authority to delegate it to any representative
of the Crown in any of the British colonies. Mr.
Hughes then gave quotations to show that the law
in this country as founded in the great Charter and
the Petition of Right remained unaltered, and that
it had been declared so by the highest legal
authorities. In Jamaica itself there had been a
Militia Act, which gave authority to establish
martial law, but as he apprehended it was
martial law to be employed only in case of
invasion by a foreign power, for by another
statute passed side by side with that, and re-
newed from time to time, and which was then in
existence, the ordinary civil courts were to remain
open, and to them all civilians were to be brought
to trial for criminal offences. Having referred to the
proceedings in Jamaica, Mr. Hughes appealed to the
country for aid in order that a question involving
in such a great degree the rights and privileges of
their fellow-subjects in all parts of the world might
be set at rest, and expressed his opinion that the
Chief Justice of England would repeat charges of
other chief justices in stating the la iv to be that no
exercising the prerogative, as in this case, could be
made in violation of the law, for he considered the
question was one of law as against prerogative.
A resolution, expressing sympathy with the ob-
jects of the committee, and forming a local com-
mittee, was confirmed, and after a vote of thanks to
the mayor for presiding, the meeting terminated.

answer,

The Hon. Captain TALBOT rose to address the
electors, but was received with a perfect storm of
groans. It was many minutes before he was allowed
to proceed. When quiet had been comparatively
restored he proceeded to say that he regretted that
owing to a trick—an electioneering trick—of his
opponents, the entire duty of answering all that had
been said on the other side devolved on him. By
this trick he had been deprived of the able assist-
ance of the two gentlemen of stake in the country
(Sir R. J. Paul and Captain Pallisser), who had
consented to propose and second him. With
regard to the charge of Fenianism, which had been
made against Mr. De la Poer, he (Captain Talbot)
denied indignantly that he or any of his party ever
had anything to say to the authorship or promulga-
tion of the statement. Neither he nor his party were
in anywise accessory to it. (Cheers and groans.) He
regretted that the hon. baronet who had proposed
Mr. De la Poer had seen fit to make the very serious
charge of bribery against his (the speaker's) party);
but he begged, in the most emphatic and indignant
terms, to repel a charge so gross and unconstitu-
tional. (Cheers and counter cheers.) He begged,
with every respect for Sir R. Musgrave, to say that
charge was a fabrication. (Uproar.) It was got up
for a political purpose, the same as the incident
that made such a serious charge against Mr. De la
Poer had been turned to political ends by Mr. De
la Poer's friends. He would repeat that neither he
nor his friends had anything to say to the unfortu-
nate report which had been circulated respecting
Mr. De la Poer. (No, no, Aye, and groans.)
Neither had they anything to say to the foul charge
of bribery.
Sir It. MUSGRAVE—It can be proved. (Cheers
and uproar.)
Mr. TALBOT continued to say that he would defy
any man to substantiate such a charge against him
or his friends. (Great tumult.) He (Capt. Talbot)
had to deplore the means taken at the other side to
prejudice the mass against us by" stumping" from
town to town, raising up exploded and senseless
party cries to excite the fury of the people against
him and the house of Curraghmore, with which he
had the honour of being closely allied. The Beres-
fords had ever been good resident landlords, and
spent immense sums in the employment of labour and
the improvement of the country. (A Voice—" What
of the pitch-caps and triangles ?") (Groans.) They
had won the affection of their tenantry by their
generosity and kindness to them. (Confusion.)
What had the Whigs, to whom Mr. De la Poer gave
his adherence, ever done for this unfortunate coun-
try during their almost uninterrupted rule of 25
years? They had increased the taxation inordi-
nately. They played with all the great questions,
but never attempted honestly to settle any of them.
The Whigs always claimed to be the friends of the
people, but what had they ever done for them ?
They never seriously grappled with the tenant-
right question, and their late leader (Lord Palmer-
ston) said tenant-right was landlord wrong. (Groans.)
Lord Derby's Land Bill of 1852 is now admitted to
be the best land bill, and the justest ever laid before
Parliament ; but the Whigs defeated the bill, and
drove the Government out of office for their own
selfish party motives. The Lend Lieutenant of the
present Government recently stated, in reply to a
deputation from the city of Waterford, that his Go-
vernment recogkised the deep and growing neces-
sity of dealing with the land question, and that the
Government were preparing a bill on the subject,
which they would submit to Parliament next session.
Would it not be better to give a fair trial to such aGo-
vernment than go back to the old, vicious, mischie-
vous rule of the Whigs ? The true interests of
landlord and tenant were identical, and the con-
duct of men who for pure party motives set
them one against tho other should be stigma-
tised. (Great uproar.) What is beneficial to the
landlord serves the tenant, and what is injurious to
the tenant hurts the landlord. He (Capt. Talbot)
was prepared, if returned to Parliament, to support
any measure of tenant-right which would secure to
the tenant his money laid out on bona fide improve-
ments of land and buildings. He felt it most im-
portant that every facility should be given for grant-
ing leases, and every inducement to landlords to
grant them. (Cheers and counter cheers.) Mr. De
la Poer might call himself an independent member,
but he should side either with Lord Derby or Earl
Russell. The last named Government had done
irreparable injury to the country. (Great noise.)
The speaker having referred at great length to-Whig
rule, and to his own exertions when before in Par-
liament, concluded by asking a generous support,
and announced that his canvass had been so suc-
cessful that he felt confident of victory.
Mr. DE LA poER,
on rising to speak, was received
with great cheering, which was kept up for several
minutes. He said: on quiet being restored, that he
was, in soliciting the sustainment of the Liberal
party, no stranger in birth, property, or kindred,
or political connection. (Great applause.) He
should be false to the traditions of his family if
he were untrue to the great Liberal cause.
(Renewed cheers.) He was
too young a
speaker to enter into a long or elaborate discus-
sion of the great political questions of the
day, and he would, therefore, simply confine him-
self to stating what were his views, in addition to
those contained in his address. He thought the
first and most pressing question of the day was
tenant right. (Cheers.) He thought a fair, com-
prehensive, and equitable adjustment of that ques-
tion would do more than anything else to settle the
disturbed minds of the farmers of Ireland. (Hear,
hear.) It would stimulate the industry of the
farmer when he felt conscious of the certainty of en-
joying the fruits of his toil and capital. (Hear.) It
would largely increase the prosperity, the
capital,
and peace of the country. (Cheers.) A measure
to settle this question fairly, no matter from what
Government it emanated, would have his warmest
support. As to the church establishment, he looked
upon it as an institution that in its present state
was utterly indefensible. It was indefensible that
the church of the minority should monopolise the
entire of the ecclesiastical revenues of the country.
These revenues were originally intended for, and
belonged to, the Catholic Church—(hear, hear)—
and the Catholic Church was still the religion of the
majority. Ireland bad over four millions of
Catholics to about 600,000 Protestants. He (Mr.
De la Poer) thought every church should be self-
supporting. (Cheers.) He was also in favour of
denominational education, and that the members of
each church should be brought up in their own re-
ligion, and have equal opportunities of academical
degrees. While he would, if returned, consider his
chief support to be due to the great Liberal party in
the House of Commons, still he should not hesitate
to give an honest support to every measure that I
would advance, improve, and render the country
more prosperous and happy. (Great cheering.)
The High Sheriff then took a show of hands,
which was enormously in favour of Mr. De la Poer,
and was so declared. -
Captain TALBOT called for a poll, which was fixed
for Saturday Svoatteurodfay thanksnext. t
to the Sheriff' was proposed by Cap-
tain Talbot,
seconded by Mr. De la Poer, and the
meeting separated peacefully.
Several speakers addressed the mob in the even-
ing from Mr. De la Poer's committee rooms. The
excitement is calming down,

THE WATERFORD ELECTION.

(From Saunders's News.)

The election for a knight of the shire to represent
the county of Waterford in the Imperial Parliament
was held in the county Court-house on Wednesday.
The court was densely packed at an early hour with
the friends and supporters of the rival candidates.
At half-past ten o'clock the High Sheriff, Mr.
Robert Thomas Carew, D.L., accompanied by the
Sub-Sheriff, entered the court. He was followed
by the Hon. W. C. Talbot, R.N., conservative can-
didate, accompanied by Sir Robert J. Paul, Bart.,
(proposer), and Captain Palliser (seconder)
and friends; and Mr. Edmund De la Poer (liberal
candidate) accompanied by Sir Richard Musgrave,
Bart. (proposer), and Mr. John Bagwell, M.P.
(seconder), and friends.
The writ having been read a long discussion took
place as to which candidate should be proposed first
when

Mr. J. J. Shee, a supporter of Mr. De la Poer,
rose and proposed the Hon. Captain Talbot in the
following terms :—He said as there appeared to be
a squabble as to which candidate should have the
honour of being proposed first, he would put an end
to it by proposing the Hon. Captain Talbot.
(Groans and cheers.) Ile proposed him, although
he hoped he would not win. (Laughter and cheers.)
It might appear strange to them for him to do so,
but he felt called upon to a'st thus from the turn
affairs had taken. He concluded by proposing the
Hon. Capt. Talbot as a fit and proper person to re-
present the county in Parliament. (Cheers.)
Mr. M. A. ANTHONY, J.P., another supporter of
Mr. de la Poer, seconded the nomination. He said
he bad no idea he would be placed in the position
he then stood in to-day, but when he found the
business of the day was intended to be clogged by
the opposing party, he could not stand by and allow
it when asked to assent. He was about to second
the nomination of the Hon. Mr. Talbot—(hisses)—
who he trusted would be beaten—(groans, cheers,
and counter cheers)—and he also also trusted that
his tongue would fall from his mouth if he gave him
a vote. (Laughter.) The hon. captain was not con-
nected with their county, and he hoped they would
show him what they thought of him when the time
came, by recording their votes in favour of the gal-
lant young Power of Gurteen. He could speak of
Dungarvan only, and he could assure them that there
they would do their duty. They had given example
there in the election of Charley Barry, which it would
be well for them to imitate. He wished to say be
felt constrained to second Capt. Talbot to nzis-re-
present their county, and concluded by formally
seconding the nomination of Capt. Talbot, amid
groans, cheers, &c.

- Sir RICHARD MUSGRAVE then rose, and was re-
ceived with vociferous cheering, which lasted some
time. He said—Mr. High Sheriff and gentlemen
electors of the county of Waterford, I have the
honour to propose Edmund DelaPoer, betterknown
to you as the son of Johnny Power of Gurteen—
(loud cheers)—.as a fit and proper person to repre-
sent you in Parliament. [A Voice, " If I had a
sister I'd give her to him."] (Laughter.) He did
not wish to say anything
personal. This was the
first time he bad taken any part in elections in the
county, being a man of d mo erate opinions, although
a Protestant. But when he saw an attempt made to
tarnish the fame of a young entering •
man just life,
he felt he could not stand aloof. (Cheers.) This
was not the course adopted by the Liberal party
a hen another young man, just entering life, sought
their suffrages a year or two since. (Hear, hear,
and groans for Talbot.) The speaker then alluded
to M. tie la Poer's little affair with Sir E .Kennedy.
Be proceeded to say that Mr. Talbot came forward
as the supporter of Lord Derby's Government—a
Government that was always averse to anything fair
and just with respect to the people. It was the
Derby Government who appointed Whiteside—
(groans and cheers)—a fact which would speak
volumes. Lord Tyrone was returned for the county,
professing liberal sentiments, which were carefully
ventilated by his supporters. But when he got into
Parliament, after pledging himself on the hustings
to give his vote in favour of abolishing the vexed
question of the Roman Catholic Oaths Bill, he voted
against the measure for abolishing it, and with Lord
Derby's Government. (Hisses and cheers.) Sir

and lft. 10in, at the feet, being lft. sin. deep. This
contained fine gravel, and among it the bones of an
adult male in perfect preservation even to the small
bones of the hand. The body was doubled up, the
face being towards the south. The femur measured
19iin., and the tibia 16in. In front of the heart
was an urn laid on its side, and near it a flint scraper
24in. by liin. Unfortunately the skull of this body
was not preserved. The bottom of the cist was
carefully paved with small stones, and below and
around it were fragments of human bones, all broken
up, with some shreds of pottery and charcoal-- the
whole appearing to show that the cist had been con-
structed to contain a secondary burial, destroying
or disturbing earlier ones. A little to the east of
the cist, and 7ft. below the surface of the barrow,
was a large flat stone covering a deposit of dark,
earthy matter, and somewhat to the south of this
was another flat slab, covering a similar deposit,
and also about sin. of sand. In neither case was
anything found. At the east side of the barrow (in
last week's work), and about 10ft. from the outside,
was a deposit of burnt bones upon a flat stone, just
above the natural surface, and 6ft. south of another
similar deposit just upon the natural surface. Five
feet south of the centre was an unburnt body, doubled
up, laid on the right side, the hands up to the head,
the head being to the south. Beneath this and
touching the bones was the deposit of a burnt body,
and the two, buried in opposite customs, must, to
all appearance, have been deposited at the same time,
and therefore present a very interesting feature in
British sepulchral usages. At the back of the pelvic
bones of the unburnt body, and lying upon the
bones of the burnt body, was an urn of a very beau-
tiful type. It is 4fin. wide and 4fin. high, and is
covered with a series of 27 thong impressions out-
side, and inside the lip of the rim are four thong
markings. It is impossible to say whether this urn
had been buried with the burnt or unburnt body.
Similar urns have been found with both kinds of
burials—in Westmoreland lying on the burnt bones
on the Yorkshire Wolds in barrows containing
only unburnt burials. The bones of the unburnt
body were greatly decayed, and it is doubtful
whether sufficient of the skull has been obtained to
show the type. The unburnt burial was that of a
man of mature age. In the centre of the tumulus
and under the cist was a grave of 6ft. diameter and
2ft. 9in. deep, sunk into the natural limestone rock,
doubtless the place prepared for the first burial,
over which the barrow was built. At the west side
of the grave a body was found lying on its right
side, the hands up to the head, which was to the
south-west. At the feet of this body was a highly
ornate " drinking cup," 7in. high, laid on its side,
and in the hollow of the knees—that is, between
the tibia and the femur—was a bronze pin or awl,
greatly oxidized. The cup was ornamented to ex-
cess with thong markings, the upper part having
three sets of double horizontal lines, and between
them vertical markings, and below one horizontal
line ; then, in descending order, a zigzag line, the
lower triangles filled horizontally, and a horizontal
line below all. The bottom part had the ornamen-
tation of the upper repeated. There was charcoal
about the body, and human bones (cktached) were
in and above the grave and on the sides, apparently
indicating still earlier disturbed interments. The
skeleton was much decayed, and Mr. Greenwell
doubts whether the skull can be sufficiently pre-
served to show the type. It is rarely that a bar-
row presents so many features of general interest,
giving at one examination the burial customs of
successive peoples. Unfortunately, the craniologi-
cal information anticipated is doubtful.

CROWN LANDS.

An order has been received at Portsmouth dock-
yard from the Admiralty to break up four vessels
now on the steam reserve lists at that port,compris-
ing the Vulcan, iron built screw troopship, of 1,764
tons and 400-horse power ; the Medea, paddle sloop,
of 135 tons and 350-horse power ; the Pelican,
screw sloop, 952 tons and 200-horse power ; and
the Shamrock, screw gunboat, of 60-horse power.
The Vulcan was built by Charles Mare at Black-
wall in 1840, under contract with the Admiralty,
and from designs furnished from the Surveyor of
the Navy's office. When launched she was con-
sidered a somewhat wonderful vessel, but her sea-
going rate of speed and troop accommodation in
these days have become a mere burlesque upon what
we have now learnt to consider the ocean-going
qualifications of a troop-carrying steamer. The
Medea was built also from the Surveyor's office
plans, at her Majesty's Dockyard, Woolwich, in
1838, under the superintendence of Mr. 0. Laig.
The Pelican was built at Pembroke Dockyard in
1854, and the Shamrock was built in a private
yard a year later. The machinery of all four ves-
sels will be utilised for other vessels built or building.
Mr. Leather, C.E., the Contractor of Public
Works, to whom the Admiralty and the War De-
partment consigned the execution of the Portland
breakwater and forts, and who is now enaged under
a similar contract in the construction of the foun-
dations for the marine forts at Spithead, has joined
Mr. George Smith, of Pimlico, in his execution of
the works for the extension of Portsmouth dock-
yard, which, according to the terms of the agree-
ment with the Admiralty, will occupy fully four
years, and involves a first expenditure of upwards
of a million and a half sterling.
A naval court-martial assembled yesterday on
board her Majesty's ship Victory, at Portsmouth,
for the trial of Mr. George S. Boys, late sub-lieu-
tenant on board her Majesty's ship Pylades, doing
duty at the time on board the hired steam gunboat
Royal,on a charge of desertion from the latter- vessel
on the 6th of September last. The Court was com-
posed of Captains Tatham, Bellerophon ; Egerton,
C. 8., Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, Victory ;
Chamberlain, Asia ; Fellowes, Duke of Welling-
ton ; Commerell, V.C., Terrible ; Burgoyne, V.C.,
Wivern ; Hire, Orontes; Henderson, Urgent ; and
Goodenough, Minotaur. Mr. Hoskins was Deputy-
Judge-Advocate, and Capt. Hood, of her Majesty's
ship Excellent, and lately commanding tha Pylades,
prosecuted. The Court having heard the statements
for the prosecution and the defence, found the
charge proved, but, in consideration of extenuating
circumstances, only adjudged Mr. Boys to be dis-
missed from her Majesty's navy. Mr. Boys' ex-
' planation of his conduct which led to the charge
upon which he has been thus, we trust not perma-
nently dismissed from her Majesty's service, is given
by him in a letter submitted by the defence. It
contains the following passages :
"In consequence of my ship having been paid
off I beg to report to you for information of their
lordships the distressing circumstances under which
I left the hired gunboat Royal, attached to the
Pylades, at Cornwall, Canada West, on the even-
ing of the 6th of September last. I appointed the
late firm of Hallett, Ommanney, and Co. to be my
agents, when they agreed to my drawing upon them
to the extent of £5O. Of this permission, in part,
I had availed myself by drawing upon them for two
bills, for £2O and £l5, when, in consequence of
their failure, my bills were dishonoured with pro-
testing charges, and I became involved in pecu-
niary embarrassments which I could not surmount.
One party, shortly before my ship was ordered
home, issued a writ against me which was my ruin
—a moral death, in fact, for it involved incarcera-
tion in a Canadian prison in company with rebels
and outcasts, where I must have been left a total
stranger when my ship sailed for England. Then
it was I fled, not from the profession of my choice,
but from my hard-hearted creditors, preferring to
trust to that mercy from my superior officers these
people denied me. I then proceeded to New York
for passage to England, but was stopped by a severe
illness at St. John's House, the recovery from which
exhausted all :my means, so that I was obliged to
work my passage in the Prussian barque London,
of Dantsic, to Antwerp. We were seven long
weeks at sea, and here I will recount one incident
of the voyage. I was at the wheel, when, from an
inadvertence which would have elicited from me a
simple caution to one of our men, the mate of the
barque
.knocked me senseless upon the deck by a
violent blow from a belaying pin. This was the
cause of my detention a few days at Antwerp before
I could at length pass on to England to discharge
this imperative duty."

Her Majesty's iron steam storeship Megera, 4,
from the Mediterranean stations, having discharged
her war stores at Woolwich Arsenal, yesterday went
alongside the Hebe hulk, to clear out the dockyard
stores and prepare for
,her return voyage, in com-
mand of Capt. Simpson, who has succeeded Capt.
Montagu B. Dunn, appointed to the command of
the new Indian transportship Euphrates, 4,173 tons
and 700-horse power, recently launched at Birken-
head.

The War Department steam vessel Lord Pan-
mure, Master Commander Spriddle, yesterday com-
menced discharging at the powder buoy off Wool-
wich Arsenal 4,000 quarter-barrels of condemned
ball-cartridge ammunition from Marchwood.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty:—Commander H. C. Harston to the
Saturn, additional, for packet and transport service
at Liverpool, vice Leycester, whose period of service
has expired ; Lieut. W. Howorth, to the command
of the Heron, vice Stevenson, superseded ; Lieuts.
It. W. Davies and M. M'Neile to the Excellent.

The annual report of the Department of the
Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, just issued,
shows that in the year ending with March, 1866,
the income of valuable property under their charge
amounted to £449,677, and the expenditure to
£116,523, or more than a fourth of the income.
There was a further expenditure of about £29,000,
voted by Parliament for the maintenance of the
offices and establishment of the Department. The
property is of three classes. There is, first, the land re-
venue, consisting of Crown rents from lauds and
!nines, with dividends on the produce of sales invested
and the amount of the year's sales of produce, mak-
ing a total of £400,219 in the year, the expenditure
amounting to £72,439, above £28,000 of it going in
repairs and improvements, and above £B,OOO for rates
and taxes. Next, there is 'Windsor Park, which cost
£20,257 for maintenance and management in the
year, sales of produce bringing £7,118 in reduction
of this expenditure, and about £l,BOO being ex-
pended on new works and improvements, £1,328 of
it being devoted to the completion of the Royal
Chapel. Last come the Royal forests and wood-
lands—the New Forest, Dean Forest, Highmeadow
Woods, Alice Holt Woods, Woolmer Estate, Bere
Woods, Parkhurst Woods, Hazleborough Wood,
Salcey Wood, Delemere Woods, Chopwell Woods,
and Epping Forest, or what remains of it. The in-
come of these amounted to £42,338 in the year, and
the expenditure to £22,877, reduced to £18,700, if
we deduct so much of the expenditure as was for
planting and improvements. The result of the year
was that £320,000 was paid over to the Exchequer
as surplus income. The most important sale of
Crown property in the year was of a large number
of houses and cottages at Egham, almost all old
and of an inferior class, not considered a desir-
able property for the Crown to retain ; it pro-
duced above £20,000. The chief purchases of the
year were the Rosenau property, opposite the Home
Park at Windsor, a house and nearly 12 acres of
land, bought for £7,000 ; and Hawfield, a house
and above 102 acres of land, adjoining the Crown's
Hagloe estate in Gloucestershire, purchased for
17,146. Among the property let on lease are por-
tions of the bed of the sea let to oyster fishery
companies, six square miles, let on a 60 years'
lease to the Herne-bay Oyster Fishery Com-
pany, at a rent rising to £5OO after ten years,
but subject to a reduction according to the
profits. Several portions of the foreshore were
also sold or let for various works of a
public character. But, by an act of last session
the rights of the Crown in the shore and bed of the
sea, and of navigable rivers as far up as the tide
flows, have been placed under the management of
the Board of Trade after the close of the year 1866,
except the foreshores of the Thames, the Tees, and
the county palatine of Durham, which are other-
wise provided for. The Board of Trade being
charged with the duty of protecting navigation, it
was thought desirable that the duty of dealing with
the foreshore as a matter of property and revenue
should also be transferred to that Department.
The foreshore below ordinary high-water mark is
considered to be vested in the Crown, subject to all
public rights of navigation, and to such grants as
have been made or are presumed to have been
made ; and the right of jurisdiction for the pro-
tection of public rights remains in the Crown,
although the territorial right of property may have
been granted away.

THE SEA SERPENT.—The 7oidonnai,s gives an
account of the recent capture of the "sea serpent," which,
it says, can bo vouched for by pretty nearly the whole po-
pulation of thetown. It has for a long time been believed
that the sea serpent had never been seen except in the co-
lumns of the American papers, and those on this side the
Atlantic which might not object to insert a questionable
story. Sea snakes of a moderate size are, however, known
to exist, and it seems to be a large specimen of these crea-
tures that was captured on Sunday week. The specimen
in question is about 13ft. long, and was caught on the line
of some fishermen in the waters of Capo Cepet. It was
brought up by the captors, while yet living, to the Boule-
vard de la Riviere, in Toulon, and there was visited by
crowds of persons during the greater part of the day. The
body is perfectly cylindrical, and is about 41in. in diameter
terminating iu a sharp point at the tail. Its colour is a uni-
form deep grey on the upper part, and beneath is of a yel-
lowish white. It has no fins nor scales, nor is there
any projecting bone or horn in any part. In colour it
much resembles the conger, but could never be mistaken
for that fish, for in these seas the latter never attains to a
greater length than about six feet or so, and is, moreover,
when of such size, fully double the girth of the snake.
The great difference also is the shape and aspect of the
head ; that of the snake is flat and broad, and resembles
the head of a huge viper; tho jaws, armed with powerful
fangs, are elongated, reaching to a length of about llin.,
and terminating in a sharp angle. The eyes, which are re-
markably bright, are surrounded by a fine thread of a
flaming rod colour. The discovery of this snake, for snake
there can be no doubt it is, if the description be accurate,
is one of a highly interesting character ; but it must not
be considered as a proof of the existence of such a mon-
ster as has been described as the great seaserpent. Of the
existence of this creature there is doubtless a certain
amount of evidence, but not as yet sufficient to satisfy the
sceptical minds of many of tho best known naturalists. It
may be argued that the Mediterranean serpent being 13ft.
in length, the serpent of the Atlantic may be larger in pro-
portion to the greater size of his ocean home. It is likely,
nevertheless, that the naturalists of London and Paris will
wait for more direct evidence of the monster before they
inscribe his name " Serpens Atlanticus Giga.s" in their
zoological lists.—Morning Post.
THE CHRISTMAS TRAFFIC ON THE GREAT
WESTERN RAILWAY.—We understand that the
traffic on the Great Western Railway during the latter
part of the past week has been unprecedented, and has
taxed the " carrying" powers of the company to the utmost.
On Saturday alone there could have boon but few, if any,
short of 25,000 or 30,000 passengers through the Swindon
Station. With the exception of some very few intervals
during the day, the platforms and refreshment-rooms were
crowded with persons who had arrived or were waiting to
leave by the trains which were constantly running in and
out of the station. The ordinary number of trains, even
with extra engine power, was anything but sufficient to
meet this extraordinary emergency, and it was therefore
found necessary to more than double the number of trains,
in some instances it was found necessary to despatch as
many as three trains for the conveyance of passengers
who had booked themselves for one ordinary train. This
was the case with the train which leaves Swindon Station
at 1.37. The passengers booked by this one filled three
monster trains, and we were informed that when the
6 p.m. train was despatched from Paddington there was
not a single available carriage left in the station with
which to form the next. train. Of course many trains
were late, and the weather (a heavy fog) was exceedingly
unfavourable, but up to the present we have heard of no
accident whatever. At our own station everything passed
smoothly under the admirable direction of Mr. Holmes and
his staff of officers. There was of course a great deal of
bluster during the day on the part of fussy people, who
either had to wait, had gone too far, or could net go far
enough, and actions innumerable were threatened, but
just in proportion as disappointed travellers lost their
tempers urbane officials commanded theirs, and nothing
serious happened.—Swindon Advertiser.

The Eastern Counties line runs through rather a
desolate display of landscape. Essex is certainly not
a favourable specimen of English scenery, though here and
there one finds a pretty village with picturesque lanes, and
a river winding through it. But such villages are not on
the line of railroad, but lie away from it ; and let us hope
they may long be spared the effect of its progressive influ-
ences, despite the seeming illiberality of the sentiment.
Passing from the Shoreditch Station, through, or rather
over, miles of houses, the line takes its way through sub-
urban retreats, and out into more decided though flat and
uninteresting country. A wondrous sight those miles and
miles of houses, closely packed together, tall, dark,
gloomy, and one enters into a calculation of what
might be the average allotment of dwelling room to each
of the three million inhabitants of the wonderful city
—of how much coal is burned to send up so much
smoke, that rolls itself into clouds that hung in dingy ca-
nopies between earth and heaven, never aspiring to soar
aloft to their whiter and more transparent brethren. In-
deed, they appear to have a decided antipathy to fleeing
away in an upward direction, their genius being not to
rise but to extend themselves, and so they stretch away
north, south, east, west, over turret, steeple, tower, palace
cathedral, abbey, bridges, and river; short and tall chim-
neys puffing up reinforcements in the shape of voluminous
columns that, twisting into fantastic wreaths, crown the
brows of the mighty metropolis.—From " Joyce Dormer's
Story," in Once a Week.
[ADTERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Pills.—These Pills are
better lfor strengthening a debilitated constitution than
any other medicine in the world. Persons of a nervous
habit of body, and ali who are suffering from weak diges-
tive organs, or whose health has become deranged by
bilious affections, disordered stomach, or liver complaints,
should lose no time in giving those admirable Pills a fair
trial. Coughs, colds, asthma, or shortness of breath are
also within the range of the sanative powers of this re-
markable medicine. The cures effected by those Pills are
not superficial nor temporary, but complete and permanent.
They are as mild as they are efficacious, and may be given
withoonfidence to delicate females and young children.