The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-21 00:00:00

TAMPERING WITH THE MILITARY.

At Dover, a compositor, named John Whetstone, has
been charged with endeavouring to persuade Robert
Bordner, a private of the 27th Regiment, and other sol-
liers belonging to the same corps, to join the Fenian
Brotherhood. _

The prisoner, a young man, was employed at Dover
about a twelvemonth ago as a compositor on the Dover
Express newspaper. He had not again been in Dover till
Saturday last, when he paid a visit to the town, and on
the following day, on passing the main shaft guard, he got
alto conversation with some of the soldiers of the 27th
Regiment, which arrived here from India only a few days
ago, and asked some of them to drink with him. After-
wards the prisoner, according to Cordner's evidence,
asked him if he was going to be a Fenian, and join the
Fenian Brotherhood. Cordner did not give any direct
reply, and asked what kind of rifles they had, and
the prisoner said Lthey were breechloaders. Cordner asked
how many men were enrolled, and prisoner replied,
"About 17,000 at Cork." The prisoner knew Cordner was
an Irishman, and he said he was not true to his country.
He also said, alluding to the Fenian Brotherhood, that the
men were all right if they had good officers. This witness
said the prisoner had been drinking, but knew what he
was about. Another soldier, however, said the prisoner
was beastly drunk. James Anderson, another private of
the 27th Regiment, corroborated Cordner's account of the
conversation, so far as the statement of the 17,000 and the
breechloaders was concerned ; but the prisoner did not ask
him to join the Brotherhood. The prisoner addressed him
in Irish, and told him he belonged to the south of Ireland,
but had been across the Atlantic, and had since been
living in Dover. The prisoner had previously told the
landlord that he was " for the green flag," that he had come
from the " green banks," and was " green to the back-
bone." A policeman, who apprehended the prisoner on
the charge, said, in reply to the magistrates, that he knew
the prisoner when he was working in Dover, and always
believed him to be a respectable man.

The prisoner said he was entirely innocent of any corn-
plicity with Fenianism. He came to Dover on Saturday,
and had been drinking more or less ever since. He had
no recollection of what was now alleged to have transpired,
and if he had said what was attributed to him, he had
done so under the influence of drink.

The police officer, in reply to the magistrates, said that
the prisoner, though he had been drinking, knew what he
was about.
The superintendent having applied for a remand,
The Ma 3 or said the prisoner was charged with a serious
offence, and the circumstances were sufficiently susuicious
to induce them to remand him for further inquiry,

The prisoner was then remanded till Friday.

THE LAST ARRESTED. —The New York Tribune
of the Bth announces Mr. Train's departure from America
in the following terms :—" Mr. George Francis Train
sailed for Europe yesterday, to take charge of the affairs
of all the kingdoms and principalities of that unhappy
country."

There is an unusual amount of distress through-
_ut the Wolverhampton Union. Until lately, the highest
number of inmates in the workhouse was 800, but the
number is now 920, and the applications from able-
bodied men for relief are rapidly increasing. Amongst
the paupers are found skilled ironworkers, as well as
labourers, miners, and bricklayers. The guardians
have resolved to resort to the labour test, and all able-
bodied applicants are to be offered stone-breaking for road
making.

ENFIELDS FOR THE KING OF BIIRMAIL—There
have lately been discussions as to the policy of acceding
to the wishes of the King of Burmah to be supplied
with 10,000 Enfield rifles. Colonel Fytche is reported to
have promised what was required, and, further, to
have urged the King to obtain the supply through him,
and not, as is usually the custom, through professional
agents, as by so doing his Majesty will pocket the com-
mission on the purchase which would be charged by the
latter.

FEMALE MEDICAL SOCIETY. —The second half of
the fourth annual session of study has commenced at the
college, No. 4, Fitzroy-square. The lady students now
amount to about seventy in number, and a large propor
tion of those who have recently entered are relatives of
medical men. Many of the past students are settled
practice in various parts of London, and the public may
obtain their addresses by wliting to the lady secretary at
No. 4, Fitzroy-square, W.

Two GAROTTERS CAPTURED.—TWO young men,
named William Johnson and Thomas Manning, have been
brought before the magistrates at Manchester, charged
with a garotte robbery. Mr. Armitage, shopkeeper, Stock-
port, said he had come to Manchester early on the mor l-
ins.. of the 16th instant, and saw the prisoners in a public'
house in Deansgate, at which he called. They followed
him out, and near the corner of John-street Manning
seized him round the neck, pressing his throat, while John-
son stole a watch and 30s. from him. The pressure on his
throat rendered him insensible, and he fell on the pave-
ment. A policeman and some witnesses of the robbery
gave chase, and captured the prisoners. The watch was
found in Johnson's possession. The prisoners were com-
mitted for trial at the ass:zes.

AP'OTIIER COLLIEILY EXPLOSION IN SOUTa
WALES.—Another of these explosions, for which South
Wales has of late obtained such notoriety, has occurred
at the Tylacock Colliery, Rhondda Valley, by which seven
men were burnt, four of them seriously. The cause of the
explosion has not been clearly ascertained, but it is
rumoured that it was occasioned by one of the doors being
left open for a time, and, as the natural result of one of
the men opening his lamp, an explosion followed. Although
the injuries received by the unfortunate sufferers are more
or less of a serious character, it is gratifying to learn that
no lives were sacrificed. About two years ago an explo-
sion took place at the same colliery, when Mr. Bedlington,
mining engineer, and one of the workmen, were killed
while engaged in making an examination of certain work-
ings. The colliery is the property of Mr. Tdomas Jones,
Cardiff.

THE OAKS COLLIERY EXPLOSION.—The work of
clearing the ill-fated colliery is progressing somewhat
slowly. The explorers have this week brought out two
horses and a donkey, but no bodies have been found. There
are more than 300 bodies still entombed in the mine, and
an application has been made to the Barnsley Burial Board
to have them interred, when recovered, in the Bartley
Cemetery, and as to the terms they may be interred on.
The colliery is in the parish of Ardsley, a village about two
miles from Barnsley, but the interments cannot be made in
that churchyard, as it is too small to allow such a great
number of bodies being laid there. Several times during
the explorations this week the men have had to retreat to
the mouth of toe pit in consequence of the gas becoming
too strong for them ; and one man was overpowered, but
was rescued by his comrades.
T:IE SUPPRESSED BRANCHES OF THE REFORM
Le-touE.— A meeting of representatives of the Holborn,
Chelsea, St. Luke's, Cromwell, and Clerkenwell branches
of the Reform League and of the Old National Reform
League has been held at the offices of the Reform Leagv.e,
Adelphi-terrace, to take into consideration the suppression
of their meetings in the various licensed victuallers' houses
in which they had been held, and to devise the best means
of carrying on their proceedings. The chairman explained
the object of the meeting, and said that the Holborn
branch, of which he was a member, had always conducted
their proceedings openly, fairly, and above board, and had
never any secret meeting whatever. What they now
wanted was to get back to their old places of meeting in
the public-houses. The police were acting under the Mid.
diesex magistrates,. but it was well known that the direc-
tions came from the Home Office. After considerable
discussion, the following resolution, moved by Mr. Radford
and seconded by Mr. Pollard, was passed unanimously :
" That this meeting, composed of the representatives of
six branches of the Reform League whose meetings have
been suppressed by orders of the police or the Government,
protest against such suppression, and hereby declare that
all their meetings have been open, free, and public, and
that nothing illegal or unconstitutional has taken place at
them, and considers it beyond the proper duty of the
police force to prevent the freedom of public meeting."
The meeting then adjourced, pending the report of Mr.
Beales on his correspondence with the Government.
THE PRINCESS OF WALES. —A correspondent of
the Post, writing from Sandringham. says : Her Roya;
Highness the Princess of Wales continues to drive out
daily in her small pony carriage through the gardens and
and grounds in the neighbourhood. The Princess has been
engaged in a very interesting ceremony in connection with
the parish school. Their Royal Highnesses have ever
manifested the deepest interest in the education of the
children of the poor on the estate, and .there are no fewer
thanfour schools, which are principally supported by the
Prince and Princess. The principal school is that of San•
idrnigtnhelipamark‘,VlhViht for
hlNanis aernlAYeedarsneharas beenthe c bhuerlcdhhi,ya fra)°,lll-3
Harriet Cowper about ten years ago, b
came into the hands of the Prince. Amongste f,ore :the ev
projected alterations of the Royal domain
was the
tion of the school and school house, and this c 1
further provision, which has been made by the. ''C'sr-etc''iteond
by the Prince of a very excellent schoolroom, and house
fear the mistress, on a convenient spot of ground between
e
the rectory and Park House. In this school the children
belonging to Sandringham and Babingley are taught, as
also are some from Dersingham. The children of this and
the other schools receive a dinner on the occasion of her
Royal Highness's birthday, and a New Year's gift of hats
and caps and cloaks and jackets ; and her Royal Highness
has just given another evidence of the interest she
takes in the progress of the children by being present at
the 0114Azauation and personally distributing the pries,