gave up the case. Mr. Baron Alderson, in directing the jury to return a verdict for the defendant, said: "Since the opening of this case a most atrocious fraud has been proved to have been practised; and I have seen with great regret gentlemen associating with persons much below themselves in station. If gentlemen would associate with gentlemen and race with gentlemen, we should have no such practices; but if gentlemen will condescend to race with blackguards, they must expect to be cheated." Verdict for the defendant.

1. Came on for hearing in the Court of Queen's Bench, before Lord Denman and a jury, the case of Kinder v. Lord Ashburton, Baring, and Mildmay, being a claim by the plaintiff for an alleged conspiracy to inflict injury on him with respect to the Parris estate of 8,000,000 acres, purchased by both parties in Mexico. The bargain having turned out bad for the house of Baring, the plaintiff alleged that, to get quit of it, they bribed the authorities of Mexico to pass a law preventing aliens holding estates in that country. The Barings denied all knowledge of bribery, though they admitted their agents might have bribed on their own responsibility. Verdict for the defendants.

2. Mr. Duncombe moves for a Select Committee to inquire into the department of the Post Office usually called the Secret Office, together with the duties of the persons employed there, and the authority under which those duties were discharged. Sir James Graham admitted that the question, whatever it had been before, was now a question between the people and the Government. "I am glad, therefore, that I can at once indulge my own private feelings and my sense of public duty by consenting to be a party to a most searching inquiry into the state of the law, and the practice of the law from the earliest period down to the latest moment. I think there must be inquiry, but that inquiry must not be carried on by a Select Committee, but by a Secret Committee." A committee of this kind was appointed at the close of the debate, four members being selected from the Ministerial and five from the Opposition side of the House. Mr. Duncombe being in the position of accuser, was omitted, in conformity with the rule of the House.

Mr. Wallace defeated by a large majority in his motion for a Select Committee to inquire into the conduct of the Lord Justice Clerk in browbeating the jury and counsel in a case heard at the last Glasgow circuit, where, in defiance of the wish of the jury, a charge of rape was departed from on his lordship insisting that the evidence was insufficient.

At Eynsham, Oxfordshire, a man burnt during confinement in the cage, where he had been placed for stabbing two people in a drunken quarrel. The cage accidentally caught fire, and before the key could be procured the

prisoner was so severely burnt that he died in a few hours.

3.-Funeral of Thomas Campbell, in Westminster Abbey. The procession passed from Jerusalem Chamber to Poet's Corner.

4.-Argued in the House of Lords, the writ of error moved for in the case of O'Connell and the other traversers.

6. A declaration, made by Fletcher that to the best of his knowledge Barber had no guilty knowledge of the recent will-forgeries, submitted to the Home Secretary. (See April 10.)

8.-Waverley Dress Ball at Willis's Rooms, London, in aid of the funds of the Scott monument. The ball-room was crowded with the rank and fashion of the metropolis. On Tolbecque's band striking up the "March of the English Volunteers," the procession formed by the Marchioness of Londonderry's monstre quadrille of Scott characters left the tea-room, and began its progress along the left centre of the Salon de Danse to the raised benches where the Royal Family and lady patronesses were seated. Dancing was prolonged till 5 o'clock the following morning, there being no less than twenty-six sets danced in the principal ballroom. In the supper-room Scotch reels and country-dances were kept up with spirit.

Read a second time and committed, the bill introduced by the Vice-President of the Board of Trade (Gladstone) for regulating the railway system of the country, and based on the report of a Select Committee moved for early in the Session. After the expiration of fifteen years, the Board of Trade is authorized to purchase any of the railways that come within the provisions of the bill, at twenty-five years' purchase of the annual devisable profits, not exceeding ten per cent., but this option of purchase is not to extend to railways in which a revised scale of tolls has been imposed. The 25th clause regulates the conditions on which third-class trains are to be established; and all future railways are to act on its provisions from the commencement of their traffic. It provides that at least one train on every week day shall start from each end of the line to carry passengers in covered carriages for one penny per mile; that the speed of such trains shall not be less than twelve miles an hour including stoppages; that they shall stop to take up and set down passengers at every station; that half a

hundredweight of luggage shall be allowed each passenger without extra charge; that children under three years of age shall be conveyed in such trains without charge, and those under twelve at half-price.

12.-The Royal Commission of Fine Arts select six artists to execute works for the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament.

13. At the assizes held at Tullamore, Peter Dolan was tried for shooting Lord Norbury on the 1st January, 1839. The prisoner was a tenant on the estate, and a notice of ejectment had been served on him along with others before the murder. The jury returned a verdict of Not guilty.

16.-Debate on the slave trade in the House of Commons, arising on a motion submitted by Lord Palmerston for returns of the number of negroes landed on the shores of America from 1815 to 1843.

22.-Fatal occurrence at the steamboat pier, Blackfriars Bridge. The pier and steps leading to it were unusually crowded by parties anxious to witness a boat-race on the opposite side, when the main timbers supporting the stage gave way, and about twenty spectators were upset into the river. Five were taken out drowned, and the rest saved with difficulty.

In the case of two men, named Crane and Conway, tried at Limerick for riot, the jury, not being able to agree, were locked up in the usual way. At midnight they intimated that they had agreed upon a verdict, and Judge Ball came into court. When the foreman was asked to hand down the issue-paper, he, with much hesitation, passed to the judge a handful of small pieces of paper, varying in size from a shilling to a fourpenny-piece. Judge Ball: "What is the meaning of this?" Foreman : "My lord, this is the issue-paper. The fact is, the jury quarrelled among themselves, and tore it up in this manner. I did all I could to save it, but without effect." The judge deemed it his duty to receive the pieces, which recorded a verdict of Guilty, with a recommendation to mercy, but intimated that he could pay no attention to the recommendation of a jury which had conducted itself in such a disgraceful manner.

23. Capt. Warner sinks the John o' Gaunt off Brighton, in an experiment with his new and secret invention for destroying ships at sea. A smoke seemed suddenly to envelope the vessel, her mainmast shot up perpendicularly from her deck, no noise save that of the rending of timber was heard, and on the smoke and spray clearing away the smitten ship heeled over to port and sank. Between 30,000 and 40,000 people were present on the beach. Lord Ingestre, Capt. Dickenson, and Capt. Henderson signed a document, stating that the operations were "under our management and control; that the explosion did not take place by combustible matter on board or

alongside the ship, but was caused by Capt. Warner, who was on board the steamer Si William Wallace, at the distance of 300 yards; and that it took place in consequence of a signal made by us from the shore; and that the time at which such was to be made could not have been known to Capt. Warner. We further declare our belief that Capt. Warner had never been on board the vessel since it left Gravesend."

23. Sir H. Hardinge arrives at Calcutta. Lord Ellenborough went down the river to meet him, and they came up the Hooghly together.

24. Sir Robert and Lady Sale, with their widowed daughter, Mrs. Sturt, and child, and various officers of the Indian army, arrive at Lyme Regis, and receive a warm reception.

25.-Fatal encounter with natives in New Zealand. Nineteen settlers killed.

26.-Lord Heytesbury enters Dublin as Lord Lieutenant in room of Lord De Grey resigned.

Attempted assassination of the King of Prussia by Tesch, who fired two shots. 27. Died at Manchester, in his 78th year, John Dalton, chemist and philosopher.

28.-Died at Florence, aged 76, Joseph, brother of Napoleon I., and ex-King of Naples.

31. Sir Robert Peel, at the request of Lord Ingestre, consents to the publication of all the correspondence between the Government and Capt. Warner relative to his longrange and explosive shells.

In answer to Sir C. Napier, Sir R. Peci states that he has no hesitation in avowing his belief that a gross indignity had been committed in the apprehension of Mr. Pritchard at Tahiti. He expected that it would be disavowed by the French Government. (See March 3.)

August 1.-Dr. Wolffe writes from Bokhara: "To all the Monarchs of Europe.-I set out for Bokhara to ransom the lives of two officers, Stoddart and Conolly, but both of them were murdered many months previous to my departure, and I do not know whether or not this blood of mine shall be spilt. I do not supplicate for my own safety; but, Monarchs, two hundred thousand Persian slaves, many of them people of high talents, sigh in the kingdom of Bokhara. Endeavour to effect their liberation, and I shall rejoice in the grave that my blood has been thus the cause of the ransom of so many human beings. I am too much agitated, and watched besides, to write more."

The Vicar of Liskeard temporarily suspended for omitting to read portions of the Burial Service over the body of a parishioner. The Vicar pleaded that he was led to believe the man died in a state of intoxication; but the Bishop of Exeter decided that, even if this were so, the officiating clergyman had no right

to condemn the dead by omitting any portion of the Service.

1.-Lord Sandon brought up the report of the Secret Committee appointed to inquire into the law and practice of opening private letters in the Post Office. It contained a complete history of the origin and exercise of the power vested by statute in the Secretary of State, and showed the instances in which it had been employed by the members of different Cabinets. "If the result of the inquiry," it is reported, "had been such as to impress your committee with a conviction of the importance of the frequent use of this power in the ordinary administration of affairs, they would have been prepared to recommend some legislative measures for its regulation and control; and it might not be difficult to devise regulations which would materially diminish the obligations to its exercise, as, for example, that no criminal warrant should be issued except on a written information on oath; that a formal record should be preserved in the Secretary of State's Office of the grounds on which every warrant had been issued, of the time during which it remained in force, of the number of letters opened under it, and of the results obtained. It is, however, on the other hand, to be considered whether any legislative measure of this kind might not have an indirect effect in giving an additional sanction to the power in question, and thereby possibly extending its use. From 1799 to 1844 the total number of warrants issued was 372, embracing 724 persons. As the report showed that the annual average of warrants had rather decreased than increased in recent years, public excitement on the subject greatly subsided, and no immediate action was taken.

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Burns Festival at Alloway, designed for the double purpose of honouring the memory of the poet and welcoming his sons to the land which their father's genius had consecrated. A procession of about a mile in length, composed of masons' lodges, trade incorporations, and deputations from municipal bodies, marched from Ayr to Alloway, where a huge banqueting pavilion was erected in a field adjoining the monument. The banquet was presided over by the Earl of Eglinton, and placed near, in seats of honour, were Kobert, the eldest son of the poet, Colonel

Burns, the second, and Major Burns, the youngest of the family; also Mrs. Begg, sister, her two daughters, Mrs. Thomson (the "Jessie Lewars" of the bard), and various other friends and relations. The company comprised almost all that was famous in Scotland for law or literature, science or art. The croupier, Professor Wilson, in a speech of great length and eloquence, welcomed the family to their father's land. "There is but one soul," he said, "in this our great national festival. To swell the multitudes that from morning light continued flocking towards old Ayr, till at midday they gathered into one mighty mass in front of Burns' monument, came enthusiastic crowds from countless villages and towns, from our metropolis, and from the great city of the West, along with the sons of the soil dwelling all round the breezy uplands of Kyle, and in regions that stretch away to the stormy mountains of Morven." Appropriate toasts followed from Sir John M'Neill, Col. Mure of Caldwell, Mr. Aytoun, Mr. H. Bell, the Lord Justice General, and others. The early part of the day was favourable for the outdoor display, but towards evening, at the close of the banquet, the rain began to fall heavily, and the return to Ayr was made in a somewhat unceremonious

Sir James Graham obtains leave to bring in a bill for the better regulation of medical practice throughout the kingdom. Second reading fixed for this day three months.

9.-The Lords adjourn to the 3d and the Commons to the 5th September-a proceeding rendered necessary by the delay of the judges in the O'Connell case.

13. Dr. Leichhardt and party set out on their exploring expedition across that part of the Australian continent lying between Moreton Bay and Port Essington.

15. The French attack Mogador. Prince de Joinville writes to the Minister of Marine: "After having destroyed the town and its batteries, we took possession of the island and of the ports. Sixty-eight men were killed or wounded."

17. A Tartar soldier exhibits various feats in horsemanship and sword exercise in Hyde Park, near the barracks.

21.-Demonstration at Edinburgh on occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the monument to be erected in the Calton burying-ground to the memory of the political martyrs of 1793-4. The ceremony was performed by Mr. Hume, M. P., who delivered an appropriate address. A dinner and soirée in honour of the event took place in the evening.

21.-James Cockburn Belaney tried at the Central Criminal Court for murdering his wife by administering prussic acid. The post-mortem examination showed death to have resulted from this poison, and it was established in evidence that the prisoner was seen to have a quantity of it in his possession a few minutes before his wife's death. The jury returned a verdict of Not guilty.

22.-A poor needlewoman, in a fit of desperation, commits suicide by throwing herself into a secluded part of the Surrey Canal. She had been in the habit, along with her sisters, of making shirts at rates varying from 14d. to 3d. each, but during the past week had been without work at even these rates, and for two days had not tasted food.

24. The quarriers at Gehard, Kerry, having discovered a cave adjoining the works, enter to explore it, and no less than seven fall victims to the noxious vapours with which it was filled.

28. The foundation-stone of the Durham Memorial, on Penshaw Hill, laid with masonic honours by the Earl of Zetland, Grand Master. Lord Stanley retires from the representation of North Lancashire by accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, preparatory to his elevation to the House of Lords as Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe.

30.-Died, aged 70, Francis Baily, one of the founders of the Astronomical Society.

September 3.-The Bank of England robbed of 8,000l. in gold through the aid of one of the clerks, named Burgess, and a confederate, named Elder, who falsely personated Mr. Oxenford, the owner of Consols to that amount. The parties were subsequently traced by detective Forrester to the United States. Elder committed suicide, and Burgess, after a severe chase, was brought back to this country, and sentenced to transportation for life. Most of the money was recovered.

4. This morning was appointed for the delivery of the judgment of the House of Lords on the writ of error in the case of O'Connell and others v. the Queen. Eleven questions had been referred to the judges, and upon nine of these they were agreed. Upon the third and eleventh Mr. Justice Parke and Mr. Justice Coltman dissented from the opinion of their brethren. The indictment consisted of a number of counts: some of them were found bad and some good; and if the judgment delivered by the Irish Court had been confined to the latter, it would have been unexceptionable. But the judgment was general, and therefore tacitly assumed that all the counts were good. The

Lord Chancellor now moved that the judgment of the court below be sustained. Lord Campbell moved that it be reversed. On a division, confined exclusively to law lords, the Lord Chan cellor announced that the judgment of the House was that the sentence of the court below should be reversed. O'Connell and the other prisoners were therefore at once liberated. On the order being handed to him on Friday afternoon (the 6th) O'Connell read it aloud to his friends, and then returned it to his solicitor, who at once repaired to the governor and handed him the release. The news of the liberation caused the utmost excitement throughout Ireland, and demonstrations and addresses occupied the mind of the people for weeks together. The governor instantly communicated to the whole of the prisoners the welcome fact that they were now at liberty, and free to return to their homes. O'Connell repaired to his residence in Merrionsquare, and addressed a large assembly from the balcony. On the 7th a great procession took place in Dublin to celebrate the liberation, and the Agitator and his fellow-prisoners took formal leave of the gaol. "When the account," he says, 66 came to me of the decision in our favour, though the attorneys rushed into my presence, and one of them did me the honour of embracing me, still notwithstanding that kiss and the words which accompanied it, yet for a full half-hour afterwards I did not believe it."

4.-Royal Assent given to the bill amending and consolidating the laws relating to merchant seamen, and for keeping a register of seamen.

5.-Parliament prorogued by Commission. Sir Robert Peel intimated that the outrage on Mr. Pritchard of Tahiti had been arranged amicably.

6.-Preliminary treaty of peace signed between France and Morocco off Tangier.

11. Her Majesty enters the Firth of Tay, and lands at Dundee, on the occasion of her second visit to Scotland. She takes up her residence at Blair Athol, which is placed at her disposal by Lord Glenlyon. Prince Albert repeatedly engaged in deer-stalking through the forest of Glen Tilt. The royal party remained in Scotland till the 1st of October, when they embarked at Dundee.

- Enthusiastic reception of Sir William Nott on entering Carmarthen, his native place.

16.-Disturbance at Funchal, Madeira, through an attempt on the part of the autho rities to put down Dr. Kalley, a Protestant preacher, recently liberated from prison.

18.-Died, aged 38, John Sterling, critic and essayist.

23. Died at Euston Hall, Suffolk, aged 84, George Henry Fitzroy, fourth Duke of Grafton.

27. At the meeting of the British Association at York, Professor Sedgwick comments with some severity on the critical remarks read