respectable men like ourselves as being a 'blustering majority' he probably might stimulate the amour propre of some individuals to take the course which he wants, and to defeat the Bill. Now I hope we shall not fall into that trap. I hope we shall show my noble friend that we remember some of his manoeuvres when he was a simple member of this House, and that we are not to be taunted into taking a very indiscreet step, a step ruinous to all our own wishes and expectations, merely to show that we resent the contemptuous phrases of one of my colleagues." The Bill was ultimately accepted as sent from the Lords without a division, Mr. Disraeli intimating that Lord Penzance had agreed to accept the post of new Ecclesiastical Judge at a salary of 3,000l. per annum-not 4,000l. as originally intended.

4. Ministerial Whitebait Dinner at Greenwich.

5.-The House of Lords hold a special Wednesday sitting to pass the Endowed Schools and certain other Bills.

After a sharp debate, in which personalities were freely indulged in, the Commons agree to the Lords' amendments on the Public Worship Bill.

6.-Sir Robert Phillimore, Dean of Arches, pronounces judgment reversing the decision of the Bishop for removal of the Reredos in Exeter Cathedral. Taking up the points which had been urged, he held that the dean and chapter of a cathedral did not require a faculty to erect a reredos, that the bishop had no power to order its removal, and that if he had the power it ought not to be exercised, because the images were no more objectionable than was the crucifix placed over the choir. An appeal was made to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. (See 25th Feb. 1875).

7.- Thousandth anniversary of the colonization of Iceland, celebrated at Reikiajvik.

Parliament prorogued, the Queen's speech being read by the Lord Chancellor. Allusion was made to the Brussels' conference, the Reciprocity Treaty between Canada and the United States, disturbances in Spain, suppression of slavery at Zanzibar, famine in India, state of affairs on the Gold Coast, and generally to the legislative measures passed during the session.

10. Marshal Bazaine escapes from his prison in the Isle St. Marguerite by means of a rope ladder and a boat cleverly rowed by his wife and his wife's nephew. The version subsequently given of the affair by the Marshal himself and Madame Bazaine was dramatic in the extreme, but people could not readily bring themselves to believe that circumstances had been so favourable as they made out, or that a corpulent man of sixty-five had really in the dead of night let himself down a perpendicular

cliff of nearly 100 feet, resting when half way by an iron hook attached to his girdle, then and there striking a lucifer match as a signal to the faithful friends rowing over the stormy waters to his rescue, had thereafter plunged into the waves and battled his way till, almost dead from cold and exhaustion, he was dragged into the boat. It was more probable that his escape had been facilitated by negligence on the part of some of the officials, and connivance on that of others; and the judicial inquiry which was instituted into the matter on September 16th at Grasse resulted in such a conclusion. That inquiry had to deal with the fate of eight persons who were arrested on the charge of complicity, and who received sentences of imprisonment varying from six months to one.

12.-Accident at the Bargoed station of the Rhymney Railway, South Wales, caused by the want of brake-power on slippery rails, and causing much damage to the rolling stock and permanent way. Driver and fireman killed.

13.-New Guildhall at Plymouth opened amid great local rejoicing by the Prince of Wales.

14.—A young man named Hubert commits suicide by throwing himself from the tower of Notre Dame, Paris.

15. Died, aged 84, Right Rev. Charles Richard Sumner, D.D., Bishop of Winchester, 1827-69.

Grand Cross of the Abyssinian Order of Solomon's Seal and the Holy Cross, sent by King John of Ethiopia (Prince Kassai of Tigré) to the Prince of Wales.

16.-Fire at Market Harborough, Leicestershire, destroying a tanyard in which it originated and nine buildings in different parts of the town over which the burning embers had been carried.

18.-Died, aged 86, Sir William Fairbairn, Bart., eminent for his triumphs in the science of engineering.

27.-Died, aged 81, Michael Banim, an Irish poet well known among his countrymen.

28.-Marriage of the Grand Duke Vladimir with the Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg solemnised at St. Petersburg.

29.-The Comte de Jarnac gazetted as French Ambassador at the Court of St. James's.

31.-M. Durouf and his wife wishing to satisfy a disappointed crowd at Calais, ascend in a balloon from that place and are carried in a direction north-east across the Channel, and after many narrow escapes in the darkness of night are picked up near the Doggerbank, almost dead, by a fishing-smack and landed at Grimsby.

September 1.-A company of Roman Catholics set out from London as pilgrims to the shrine of St. Edmund of Pontigny, France.

2. Having recently passed over to the Romish Communion, the Marquis of Ripon resigns the Grand Mastership of Freemasons in England. The government of the craft thereafter devolved upon the Prince of Wales, and at a subsequent meeting of the grand Lodge his Royal Highness was formally elected to the Grand Master's chair.

The Germans celebrate the victory of Sedan with great enthusiasm at Berlin.

3.-Died, aged 82, Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., a civil engineer of wide reputation, including, as his labours did, works so well known as London Bridge, Plymouth Breakwater (in conjunction with his father), and the drainage of Lincolnshire fens.

7.-Extensive fire at Meiningen, Germany, one-half of the town being reduced to ashes, 3,000 people rendered houseless.

8.-Fire at Amsterdam, an extensive sugar refinery, insured for 1,500,000 florins, being destroyed.

10.-Terrible railway accident near Norwich. A train carrying mails to Norwich left Great Yarmouth as usual at 8.46 P.M. and was joined at Redham, twelve miles from Norwich, by another train from Lowestoft. This junction being effected in the ordinary course, the combined train proceeded to Brundall, three stations farther on. The line here became single, and the united train required to halt until the arrival of the express train from Norwich to Great Yarmouth, or until permission was given to the engine-driver to proceed. A mistaken order from the nightinspector at Norwich station allowed the down express to leave Norwich while the Great Yarmouth train was suffered to come on 'from Brundall. The consequence was that the doomed trains met at Thorpe, nearly two miles from Norwich and ran headlong into each

other. The rails were slippery from rain; there was a slight curve in the line at the fatal spot, so that the lights of neither train could be seen, and there was no time to apply the brakes. The express train consisted of fourteen carriages, and the mail train of thirteen, so that the opposing forces were nearly equal in weight. It was thought that the speed of the up-mail could not have been less than from thirty to thirty-five miles an hour, while. the rate at which the express was travelling would be from twenty to twenty-five miles. The two engines and tenders weighed, one forty and the other forty-five tons. Exclusive

of dead weight in the train behind, this made over eighty tons of metal hurled almost through the air from opposite points. People living in the neighbourhood described the noise of the collision as something of the nature of a thunderbolt. In the crash which followed the funnel of one engine was carried away and the other rushed over it with several carriages until a pyramid was formed of the locomotives and shattered carriages, among which lay the wounded, dead, or dying passengers. Besides the four drivers and firemen, sixteen passengers were killed on the spot or died before the night was over, and about fifty were seriously injured, of whom five died in the course of a few days. The error as to the telegram being discovered early, although not before the answer was returned "Mail train gone," a few minutes of dreadful suspense was experienced at Norwich, but during which it was found possible to make some preparations for meeting the inevitable catastrophe. Finding their train stopped, but unaware of the calamity, two of the passengers were reported as having stepped out to walk to their destination, close at hand, and heard nothing of the disaster till next day.

11.-Captain Strahan sworn in as Governor of the Gold Coast Settlement, and the new Charter read.

12.-Captain John Dent Bird, 20th Hussars, shot at Aldershot by Private T. Smith of the same regiment, while engaged with his company in musketry practice, and in revenge, it was thought, for a seven days' confinement in barracks, to which he had been sentenced by his captain. Smith confessed to firing the shot and surrendered himself on the ground. The ball had entered at the right shoulder-blade, passed through the body, and out at the breast. Captain Bird became instantly unconscious, and expired in a few minutes, ignorant as to who had fired the shot. Smith was tried for the offence at the Central Criminal Court, before Mr. Justice Lush, Oct. 28th, found guilty, and

condemned to death.

Died at his residence, Val Richer, Normandy, aged 87, François Pierre Guillaume Guizot, French statesman and historian, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1840 till the

downfall of Louis Philippe in the revolution of 1848.

14. First meeting of the Congress of Orientalists at the Royal Institution under the presidency of Dr. Birch, of the British Museum. Members were entertained at the Mansion House on the 19th.

15.-Died aged 79, Hercules J. Robertson, Lord Benholm, Senator of the College of Justice, Edinburgh.

20.-Died, Victor Sejour, French dramatic

writer.

21. The balloon "Duke of Edinburgh," started in conjunction with "La Continent," from the Crystal Palace, with Messrs. Spencer and Lithgoe in the car, travels a distance of seventy miles in one hour and twenty minutes.

22.-Died, aged 71, Charles Swain, a writer of many pleasing verses.

23.-Typhoon at Hong Kong, causing great loss of life and destruction to shipping.

25.-Statue of the composer Balfe unveiled in Drury Lane.

26.-International Rifle match between England and America, contested at New York and won by America.

28.-Duke of Edinburgh visits Liverpool for the threefold purpose of attending the Musical Festival, opening the new Seamen's Orphanage, and laying the foundation-stone of an Art Gallery to be erected by Mr. Walker, at a cost of 20,000l.

30.-The King of the Fiji Islands cedes his country to the British Government, represented by Sir Hercules Robinson, commanding the Dido.

Murder and suicide at Plymouth, a retired builder, named Thomas, first cutting his wife's throat and then his own, while waiting in a solicitor's office to settle details of a deed of separation.

A labourer named Poirier executed at Chartres for a series of crimes known as the Limours murders, the victims in this case to the cunning and ferocity of one person amounting to at least ten in number.

October 2.-Explosion on the Regent's Canal, the fly-barge Tilbury, laden with four tons of blasting powder and six barrels of petroleum, being blown up about five o'clock this morning at the North Lodge Bridge, Zoological Gardens, and the three men in charge killed. Serious damage was done to property within a radius of a mile from the seat of the explosion, the bridge being blown to pieces, while Venetian blinds were torn

from their sashes and furniture smashed in many cases. Many people residing in the neighbourhood rushed into the streets in their night-dresses screaming for help, and it was some hours before quiet and order was restored. Among those who suffered more severely were Mr. Ochse, of North House, Mr. Alma Tadema, artist, St. John's Wood, and Mrs. Howard Paul. The coroner's jury found that the Canal Company were guilty of gross negligence in permitting fires to be lighted on such barges as the Tilbury, and that the existing laws were inadequate to secure public safety.

4.-Arrest and imprisonment of Count Arnim, late German Ambassador at Paris, on a charge of retaining State documents in his possession when he had been officially dismissed from the service of the State. Count Arnim was afterwards sentenced to two months

imprisonment.

Died, aged 86, Bryan Waller Procter, a poet who had obtained a wide popularity under the pseudonym of "Barry Cornwall.' Mr. Procter was at Harrow in Byron's time, and one of the last who knew Charles Lamb intimately in the latter years of his life.

Died, aged 75, Mr. Webster Fisher, Professor of Medicine in the University of Cambridge.

7.-The Duke of Edinburgh lays the foundation-stone of the new wing of the Royal British Female Orphan Asylum at Plymouth.

10. By her own desire, and in the furnace of Herr Siemens at Dresden, the body of Lady Dilke is subjected to the process of cremation in the presence of relatives. After the company had complied with a request to offer up a mental prayer, the coffin was placed in the chamber of the furnace; six minutes later the coffin burst; five minutes more and the flesh began to melt away; ten minutes more and the skeleton was laid bare; another ten minutes and the bones began to crumble. Seventy-five minutes after the introduction of the coffin into the furnace all that remained of Lady Dilke and the coffin were six pounds of dust placed in an urn.

12.-William Abbott, a member of the Stock Exchange, bound over to keep the peace towards Mr. Labouchère, of The World newspaper, who had been assaulted and threatened in connection with articles written on certain city speculations.

15. The Duchess of Edinburgh gives birth to a son at Buckingham Palace, Alfred Alexander William Ernest Albert. The Empress of Russia arrived at the Palace in the course of the afternoon.

17.-" Hospital Saturday;" about 4,000l. collected at stalls and boxes in the streets in aid of the metropolitan charities.

Died, aged 62, Sir John Benson, architect of the Dublin Great Exhibition building.

20.-The Chusan, from Glasgow to Shanghai, but more recently from Waterford, where she had put in for repairs, wrecked in a storm off Ardrossan, in presence of hundreds of spectators. Captain Johnstone, with his wife and sister-in-law, were lashed to a line thrown from a tug, but finding it impossible for all three to be hauled on board, the master cut himself adrift, and was drowned, with sixteen of his The storm was also severely felt in London and generally along the east and west coasts.

crew.

22.-Freedom of the City of London and a sword valued at 100 guineas presented in the Guildhall to Major-General Sir Garnet Wolseley, K. C.B., for ability and gallantry shown in the Gold Coast expedition.

23.-Cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, 2,000 lives being reported as lost at Midnapore.

24.-Died, aged 66, Thomas Miller, author of "Gideon Giles" and other writings in prose and verse, who had, by great application and industry, raised himself from a humble position as a Nottingham basket-maker.

26.-The Queen confers the Victoria Cross on Major Sartorius for personal bravery shown in presence of the enemy at Abogoo during the Ashantee War.

Trinity Church, the first English Protestant place of worship erected within the walls of Rome, opened for public worship, on a site near the Corso.

3.-Explosion in composition or mixinghouse of Hounslow Powder Mills, causing the death of four workmen, and serious injury to two others.

4.-The ancient Scottish festival of Halloween celebrated on a great scale by Her Majesty and the royal household at Balmoral.

10.-Captain Burnaby, of the Royal Horse Guards, and Lord Manners, of the Grenadier Guards, ascend in balloon from the Crystal Palace, and make a successful trial of a machine devised by the former for ascertaining the course of the wind above clouds when the earth is concealed.

19.-A twelve-oared cutter belonging to H.M.S. Aurora run down on the Clyde off Greenock by the Dublin steamer Duke of Leinster. A little after six o'clock, and when about half way between Princess pier and the guardship, the men in the cutter discovered their danger and held up a lamp as a signal for the steamer to lessen speed. The orders "Stop her" and "Full speed astern were instantly given, but the speed on was so great that she could not be brought to a stand. A lamentable collision occurred, the small boat being completely cut in two, and the whole of the men and boys, twenty-seven in number, thrown into the water. Seventeen were drowned or killed in the collision, and ten saved more or less injured.

19. The Cospatrick, an emigrant ship with 434 passengers on board for Auckland, and a crew of forty-three, burnt in 37° 15′ S. Lat., 12° 25′ E. Long., about 400 miles from the Cape. The alarm of fire was first raised soon after midnight on the 17th, and it continued, defying all efforts to check it, till the afternoon of the 19th, when the mainmast fell, killing many, and the ship's stern blew out under the poop deck. One survivor of that scene described Captain Elmslie as then throwing his wife overboard and leaping after her himself, to be followed by the surgeon with the captain's son in his arms. The vessel had been burning for at least thirty-six hours before she went down, but amid the agony and confusion prevailing on board only two boats managed to get clear of the blazing wreck. Arranging to keep together and in the way of vessels as much as possible, they yet got separated in a breeze on the night of the 21st, and of the port boat in charge of the chief mate with its twenty-five occupants, men and women, and one baby eleven days old, nothing was ever afterwards known. In the starboard boat, to which the second mate, Macdonald, had transferred his services by way of lightening the other, there were originally, thirty, all males, twenty-three being passengers. Destitute of food and raiment, the poor survivors became gradually reduced in number as hunger and madness wrought on their systems. Some fell overboard asleep, others, mad with thirst and hunger, sickened to death in the boat. On the 26th, when very bad, they commenced sucking the blood of those whom they were too weak to throw overboard. By next day, the 27th, the company was reduced to five, and some of these began to get callous as to what fate overtook them. They were happily then discovered by the ship British Sceptre of Liverpool, from Calcutta to Dundee, taken on board, and treated with the utmost kindness. Two, a passenger and a seaman, died on board, the other three, Macdonald, Lewis, and the youth Cottar, all seamen, and the sole survivors of the Cospatrick were landed at St. Helena to await a steamer home.-(See Dec. 25.)

20.-Colliery explosion at Rawmarsh, Rotherham, causing the death of twenty-three workmen and serious injury to four others, being all who were in the pit at the time.

Died, aged 39, Tom Hood, humorist and editor of Fun, son of the still greater humorist, who sang "The Song of the

Shirt."

ham Palace, in presence of the Queen, the Empress of Russia, and many members of the Royal and Imperial Households.

27.-Died, Sir James Ranald Martin, F. R. C.S., an eminent Physician, and InspectorGeneral of Army Hospitals.

29.-Died, aged 59, Constantine von Tischendorf, LL.D., philologist and Biblical critic.

The La Plata steamer, laden with telegraph cable for South America, founders in a severe gale off Ushant. Though much was done to lighten the vessel as well as to get boats and rafts in order, the La Plata shot down stern first with a loud explosion, carrying to the deep at least sixty of her passengers and crew, some of the former trained electricians. Among the lost were Captain Dudder, Mr. Hughes, surgeon, the three officers, one of the four engineers, seven of the ten stewards and cooks, both the boatswains, the carpenter, all the eleven stokers, fourteen of the twentyone seamen, and the whole of the cable staff, sixteen in number, with Mr. Ricketts and the six electricians accompanying him. A boat which had managed to clear the vessel, with fifteen survivors, was picked up by the emigrant ship Gareloch, and the passengers transferred afterwards to the Antenor, which landed them at Gravesend.

30.-Day of intercession for Foreign Missions, Dean Stanley preaching a special sermon on the occasion at Westminster, and Principal Caird, of Glasgow University, officiating from the lectern in the nave during the afternoon.

Captain Mark Sever Bell, R.E., receives the distinction of the Victoria Cross for distinguished bravery at Ordahsu during the Ashantee Expedition. The Victoria Cross, first instituted as a reward for valour in Feb. 1856, is now in the possession of 106 officers of Her Majesty's Army, seven officers of the Royal Navy, one officer of the Royal Marines, and two Bengal civilians. Sixty of these crosses were conferred for acts of bravery during the Indian Mutiny, thirty-seven were won by officers during the war with Russia, six were conferred for gallantry during the war with New Zealand, three were won during the China war in 1860, three have been distributed for valour during the late Ashantee campaign, two for the Umbeyla campaign, two for Bhootan, one for Persia, one for the Looshai expedition, and one for an act of gallantry in rescuing some soldiers from drowning in the Indian Ocean, the only Victoria cross not earned under fire.

December 2.-Died, aged 45, Watts Phillips, dramatist.

The Prince of Wales proclaimed Grand Master of the Freemasons of England by Garter King of Arms.