Normans conquered Ireland, but it was after they had conquered England. Cromwell conquered Ireland but it was after he had conquered England." A happier piece of pleasantry and shrewd description of an Irish weakness was never listened to; and the right hon. gentleman concluded in words which literally brought down the house, "I am opposed therefore to this motion because I think involved in it are the highest and dearest interests of our country. I am opposed to it for the sake of the Irish people as much as for the sake of the English or for the Scotch. I am opposed to it because I wish to see at the important crisis of the world -that perhaps is nearer arriving than some of us suppose a united people welded in one great nationality; and because I feel that if we sanction this policy, if we do not cleanse the Parlimentary bosom of this perilous stuff, we shall bring about the disintegration of the kingdom and the destruction of the empire." In the course of debate the Irish Chief Secretary contended that Home Rule was desired only by a minority of the people. On a division Mr. Butt's motion was thrown out by an overwhelming majority-458 to 61 votes. 3.-Leicester Square, restored and decorated by Mr. Albert Grant, M.P., formally handed over to the Metropolitan Board of Works. Fontana's statue of Shakspeare, and the corner statues of Hogarth, Reynolds, Newton, and Hunter were unveiled at the same time. 5.-Died, aged 79, Henry Stephens, author of the "Book of the Farm." 6.-Died, aged 73, the Right Hon. FoxMaule Ramsay, eleventh Earl of Dalhousie, formerly Lord Panmure, and member of various Liberal governments, between 1835, when he entered the Home department as Under Secretary, and 1855, when he became Secretary for War in Lord Aberdeen's Cabinet. In the Commons the Lord Advocate moves the second reading of the Abolition of Patronage (Scotland) Bill, contending that the only opposition offered to the measure was on the part of those who opposed Church establishments. Mr. Baxter moved an amendment, declaring it inexpedient to legislate on the subject without further inquiry and information. Mr. Gladstone's unexpected re-appearance in the House was greeted with hearty cheers when he stood up to oppose the measure. This opposition he based on three grounds-the exclusion of heritors from all share as such in the elections of ministers; the omission of every provision calculated to meet the case of Highland parishes; and the injustice likely to be inflicted by the manner of abolition on the Free Church. He wanted to know among other things, what had been done by the Established General Assembly towards re-uniting itself to bodies which it had turned out for holding views which formed the basis of the present bill. The amendment which he supported might be interpreted as meaning that other steps of justice, prudence, and propriety-he might even say of decency -ought previously to be taken towards other non-established bodies. Mr. Disraeli denied that the measure was one for the abolition of patronage; it was merely an alteration in the mode of selecting ministers, and in what they had done Government had acted on precedent. He defended the selection of the congregration as the constituency, as well as the amount of compensation to be paid to patrons, and pointed out that to substitute the Civil for Ecclesiastical Courts would be fatal to holding out the olive branch to either the United Presbyterian or Free Church bodies. The debate stood adjourned till the 13th, when the second reading was carried by 307 to 109 votes. 7.-Died, aged 59, John Heneage Jesse, author of many historical works. 8.-The Queen reviews the Aldershot troops at Chobham Common. 9.-A Belgian, Vincent de Groof, known as "The Flying Man," while attempting to descend by a newly invented parachute from a Cremorne balloon, falls suddenly to the ground from a height of 80 feet and dies within a few minutes after being found, bleeding and insensible, in Robert Street, Chelsea. The porter of Chelsea Infirmary, who watched the balloon and parachute, heard, or fancied he heard, a voice in the air twice exclaiming in English, "Drop into the churchyard, look out." The aëronaut, Simmons, with de Groof in his machine below, were then drifting near St. Luke's Church and much above the height of the tower. De Groof appeared to have overbalanced himself after detaching his machine, and fell forward clinging to the ropes. To the horror of the spectators the apparatus, instead of inflating with the pressure of the air, collapsed, and turning round in its descent, fell with great violence to the street a few yards from the kerbstone. Madame de Groof, who witnessed her husband's fall, fainted at the sight. The balloon rose and went on, crossing London in a north-easterly direction. Mr. Simmons swooned in the car, and did not recover consciousness till he was over Victoria Park. He travelled into Essex and came down with his balloon on the railway. In de Groof's case the coroner's jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure, but expressed an opinion that such exhibitions should be stopped by legislative interference. Discussion in the Commons on the second reading of the Public Worship Regulation bill, introduced by Mr. Russell Gurney. Mr. Gladstone declared that he had never approached any question with more embarrassment than this, and he had been constrained to quit his retirement, to point out the false issue which had been laid before Parliament, and to dispel the illusions and the ignorance several times on the eve of being murdered by his delirious companions, and only saved by the watchfulness of Webster. 11. Mr. Disraeli unveils the statue of the late Earl Derby (by Noble) set up in New Palace Yard, adjacent to St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. 13.--Died, aged 68, Miss Agnes Strickland, joint historian with her sister Elizabeth, of the Queens and Princesses of England. Attempted assassination of Prince Bismarck, at Kissingen, Bavaria, by a youth named Kullmann, incited to the deed it was alleged by regardless members of the Ultramontane party. The ball passed through the carriage, but only injured the Prince's hand, which he had raised at the moment to return a military salute given by a person in the garb of a priest. Kullmann was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment. 14. Another great fire at Chicago, sixty acres of building being reported as laid waste on this occasion. Lord Sandon moves the second reading of the Endowed School Acts Amendment Bill, providing for the transference of the duties of the Commission to the Charity Commissioners, appointed by the Act of 1869, powers which at the close of the session of 1873 it had been agreed to prolong for another twelve months, the original term of three years having expired. It also proposed to alter the former Act so far as to restore to the Church of England the administration of numerous schools in cases where the founder had recognised the authority of a bishop, or had directed attendance in the service of the Church, or had required that the masters should be in holy orders. Forster protested against the Bill, as did also Mr. Gladstone, the latter denouncing it as inequitable, unusual, and unwise. Mr. Hardy defended the measure, and eventually the second reading was carried by 291 to 209 votes. 15th The Bill was afterwards modified in committee, and three new commissioners appointed under its provisions. 10.-The Queen confers an Albert medal of the second class on David Webster, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, late second mate of the brig Arracan of Greenock, for having made a successful struggle, extending over thirty-one days, to save from loss through selfdestruction a portion of the crew entrusted to his care, in a small boat, when the vessel took fire in mid-ocean. They were discovered drifting about by the City of Manchester and conveyed to Calcutta. The ship's boy Horner was Mr. accommodation to about 8,000 people, and to be equally free from public-houses and pawnshops. Mr. Disraeli, Earl Shaftesbury, and Earl Granville were present and addressed the company on the advantages conferred on working people by such undertakings. 19.-Spain declared in a state of siege, and a levy of 120,000 men ordered. 20.-Her Majesty's message read in the Commons desiring that provision might be made for her youngest son, Prince Leopold. On the 23rd a vote was passed and agreed to for 15,000/, per annum. 21.-Coggia's comet attains its nearest point to the earth after being visible to the naked eye soon after twilight for the greater part of the month. Fancy dress ball at Marlborough House, the entertainment opening with the Venetian Quadrille engaged in by the Princess of Wales and Marquis of Hartington, the Duchess of Sutherland and Prince of Wales, the latter in cavalier costume after Vandyke, with flowing curls. com The Lord Mayor entertained a pany of 300 ladies and gentlemen, English and foreign, and identified in some way with literature or art, as singers, painters, novelists, editors, or special correspondents. Adelina Patti (with her husband, the Marquis de Caux), sat on the right of the Lord Mayor; Lord Houghton and Sir Francis Grant on the left. Next evening a banquet was given in the same hall to Her Majesty's ministers. 27. The steamer Milbanke, homeward bound from Cartagena, run down in the night off Dungeness by the steamer Hankow, outward bound to China. Fourteen out of the Milbanke crew of twenty-eight were lost, including the captain and mate, with their wives. August 1--Right Hon. Andrew Lusk, Lord Mayor of London, gazetted a Baronet. 3.-Public Worship Bill read a third time in the House of Commons. The 4.-Conflict of authority between the Lords and Commons concerning an amendment made by the latter in the Public Worship Regulation Bill providing for an appeal being made to the Archbishop. The Archbishops were in favour of it, but nine bishops voted against the clause. The Bishop of Winchester said he would trample his episcopal robes under foot if he did not believe episcopacy to be of Divine institution; and if it was of Divine institution, then every bishop ruled by Divine right in his own diocese. The Bishop of Lincoln objected to the clause as over-riding episcopal discretion, and tending to set up a Pope at Canterbury and an anti-Pope at York. Marquis of Salisbury spoke of the "bluster" which generally prevailed when the Commons took any course opposed to the Upper House, and on the present occasion repudiated the majority as a "bugbear." In the course of the debate to which this conflict of authority gave rise in the Commons, Mr. Disraeli repeated his earlier description of the Bill, that it was intended to put down Ritualism, meaning by Ritualism the practices of a certain portion of the clergy, symbolical, according to their own admission, of doctrines which they were solemnly bound to renounce. Of all the false pretences put forward there was none, Mr. Disraeli remarked, more glaring than the pretence that this small pernicious sect was a part of the High Church party, among which he had found some of the most strenuous opponents of Rome. The Bill, he believed, would be found efficacious for its purpose, and it would be with the utmost hesitation that he would take any steps to put it in peril. He had supported the amendment as a wise and salutary provision, and he regretted defeat, but for the sake of it he was not prepared to forfeit the Bill. "As to Lord Salisbury's language, let us not for a moment (said Mr. Disraeli) be diverted from the course which we think, as wise and grave men, we ought to follow, by any allusions to the spirit of any speech which may have been made in the course of the debates in the other House of Parliament. My noble friend, who has just been referred to by the right hon. gentleman who has just addressed us with so much ability, was long a member of this House, and is well known to many of the members even of this Parliament. He is not a man who measures his phrases. He is one who is a great master of gibes and flouts and jeers, but I don't suppose there is any one who is prejudiced against a member of Parliament on account of such qualifications. My noble friend knows the House of Commons well, and he is not perhaps superior to the consideration that by making a speech of that kind, and taunting its 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, sup. pression 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 Tigre) 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. The King of Denmark visits Leith and Edinburgh on returning from the Iceland festivities. 20.-Died, aged 81, Kenny Meadows, artist. 22.-Died, aged 50, Sydney T. Dobell, known as a poet under the nom-de-plume of "Sydney Yendys.” 24. Died, aged 83, William Henry West Betty, famous in the beginning of the century as the "Infant Roscius." 25.-Tragedy at Princes' Club, Manchester, Hubert Barge shooting Alexander M'Lean dead in the writing-room, and then committed suicide by shooting himself, while in a state of insanity. 27.-Died, aged 56, John Henry Foley, sculptor, R.A. 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. 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 10.-Terrible railway accident near Norwich. same regiment, while engaged with his company A train carrying mails to Norwich left Great in musketry practice, and in revenge, it was Yarmouth as usual at 8.46 P.M. and was joined thought, for a seven days' confinement in barat Redham, twelve miles from Norwich, by racks, to which he had been sentenced by his another train from Lowestoft. This junction captain. Smith confessed to firing the shot and being effected in the ordinary course, the surrendered himself on the ground. The ball combined train proceeded to Brundall, three had entered at the right shoulder-blade, passed stations farther on. The line here became through the body, and out at the breast. Capsingle, and the united train required to halt tain Bird became instantly unconscious, and until the arrival of the express train from expired in a few minutes, ignorant as to who had Norwich to Great Yarmouth, or until perfired the shot. Smith was tried for the offence mission was given to the engine-driver to at the Central Criminal Court, before Mr. proceed. A mistaken order from the night- Justice Lush, Oct. 28th, found guilty, and inspector 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 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 |