Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

with information relative to the Tichborne Bonds, on which it was alleged 35,000l. had been raised.

5. The Count de Chambord issues a proclamation, in which he promises not to attempt any disturbance of the existing order of things, but tells his countrymen that he holds himself in readiness to take the crown whenever they shall think fit to offer it to him, and to establish a régime combining monarchy with universal suffrage, and a parliament of two Chambers. "I will not," he concluded, "be silent because ignorant or credulous people have spoken of Privileges, of Absolutisin, of Intolerance, and of I know not what besides-of tithes, of feudal rights, phantoms which the most audacious bad faith seeks to conjure up before your eyes. I will not allow the standard of Henry IV., of Francis I., and Joan of Arc to be torn from my hands. It is with that flag that our national unity was made, it was with that flag that your forefathers, led by mine, conquered that Alsace and Lorraine whose fidelity will be our consolation in our misfortunes. It conquered barbarism on that African soil, which witnessed the first deeds of valour of the princes of my family; it is it which will conquer the new barbarism with which the world is now threatened. I shall confide it without fear to the valour of our army; it has never, as that army knows well, been found but in the path of honour. I received it as a sacred deposit from the aged King, my grandfather, as he was dying in exile; it has always been for me inseparable from the memory of my absent country; it floated above my cradle, I wish it to droop over my grave. In the glorious folds of that stainless banner, I shall bring you order and liberty. Frenchmen, Henry V. cannot desert the white flag of Henry IV.”

6.-Double murder in France, department of Indre-et-Loire. A man named Delalande, known for his dissipated habits, killed M. de Vonne, the Mayor of Saché, and as the curate, an old man of seventy-eight years, was bringing the holy oil to anoint the body of the deceased, the assassin fired again, and the curate fell mortally wounded. The terror caused by these murders was so great among the inhabitants that the body of the curate was suffered to remain three hours in the public road.

Meeting of Liberal members at the residence of Mr. Gladstone, to devise measures for hastening the progress of the Ballot Bill through the House.

In committee on the Ballot Bill, Mr. G. Bentinck, resenting what he called the curt and not very courteous remarks of the leader of the Opposition on gentlemen below the gangway, said a long career of political tergiversation and apostasy had placed the right hon. gentleman in a position which subjected him to observations. ("Order, order!") Many years ago the right hon. gentleman spoke of the Government of the day as an organized hypocrisy,"

66

and that suggested that the proper description of the late Government would be that it was a disorganized hypocrisy. The chairman ruled that the hon. member was out of order in alluding to past events. Next, turning to the Prime Minister, Mr. Bentinck said he had complained of time being wasted, but no one had for years delayed business by speeches sc much as he himself had done. In a long, didactic oration the right hon. gentleman com. mented upon the bad habit of imputing motives; but he was guilty of that offence when he said that speeches were made solely for the purpose of creating delay. As soon as Mr. Newdegate rose a great many members on the Liberal side (in accordance with the tactics resolved upon at the meeting in the afternoon) immediately quitted the House, and the whole of the benches were soon empty. Only two or three Ministers on the Treasury bench, and three independent members behind them, were left to represent the party on the Speaker's right hand. In order to maintain the equilibrium of the assembly a number of the Conservatives, amid general laughter, crossed to the deserted seats and delivered strong denunciations of the Ballot from the places usually occupied by advanced Radicals. The speaking was carried on exclusively by Conservatives, and provoked no reply. About ten o'clock a division was taken, and Mr. Newdegate's motion for adjourn. ment defeated by 154 to 63.

6. - Waverley costume ball at Willis's Rooms in aid of fund to complete the Scott Monument at Edinburgh.

7.-Adjournment of the Tichborne case after a trial of forty days-a course opposed by Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, and insisted on by Mr. Hawkins, who stated that the observations he had addressed to the court were made under a sense of responsibility to his clients, and he cared nothing for the observations of Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, knowing the quarter whence they came. The Lord Chief Justice

"I regret very much that such an observation should have fallen from any learned counsel. The observation of the learned counsel requires an apology upon the spot." (The learned counsel having made no response, his lordship proceeded, turning to the jury)— 'Gentlemen, I regret that it is not made." Before the case was suspended, however, Mr. Hawkins, at the suggestion of the Judge, withdrew the expression. (See January 15, 1872.)

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]

Complimentary breakfast at the Crystal Palace to members of the company of the "Comédie Française," whose performances were brought to a close this evening, Lord Dufferin presided.

9.-Died, aged 76, Dr. Alexander Keith Johnstone, F. R. S., among the most eminent of modern geographers.

10. At a meeting of Conservative Peers, it is resolved that the Duke of Richmond should give notice of an amendment expressing the unwillingness of the House to read the Army Bill a second time until a complete and comprehensive scheme of army reorganisation shall have been laid before it.

11. The Ecclesiastical Titles Repeal Bill passes through committee in the Lords, and the Burial Bill is read a third time and passed. To meet the case of children working in brickfields, in whose behalf Lord Shaftesbury moved an address to the Crown, Lord Morley promised to introduce a clause into the Factory Act Amendment Bill, presently before the House.

The Saxon troops engaged in the late war make a triumphal entry into Dresden. The Bavarian troops entered Munich on the 16th.

Collision early this morning, in the Channel, off the Eddystone lighthouse, between the ship Madagascar, 1,311 tons, Captain Brunswick, belonging to South Shields, bound from London to Quebec, and the screw-steamer Widgeon, of Cork, proceeding from Liverpool, with a general cargo and passengers for Rotterdam. The bow of the Madagascar cut into the Widgeon midway between the funnel and the wheel, crushing the sailor at the wheel so severely that he was taken to the hospital. The water rushed into the stoke-hole and extinguished the fires. The steamer sank at 2.30 A. M., and the ship at 5 A.M. All hands of both vessels, sixty-one persons, were picked up by a trawling sloop, and brought into Plymouth.

Died at Milan, the Princess Christina Belgiojoso, an enthusiastic worker for the unity of Italy.

12. Commenced at the Central Criminal Court, before Lord Chief Justice Bovill, the trial of Edmund W. Pook, for the murder of Jane Maria Clousen, in Kidbrooke Lane, Eltham. The case was protracted to the evening of the 16th, when the jury, amid a tempest of applause, returned a verdict of Not Guilty. In his charge the Chief Justice commented in strong terms on the conduct of the police, who appeared, he said, to have from the first assumed the guilt of the prisoner, and strained every piece of evidence so as to ensure a conviction against him. The acquittal of Pook led to disorderly gatherings before his father's house at Greenwich, and to legal proceedings against parties for printing and selling accounts of his supposed connection with the murder.

Serious Orange riots in New York, the military firing upon the disturbers of the peace, killing, it was reported, over thirty and wounding 170. Lieutenant James Fisk was among the latter.

14.-William Frank Gosney, a lad of 20, sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to fifteen years' penal servitude for attempting to murder Dr. De Meschin, of the Middle Temple, whose room had been taken possession of, and books stolen by the prisoner during the Doctor's temporary absence abroad.

16. In the case of Harriet Newington or Davy, indicted for the manslaughter of Frederick Moon, the jury return a verdict of guilty, and Baron Channell, expressing his entire concurrence in its justice, sentenced her to eight years' penal servitude. The prisoner again declared her innocence. "We lived together," she said, "most happily. The whole of his consideration had been to promote my happiness, and I have studied his. I could not have done him any injury. It was in the struggle. He was going to throw a bottle, and I jumped up quickly. He tried to take the knife from me. I am not sure whether he got it or not. We struggled and fell. I thought at first I must be the one injured. I found blood on me-warm blood. I said, 'Oh, Fred! what have you done?' Then I found, of course, it was him, not myself. I tried all I could to do something to stop it. First of all I applied cold water; then I remembered that cold water produced blood instead of stopping it. Then I sent for ice and tried that. Then the doctors came.' The prisoner fainted on hearing her sentence.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

end to except by the extinction of purchase as a system, the Government had resolved to advise her Majesty to take the decisive step of cancelling the Royal Warrant under which purchase was legal. That advice had been accepted and acted on by her Majesty. The new warrant had been framed in terms conformable with the law, and from the Ist of November next purchase in the army would no longer exist. The Government had no other object in view but simplicity, despatch, and the observance of constitutional usage. (Cries of "Oh!" from the Opposition, answered by Ministerial cheers.) Amid many disorderly interruptions, Mr. Disraeli and several other members taunted Government with having appealed to the prerogative of the Crown for the purpose of relieving them from a difficulty of their own devising. A bitter discussion broke out again in committee on the Ballot Bill, when Mr. Forster said it was necessary to pass the measure, in order to throw the responsibility of its rejection on the House of Lords, a proceeding described by the leader of the Opposition as an avowed and shameful conspiracy. On the Chairman calling attention to these words, they were at once withdrawn, and the discussion proceeded.

20.-Royal Warrant issued declaring that "On and after the 1st day of November in this present year, all regulations made by Us or any of Our Royal predecessors, or any Officers acting under Our authority, regulating or fixing the prices at which any Commissions in Our Forces may be purchased, sold, or exchanged, or in any way authorizing the purchase or sale or exchange for money of any such Commissions, shall be cancelled and determined."

21. In the Willoughby Peerage case (involving also the dignity of Lord Great Chamberlain), the House of Lords decide that the Dowager Lady Aveland had made out her claim as the nearest co-heiress.

-The Grand Duke Constantine of Russia arrives in London.

[blocks in formation]

and severely admonished Capt. Beamish and Staff-Commander Knight. Lieut. Bell was simply admonished.

26.-Died at Cowes, aged 78, the Hon. J. Slidell, one of the Southern States Commis. sioners, seized on board the Trent in 1863.

27.-M. Jules Favre resigns his position as French Minister of Foreign Affairs.

29.-Professor Döllinger elected Rector of the University of Munich by 54 votes against 6.

31.-Died suddenly, from the bursting of a blood-vessel, the Very Rev. Dr. Mansel, Dean of St. Paul's, in his 51st year.

After a sharp debate in the Lords, the Duke of Richmond carries, by 162 to 82 votes, the resolution he had submitted in connection with the second reading of the Army Bill:"That this House, in assenting to the second reading of this bill, desires to express its opinion that the interposition of the Executive during the progress of a measure submitted to Parliament by her Majesty's Government, in order to attain, by the exercise of the prerogative, and without the aid of Parliament, the principal object included in that measure, is calculated to depreciate and neutralize the independent action of the Legislature, and is strongly to be condemned; and this House assents to the second reading of this bill only in order to secure the officers of her Majesty's army the compensation to which they are entitled conse. quent on the abolition of purchase in the army.'

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

The Prince of Wales, accompanied by Prince Arthur, the Princess Louise, and the Marquis of Lorne, arrive in Dublin on a visit to the Lord-Lieutenant.

August 1.--Memorandum agreed to con cerning a new social movement originated by Mr. Scott Russell to improve the condition of the working classes by an alliance of workmen with Conservative statesmen. "We appre ciate," they said, "the confidence thus showr to be placed in us; we fully recognize the national necessity of a hearty good feeling between the different classes of society; we believe that this good feeling can and ought to be secured where both parties are in earnest on the subject. Awaiting communications from the Council, we readily engage to give an attentive consideration to the measures which may be hereafter submitted by them to our judgment. At the same time we do not con ceal from ourselves that the task which we have been requested to undertake is not free from difficulty. We cannot become parties to any

legislation which we do not believe to be consistent with the real interests of all classes. We must reserve to ourselves the most unfettered discretion in the selection of objects, and in the modification or rejection of measures proposed to us for consideration; and we must hold ourselves free, either collectively or individually, to retire from the task to which we have been invited whenever we may be of opinion that our assistance is not likely to be for the advantage of the public or satisfactory to ourselves. Salisbury, Carnarvon, Lichfield, Sandon, John Manners, John S. Pakington, Stafford Northcote, Gathorne Hardy."

1.-In consequence of the defeat of his Government on the Decentralization Bill, M. Thiers announces in the Salle des Conférences that the factious conduct of the Right left him no alternative but to resign. He retired from the hall with four of his Ministers, declaring that he would call for a vote of confidence on the following day.

The M'Fadden family-husband, wife, and two children-attacked in their residence at Errandsey, Londonderry, and all but murdered by the brothers M'Callog, who had been concerned in litigation with their victims.

The Army Bill, introduced first as a Reorganization Bill, then an Abolition of Purchase Bill, and finally a Compensation Bill, passes the House of Lords.

2. In the course of his opening address to the British Association, the chairman for the year, Sir W. Thompson, made reference to the origin of life on the globe in terms which gave rise to considerable controversy. "I confess," he said, "to being deeply impressed by the evidence put before us by Professor Huxley, and I am ready to adopt, as an article of scienSific faith, true through all space and through all time, that life procee ls from life, and from nothing but life. How, then, did life originate on the earth?" Remarking that we have no right to assume an abnormal creative act in order to answer this question, if it can be answered otherwise, the president suggested that the first germs of life were brought to this world by fragments of matter detached from other worlds in which life had previously existed, just as islands springing up in the ocean are covered with vegetation by the seeds which float in the water and the air. "Hence, and because we all confidently believe that there are at present, and have been from time immemorial, many worlds of life besides our own, we must regard it as probable in the highest degree that there are countless and seed-bearing meteoric stones moving about through space. If at the present instant no life existed upon this earth, one such stone falling upon it might, by what we blindly call natural causes, lead to its becoming covered with vegetation. I am fully conscious of the many scientific objections which may be urged against this hypothesis, but I believe them to

[merged small][ocr errors]

3.-James Nimmo, Glasgow, poisons three of his children with prussic acid, and then com mits suicide by swallowing a portion of the same drug.

4. The Ballot Bill passed through Com. mittee in the Commons.

5.-Cooper's Hill College, founded by the Secretary of State and Council of India for training civil engineers in the Indian service, opened by the Duke of Argyll.

Colonel Hogg, as Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, lays the foundation stone of the Chelsea section of the Thames Embankment, extending along the river front of the Hospital to Battersea Bridge.

6.-Riot in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, arising out of the interference of the police with a Fenian amnesty meeting, called to neutralize the loyal demonstration made in favour of the royal visitors presently residing with the LordLieutenant. About sixty were injured, several of whom were policemen, struck by stones, apparently carried to the place of meeting for purposes of attack.

- Dedication services in the English Church at Zermatt, built partly as a memorial of the disastrous ascent of the Matterhorn by English travellers in July, 1865.

7.-Trial of the Communist prisoners commenced at Versailles. The indictment gave an account of the proceedings of the International prior to the insurrection, and of the various crimes which followed the revolt of the 18th March. Charges then followed, first against Assi, who was accused of incitement to civil war, of usurpation of civil and military powers, of having assumed Government functions, and assisted in issuing orders, the consequence of which were devastation, massacre, pillage, arson, and assassination. All the accused were further charged with conspiring for the overthrow of the Government, with incitement to civil war, and usurpation of office and power. Courbet was specially accused of complicity in the destruction of the Vendôme Column; Lullier of attempts to carry destruction, massacre and pillage into Paris, of taking possession of city property appertaining to the State, and of inciting soldiers to join the ranks of the rebels. Grousset stood charged with active participation in the revolt, with public incitement to contempt of existing laws and of the National Assembly. Verdure, Billioray, and Ferré were arraigned for arbitrary confiscations, wanton destruction of private dwelling-houses and public monuments, sacrilegious pillage of churches, and assassination, they having voted for the execution of the hostages. Jourde was farther charged with financial transactions

involving the violation of the seals of the public chests and the squandering of public charities. All the members of the Commune were made responsible for the destruction of property by fire. The number of prisoners was said to be 33,000.

8.-The Ballot Bill read a third time in the House of Commons.

9. The centenary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott celebrated in various towns in Scotland by festive gatherings. At Edinburgh, where the highest interest was naturally manifested, there was an exhibition of Scott relicsbooks, pictures, and manuscripts-and the day observed in the city as a holiday. The banquet there was presided over by the Earl of Dalkeith (in the absence of his father, the Duke of Buccleuch); and the toast of the evening, "The Memory of Sir Walter Scott," proposed by Sir Wm. Stirling Maxwell. Dean Stanley attended at Edinburgh, and Professor Jowett at Glasgow, where also was present Sheriff H. G. Bell, one of the few survivors of those who took part in the memorable Theatrical Fund Dinner in Edinburgh, Feb., 1827, when Sir Walter acknowledged himself to be the sole and undivided author of the Waverley Novels.

10.-Lord Shaftesbury's motion to reject the Ballot Bill, on the ground of the late period at which it was sent up to the House, carried after a brief debate by 97 to 48 votes.

[blocks in formation]

Meeting of a council of skilled workmen to consider a report prepared by Mr. Scott Russell, detailing the result of his three months' negotiations to secure the support of Conservative leaders to his scheme for a union of workmen and noblemen. The party was reported to be thoroughly and successfully united in a representative council of peers and legislators.

11.- Explosion in Prentice's gun-cotton factory at Stowmarket, Suffolk, causing the death of twenty-four people, injury to seventy, and a great destruction of property in the neighbourhood. Two members of the firm were among the killed. During the last few weeks, experiments had been carried on by Government officials, tending to show that, under the regulations observed at Stowmarket, the cartridges made there would not explode. A dense column of smoke was observed to rise high into the air, spread itself out gradually into a fan-like shape, and then came a terrific roar, heard, it was said, at distances varying from twelve to fourteen miles. As the result of a lengthened inquiry before the coroner, a jury found-"That the explosion causing the deaths of persons on whom this inquest was held was produced by some person or persons unknown adding sulphuric acid to the guncotton subsequent to its passing the tests required by Government. At the same time we consider, from the evidence adduced, that there

is no danger in the manufacture of gun-cotton in the wet process, but that the drying and. storing of gun-cotton should not be allowed near a town. Also, we consider that gun-cotton works should be subject to constant Government inspection." Another explosion, but less disastrous, took place at this time in the powderworks of the Schultze Company, situated in the heart of the New Forest.

12. The Emperors of Germany and Austria have an interview at Ischl.

Proposals submitted to the French Assembly for prolonging the power of M. Thiers. The first, brought forward by the Left Centre, gave M. Thiers the title of President of the Republic, continued his power for three years unless in the meantime the Assembly should dissolve itself, and made the Ministers (to be appointed by the President) responsible to the Assembly. The proposition of the Right simply declared the confidence of the Assembly in the wisdom and patriotism of M. Thiers, and confirmed and continued the powers conferred upon him at Bordeaux.

15.-The Commons agree to the Lords' amendments on the Army Bill, after a discussion, having reference chiefly to the Ministeria! expedient of resorting to the Royal prerogative for the abolition of purchase.

16.-Fire in Burlington Arcade, resulting in the destruction of several shops.

17.-Unveiling of the statue erected on the Thames Embankment to, commemorate the services of Lieut.-Gen. Sir James Outram, G.C.B. In the absence of the Secretary for India, Lord Halifax made a short speech on the occasion.

18.-Replying to some criticism made in the House on the view he privately maintained on the Army Bill, Sir Roundell Palmer writes to Mr. Cardwell :-" "I have always thought and said that the issuing of such a warrant was within the undoubted power of the Crown ; though to do so without having a sufficient assurance that Parliament would provide the necessary compensation for the officers, who would otherwise suffer by such an exercise of Royal power, would not be just, and therefore would not be consistent with the spirit of the Constitution, which vests all such powers in the Crown, in the confidence, and for the purpose, that right, not wrong, shall be done. I should have been glad if it had been generally and clearly understood from the beginning that, subject to the sense of Parliament being ascertained with reference to the point of compen. sation, the form of procedure would be that which was eventually adopted, because it is certainly an evil that the adoption of one constitutional mode of procedure, rather than another, should appear to arise from an adverse vote of the House of Lords."

-The screw-steamer Compeer, laden with flax, stranded on the coast, near Berwick, and

« VorigeDoorgaan »