sent to both Houses of Parliament informing members of the circumstance with a view to prevent unnecessary alarm.

29.-Intimation made to the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London that it was the intention of her Majesty to confer a baronetcy upon the former and knighthood upon the latter in connection with the recent Thanksgiving Service, "than which," wrote Mr. Gladstone, “the City of London has perhaps never witnessed a celebration more solemn or more satisfactory." The Deputy-Recorder, Mr. Chambers, also at this time received the honour of knighthood.

Commenced to be heard at the Southwark Police Court the charge of libel with intent to extort money, preferred against Alexander Chaffers, solicitor, Lambeth, by Sir Travers Twiss, her Majesty's Advocate-General, and Lady Twiss. It appeared that soon after their marriage at Dresden in 1862, the defendant, who had acted for Lady Twiss in business transactions, made a demand upon her for 150/. Sir Travers's solicitor paid him 50%., and Chaffers gave a receipt in full of all demands. He sent other letters, and brought sham actions against Lady Twiss for alleged slanders. In 1868 Lady Twiss was presented at St. James's by Lady Rutherford Alcock, and in 1869 was again at her Majesty's Drawing Room. On the 29th of April of that year the defendant wrote to the Lord Chamberlain complaining of Lady Twiss, stating that she had misconducted herself in London previous to her marriage with Sir Travers Twiss. The Lord Chamberlain made inquiries, as he was bound to do under the circumstances, the result of which was satisfactory to himself and Sir Travers and Lady Twiss. On the 4th of April, last year, the defendant, determined to carry on his malicious persecutions, made a statutory declaration at Bow Street Police Court, in which he accused Lady Twiss of the grossest immoralities; declared that her name before marriage was Marie Gelas; that she lived in London for several years at various addresses named, and was a person of notoriously immoral character; that the defendant met her in Regent Street in 1859, and accompanied her to her lodgings in Upper Berkeley Street, where he stayed some time, and eventually gave her a sovereign; that he subsequently passed whole nights in her company many times; that her conduct was notoriously bad even for the class to which she belonged, and that she was in consequence called to order at the Holborn Casino; finally, that Sir Travers Twiss had immoral relations with her before her marriage. The case was continued from time to time till the 13th March, the defendant subjecting Lady Twiss to a severe and insulting examination for several days. On that date Mr. Poland, the prosecuting counsel, announced, to the surprise of the Court, that Lady Twiss was determined not to appear again, and had left London. Mr. Benson, the presiding magistrate, thereupon dismissed Chaffers on his own recognizances to appear

to answer a second charge, with the remark, "With regard to what you have alleged touching the conduct of this unfortunate woman, who, after braving the Court for a few days, has shrunk from meeting the frightful charges you have brought against her, I assure you that your conduct in this case, which rendered it necessary for her to take steps against you, will cling to you as a reproach to the end of your days, and you will live an object of contempt to all honest men. "" (Loud applause.)

3.-Sunday "demonstration in Hyde Park against the Parks Regulation Bill.

Died, Mr. Angus M'Pherson, Secretary to the Highland Society, and translator of the Queen's Diary in the Highlands into Gaelic.

4.-Sudden termination of the huge Tichborne case, the jury to-day submitting to the Lord Chief Justice the following brief statement :-"We have now heard the evidence regarding the tattoo marks, and, subject to your lordship's directions, and to the hearing of any further evidence that the learned counsel may desire to place before us, I am authorized to state that the jury do not require further evidence." An adjournment was therefore made to the 6th, the 103rd day of trial, when Mr. Serjeant Ballantine sought to gain further time by alleging that the plaintiff had been taken by surprise so far as the tattoo marks were concerned. Finding, however, that the decision of the jury was based upon the entire evidence as well as the tattoo marks, he ultimately advised his client to submit to a nonsuit. After some discussion a nonsuit was entered, and his lordship ordered the plaintiff to be committed to the next session at the Central Criminal Court, upon a charge of wilful and corrupt perjury, and ordered him to remain in custody until then, unless he should find bail himself in 5,000l. and two sureties in 2,500l. or four in 1,250/. each. He also expressed his opinion that the Government should undertake the prosecution, and he bound over Mr. Inspector Dunning as prosecutor. The Attorney-General said that the Government would undertake the prosecution, and on his application a Bench warrant was issued for the apprehension of the plaintiff, who was soon after conveyed to Newgate. His lordship thanked the jury for the unwearied attention they had bestowed on the case, and expressed a hope that in the new Jury Act a clause would

be introduced exempting them from further service so long as they wished to be exempted. The Claimant's case had been supported by the oaths of eighty-five witnesses, comprising the baronet's mother, the family solicitor, one baronet, six magistrates, one general, three colonels, one major, two captains, thirty-two non-commissioned officers and privates, four clergymen, seven tenants of the estate, sixteen servants of the family, and twelve general witnesses, who all swore to his identity. His claim was denied by the oaths of seventeen witnesses.

4. Died at his residence, Carlton House Terrace, William Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale, aged 85 years.

5.-An imperial Order in Council issued at Berlin, decreeing the foundation of a Naval Academy at Kiel.

6.-The Queen, who had contemplated instituting a medal as a reward for long or faithful service among her domestic servants, inaugurates the institution by conferring on Mr. John Brown, her Majesty's personal attendant, a medal in gold, with an annuity of 25%. attached to it, as a mark of her appreciation of his presence of mind and of his devotion on the occasion of the attack made upon her in Buckingham Palace Gardens on the 29th of February.

Died at his residence, St. George's Square, Primrose Hill, Dr. Goldstücker, Professor of Sanskrit in University College, London.

Sir

7.-Report of the Megara Commission laid on the table of the House of Commons. Spencer Robinson was held to be "mainly responsible for the misfortune which befell the vessel," on the ground that he was answerable for the defective organisation of his department, for the imperfect scrutiny of dockyard reports, for the perfunctory inspection exercised by the dockyard officials, and specially for neglecting to have the Megara examined during the five months when she lay idle at Sheerness before being re-commissioned for Australia. This conclusion the Commissioners stated they had come to with regret ; for there can be no question of the zeal and ability of Sir Spencer Robinson, and it is difficult, they think, to have taken part in this inquiry without forming high appreciation of his merits as a devoted public servant. Mr. Reed and Mr. Barnaby were blamed for the incomplete inspection made at Woolwich in 1866.

a

The Scotch Education Bill read a second time, Mr. Auberon Herbert's amendment against applying rates to religious teaching being negatived by 238 to 6 votes.

8. Mr. Mowbray raises the question of the Ewelme Rectory appointment, Mr. Gladstone defending the proceeding on the ground that it was not a colourable qualification which the incumbent had acquired, but one solid, substantial, and perfect. Nevertheless, he admitted that prima facie the natural course would have

been to look for an Oxford man in the absence of reasons to the contrary, and these reasons Mr. Gladstone explained were the recommendations he had received as to the incumbent's eminence as a divine, and his ill-health, which made his immediate removal to a more salubrious neighbourhood desirable.

8.- Died at St. Petersburg, Prince Paul Gagarine, President of the Council of Ministers.

Prince Bismarck carries the School Inspection Bill in the Prussian Upper House by 125 votes against 76. He cautioned the Conservatives against the machinations of the Ultramontanes, who were endeavouring to get up a popular agitation against the Government by accusing it of attempting to make Prussia " a godless state." Such manoeuvres were totally at variance with the character of a Conservative opposition, and the Government could not believe that the Conservatives would give any countenance to them. The Prince then pointed out that since the defeat of Catholic Austria and France by Protestant Prussia, the German Ultramontanes had entered upon the field of foreign political intrigue, and he quoted on this subject a despatch which he had just received from "one of the most prominent German ambassadors at one of the most important posts in Europe. This despatch says that "the revenge which France desires is connected with the arousing of religious dissensions in Germany. The power and unity of Germany are to be paralysed by such dissensions, and the clergy of both countries, acting under directions from Rome, are to assist by their means in restoring the temporal power of the Pope.

9.-Meeting in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, presided over by Bishop Mackarness, to direct increased attention to the claim of the Melanesian Mission as the most fitting manner of honouring the martyred Bishop Patteson. A former labourer in that field, the Bishop of Lichfield, addressed the meeting at some length, explaining the nature of mission work in that part of the world, and the self-denying labours of the late prelate. A resolution was also proposed declaring that the new slave trade in the Pacific calls for the prompt and effective interference of the Government.

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The Ewelme Rectory appointment being discussed in a manner tending to bring discredit on the Prime Minister's character for fairness, the Dean of Canterbury (Payne-Smith), who held the living before it was separated from the Divinity chair by the appointment of Dr. Mozley to the latter, writes: Long after the arrangements between myself and Dr. Mozley were made, Mr. Gladstone offered the rectory to a distinguished member of the Convocation of Oxford; and it was only on his declining it that Mr. Harvey was appointed. Personally, I should have liked an Oxford man for my successor. The associations connected with the place would have made it doub

9.-Banquet given by the Mayor of Winchester to Lord Northbrook, as a public expression of the respect and admiration which Hampshire men entertain for his lordship's character as a countryman, and of congratulation on his appointment as Viceroy of India. Sir John Kaye and Mr. Grant Duff attended from the India Office.

The Prince and Princess of Wales leave London for Paris, on their way to Geneva, thence to the Mediterranean and south of France.

io. Died at Pisa, aged about 70, Joseph Mazzini, an Italian patriot fertile in desperate stratagems, and possessed of high political and literary qualities. His funeral took place at Genoa on the 19th, when the remains were followed to the grave by a body of about 80,000 admirers.

- Died, Rev. James Wells, 40 years Baptist pastor of the Surrey Tabernacle.

11. Mr. Holms's proposal to reduce the land forces by 20,000, negatived by 234 to 63; and Mr. Muntz's proposal to reduce them by 30,000, rejected by 216 to 67.

Reported breaking up of the Erie Ring, General Dix being elected chairman, and General M'Clellan superintendent.

Shere Ali, the assassin of Lord Mayo, executed. He stated before being led out that he had resolved to murder both the Viceroy and General Stewart, and when he heard the guns announcing the Viceroy's arrival he sharpened his knife in the jungle. It was now surmised that he was not hiding at the pier, but quietly joined the party, and in the dark crept close to Lord Mayo. No clue to anything like a conspiracy was discovered. Shere Ali made no other confession than that he could not resist the impulse to kill the Viceroy.

12. Lord Romilly gives judgment in the case raised by Lord Ferrers against the receiver of the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway. His lordship sold fifty acres of land to the company for 8,8877., the price being settled by arbitration, and the company were ordered to pay 400/., the taxed costs incident to the taking of the land by them. The railway is in the hands of a receiver, and no arrangement had been effected with the creditors. Earl Ferrers asked that he might be entitled to the lien and rights of an unpaid vendor; but Lord Romilly, characterising this as a new experiment on the part of a creditor of a railway company to get priority over all the other creditors declined to make

such a precedent, and dismissed the bill with

costs.

13. Mr. Salt's Public Worship Facilities Bill read a second time by 122 votes to 93, the object as explained by the proposer being to give greater elasticity and freedom to the parochial system by allowing the bishop of the diocese in certain cases to license clergymen to perform divine service in places of worship, including chapels in private houses, other than the parish church.

14.-A proposal, made in connection with the progress of the Ballot Bill through the Commons, to throw the election expenses upon the Consolidated Fund, rejected by 206 to 144

17.

Announcement made that the Secretary of State for India had resolved, "That having regard to the eminent services rendered by the late Earl of Mayo as Viceroy and Governor-General of India, to the munificence with which he maintained in that office the dignity of the Crown, and to his death by a deed of violence to which he was exposed in the discharge of his public duty, a life annuity of 1,000l. be conferred on the Countess of Mayo, to be paid out of the revenues of India ; and, further, that there be paid out of the same revenues the sum of 20,000l. for the benefit of the younger children of her ladyship and of the late Earl of Mayo."

18.-Vice-Chancellor Wickens gives judg ment in the case of the Attorney-General v. Batley Corporation-a suit brought to restrain the Town Council from providing out of the local rates a gold chain for the mayor, at a cost of 2001. His Honour held that the proposed expenditure was not within the scope of the Municipal Corporations' Reform Act, and that a chain was not a necessary adjunct of the magisterial position, and granted the injunction asked for.

19. The first "free election" of a bishop for the disestablished Church of Ireland takes place at Clonmel, when the Dean of Limerick was elected to the vacant see.

Sir Charles Dilke's motion for an inquiry into the Civil List rejected after a disorderly scene at the division of the House, by 276 to 2

votes.

-

Lord Granville replies to Mr. Fish's answer to a former "friendly communication,' that the British Government had never recognized the indirect claims.

--- Fire at Düsseldorf, destroying the Academy with its rich art treasures, and much other property.

22.-The Gazette contains the long-threatened "denunciation" of the French Commercial Treaty in the form of a communication from the Duc de Broglie to Earl Granville. This treaty, it was said, was the first of some others which had arrived at a term when it could

be regularly annulled. "We can no longer even reckon with any certainty on the possibility of modifications which would be necessary to us. We are, therefore, obliged to prepare for its cessation by denouncing it now. Confident in our intentions, resolved to use only with great moderation the freedom which will be restored to us, either by negotiation of new conventions, or rather by our own legislation on our commercial régime, we have taken this step under the pressure of a public interest which cannot be misunderstood.

The agricultural labourers of Warwickshire commence an agitation for increase of wages.

Replying to an intimation that one of her Majesty's inspectors intended visiting East Brent school, Archdeacon Denison writes: -"I am sole manager of the East Brent parochial school, and I do not admit a government inspector inside the school. I have no 'conscience clause' of any kind, nor ever shall have. I have nothing to do with the Elementary Education Act,' except to denounce it as irreligious. If I am called upon to pay a 'school rate,' I shall refuse to pay it; and the amount will have to be levied on my property under a

25.-Mr. Lowe introduces the annual Budget. The revenue for the current year, estimated at 72,315,000l. had realized 74,535,000l., being an excess of 2,220,000l. On the estimated expenditure there had been a saving of 1,016,000l. For the ensuing year Mr. Lowe estimates the revenue at 74,915,000l. and the expenditure at 71,313,000. With the surplus at his disposal he proposed extending the present exemptions from the inhabited house-tax to shops, offices, or warehouses, which would cost 50,000l. a year; to reduce the duty on coffee and chicory to about one half at a cost of 230,000l.; to extend the principle of abatement in respect of incomes chargeable with income-tax from 200l. a year to 300l. a year, and to increase the amount to be deducted from the assessment from 60l. to 80l. Lastly, and most important of all, he would take off the extra twopence of income-tax imposed last year, reducing this tax from sixpence to fourpence at a cost to the revenue of 2,700,000l. The Budget was generally thought to be simple and felicitous, showing judicious finance, a sound fiscal system, and a just regard for the interests of the people.

27.-Fire in Glasgow, destroying the extensive range of warehouses and shops occupied by Messrs. Fraser and M'Laren in Argyll and Buchanan Streets and McGeoch's ironmongery stores in the courts adjoining.-Two days later the Lancefield Spinning Company's mill in the same city was destroyed by fire.

William Rodway sentenced at Kingston assizes to twenty years' penal servitude for stabbing Ellen Carrington, Farnham, a woman with whom he had at one time lived and been engaged in business with.

30.-Eight young girls suffocated in a fuzee factory near Camborne, West Cornwall, by the unexpected ignition of a heap of recently-spun fuze.

April 1.-Died, at the house of his nieces, the Misses Sterling, Bolton Row, London, aged 70 years, the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice, M. A., Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge, and author of many popular volumes on theology and morals. His remains were interred in Highgate cemetery on the 5th, in the presence of a large number of his friends of all opinions.

The 300th anniversary of the capture of Briel celebrated in Holland

1.-Easter review at Brighton; the moveients executed in the presence of many thousands of spectators, but amid showery, ungenial weather. About 20,000 volunteers

took part in the display.

2.-Died at Ventnor, aged 30, Robert Morton, M. A., a promising Cambridge scholar, Senior Wrangler and first Smith's Prizeman in 1866.

M. Villemessant and M. Vitré convicted of insulting General Trochu in the Figaro, and sentenced each to a fine of 3,000f. and a month's imprisonment.

3.-Mr. Disraeli, on a visit to Lancashire, addresses a large audience in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. He spoke of the Constitution, which it was the special object of the Conservative party to maintain, of the House of Lords, Church and State, and, slightly, on contemporary politics. On foreign politics Mr. Disraeli remarked that although persons were apt to put them aside, yet the most vital consequences have been occasioned by mere inadvertence. He illustrated this point by two anecdotes. Since he had been in public life there had been for this country a great calamity and there was a great danger, and both might have been avoided. The calamity was the Crimean War. On that subject Mr. Disraeli observed: "I speak of what' I know, not of what I believe, but of what I have evidence in my possession to prove-that the Crimean War would never have happened if Lord Derby had remained in office.

How

had the present Government treated the demand of Russia for the modification of the Treaty of Paris? Having first threatened war, they threw over their plenipotentiary, and agreed to arrangements by which the violation of that treaty should be sanctioned by England, and; in the form of a Congress, they showed themselves guaranteeing their own humiliation. Regarding the future policy of the Conservative party, Mr. Disraeli remarked: "If I may venture to give such a hint, let us take care not to allow ourselves to be made to any extent the tools of the ambition or of the discontent of extreme politicians on the other side, I tell you what I mean. It may very likely be the game of the Radical party to try and turn out the present Ministry if they can and to put a Conservative Government in its place, that Conservative Government being in a minority, hoping that by so doing they shall be able to reconstruct their own party upon a new platform, pledged to more extreme and more violent measures, and then to have a Cabinet formed of the most thoroughgoing Radicals. These may be their tactics. But just because it is their game it ought not to be ours."

to the Church as I look to churchmen, as the maintainers and upholders of the institutions of the land; but I wish as much as possible to divest that natural connection of mere party feeling, and I am prepared upon all occasions to act with churchmen heartily and cordially for the great ends which they propose, without any reference to the immediate necessities of the political connection of which I am proud to be a member." To another deputation representing a Church Defence Association, the leader of the Opposition expressed a hope of being able to defeat the Burials Bill if active exertions were at once made to petition against it. "That is the practical counsel I give you, and if we succeed in defeating that measure I think the tide will have turned, and that we shall have arrested the progress of these invasions which have been successful in too many instances, as much from the negligence of churchmen as really from the enmity of the assailants of the Church."

4. Mr. Vernon Harcourt's motion for reducing the national expenditure rejected by 78 to 35 votes.

6.-At Bristol Assizes the Mayor of Exeter recovers ten guineas in name of damages against the Times, for publishing a letter insinuating that he had used official influence to obstruct inquiry regarding a disorderly Permissive Bill meeting, where Bishop Tenipie was rudely treated.

7.-Regarding the Constitution, Mr. Bright writes to a correspondent: "As to opinions ca the question of monarchy or republicanism, I hope and believe it will be a long time before we are asked to give our opinion; our ancestors decided the matter a good while since, and I would suggest that you and I should leave any further decision to our posterity. Now, from your letter I conclude you are willing to do this; and I can assure you I am not less willing."

8.-Mr. Dodson retires from the Chairmanship of Committees, and is succeeded by Mr. Bonham Carter. The House afterwards went into Committee on the Ballot Bill, a stormy discussion arising on clause 2, fixing the manner in which the poll should be taken. proposition for marking the ballot paper with a view to detect personation, was rejected by 168 to 128 votes.

A