I think it of the utmost importance that when that time-which may be nearer at hand than we imagine-arrives, there shall be in this country a great constitutional party, distinguished for its intelligence as well as for its organization, which shall lead and direct the public mind of the people. And, sir, when that time arrives, and when they enter upon a career which must be noble, and which I hope and believe will be triumphant, I think they may perhaps remember, and not, I trust, with unkindness, that I at least prevented one obstacle from being placed in their way, and that I, as the trustee of their honour and interests, declined to form a weak and discredited Administration."

20.-Died at Westfield, Ross-shire, William Brydon, C.B., late surgeon-major Bengal army and Highland Rifle Militia; a name remarkable in Indian history as that of the one solitary individual of the 13,000 soldiers and camp-followers of the British army at Cabul who was neither killed nor taken prisoner in the memorable retreat from Cabul in January 1842. Dr. Brydon, after some hair-breadth escapes from the Affghans, reached Jelalabad alive, though wounded and exhausted, all the other persons composing the British force having being either killed or taken prisoners Dr. Brydon went through the rest of the siege of Jelalabad with the garrison under the command of Sir Robert Sale. It was his singular fate to be again shut up with Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow, and to pass uninjured through that long and trying siege.

Died at Athens, aged 88, Sir Richard Church, G.C.H., one of the heroes of the Greek War of Independence.

France declares a protectorate over the empire of Anam.

21.-Mr. Gathorne Hardy moves for an address to the Crown praying that the Queen in communicating the "Three New Rules" of the Treaty of Washington to Foreign Powers will declare to them her dissent from the principles set forth by the Geneva Tribunal as the basis of their award. The motion was withdrawn after debate, on Mr. Gladstone undertaking that when these rules were presented to foreign powers they should be accompanied by an expression of the dissent of the British Government from the recital of the award.

Died at Croydon, aged 68, Henry Dorling, who had for many years been engaged in promoting the success of the Epsom race meetings.

22. Came on at York Assizes, before Chief Justice Bovill, the trial of the Rev. Vyvyan Moyle, late Vicar of Eston, near Middlesbrough, charged with forging and uttering certain scrip certificates and an impression of a seal, purporting to be of the firm of Jackson, Gill, and Co., Limited; also forging a certain deed, purporting to be a transfer of 220 shares of and in the firm of Jackson, Gill, and Co.; also forging the signature of Edward

He

Stickley White; and also forging a certain letter, dated 16th December, 1872, purporting to be written by the said E. S. White, with intent to defraud, at the township of Normanby, in the North Riding. On the indictment being read over, the prisoner, who appeared to feel his position very keenly, pleaded guilty to each of the counts. The Court at the time was densely crowded, many clergymen being present. Mr. Digby Seymour pleaded in mitigation of punishment the many charitable labours in which the prisoner had been engaged and the extreme temptation to which he had been subjected. In an evil hour, he said, his client had his eye attracted to the announcement of a society in London known as the Mutual Society, the dealings of the prisoner with which the learned counsel proceeded to state. said that Mr. Moyle flattered himself that he might be able to increase his own means and the means of doing good to others. He took a large number of shares with this object in view, and borrowed the large sum of about 11,000l., expecting to be able to pay this sum back again. He showed how in this he had been disappointed, and becoming involved, he had vainly sought to extricate himself by the commission of the offence with which he was charged. Mr. Seymour referred to the prisoner's connection with the firm of Jackson, Gill, and Co., and his belief that in about a year they would have issued their scrip to the general public, and that then he would have tangible scrip to offer to the secretary. In a fatal moment it occurred to him that if he anticipated that future which must shortly arise, and if he himself issued the scrip of Jackson, Gill, and Co. to the Mutual Society, he might, when the real scrip was issued, replace it, and substitute it for the other, which proceeding would have enabled him to realize large profits. Thus he fondly reasoned with himself; and this led to the commission of the offence to which he had pleaded guilty. Next day the prisoner was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude.

22.-Meeting in Exeter Hall, presided over by the Earl of Shaftesbury, to support the "appeal" made by Mr. Plimsoll on behalf of British merchant seamen.

The seventy-sixth birthday of the Emperor William celebrated with great rejoicings throughout the chief cities of Germany.

24. The prisoner Mary Ann Cotton executed within the precincts of Durham jail. She slept well during the night, walked to the drop with a firm step, and spent several minutes there in earnest prayer. The prisoner had previously made a statement admitting having The used poison, but with no evil intention. Under-sheriff fainted when the drop fell, and had to be supported by two warders.

begin with Russia when she began to occupy the country. "She would be committed to an enormous expenditure without any commensu rate results. Considering the peculiar position of Khiva, the impoverished state of the country, and the difficulty of sustaining positions against the Turkomans, and constructing forts and wells to keep a good connection with the Caspian, he could not expect that Russia could occupy Khiva at a less cost than that involved by her occupation of Turkestan. Those who wished Russia ill would desire that she should pursue her present course. In the interests of peace, perhaps it would have been better had Russia not entered into the line of the Jaxartes; but as yet he saw nothing to cause us to apprehend danger. Our position was quiescent, while hers was progressive; we must go on our way conscious that, if real dangers approached us from any quarter, we were strong enough to resist them."

The Navy Estimates introduced by Mr. Goschen, the gross amount being 9,633,000l., an excess of 134,000l. over the vote of 1872.

25.-Lord Romilly retires from the office of Master of the Rolls, Sir Richard Baggallay, Q.C., a senior member of the bar of that court, expressing the respect and esteem entertained for his lordship's unvarying courtesy during the twenty-two years he had held that post.

- Died, aged 69, Professor Partridge, F.R.S.,

surgeon.

Died, aged 76, Amédée Thierry, French historian.

sure,

26. The Burial Bill read a second time in the Commons by 283 to 217 votes. "The bill," said Mr. Disraeli, in opposing the mea"assumed that the sacred fabric and its consecrated precincts were national property. But this was the exact reverse of what the Nonconformists contended for when they succeeded in getting rid of church-rates on the ground that they had no concern in the maintenance of the church and the churchyard. That controversy was settled on the footing that the church and the churchyard were the property of Churchmen, and if Dissenters used them, it must be on the same conditions as Churchmen." The Nonconformists, Mr. Disraeli thought, had committed an error of late The years in making war against the Church. Reform Act of 1832 gave them an electoral power out of proportion to their numbers and wealth, which they must be conscious that at the next general election they could not retain. He earnestly desired a cessation of the war between Church and Dissent, and that they should join together in combating the common enemy to all Churches and all religious bodies which was abroad, and which, if it succeeded, would degrade the country and destroy all religion.

26-Died, aged 64, Arthur, Count von Bernstorff, formerly Prussian minister to this country, and latterly ambassador of the German Empire.

The Dutch East India Company declare war against the Atchinese of Sumatra, a native race in the north of the island, with whom differences had arisen regarding the right of possession and the power to erect lighthouses at different points.

28. Mr. Fortescue announces the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into and suggest remedies with regard to the alleged unseaworthiness of British shipping, whether arising from overloading or deck-loading, from defective construction or equipment, &c.; also to inquire into the system of marine insurance, the liability of shipowners to those whom they employ, and the practice of undermanning. The commissioners to be-the Duke of Somerset, chairman; the Duke of Edinburgh, Mr. Milner Gibson, Admiral Hope, Mr. Liddell, M.P., Mr. T. Brassey, M. P., Mr. Rothery, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Denny, Mr. Duncan, Captain Edgell of Lloyd's, and Mr. Merrifield of the ComRoyal Naval School of Architecture. mission to inquire and suggest.

29.-Oxford and Cambridge boat-race, the latter again coming in first by three lengths.

The French National Assembly depart from the consideration of Prince Napoleon's petition against his expulsion by 334 to 278

votes.

31.-Extradition treaty concluded between the British and Danish Governments.

April 1.-Died, aged 84, General Sir William Bell, K. C.B., a Peninsular and Waterloo officer, whose commission of second lieutenant dated as far back as Nov. 1804.

The steamer Atlantic of the White Star line wrecked off Halifax, into which port she was running, short of coal, and about 560 of her passengers drowned or frozen to death. The night was dark and the sea rough, and it was thought the watch on duty had mistaken Peggy's Point light for Sambro. So sudden was the catastrophe that most of the persons on board-and there were nearly 1,000 -went down in their berths; and many probably did not awake until they found themselves drowning through the ship having struck. The surviving passengers were crowded on the bows, and clinging to the rigging. Some of the more adventurous made their way to the rock by a line, but the situation there was one of great peril, as the tide was rising. The fishermen, however, came to the rescue, and by noon all the survivors were got ashore at Cape Prospect. The official inquiry at Halifax into the cause of the disaster resulted in a verdict commending the conduct of the officers after the ship struck, but condemning her management from the time her course was changed, and

especially the captain's conduct in leaving the deck at midnight. His certificate might have been cancelled, but, considering the efforts he made to save life, it was only revoked for two years. The fourth officer was suspended for three months. The court was also of opinion that the Atlantic had been permitted to start on her voyage with a dangerously small supply of coal.

2.--The Queen visits Victoria Park, and receives an enthusiastic reception from the inhabitants of the eastern part of London.

M. Grévy resigns the presidency of the French Assembly, and is succeeded by M. Buffet.

3. Mr. Munster withdraws, after debate, a complaint of breach of privilege submitted to the House in so far as an article in the Pall Mall Gazette declared that "it was not surprising that the Irish Ultramontane members should resort to every quibble discoverable in the technicalities of the law of parliament to delay or defeat a measure like Mr. Fawcett's, which cuts the ground from under their venal agitations and their traffic in noisy disloyalty."

The Duc d'Aumale received into the Frence Academy, and pronounces an eloquent eulogium upon his predecessor, the Count de Montalembert.

4.-Edwin Noyes and a man supposed to be George Bidwell, but who refused to give his name, examined before the Lord Mayor on the charge of forging and uttering bills of exchange for upwards of 100,000l. Bidwell had been captured in Edinburgh by detective M'Kelvie. The others known to be concerned in this gigantic fraud were Warren alias Horton, and Macdonnell alias Swift. From the evidence now submitted it appeared that on the 4th of May last, an account was opened at the West End Branch of the Bank of England by Austin Bidwell in the name of "F. A. Warren," and it was evident that through this account the forged bills were to be discounted. From the 4th of May up to January last the account was kept alive, and on the 17th of January a genuine bill of Messrs. Rothschild was paid The account at the Continental Bank was opened in December for the purpose, it was alleged, of having Warren's cheques paid in there, and then drawn out again by drafts signed by Horton-the money being eventually expended in the systematic purchase of American bonds. It had been proved beyond all question that Austin Bidwell was both Warren and Horton. It was necessary, in order to carry out the gigantic fraud which was to follow, that there should be a division of labour, and persons were accordingly engaged to concoct the fictitious bills, to present the cheques, and to change bank-notes into gold. After the first genuine bill had been presented, the forged bills came up regularly to the West End Branch in letters dated from Birmingham and signed by Warren. The scheme

in.

evidently was that all the persons who could be identified in the matter should be absent in the latter part of the proceedings; and so they found that in February Warren (or Horton) left London, and was not seen again by any of the Bank authorities. Macdonnell and George Bidwell, who had not been seen by them, remained in London and transacted the requisite business for Warren, he leaving with them a number of cheques on the Bank of England and the Continental Bank signed in blank.

After he left, Noyes paid in and drew out the money at Horton's account.

4.-Japanese Embassy received by the Czar at St. Petersburg. The Grand Duke Alexis left Shanghai a few days later on a visit to Japan.

Sir George Jenkinson's motion calling upon Government to adopt the recommendation of the Select Committee regarding the construction of a railway to connect the head of the Persian Gulf with the Mediterranean negatived by 103 to 29 votes.

6.-Anniversary of the day of the birth and death of Raphael Sanzio celebrated at Urbino.

7.--Mr. Lowe introduces the Budget, estimating the revenue for the ensuing year at 76,617,000l.; the expenditure at 71,871,000l. With the surplus of 4,746,000l. he proposed to meet the Geneva award claim of 3,200,000!. due at Washington 1st Oct., to reduce the sugar duty one-half, and take one penny off the income-tax. Mr. Lowe's statement was favourably received.

The Prince of Wales installed as Grand Master of the Knights Templars at a conclave of the order held in Willis's Rooms.

9.-Salt Lake news mentions Brigham Young as on the eve of surrendering his trusteeship over the Mormon community preparatory to forming a new settlement in Arizona among the Apaches.

Henry Pearson, described as a physician, sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 50%. for a libel upon his niece, Miss Roper, in that he had industriously circulated reports that she led an immoral life.

Died, aged 46, Charles Allston Collins, artist and novelist.

11.-Mary and Charlotte Rea tried at Downpatrick on the charge of murdering Isabella Kerr at Holywood, in December last. Chiefly on the ground that the deceased was known to be a person of violent temper, the jury brought in a verdict of manslaughter, and Mr. Justice Keogh sentenced each of the prisoners to penal servitude for life.

Came on before the High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, the trial of Henry Reid, a strolling piper, charged with murdering a young man named M'Callum, an engineer belonging to Glasgow, on an Ayr race-night in

September last. After inflicting the wound Reid made his escape through woods and byways to Perthshire, and remained concealed there several weeks. The principal witness against the prisoner was a woman named Townsby, who had lived with him as his wife, and his counsel objected to her evidence on the ground that a marriage, although irregular, had taken place. To decide this point the woman was put into the witness-box and questioned. She stated that she had agreed before a number of their friends to take the prisoner for her husband only so long as he would treat her well, but as he had not done so she did not now consider herself to be his wife. The objection not being admitted, the woman's evidence against the prisoner was taken, when the jury unanimously found the prisoner guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to death.

11.--Died, Major-General Dwight and Major-General Goodwyn, formerly of the Bengal Army, each having served with distinction in the Affghan campaign of 1843.

General Canby, the American Peace Commissioner to the Modoc Indians, killed by "Captain Jack" and his followers.

14.-Died, aged 77,

General Charles Richard Fox, son of the third Lord Holland, and grand-nephew to Charles James Fox.

Mr. Arch, Mr. Cox, and others, representing agricultural labourers at present on strike, tried before the Faringdon magistrates on a charge of obstracting the highway by holding a meeting in the market-place at Faringdon. Mr. Fitzjames Stephen argued that the defendants had a legal right to do what they had done. The Act never contemplated such an obstruction as that under which the defendants were charged, and it was monstrous to call it one. Before the charge could be proved against them it must be shown that they had committed some wrong and improper act in the nature of a trespass. The marketplace was the only place where such men could hold their meetings. If they were convicted they would be prevented meeting at all, as they could not obtain rooms and were not allowed to go into fields. The summons was ultimately dismissed, amid the applause of many present to hear the case.

16.-Fight at Grant Parish, Louisiana, between the whites and negroes, the latter defending the Court-house, which had been set on fire. It was reported that as many as 100

were shot down when escaping from the burning building.

17.-The Tim's gives currency to a rumour that a serious calamity had befallen Sir Samuel Baker's expedition, the leader himself, with Lady Baker and a few survivors having, it was said, been murdered by a savage tribe to whom they had previously been forced to surrender.

Her Majesty presents new colours to the 79th Cameron Highlanders at Parkhurst, Isle of Wight. "It gives ne great pleasure," said her Majesty, "to present these new colours to you. In thus intrusting you with this honourable charge, I have the fullest confidence that you will, with the true loyalty and the well-known devotion of Highlanders, preserve the honour and reputation of your regiment, which have been so brilliantly earned and so nobly maintained." A gift of the old colours having been made to her Majesty, she said:"I accept these colours with much pleasure, and shall ever value them in remembrance of the gallant services of the 79th Cameron Highlanders. I will take them to Scotland, and place them in my dear High. land home at Balmoral."

18.-Died at Munich, aged 70, Baron Justus von Liebig, a high authority in chemical

science.

19. The marriage of Prince Albrecht of Prussia with the Princess Mary of Saxe Altenburg, solemnized at Berlin.

Died, aged 47, Augustus Harris, stage director of the Royal Italian Opera.

The Shah leaves Teheran on a visit to the Courts of Europe. His Majesty arrived at Moscow on the 19th, St. Petersburg on the 22nd, Berlin on the 31st, and London on the 18th June.

Prince 20.---Marriage of Leopold of Bavaria to the Princess Gisela, daughter of the Emperor of Austria.

Died at Torquay, aged 72, Sir Wm. Tite, M.P. for Bath, and architect of the Royal Exchange.

Earl Delawarr commits suicide by drowning himself at Cambridge while suffering from mental affliction, apparently induced by the death of a young woman living under his protection.

23. Came on in the Court of Queen's Bench, before Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn, Justice Mellor, and Justice Lush, the trial at bar of the Tichborne Claimant, charged with perjury, for having sworn that he was Roger Charles Tichborne, supposed to have been drowned; that he had seduced his uncle's daughter, his own cousin; and that he was not Arthur Orton, son of a Wapping butcher. Mr. Hawkins opened the case for the Crown; the Claimant being defended by Dr. Kenealy.

Despatches from Khartoum announce that Sir Samuel Baker and his party were well at Fatookra.

Died, aged 60, J. R. Hope Scott, Q.C., possessor of Abbotsford in virtue of his first wife, daughter of J. Gibson Lockhart, and granddaughter of Sir Walter Scott.

30.-The Women's Disabilities Bill rejected in the Commons by 222 to 155 votes.

May 1.-The Vienna Exhibition opened by the Emperor. Though the weather was unfavourable and the building known to be far from finished, great crowds assembled to cheer the imperial family and the royal visitors present from most of the European Courts.

The Italian Ministry resign, in consequence of a defeat on a vote involving military expenditure.

4. Closing days of Dr. Livingstone. On arriving at Ulala, the capital of the district, where Kitambo the Sultan lived, the party were refused permission to stay, and Livingstone had to be carried three hours' march back towards Ukabende, where they erected for him