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

to

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

27.-Died, Sir James Ranald Martin, F.R.C.S., an eminent Physician, and InspectorGeneral of Army Hospitals. 29.-Died, aged 59, Constantine von Tischendorf, LL.D., philologist and Biblical critic.

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

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

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

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

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

2.-Dr. Kenealy disbarred by the benchers of Gray's Inn.

3. The Duke of Abercorn nominated Grand Master of the Freemasons of Ireland.

Medals distributed by the Queen at Windsor to nine seamen and marines for conspicuous gallantry during the Ashantee War.

An address from the French people, contained within four large and handsome volumes, presented to the Queen at Windsor, in acknowledgment of aid rendered by English people to the sick and wounded in the war of 1870-71. Her Majesty graciously accepted the address, and made a courteous acknowledgment in French. The volumes were subsequently placed in the British Museum.

4.-Following up a series of noisy debates which had occurred in the German Imperial Parliament with the Ultramontrane or Centreparty, Prince Bismarck said he would tell the House a story which had long been kept secret, but ought now to be made public.

In 1869,

when the Wurtemburg Government had occasion to complain of the action of the Papacy, the Wurtemburg envoy at Munich was instructed to make representations, and in a conversation which passed between the envoy and the Nuncio, the latter said that the Roman Church was free only in America, and perhaps also in England and in Belgium. In all other countries she had to look to revolution as the sole means of securing her rightful position. This then was the view of the priestly diplomatist stationed at Munich in 1869, and formerly representing the Vatican at Paris. Well, the revolution so ardently desired by the Vatican did not come to pass, but we had the war of 1870 instead. Gentlemen, I am in possession of conclusive evidence proving that the war of 1870 was the combined work of Rome and France; that the Ecumenical Council was cut short on account of the war ; and that very different votes would have been taken by the council had the French been victorious. I know from the very best sources that the Emperor Napoleon was dragged into the war very much against his will by the Jesuitical influences rampant at his court, that he strove very hard to resist those influences, that in the eleventh hour he determined to maintain peace, that he stuck to this determination for half-an-hour, and that he was ultimately overpowered by persons representing Rome."

7.-Sir Robert Phillimore gives judgment, suspending Mr. Mackonochie, of Alban's, six weeks, for ritualistic practices.

8-Aspinal, Fry, and Knocker, three directors of the Eupion Gas Company, committed for trial on the charge of fraud on the

Stock Exchange, in so far as they had conspired to establish a "corner in shares of a company which had no more than a nominal existence, thus violating the provision of the Companies Act, and defrauding Mr. Hankey, who by their schemes found himself under obligations to deliver 2,800 shares without being able to obtain any at quoted prices. "The House," on this occasion, had suspended the rule, making delivery compulsory, on evidence submitted to them showing that Mr. Hankey had been made the tool of a conspiracy.

H.M.S. Basilisk returns to England after a commission of four years, chiefly spent in exploring the coast, harbours, rivers, and islands of Torres Straits and Eastern New Guinea.

9.-Died, aged 68, Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell's University, New York.

The astronomical event known as the "Transit of Venus," looked forward to with interest by scientific men, and prepared for by several expeditions sent out by various nations of Europe and the United States of America to those parts of the globe from which it could be best observed, took place to-day. Telegrams were received in the course of the next few days briefly mentioning the results obtained. In Egypt, India, China, and Persia, the weather was reported as fine and the observations successful. In Tasmania and some other regions the reverse was the case.

11.-Died, John Mitchell, librarian, of Old Bond Street, and theatrical manager.

12.-Robbery at the Paddington Terminus this evening by which Lady Dudley lost jewels valued in the first instance at 50,000l. but latterly much reduced in amount The case appeared to have been picked up from the platform when set down for a moment by a female servant in charge, while she assisted a companion out of the cab. A reward of 1,000l. was offered, but the jewels were never recovered.

13.-Bishop Colenso inhibited by the Bishop of London from preaching in St. James's Chapel.

15.-The Shaker community at New Forest Lodge, Lymington, presided over by Mother Girling, ejected from their residence by the Sheriff, acting for the mortgagee, twenty men, and III women and children being turned out with all their furniture. Shelter was offered them but refused, and they stayed in the road all night singing and praying through a heavy fall of rain and snow driven along by a cold east wind. Mother Girling, mentioned above, was apprehended in the expectation that a certificate of insanity might be obtained against her, but this could not be proved, and the poor woman was thereupon restored to her flock, who ultimately found temporary shelter in the neighbourhood.

16. Fire in Collins' carriage factory, Oxford, destroying most of the works with valuable finished stock, and placing the neighbouring well-known Randolph Hotel in great peril.

17.--Prince Bismarck's resignation refused by the Emperor of Germany.

66

22.-Died, at the age of 78, Tita " Falcieri, a servant of Lord Byron's in Venice. He accompanied the remains of the poet to England, and afterwards passed into the service first of Byron's friend, Sir J. C. Hobhouse (Lord Broughton), and next of Isaac Disraeli. Later in life "Tita " was appointed a messenger in the India Office.

23.-Died, aged 73, Rt. Hon. Sir John Romilly, a Master of the Rolls distinguished for his ability in the House of Commons and on the Bench, but still more for the interest he took in the publication of the Memorials and Calendars illustrating the history of Great Britain.

24. With the close of this year there falls to be recorded one of the most appalling occurrences which has taken place in the history of our home railway system. The Great Western express from Paddington, unusually crowded with Christmas visitors, had proceeded on its journey north from Oxford as far as the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell, about a mile and a half from the Woodstock Road Station, when the tire of one of the wheels of a front carriage gave way with the most disastrous results. The coupling-chain snapped, while the carriages in the rear were thrown off the rails, some falling on one side and some on the other of an embankment about twenty feet high at this part of the line. At the time of the accident the train was travelling at the rate of forty miles an hour. One carriage carried away a stone abutment of a bridge over the canal and fell in splinters into the water; two others, wheels up, were spread like matchwood along the embankment; while a third was hurled across the up-line on to the bank. In these the deaths were many, and the injuries severe, the bodies in some cases affording no clue to identity. The first shock and alarm over, residents near the place vied with surviving passengers to render what assistance was possible under the circumstances, and by the afternoon, when the sad news got known at Oxford, numerous medical men well furnished with appliances were hastening to Shipton. The dead were laid out in rows for identification, and the injured, where it was poss ble, removed in most instances to the Radcliffe

infirmary, Oxford. The deaths amounted to thirty-four, and the seriously injured numbered seventy. With her customary solicitude for all classes of her subjects, Her Majesty made inquiry from time to time, through Dr. Jenner, as to the condition of the patients.

Colliery explosion at Bignall Hill, Staf

fordshire, causing the death of seventeen out of nineteen workmen engaged in the "thick coal" at the time of the calamity. None of the men employed in the other workings were affected by the accident.

25.-News received in London of the burning of the emigrant ship Cospatrick (see ante, Nov. 19). The few survivors were taken off St. Helena by the steamer Nyanza and landed at Plymouth on the last night of the year. The nature and extent of the calamity excited public sympathy to an unusual degree, and newspapers, provincial as well as metropolitan, made supreme efforts to give early information by reaching the survivors in the steamer when coming up the English Channel.

26.-Died, aged 74, Rev. John Moultrie, rector of Rugby, a poet of some celebrity, but even more widely known as the friend of Arnold, Praed, and Derwent Coleridge.

30.-Prince Alfonso, son of the ex-Queen Isabella, proclaimed King of Spain by the troops at Madrid and the armies of the North and Centre.

Died, Benjamin Attwood, au anonymous but munificent donor to many charities.

Died, at Caen, where he had repaired in failing health, James Graham, fourth Duke and seventh Marquis of Montrose, a member of various Conservative Governments between 1852-68, aged 75.

sea.

31.-News received of more disasters at The steamer Delfina was reported as having struck on a rock off the west coast of South America. Twenty of her passengers and crew reported as lost. Six others escaped in a boat, and about as many more were taken alive off the rigging.—The Calcutta, of London, was burnt at sea on her voyage from Newcastle to Aden, and Captain Patchet, his son, the mate, and nine seamen reported as lost, after taking to a boat. The crews of two boats were picked up and landed at St. Helena. -The Euxine of North Shields destroyed by fire in the South Atlantic in August, and a fering from hunger and thirst. portion of her crew subjected to extreme sufOne Italian

sailor was said to have been slain and cut up for food a few hours before the party were relieved by a Dutch ship.

Died, aged 67, Alexandre Auguste Ledru Rollin, a French political refugee, prominently concerned in the Revolution of 1848.

Died, aged 74, F. Kieman, F.R.S., an anatomist and physiologist, celebrated for his researches into the history of the liver, for which he was awarded the Copley Medal.

- In the case of Frederick v. Attorney-General, known as the Frederick legitimacy case, a jury in the Divorce and Matrimonial Court return a verdict that Col. Frederick and Martha Rigden were lawfully married in March, 1773, as alleged by the petitioner, Captain C. E. Frederick.

19.-Opening of the Congregational Memorial in Farringdon Street, built at a cost, it was said, of 30,000/., and, in addition to its use as the business premises of the body, intended to commemorate the ejection of the 2000 Nonconformist ministers in 1662.

The jewel-case of the Russian Ambassador stolen at Paddington Station under circumstances precisely similar to what happened in the case of the Countess of Dudley's jewels.

Fort Mombazique, East Africa, bombarded and taken by H.M.S. Nassau and Rifleman, and handed over to the Sultan of Zanzibar.

23. In connection with a company formed for carrying through a Channel tunnel, as designed by Sir John Hawkshaw, the French Minister of Public Works presents a Bill to the Assembly authorising a French company to co-operate with the English engineers.

4. The colony of Fiji constituted, and the Hon. Sir A. H. Gordon appointed Governor.

5.-Parliament opened by Commission. The Royal speech, read by the Lord Chancellor, made reference to the Conference held at Brussels on the Laws and Usages of War, the recognition of King Alfonso of Spain, the slave-trade on the East African Coast, and to the threatening disputes between China and Japan. Regarding India it was said, "An ample harvest has restored prosperity to the provinces of my Eastern Empire, which last year were visited with famine. By the blessing of Providence my

Indian Government has been able entirely to avert the loss of life which I had reason to ap prehend from that great calamity." Bills were promised relating to the transfer of land, reconstruction of the judicature, improvement of dwellings for working classes, and merchant shipping. Attention was also to be directed to the propriety of more effectually providing for the trial of offences by the appointment of a public prosecutor, to trade union offences, and to the improvement of the law regarding agricultural tenancies. Address agreed to in each House without a division.

6.-Edinburgh Theatre Royal destroyed by

9.-The Judicature Amendment Bill, abandoned in the Commons last session from a desire on the part of the ministry to carry through the Public Worship Regulation Bill in preference, is now re-introduced by the Lord Chancellor and read a first time. In its present form the bill was again dropped, 8th March, the Lord Chancellor explaining that Government had found a vast amount of opposition in store for it from both parties in the House, and that to carry it through would be impossible. The opposition was understood to have reference chiefly to the alterations proposed in the bill regarding the House of Lords as a court of final appeal. (See 9th April.)

10.-Meeting at the residence of Professor Holloway, Oxford Street, to discuss details of a scheme for establishing a University for Ladies at Eagham. The sum of 250,000l. was promised by the Professor, who had already expended 180,000l. in erecting a sanatarium for the insane.

14.-Garibaldi entertained by the artizans of Rome and presented with the hat worn by him in the war of 1849.

15.-Numerous jewel robberies in Berkshire. Among other houses entered, in most instances by the aid of a rope-ladder from the outside, were those of Count Morella, Virginia Water, Madame Van de Weyer, New Lodge, Windsor, and Lord Ellenborough, Bracknell.

16.-John Mitchel, an escaped convict, elected Member of Parliament for Tipperary County, and Dr. Kenealy for Stoke-uponTrent. Mitchel was a well-known Irish agitator sentenced to transportation for his share in the rebellion of 1848. (See May 24, 1848.) He had broken his parole in 1852 and escaped to America. He arrived at Queens