prompt measures to provide for the people, and to organize means for the distribution of such food in each locality throughout the land. That we respectfully call upon his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant forthwith to order the ports of Ireland to be opened for the importation of Indian corn, rice, and other articles suited for human food."

November 1.-Cabinet memorandum :"The calling of Parliament," writes the Prime Minister, at an unusual period, on any matter connected with a scarcity of food, is a most important step. It compels an immediate decision on three questions: Shall we maintain unaltered?-shall we modify?-shall we suspend, the operation of the Corn-laws? The first vote we propose-a vote of credit, for instance, for 100,000l., to be placed at the disposal of the Lord Lieutenant for the supply of food-opens the whole question. Can we vote public money for the sustenance of any considerable portion of the people on account of actual or apprehended scarcity, and maintain in full operation the existing restrictions on the free import of grain? I am bound to say my impression is that we cannot.

Mr. Newman, Mr. Oakeley, Mr. St. John, and Mr. Walker, all converts to Rome, receive the sacrament of confirmation in the chapel of Oscott College, at the hands of Dr. Wiseman.

2.-Lord Stanley to Sir Robert Peel :-" I find it difficult to express to you the regret with which I see how widely I differ in opinion with Graham and yourself as to the necessity for proposing to Parliament a repeal of the Corn-laws. Since the Cabinet on Saturday, I have reflected much and anxiously upon it; but I cannot bring my mind to any other conclusion than that at which I had then arrived. .... I foresee that this question, if you persevere in your present opinion, must break up the Government one way or the other; but I shall greatly regret, indeed, if it should be broken up, not in consequence of our feeling that we have prepared measures which it properly belonged to others to carry, but in consequence of difference of opinion among ourselves."

3.-Lord John Russell presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh.

5.-Elopement from Brighton of Lady Adela Villiers, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Jersey, with Capt. Ibbotson, of the 11th Hussars. They managed to elude pursuit till they reached Gretna Green, where an irregular marriage was performed. They were afterwards married at St. Pancras Church.

rent, so that it may be made to rotate between the poles of a magnet. Thus the problem which had long disturbed science as to the power of magnetizing iron by the sun's rays received satisfactory elucidation from the experiment of Mr. Faraday.

6.-Elizabeth Mundell, an old woman living in Westminster, murdered by Martha Browning to secure possession of two notes, which turned out to be of the Bank of Elegance. The coroner's jury in the first instance returned a verdict that the deceased had strangled herself while in a fit of temporary insanity; but suspicion afterwards attaching to the young woman living with her, she was apprehended and convicted, making a full confession of the crime before her execution.

Cabinet memorandum:-"To issue forthwith an Order in Council remitting the duty on grain in bond to Is. and opening the ports for the admission of all species of grain at a smaller rate of duty until a day named in the order." "The Cabinet," writes Sir Robert Peel, "by a very considerable majority, declined giving its assent to the proposals which I thus made to them. They were supported by only three members of the Cabinet-the Earl of Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Sidney Herbert. The other members of the Cabinet, some on the ground of objection to the principle of the measures recommended, others upon the ground that there was not yet sufficient evidence of the necessity for them, withheld their sanction."

10. Sir Robert Peel writes to Lord Cloncurry, Chairman of the Dublin Relief Committee, with reference to his lordship's proposal for opening the Irish ports for the importation of food free of duty, and closing them against exportation : Although considerations of public policy and public duty prevent me from entering into a discussion of the particular measures recommended for immediate adoption; yet I beg to assure your lordship that the whole subject is occupying the unremitting attention of her Majesty's confidential advisers."

12. The first sod of the Trent Valley railway raised by Sir Robert Peel on a piece of ground near Tamworth.

17.-The Times publishes a table of all the railway companies registered up to the 31st of October, numbering 1,428, and involving an outlay of 701,243,208. "Take away (it was remarked) 140,000,000l. for railways completed or in progress, exclude all the most extravagant schemes, and divide the remainder by ten, can we add from our present resources even a tenth of the vast remainder? Can we add 50,000,000!. to the railway speculations we are already irretrievably embarked in? We cannot, without the most ruinous, universal, and desperate confusion."

ties perpetrated by Capt. George Johnstone upon the crew of the ship Tory. The first charge investigated was that of the murder of Mars, the second mate. The captain

had obtained some wine and brandy from a French ship, and commenced afterwards a course of outrageous intoxication, which led the crew to talk of securing him as a madman. "This," says a witness (Yelverton), "coming to the captain's ears, he had Mars put in irons, and went down every half-hour to cut an inch off him. I saw one piece cut off about the size of my hand. It was cut off his head, and all the hair was upon it. Afterwards the captain took Mars to the inner cabin, which was his bedroom, taking with him a strand and a hawser. I don't know what was done there, but we heard Mars sing out as if he was choking. He brought him out again, and set him against the cabin-door, whilst he himself sat on the locker-head. Capt. Johnstone then commenced pitching the cutlass at him, sometimes sticking it in his head and sometimes in his breast. The second charge was for the murder of Thomas Reason by stabbing him with a bayonet in different parts of the body; and the third concerned Rambert, the chief mate, who, to escape the captain's cruelty, leaped overboard and was drowned. Many of the witnesses were cut and mangled in the most dreadful manner, either by cutlass strokes or having had powder fired into different parts of their body. Johnstone was tried for these enormous cruelties at the Central Criminal Court on the 5th of February following, but the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty, on the ground of insanity.

19. The Dublin Mansion House Relief Committee issue a series of resolutions relating to the approaching famine :--" We feel it an imperative duty to discharge our consciences of all responsibility regarding the undoubtedly approaching calamitous famine and pestilence throughout Ireland, an approach which is imminent and almost immediate, and can be obviated only by the most prompt, universal, and efficacious measures of procuring food and employment for the people. We have ascertained beyond the shadow of a doubt, that considerably more than one-third of the entire of the potato crop in Ireland has been already destroyed by the potato disease, and that such disease has not by any means ceased its ravages, but, on the contrary, that it is daily expanding more and more, and that no reasonable conjecture can be formed with respect to the limit of its effects short of the destruction of the entire remaining potato crop." The document concludes by impeaching the conduct of the Ministry for refusing to open the ports or call Parliament together earlier than usual.

22.-The Broad and Narrow Gauge Commission examine Mr. Hudson:-"We have been enabled to do everything on the narrow gauge which the Great Western has accomplished on the broad. Economy was the great inducement for adopting the narrow gauge, and

it would be impolitic to enlarge it, as you would gain nothing with regard to either speed or power. A truck weighing from seven to nine tons could easily be moved by one horse, but those on the Great Western weighing thirteen tons could not, and it was sometimes difficult to attach a leader. Unless some great advantage could be derived from the broad gauge, -which had not been shown-he thought the narrow gauge had been wisely chosen."

22.-Lord John Russell writes from Edinburgh to the electors of the City of London. "The present state of the country in regard to its supply of food cannot be viewed without apprehension. Forethought and bold precaution may avert any serious evils, indecision and procrastination may produce a state of suffering which it is frightful to contemplate. . . . It is no longer worth while to contend for a fixed duty. In 1841 the Free-trade party would have agreed to a duty of 8s. per quarter on wheat, and after a lapse of years this duty might have been further reduced, and ultimately abolished. But the imposition of any duty at present, without a provision for its extinction within a short period, would but prolong a contest already sufficiently fruitful of animosity and discontent.

Let us then unite to put an end to a system which has been proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the source of bitter division among classes, the cause of penury, fever, mortality, and crime among the people. But if this end is to be achieved, it must be gained by the unequivocal expression of the public voice. It is not to be denied that many elections for cities and towns in 1841, and some in 1845, appear to favour the assertion that Free-trade is not popular with the great mass of the community. The Government appear to be waiting for some excuse to give up the present Corn-laws. Let the people, by petition, by address, by remonstrance, afford them the excuse they seek. Let the Ministry prepare such a revision of the taxes as in their opinion may render the public burdens more just and more equal; let them add any other provision which courteous and even scrupulous forbearance may suggest, but let the removal of restrictions on the admission of the main articles of food and clothing used by the mass of the people be required in plain terms as useful to all great interests and indispensable to the progress of the nation."

66

24.-Lord Morpeth, in forwarding 57. to the League Fund, writes to Mr. Baines :I wish to record, in the most emphatic way I can, my conviction that the time is come for a final repeal of the Corn-laws, and my protest against the continued inaction of the State in the present emergency." On the letter being read at the Leeds meeting, "it was impossible," writes a spectator, "to convey even the remotest idea of the enthusiasm with which the important announcement was received. For fully ten minutes after the reading of the letter from the platform a looker-on might

25.-At a Cabinet Council Sir Robert Peel states that the instructions proposed to be issued to the Irish Famine Commissioners are inconsistent with a determination to maintain the present Corn-laws, and he could not consent to their issue without reserving on his own part the power to propose to Parliament some measure of immediate relief. A majority was opposed to this step.

30.-Memorandum by the Duke of Wellington: I am one of those who think the continuance of the Corn-laws essential to the agriculture of the country in its existing state, and particularly to that of Ireland, and a benefit to the whole community. . . . In respect to my own course, my only object in public life is to support Sir Robert Peel's administration of the government for the Queen. A good Government for the country is more important than Corn-laws or any other consideration ; and as long as Sir Robert Peel possesses the confidence of the Queen and of the public, and he has strength to perform the duties, his administration of the government must be supported. My own judgment would lead me to maintain the Corn-laws. Sir Robert Peel may think that his position in Parliament and in the public view requires that the course should be taken which I recommend; and if that should be the case, I earnestly recommend that the Cabinet should support him, and I for one declare that I will do so.'

(Sunday). After one of the most hurried and desperate weeks known in the annals of railway history, plans were this (the last) day, lodged at the Board of Trade, which brought up the total number of railway schemes to 788. A large establishment of clerks was in attendance to register the deposits; but towards midnight the deliveries became so rapid that they were unable to keep pace with the work. The entrance hall became inconveniently crowded, and a general fear prevailed that the necessary formalities would not be got through before 12 o'clock; this, however, was allayed by an assurance that admission into the hall before that hour would be sufficient to warrant the reception of the documents. Arrivals in hot haste from various parts of the country took place till the last moment, and even after the door was shut two or three parties sought to project their plans into the building, but had them thrown back into the street.

December 2.-President Polk delivers his Message to Congress. Referring to the annexation of Texas, he said :-"We may rejoice

that the tranquil and pervading influence of the American principle of self-government was sufficient to defeat the purposes of British and French interference, and that the almost unanimous voice of the people of Texas has given to that interference a powerful and effective rebuke. From this example European governments may learn how vain diplomatic arts and intrigues must ever prove upon this continent against that system of self-government which seems natural to our soil, and which will ever reject foreign interference." Again, "Oregon is part of the North American continent, to which it is confidently affirmed the title of the United States is the best now in existence. The British proposition of compromise, which would make the Columbia line south of the forty-nine degrees, with a trifling addition of detached territory to the United States, north of that river, and would leave on the British side two-thirds of the whole Oregon territory, including the free navigation of the Columbia, and all the valuable harbours of the Pacific, can never for a moment be entertained by the United States, without an abandonment of their just and clear territorial rights, their own self-respect, and the national honour. . . . It is well known to the American people, and to all nations, that this government has never interfered with the relations subsisting between other governments. We have never made ourselves parties to their wars or their alliances; we have not sought their territories by conquest; we have not mingled with parties in their domestic struggles; and, believing our own form of government to be the best, we have never attempted to propagate it by intrigues, by diplomacy, or by force. claim on this continent a like exemption from European interference. The notions of America are equally sovereign and independent with those of Europe. We must ever remember the principle that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny. . . . Near a quarter of a century ago the principle was distinctly announced to the world in the annual message of one of my predecessors, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power. In the existing circumstances of the world the present is deemed a proper occasion to reiterate and to affirm the principle averred by Mr. Monroe, and to state my cordial concurrence in its wisdom and sound policy. . . . It must be distinctly announced to the world as our settled policy, that no future European colony or dominion shall, with our consent, be planted or established on any part of the North American continent."

We may

Great meeting in Edinburgh, for the purpose of praying her Majesty that the ports might be immediately and permanently opened for the free importation of corn and other food.

In conformity with the suggestions contained in Lord John Russell's letter to the citizens of London, meetings with the same object were held about this time in all the principal towns in the kingdom. A "deliberate and solemn " declaration was also issued by forty of the most eminent bankers and merchants in London, urging the Government to take immediate steps for meeting the present serious and alarming condition of the country.

4. The Times contains this startling announcement :-"The decision of the Cabinet is no longer a secret. Parliament, it is confidently reported, is to be summoned for the first week in January; and the Royal Specch will recommend an immediate consideration of the Corn-laws, preparatory to their total repeal." The Standard, under the heading of Atrocious Fabrication by the Times," declared it was in a position to give the rumour the most positive and direct contradiction. Referring to the doubts cast upon the announcement by the Standard and Herald, the Times writes" It has been the monomania of these two melancholy prints to imagine that they possessed the confidence of the Treasury, and they have been hobbling about the Corn-laws to the very last, under the erroneous impression that they would be the first to be apprised of any important resolution of the Cabinet. . Humbly and obsequiously have they been grinding their organs under the windows of Downing-street, ready to play any tune that might be most pleasing to the Premier, but he has turned a deaf ear to their strains, and not even allowed his underlings an opportunity of throwing out an occasional morsel by way of encouragement. . . . The reason is obvious. The repeal of the Corn-laws is a thing for statesmen to do, and not for old women to maunder about."

5. In the case of St. Paul's church, Edinburgh, one of those selected to try the question at issue between the Established Church and the Free Church, as to the right of property in the quoad sacra Churches, the Lord Ordinary (Robertson) issued an interlocutor in favour of the Establishment.

"Lord Stanley and the Duke of Buccleuch having signified their inability to support a measure involving the ultimate repeal of the Corn-laws, I thought it very doubtful," writes Sir Robert Peel, "whether I could conduct the proposal to a successful issue. I thought that the public interest would be very injuriously affected by the failure of an attempt made by a government to adjust that question. The other members of the Cabinet, without exception I believe, concurred in this opinion; and under these circumstances I considered it to be my duty to tender my resignation to her Majesty. On the 5th of December I repaired to Osborne, Isle of Wight, and humbly solicited her Majesty to relieve me from duties which I felt I could no longer discharge with advantage to her Majesty's service."

6. Sir Henry Hardinge to the Secret Committee at the India House :-"I had moved with my camp from Umballah towards Loodianah, peaceably making my progress by the route I had announced, with the intention of visiting the Sikh protected states, according to the usual custom of my predecessors. In common with the most experienced officers of the Indian Government, I was not of opinion that the Sikh army would cross the Sutlej with its infantry and artillery.' On the 9th, at night, Captain Nicolson, the assistant political agent at Ferozepore, reported that a portion of the Sikh army had approached within three miles of the river. On the 13th he received precise information that the Sikh army had crossed the Sutlej, and was concentrating in great force on the left bank of the river. On the same day the Governor-General issued a proclamation: :-"Since the death of the late Maharajah Shere Singh, the disorganized state of the Lahore Government has made it incumbent to adopt precautionary measures for the protection of the British frontier. The nature of these measures, and the cause of their adoption, were at the time fully explained to the Lahore Durbar. . . The Sikh army has now, without the shadow of provocation, invaded the British territories. The Governor-General must therefore take measures for effectually protecting the British provinces, for vindicating the authority of the British Government, and for punishing the violators of treaties and the disturbers of public peace. The GovernorGeneral hereby declares the possessions of Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, on the left or British banks of the Sutlej, confiscated and annexed to the British Government."

8.-Sir Robert Peel to the Queen :-"Your Majesty has been good enough to inform Sir Robert Peel that it is your intention to propose to Lord John Russell to undertake the formation of a government. The principle on which Sir Robert Peel was prepared to recommend the reconsideration of the laws affecting the import of the main articles of food was in general accordance with that referred to in the concluding paragraph of Lord John Russell's Letter to the Electors of the City of London. Sir Robert Peel wished to accompany the removal of restrictions on the admission of these articles with relief to the land from such charges as are unduly onerous, and with such other provisions as, in the terms of Lord John Russell's letter, caution and even scrupulous forbearance may suggest. Sir Robert Peel will support measures founded on that general principle, and will exercise any influence he may possess to promote their success."

9.-At a meeting of the Agricultural Protection Society, the Duke of Richmond, referring to Lord John Russell and Lord Morpeth, said, "Were one or two noblemen to frighten the yeomanry of England that they were not to express their opinion in favour of themselves and in favour of their labourers, because certain

persons deserted their ranks? With respect to the cry of Famine,' he believed that it was perfectly illusory; and no man of respectability could have put in good faith if he had been acquainted with the facts within the knowledge of their society. With respect to the report that ministers were to move the repeal of the Corn-laws, he could not believe that such perfidy existed."

17.-The Dublin Evening Mail, an Orange organ, writes of Peel:-"He obtained power as a traitor, he abandoned it as a coward; for, after all, the dastard has died of fear. At the head of the greatest party that England ever formed, with a majority in both Houses of Parliament, such as no minister ever yet commanded--what is he now? A degraded creature at the feet of Lord John Russell, humbly praying that he may be a participator with him in power, or, this being refused, that he may be elevated to a peerage."

Sir Robert Peel to the Queen :-"Lord John Russell requires assurances which amount substantially to a pledge, that Sir Robert will support the immediate and total repeal of the Corn-laws. He humbly expresses his regret that he does not feel it to be consistent with his duty to enter upon the consideration of this important question in Parliament, fettered by a previous engagement of the nature of that required by him."

18. Battle of Moodkee. On the march from Umballah to form a junction with the troops which had left Ferozepore under Sir John Littler, the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Hugh Gough, encounters the Sikh force near the village of Moodkee. The troops were engaged in cooking their meals when Major Broadfoot received information that the Sikh army was in full march, with the intention of surprising the camp. The troops immediately stood to arms, and advanced. "The opposition of the enemy," writes the Commander-inChief, 66 was such as might have been expected from troops who had everything at stake, and who had long boasted of being irresistible. Their ample and extended line, from their great superiority of numbers, far outflanked ours, but this was counteracted by the flank movement of our cavalry. The attack of the infantry now commenced, and the roll of fire from this powerful arm soon convinced the Sikh army that they had met with a foe they little expected. Their whole force was driven from position after position with great slaughter, and the loss of seventeen pieces of artillery, some of them of heavy calibre; our infantry using that never-failing weapon the bayonet whenever the enemy stood. Night only saved them from worse disaster, for this stout conflict was maintained during an hour and a half of dim starlight, amidst a cloud of dust from the sandy plain, which yet more obscured every object." The victory, though great, dearly purchased by the death of Major-General Sir Robert Sale, who received a fatal grape

was

shot wound in the left thigh, and Sir John M'Caskill, who was shot through the chest. The total number of killed and wounded on the British side amounted to 872.

20. "Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has the honour to state that he has found it impossible to form an administration. . . Lord John Russell is deeply sensible of the embarrassment caused by the present state of public affairs. He will be ready therefore to do all in his power, as a member of Parliament, to promote the settlement of that question which, in present circumstances, is the source of so much danger, especially to the welfare and peace of Ireland."

"I repaired," writes Sir Robert Peel, to Windsor Castle at the time appointed. On entering the room her Majesty said to me very graciously, 'So far from taking leave of you, Sir Robert, I must require you to withdraw your resignation, and to remain in my service.' Her Majesty was pleased to observe that I might naturally require time for reflection, and for a communication with my colleagues, before I gave a decisive answer. . . . I humbly advised her Majesty to permit me to decide at once upon the resumption of office, and to enable me to announce to my late colleagues on my return to London that I had not hesitated to re-accept the appointment of First Minister. I thought I should speak with much greater authority if I was to invite them to support me in an effort in which I was determined, and which I had positively undertaken to make, than if I were to return to London apparently undecided, for the purpose of asking their opinions as to the propriety of making that effort. . . The Queen was pleased cordially to approve of the suggestion I had ventured to offer, and I returned from Windsor Castle to London on the evening of the 20th, having resumed all the functions of First Minister of the Crown. Immediately on my arrival in London I summoned a meeting of all those of my late colleagues who were within reach. It took place at Downing-street at a late hour of the evening.'

21. Battle of Ferozeshah. The Commander-in-Chief having determined to attack the Sikh camp, the now united force marched towards Ferozeshah. "A very heavy cannonade was opened by the enemy, who had dispersed over their position upwards of one hundred guns, more than forty of which were of battering calibre; these kept up a heavy and well-directed fire, which the practice of our far less numerous artillery of much lighter metal checked in some degree, but could not silence; finally, in the face of a storm of shot and shell, our infantry advanced, and carried the formidable entrenchments; they threw themselves upon their guns, and with matchless gallantry wrested them from the enemy; but when the batteries were partially within our grasp our soldiers had to face such a fire of musketry