from the Court of Queen's Bench after a parting address to the Bar, full of kindly recollections and tender sympathy. "I hope" he said, "that in your happy meetings you will bear in mind that I desire long to be remembered here. And now, Mr. Attorney-General, Gentlemen of the Bar and Masters, my dear Lord and brethren, earnestly, gratefully, and affectionately, I bid you all farewell, and may God bless you." As soon as his lordship had finished these words he bowed, and rushed hastily out of court, evidently overcome with

emotion.

12.-Charles Dickens publishes in his periodical, Household Words, a solemn declaration in his own name and his wife's, that latelywhispered rumours, touching certain domestic troubles of his, were altogether untrue. "Those who know me and my nature," he writes, "need no assurance under my hand that such calumnies are as irreconcilable with me as they are in their frantic incoherence with one another. But there is a great multitude who know me through my writings, and who do not know me otherwise; and I cannot bear that one of them should be left in doubt, or hazard of doubt, through my poorly shrinking from taking the unusual means to which I now resort for circulating the truth."

14.-The Shakspeare autograph attached to the mortgage deed of the Blackfriars property purchased by the British Museum for 3151

15.-Aston Park, Birmingham, opened by the Queen. From the Town Hall her Majesty drove through streets lined with shouting thousands, and up the noble avenue of the park to Aston Hall. She here received the address of the Committee of Management, and appeared on the terrace to declare the Hall and Park open. Her Majesty afterwards returned to Stoneleigh Abbey.

Mr. Brady obtains, with the consent of Government, the appointment of a committee to inquire into the grievance sustained by Mr. Barber, solicitor, in connexion with his wrongful conviction for complicity in the Fletcher forgeries.

- Died, aged 63, Ary Scheffer, French historical painter.

The

Massacre of Christians at Jeddah. In revenge for what they considered an insult offered to the Turkish flag, the Moslem section of the population attacked the house of the French consul, seriously wounding him and his daughter, and murdering his wife. majority of the other Christians in the town afterwards fell victims to the fury of the lawless mob. On the 5th August the town was bombarded by the British war-steamer Cyclops, and after some delay on the part of the Turkish authorities, eleven of the murderers were given up and beheaded near the town in the presence of Turkish and Egyptian troops.

16.-Heard in the Divorce Court, the case of Robinson v. Robinson, and Lane, co-respondent, the latter being proprietor of the hydropathic establishment, at Moor Park. The chief evidence was a diary written by Mrs. Robinson, a woman upwards of fifty, which her husband had discovered when she was lying ill. It consisted of three thick volumes, and described in glowing and impassioned language her supposed amours with Dr. Lane, a man of thirty, with a young wife and children. The diary was admitted in evidence against Mrs. Robinson, but could not be used, the court decided, against Dr. Lane. The defence was, that the diary was not a narrative of actual occurrences, but of imagiVarious important questions of

nary scenes.

law arose in connexion with the case; the first being whether the co-respondent could be admitted as a witness, Dr. Lane being prepared to deny on oath that there was any foundation for the charge. He was tendered to give evidence on behalf of Mrs. Robinson. The court decided unanimously that as co-respondent he could not be examined. A second question then arose whether he could not be dismissed from the suit and then called as a witness. When the case came before the court again in December, the judge decided that this could be done; and Dr. Lane gave evidence in detail, showing the illusory character of the diary, on the evidence of which an ecclesiastical court had already granted a divorce, a mensa et thoro.

The Galway Company's steamer Indian Empire wrecked on Saint Marguerite Rock, in Galway channel.

At a meeting of the Jerusalem Diocesan Missionary Fund, held in the Library of the House of Lords, a resolution was adopted with reference to the charges made against Bishop Gobat, that those present have "satisfied themselves the aspersions referred to have no just foundation, and that they partly arise from false accusation, and partly from distorted and exaggerated statements of matters of fact." The charges in question, which had given rise to much bitter controversy, had reference primarily to undue facilities given to the successive marriages of Hanna Hadoub, a converted dragoman of indifferent reputation in Jerusalem, whose adventurous career was latterly terminated by a conviction for burglary.

Heard in the Court of Queen's Bench, the libel case of Hughes v. Lady Dinorben. The plaintiff was nephew of the defendant's husband, and the alleged libels were contained in a series of anonymous letters addressed to the late Lord Ravensworth, the grandfather, and the present Lord Ravensworth, the father, of a young lady to whom, at the time, the plaintiff was engaged to be married; also to the plaintiff himself, and various other persons connected with him. In the present action Lady Dinorben was charged with being the author of these anonymous letters.

The

plaintiff was, in 1852, the next entitled to the property of the second Lord Dinorben, who was insane, and on whom a commission of lunacy was about to be held. If the plaintiff

had no child, the estates would go to Lady Dinorben's daughter and only child; so that she had an interest in preventing plaintiff's marriage. Lady Dinorben was now placed in the witness-box, and denied having either written, or caused to be written, any of the letters founded on. The jury, however, after a consultation of only ten minutes, returned a verdict for plaintiff, with 40s. damages against her ladyship.

16. Rev. D. Sadleir, senior Dean of Trinity College, Dublin, commits suicide in the Phoenix Park, by hanging himself to a tree, while labouring under temporary insanity.

17. The Commission de lunatico inquirendo upon Sir Henry Meux, Bart., return a verdict that he was at present of unsound mind, but whether he was so or not at the date of the will in dispute, they could not say.

In pursuance of a motion made by the Bishop of Oxford, Government promise to produce all the papers in their possession relative to the Spanish slave-trade, at Cuba, said to be now carried on in the most open manner, in defiance of treaties.

18. The Soldiers' Daughters' Home at Hampstead, for 200 girls, opened by the Prince Consort.

19.-Capture of Gwalior by Sir Hugh Rose. The enemy, who held possession of a range of heights in front, made a fierce attack upon our lines, but were driven back; and after a severely contested fight on the plain lying between the heights and the town, they were completed routed; Gwalior was taken possession of by the British troops, and the Maharajah Scindia was again restored to his capital. The rebels left 27 guns. Amongst the slain was the Ranee of Jhansi, who died fighting hand to hand with her foes like a private soldier. Our loss was trifling, the men suffering more from the heat of the sun than from the bullets or

swords of the enemy. After this crowning victory, the Central India Field Force, which had so greatly distinguished itself throughout the whole campaign, was broken up and distributed into garrisons. Sir Hugh Rose himself returned to the Bombay Presidency.

22. At the auction mart, one-sixth of an entire thirty-sixth share in the New River Company sold for 3,300/.

25. The Master of the Rolls orders that the policy for 13,000l. effected with the Prince of Wales Insurance Company by William Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner, upon the life of his brother Walter, should be delivered up and cancelled as fraudulent and void.

26. After many tedious delays and evasions on the part of the Chinese plenipotentiaries, Lord Elgin succeeds in completing a treaty of peace at Tien-tsin on the Peiho, whither the fleet had proceeded after leaving Canton. It

renewed the treaty of Nankin (1842); authorized the appointment of ambassadors; the residence of one at Pekin; British subjects to travel into the interior; British merchant-ships to trade upon the Great River (Yangtsze); five additional cities to be opened up for commerce, and generally prescribed the condition upon which intercourse was to be carried on. A separate article annexed to the treaty provided for the payment of two millions of taels, on account of losses sustained by British subjects at Canton; and a second sum of two millions of taels, on account of the expense of the present expedition. At the urgent entreaty of the Chinese plenipotentiary, and to secure incidental advantages not mentioned in the treaty, the 3rd Article, regarding the residence of a British minister at Pekin, was afterwards so far modified as to authorize his presence there only when the exigencies of the public service made such a step necessary.

When

26.-The Agamemnon and Niagara commence laying the Atlantic telegraph. the ships were about five miles apart, the cable parted on board the Niagara through getting off the pulley. By a preconcerted arrangement, a fresh splice was made, and all went well till about forty miles were paid out, when the electricians reported a rupture of continuity, the cable having parted near the bottom of the ocean. A third splice was made, and by the night of that day 146 miles were paid out. To facilitate the shifting from one coil to another, the Agamemnon's speed was slackened and all for a moment seemed right, when, without any warning, the cable parted close to the ship. She repaired to her rendezvous again, but the Niagara had left, and both vessels then made for Queenstown. The cable was thought to have been injured in a violent storm encountered by the Agamemnon between the 20th and 24th.

28.-Bill abolishing Property Qualification of Members receives the Royal assent.

Mr. Rarey, the American horse-tamer, exhibits his achievements with the horse Cruiser to her Majesty.

29.-A fire, supposed to have been caused by the spontaneous combustive goods stored in the building, breaks out in the south quay range of warehouses, London Docks, and destroys property of the estimated value of 150,000l.

30. The state of the Thames during this month gave rise to much anxious deliberation. Parliamentary Committees could not sit in the rooms overlooking the river; several of the officers were laid up by sickness; the attendance of members was as brief as possible, and it was at one time even under consideration, whether the House should not adjourn to some more healthy locality. In the Courts at Westminster, judges and juries performed their duties under a sense of danger, and got away as quickly as possible. The peril caused by the condition of the river this season was

thought to have given a sensible impulse to the great engineering schemes for the drainage of the metropolis, so long under consideration. The water was of a deep blackish-green tint, the result of the combination of the sulphuretted hydrogen with the iron contained in the clays suspended in the water. The month throughout was the hottest on record, save one; the mean high day temperature being 76.5° or 8.6° above the average, and the mean low night temperature 53'9° or 4° above the average. On the 16th the mean temperature at Greenwich was 769°, but at certain hours of the day it rose as high as 102°. At Bedford 1131° was reached, and at Norwich Priory 116.5° was the highest recorded.

An

July 1.-Compromise between the House of Lords and House of Commons concerning the admission of Jews into Parliament. Oaths Bill, with this object in view, was introduced by Lord John Russell early in the session, but after being read a third time in the Commons, the clause relating to the Jews was thrown out in the Upper House. The Commons, on the motion of Lord John Russell, refused to accept the bill as altered, and appointed a committee to draw up reasons for their dissent. In the discussions to which this step gave rise in the House of Lords, the Earl of Lucan proposed a solution of the difference by the insertion of a clause enabling either House by its resolution to modify the form of oath. Lord John Russell, while objecting to this method of procedure, agrees to accept the compromise; and a bill, embodying the principle, was this day introduced and passed Baron Rothquickly through both Houses.

schild took his seat for the City of London on the 26th.

Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, Secretary of State for the Colonies, introduces a bill to provide for the government of New Caledonia, defining the boundaries of that settlement, and regulating the administration of its affairs for a limited period through the mediation of a local legisla

ture.

The measure passed, almost unopposed, through both Houses.

9.-Aristocratic fête at Cremorne, designed for the benefit of certain metropolitan charities. About 2,000 attended, but the weather prevented any enjoyment of those out-door amusements for which this Paphian resort is celebrated.

12.—Mr. Hutt's motion, “That it is expedient to discontinue the practice of authorizing her Majesty's ships to visit and search vessels under foreign flags, with the view of suppressing the traffic in slaves," negatived by 223

to 24.

Explosion at Madame Coton's pyrotechnic works, Lambeth. The house, with the exception of the external walls, was blown into the air; and the rockets and other fireworks falling in myriads on the street, not only injured many of those gathered to assist, but set fire to

another work of a similar kind conducted by Mr. Gibson. The explosion here was of the same terrific character as at Madame Coton's. The proprietress herself, three female children, and one man were killed; sixteen were taken into the hospital; sixty were known to have had their wounds dressed by neighbouring surgeons, and over 200 others were more or less injured.

15. The Chancellor of the Exchequer brings forward the Government measure for cleansing the Thames. The estimated cost of the necessary works was 3,000,000l. The Government proposed to enable the Board of Works to levy a special rate of 3d. in the pound for forty years. This would yield 140,000l. a year, and not only pay for the works, but furnish a sinking fund to liquidate the advances. The Government further proposed to guarantee the advances up to 3,000,000l. at a rate of interest not exceeding 4 per cent. Perfect freedom would be granted to the Board as regarded the construction of the works, and the whole were to be finished in five years and a half. The measure was favourably entertained, and passed through both Houses, with little alteration, before the close of the session.

In Committee on the India Bill, the Earl of Derby carries two important amendments on the measure as sent up from the Commons. The first had reference to the application of Indian revenues for the employment of troops, declaring that "it shall not be competent, except to repel actual invasion, or in a sudden or urgent emergency, to make the revenues of India applicable, without the consent of Parliament, to defray the expense of military operations carried on beyond the frontier." other led to the omission of the words making it incumbent on the Government to admit candidates for the civil service in the order of their proficiency at a competitive examination, and leaving the law as it stands with regard to admission to the service, subject to such regulations as might be issued by the Secretary of State, with the approval of the Crown.

The

The Legitimacy Declaration Bill passes through committee.

Lady Bulwer Lytton having been sum marily conveyed to a lunatic asylum, intimation is now made that she is free from all restraint, and about to travel in company with her son and female friend. Dr. Winslow writes that it is "but an act of justice to Sir Edward B. Lytton to state that, upon the facts which I have ascertained were submitted to him, and upon the certificates of the medical men whom he was obliged to consult, the course which he has pursued through these painful proceedings cannot be considered as harsh or unjustifiable."

23. Came on for hearing at Stafford Assizes the case of Swinfen v. Swinfen, involving, besides properties of great value, an important question relating to the power of counsel. The

BB

plaintiff in the case, Patience Swinfen, was the widow of Henry John Swinfen, the only son of Samuel Swinfen, late of Swinfen Hall. The son died on the 15th of June, 1854, at Swinfen Hall, and the father died at the same place on the 26th of July following, at the advanced age of 81. On the 7th of July, only nineteen days before his death, he executed a will devising the Swinfen estate, valued at between 60,000l. and 70,000l., to the plaintiff, his son's widow, but leaving personal estates to a large amount undisposed of. The defendant, Frederick Hay Swinfen, was the son of Frances Swinfen, who was the testator's eldest half-brother, and claimed the estate as heir-at-law on the ground of the testator's insanity. The issue was first brought to trial at the Assizes held at Stafford on the 15th of March, 1856, when, at the commencement of the second day's proceedings, an arrangement was made by plaintifi's counsel, Sir F. Thesiger, that the devisee should have an annuity for life out of the estate, with her jointure of 300l. a-year. Mrs. Swinfen, however, refused to carry out this agreement, alleging that it was entered into by her counsel without her consent, and in defiance of her express instructions. The Court of Common Pleas was applied to, but that court, without expressing any opinion as to the validity of the agreement in law or in equity, refused to enforce it by attaching the plaintiff; and the Court of Chancery, when subsequently applied to, refused to enforce it in equity. The result was that it directed the issue to come down for a second trial. The objection raised to the will was the incompetency of the testator from age and infirmity, and undue influence over him by the plaintiff. The trial lasted four days, and as there was no doubt that the will had been formally executed, and that the testator was all his life perfectly sane, and had partially lost his testamentary capacity (as it was affirmed) only by the effects of age, the testimony of the numerous witnesses-friends, lawyers, medical practitioners, servants, and tradespeople was very conflicting. The jury, to the great satisfaction of a Staffordshire audience, returned a verdict for the plaintiff establishing

the will.

29.-The Commons' reasons for disagreeing with the Lords' amendment to the India Bill considered in the Upper House. The result was, that, although on some points Lord Derby still maintained his opinion, he agreed not to insist upon any amendments except one-that relating to competitive examination for appointments to the scientific branches of the Indian army. This was afterwards acceded to by the House of Commons, and the bill passed.

30.-The House of Lords pronounce in favour of the claim of the Princess Giustiniani of Naples to the barony of Newburgh, in the peerage of Scotland.

: August 2.-The Bourse at Antwerp, erected

in 1531, and which suggested the idea and furnished the model to Sir Thomas Gresham of our own Royal Exchange, was this day destroyed by fire. So sudden was the destruction of this splendid edifice, that all the archives belonging to the different commercial bodies using it were consumed.

2.-Distribution of the Victoria Cross by the Queen to twelve persons, on Southsea Common, Portsmouth. Five were Crimean heroes, and the seven others mostly Indian. A large number to whom the Cross was awarded were still with the army in India.

3.-The Victoria Nyanza discovered by Capt. John Hannen Speke, an African explorer who first suggested the idea that the Nile had its source in the waters of this great lake.

4.-Inauguration of Cherbourg. The first of the great displays designed for this occasion was the opening of the railway, and the second the filling of the Grand Basin, or Napoleon Docks-two works the completion of which was the consummation of the designs of a century. The Emperor and Empress were both present, and the Queen, with Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales, also took part in the ceremony. A magnificent naval demonstration was made in the harbour.

5.-The Agamemnon and Niagara, having started on their expedition a second time, succeed in laying the Atlantic telegraph. The weather was unfavourable, but no misfortune occurred to mar the progress of the work, although one or two narrow escapes were made.. On the 30th an injury was noticed on the coil of the Agamemnon, a mile or two from the part paid out. The course of the ship was stopped and the break applied; but as this failed to give sufficient time for repairing the injury, the desperate expedient was resorted to of letting the huge ship swing upon the wire. It was a time of breathless anxiety; but, to the gratification of all, the cable held, the injured part was taken out, the ends spliced, and the delivery resumed. The first national use made of the cable was on the 16th, when an interchange of good wishes took place between her Majesty and the President of the United States. A message was also transmitted regarding a collision between the steamships Europa and Arabia. Great rejoicings took place throughout America on the 17th in celebration of the event. In a few days the signals became too faint to decipher, and at length, from some cause unknown, disappeared altogether.

cations, and warned collectors to be on their guard against them. The evidence adduced by the plaintiff showed that he had purchased pieces of lead from labourers and others employed in excavating the new dock at Shadwell, and their genuineness as pilgrim signs was spoken to by two antiquaries. On its being urged for the defendants that there was no case against them to go to a jury, Mr. Justices Willes, after a brief consideration, said he was of opinion that the article complained of was not a libel in the eye of the law. It had been laid down by one of the sages of the law that what a man said honestly and bond fide in the course of a public discussion on matters concerning the public interest, no matter even if he spoke rashly, and what he said was not true-still any statement made under such circumstances would not be a libel. It had also been equally clearly laid down that, before any plaintiff could ask redress for a libel, he must show distinctly that the libel complained of applied to him, and to no other person. It would be a new doctrine, indeed, if it were to be held that any person who said that all lawyers were rogues might be sued by every individual lawyer in the kingdom; and it appeared to him that the article now complained of applied to the particular trade of dealing in antiquities rather than to the plaintiff personally. Plaintiff nonsuited.

7.-Ottawa, formerly Bytown, named as the capital for the new dominion of Canada.

10. Her Majesty and the Prince Consort embark at Gravesend on a visit to their daughter the Princess Frederick William of Prussia.

16.-The Rifled Ordnance Committee, appointed Aug. 30, issue a report recommending the use of the Armstrong gun.

19.-The Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia united in terms of a convention signed by the principal European Powers at Paris. They were to enjoy the privilege of self-government under the suzerainty of the Sultan.

21.-Intelligence received vid St. Petersburg of the treaty of peace concluded at Tientsin with the Emperor of China.

23.-Accident to an excursion train, conveying a gathering of Sunday-school children, between Worcester and Wolverhampton. On returning at night, the train for greater safety was divided into two sections, started, however within a few minutes' interval of each other. Near Round Oak station one of the couplings in the first train gave way, eighteen of the carriages rushed back down the incline with fearful velocity, and came into collision with the second train. Eleven lifeless passengers were discovered among the broken carriages. Three died soon after removal, and scores were maimed for life. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against Cook, the guard; but he was acquitted on trial.

Came on for trial at the Wilts Assizes,

66

before Mr. Baron Channell and a jury, the case of Yescombe v. Landor; being an action for libel raised by a clergyman in Bath against the author of "Imaginary Conversations," now nearly ninety years of age. The libels were directed against Mrs. Yescombe, and appeared chiefly in a book recently published by the poet, entitled Dry Sticks, faggotted by Walter Savage Landor." Up to May 1857 Mr. Landor and Mr. and Mrs. Yescombe had been on intimate terms at Bath, the poet dining with them two or three times a week; but about that time Mr. Landor took offence at Mrs. Yescombe for sending away to Cheltenham Miss Hooper, a young lady of nineteen, daughter of a gentleman living next door to them, who had been staying in the family, assisting to educate the children, and proceeding with her own training under Mrs. Yescombe's superintendence. In the first instance Mr. Landor issued a pamphlet, "Walter Savage Landor and the Hon. Mrs. Yescombe," in which he charged her with six distinct acts of petty dishonesty or deceit. Mrs. Yescombe thereupon directed her solicitor to require an apology; but the only answer was another pamphlet, "Walter Savage Landor threatened," in which he made an outrageous attack on the solicitor. This led to the action. After briefs had been prepared and counsel retained, Mr. John Forster arrived from London as a friend of Mr. Landor's, and succeeded, not only in inducing him to withdraw all his statements, but to sign an undertaking not to repeat them. This apology was accepted in consideration of the advanced age of Mr. Landor; but scarcely had this been done when he commenced issuing a series of disgusting anonymous rhymes concerning both Mrs. Yescombe and Miss Hooper. Several of these were reissued in the volume entitled Dry Sticks," and formed the basis of the libel for which redress was now sought. evidence was short, consisting mainly in the production of the aged poet's unworthy rhymes. No plea of justification was recorded, nor were any witnesses produced on his side. An attempt was made by counsel to treat the libels as the visions of an old man whose youth had been passed in an age less conventional than the present. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff. Damages, 1,000l. Mr. Landor soon after left England for Florence.

The

23.-The Eastern City, from Liverpool to Melbourne, destroyed by fire soon after crossing the equator. She had on board 180 passengers, 47 men-officers and crew-and 1,600 tons of general cargo. Mainly through the well-directed energy of Captain Johnstone the whole of those on board, with the excep tion of one man suffocated in his berth, were placed in safety on board the troop-ship Merchantman, which fortunately bore down on the burning ship.

26. A small pleasure-yacht upset off