24. Capt. Maury, the eminent American meteorologist, resigns his post at the Washington Observatory, and writes to Admiral Fitzroy a letter explanatory of his motives for doing so and joining the Confederate army.

29.-H. M.S. Conqueror, 100 guns, wrecked on a coral reef during the voyage from Port Roval to Bermuda. The armaments, stores, and a portion of the machinery were landed on the island known as Rum Cay, but the ship itself, considered the pride of the navy, was ground to pieces on the rock.

1862.

January 3.-The blockade of the Confederate ports having cut off, in a great measure, the supply of cotton to this country, meetings are held this day at Wigan, Blackburn, Preston, and some other towns in Lancashire to devise measures for the relief of the distressed operatives. A Central Relief Committee was established at Manchester in April.

7.- The Anglo-French portion of the allied expedition against Mexico arrives at Vera Cruz.

8.-Public anxiety set at rest by receipt per Europa of news that the American Government had resolved to release Messrs. Slidell and Mason. The Europa arrived off Queenstown on the 6th. The journey from Cork to Dublin, 166 miles, occupied 4 hours 3 minutes; Kingstown to Holyhead, 3 hours 17 minutes; Holyhead to London, 264 miles, 5 hours. Notwithstanding that the condition of the money market was such that in the morning the Bank of England had reduced the rate of discount from 3 to 24 per cent., the Funds received a sensible impulse. Bargains were made "after hours," at a rise of per cent., and in the morning there was a further advance of 8 per cent. The highest price at which Consols were quoted, on the 9th, was 93or 34 per cent. higher than the point to which they had fallen during the interval of suspense and anxiety.' The released Commissioners arrived at Southampton on the 29th by the La Plata.

9.-The Federal sloop-of-war Tuscarora anchors in Southampton water to watch the Nashville cruiser, which had arrived there for repairs with the crew of the captured Harvey Birch on board. The decision of our Government to let twenty-four hours elapse between the sailings of the vessels enabled the Nashville to elude her watchful foe, and she afterwards committed considerable damage among Federal merchantmen. She was, at length, chased into Gibraltar, where she disarmed and passed into the merchant service.

10. The Commissioners of the Allied Powers, England, France, and Spain, issue a joint proclamation to the Mexicans, warning them of the danger certain to follow from their present lawless proceedings. "To you ex

clusively," they said, "without the intervention of foreigners, belongs the task of constituting yourself in a permanent and stable manner. Your labour will be the labour of regeneration, which all will respect, for all will have contributed to it. The evil is great-the remedy urgent.'

14.-The pythoness in the Zoological Gardens lays about 100 eggs, the whole of which were addled in the cold occasioned by the absence of the creature when casting its skin. She abstained from food for the long period of thirty-two weeks.

Meeting at the Mansion House to orga. nize measures for raising a national memorial to the Prince Consort.

16. Great calamity at Hartley Colliery, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. About half-past IO A.M., when the whole of the works were in full operation, the huge iron beam connected with the pumping apparatus suddenly snapped asunder, and the entire gearing, weighing over twenty tons, fell down the shaft, carrying away in its descent stages, props, and lining. There were then 199 men employed in the workings, and five coming up the shaft to the pit-mouth. The mass of falling material became entangled in the lining before it reached the bottom, and in one or two places the sides collapsed, shutting off all communication with the unfortunate workmen below. For seven days and nights the most heroic efforts were made to reach the sufferers, but without effect, though at times the communication was so near that they could be heard working their way through the obstruction, and even signalling to those above. From the time the beam broke the water was known to be rushing into the workings at the rate of 1,500 gallons per minute. A "stythe" also began to accumulate in the pit, poisoning those imprisoned below, and interfering greatly with the clearing operations above. On the morning of the 20th the remains of the five killed in the shaft were brought up from the " high seam, and conveyed to their families. The "yard seam, " where most of the men had taken refuge, was not reached till the 22d, when the whole of them were found to have been suffocated by the stythe, to all appearance two or three days before. They were lying in rows one ach side, all quiet and placid as if sleeping off a heavy day's work. Boys were lying with their heads on the shoulders of their fathers, and one poor fellow had his arm clasped round the neck of his brother. book, taken from the pocket of the overman, was found a memorandum dated "Friday afternoon (17th), half-past 2 o'clock.-Edward Armstrong, Thomas Gledson, John Hardie, Thomas Bell, and others took extremely ill. We had also a prayer-meeting at a quarter to 2, when Tibbs, H. Sharp, J. Campbell, H. Gibson, and William Palmer- -(sentence incomplete). Tibbs exhorted to us again, and Sharp also." Others had scratched messages

In a

to their families on their flasks, boxes, and whatever could carry an inscription. The pit-mouth, where for days the relatives had watched in eager hopefulness the work of excavation, was now crowded with griefstricken widows and orphans, who followed the bodies to their homes as they were brought up. So comprehensive was the calamity, that of the entire male population of three pit-hamlets only twenty-five were not employed at the time of the accident. Almost every cottage had a coffin, some two, one five, and another poor woman no less than seven, containing the remains of a husband, five sons, and a boy whom they had brought up and educated. The funerals, in most instances, took place on Sunday, the relatives following the coffins to the graves, singing with mournful tenderness the hymn "O God, our help in ages past." The calamity excited universal sympathy. The Queen, with her own deep sorrow fresh upon her, caused repeated telegraphic messages to be sent to her at Osborne. "The Queen" (so ran the first) "is most anxious to hear that there are hopes of saving the poor people in the On the colliery, for whom her heart bleeds." 23d her Majesty commanded Col. Phipps to write:" Her tenderest sympathy is with the poor widows and mothers, and her own misery only makes her feel the more for them. Her Majesty hopes that everything will be done as far as possible to alleviate their distress, and her Majesty will have a sad satisfaction in assisting in such a measure." The subscription in aid of the widows, orphans, and other relatives, reached the large sum of 81,000l., one-fourth of which was collected by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House.

The

25.-Commenced before the Supreme Court of Bombay, the great Maháráj libel case which for months back had excited intense interest in all religious circles, native and European, throughout the Presidency. The defendant, who seemed to be a member of the Soodhar Lele, or Reforming party of the natives, and edited the Satya Prakash, a Gujaráti newspaper, disclosed in one of his articles the indecent and immoral practices of the Vallabhácháryan gurus, and accused the plaintiff (one of these gurus) of adulterous intercourse with his female disciples. plaintiff complained that these charges were false and malicious, and injuriously affected him in his individual character as a member of society, as a Brahmin, as a Maháráj, as a Hindoo priest, and as a member of the sect of Vallabháchárya. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and, secondly, that the charges made in the publication were true. This latter plea was of great length; and set out various points of doctrines from books alleged to be of religious authority in the sect, and relied It upon them as justifying the publication. also put in issue various facts and circumstances in proof of the evil reputation of the Mahárájas as a body for immorality; and it

finally charged specific acts of immorality committed by the plaintiff as part of his religious system, and in the presence of various witnesses produced in court. The trial lasted many days, and occasioned an elaborate summing up on the part of the judge, Sir Joseph Arnould, who also expressed the obligations the community were under to the defendant for exposing the shocking immorality which had been elevated to the rank of a religion. On the technical plea of not guilty, 5 rs. damage was awarded to the plaintiff, but the defendant was acquitted of the higher charges of defamation and libel, and had awarded to him the costs of defence.

26.-Died, at his residence, Bloomsburysquare, aged 82, Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, Biblical critic.

February 6.-Parliament opened by commission. The Royal Speech, as was to be expected, made tender reference to the affliction in which her Majesty was involved by the calamitous, untimely, and irreparable loss of the Prince Consort. "It has been, however, soothing to her Majesty, while suffering most acutely under this awful dispensation of Providence, to receive from all classes of her subjects the most cordial assurance of their sympathy with her sorrow, as well as their appreciation of the noble character of him, the greatness of whose loss to her Majesty and to the nation is so justly and so universally felt and lamented." The Speech also referred to the satisfactory settlement of our difference with the United States regarding the seizure of the Confederate Commissioners, and to the Convention concluded with France for the purpose of obtaining from Mexico a redress for grievances inflicted on foreign residents within that country. Measures were also promised relating to the improvement of the law, and the simplification of title in land.

The Prince of Wales (travelling as Baron Renfrew) leaves England for a tour in the East, accompanied by General Bruce, the Rev. A. P. Stanley, and others. Alexandria was reached on the 1st March; the Pyramids, on the 5th; Thebes, on the 15th; Jaffa, on the 28th; and Jerusalem, on the 31st March. On Monday, the 7th April, the Prince and a small suite were permitted as a mark of unparalleled favour to enter the tombs of the patriarchs at Hebron. At Mount Gerizim the party witnessed the celebration of the Samaritan Passover; and on Easter-day, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Holy Communion "was celebrated by Dr. Stanley. After spending several weeks in Syria, a homeward' route was taken by way of Smyrna, Constantinople, Athens, Cephalonia, and Malta. On the evening of the 14th of June his Royal Highness reached Windsor Castle.

11. This morning the water in the disused Hendre mines, near Mold, Flintshire, broke into the adjoining Bryn Gwiog lead mines,

and drowned sixteen of the workmen, only one of the whole employed succeeding in escaping by a rope up the shaft.

13. The Revised Education Code introduced into the House of Lords by Earl Granville, and to the Commons by Mr. Lowe. Adverting to the cry raised against the new Minutes by the clergy and teachers, Earl Granville explained that it did not make the slightest technical alteration in the old system of religious teaching; and as to the blow struck at training colleges, he admitted it was sudden and severe; but the assistance granted to these establishments averaged no less than 68 per cent. of the whole expense, showing how little voluntary efforts were excited by such large grants. Agreeing with the Royal Commissioners that it would not be right to interfere with the foundation of the existing mode of administering the grant, Mr. Lowe said the Committee of Council had come to the conclusion that the system of appropriated grants should be abolished, and capitation grants substituted infants under six years being entitled to capitation without examination. He entered very fully into the question of the claims of the schoolmasters, which in their integrity, he maintained, had no foundation in principle or justice, but explained the length Government would go, under stances, to meet those claims.

seam.

the circum

19.-Explosion in the Cethin Colliery, near Merthyr Tydvil, causing the death of forty-nine workmen, employed in what was known as the "four-foot" About 200 engaged in other workings were rescued. The whole country was agitated by wailing and woe, and in the villages and on mountain-sides were to be seen groups of miners repeating the tragic tale with the violence and pathos of Welsh eloquence. The sufferers were interred with romantic solemnity in the wild cemetery of Cefn.

The Queen causes Sir Charles Grey to write to the committee of the Prince Consort Memorial Fund:-" It would be more in accordance with her Majesty's feelings and, she believes, with those of the country in general, that the monument should be directly personal in its object. After giving the subject her maturest consideration, her Majesty has come to the conclusion, that nothing would be more appropriate, provided that it is on a scale of sufficient grandeur, than an obelisk to be erected in Hyde Park, on the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851, or on some spot immediately contiguous to it. Nor would any proposal that could be made be more gratifying to the Queen herself personally; for she can never forget that the Prince himself had highly approved of the idea of a memorial of this character being raised on the same spot in remembrance of the Great Exhibition." In a second letter the Queen expressed her intention of personally contributing towards erecting the memorial, that "it might be re

corded in future ages as raised by the Queen and people of a grateful country to the memory of its benefactor."

22. The newly-elected Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, delivers an inaugural address at Richmond, in which he describes the past year as one of the most eventful in the annals of the American continent, a new Government having been established, and its machinery put in operation over an area exceeding 700,000 square miles.

24.-At the Carlisle Assizes, William Charlton, engine-driver on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, was found guilty of the murder of Jane Emmerson, an old woman who took charge of a level crossing on the line at Durran Hill, near Carlisle. The motive for murder in the case appeared to be robbery, 71. being stolen from the house, besides some sheets, three spoons, and a ring. The chief circumstance founded on by the prosecution was the correspondence of the prisoner's shoe with a footmark left in the congealed blood. There were two peculiar circular marks on the toe, which the prisoner had endeavoured to efface by drawing the nails, but close examination showed that the holes corresponded, and the nails themselves were found hidden close by the prisoner's house. It was also established that he knew the habits of the deceased, had ample opportunities for committing the crime, and was seen in the neighbourhood on the night of the murder. In returning their verdict, the jury recommended Charlton to mercy on the ground of his previous good conduct, but the Home Secretary declined to interfere, and the sentence was duly carried out, the prisoner setting all doubt about his guilt at rest by making a full confession.

Stormy debates in the French Senate. The Marquis de Boissy said it was not France but England which gained most by the last Italian wars. "There is one thing," he said, "I regret; it is this, that the money spent in these wars was not differently employed. We could with much more advantage have gone to London; and we would have had the advantage of going with a friendly nation, instead of going to Sebastopol with one who is our ally in name, though in point of fact our enemy in every circumstance; and as dangerous, if not more so, under the name of ally, as under that of enemy." On the 27th, Prince Napoleon attacked the Marquis de Larochejaquelein as the author of the programme of a counter-revolution. "I look upon the Empire," he said, "as due to the well-understood principles of revolution. To me the Empire signifies the glory of France abroad, the destruction of the treaties of 1815 within the limits and the resources of France, and the unity of Italy, which we have contributed to free. At home the glory of France is in the preservation of order by a complete system of wise and real liberties, comprising

the liberty of the press, and unlimited popular instruction, without religious congregations, and without institutions which would impose upon us a return to the bigotry of the Middle Ages."

25.-Sir Robert Peel having, in reply to certain remarks made by the O'Donoghue at a meeting in Dublin, described him as a manikin traitor devoid of respectability, is challenged to fight through Major Gavin, M.P. for Liverpool. By the Premier's advice the "second was referred to him, and he brought the matter before the House to-night, as a violation of the privilege of speech-a step which had the desired effect of preventing any breach of the peace.

28.-Exposure of the Threepwood conspiracy. On 5th March last, William Bewicke, Esq., a gentleman of ancient lineage, belonging to Northumberland, was sentenced at Newcastle Assizes to four years' penal servitude for the imputed offence of firing a loaded rifle at two sheriff officers with whom he had an altercation concerning a distress-warrant issued against him as owner of Threepwood Hall. The shot was alleged to have been fired from the window of a small water-closet, and a piece of flattened lead was produced as one of the bullets used on the occasion. Important evidence in defence coming to light after the trial, the two officers, with an assistant, a witness on the first trial, were now put in the dock charged with conspiracy. After a trial, which occupied the entire day, the jury returned a verdict of Guilty against the two officers, Dodd and Hutchinson, and next day the assistant Dalgleish pleaded guilty to the charge contained in the indictment.

March 1.-The Tae-ping attack on Shanghai repulsed by an Imperial and Anglo-French force.

Lord Elgin arrives at Calcutta as Governor-General of India. He was installed into office on the 12th; Earl Canning leaving India six days later.

8.-The United States' steamship Merrimac (seized by the Confederates and christened the Virginia) steams out of port to attack the Federal squadron in Hampton Roads. The engagement commenced at 3 P.M., and within an hour she had sunk the Cumberland, captured and burnt the Congress, disabled and driven the Minnesota ashore, and defeated the St. Lawrence and Roanoke, which sought shelter under the guns of Fortress Monroe. Two small steamers were also blown up, and two transports captured. The Cumberland went down with all hands on board, her tops only remaining above water, but many of her people were saved by boats from the shore. Next day the Federal iron-clad ship-of-war Monitor arrived from New York, and engaged the Virginia. Both vessels separated after a short contest without any decisive result, and went into port to repair damages.

9.-The Ocean Monarch, 2,199 tons, which left New York for Liverpool on the 5th, laden with provisions, founders in a gale. Twenty-two of the crew abandoned the vessel, and they, as well as three left on board, were rescued by a passing schooner.

11.

Mr. Horsfall introduces, but withdraws after a debate, a resolution declaring that "the present state of international maritime law as affecting the rights of belligerents and neutrals, is ill-defined and unsatisfactory, and calls for the early attention of her Majesty's Government."

Mr. Walpole lays on the table of the House of Commons a series of eleven resolutions condemning the Revised Education Code introduced by Government. He condemned

the principle of paying exclusively by results; and the system of grouping by age as inadequate and specially disadvantageous for children whose early education had been neglected. The new code, it was declared, would increase the difficulty of providing education for poor districts, and its regulations with respect to pupil teachers were censured as impolitic and unjust. The discussion commenced on the 24th, and ended in the Government modifying their scheme to meet the wishes of the House, and promising that in future any alteration contemplated in the Code would be laid for one month before Parliament previous to coming into operation.

12. The shop of Dodds, Brothers, jewellers, Cornhill, entered by burglars during the night, and property carried off to the value of 3,000l. Suspicion was directed against the shop porter as an accomplice, and he was at once arrested and committed for trial.

Mr. George Peabody, American merchant in London, announces the munificent gift of 100,000l. to the poor of the metropolis. "I have," he wrote to the trustees, "few instructions to give or conditions to impose, but there are some fundamental principles from which it is my solemn injunction that those entrusted with its application shall never, under any circumstances, depart. First and foremost among them is the limitation of its uses, absolutely and exclusively, to such purposes as may be calculated directly to ameliorate the condition and augment the comforts of the poor who, either by birth or established residence, form a recognised portion of the population of London. Secondly, it is my intention that now, and for all times, there shall be a rigid exclusion from the management of this fund of any influences calculated to impart to it a character either sectarian as regards religion, or exclusive in relation to local or party politics." Without seeking to limit the discretion of the trustees, the donor suggested that at least a portion of the fund might be applied to the construction of such improved dwellings for the poor as would combine in the utmost possible degree the essen

tials of heathfulness, comfort, social enjoyment, and economy.

14. At the Stafford Assizes, the Rev. Horatio Samuel Fletcher, incumbent of St. Leonard's, Bilston, and a magistrate for the county, was found guilty, under the Fraudulent Trustees Act, of feloniously appropriating various sums of money which came into his hands as Secretary to the Bilston Savings Bank. From the evidence it appeared that the entire management of the Institution had lapsed into the hands of the reverend gentleman, who acted as secretary, treasurer, and trustee. A defence was set up that the prisoner was not a trustee within the meaning of the Fraudulent Trustees Act,-"a trustee for public purposes," or 'a trustee for depositors," or "a trustee under an express trust created by an instrument in writing." The points were left for the decision of the Court for Crown cases reserved.

17.-Thompson, a grinder, tried at the Sheffield Assizes, for a trade-outrage committed in a house in Acorn-street, on the 23d November last; the dwelling was set on fire by an explosive charge thrown in at the window. One inmate, a woman named O'Rourke, was burnt to death, and another blinded. Evidence was adduced to show that the prisoner was one of the most violent of the turn-outs ;" that he had been heard to threaten Wasney, who lived in O'Rourke's house; that he had purchased a case at one place, and explosive powder at another, shortly before the outrage was committed; and that he was one of two persons seen running away from the house when the case was thrown in. The jury, however, thought the evidence insufficient, and returned a verdict of Not guilty. The following day three other grinders were charged with blowing up a nailmaker's shop at Thorpe, near Rotherham; and though the alibi pleaded in defence on this occasion was unusually well supported, the jury found all guilty, and Mr. Justice Mellor sentenced them to fourteen years' penal servitude. They afterwards received a free pardon.

18. Encounter in the House of Lords between the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chelmsford, in a discussion concerning those officials of the late Insolvent Court who had been deprived of their retiring allowance through an omission in the new Bankruptcy Act. The Lord Chancellor, being charged with negligence, insincerity, and tyranny, retaliated by accusing his assailant of personal dislikes, and of being for weeks together in daily confidential intercourse with him, without hinting in the slightest degree that it was his intention to assail him with a series of charges which were entirely founded on perversions of fact. "It will," said the Lord Chancellor, "be a lesson to me for the future with whom I engage in confidential intercourse." Lord Derby protested against such language as undignified and undeserved, and was followed by Earl Granville and Earl

Russell, who each defended the Government. There was an unusually large attendance in the House to-night, many of those present being ladies.

66

22. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean presented with a service of silver plate subscribed for by Etonians as a tribute to the genius of a great actor, and in recognition of his unremitting efforts to improve the tone, and elevate the character of the British stage." The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gladstone) acted as spokesman for the donors.

23.-Campden House, Kensington, destroyed by fire. This interesting relic of former times was built by Sir Baptist Hickes, a wealthy silk-mercer of Cheapside, founder of Hickes's Hall, and afterwards created Viscount Campden by James I. The mansion was occupied by a Mr. Woolley, who had spent large sums in restoring it and furnishing it with rare examples of art, particularly in carving and tapestry. Nothing was saved.

Died, at St. Petersburg, in his 93d year, Charles Robert Count von Nesselrode, Chancellor of the Empire, and chief among the diplomatists at the court of Czars Alexander and Nicholas.

26. Came on for hearing at Warwick Lent Assizes, before Lord Justice Cockburn and a jury, the case of Kennedy v. Broun and wife, being a civil action raised to recover the sum of 20,000/. from the successful litigant in the Swinfen estate case, in accordance with a promise made, for services rendered by her solicitor and advocate, Charles Rann Kennedy. The connexion of the plaintiff with Mrs. Broun (formerly Swinfen) appeared to have commenced in May 1856, at a time when her objections to the compromise which had been effected in her behalf were notorious. From that time up to the latter part of 1861, when she married the plaintiff, Mr. Broun-a proceeding which caused the final rupture-Mr. Kennedy appeared to have acted in all the proceedings above mentioned as her leading legal adviser and counsel, and to have devoted himself with great energy to her interests. According to the statement of Mrs. Broun, the action against Lord Chelmsford (see July 4, 1859) was brought in express contradiction to her wishes, and solely through the advice of Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy was paid from time to time various sums for fees, but great ambiguity seemed to prevail as to the relation in which he stood towards Mrs. Broun with respect to remuneration. She asserted that he had undertaken her cause solely from motives of friendship, and with no other prospect of reward but what might be the result of her success. Mr. Kennedy, in consequence, as he asserted, of his great devotion to her interests, was reduced to very low circumstances. and became desirous of having some security for the sum in which he considered Mrs. Broun to be indebted. With this view, in May 1859, he wrote to her at Swinfen Hall, de