important declarations made by the Emperor, who gave him authority, he said, to disclose them to the House. The Emperor of the French said :-"As soon as I learnt that the rumour of an alteration of my views was circulating in England, I gave instructions to my Ambassador to deny the truth of it. Nay, more; I instructed him to say that my feeling was not, indeed, exactly the same as it was, because it was stronger than ever in favour of recognising the South. I told him also to lay before the British Government my understanding and my wishes on this question, and to ask them still again whether they would be willing to join me in that recognition." "Now, Sir," continued Mr. Roebuck, there is no mistake about this matter. I pledge my veracity that the Emperor of the French told me that. And, what is more, I laid before his Majesty two courses of conduct. I said, 'Your Majesty may make a formal application to England.' He stopped me and said, 'No, I cannot do that'; and I will tell you why. Some months ago I did make a formal application to England. England sent my despatch to America. That despatch, getting into Mr. Seward's hands, was shown to my Ambassador at Washington. It came back to me, and I feel that I was ill-treated by such conduct. I will not,' he added, 'I cannot, subject myself again to the danger of similar treatment. But I will do everything short of it. I give you full liberty to state to the English House of Commons my wish, and to say to them that I have determined in all things'-(I will quote his words)-'I have determined in all things to act with England; and, more than all things, I have determined to act with her as regards America.' Sir, with this before us, can the Government be ignorant of this fact? I do not believe it. With this before them, are they not prepared to act in concert with France? Are they afraid of war? War with whom? With the Northern States of America? Why, in ten days, Sir, we should sweep from the sea every ship. (Exclamations of dissent.) Yes, there are people so imbued with Northern feeling as to be indignant at that assertion. But the truth is known. Why, the Warrior would destroy their whole fleet. Their armies are melting away; their invasion is rolled back; Washington is in danger; and the only fear which we ought to have is, lest the independence of the South should be established without us. On the 13th July Mr. Roebuck moved that the order for resuming the debate be discharged.

Well,

July 1. Prince Gortschakoff forwards to the Russian Ambassador in London the Emperor's answer to the representation made on behalf of the Poles by the Courts of London, Paris, and Vienna, as parties to the Treaty of Vienna. He declined to discuss in detail the six points placed before Russia, on the plea that the most of them had

already either been decreed or were about to be initiated. "If Lord John Russell, " he wrote, were exactly informed of what passes in the kingdom of Poland, he would know, as we do, that wherever the armed rebellion has striven to acquire substance, to give itself a visible head, it has been crushed. The masses have kept aloof from it, the rural population evinces even hostility to it, because the disorders by which agitators live ruin the industrial classes. The insurrection sustains itself alone by a terrorism unprecedented in history. The bands are recruited principally from elements foreign to the country. They gather together in the woods, and disperse at the first attack to reunite in other places. When they are too closely pressed, they cross the frontier to re-enter the country at another point. Politically, it is a stage display intended to act upon Europe. The principle of action of the directing committees from without is to keep up agitation at all cost, in order to give food for the declamations of the press, to abuse public opinion, and to harass the Governments, by furnishing an occasion and a pretext for a diplomatic intervention which should lead to military action. All the hope of the armed insurrection is in this: it is the object at which it has laboured from its rise. His Majesty the Emperor owes to his faithful army, struggling for the maintenance of order, to the peaceable majority of Poles who suffer from these deplorable agitations, and to Russia, on whom they impose painful sacrifices, to take energetic measures to terminate them. Desirable as it may be speedily to place a term to the effusion of blood, this object can only be attained by the insurgents throwing down their arms and surrendering themselves to the clemency of the Emperor. Every other arrangement would be incompatible with the dignity of our august master, and with the sentiments of the Russian nation." In any case, the Prince insisted on the re-establishment of order as an indispensable condition, which must precede any serious application of the measures destined for the pacification of the kingdom.

1.-The Dutch abolish slavery in their West Indian possessions.

Commencement of a series of engagements at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, between the Federal and Confederate armies. The latter, under General Lee, attacked the former, commanded by General Meade, and drove them into a well-defended position on Cemetery Hill, to the south of the town. After a succession of severe onslaughts, the Confederates were defeated on the afternoon of the 2d, and again more seriously on the 3d, on the occasion of a gallant attack by General Pickett on the Federal position. The Confederates thereupon withdrew, leaving about 3,000 prisoners in the hands of General Meade. Vicksburg surrendered the following day.

6.- Public intimation having been made

that Lord Barcaple intended to withdraw from the Free Church, in consequence of the Assembly's acquiescence in Dr. Candlish's attack on the Queen for permitting a verse from the Apocrypha to appear on the monument to the Prince Consort at Balmoral, Dr. Candlish now writes to explain that he spoke for himself alone, not for the Assembly, far less for the Church. "And it is scarcely reasonable, I submit, to saddle me with the blame of involving a dumb Assembly in my peculiar treason, and depriving a defenceless Church, on that account, of one of its ornaments and supports. But I must allow that, whatever the learned Judge's mode of punishing one in many and many in one may say for his logic or his law, it speaks volumes for his loyalty. It was relevant," he thought, "to a discussion upon the subject of Popish leanings in influential quarters to adduce as an instance the description of an Apocryphal text on the tomb or cairn of a Protestant Prince-a novelty, I am persuaded, in our country's monumental literature, for which it will be hard to find a precedent satisfactory, I say, not to a theologian, but even to a mere antiquarian. . . . . Infidels and latitudinarian divines are simply preparing the way for Rome when they affect or seem to put the Apocrypha on the same footing with the Bible. I cannot get rid of the impression that the Balmoral inscription manifests a tendency in that most dangerous direction. I have said so; and whoever is responsible for it, I must say so still. I say it with the deepest sorrow, if it is the Queen who is responsible; which, however, I do not believe. I say it with indignation, whoever else it may be."

6.-Debate in the House of Commons concerning an alleged breach of neutrality laws, in permitting British officers to serve in the Chinese army. Lord Palmerston said he could not understand the censure of Lord Naas, who seemed to imply that we were wrong in teaching the Chinese the art of government, of regulating their finances, of increasing their revenue, and improving their administration. He admitted these charges and claimed credit for them. The House afterwards went into Committee of Supply.

7.-Died at Linden Grove, Bayswater, aged 78 years, William Mulready, R. A.

10. The Mexican Assembly resolve to adopt an hereditary monarchical government under a Roman Catholic emperor, and to invite the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, eldest brother of the Emperor of Austria, to accept the imperial title. The provisional government afterwards assumed the style of the "Regency of the Mexican Empire.

13.-Treaty of London, approving of the election of Prince William of Denmark to the throne of Greece, signed by England, France, and Russia.

(498)

13. Commencement of a series of conscription riots at New York and Boston.

15. The tribe of the Waikatoes, dwelling near Auckland, begin a new outbreak by murdering two settlers. General Cameron afterwards marched against the aborigines.

16. Another phase of the Roupell forgeries came on to-day for hearing, at Chelmsford Assizes, before Mr. Baron Channell and a special jury. The action was brought to recover an estate at Great Warley, Essex, consisting of two farms,-viz. Bury, in the occupation of Hawes; and Bolens, in the occupation of Springham. The real parties to the action were Richard Roupell, plaintiff, as son and heir, and also as devisee of his father, the late Richard Palmer Roupell, with certain persons, stated to be trustees for widows and children who took a mortgage of the estate, in July 1857, from William Roupell; and the real defendants were the mortgagees, let in to defend as landlords in terms of a deed of gift by old Roupell to his son William, of date 9th January, 1856. As will be seen above, William Roupell mortgaged the property after his father's death; but if the deed were genuine, the old man did not die seised of the estate, and Richard could not take it either as heir-at-law or as devisee under the disputed will of 1850. On the other hand, the plaintiff, who must recover on his own right, was bound to prove that both the deed of gift and the will of September 1856 were forgeries; for if the former were genuine, the mortagees had a title, and if the latter were genuine, the estate was left to his mother, and the plaintiff had no claim at all. The case for the defendant was thus founded on the deed of gift of January 1856, while the plaintiff pleaded that both deed and will were forgeries. William Roupell was again brought from prison to the witness-box, and explained in the most minute manner how he had forged his father's name, and obtained the signatures of two attesting witnesses-not absolutely necessary-by representing to them that they were attesting a lease signed by himself. evidence was confirmed by these two persons, Trueman and Dove. They denied that they ever saw Roupell, the father, sign any deed; but they declared that their own signatures were genuine, and that the only person present when they signed was William Roupell So far the convict's evidence was strongly corroborated. The case as to the will of 1856 also rested almost entirely on the evidence of William Roupell, who not only swore that he forged the document in question, but also gave evidence as to the contents of the will of 1850, declaring that under it the Warley estate was given to Richard. This will, he said, he destroyed, after keeping it for years; and the loss was irremediable, since the draught had been also destroyed by the proctor. William Roupell was not cross-examined, the defendants deeming him unworthy of credit, but Trueman and Dove, the witnesses for the two tenants,

His

were severely handled. Between the examination of witnesses, and the discussion of points of law, the proceedings were protracted over nine days. In summing up, the learned Judge observed, that the deed of grant or gift did not require to be executed by the grantee or donee, William Roupell, but only by the grantor or denor, R. P. Roupell; and again, it did not require that his signature should be attested, but only that he should sign and deliver it to the donee, William Roupell, or some one on his behalf taking it for him. Neither was it required in the case of a will that the donor's execution should have been attested by two witnesses, but only that it should be signed, sealed, and delivered by the donor. The circumstances under which it was prepared and executed were stated by William Roupell, and his was the only direct evidence about it. The answers of the jury, after first retiring, were as follows:-To the first question,-Was the deed of gift executed in the presence of the two witnesses?-It was not. Upon the second question, as to whether it was executed by the testator, they were not agreed. To the third question,-Was the will of September 2, 1856, the will of the testator?-they found it was not So. To the fourth question,-Whether the will of 1850 devised the estate to the plaintiff? -they answered that there was not sufficient evidence to enable them to find. The jury retired again about six o'clock. At ten, being still unable to agree, and declaring that there was no prospect of their coming to a unanimous conclusion, the learned Judge, after conferring with counsel on both sides, declared the jury to be discharged: and so this longcontested case ended, like the suit tried at Guildford, without any decision.

20. Mr. Horsman draws the attention of Parliament to the oppressive measures of Russia in Poland, asking the House to agree to a resolution-"That, in the opinion of this House, the arrangements made with regard to Poland by the Treaty of Vienna have failed to secure the good government of Poland or the peace of Europe; and any further attempt to replace Poland under the conditions of that treaty must cause calamities to Poland and ⚫ embarrassment and danger to Europe." As Lord Palmerston declined to commit the Government to any more active policy than remonstrance till an answer had been obtained from Russia to the six points recently placed before her by the great Powers, the motion was withdrawn after a debate.

The "female Blondin" killed at Astonpark, Birmingham, while performing on the tight-rope for the entertainment of a company of the Order of Foresters. The chair in which the first part of the performance had been carried through was removed, and a bag placed over the head of the performer as an additional blindfold. In this condition she again moved on the rope, holding the balancing pole in her hand, and cautiously feeling her

way. She had trodden but three faltering steps when the rope collapsed, the platform on which the attendant was standing fell back, and the poor woman was dashed to the ground. Her death was instantaneous. The Foresters persevered with their entertainment till the evening. A letter written to the Mayor of Birmingham, by command of the Queen, stated:"Her Majesty cannot refrain from making known to you her personal feelings of horror that one of her subjects-a female -should have been sacrificed to the gratifi ́cation of the demoralizing taste, unfortunately prevalent, for exhibitions attended with the greatest danger to the performers. Were any proof wanting that such exhibitions are demoralizing, I am commanded to remark that it would be at once found in the decision arrived at to continue the festivities, the hilarity, and the sports of the occasion after an event so melancholy. The Queen trusts that you, in common with the rest of the townspeople of Birmingham, will use your influence to prevent in future the degradation to such exhibitions of the Park, which was gladly opened by her Majesty and the beloved Prince Consort, in the hope that it would be made serviceable for the healthy exercise an 1 rational recreation of the people." "The Mayor (Sturge) replied:-"For the future I have every reason to hope that, notwithstanding Aston-park is beyond the jurisdiction of the authorities of Birmingham, their influence, and that of their fellow-townsmen, will henceforth limit its use exclusively to the healthy exercise and rational recreation of the people, so that the gracious intentions of her Majesty and her revered Consort may not be frustrated, but realized. In the meantime I trust that exhibitions of so dangerous and demoralizing a character may be interdicted by parliamentary

enactment.

24. With reference to the Volunteer Review at Wimbledon on the 18th, the Commander-in-Chief writes :-"I can only express my satisfaction at the zeal with which all on the ground carried out the instructions they received; and I have a firm conviction that the Volunteer force is now becoming a very efficient body of men, and valuable as a great auxiliary to the regular army of the country."

28.-Parliament prorogued by Commission. The Royal Speech made reference to the condition of Poland, the civil war in America, the kingdom of Greece, the outrage in, and cessation of, diplomatic intercourse with Japan, and to the most prominent measures carried during the session.

31. The Master of the Rolls delivers judgment in the case of Broun v. Kennedy, setting aside the deed executed by Mrs. Broun in 1859, giving a reversionary estate in fee simple in the Swinfen Hall estates, on the ground that such deed had been obtained by surprise and the exercise of undue influence. The deed to be delivered up to be cancelled;

Kennedy to re-convey his interest in the estate, and pay the costs of suit. His Honour also expressed his concurrence in the decision arrived at by the Court of Common Pleas, that a barrister was not allowed to sue for the recovery of fees.

August 1.-Died, at Abingdon House, Kensington, her Highness Maharanee Jendau Kower, widow of the late Maharajah Runjeet Singh, ruler of the Sikhs, and mother of the present Maharajah Dhuleep Singh. Her Highness was interred in Kensal-green Cemetery, after some opposition on the part of her attendants, who wished the body conveyed to India.

3.-Accident on the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway, occasioned by the engine coming in contact with a bullock upon the line. Five of the passengers were killed, some of them so mutilated as to defy recognition.

The Prince of Wales visits Halifax to open the New Town Hall.

5.-Settled, by compromise, at Cork Assizes, the protracted process of litigation known as the Egmont property case, involving the ownership of lands computed to be worth 12,000l. a year. The action was in the form of an issue directed by the Court of Chancery for the purpose of ascertaining whether a certain instrument was the last will of Henry, Earl of Egmont. It purported to devise all the freehold and personal estates, together with the right of presentation to two livings in England, to Edward Tierney, of Fitzwilliamstreet, Dublin, making him, indeed, the sole residuary legatee, after payment of a few comparatively small charges. The Egmonts and Tierneys first became acquainted at Brighton in the reign of George IV. The ultimate effect of this intimacy was, that Edward Tierney, who was regarded as a friend and counsellor of the Egmonts, was appointed agent to the estates, then very much involved. Immediately after the accession of Henry, Lord Percival, the testator to the Egmont title, it became necessary, in order to meet the embarrassments of the family, to borrow money. This was done, and two trust-deeds executed, whereby the whole estates were conveyed to Lord Percival, Mr. Teed, and Mr. Edward Tierney. These trustees were to pay certain sums to Lord Egmont and his son, Lord Percival; they were to bar all entail, and to invest the property in the name of the Earl of Egmont, so as to give him power to dispose of it ultimately to the testator, Lord Percival. In consequence of the pecuniary position in which he was placed, Lord Percival, although a man of great refinement, gave way to drink. When he succeeded to the title, he had property valued at 200,000l., but upon it there was a debt of 100,000/., besides a further sum of 23,000l. owing to Mr. Tierney. The Earl died in 1841, and in his will made Edward Tierney his heir and residuary legatee. Subsequent to the Earl's death, the property had been greatly improved, no less a sum than

70,000l. having been expended upon it by Mr. Tierney. Owing to the peculiar form of the pleadings, the question being the validity of a will, the Rev. Sir Lionel Darell appeared as plaintiff against the Earl of Egmont (Lord Arden), whereas he was in reality defendant, resisting the claim of his opponent to get possession of the estates, which were alleged to have been obtained by fraud and false representation. The terms of the compromise were, that the estates were to be surrendered to the Earl of Egmont, who, in return, was to pay Sir Lionel Darell 125,000/., and to require no account of the mesne rents and profits since the death of the testator. The Earl also became bound to pay all costs incurred.

6.-Commercial treaty concluded between England and Italy.

Sir Henry Storks, acting under the authority of the Queen's proclamation, dissolves the Ionian Parliament," with a view to consult, in the most formal and authentic manner, the wishes of the inhabitants as to their future destiny.' The result was a unanimous resolution in favour of union with Greece. A protocol ceding the isles was given effect to in June 1864.

11.-An English fleet, under the command of Captain Kuper, enters the Bay of Kagosima to demand satisfaction from the Prince of Satsuma for an attack made on the English travellers within the bounds of his jurisdiction, Sept. 14, 1862. Failing to obtain any satisfactory answer to the demands made, three steamers were seized on the 15th, when suddenly all the batteries opened a fire of shot and shell on the squadron. The Admiral at once proceeded to bombard the city, laying a great part of it in ruins, and completely destroying the batteries. Satsuma afterwards consented to do his utmost to apprehend the murderers, and paid his portion of the indemnity demanded, 25,000/.

14. Died, at the residence of General Eyre, Chatham, aged 71, years, Lord Clyde, "who by his own deserts, through fifty years of arduous service, from the earliest battle in the Peninsula to the pacification of India in 1858, rose to the rank of Field-Marshal and a peerage."

17.-A Congress of German Sovereigns assembles at Frankfort. The Emperor of Austria presided, and, in his opening speech relative to the reforms which the Congress should initiate, expressed his regret that he had not been able to induce the King of Prussia te participate in the work of unity. The 35 States of the Confederation, or Bund, included I empire, 5 kingdoms, 7 grand-duchies, I electorate, 8 duchies, I landgravate, 8 principalities, and 4 free towns. The entire popu lation was computed at 44,802,050, and the military force of the Confederation at 503,072

men.

20.—In reply to a second pressing invita

tion to attend the Congress of Sovereigns at Frankfort, the King of Prussia writes :-" My conviction is still the same as that expressed in my explanation of the 4th inst., and I retain it the rather as I have yet received no official information of the basis of the propositions. The information which has reached me by other means only strengthens me in the view not to fix my determination until, by business-like deliberations on the matter by my Council, the proposed changes in the Federal Constitution may be harmoniously discussed in their relations to the just power of Prussia and to the just interests of the nation. I owe it to my country, and the cause of Germany, to give no explanations which may bind me to my Federal allies before such discussion has taken place. Without such, however, my participation in the discussions would be impracticable."

24. Mr. Coxwell's balloon collapses soon after ascending from a fête at Basford Park, Nottingham, and, descending with great rapidity, causes the death of an amateur aeronaut named Chambers, who had volunteered to take the place of the aerial scientific navigator. The car struck the ground and rebounded several feet, when it was caught hold of by a party of young men. Chambers was stretched at the bottom of the car, life nearly extinct, more, it was believed, from the effects of the gas in the balloon than even the serious fractures he had sustained.

The

26. Heard in Edinburgh, before Lord Barcaple and a jury, the case of Craig v Tennent, being an action for seduction in which the damages were laid at 1,000l. The pursuer was the daughter of a surgeon at Strathaven, and the defender acted as a bank-agent there. The case was chiefly remarkable for the exposure it led to of the easy morality prevailing in that district during the courting season. pursuer herself admitted that on one evening, when a number of young people met for diversion, there might have been rolling on the floor and kissing going on. "Toozling" was the custom of the place, and was familiarly known as "the batts." Another witness remembered the defender and a medical friend "bedding" Miss Craig, and afterwards "toozling" about the house. This also was a custom of the place, though it was not established in evidence that such practices were a necessary preliminary of marriage, for, during the period of their occurrence, the pursuer had been heard to speak slightingly of the defender as "small-legged Tammy." A justice of the peace had been present at one of the "toozling" scenes, and gone through the ceremony of a sham marriage. The defender at first pleaded that he had never been guilty of any improprieties with the pursuer, and then that improprieties had been continued over the whole period of their intimacy. The village-doctor was called on the side of the defender, and also several female witnesses, who all testified that

the occurrences referred to were quite common in and around Strathaven, and nobody there thought anything of them. The jury returned a unanimous verdict for the pursuer, and gave damages for the full amount claimed, 1,000l. į

29. Came on for trial at the Croydon Assizes, before Baron Bramwell and a special jury, the case of Wolley v. Pole, involving the plaintiff's right to recover from the Sun and other insurance offices the sum of 29,000l., as insurance effected on the mansion of Campden House and furniture, prior to its destruction by fire on the 23d March, 1862. After a long time spent in investigating the claim, and the circumstances of the fire, the offices determined to dispute the policies on the ground of fraud and arson, and this was the crime which was now submitted to the jury. The first action, in which the Secretary of the Sun Office appeared as defendant, was arranged to be taken as decisive of the others. The main facts sought to be brought out in evidence against the plaintiff were, that he had increased the insurances far beyond the value of the fittings; that many of the articles insured had been removed from the house; that his movements on the night of the fire were open to grave suspicion; that the furniture and books were spread about so as to burn readily, and, finally, that he was in such pecuniary difficulties as to furnish a motive for the crimes alleged against him. After a trial, extending over five days, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.

September 1.-Termination of the Frankfort Congress. In the course of the sittings resolutions were carried in favour of the formation of a Chief Directory of sovereigns, a Federal Council with an assembly of 302 delegates, and a Federal Court of Justice: Prussia to preside at the Council or Directory only in the absence of Austria.

Three

3.- Lelewel at the head of 700 Poles attacks and defeats a superior Russian force, but sustains great losses in the encounter. days afterwards the Russians commenced an attack which resulted in the death of Lelewel, and the retreat of his followers into Galicia.

9.-Earl Russell visits Dundee, and is presented with the freedom of the burgh, preparatory to opening the public park presented to the citizens by Sir David Baxter. Referring to our duty as neutrals in the American struggle, he said :-"The duties of neutrality between parties violently hostile, are not easily performed. It has been, and will be our endeavour, however, to exercise the powers now entrusted to the Crown by Parliament in such a manner as at once to defeat every attempt to engage our people in enterprises inconsistent with our neutral position, and to preserve for ourselves, our persons and our property, these safeguards of British law and justice to which alone they are indebted for