PROGRESS OF BUSINESS.

House of Lords.-Nov. 30th.-Oaths in Chancery Bill read a second time.

Dec. 2nd.-Lord Clanricarde's Free Trade Resolutions adopted by Lord Derby. 6th.-Lord Clanricarde's Resolutions withdrawn, and Lord Harrowby's Amendment carried.

9th. Oaths in Chancery Bill read a third time and passed. 16th.—Royal Assent to the Bank Note, West India Colonies, Loans Acts Amendment, and Commons Enclosure Bills. 27th.-The Earl of Aberdeen's explanations of the circumstances which had induced him to undertake the task of forming House of Commons. -Nov. 29th. Irish Common Law Reform

an Administration.

Bill read a second time.

Dec. 1st.-County Courts' Bill passed through Committee. Derby Bribery Case, Committee named.

3rd. The Budget, Mr. Disraeli's statement.

6th.-Committee of Supply, Supplementary Estimates voted. -Railway Amalgamation, Committee appointed. 7th.-Supply, Report of Supplementary Estimates received. -Irish Improvement Bills referred to a Select Committee. County Expenditure, Mr. Milner Gibson's Bill reintroduced

and read a first time.

Sth.--Sir De Lacy Evans's Ratepaying Clauses Bill thrown out on second reading.-County Polls Bill considered in Committee.-Committee of Ways and Means. 9th.-Railway Amalgamation, Committee named.-Ways and Means, resolution reported.

10th. The Budget, Debate adjourned.-Board of Health

Bill read a second time.

13th.-Budget Debate continued.

15th. Tenants' Compensation (Ireland) Bill referred to Select Committee. '

16th.-Derby Bribery Case, Report of Select Committee.-Budget Debate concluded; House Tax Resolution rejected by

305 to 286.

27th.-New Writs ordered to supply vacancies caused by

acceptance of offices under the New Administration.

of

THE seat for Durham City, vacant by the death Mr. T. C. Granger, has been filled by the election of Lord A. Vane, the Conservative candidate. His competitor was Mr. H. W. Fenwick, of Chester-le-Street.

Mr. Stuart, who has vacated the seat for Bury St. Edmunds by his appointment as Vice-Chancellor, has been succeeded by Mr. Oakes, the Conservative candidate, who carried the election against Mr. Hardcastle, the candidate on the liberal interest.

Mr. W. J. Fox has been elected for Oldham, in preference to Mr. Heald the Conservative candidate. The lection was attended with very riotous proceedings; at one time it was found necessary to read the Riot Act and call out the military, but no serious consequences

ensued.

The Abingdon election was also of a riotous character. Lord Norreys, a Peelite, was the successful candidate, his opponent being Mr. Burr, an adherent of the Ministry.

Mr. Whalley has been elected for Peterborough, beating Mr. Cornewall Lewis by a small majority.

Mr. Bruce of Dyffryn, nephew of Sir James Lewis Knight Bruce, has been elected, without opposition, as the successor of Sir John Guest in the representation of Merther Tydvil. He is a "Conservative Freetrader." The following are the Members of the new Govern

ment :

First Lerd of the Treasury
Lord Chancellor

Chancellor of the Exchequer

Secretaries of State

First Lord of the Admiralty

President of the Council

Lord Privy Seal

Secretary at War

Home

Foreign
Colonial

President of the Board of Control

First Commissioner of Public Works

•

The Earl of Aberdeen.
Lord Cranworth.

Mr. Gladstone.

Lord Palmerston.
Lord John Russell.

The Duke of Newcastle,
Sir James Graham.
Earl Granville.

The Duke of Argyll.

Mr. Sidney Herbert.

Sir C. Wood.

Sir W. Molesworth.

NARRATIVE OF LAW AND CRIME.

AT the Marylebone Police Office, on the 27th ult., George Bellamy, a young man of twenty-one, was Á girl committed for Stealing jewelry worth 5000%. who was arrested with him was liberated, as there was no evidence to prove her connexion with the robbery. Mrs. Goodwin of York Place, Portman Square-a very aged and infirm lady-on leaving England for the continent, deposited her jewelry in a cellar, the door of which was secured by two locks, and seals were attached. The butler was left in charge of the house. Bellamy had formerly been in the lady's service; he visited the butler, got possession of the keys, furtively opened the cellar, seized the box of jewelry, relocked the door, joined the broken seals with Chinese glue, and returned the keys to their usual place. Nothing amiss was observed, and the criminal got away from the house unsuspected. One day the butler was startled by the police informing him that the valuable property had been stolen. Bellamy, after selling some of the plunder in London, went to Dublin. There he attempted to dispose of a quantity of broken gold settings; the police were informed; and he was arrested with the remainder of the jewelry, whole or broken, in his possession. He confessed the crime and described the manner in which the robbery had been committed.

Conflicting decisions have been given on the subject At the of Cabs plying within Railway Stations. Marylebone Police Court on the 2nd inst., Mr. Long gave a judgment at variance with the judgment previously given by the Southwark magistrate, Mr. A'Beckett (see Household Narrative for last month, p. 253); a cab-driver had been summoned before the Marylebone Court for plying for hire within the Euston Square terminus. There was no doubt about the fact of the hiring. After the case had been argued at great length, Mr. Long pronounced an elaborate judgment deciding against the summons. He incidentally expressed an opinion that a change in the present system would be disadvantageous to the public. As to the law, he held that the words in the act meant plying for hire in public places, and in public places only: and that the legislature did not intend in any degree that the act should apply to or interfere with private property, dismissed, as the plying for hire in this case was not The summons must be which railway stations are. plying for hire within the meaning of the Act of Mr. Hammill, the Worship Magistrate has pronounced a decision similar to that of Mr. A'Beckett, in the case of a driver plying at the Shoreditch terminus. Mr. A'Beckett, on the 7th inst. reaffirmed his previous decisions, in disposing of summonses against cabmen plying and taking fares at the Brighton and South-eastern termini. He suspends execution of the judgment for six weeks, in order that the question may be tried elsewhere.

In the Court of Queen's Bench on the 3rd inst., Lord Frankfort was tried on the charge of circulating Libellous Letters injurious to the character of Lord Henry Lennox. The letters bore the name of that nobleman and several other persons as the writers, and represented them as engaged in infamous designs. The indictment was for conspiracy and libel; the latter charge was held to be fully proved. The jury returned a verdict of "Guilty of defamation," and the court sentenced Lord Frankfort to twelve months imprisonment in the House of Correction.

Mr. Lionel George Thompson, the shipping-agent, was finally examined at the Mansion-house on the 7th inst., on a charge of conspiring to Defraud Emigrants. A number of persons proved the payment of passagemoney for berths in the South Sea, which berths were never provided for them. It appeared from the evidence of other parties, that Thompson was authorised to dispose of berths that is, if he transmitted the money

The Marquis of Lansdowne will have a seat in the Cabinet to Liverpool for any passages, the owner would have

Sea, and was considered by them the head of the firm. At the High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, on the The prisoner reserved his defence. He was committed 23rd, George Christie, an old pensioner, belonging to for trial. Aberdeen, was convicted of the Murder of a widow In the Dublin Commission Court, on the 10th inst., Mr. | named Ross, and her grandchild, a boy about five years Kirwan was found guilty of the Murder of his wife of age, on the 4th of October last. The old woman and sentenced to death by Mr. Justice Crampton. The lived in a small cottage along with her grandchild, about evidence was circumstantial. Mr. Kirwan was an a mile from Aberdeen. She kept a few cows and sold artist, living by sketching. He had been married milk. It was supposed that she had a little money, and twelve years; but the whole of that time he had been as far as the evidence went, the sole motive for the living also with another woman, by whom he had eight murder on the part of the accused was to possess himself children. Neither of the women knew of her rival, of the property. The murder appears to have been until six months before her death, Mrs. Kirwan learned committed in a very atrocious manner; no fewer than the fact. On the 6th of September, the Kirwans went nine blows-any of which were sufficient to have caused to the little island called Ireland's Eye,' in Dublin death-having been inflicted on the woman, while the Bay, to sketch. Kirwan had a sword-cane with him. skull of the child was split open down to the nose. Another party visited the island, and at four o'clock prisoner was seen in the house on the night of the saw Mrs. Kirwan alive; the couple being then left murder, and was afterwards apprehended with several alone on the island. At seven o'clock cries of distress articles, including a purse with a small sum of money, on the island were heard. When the boatmen returned and a gold ring, belonging to the deceased. Blood was at eight o'clock according to their instructions, Mrs. also found on his person. His guilt was quite clear, Kirwan was missing; and after a search her body was and the jury had no hesitation in convicting him. His found on a rock. The incident is thus described by one execution is appointed to take place at Aberdeen of the boatmen-" Her bathing-dress was up under her on the 19th of January. arms, and there was a sheet under her; her head was lying back in a hole, and her feet were in a pool of water about the full of my hat-about half a gallon. I saw cuts on her forehead and under her eye; there was blood coming down by her ears, from her side and breast, and other places." Kirwan told the boatmen that his wife left him to bathe at half-past six o'clock; but the continued fall of the tide proved that she could not have been drowned or carried by the water to the spot where she was found. The boatmen found her clothes in a spot which they had previously searched, after Kirwan had been a short time absent from them. The body showed marks of violence; but a Coroner's inquest found a verdict of "Accidental death;" and the body was buried in a part of Glasnevin cemetery, SO wet that in two months the body was decomposed. Since the trial, the correctness of the verdict has been questioned, and Mr. Kirwan has received a reprieve.

At the Surrey Sessions, on the 11th, the Reverend Daniel Donovan, a Roman Catholic priest of Bermondsey, was tried for Ássaulting Mary Murphy. The woman had been confined three weeks, and was sitting by the fire with her infant when Mr. Donovan came in. He was very angry with her. She and her husband had become Protestants; and the infant had been baptised by Dr. Armstrong, an Írish Protestant clergyman, who has converted many Roman Catholics in Bermondsey. Mr. Donovan inquired about the infant's baptism; and then abused the woman, and struck her three times with his umbrella. Further, he incited the landlady to turn the Murphys out of the house; and the landlady subsequently took away the bed on which the woman slept. The witnesses called for the defence in some measure corroborated Mrs. Murphy's statement, though they softened it. It appeared also from Mrs. Murphy's admissions that she obtained money and other relief from Catholics as well as Protestants-Donovan had given her money. The jury convicted Mr. Donovan; but both they and the prosecutrix recommended him to mercy. On that recommendation, the sentence was not imprisonment, but a fine of 5l. The fine was immediately paid, amid the execrations of the mob and the dreadful howling of the women. They were in a state of such excitement that it was found necessary to send out both the priest and his accuser privately through the gaol. At the Central Criminal Court, on the 16th, Henry Horler, a young man, was convicted of the Murder of his Wife, by cutting her throat while she was in bed. The man's counsel could only suggest that he was not a responsible agent when he did the deed, his mind having been unhinged by injuries which he imagined he had received from his wife's relations. Sentence of death was pronounced by Mr. Justice Wightman, amidst the wretched prisoner's screams for mercy.-On the same day, Amelia Elizabeth Burt, a married woman of thirty, was tried for the Murder of her Child, by throwing it from Hungerford Bridge. In this case it appeared that the poor creature was of unsound mind, and she was accordingly acquitted on that ground.

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

Floods caused by the continued rainy weather have done much damage in many parts of the country. On the 11th, there was such a flow of water into the Tyne that two vessels were sunk in the harbour, and numbers of others were damaged. Four men were drowned. At Carnarvon, a petty stream was so swollen that it washed down a high wall, and broke into the town; much damage was done in the lower parts of houses, and some persons were in danger of drowning. A mountain lake burst its boundaries near Penrhyn slate quarry; several houses were swept away, and one man was drowned. In other parts of Wales, and in the island of Anglesea, much damage has been done. At Bangor a large stream flowed through the streets on Sunday morning, the 12th, and people who had attended the service in the Cathedral had to be conveyed home in coaches. A gentleman has been drowned at night in Lake Windermere while returning home, in consequence of the road being under water, so that he missed his way and got into deep water. A man has been found dead in a pool under a railway-arch on the Botley-road, near Oxford. He seems to have fallen into the pond at night, probably somewhat in liquor. The Coroner's Jury recommended the railway company to have the water removed forthwith. Exeter has been flooded in several parts by the sudden swelling of the Exe. A great deal of damage was done, and some persons were in danger; but no life was lost. Perth has been flooded. The waters of the Tay rose to an extraordinary height, and viewed from an eminence the city was seen to be two-thirds surrounded by water. All low-lying parts of the city suffered much; while carcases of sheep and oxen, with trees and brush-wood, borne along the impetuous stream, showed that the upper part of the country had not escaped ravage. From Ireland there are great complaints of the prevalence of floods in all parts of the country, putting a stop to agricultural operations, and diffusing a general gloom.

Many Railway Accidents have been reported this month. The following are among the most remarkable. On the 8th, an alarming collision between a passenger and a goods train, arising out of the negligence of a pointsman, occurred on the Midland line at Leeds. About a mile from the Wellington station there is a junction of the lines leading to that station on the left, and the Hunslet station on the right. At half-past seven in the evening a goods train passed this junction, and was telegraphed by the pointsman to the other end of the line leading to the Wellington station. The pointsman then left the place for half an hour, and when the York and Leeds passenger train arrived at eight o'clock, without taking the trouble to ascertain whether

DECEMBER, 1852.]

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL PROGRESS.

275

several trucks off the rails, and creating a frightful scene of destruct. and confusion. The driver of the express was thrown mpletely over the hedge into an adjoining field, where the wet soil protected him from serious injury. The fireman fell between the rails, and escaped most miraculously-several of the carriages having passed over him without inflicting any personal injury. The driver and stoker of the goods-train were much shaken, but not otherwise hurt.-Lastly, a very Serious accident took place on the 24th, to one of the up trains on the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Until very recently the communication between the Yatton station and Clevedon, was accomplished by means of coaches and omnibuses, but some time since the company laid down a branch-line to that place, worked by means of a small steam-engine. On the above morning, the man who has the charge of the switches having neglected to properly turn the points, the train was diverted from its proper course, and ran directly onwards, coming into violent collision with the engine-house, knocking away the ends of the walls and a portion of the roof, and then running away into a field adjacent. The train was very full, as it carried third-class passengers, and a great number of holiday-seekers were availing themselves of the convenience it afforded to visit their friends in Bristol, and the utmost consternation prevailed among them. Many of them received contusions, and one lady had her front teeth knocked out. The enginedriver, a very steady man, named Oxford, was literally buried beneath the débris of the fallen building, and upon his being got out it was discovered that he had received a severe injury of the leg, and other hurts, which rendered it advisable to remove him to his home. The engine was also disabled.

the goods train was signalled as having passed off the
Water-lane junction, he directed the driver of the pas-
senger train to proceed. From some cause unknown
the goods train had been unable to ascend the incline so
as to get out of danger, and the passenger train ran into
it with great force. The driver of the passenger train was
flung off the engine and sadly cut and bruised; and
several of the passengers were seriously hurt. On the
same day, a goods train consisting of engine, tender, and
forty-five wagons, arived in Sheffield without any one
in charge of it. The engine by which the train was
drawn was a new one of very large size. It had come
from Manchester, and was on the way to Lincoln. When
the train was a mile or two off Sheffield, one of the tubes
of the boiler burst, and the engine-driver, after endea-
vouring to remedy the accident, in the course of which
he sustained a severe scalding, was fain to retreat to the
opposite end of the engine. He was still within the
range of the hissing steam, and, after a desperate effort
to endure till the scalding vapour should be exhausted,
he dropped off the engine in a state of insensibility. The
fireman and guard saved themselves by leaping off, and
the train was thus left to proceed by itself. Though the
steam had been turned off, the declivity of the line
towards Sheffield, made the train move rapidly along,
till it reached the goods station at Bridgehouses, when
its speed being diminished, a boy in the service of the
company took charge of it and brought it to the Shef-
field station. Fortunately the line happened to be clear,
otherwise great mischief would have been done. On
the 13th, a Fatal accident happened on the Gloucester
and Dean Forest Railway. A fortnight before, a young
man named Hanbury, entered the service of the com-
pany as signal-man, and for two days an experienced
officer of the company remained with him to give him
instructions in his duty, and he was then left to himself,
with certain printed instructions as his guide. He con-
tinued in the performance of his duties until Monday,
when he was signalling a down goods train, and this
train having passed, he stepped upon the up line to cross
it at the moment when an up train, which he had
not seen or heard, came up, and killed him on the spot.
At the inquest it was shown that in the book of instruc-
tions given to the deceased he was desired, when signal-
ling a train, not to stand between the metals. The jury
returned a verdict of "Accidental death." On the
same day a Fatal accident took place during the progress
of the three o'clock down train on the South-Western death.”
Railway. As the train was proceeding at its usual pace,
between Basingstoke and Andover-road stations, when
it had reached near Oakley-park bridge, a man was
observed by the engine-driver and stoker walking down-

On Sunday morning, the 12th instant, T. Martin, aged twenty-four, H. Burton, aged seventeen, and W. Sheen aged twenty, assistants in the employ of Mr. Elliot, a cheesemonger, of Portman-place, lost their lives from Suffocation by Carbonic Acid. They had retired to rest at an early hour on Sunday morning, in a room where a tripod charged with candent charcoal was standing under an opening in the skylight, there being no chimney in the apartment. Their non-appearance on Sunday at breakfast time led to a search, when two of them were found dead in their beds, while the third, Burton, was unconscious, and died in the evening. A verdict has been returned of "Accidental

PROGRESS.

THE second Report of the Great Exhibition Commissioners respecting the disposal of the Surplus has been published. The Commissioners have purchased the Gore-house estate at Kensington, facing Hyde Park, containing 21 acres, for which they have given 60,000%. They have also passed a resolution authorising the outlay of a sum not exceeding 150,000l. of the surplus in the purchase of land, on the condition that the government would engage to recommend to parliament the contribution of a sum of like amount towards carrying out the views of the commission as to the establishment of certain institutions of an educational and national character on the ground so purchased. Ministers having given this assurance, the commissioners purchased eight acres of land adjoining Gore-house estate for the sum of 153,5007. Of this amount 15,000. has been paid already as a deposit.

wards on the up line. The engine-driver instantly blew SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL the whistle, and made every effort to shut off the steam; but it was too late. The engine and train passed over the body of the unfortunate man, which was cut to pieces. His name is Thompson, and he was in the employment of the Telegraph Company, and resided at Basingstoke.-A double accident occurred on the Railway near Harrow, on the night of the 22nd. When some little distance to the South of the station, the tire of the near leading wheel of the engine became detached, and left the rails. The speed at which the train was travelling had the effect of keeping the carriages on the line, and the engine ran along the ballast in a parallel line with and about six inches from the rails, for nearly a quarter of a mile. At this point the line suddenly and there being no flange to keep the engine on the rails, it ran down the embankment, a distance of six | or seven feet, and buried itself deeply in the earth. At the same instant, the coupling-chain between the tender and the guard's break snapped, and the carriages, taking an opposite direction from the engine, ran across the down line of rails. The guard's break caught the end of the tender as it left the line, and, after turning completely over, was literally crushed by the carriages which followed. Bartholomew, the guard, was frightfully mutilated, and killed on the spot. This disaster had scarcely taken place when the down goods-train, leaving Camden at eleven p. m., arrived at the spot, and in the absence of any warning signal, ran directly into the débris; striking a composite carriage with such force as to cut it completely in half, throwing the engine and

curves,

A claim is made on behalf of the University of London, to be represented in parliament like Oxford and Cambridge. A meeting has been held with this view, at which a committee was appointed for preparing the necessary details, and subscriptions were entered into for defraying the requisite expenditure.

A meeting of ladies was held at Scafford House on the 26th ult., to consider the expediency of addressing A Memorial from the Women of England to the Women of the United States on the subject of Slavery. The Duchess of Sutherland explained the object of

the meeting, and read the following draught of the Minister, in order to bring under the notice of the Government proposed memorial:

"THE AFFECTIONATE AND CHRISTIAN ADDRESS OF MANY THOUSANDS OF THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND TO THEIR SISTERS, THE WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

"A common origin, a common faith, and, we sincerely believe, a common cause, urge us, at the present moment, to address you on the subject of that system of negro slavery which still prevails so extensively, and, even under kindly-disposed masters, with such frightful results, in many of the vast regions of the western world. We will not dwell on the ordinary topics-on the progress of civilisation, on the advance of freedom everywhere, on the rights and requirements of the nineteenth century -but we appeal to you very seriously to reflect, and to ask counsel of God how far such a state of things is in accordance with His holy word, the inalienable rights of immortal souls, and the pure and merciful spirit of the Christian religion. We do not shut our eyes to the difficulties, nay, the dangers, that might beset the immediate abolition of that long-established system; we see and admit the necessity of preparation for so great an event; but, in speaking of indispensable preliminaries, we cannot be silent on those laws of your country, which, in direct contravention of God's own law, 'instituted in the time of man's innocency, deny in effect to the slave the sanctity of marriage, with all its joys, rights, and obligations; which separate, at the will of the master, the wife from the husband, and the children from the parents. Nor can we be silent on that awful system which, either by statute or by custom, interdicts to any race of man, or any portion of the human family, education in the truths of the Gospel and the ordinances of Christianity. A remedy applied to these two evils alone would com

mence the amelioration of their sad condition."

This memorial was agreed to, and a committee was formed for the purpose of collecting signatures and transmitting it to America. The ladies present were the Duchesses of Sutherland, Bedford, and Argyll; the Countess of Shaftesbury, Lady Constance Grosvenor, Viscountess Palmerston, Lady Dovor, Lady Cowley, Lady Kuthven, Lady Bellhaven, Hon Mrs. Montague Villiers, Hon. Mrs. Kinnaird, the Lady Mayoress, Lady Trevelyan, Lady Parke, Miss Parke, Mrs. Owen, Mrs. Carpenter, Mrs. Buxton, Miss Buxton, Mrs. John Simon, Mrs. Procter, Mrs. Binney, Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Steane, Mrs. John Buller, Mrs. R. D. Grainger, Mrs. Hawes, Mrs. Sutherland, Mrs. Mary Howitt, Mrs. Dicey, Miss Trevelyan, Mrs. Milman, Miss Taylor, Mrs. Robson, and Mrs. Macaulay. The ladies whose names follow signified their concurrence:-The Duchess Dowager of Beaufort, the Marchioness of Stafford, the Countess of Derby, the Countess of Carlisle, Lady John Russell, the Countess of Litchfield, Viscountess Ebrington, the Countess of Cavan, Viscountess Melbourne, Lady Hatherton, Lady Blantyre, Lady Dufferin, Lady Easthope, Mrs. Josiah Condor, the Hon. Mrs. Cowper, Lady Clark, Lady Paxton, Lady Kaye Shuttleworth, Lady Buxton, Lady Inglis, Mrs. Malcolm, Mrs. Seeley, Mrs. Alfred Tennyson, Mrs. Lyon Playfair, Mrs. Charles Dickens, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Charles Knight, Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Champneys, and Mrs. Rowland Hill. An office was appointed at 13, Clifford Street, Bond Street.

The annual meeting of the association for promoting the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge was held at Exeter Hall on the 1st inst., and was attended by a crowded assemblage. Mr. Douglas Jerrold occupied the chair, and on the platform were Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr. Gibson, M.P., Mr. C. Knight, Mr. G. Cruikshank, Mr. Wilderspin, Mr. Novello, Mr. D. Seymour, M.P., the Rev. G. Smith, Dr. Watts, and others. Speeches were delivered by the Chairman, Dr. Watts, Mr. Knight, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Rodgers, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Bucknall, and Mr. Seymour; and resolutions to the following effect were unanimously agreed to:

"That the duties on paper and advertisements, and the penny stamp on newspapers, tend to injure literature, to obstruct education, and to hinder the progress of the people in intelligence and morality.

That, as the newspaper stamp produces only a trifling sum to the revenue, and as the advertisement-duty causes a positive loss to the Exchequer, their retention can be attributed only to a desire to restrain the liberty of the press.

"That, the Government having given notice to introduce a bill for the amendment of the law relating to stamps on newspapers, this meeting do appoint its Chairman, together with the

President and Committee of the Association, and the undernamed gentlemen, to form a deputation to wait upon the Prime

the pernicious effects of the newspaper stamp, and press the repeal rather than the amendment of the Newspaper Stamp Act." An addition to the first resolution proposed by Mr. Rodgers, was agreed to, calling for a repeal of the act which requires that securities should be given before publication, to answer for libels. A deputation was appointed to wait on the prime minister in order to press the repeal of the Newspaper Stamp Act. Lord Derby received the deputation_on__the_Sth; introduced by Mr. Milner Gibson, with Mr. Hume as spokesman. In reply to the statements addressed to him, Lord Derby particularised the advertisement duty as very objectionable but ministers had been precluded from dealing with it from "financial con

siderations."

The Leeds Mechanics' Institute had its annual soirée on the 8th., Lord John Russell presided, and the Music-hall was crowded to excess, that building being insufficient to accommodate all the members. Mr. Kitson, the president of the institute, read a report which showed its favourable progress, and proposed to provide increased accommodation by erecting a new building at the expense of 80007. Lord John Russell addressed the assembly in a most eloquent and interesting speech, tending to lead working men to literary study as a means of self-culture. Speeches in a similar spirit, were delivered by Mr. H. Cole, Professor Phillips, the Dean of Ripon, and Lord Beaumont.

There is not a single able-bodied pauper, male or female, in Marylebone workhouse: and while during the the stoneyard, there are now only forty. corresponding period of last year there were 150 men in

Palace Company, but without authority to open the Government has granted the charter to the Crystal Palace on Sundays. The prohibition rests on the legal construction of a statute of George the Third, enacted with a very different object. The proposed opening will therefore require the express sanction of Parliament

PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

THE Queen and Royal Family arrived at Osborne, from Windsor, on the 29th ult., and remained there till the 22nd inst., when they returned to Windsor.

Before

The new chaplain for Pitcairn's Island, the Reverend
G. H. Nobbs, sailed on the 17th, in La Plata.
he sailed, he had an interview with Prince Albert at
Osborne, and was afterwards presented to the Queen.

The projected marriage between the Emperor Napoleon and the Princess Wasa is broken off, and it is now confidently reported that the Princess will marry Prince Albert of Saxony.

A negotiation has been entered into for the marriage of the Emperor with the Princess Stephanie, the second

child of the Prince of Hohenzollern. She is in her sixteenth year.

has been sworn under 100,000. The deceased has left The personal property of the late Earl of Shrewsbury some trifling legacies; but the residue of his personal property, and the proceeds of all his estates, at Alton, Farley, and elsewhere, which the will directs to be sold, are bequeathed to Mr. Ambrose Lisle Phillips, of Grace Dieu Manor, Leicestershire, and Mr. C. Scott Murray, of Danesfield, Buckinghamshire, both of whom seceded from the Church of England some years since and joined the communion of the Church of Rome. The property had been previously left to Dr. Walsh, and, in the event of his decease, to Cardinal Wiseman; but this was revoked by a codicil in favour of Messrs. Phillips and Murray, who are to divide the property equally between

them.

The executors of the will of the late Mrs. Mary Halford, of Newcourt, near Exeter, have just paid the following munificent charity legacies left by her will. The Deaf and Dumb Institution, 10007.; the Blind Institution, 10007.; the Exeter Dispensary, 10007.; the Exeter Eye Infirmary, 10007.; and the Governesses Benevolent Institution, London, 10007.; all free of legacy duty.

The veteran comedian, Mr. Bartley, took leave of the stage at the Princess's Theatre on Saturday the 18th

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.