Monmouthshire Merlin

MR. BUTT AND THE DETECTIVE. THE HOME RULE AND THE "NATIONALIST" RUPTURE. The following letter, written by Mr. Butt, M.P., chairman of the recent banquet to the Home Rule delegates of Great Britain, has been addressed to Sir M. Hicks-Beach, Chief Secretary for Ireland 64, Eccles street, Aug. 24,1876. Sir.-I regret very much to be obliged to ask of you to bring under the notice of his Grace the Lord-Lieu- sac tenant a transaction of which I and other gentlemen have reason to complain. On Tuesday evening a number of gentlemen, among whom were several members of the House of Commons, entertained the Council of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain who had visited Dublin. I presided at the dinner. It took place in one of the rooms of the Antient Concert Buildings, which was engaged. ¡ In the course of the evening I found that an impression prevailed that one of the detective police force had been sent to be present surreptitiously at the dinner. One person was pointod out to me as having no right to be present. I asked him if he had any ticket of admis- sion. He answered that he had not. I asked him for his name and address. At first he refused to give either, but finally stated that his nawo was William Scully, and his residence 3, Exchange court. He further stated that he was one of the deteotiv8 police, but refused to say who had sent him there, or for what purpose he had come. I theu ordered him to leave the room, an order with which be instantly complied. There is no doubt that his representation of his position and employment is correct. I need not say that the room in which we were dining was our own private apartment just as much as a dining-room in oue of our own houses, and that the intrusion of this man without the permis- sion of those to whom that room belonged for the even- ing was a perfectly illegal and unwarrantable tres- pass. I do not speak too strongly when I say that his presence under such circumstances and on such an occa- sion might justly be regarded as a personal insult by every gentleman in the room. I am compelled to add that the feeling which the transaction itself is calcu- lated to produce has been very much increased by the belief that the detective entered the room armed with a revolver. How far this belief is well founded I have not been able to ascertain. It is under such circum- stances that, (ill my own behalf and on behalf of those with whom I was associated on the occasion, I respect- fully ask hi:, Grace to institute an inquiry that may ascertain who is responsible for this outrage, and that steps may be taken to protect Irish gentlemen from its repetition.—I have the honour to be, sir, your very faithful servant, ISAAC BUTT." Mr. Butt, at tha banquet above referred to, having stated that Mr. P. J. Smyth, M.P. for Westmeath, and late member of the Irish Home Rule League, was laughed at by the House of Commons," the latter gentleman, in a letter addressed to the Dublin journals of Aug. 25th, thus resins :—" Ho (Mr. Butt) tells his enlightened audience—ready, apparently, to swallow anything—that Home Rule will be won by the votes of certain English membsrs, the Jacob Brights, the Rylands, &c. These are very worthy English gentle- men but as matter of fact they are not Home Rulers -I ii-ake the statement advisedly-in any sense known to the Irish people. Every movement which Ire- land has known from the Union to 1870 produced men. Homo Rule has not brought forth a single man. This is the necessary result of a party without a principle and a leader without truth. Wherever it is permitted to erect its standard there there will be meanness, cowardico, and demoralisation. It is not supported for itself, because no one believes in it; and the foolish persons who cling to it in the belief that we'll get something' ought to reflect that a good and wise end had better be sought by good and wise means. The Land Question looked promising before it fell into Mr. Butt's keeping, but in his hands it has been thrice betrayed—betraved by deliberate inaction in the face of solemn promises in the session of 1875—still more scandalously betrayed by the introduction of an absurd, iniquitous, and impossiblu bill in the session of 187!'). When education was really an issue on tha University Bill and the Abolition of Tests Bill, Mr. Butt. was hiding. I care not to speculate whether Mr. Butt is less prized now or more than in those days when, as a loyal Orangeman, his iavourite beverage was Boyne water; but. it is evident that the outcast from every party in the State must early have learned to betray. He has been a betrayer of all parties, nil societies, and all interests, and the more of his brutal vituperation falls upon my head, the higher, I believe, will I stand in the esteem of honourable men." Tine Po LICK IOTRUDER AT THE HOME RULE BANQUET. —Sir Michael Hicks Beach, replying to Mr. Butt, states that the Dublin detective, Sculley, strayed into the Home Rule banquet out of curiosity, and without orders from the Government.

Coi ktr\ pAtRs. The committee appointed to take Sll in r, t,B o annual fairs at Wimborne in T' nK -hrougn one of which a lady was thrown out of her carriage and killed-have succeeded in their effort* The county magistrates of the Wim- borne ^Jea.lona Division represented to the Home Secretary that it would be for the convenience and of the Pu^- that the fairs should be abolished. The owner ot the fairs consented to the proposal, accordingly the Home Secretary has issued an order abolishing the fairs. This has given great satisfaction to the townspeople. The Shanghai papers state that famine is tnreaten- Ing the entire province of Chihli, two-thirds of Shan- tung, the greater portion of Honan Ngan-hui, and certain districts in Mongolia. The tract of country suffering thus terrify from drought has a population which may be estimated in the aggregate at seventy millions There are no stocks of food. The seed for nit vear has been already eaten the millet crop i8 a failure • and (here is no fuel; the cattle are without fodder 'and are dying in large numbers. Transport is becoming difficult for the same reason, and the water in the crefika i, Thtot.fcSS *SSZ S &uch ment as well as for the people wh hundred square miles of country are "W* J™* up. There is not enough grain upon the fields, lays a eor- respondent, to feed » sparrow.

THE BULGARIAN ATROCITIES. HEARTRENDING REVELATIONS. The Daily News special correspondent, dating from Philippopolis, thus concludes a long and earnestly- written letter If I tell what I have seen and heard it is because I want the people of England to under- stand what these Turks are, and if we are to go on bolstering up this tottering despotism if we are to go on carrying this loathsome vice-stricken leper about on our shoulders, let us do it with open eyes and a know- ledge of the facts; let us see the hideous things we are carrying. Mr. Schuyler obtained ample evidence of. other crimes too foul to be even named. I believe that Mr. Baring has obtained no information on this point, and does not believe in it. I scarcely wonder at this. There are crimes that repel investigation, that avoid the light; that, like those vile creeping loathsome things found under carrion or in the lowest depths of sewers, cling to the dark holes and corners and escape inspection. Mr. Schuyler has explored these dark depths to the bottom with the coolness of a surgeon probing a foul and festering ulcer. But I do not think he will be able to state the facts in his report. They are without the pale of the English language, and for my part I shall not again refer to them. And the "Queen of the Bulgarians," the young schoolmistress, what became of her ? Alas! her fate was only that of hundreds of others. I could not ask her to relate all the story of her misfortunes. It was too plainly written in the pale, dejected, though still gentle and svmpathetic face. But we saw a woman in Otluk-kui who was present when she fell into the hands of three or four Bashi-Bazouks. Yes, this educated, intelligent, sensitive young girl was seized and out- raged, in the presence of half-a-dozen of her comrades and neighbours, by three or four brutes who still pollute the earth with their vile existence. Exaggerated, Sir Henry Elliot, indeed! And if ) your own daughter had been treated in the same way, would you still go on prating about exag- geration ? But this was not enough. He father was shot down in his own house, and she and her mother dug his grave in their garden and buried him and still the poor girl had not suffered enough. The Turkish authorities heard that she bad embroi- dered the flag, and two weeks after the insurrection was completely crushed they ordered her arrest. A Mudir had been sent to the village in the meantime, and he seized and took her to his house at ten o'clock at night, with the woman at whose house the flag bad been worked. The latter told us what occurred in the Mudir's house that night. The poor girl, in spite of tears and prayers, that might have moved a tiger to pity, was stripped naked, beaten, spat upon, and again outraged. It wa3 then that she was nick-named "Queen of the Bulgarians," and the next day she and another woman, who had been likewise maltreated in even a mora horrible way, were sent to Tatar-Bazardjik. Here she was surrounded by the Turkish population, hooted, jeered, pelted with mud, spat upon, and in- sulted with the foulest eoithets that a Turkish mob could find. It mattered not that she was one poor weeping girl all alone among a crowd of enemies- Gends rather than men. There is no pity in the breasts of these sa\ages. Then fainting, insensible, she was thrown into a cart and sent off to Philip- popolis, thrown into prison there, and kept on bread and water until the arrival of Mr. Schuyler. Then she was set at liberty, ill, shattered in health, and broken-hearted. We saw this same Mudir of Otluk-kui when we were there. Mr. Baring spoke of him as the most filthy brute he ever saw. The very night Mr. Baring was there, the Mudir, as if in very contempt for his presence in the place, sent for two young married women, whose husbands had been killed in the massacre, to come to his house. They re- fused. The next night, when Mr. Schuyler was thero he again sent for them, and they again refused but they came to Mr. Schuyler next day in despair, saying they felt sure that as soon as we left the village ho would send his zaptiebs for them. When Mr. Schuyler spoke to the Governor of Pliilippopolis about this Mudir, he simply replied that he knew he was a bad man, but be had no better man to put in his place. This man will not be punished, nor will Achmet Aga, the destroyer of Batak, nor another Achmet Aga, equally infamous, who destroyed Perustitza; nor Tossun Bey, who burnt 3Clissura nor Shifket Pasha, who, beaten as a general in Bosnia and Herzo- govina, wreaked his vengeance on the unresisting people of Bazardjik, where his generalship had full scope. These men have, on the contrary, been rewarded, decorated, and promoted. And we can do nothing; I am sure nothing will be done. Diplomacy is impotent. If Sir Henry Elliot remains In Constantinople he will make a few mild representa- tions to the Porte, which the latter will receive with the best possible grace, and-that is all. How could it be otherwise ? Sir Henry does not believe in the atro- oities. How can he be expected to make strong repre- sentations on the subject ? Or a strong man maybe sent in his place, who will go so far as to make urgent representations to the Porte, or who may even go the length of making strong representations. The Porte will promise everything. It will give assurance of the most benevolent intentions; it will utter the most philanthropic protestations; the Government will issue more paper reforms: the diplomatists will be satisfied, and that will be the end of it. It cannot be otherwise. There are not a dozen Turks in the empire who see the necessity of reform. There is nobody to carry out the reform". The Mutlé-serif of Philippopolis told the simple truth when he said he had no better Mudir to send to Otluk- kui instead of the drunken beast who is there now. But thev would not carry out reforms if they could. The Mutle-serif of Philoppopolis has the reputation of being too favourable to the Bulgarians, and when we were there the Turks were loudly demanding his rec til. He seemed like a very honest, conscientious man desirous of doing what was right. He entered into the question of the misery of the burnt-out people with.Mr. Schuyler and Mr. Baring in an earnest, serious way that carried with it the conviction that he was really working hard to relieve their sufferings. He said money was to be given them, their cattle to be restored, their houses rebuilt, and every possible thing done for them. He was so earnest, so serious, so thoroughly convinced of the necessity of these measures, that you could not doubt his good intentions. And yet, not only are the cattle not restored, not only are the houses not rebuilt, but Mr. Schuyler has found that this same plausible, ear- nest, conscientious governor, at the very moment that he was making these promises to him and to Mr. Baring, was issuing strict orders that the people of Batak, as well as of the other burnt villages, be forced to pay their regular taxes as though nothing had hap- pened. And this is one of the good men—one who is so friendly to the Bulgarians that the Turks demand his recall. Here is an example of Turkish ideas of reform. Until the last year the whole male Christian population, from infanta one day old up to the age of a hundred, had to pay the military exemption tax. Last year, however, a great reform was ushered in with a loud flourish of trumpets. In future only those capable of military service were to pay the exemption tax, and there were graat rejoicings among the peoplf. But when the tax oaine to be levied, what was th astonishment of everybody to find that each vlllag# was ordered to pay exactly the same sum as before. The tax was only redistributed. But the whole amount must be made up. This is the Turkish idea of reform, and the Turkish way of throwing duat in the eyes of Europe. And these are the p ople from whom we expect reforms. There will be no reforms. The thousands of helpless women and children, of babes and suck- lings slaughtered in cold blood, whose bones and flesh are fattening the soil of Bulgaria, cry out against the hollow mockery, and give it the lie."

BRITISH AID TO TILE SICK AND WOUNDED 131 IN WAR. Her Majesty's Government has decided to send aid to the pick and wounded in the war in the East. On Au<r 25th, I6 packages, marked with the red cross o< Geneva, and weighing m'Ulbs were despatched from the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, per South Eastern Railway for conveyance to the seat of war. The nackages contained hospital tents and distinguishing flags for the tents, at which no combatant troops must fire.

FATAL AFFRAY AT KINGSTON.-Before the Kingston bench a few days since, Samuel Fisher, stonemason, Norbiton, was charged on a warrant with assaulting William Morris, stonemason, Twickenham. The case had assumed a serious aspect in consequence of Morris having died since the alleged assault. The men were employed in building the new church of St. Paul's, Kingston hill, when a dispute arose about the work. Prisoner, being unable to get fame moulds from the hands of Nerris, became violent, pushed at the d«- oe&sed, and both 0Ter P*U. Norris had his ribs broken, and be to the workhouse fcflrinary, where he <Ue»> Ane prisoner wai remanded, and bail refuW^

THE DONEGAL ELECTION. The result of the poll at the Donegal election was declared on Saturday. The numbers were :—Wilson (Liberal Conservative), 1975 Lea (Liberal), 1876— majority, 99.

t > LOSS OF A SCHOONER AND FOUR LIVES AT LIVERPOOL. Late on Saturday, during a heavy gale, the schooner Mary Olivia sank at the mouth of the Mersey, off the the Crosby lightship. The captain's wife and three children were all drowned. The remainder of the crew were saved by the Dublin steamer and brought to Liverpool. The steamer was inward bound for Run- corn, and was laden with clay. ANOTHER WRECK. The Dutch schooner Jacob foundered on Sunday pff the mouth of the Tyne. Crew saved.

PLEASURE BOAT CAPSIZED ON THE THAMES. THREE PERSONS DROWNED. On Sunday afternoon, on the Thames below Wool- wich, a small sailing boat containing a pleasure party, consisting of nine men, was capsized in a squall. Three of the men, residents of Woolwich, were drowned.

THE CREW OF A VESSEL EATEN BY SAVAGES. Intelligence has reached Plymouth from Sydney of the capture of a vessel by the savages of the dolomon Islands, who have eaten all her crew. The vessel was named the Dancing Wave. One man escaped to an adjoining island and gave information to a vessel, which went in pursuit and found the Dancing Wave a perfect shambles. The Sandfly has been sent to chas- tise the murderers by the authorities, with a orew of men-of-war's men.

SUICIDE OF A CLERGYMAN. On the 25th of August the Rev. John Paterson, minister of the Scotch Established Church of Torry- burn, was found dead in nis own house. The servant going to his study door to tell him dinner was ready could get no answer. The room having been entered from the window, he was found lying on the floor with his throat cut. A raz*r was on the table close by. No reason can at present be assigned.

T NARROW ESCAPE OF FIVE PERSONS. A fire occurred in Bristol early on Sunday morning, which only the promptitude of the police prevented from resulting in great loss of life. Abcut midnight a passing policeman heard a rustling noise in a tobac- conist's shop in St. George's road. Springing his rattle and getting other policemen, he sent one for reels and another for ladders. By means of the latter he was just in time to save five persons-two women and three men (one 85 years old)—who slept in the upper part of the house, and who were with di;Ticalty awakened to a sense of their danger.

THE RADSTOCK ACCIDENT. Captain Tyler resumed the official inquiry respecting the Radstock railway accident on Saturday. James Asliford, district superintendent of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, stated that he went to Weltow at two o'clock, after the accident, and was told by the tele- graph clerk there that the up special train had run into the down special on that side of Foxcote. He was aleo informed that the up special was put on from Foxcote at 11.10. After the examination of several other witnesses, Captain Tyler adjourned the inquiry stne die.

ALLEGED FORGERY BY WOMEN. At the London Mansion House, last week, Elizabeth Abbott and Mary Jane Causton, living in Shepherd's Bush, underwent a further examination on the charge of forging and uttering six bankers' cheques, repre- senting together £ 110, with intent to cheat and do- fraud Messrs. Williams, Deacon, and Co., bankers, Urchin Jane. The prisoners had both been in the service of a Mrs. Smith, living at Shepherd's Bush, but had left it. The prisoner Abbott WfJS detected in trying to pass a cheque for £ 20, bearing what appeared to be the signature of Mrs. Smith, but which proved to be a forgery. This led to inquiry, which resulted in the discovery that the prisoners had cashed altogether six forged cheques, representing in alf XIIO, and bearing the name of Mrs. Smith. Being pressed by the hus- band of one of the prisoners to make a clean breast of the matter, the wife admitted that they had had the money and spent it chiefly in clothing. Being told there were still four or five cheques missing from Mrs. Smith's cheque-book, the prisoner Caustou replied that she had burned those with one she had had that day, adding that she had only cashed two. Mrs. Smith was called as a witness and in reply to questions by Mr. Mullens, explained the manner in which she kept her cheque-book, and the way in which it had been tam- pered with. This was the case for the prosecution. The prisoners made no defence. Sir Robert Garden committed them both for trial.

Writing to Mr. A. Stewart, of Glasgow, from Car- lisle, on his way home, Mr. Spurgeon sends the follow- ing characteristic note:—"Dear Friend,—I have re- turned to England. I had eleven clear week days in Scotland, and was asked to preach more than fifty times. That when I came for rest! and in a Christian country, too 'A merciful man,' &c. God speed you. —Yours truly, 0. H. SPURGEON." BEKR AND ALE.-This year there has been a de- crease in beer and ale exported. Up to the 31st ult. the value was £ 1,226,350; last year in the correspond- ing period, £ 1,441,481. From a statement made at the licensing sessions for Manchester last week, it appears that there are in that city no fewer than 2441 persons holding licences for the sale of intoxicating liquors. The National Eisteddfod at Wrexham has proved a great success. Over 25,000 visitors attended, and a good surplus is anticipated for the funds of the Uni- versity College of Wales. Nearly 20,000 persons visited the Art Treasures exhibition. FATAL SWING ACC'LD',NT.-Dr. Hardwicke received information on Saturday morning of a fatal accident to a London police-constable, namedWilliamAldridge, stationed at Lea Bridge road. The deceased, who had been in the force eighteen years, went to the police/ete at the Alexandra Palace, last week, with his wife and family, and while engaged in the recreation ground swinging his children was struck on the head by the machine, and fell to the ground insensible. He was taken to the Great Northern Hospital, where he grndually sank, and died two ivs after. THE SUPERANNUATION OP MUNICIPAL OFFICEM.— A return moved for in the House of Commons by Mr. Fielden of the muBieipal officers and servants in the boroughs of Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, Bir- wipgham, and Bristol who millht, under the pro- visiong of the Municipal Officers' Superannuation Bill, be now entitled to receive superannuation allowances, was issued last week. The Birmingham officers are the following:—Thomas Green, medical superinten- °f borough pauper lunatic asylum, age 77, salary with residenoe, fuel, and gaa; Joseph Lea, ac- countant clerk to public works department, age up- wards, of 65, salary £ 130 Heury Latham, inspector k ^age upwards of 65, salary £ 2. 10s, per THE BATTING PKOWESSOF MB. W. G OKACE.—Modern cricket seems to have resolved itself into a match between Mr Grace on one side and the bowling strength of England on the other. Will the former succeed in knocking the latter, so to spealc, out of time, or will the latter be ultimately able to restrain the former within some reasonable bounds? At present Mr. Grace has clearly the mastery over his opponents. His powers, so far from showing signs of diminution, are showing signs of increase. No longer content with his hundreds and two hundreds he has gone in this season for scores of three hundred and upwards; and there seems no reason why, if he can find any one to stop in with him and to run his runs with him, he should not next season make five hundred off his own bat. How can a few bowlers of eminence hope to cope with such a man, who can go on all day and every day in the week, and who to all appearances will be as good ten years hence as he is now ? And how can they meet the demands of the public, and satisfy the requirements, which every year become more extravagant, of enterprising managers ? It; would need an unlimited stock of Hills, Emmetts, and Mycrofts to get through tbe work of a season of modern cricket; and year by year that work bids fair to be augmented. Even with Mr. Grace out of the way, the present professors of the art of bowling could hardly make head against the multiplicity of batting talent they would have to enoounter; but while Mr. Grace is to the fore, and taking part in every match of import- ance, the attempt of a scanty handful of professionals to do the work of fifty to utterly hopeless. On many occasions this season it has geemed lndfcrons al.o.- Saturday Review.

GAZETTE APPOINTMENTS. Last week's London Gazette contains the official notification of the granting of a baronetcy to Lord Provost Falshaw, of Edinburgh, and the knighting of Mr. John Steell, R.S.A., and Mr. H. S. Oakley, Mus. Doc.; and also the appointment of Mr. Francis Knollya, the Prince of \v ales's private secretary, to be a C.B.

SEIZURE OF TIIE LENNIE. This vessel, which was the scene of the terrible mutiny, has arrived in Millwall Docks, London, where she has been seized by the Admiralty Marshal, moved by Messrs. Sharp and Ullethorne, the solicitors of Van Hoydouck, the steward, by whose courage she was saved, and whose claim for recompense in salvage and wages has been denied by the owners.

CAPTAIN TYLER'S REPORT ON THE FLYING DUTCHMAN DISASTER. In his report to the Board of Trade on the accident to the Flying Dutchman. Captain Tyler states the cause to have been the want of a greater number of bolts to secure the rails to the sleepers. Most serious risk was undoubtedly incurred in allowing a passenger train to travel at a speed of nearly 60 miles an hour over a portion of the permanent way temporarily laid in, and the rails only half bolted to the sleepers. During alterations in the permanent way it was always desirable materially to reduce the speed of fast trains.

liB. BASS, M.P., AND THE GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY. A meeting of the Great Eastern Railway Board was held on Aug. 25, and the special meeting of shareholdere asked for by Mr. Bass's Committee, for the purpose of discussing a resolution calling npon the directors to resign office, was fixed for Thursday, October 5th, at Cannon street Hotel. Mr. Bass's Committee have issued a circular to all the shareholders reviewing the position of affairs, and have also sent out forms oi proxy calling upon the shareholders to sign them, and so to support Mr. Bass in his efforts to secure a com- plete change in the direction.

THE DREADFUL MURDER AT CAMBRIDGE. A correspondent writes — The coroner's inquest on the body of Emma Rolfe, who was murdered at Cambridge a few days ago, has resulted in a verdict of Wilful murder" against Robert Browning. The poor girl's throat was cut in a most extraordinary manner, everything being divided but the spinal cord. Prisoner said, when be had given himself up, he hoped she was gone to heaven he had not given her much time to reflect. She was not 16 till next March, and had been living at a house of ill-fame three weeks. Thousands of persons have visited the spot.

MR. GLADSTONE ON FREE LIBRARIES. The following has been received from Mr. Glad- stone by a Glasgow correspondent Sir,-I regret that I do not feel myself competent to give well-in- formed or trustworthy opinion on the question whether the Free Libraries Act ought to be adopted in Glasgow. It seems to require a closer knowledge of the circum- stances than I possess. I do not, however, concur in one particular objection to it which you menlion as being extensively felt—namely, that the people are not yet ripe, that time must be allowed for the action of the school boards to prepare them. The people of Liverpool are, I presume, less educated thnn the people of Glasgow but on all days and at all times when I have seen their Free Library open it has been crowded by the very description of people for whom such an institution is principally intended. And it seems to be of great importance for maintaining the knowledge and guiding the life of those who can use it, even though they may not represent anything like the entire population.-I remain, &c., W. E. GLADSTONE."

FLOGGING A GARROTTER, W llliam Leonard, who was convicted at the last sessions of the Central Criminal Court of highway robbery with violence upon a young lady at Lincoln's- Inn-fields, was flogged on August 25th at Newgate. He received a similar sentence in 1870, and his is one of the few cases in which such a punishment has not been effectual in preventing a repetition of the of- fence. Mr. Commissioner Kerr, having regard to this fact and to the prisoner's bad character, ordered him to undergo two separate flog- gings of twenty lashes each at an interval of one month, and then to be kept in penal servitude for seven years. The prisoner seemed to have very great dread ofthepunishinent.and appealed on every occasion that presented itself to Mr. Sydney Smith, the governor, to relieve him from it, and he represented that he was ill, and unable to bear the flogging. Dr. Gibson, the medical officer of the prison, was referred to, but he could find nothing in the con- dition of the prisoner to justify any remission of the punishment. The moment the prisoner was brought into the flogging room he began howling and appealing to Mr. Smith and Dr. Gibson to have mercy upon him, and before the punishment was concluded he pre- tended to faint. The full number of 20 lashes having been given him he was taken back to his cell.

-4- THE FRIENDS AND ENEMIES OF AGRICULTURE. (From the London Telegraph.) Nature, on the whole, is wiser than man, and pre- serves a certain balance with which the farmer does ill to interfere. If moles are killed worms multiply the roots of the turf are eaten away, and the turf itself withers up and disappears. When small birds are shot down caterpillars come and grasshoppers innu- merable, and devour the year's crop to the last green blade. In Scotland, of late years, the gamekeepers have bad strict orders to destroy all hawks, owls, and other birds of prey, on the ground that they kill the young game. The result has been that in all the western counties of Scotland field-mice have increased to such an extent as seriously to imperil the annual crop. Similarly, where weasels have been shot, it has been found that rats and rabbits have multiplied disastrously. Since Mr. Darwin wrcne his" Origin of Species" and the various works which have followed upon it, the doctrine of final causes has found its proper place, and philosophers deride the notion that nature intends the vast herds of South African antelopes to feed the lion, and the lion to keep within their"pr<per limits the numbers of the ante- lope. As if to console us for the loss of a belief s-0 cherished, people are beginning to understand whai is the meaning of that which may, in default of a better title, be termed the doctrine of natural equili- brium. Nature if ohe is left to herself works perfectly well. If we trap and kill all our moles, our herbage will inevitably be eaten up with worms; if we kill all our small birds, our vegetables will be consumed with caterpillars, May-bugs, and other such noxious crea- tures if the gamekepeers are ordered to shoot every hawk that may come, within ranse of their barrel, we shall certainly be vexed and troubled with a perfect plague of field-mice. It is best, upon the whole, to leave Nature to work out her own ways, and it could be wished, in this respect, that a lesson could be taken from the wise conduct of the French Minister of Agriculture, and that some public and official or quasi-official in- structions could be given to our rural poor as to the nature and habits of bird nnd benst. The various Acts of Parliament which have lately been passed for the protection of small birds and of sea fowl have betfi, no doubt, a step in the right direction; but, at the same time, a mere Act of Parliament is of little avail unless it is brought homo to the minds of those whom it ought to affect by some such curt and cogent means as that of the placard which the French Minister of Agriculture has had everywhere stuck up. It is a pity that in England we should have nothing at all corresponding with the French Bureau of Agriculture, The Board of Trade does its duty admirably, but the "works and days" of the English farmer do not come within its pur- view. Chambers of agriculture and farmers' clubs are, as a rule, too busily occupied with political tactics to trouble themselves about mere matters of practical detail. The consequence is that the Enll- lish farmer, 11» his ignorance, goes on killing his best friends and protecting his worst enemies.

Lord Beaconsfield has returned the following reply to the address of congratulation from his tenants: Dear W. Vernon,—1 wish you to accept yourself, and to convey to your fellow signatories to the address before me, my thanks for their congratulations on the honour which the Queen has been graciously pleased to confer on me. I trust that the good feelings which have always subsisted between myself and the tenants on the Hughenden estate will never Suffer any diminu- tion of cordiality and confidence." While some workmen were engaged making excava- tions near St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church, Glasgow, recently, they came upon an oak tree embedded under the surface at a depth of about 17 feet. Mr.W. Newman, a surgeon, and another gentleman, have been fined E t and 103. respectively for smokiug in dangerous proximity to the ammunition waggons of the Jersey Militia Artillery, and refusing to leave the spot. At the inquest held on August 23rd at Manchester upon the bodies of Mr. Carson, manufacturing chemist, and Thomas Pearse, who lost their lives in a chemical ftill at the fire the previous night, a verdict of Acci- dental death was returned. SELLING BAD MEAT.—A butcher, named Robert Metcalf was on Aug. 23rd sent to gaol by the Liver- pool magistrates for one month for exposing for sale beef that was unfit for human food. Another butcher, named John Gregory, was fined £ Q and costs for a similar offence. At Twickenham, the other morning, the dead body of a man named Crawford, clerk to Mr. Piggott, auc- tioneer, of Richmond, was picked up in the Thames. The deceased went to bathe by himself, and not being able to swim he got out of his depth and was drowned. A few weeks ago his elder brother was drowned while bathing. The Admiralty have notified to the Royal Dock- yards that in cases where work is performed upon ships belonging to any training ship society, the per- centage usually charged upon labour and material expended in repairing other than her Majesty's vessela shall not be enforced, but only the actual expenditure incurred shall be claimed. An action, brought by Mr. E. Sanderson, money lender, of Cambridge, against the Accident Insurance Company, Limited, of Bank Buildings, Lothbury, to recover £ 45 for seven weeks' allowance under a policy, he having been incapacitated by an accident, termi- nated on Aug. 23rd in a verdict for the defendants. The plaintiff was confined to his house for three weeks only, and the company paid EIS into court for that period. Judge Beales held that Mr. Sanderson should have paid an extra premium if he wished to take ad- vantage of the partial disablement allowance. THE CREWE POACHING AFFRAY.—The poachers who were engaged in the affray at Haslington were brought before a bench of magistrates at Crewe last week. By a curious coincidence, one of the policemen engaged in the case "happened to be passing "in his stocking feet" along the corridor of the cells in which the poachers were confined, and he quite accidentally overheard one of the prisoners admit that he was present at the affray. The magistrates dealt suin- marily with the case, and sentenced the prisoners to three months' imprisonment, and to find sureties at the expiration of that time to keep the peace. Siddall, the volunteer keeper who had shot one of the poachers, was released from his recognisances. A PRACTICAL JOKE AXD ITS CONSEQUENCES.—At the Goole Police Court, a few days ago, the Bench were for some time engaged in investigating two cases arising out of a practical joke. Some men were engaged in painting the ship Ariel, and they per- suaded a sailor boy to paint the face of a lad named Robert Maskill, who was vending ginger beer, blue. Naturally the boy complained to his father, and Mas- kill, sen., returning with a man named George Dun- more, demanded who had done the act. No ono peached," and hard words ensued, in the courte of which Thomas Duckett, one of the men engaged on the ship, struck Dunmore a very violent blow on the far^, which broke the bridge of his nose.—Mr. Hind appeared for George Dunmore, who summoned Thomas Duckett, and the latter was fined 40s., with costs. Drake, who painted the boy's face, was fined 8s. 6d. and costs. SIlE MEANS TO BE LOVED FOR HERSELF ALONE.— There is a young lady in Corktown who has been en- gaged five,imes since New Year, but is now free once more. She is an heiress in a small way, her father having a snug sum and owning considerable property in the Eighth Ward. Her suitors have always been prosperous young men, as she will not have any other wooers save those who can show signs of capability and worldly wealth, but she has an ambition to be loved for herself alone, and puts all h-er in- tended husbands to the test, in this wise: She takes an opportunity of confiding to them, with injunctions of perfect secrecy, that her father has lost a great deal of money, and has been obliged to mortgage his dwelling house and furniture. The latter, however, she repre- sents, is not mortgaged for more than one-half its worth so she asks, as a favour, that her intended ad- vance a sum of money on a second chattel mortgage. The effect of this ruse, so far, has been that each young man has promised to advance the money, and after- wards has broken his promise and acted in such a manner that the engagement is broken also.Detroit Evening Xewa. LYNCH LAW IX THE FAR WEST.—The San Fran- cisco correspondent of the Times writes:—The em- ployment of Lynch law among us has not entirely dis- appeared. Where it is suspected or known that the law will prove inoperative. Judge Lynch still oce.t- aionaliy raises his head and asserts his supremacy. Not long since a case of this kind occurred in Sonoma county, where a notoriously bad character, Charles W. Henley, killed a man with an axe. He was arrested, but while in the custody of the Sheriff be was forcibly taken away by one hundred and fifty masked men, and hung on a neighbouring Lree. A re- ward of S2000 has been offered by the Governor for the apprehension of one or more of the guilty parties, but it is very improbable that they will ever be found. Within the last few days a man in Stockton had been discovered guilty of various acts of immorality, the principal one of which was stated to be the seduction of a young woman. It was at once decided to lynch. him, and a large body of men assembled for the pur- pose. The soldiers were turned out, and finally the prisoner escaped in the custody of a San Francisco policeman. It is a singular fact that in such CRses many of those who call so loudly for summary punish- ment, if they have not committed similar crimes them- selves, are by no means free from suspicion or re- proach of having dene much worse. CArTrRF, OF A NOTORIOUS HORSE STEALER.—Last week the Ashton-under-Lyne county magistrates committed for trial on two charges of horse stealing a man named John Eccles, who has been previously con- victed of a similar offence. It appeared the pri- soner was met in Dukinfield having in his possession a horse worth fifty guineas, the property of Mr. Joseph Newton, Clayton, anH some men who knew the horse charged him with stealing it, and he made his escape, leaving the animal in their possession. On the morning of the 15th Aug. he stole a horse belong- ing to Mr. F. H. Tallant, a farmer at Clayton. It seems to have been his object when he obtained posses- sion of a horse of moderate value to take it to the knacker's," and in one instance the owner of a stolen animal has obtained its skin from a horse slaughterer at Miles Platting. His career has been stopped by Mr. Shaw, publican, of Crompton, near Oldham. Having on the Sunday morning stolen a horse of the value of seventy guineas, the property of Mr. Bird, builder, Clayton, he took it to Mr. Shaw the next morning, and offered it for sale for thirty-six guineas. Mr. Shaw purchased the animal with the object of keeping the prisoner in parley while the police were sent for, and this having been done the prisoner was taken into custody. In most if not all the cases the horses have been led from fields with a halter. CHEAP LiviNH IN THE OLDEN TIME.—We cannot altogether boast that we are better off than our fathers. In a "Book of the Joint Diet, Dinner and Supper, and the charge thereof, for Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridlev," kept by the bailiffs of Oxford while the said right rev prelates were in the custody of those officers, we find in the bill for dinner," October 1st, 1554, a charge of Id. for oysters. Allowing—and the suppo- sition is not wholly I ni probable- that my Lords of Canterbury, London, and Worcester each ate a. dozen, oysters must have been cheap indeed, even after every allowance has been made for the depredation of the precious metals in 300 years. The re- maining items of the episcopal banquet consisted of "bread and ale," 2d.; butter, 2d.; eggs, 2d.; lyng, 8d.; a piece of fresh salnon, lOd.; wine, 3d.; cheese and pears," 2d.; total, 2s. 6d. This was not bad for a Friday dinner in prison. Some years before Parliament had fixed the price of beef and pork at Jd. the pound, and the price of veal at id., while, if their Lordships could never discuss theology over a cup of Bohea, they could taste the purer delights of milk at three pints ("ale measure") the halfpenny. But the golden age of good living must have been in the reign of Xing Edward I., when the Common Council of London deemed it necessary to fix the'price of various articles of diet as follows :—Two pullets, 14d. a par- tridge or two woodcocks, lid. a fat lamb, 6d., from Christmas to Shrovestide, the rest of the year.4d.- j Pall Mall Gazette.