ask the House to authorize a loan to the Government of India for 7,000,000l. The proposal was assented to, and a measure founded on the resolution was afterwards carried through both Houses,

22.-The steam-tug Black Eagle explodes in Cardiff dock, causing the death of five persons on board,

Mr. Mackinnon, M. P., obtains leave to bring in a bill to establish councils of conciliation and arbitration to adjust differences between masters and operatives.

The Pope declares his willingness to permit the French and Austrian troops to leave his territories.

24. Mr. Caird's motion in the House, to the effect that it would be advantageous to the public interest to publish periodically the agricultural statistics of Great Britain, as respects the extent of acres under the several crops of corn, vegetables, and grass, lost by 163 votes to 152.

25.-Lord Palmerston, in a crowded House, calls attention to the present aspect of continental affairs. He thought there was no sufficient cause for war. The present troubled

state of Europe he attributed to the jealousies between France and Austria, brought into action by their occupation of the Roman States. Mr. Disraeli replied: "I have the satisfaction of informing the noble Lord and the House that we have received communications which give us ground for believing that both Austria and France will evacuate the Roman States with the concurrence of the Papal Government. Under these circumstances, Cowley has been sent to Vienna on a confidential mission. I cannot inform the House of the precise character of that mission, but I may say, generally, that it is one of peace and conciliation."

Lord

26. A fire breaks out in the shop of Mr. Reeves, eating-house keeper, Great Jamesstreet, Marylebone, in which he, with the whole of his family, and a nurse, perished.

The Calais packet, Prince Frederick William, is driven ashore at Calais, when endeavouring to enter the harbour in a ground swell. During the excitement caused by the occurrence, some of the passengers entered a life-boat sent from the shore; but capsized in the confusion, and three of those on board were drowned. Most of the passengers and crew in the packet-boat remained by her till ebb tide, when they all got ashore in safety.

siastic ovation. He afterwards publicly an nounced that the erring wife was once more under her husband's protection.

26. The Armstrong gun introduced into the artillery service of Great Britain.

Lord Cowley sets out on a special mission to Vienna, to mediate between Austria and France, in reference to the affairs of Italy.

27.-Died, aged 72, W. J. Broderip, naturalist.

28. In the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer states the intentions of Government with respect to the representation of the people. "It is not proposed," he said, "to alter the limits of the franchise, but to introduce into boroughs a new kind of franchise founded upon personal property and to give a vote to persons having property to the amount of 10l. a year in the funds, bank stock, and East India stock; a person having 60/. in a savings bank would, under the bill, be an elector for the borough in which he resided; as also recipients of pensions in the naval, military, and civil services amounting to 20/, a year. Dwellers in a portion of a house whose aggregate rent was 20l. a year would likewise have a vote. The suffrage would also be conferred upon graduates of the universities, ministers of religion, members of the legal and medical professions, and certain schoolmasters." considering the county franchise, he reviewed the controversy respecting the Chandos Clause in the Act of 1832. To terminate the heartburnings arising from it, and to restore the County constituency to its natural state, and bring about a general content and sympathy between the different portions of the constituent body, the Government proposed to recognise the principle of identity of suffrage between the counties and towns. They also proposed that Boundary Commissioners should visit the boroughs in England, re-arrange them, and adapt them to the altered circumstances of the times; their appointment to be delegated to the Enclosure Commissioners. The effect of giving to counties a 10/. franchise, would be, according to the estimate of the Government, to add 200,000 to the county constituency.

In

March 1.-Mr. Walpole and Mr. Henley state to the House of Commons their reasons for retiring from the Government.

The English Government having requested the Cabinet of Sardinia to state in express terms what were the particulars of the general complaint against Austria in respect of Italy, Count Cavour responds to the invitation, showing in a lengthy and ably-reasoned State paper how Austria had abused the powers within the territories which she held by treaty, and overawed States in which she could not even plead treaty rights. He thought that the danger of a war or revolution might be warded off, and the Italian difficulty practically solved, by the following changes:-"By obtaining from Austria, not in virtue of treaties, but in the name of the principles of humanity nd etern

justice, a national and separate Government for Lombardy and Venetia. By requiring, in conformity with the letter and spirit of the Treaty of Vienna, that the domination of Austria over the States of Central Italy should cease, and, consequently, that the detached forts constructed outside the walls of Piacenza should be destroyed; that the convention of the 24th of December, 1847, should be annulled; that the occupation of the Romagna should cease; and that the principle of non-intervention should be proclaimed and respected. By inviting the Dukes of Modena and Parma to give their people institutions similar to those existing in Piedmont; and the Grand Duke of Tuscany to .e-establish the Constitution to which he had freely consented in 1848. By obtaining from the Sovereign Pontiff the administrative separation of the provinces beyond the Apennines, in conformity with the propositions communicated in 1856 to the Cabinets of London and Paris. May England obtain the realization of these conditions! Italy, relieved and pacified, will bless her; and Sardinia, who has so often invoked her co-operation and assistance in favour of her unfortunate fellow-countrymen, will vow .o her an imperishable gratitude."

7.-An American merchant-vessel puts into Cork harbour with Baron Poerio and sixty-six other Neapolitan exiles on board. They had been permitted to leave Naples in virtue of what the King called an act of grace, on condition that they would transport themselves to America for the term of their natural life. They afterwards compelled the captain to alter his course to an English port. The exiles were received with all the sympathy due to their unmerited suffering.

Kerry Assizes opened for the trial of the Phoenix conspirators. In the first case against O'Sullivan, the jury were unable to agree on a verdict, and were discharged. On the 30th he was found guilty, and sentenced to ten years' penal servitude.

Mr. Walpole's Church Rates Abolition Bill thrown out on the second reading, by 254 to 171.

9.-Earl Cowley reports to the Earl of Malmesbury the result of his conferences with the Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs: "With respect to the reform of administration to be introduced into the Roman States, Count Buol expresses himself willing, either to resume the negotiation which had been commenced with the French Government upon that subject in 1857, but afterwards allowed to drop by that Government, and not by him, or to fall back upon the recommendations made by the five Powers to the Pope in 1831-32. He prefers the latter measure, because he thinks it more likely to be attended with success. He would not, however, object to the former; but in that case the proposal must come from the French Government. The matter stands thus: France had made certain propositions to Austria, to which counter-propositions had

been offered; but Austria had never been able to obtain the opinion of the French Government upon those latter. She had more than once asked for that opinion; and it remained with the French Government to take the next

step. Upon the third point mentioned in your Lordship's despatch of the 22d ult., namely, a security for the better relations between the Governments of Austria and Sardinia, Count Buol says, that your Lordship must address yourself to Turin. It is not, he maintains, from the conduct of Austria that the present critical state of affairs has arisen, but from the ambitious and encroaching policy of Sardinia. Austria desires no better than to renew those amicable relations which had for so many years united the two Governments, but it could only be done on one condition-a complete change of external policy on the part of the Sardinian Government. With the internal policy of Sardinia Austria had nothing to do, and has no desire to interfere. Count Buol gives the further assurance that Austria, notwithstanding the provocations which she has received, has no intention of attacking Sardinia, as long as the Sardinian troops keep within their own ter ritory; but he insists that as long as Sardinia remains armed there can be no security for peace."

14. The Swiss Cantons declare their neu trality on the Italian question.

19.-The Dutch barque Batavia destroyed by fire in the Mersey, with a cargo of silk, cloth, and fine goods, valued at 16,000!.

21. On the motion for the second reading of the Reform Bill, Lord John Russell moved, "That it is neither just nor politic to interfere in the manner proposed in the Government Bill with the freehold franchise, as hitherto exercised in the counties of England and Wales; and that no readjustinent of the franchise will satisfy the House or the country, which does not provide for a greater extension of the suffrage in cities and boroughs than is contemplated in the present measure." The debate was adjourned over several evenings, and ended in the defeat and dissolution of the Ministry.

23. In the case of the Rev. Mr. Poole, accused of introducing the practice of the confessional at St. Barnabas's, Pimlico, the Archbishop of Canterbury, before whom the case came up on appeal by mandamus from the Court of Queen's Bench, pronounces a decision confirmatory of that of the Bishop of London revoking Mr. Poole's licence.

25.-In the adjourned debate on the Govern ment Reform Bill, Lord Palmerston, in sup porting Lord John Russell's resolution, said:

Some persons say the Ministry will resign Sir, I believe no such thing. (Laughter.) 1 think it will be a dereliction of duty on their part if they do resign. I do not want them to resign. (Laughter.) I say to them, as I think Voltaire said of some Minister who had incurred

his displeasure, 'I won't punish him; I won't send him to prison; I condemn him to keep his place.' (Much laughter.) They took the government with its engagements. They undertook a measure of reform, and they will be flinching from their duty to the Crown and the country if, in consequence of such a vote as that proposed by my noble friend, they fling up their places, and throw upon us the difficulty of dealing with this subject. (Hear! and a laugh.) In ordinary cases, I am quite ready to admit, when a question arises out of the contests of two political parties-when that question is one, for instance, relating to our foreign relations-a question of peace or war, or one of general policy, with respect to which the Government and the majority of the House of Commons may disagree-it would be a perfectly constitutional course for them to pursue to appeal to the country, and that the majority by whom their conduct happened to be censured should afford them every facility in making that appeal; that, however, is not the present question. Is it right, I ask, that the Government should throw the British Constitution to be scrambled for and discussed upon every hustings throughout the country? (Cheers.) Is that the course which a Conservative Administration thinks it its duty to pursue? (Renewed cheers.) I do not believe, Sir, they would act so if they could; and I believe they could not if they would."

26.-Heard before the Master of the Rolls the case of Bradbury and Evans v. Dickens, being an action to restrain the popular novelist from announcing in his advertisements of All the Year Round that Household Words would be discontinued. Mr. Dickens consented in future advertisements to use the phrase "discontinued by him."

28.-1,800/. subscribed at a meeting in Willis's Rooms to liquidate the debt on the buildings of the London Mechanics' Institution in Southampton-row, and release Lord Brougham and other trustees from pecuniary responsibility.

In answer to a question by the Earl of Clarendon regarding Lord Cowley's mission to Vienna, Lord Malmesbury said: "Unless some untoward and almost impossible accident should occur, we may hope that peace will not be broken, and that the Congress which will probably assemble at the end of next month will eventuate in those results which your Lordships and all Europe desire."

The body of the great anatomist, John Hunter, raised from its original resting-place in the church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, was this day re-interred with honour in Westminster Abbey on the north side of the nave, between Wilkie and Ben Jonson.

29. In the adjourned debate on the second reading of the Reform Bill, Mr. Gladstone, who opposed both the Bill and Lord John Russell's resolution, made an appeal in favour

"Allow

of continuing the smaller boroughs. me," he said, "in explanation of my meaning, to state the case of six men-Mr. Pelham, Lord Chatham, Mr. Fox, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Canning, and Sir Robert Peel. Mr. Pelham entered this House for the borough of Seaford in 1719, at the age of twenty-two; Lord Chatham entered it in 1735, for Old Sarum, at the age of twenty-six; Mr. Fox in 1764, for Midhurst, at the age, I think, of twenty; Mr. Pitt in 1781, for Appleby, at the age of twentyone; Mr. Canning in 1793, for Newport, at the age of twenty-two; and Sir R. Peel in 1809, for the City of Cashel, at the age of twenty-one. Now here are six men, every one of whom was a leader in this House. I take them because the youngest is older than the youngest of those who now sit here, and because the mention of their names can give rise to no personal feeling. Here are six men whom you cannot match out of the history of the British House of Commons for the hundred years which precede our own day. Every one of them was a leader in this House; almost every one of them was a Prime Minister. All of them entered Parliament for one of those boroughs where influence of different kinds prevailed. Every one of them might, if he had chosen, after giving proof of his powers in this House, have sat for any of the open constituencies of the country; and many of them did

So.

Mr. Pelham, after sitting for Seaford in one Parliament, represented Sussex for all the rest of his life. Lord Chatham never, I think, represented an open constituency. Mr. Fox, after sitting for Midhurst, became the chosen for Westminster. Mr. Pitt went from Appleby at a very early age to the University of Cambridge. Mr. Canning went from Newport to Liverpool, and Sir R. Peel from Cashel to the University of Oxford. Now, what was the case of Sir R. Peel? The University, on account of a conscientious difference of opinion, refused the continuance of his services. They might have been lost to the British Parliament -at that moment at all events. But in Westbury he found an immediate refuge for so it must be called: and he continued to sit for a small borough for the remainder of his life. Mr. Canning, in the same way, not losing but resigning the representation of Liverpool, found it more conducive to the public business that he should become the representative of a small borough for the rest of his days. What does this show? It shows that small boroughs were the nursery-ground in which these men were educated-men who not only were destined to lead this House, to govern the country, to be the strength of England at home and its ornament abroad, but who likewise, when once they had an opportunity of proving their powers in this House, became the chosen of large constituencies, and the favourites of the nation."

29.-Gavazzi riots in Galway. The lec turer was obliged to take refuge in the police barracks.

30.-Explosion at the powder works of Curtis and Harvey, Hounslow. Of the presshouse, where the explosion originated, nothing remained to mark the site but a huge hole in the ground. Several men employed in the corning-house were killed, the scattered fragments of their bodies being gathered together into a promiscuous heap to await a coroner's inquest.

66

31.-Defeat of the Derby Ministry at the close of the debate on the second reading of the Government Reform Bill. The Chancellor of the Exchequer wound up with a speech of great vigour against Lord John Russell and his resolution. 'There was one quality," he said, "which had rather marred than made his fortune-a sort of restlessness which will not brook that delay and that patience which are sometimes needed in our constitutional government for the conduct of public affairs. The moment that the noble lord is not in power he appears to me to live in an atmosphere of coalitions, combinations, coups d'état, and cunning resolutions. (Cheers and a laugh.) An appropriation clause may happen to every man once in his life. But there is only one man living of whom it can be said that in 1835 he overthrew the Government of Sir R. Peel upon an impracticable pretext; that in 1852 he overthrew the Government of Lord Derby with an objectless coalition; that in 1855 he overthrew the Government of Lord Aberdeen by a personal coup d'état; and that in 1857 he overthrew the Government of the member for Tiverton by a Parliamentary manœuvre. (Cheers.) Now, I beg the noble lord at this moment to throw the vision of his memory back for an instant to the year 1852. He sat before me then the head of a mighty host. He drew the fatal arrow that was to destroy our Government. He succeeded. He destroyed in breathless haste the Government of Lord Derby: but did he destroy anything else? Did he not destroy, also, the position of a great statesman? Did he not destroy almost the great historic party of which he was once the proud and honoured chief? (Cheers.) The noble Lord does not sit opposite me now; but had he not hurried the catastrophe of 1852, and had he bided his time according to the periodic habit of our Constitution, he would have returned to these benches the head of that great party of which he was once the chief and greatest ornament. . . . With regard to the more important branch of foreign affairs, I can say truly, although we had an inheritance of trouble, and although, probably, during the period of our official existence we have had as many difficulties to contend with as could well fall to the lot of any Ministry-although during the last three months the question of peace or war has sometimes appeared to be that only of a moment-still we have so managed affairs that all immediate dangers seem to have vanished, and there is a prospect of arrangements which, if concluded, will in my opinion lead to a permanent and a happy peace. (Cheers.) I may be permitted to say, in answer to the

noble lord, that, if in the course of time the present servants of the Queen find themselves upon the hustings before their consti tuents, I, for one, have that confidence in a great and generous nation, that I believe at such an hour they will not forget the difficulties under which we undertook the administration of affairs, nor perhaps be altogether unmindful of what, under such difficulties, we have ac complished for their welfare. (Cheers.) It is by our conviction in the justice of the people of England, it is because we believe in the power of public opinion, that we have been sustained in this House during our arduous struggle, and are sustained even at this moment amid all the manoeuvres of parliamentary intrigue and all the machinations of party war fare." It was a quarter to one o'clock when the House proceeded to a division amid a scene of intense excitement. The numbers were-for the second reading of the bill, 291; for Lord John Russell's resolution, 330: majority against Ministers, 39. As the numbers were announced, the House rang with a triumphant shout from the Opposition. After a short irregular discussion on an amendment regarding the ballot, which Mr. Wyld sought to push to a division against the wishes of many friends of the measure, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, "It will perhaps be convenient to know that I shall propose that this House at its rising do adjourn until Monday."

April 1.-At the Liverpool Assizes, James William Mitchell, engineer, was sen tenced to fifteen years' penal servitude for causing the death of Lauder, a stoker or board the Bogota steamer, trading between Panama and Valparaiso, in so far as he had assisted the chief engineer (not in custody) in confining the unfortunate man in the stokehole, where he was literally roasted to death; the horrid fact being seen and heard by many of the crew.

The lions' van of Wombwell's menagerie upset in a storm at Holywell, North Wales. The exhibitor and three boys killed.

4. Intimation made in both Houses of Parliament, that in consequence of the defeat sustained on the Reform Bill, on Tuesday night, the Ministry had resolved on advising an appeal to the country. The necessary measures would, therefore, be proceeded with as early as possible in anticipation of a dissolution. Lord Derby said, it was not upon this or that measure of reform the appeal was to be made; for after the vote in question the Government felt themselves at perfect liberty to reconsider the whole question without prejudice. "We appeal to the people whether, as lovers of fair dealing and plain and straightforward conduct in public men, they will sanction the overthrow of a Ministry who, in honourably endeavouring to discharge their duty, have fallen, not in pursuance of a differ ence of opinion brought forward in fair Par

liamentary conflict, but who have been overthrown in consequence of the success-the undeserved, but I will not call it the unanticipated success of what I must be permitted to term an ingenious manoeuvre."-Speaking of the Reform question, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said: "There is the Conservative view of the question, and there is-not to use the epithet in the least degree offensively-the revolutionary view of the question. That is to say, there is that Conservative view which, in any change that it recommends, would wish to preserve and maintain the present character of the House of Commons, which is a representation of the various interests and classes of the country; and there is that revolutionary view which would attempt to alter the character of the House of Commons, and make it a representation merely of the voice of a numerical majority.' Reserving to the Government to deal hereafter with this question as it thought fit, Mr. Disraeli thought at present it had fulfilled its pledge at great personal and party sacrifices, and he would not enter into any further specific engagements on that head.

6.-Twenty-six lives lost in the Mair Colliery, Neath, by an irruption of water into the workings.

9.-The Times publishes an alarming telegram, dated Vienna, last night. "The longexpected crisis is at hand. A corps of 50,000 men goes from this city to Italy to-morrow and on following days. Another corps of 60,000 men is to be assembled here. A reserve corps of 70,000 men will be placed in Bohemia and Moravia. The reserves of the army in Italy and of the army corps about to leave this city have been called in." Though the intelligence was received with suspicion, it was known that events were transpiring, which in all likelihood would make it only premature. Consols fell from 954 to 944.

-Professor Czermak, of Pesth, exhibits his newly invented laryngoscope to the Medical Society of Vienna.

- Died at Calcutta, whither he had been conveyed a prisoner after the capture of Canton, the Chinese mandarin Yeh.

11. At Ramsgate, near the Dumpton-stairs, the naked body of a man was discovered, under circumstances leading to the belief that a cruel murder had been committed. The left hand was cut off at the wrist, the four fingers were cut off from the right hand, the ring finger was cut off between the first and second joints, and in the breast was a deep stab, the immediate cause of death. The inquiries before the coroner made it more than probable that the deceased had committed suicide, and destroyed his clothing, ring, carpet-bag, and all other articles on his person which could be traced, for the purpose of avoiding identification. Evidence was adduced to show that he was probably a Dutchman named Matterig.

12.-The Queen in Council orders the Archbishop of Canterbury to prepare a form of prayer and thanksgiving for the constant and signal success obtained by the troops in India, whereby the blessings of tranquillity and order had been restored to her Majesty's subjects in the East.

Meeting at Willis's Rooms, in support of the Drinking Fountains movement. The first in the metropolis was erected on the 21st, near the corner of St. Sepulchre's churchyard, at the expense of S. Gurney, M. P.

13. David Ritchie, secretary to the Committee of the Treasury at the Bank of England, killed in King William-street, by a cask of wine falling on him from the top of a loaded waggon.

Died, aged 76, Lady Morgan, novelist. 14.-Don Arrom de Ayala, Spanish consul for Australia, commits suicide by discharging the contents of a pistol through his head in Blenheim Park. "My Lord," he writes to the Duke of Marlborough, in a letter found on the body, "I humbly ask your Lordship's pardon and forgiveness, for the great liberty I have taken in coming to put an end to my dreary and miserable existence in your park. It may be a childish feeling, but one cannot blow his brains out in a common road, on one of these cultivated fields full of cottages, and life, and civilization, and railways, and establishments of all kinds, of which your blessed country of England abounds. So I have not found another proper place to die decently than your handsome park, and you must bear the inconvenience of a dead man in your grounds. I mean no offence. I have yesterday visited your house, hoping that the sight of good things, and chiefly good paintings, would do me good, and soften the wild ideas that had led me to put an end to my life; but all of no use. Your manor is one of the most noble, splendid things I ever saw in my life, and I have travelled about and seen everything worth seeing. You have the finest Rubens that can be seen that should have a great attraction for me under other circumstances, but now they have been of no use!"

The thanks of both Houses of Parliament voted to the various civil functionaries, and to the army in every rank, native and Eu. ropean, for the eminent skill, courage, and perseverance during the military operations by which the late insurrection in India had been effectually suppressed.

15.-Explosion of a boiler at Edwards' Spinning Mill, Scouringburn, Dundee, occasioning the loss of nineteen lives, and serious injury to fourteen others, besides the damage to property. Most of those killed were either scalded to death or crushed by the falling material. At the moment of the explosion the entire building above the boiler perceptibly rose into the air, and fell down a mass of ruins to the ground.