recovered. In Yorkshire, 19,331 cases had been reported, and in the comparatively small county of Cheshire, 17,971. 29.-Formation of a secret mercantile confederacy to buy up and thereby raise the price of pig iron. It was quoted to-day at 62s. ; but the purchasing operations were carried through on a scale of such magnitude, that early in April producers to keep their time-bargains had to purchase back on their own account at 81s. The amount involved in the speculation was said to be over 2,000,000/. February 1.-A memorial from the English Church Union on the subject of the Ritualistic innovations in the Church, signed by about 500 clergymen, presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth. His Grace assured the deputation that it was his most anxious desire to promote uniformity in public worship to the utmost of his power, and to reconcile the conflicting interests of the different parties in the Church without any sacrifice of principle.-On the same day, Earl Russell was waited upon by a deputation representing "The Association for Promoting a Revision of the Prayer-book, and for Securing Purity and Simplicity in the Public Worship of the Church of England." His Lordship undertook to bring the question before the Cabinet, and especially to consult with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The new Parliament commences its labours by electing Mr. Evelyn Denison to the office of Speaker. The swearing-in of members was then proceeded with. Mr. Francis Grant elected President of the Royal Academy, Sir Edwin Landseer declining to accede to the wishes of a large majority that he would accept the office. 2.-The Convocation of the Provinces of Canterbury and York commence their sittings. 6. Commenced in the Court of Queen's Bench, the case of Fitzgerald v. Northcote and Stone. The plaintiff was the son of the Right Hon. Mr. Justice Fitzgerald, one of the Puisne Judges of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench; the defendants were Dr. Northcote, Principal of the Roman Catholic College at Ascott, near Birmingham, and Mr. Stone, the "Prefect" or disciplinary officer of that establishment. Nominally, the action was for assault and false imprisonment, and to recover a pocketbook; the real issue was whether the plaintiff's son was properly or improperly expelled the college. The defendants pleaded in justification various special pleas, the substance of which was that the youth had started a spiracy," as it was called, among the lay boys of the college, against the clerical boys, or the boys destined for the priesthood, with the object of holding them up to ridicule and obloquy, and that it was necessary, in order to uphold the discipline of the college, to seize his pocket-book in order to find out all about con the supposed conspiracy, and then to expel him; further, until he could be expelled, to separate him from the other students, and with that view to confine him in his room. Dr. Northcote himself was the principal witness for the defence, and was cross-examined with considerable humour and ingenuity by Mr. Coleridge. Verdict for the plaintiff damages 51. 6.-Died at Mount Trenchard, Limerick, aged 76, Lord Monteagle-formerly Mr. Spring Rice, and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1839. Parliament opened by the Queen in per son. The Royal Speech, which was read from the Throne by the Lord Chancellor, made reference to our friendly relations with foreign Powers, the close of the civil war in the United States, the renewal of diplomatic relations with Brazil, the outbreak in Jamaica, the commercial treaties entered into with Japan and Austria, the cattle-plague, and the Fenian disturbance in Ireland. On the subject of Parliamentary Reform, it was said: "I have directed that information should be procured in reference to the right of voting in the election of members to serve in Parliament for counties, cities, and boroughs. When that information is complete the attention of Parliament will be called to the result thus obtained, with a view to such improvements in the laws which regulate the right of voting in the election of Members of the House of Commons, as may tend to strengthen our free institutions and conduce to the public welfare." The Address was agreed to without a division in the House of Lords. In the Commons The O'Donoghue sought to insert a paragraph calling upon Ministers to examine into and remove the disaffection in Ireland, but was defeated on a division by 346 to 25 votes. The conduct of Governor Eyre in suppressing the Jamaica insurrection, and the policy of the Government orders on the cattleplague, were discussed at subsequent sittings. Sir Charles Wood resigns the office of Secretary of State for India, and is raised to the Upper House, as Viscount Halifax. He was succeeded by Earl de Grey in the India Office. The Marquis of Hartington entered the War Office. 7.-Several of the morning newspapers com. ment on an interview said to have taken place between Earl Russell and Mr. Bright, on the subject of Parliamentary Reform. 11.-Died, aged 80, W. T. Brande, chemist, author of a "Dictionary of Science, Literature, and Art." 12. Sir George Grey introduces the Government Bill for suppressing the cattle-plague. Mr. Bright objected to the compensation clauses as contrary to the principle adopted by Parliament on past occasions of public suffering to vote money out of taxes to remedy a misfortune of this kind; and it was a grievance which every tax-payer would complain of, if his money were applied to the compensation of well-to-do farmers and rich landowners who might suffer from the affliction. -Mr. Lowe said, the object was not to compensate people for what they had lost, but for what they had lost through the direct agency of the Government by the destruction of their property for the public good. Mr. Stuart Mill did not object to compensation on principle, but thought the Bill did what it ought not, and did not do what it ought. It compensated an entire class of persons connected with the land for that of which they bore their share with the rest of the community; and it did not do what it ought to do in equalizing the circumstances of that class itself. For, inasmuch as the compensation was to be a local charge, the consequence was that those portions of the agricultural interest which had not suffered at all would have to pay least; and those who suffered most would have to pay most. On the whole, therefore, he preferred a general rate upon the land or upon cattle to any local rate. 12.-Earl Russell informs Lord Ebury that it is not the intention of Government to advise the issuing of any Commission for the revision of the Liturgy. "The former Commission," he writes, 66 upon the terms of subscription arrived at a conclusion which gave greater freedom of opinion to every person in holy orders; but a Commission for the revision of the Liturgy would in all probability lead to heated discussion, and its report, if it framed any, would be sure to offend and irritate a large party in the Church. As her Majesty's Government are most anxious to promote peace and goodwill, and not to open the way to discord, they must decline to adopt the proposal which your Lordship and the deputation accompanying you have made." 13. Sir George Grey obtains leave to introduce a bill for the purpose of reducing all the oaths taken by members of Parliament to one simple form: "I do swear I will bear true allegiance to Queen Victoria, and defend her to the utmost of my power from all conspiracies and treasons against her person, crown, and dignity." Cholera conference opened at Constantinople. 14. Commenced in the Court of Queen's Bench, before the Lord Chief Justice and a special jury, the case of Walker v. Milner-an action raised by Mr. Walker, jeweller, Cornhill, against the firm of Milner and Son, of Moorgate-street, for breach of a warranty on the sale of an iron safe. The declaration stated that Mr. Milner agreed to sell the plaintiff a certain iron safe, and promised that it was sufficiently strong to resist any attempt or violence that might be made upon it by thieves; and that he, relying upon that promise, bought and paid for it, but that it was not sufficiently strong to resist the efforts of thieves to break it open, and was, in fact, broken open, and property stolen therefrom to the amount of 6,000l. The case was chiefly remarkable for the insight it gave into the manner the robbery had been effected in Mr. Walker's premises on the 4th February last. The convict Caseley was put into the witness-box, and described with perfect frankness every detail of the burglary, from the time it was planned till its successful completion. It was this Caseley who forced the safe, and he now gave a minute account of the manner in which it was accomplished. The jury found that there was no warranty, which was, of course, a verdict for the defendant. 14. Fire in Oxford-street, destroying a considerable portion of Laurie and Marner's carriage factory. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland informs the Government that, after the most careful consideration, the time, in his opinion, had arrived for a suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. "The state of affairs," he wrote, "is very serious. The conspirators, undeterred by the punishment of so many of their leaders, are actively organizing an outbreak to destroy the Queen's authority. Sir Hugh Rose details the various plans they have in contemplation, and he draws no exaggerated picture. There are scattered over the country a number of agents who are swearing-in members, and who are prepared to take the command when the moment arrives. These men are of the most dangerous class. They are Irishmen imbued with American notions, and possessed of considerable military experience. There are 340 such men known to the police in the provinces, and about 160 in Dublin. There are several hundred men who have come over from Eng. land and Scotland, who receive 1s. 6d. a day, and are waiting for the time of action. Any one may observe these men loitering about at the corners of the streets. As to arms, we have found no less than three regular manufactories of pikes, bullets, and cartridges in Dublin.... The most dangerous feature of the present movement is the attempt to seduce the troops. I have watched every symptom here for many months, and it is my deliberate conviction that no time should now be lost in suspending the Act. I cannot be responsible for the safety of the country, if power is not forthwith given to the Government to seize the leaders." 15.-Mr. Hunt's proposal that no cattle should be moved on a railway before the 28th of March, carried in committee against the Government by 264 to 181 votes. Speaking again on the question of compensation, Mr. Lowe questioned the truth of a statement made that the English cattle producer would gain on account of a rise in prices. "Has he not," he asked, "got powerful competition, and will not advanced prices increase an importation of 10,000 head of cattle to 20,000? That which is to be the indemnification of the English cattle-dealer will have to be divided with all Europe, and some of the money will go to Transatlantic producers." Mr. Mill replied at once, that in an article of general consumption the effect of a scarcity was generally a rise in prices out of all proportion to the extent of that scarcity. Mr. Lowe had asked if it was not to be considered absurd that because a man or any of his family is not mad, he is not to be taxed for a lunatic asylum. "Now, I ask, is there any economical law by which the patients of a lunatic asylum are compensated for the expense of their maintenance in that asylum?" 15. Mr. Cardwell obtains leave to bring in a bill for the government of Jamaica similar to that now in operation at Trinidad. He proposed that an Order in Council should give it effect for three years, and if successful that it should be made perpetual. 17.-Bill for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland passes both Houses of Parliament. It gave power to the Lord Lieutenant to detain in custody any suspected person whom he may have already arrested, and, with the concurrence of six members of the Privy Council in Ireland, to arrest any others between this date and the 1st of March, 1867, and detain them up to that time, the prisoners not having any legal remedy in the meantime. In the debate to which the introduction of the bill gave rise, Mr. Bright said he had never spoken in the House with a deeper sense of shame and humiliation, and called on the House not to let the year pass over "till it has done something to rid us of this blot, for blot it is, upon the reign of the Queen and the administration of her statesmen, upon the civilization and justice of the people of this country." 20. Mr. Clay, M. P. for Hull, obtains the assent of the House to introduce a bill conferring an educational franchise. May 30.) (See 21.—Disorderly midnight meeting in London, called with a view of reclaiming fallen women. 22. In the Prussian Chamber, a motion favoured by the Government having been rejected by a large majority, Count Bismarck reads two decrees amid the breathless silence of the House, calling the Deputies to the Palace, and summarily proroguing the sitting. The allowance to the Princess Helena fixed at 6,000l. a year, and her dowry at 30,000l., as in the case of the Princess Alice. The provision for Prince Alfred fixed at 15,000l. a year, payable from the day on which he attains his majority. The House of Commons agree to an Address to the Queen, praying her Majesty to order the erection of a monument to Lord Palmerston in Westminster Abbey. - Revolution at Bucharest, a body of troops surrounding the house of the Hospodar, Prince Couza, and compelling him to abdicate. Mr. Gregory introduces, but afterwards withdraws, a resolution, urging that it should be a recognised maxim of maritime law that private property was free from capture. 3.-Benjamin Coleman, editor of the Spiritual Magazine, fined 5ol. for circulating libels defamatory of the character of Mr. Sothern, actor. 4.-Great Fenian mass-meeting at New York, presided over by Mahony, who announced that fighting had commenced in Ireland, and asked that funds might be furnished to such an extent as would enable an expedition to leave America within six weeks. 5.-Heard, in the Court of Probate, the testamentary suit of Bellew v. Bellew and others. The question was, whether a document propounded by Mr. Henry Bellew as the will of his late sister, Miss Caroline (com. monly called Countess Bellew), was her will, or a forgery on the part of a Mrs. Casse, a friend and neighbour of the deceased, who lived at Stockleigh House, Regent's Park. Miss Frances Bellew, eldest sister of the deceased, opposed probate. In 1863, Mrs. Casse said the Countess called on her and expressed her intention of making out a new will, as one she had made in 1851 was lost. The proposed new will was accordingly drawn up and exe cuted, a copy taken, and left with Mrs. Casse. This copy was now produced, no original being found, and probate asked. It disposed of about 26,000l., giving her sister 500/., "to keep her from want," a sum of 500l. to Mrs. Casse, and the residue, after small legacies, to her brother. Mrs. Casse, who was now upwards of eighty years of age, admitted in crossexamination that she lived for many years Iwith the late Lord Saltoun as his wife, and made a claim upon his estate on the faith of documents which the executor successfully resisted as not genuine. The jury returned a verdict that they were not satisfied as to the genuineness of the will--a decision followed by the prosecution of Mrs. Casse for forgery, and of one Verlander for perjury. 5.-The Marquis of Hartington moves the Army Estimates, explaining in detail how the vote of 14,095,000l. was to be appropriated. Died, aged 71, Dr. John Conolly, writer on lunacy. 7. Mr. Hardcastle's Church-rate Abolition Bill carried through a second reading by 285 to 252, the Chancellor of the Exchequer expressing it as his opinion that, though Government were not prepared to take up the question, the time had arrived when a settlement might be made acceptable to Churchmen on the one hand and Dissenters on the other. Publication of the Queen's Warrant instituting a new decoration of the "Albert Medal," to be awarded in cases where it shall be considered fit, to such persons as shall endanger their own lives in saving, or endeavouring to save, the lives of others from shipwreck or other perils of the sea. 12.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer introduces the Government Reform Bill. Assuming in his exordium that Reform was emphatically the business of the House of Commons, he reviewed the recent history of the question, explained the difficulties and complications with which it was beset, and argued that from the time now at the disposal of the Parliament the Government were compelled to restrict their labours to a Franchise Bill alone. He proposed first to create an occupation franchise in counties, including houses beginning at 141. rental, and reaching up to 50%-the present occupation franchise; secondly "" to introduce into counties the provision which copyholders and leaseholders within parliamentary boroughs now possess for the purpose of county votes. The third is a savingsbank franchise, which will operate in counties and towns, but which will have a more important operation in the counties. In towns we purpose to place compound householders on the same footing as ratepayers. We propose to abolish tax and rate-paying clauses, and to reduce 10. clear annual value, and to bring in the gross estimate rental from the rate-book as the measure of the value, thus, pro tanto, making the rate-book the register. We propose also to introduce a lodger franchise, both for those persons holding part of a house with separate and independent access, and for those who hold part of a house as inmates of the family of another person. Then there is the 10. clear annual value of apartments without reference to furniture. We propose to abolish the necessity in the case of registered voters for residence at the time of voting. And lastly-I say lastly, because there are some other provisions, but I do not think it needful to trouble the House with them now-we propose to follow the ex. ample set us by the right hon. gentlemen opposite, and the Government of Lord Derby, in 1859, and sustained and supported, I must say, by many great authorities, and to introduce a clause disabling from voting persons who are employed in the Government yards. . . . If issue is taken adversely on the bill, I hope it will be taken directly. I trust it will be taken upon the question whether there is or is not to be an enfranchisement downwards, or if it is to be taken at all. We have felt that to be essential to usefulness; essential to the character and credit not merely of the Government, not merely of party, but of this House, and of successive Parliaments and Governments, who all stand pledged with respect to this question of the representation. We cannot consent to look upon this large addition, considerable although it may be, to the political power of the working classes of this country, as if it were an addition fraught with nothing but danger. We cannot look upon it as the Trojan horse approaching the walls of the sacred city, and filled with armed men, bent upon ruin, plunder, and confiscation. We cannot join in comparing it with that "monstrum infelix "-we cannot say, 'Scandit fatalis machina muros, Fæta armis: mediæque minas illabitur urbi.' I believe that those persons whom we ask you to enfranchise ought rather to be welcomed as you would welcome recruits to your army. Give to those persons new interests in the Constitution-new interests which, by the beneficent working of the laws of nature and Providence, shall beget in them new attachment to the Constitution: for the attachment of the people to the Throne, and to the laws under which they live, is, after all, more than your gold and your silver, more than your fleets and your armies-at once the strength, the glory, and the safety of the land." 13. The adjourned debate on the Reform Bill was resumed in a very full House by Mr. Lowe, who began by referring to the great power which had been won by the House of Commons:-It has outlived, he said, the influence of the Crown. It has shaken off the dictation of the aristocracy. In finance and in taxation it is supreme. But, Sir, in proportion as the powers of this great assembly are great and paramount, is the exploit of amending its Constitution one of the highest and noblest efforts of statesmanship; and to tamper with it lightly, or to deal with it unskilfully, is one of the most signal marks of presumption and folly." Speaking of the present constituencies, he used the following words, which were frequently commented on by the Reforming party in the subsequent agitation: "You have had the opportunity of knowing some of the constituencies of this country, and I ask, if you want venality, ignorance, drunkenness, and the means of intimidation-if you want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where will you go to look for them--to the top or to the bottom? It is ridiculous to blink the fact that, since the Reform Act, great competi tion has prevailed amongst the voters of between ... ... 20/. and 10. rental-the 10%. lodging and beerhouse keepers. We know what sort of persons live in these small houses; we have all had experience of them under the name of 'freemen,' and it would be a good thing if they were disfranchised altogether. The Chancellor of the Exchequer," he concluded, "though he had no time for reasons, had found time for a quotation. It was a quotation of a very curious kind; for, not finding in his large classical repertory anything that would describe the state of perfect bliss which his bill would produce, he was induced to give us one to show what the bill would not do: he saidScandit fatalis machina muros, Fæta armis.' That, said the right hon. gentleman, is not my bill. Now, that is not a very apt quotation; but there was a curious felicity about it which he little dreamed of. The House will remember that among the proofs of the degree in which public opinion was enlisted in the cause of Reform, he stated that this is the fifth Reform Bill which has been brought forward since 1851. Now just attend to the sequel of the quotation. I am no believer, I am happy to say, in the 'sortes Virgilianæ,' but I wish the House to hear what follows: 'O Divum domus Ilium, et inclyta bello Moenia Dardanidûm! quater ipso in limine portæ Substitit, atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere.' But that was not all : Instamus tamen immemores cæcique furore (Cheers and laughter.) I abominate the presage conveyed in these last two lines; but I mix my confidence with fear. I know that I am addressing a new Parliament, whose intentions are as yet hidden under the veil of futurity. It may be that they will not take the advice that was tendered to us with so much eloquence and authority by my right hon. friend; it may be that we are destined to avoid this enormous danger by which we are confronted, and that, to use the language of my right hon. friend, we may not be forced to compound with danger and misfortune. But be otherwise. All I can say is, that if may my right hon. friend succeeds in carrying this measure through Parliament, when the pas sions and interests of the day have gone by I shall not envy his retrospect. I covet not a single leaf of the laurel that may encircle his brow. His be the glory, if such it be, of carrying this measure. Mine be it that, to the very utmost of my ability, I have resisted it."- Mr. Bright said Mr. Horsman was the first member of this new Parliament who had expressed his grief. "He retired into what may be called his political Cave of Adullam, to which he invited every one who was in distress, and every one who was discontented. He has long been anxious to found a party in this House, and there is scarcely a member at this end of the House who is able to address us with effect, or to take much part, whom he has not tried to bring over to his party and his cabal. At last he has succeeded in hooking the right hon. gentleman the member for Calne. I know it was the opinion many years ago of a member of the Cabinet, that two men could make a party; and a party formed of two men so amiable, so genial, as both of those right hon. gentlemen, we may hope to see for the first time in Parliament, a party perfectly har monious, and distinguished by a mutual and unbroken trust. But there is one great difficulty in the way. It is very much like the case of the Scotch terrier that was so covered with hair that you could not tell which was the head and which was the tail. (Laughter.) Now, I said at the beginning that I did not rise to defend the bill. I rose for the purpose of explaining it. It is not the bill which, if I had been consulted by its framers, I should have recommended. If I had been a Minister, it is not the bill which I should have consented to present to the House. I think it is not adequate to the occasion, and that its concessions are not sufficient. But I know the difficulties under which the Ministers labour, and I know the disinclination of Parliament to do much in the direction of this question. I shall give it my support because, as far as it goes, it is a simple and honest measure, and because I believe if it becomes law it will give some solidity and duration to everything that is good in the Constitution, and to everything that is noble in the character of the people of these realms." 17. The morning papers announce that a Conservative gathering was held yesterday at the residence of the Marquis of Salisbury, when it was unanimously agreed that the Government Reform Bill should be opposed. 20.-Day of humiliation in London, appointed by the Bishop of the diocese to be observed on account of the cattle-plague. - Judge Wilde pronounces judgment in the case of Hyde v. Hyde and Woodmansee, in which the plaintiff, formerly a Mormon, sought legal release from the woman with whom he contracted a so-called marriage in Utah, but who declined to follow him when he renounced Mormonism, and betook herself to another man. The question was, whether the connexion could be considered a marriage so as to be voidable by the Court, or whether it was no marriage in the eye of English law. The Judge decided that it was no marriage, and that the petition could not, therefore, be entertained. - Earl Grosvenor gives notice that he intends to move on the second reading of the Reform Bill: "That this House, while ready to consider, with a view to its settlement, the question of Parliamentary Reform, is of opinion that it is inexpedient to discuss a bill for the reduction of the franchise in England and Wales until the House has before it the entire scheme contemplated by Government |