16.-The brigantine Ruth blown up off Erith. She had on board 2,000 barrels of petroleum and 100 barrels of resin. -- - In opening the German Parliament, the Emperor William explained at some length the recent friendly negotiations with Austria. "The German Empire," he said, "and the Austro-Hungarian Imperial State are, by their geographical position and their historical development, so forcibly and in so manifold a manner called upon to entertain friendly and neighbourly relations with each other, that the fact of these relations having ceased to be troubled by the reminiscence of conflicts which were the undesirable inheritance of the last thousand years, will be received by the entire German nation with sincere satisfaction. hearty reception which I, as representative of this Empire, received in every part of the great Fatherland, and which has filled me with joyful satisfaction, but, above all, with thanks to God for the blessings which will in future not fail to our constant and honest endeavours, is a pledge that such satisfaction will, in view of the complete development of the German Empire, be felt by the great majority of the nation." Dr. Livingstone arrives at Ujiji. The 17.-Unveiling of the statue erected to the memory of Dean Alford in a niche of the west front of Canterbury Cathedral. Archbishop Sumner's Memorial Schools at Lambeth opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 18.-Died at his residence, Manchester Square, aged 79, Charles Babbage, F.R.S., mathematician, and inventor of the "calculating machine." Total destruction by fire of Ashton Brothers' cotton mill at Hayfield, Derbyshire. A few hours later a similar building in Glasgow, belonging to Houston and Co., was also destroyed. 19.-Reform banquet in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, presided over by Earl Granville. _Regarding the new social movement, the Foreign Secretary said it was perfectly clear "there is a mistake and inaccuracy with regard to certain peers and distinguished commoners having signed in private certain resolutions; but we are in the dark, on the other hand, as to what was the character of those negotiations which Lord Salisbury informed the public through the press had been confidentially communicated to him. All I can say is, that whatever their character may be, I feel no alarm. I shall, on the contrary, rejoice if those who hitherto have shown too much opposition until the very last moment to the Parliamentary rights of the working classes -those who offered a consistent opposition to those great principles of freedom of trade which nowhere come so alive to one's under standing as sitting in this magnificent hall-I shall rejoice if, acting upon sound principles, they come forward and give hands to the working classes, and thereby greatly facilitate the work which, not only her Majesty's present Government, but, I am sure, all successive Governments will have to undertake, which is the solution of many of the most pressing social questions of the day." 19. Various pretended biographies of Mr. Disraeli making reference to his early connection with the press, he causes his solicitors to make intimation that he had never at any time edited any newspaper, review, magazine, or other periodical publication, and rarely contributed to any, nor has he at any time received or required any remuneration for anything he has ever written, except for those works which bear his name. 21. A jury sitting in Salt Lake City, Utah, return a verdict of guilty against a Mormon named Hawkins charged with polygamy. The announcement created much excitement. Counsel for the plaintiff moved that the defendant be taken into custody, and the motion was resisted by the defendant's attorney. The prosecution, however, were firm in their demand that the case should take the ordinary course, and the United States marshal was accordingly directed to hold Hawkins a prisoner. Time was allowed to prepare a motion for a new trial and arrest of judgment. The penalty prescribed by the Utah statute for the crime of adultery is imprisonment for not over twenty years nor less than three years, or a fine of not over 1,000 dols., or both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. 22.-Died in his 80th year, Sir Roderick Murchison, for many years the esteemed President of the Geological and Geographical Societies. 23. Mr. Gladstone writes to Sir George Pollock that, if it was agreeable to him to accept the office of Constable of the Tower, vacant by the death of Sir John Burgoyne: "I shall be very happy to submit your name for her Majesty's approval. And I beg that you will consider the proposal I now make as one due solely to your public services and distinction. I have not yet forgotten the description given of those services by Sir Robert Peel when head of the Government, at the climax of your military career, after the catastrophe in Affghanistan had been covered, through your exertions, with a merited and conspicuous success. But it is a great pleasure to me to have an opportunity, after the lapse of so many years, of again tendering to you a mark of honour which I feel confident will have, if accepted by you, the gracious sanction of her Majesty, and the cordial approbation of the country." The appointment was accepted, and gazetted Nov. 14. 24.-Newcastle College of Physical Science, in connection with the University of Durham, opened by the Dean of Durham. 25. The Mansion House Fund for the relief of the Chicago sufferers reported to have reached 41, 1897. Colliery explosion at Seaham, Durham, causing the death of thirty men. 28.--Mr. Gladstone addresses his constituents in an open-air meeting at Blackheath, dwelling chiefly on the important measures of the past session - abolition of purchase, education, and the ballot. In criticizing the new social movement the Prime Minister admitted that much still remained to be done, though he was of opinion that law could not do all that was promised. "Let the Government labour to its utmost; let the Legislature labour days and nights in your service; but, after the very best has been attained and achieved, the question whether the English father is to be the father of a happy family and the centre of a united home is a question which must depend mainly upon himself. And those who propose to you-whoever they may be-schemes like those seven points of which I have spoken; those who promise to the dwellers in towns that every one of them shall have a house and garden in free air, with ample space; those who tell you that there shall be markets for selling at wholesale prices retail quantities—I won't say are impostors, because I have no doubt they are sincere ; but I will say they are quacks." 30.--The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Scarborough, on a visit to Lord Londesborough. on the expense of Royalty, in which he severely criticized the expenditure of the Royal household, and declared that the Queen, in spite of a promise given to Parliament, had not been in the habit of paying Income-tax. This statement was afterwards disproved by Mr. Lowe. A few days later Sir Charles, in a speech at Bristol, declared himself a Republican. 6. The Master of the Rolls delivers judgment in the suit Peek v. Gurney and others, in which the plaintiff sought to render the surviving directors of that company and the executors of a deceased director jointly and severally liable for the amount of the loss sustained by him through his purchase of shares to the amount of about 100,000/. in the company. After an elaborate summing up his Lordship dismissed the bill, but without costs, owing to the gross misconduct of the directors in issuing a false prospectus as to the state of the bank. 7.-Legal changes. Sir Robert Collier gazetted a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, preparatory to his removal to the Judicial Committee of Privy Council. was succeeded as Attorney-General by Sir John Coleridge, Mr. Jessel stepping into the office thus vacant of Solicitor-General. He Monument at Vienna erected to the memory of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico unveiled in presence of the Emperor Francis Joseph, the Archdukes, Ministers, and a large body of spectators. Lord Dufferin gazetted a peer of the United Kingdom, by the title of Viscount Clandeboye, of Clandeboye, in the county of Down, and Earl of Dufferin, in the county of Down. 8. The "fall" elections in the United States announced to have resulted in large Republican gains. The Tammany candidates in New York were defeated by large majorities. Count Beust resigns his position as Chancellor of Austria, and accepts the London Embassy. Other changes took place in the Austrian Cabinet at this time, chiefly in connection with the refusal of the Emperor to concede the demands made by the Czechs of Bohemia, for a separate Parliament on the Hungarian model. Count Hohenwart, who favoured the Bohemian claim, resigned his position as Prime Minister in favour of Prince Udolf Auersperg, a leader of the old Liberal party. Count Beust was succeeded by Count Andrassy, and Count Lonyay became Prime Minister of Hungary. 9.-Commenced at Portsmouth, on board the Duke of Wellington, a court-martial on Captain Thrupp and officers of the Megara. The inquiry was continued till the 17th, when the Court found the captain was "fully justified in beaching the ship, and that he would not have been justified in continuing his course to Australia, and doth therefore acquit him of all blame in respect to it. The Court is further of opinion that no blame whatever is attributable to her officers and men under trial, hereinbefore named, for the stranding and loss of her Majesty's ship Megara, and doth therefore acquit them of all blame, and the said captain and other officers and men are hereby acquitted accordingly." 10. After a trial extending over eleven days Robert Kelly is acquitted by the jury of the murder of Head-Constable Talbot in the open street, and after a threat that he intended to take the life of his victim, in retaliation for having acted the part of an informer against the Fenians. An elaborate attempt was made to show that death did not result directly from the wound, but from unskilful surgical treat ment. "I Lord Chief Justice Cockburn remonstrates, in the name of the Bench and Bar, with Mr. Gladstone on the contemplated removal of the Attorney General first to the Common Pleas and then to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, as a subterfuge and evasion of the Act of Parliament passed last August, regulating the appointment. Disowning any desire to disparage the personal merits of Sir R. Collier, the Lord Chief Justice described the obvious meaning of the Act in question, and pointed out that no exception was made therein in favour of any law officer of the Crown. cannot help thinking," he wrote, "what would have been the language in which the Court of Queen's Bench would have expressed its opinion if such an evasion of a statute had been attempted for the purpose of qualifying an individual for a municipal office, and the case had been brought before it on an information in the nature of quo warranto. In the present instance, the Legislature having settled the qualification for the newly-created office, momentarily to invest a party, otherwise not qualified, with a qualifying office, not that he shall hold the latter, but that he may be immediately transferred to the former, appears to me, I am bound to say, to be nothing less than the manufacture of a qualification, not very dissimilar in character to the manufacture of qualifications such as we have known practised in other instances in order to evade the law. . . . From every member of the legal profession with whom I have been brought into contact in the course of the last few days, I have met with but one expression of opinion as to the proposed step-an opinion, to use the mildest term I can select, of strong and unqualified condemnation. Such I can take upon myself to say is the unanimous opinion of the profession. I have never in my time known of so strong or universal an expression, I had almost said explosion, of opinion.' Mr. Gladstone replied that as the transaction was a joint one, and the completed part of it the act of the Lord Chancellor, the letter had been sent to him. The Lord Chief Justice then "I wrote:"My objection to the present appointment of Sir Robert Collier is not an objection to the appointment in se, but as being intended to create a factitious qualification for a seat on the Judicial Committee. It was because its ulterior object was to be your act that I took the liberty of addressing myself to you. Had I objected to the part of the transaction already completed, I should have addressed my observations to the Lord Chancellor.' The Lord Chancellor in reply defended the appointment as made with a full knowledge on his part of Mr. Gladstone's intention to promote the Attorney-General to the Judicial Committee. have thus acted advisedly, and with the conviction that the arrangement was justified as regards both its fitness and its legality. I take upon myself the responsibility of thus concurring with Mr. Gladstone, and am prepared to vindicate the course pursued. You will not, I trust, think that I am wanting in respect if I reserve my explanation for a more suitable opportunity than could be afforded by a correspondence with yourself, either directly or through the medium of Mr. Gladstone." The Lord Chief Justice closed the correspondence with the remark that while he freely admitted he was "not entitled to any explanation of the course you have determined to adopt, I must in candour say that I think I might have expected that grave objections to a proceeding connected with the administration of justice, coming from one holding the office I have the honour to fill, would have received somewhat more consideration, and would not have been dismissed in quite so summary a manner. Under the circumstances, while you reserve your explanation till a fitting opportunity shall arise, so I, on my part, must reserve to myself the right to make public, when I may deem it proper, the fact of my protest and the grounds on which it is founded, as stated in my letter to Mr. Gladstone." 10. Henry M. Stanley, a travelling correspondent, sent out by the proprietor of the New York Herald, discovers Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji. As the procession of native guides and assistants entered the town, Mr. Stanley observed a group of Arabs on the right, in the centre of which was a pale-looking, greybearded, white man, whose fair skin contrasted with the sun-burnt visages of those by whom he was surrounded. Passing from the rear of the procession to the front, the American traveller noticed that the white man was clad in a red woollen jacket, and wore upon his head a naval cap, with a faded gilt band. In an instant he recognised the European as none other than Dr. Livingstone himself; but a dignified Arab chieftain, standing by, confirmed Mr. Stanley in a resolution to show no symptom of rejoicing or excitement. Slowly advancing towards the great traveller, he bowed, and said, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" to which address the latter, who was fully equal to the occasion, simply smiled and replied, "Yes." It was not till some hours afterwards, when alone together, seated on a goatskin, that the two white men exchanged those congratulations which both were eager to express, and recounted their respective difficulties and adventures. On the 20th they left Ujiji, and explored the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, confirming by a second inspection the observations which Dr. Livingstone had previously made; and after twenty-eight days thus pleasantly spent, they returned to Ujiji, and there passed Christmas Day together. On the 26th of December, they left for Unyanyembe, and, arriving there, stayed together till March 14, when Mr. Stanley, entrusted with letters from Dr. Livingstone, started for the coast, leaving the explorer to trace out the sources of the Lualaba. Mr. Stanley handed over to him 2,788 yards of various kinds of cloths, 992 lbs. of beads, 350 lbs. of brass wire, a waterproof tent, an air-bed, a canvas boat, a bag of carpenter's tools, arms and ammunition, cooking utensils, a medicine chest, and a sextant; forming altogether about forty loads. Dr. Livingstone also found thirty-three loads of his own stores, and Mr. Stanley calculated that the Doctor was thus supplied with sufficient to last him four years. He required a few additional articles from Zanzibar, especially a good watch and other instruments, and fifty trustworthy men as carriers. These Mr. Stanley undertook to send up from Zanzibar, and set out for the coast with Livingstone's journal and letters on the 13th of March. He performed the march of 535 miles, wading through swamps, across torrents, and wearily tramping through dense jungle, in thirty-five days, and reached Bagamozyo on the 6th of May. Thus was this great work completed, a service for the performance of which Mr. Stanley earned and received the most cordial recognition from the Queen and people of England, and especially from the President and Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society. 11. Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University, by a majority of 92 votes over Sir Roundell Palmer. 13. Mr. Pigott, an Irish newspaper proprietor, sentenced to four months' imprisonment for publishing comments in the Irishman, tending to bring the law officers of the Crown into contempt, and insinuating that Kelly, even if he was guilty, had not gone beyond his duty in shooting Head-constable Talbot. 15. Mr. Disraeli elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University by a majority of 134 votes over Mr. Ruskin. 16.-Earl Russell, writing from Cannes, expresses his approval of the object of the Education League in so far as it contended for the unsectarian character of rate-aided schools. He was not of opinion that the Bible, when read, should be read without note or comment; "but I think this is a point of so much difficulty, and there is so much danger of slipping into sectarian comments on the part of teachers, that I do not wonder at the opinion expressed by the League. My wish and hope is that the rising youth of England may be taught to adopt, not the Church of Rome or the Church of England, but the Church of Christ. The teaching of Christ, whether dogmatic or not, is to be found in the Bible, and those who in their infancy read the Bible may, at their own choice, when they reach the age of fifteen or sixteen years, follow the teaching of the Church of Rome or of any Protestant community they may prefer. In this manner Christianity may be purged of the corruptions which, in the course of time, and amid the conflicts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have stained its purity, and perverted its spirit of love and charity." On this the Church Herald remarked: "There can be no importance attached to anything that so perverse and vicious an old Whig as Lord Russell can say on religious teaching." 17. Speaking at Lenzie, near Glasgow, on the subject of her Majesty's health, the state of which had lately caused considerable anxiety, Dr. Norman Macleod, lately returned from Balmoral, said he had never seen the remotest trace of any moral or mental weakness, but in every instance remarkable evidence of moral and mental strength and capacity. "Her Majesty has just passed through a severe attack of rheumatic gout, which so affected her hands that for a time she was utterly unable to sign her name, and from a severe neuralgia from which she has entirely recovered, and I have never seen her better in spirits or better in health or stronger in mind than she is at the present moment. At the same time, I am far from saying that she has recovered her strength so as to be able to do more than she is doing; for I make bold to say that none of us have the slightest conception of the unceasing demand that is made upon a person in her high position of attending to innumerable details and carrying burdens upon her mind without the possibility of one moment's rest. No one who knows the Queen but knows she would do all that it is possible for her to do, and no one who knows her but is amazed at her extraordinary considerateness for every one, how she occupies her thought upon every subject, and how she attends to such minute details of duty. I will take it upon me to say that the case of the poorest subject in her kingdom, if made known to her, would receive her immediate attention." -The Spanish Minister, Zorrilla, having been defeated in the Cortes, tenders his resignation, which the King refuses to accept, and suspends the sittings of the Cortes. untoward speculations in the Wicklow Copper Mine Company. 22.-Illness of the Prince of Wales, a telegram from Sandringham intimating that he had been prevented paying a visit to the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, by a chill resulting in a febrile attack which confined him to his room. Next day it was announced that the symptoms were not severe, but indicated an attack of typhoid fever. Mr. Bates, a Conservative candidate, returned for Plymouth by 1,753 votes against 1,511 given to Mr. Rooker, Liberal. 24.--7,000l. reported to have been collected in London in aid of the starving inhabitants of Bushire, Yezd, and other Persian towns. So terrible was this calamity that in some districts it was calculated one-third of the population had died from starvation, and two-thirds of the cattle and beasts of burden. 25.--Riotous proceedings at Dover, arising out of the election carried by the SolicitorGeneral, Mr. Jessel, against Mr. Barnett, a Conservative candidate. -Disorderly meeting at Bolton, called to hear Mr. Dilke, M. P., criticize the functions and expense of Royalty. Similar disgraceful gatherings took place at Derby and Birmingham. 26.--The Count of Girgenti, brother of the ex-King of Naples, commits suicide by shooting himself in a room in the Hôtel du Cygne, Lucerne. 28.-Execution of Communist Generals. Rossel, Ferré, and Bourgeois were shot this morning at a quarter past seven, in front of the Artillery Butts at Satory, in the presence of 3,000 men belonging to the regular army. The intention having been kept perfectly secret, there were scarcely any other spectators present. All three behaved with great courage. Rossel and Bourgeois had their eyes bandaged, but Ferré refused to be blindfolded. Rossel was killed instantly, but Ferré and Bourgeois received the coup de grâce after the volley. After the execution the troops defiled past the three corpses. The execution of Rossel, known to be a brave soldier, enthusiastic and intelligent in his profession, gave rise to much severe criticism against the Versailles Government. Died, aged 67, Marshal Benedek, an Austrian General of experience in Italian campaigns, and commander of the forces at Sadowa. 28.-Came on before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the appeal of the Church Association against the sentence delivered by Sir Robert Phillimore on the 23rd of July, 1870, acquitting the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, Vicar of Frome, of the charge of erroneous doctrine on the subject of the Real Presence, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and Adoration. 29.-The Queen proceeds to Sandringham on a visit to the Prince of Wales. An afternoon bulletin reported that his Royal Highness had passed a quiet day, the symptoms continuing without alteration. The Times mentions to-day that his illness dated from the recent visit to Lord Londesborough, and was likely to have arisen from poison generated by sewage. Others of the party had since been attacked by typhoid symptoms, one of them-Lord Chesterfield with unusual severity. The Prince's case was thought likely to run for twenty-four days. 30.-Explosion of a cartridge factory within the Fort of Agra, causing the death of Conductor Ware, his son, Sergeant Upton, and twenty-three native workmen. The 3. Fire at Warwick Castle. The flames, first noticed in Lady Warwick's apartments, early in the morning, speedily extended over the whole east wing, between the grand entrance hall and the domestic offices adjoining Cæsar and Guy's Towers. This portion of the castle was completely gutted, and only the outer walls with charred and smouldering rubbish left. The fire then spread across the grand staircase, and reached the great hall, of which only the bare walls remained. At four o'clock the fire was burning so fiercely that it was feared the red drawing-room would also be destroyed. Preparations were therefore made for the worst by stripping this and the adjoining apartments of their rare treasures. tapestry round the state bedroom, made in Brussels in 1694, was wrenched from the wall and carried to a place of security, together with the portraits of "Queen Anne," by Kneller, the Earl of Essex," by Zucchero, and other rare paintings. The pictures by Rembrandt, Holbein, Rubens, Vandyke, Titiens, Salvator Rosa, Sir Peter Lely, and Carracci's "Dead Christ" were also taken down. The costly tables and treasures in the cabinets were carried to the remotest corner of the Castle, ready to be again moved in case of necessity. Fortunately, the efforts of the firemen practically arrested the fire at the end of the great hall, though the red drawing-room was slightly damaged about the roof and by water. The |