not exceeding on the average from five to five and a half miles an hour (our engineers had been taught by experience to prefer the safe progress of the tortoise to that of the hare), we continued to pay-out the cable from the time of passing overboard the happily-made splice on the morning of September 2nd, until early dawn on the 8th. No fault had occurred, and nothing but the promptings of a natural anxiety that such should not occur had even suggested one; and as the day broke, and a glorious sunrise poured a flood of gold along the wake of the good ship still heading westward, it lighted up a scene of singular peace and beauty. One might well feel its sentiment to be akin to that influence which we may surely hope for the great work so near its accomplishment,-" peace on earth." peace on earth." The long line of broken headlands and cliffs and inland mountains, seen distantly on each side, told us that we were in Trinity bay. In company were her Majesty's ships Terrible and Lily, the Margaretta Stevenson, the Hawk, and the governor of Newfoundland on board the Medway; and the huge Great Eastern, which now for a second time within two months was bearing into the little land bay of Heart's Content a fragile thread of more than golden worth, to be a mighty chain between the old world and the new.

'As if to curb a too exultant feeling, it was some thirteen miles distant from the entrance of our longed-for haven that the only "fault" of any moment occurred. At six o'clock, almost as a message from Ireland was flashing through the wire, the arrow of light became darkness on the scale of the dynamometer-an indication too well known to the electrician-but, thanks to the testing arrangement introduced, and for the first time practised during the present expedition, by Mr. Willoughby Smith, the discovery of "dead earth" (that béte noire of the testing-room) was instantly made; the faulty part of the cable-unlike some defaulters-had not even succeeded in reaching the sea before detection; and to stop the ship's way, to cut the cable just forward of the ship's paying-out machinery, to make a splice with a fresh length coiled in the after-tank, and to recommence paying-out, were a mere matter of loss of the few hours occupied in these operations. Indeed, when we sat down to breakfast in the grand saloon the ship was already under weigh, and the alarm of

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"dead earth" already a matter for a grim "cabalistic " joke.

'By about eleven o'clock we were just off the entrance to Heart's Content, and the large paddle-box boats of the Terrible, which had on the previous occasion rendered such efficient service in landing the shore-end, were brought under the stern of the Great Eastern; the cable was cut and passed to the boats, and these soon conveyed the end to the Medway, on board which ship the shore-end was coiled.'

Towards the close of the year a regrettable accident occurred. On the 30th of December flames burst forth from a paint-room situated in the north-east end of the Crystal Palace, and seized the dry timber of the flooring. As it happened to be Sunday, there were fewer persons than usual about the palace when the fire was discovered, and some time elapsed before a sufficient number could be collected to endeavour to extinguish the flames, which had taken hold of the dry woodwork forming the floor of the palace; and notwithstanding all the efforts that could be made by the employés of the palace and by the members of the firebrigade, who arrived as soon as possible, a large portion of this great and beautiful national structure had been destroyed.

During the autumn and winter of this year the reform agitation was industriously prosecuted. The example set by the metropolis was followed in the provinces, and a very active agitation set on foot, having for its chief object to compel the ministers, in whose reforming intentions the mass of the people placed little confidence, to retire, and make way for another government, which would command the confidence of reformers. The most remarkable of these demonstrations was that held at Birmingham on the 27th of August, attended by Messrs. Bright, Schofield, and Beales, and, as was stated in the journals of the period, by 250,000 persons; at Manchester another monster one was held, the number attending which was variously estimated at from 100,000 to 150,000; and lastly, one at St. James's Hall, London, at which, Mr. Ayrton having censured the Queen for not affording the people, gathered in large numbers in front of her window, some mark of recognition, her majesty was defended by Mr. Bright, who, referring to the words Mr.

Ayrton had used, said: 'I am not accustomed to stand up in defence of those who are possessors of crowns; but I could not sit and hear that observation without a sensation of pain. I think there has been by many persons great injustice done to the Queen in reference to her desolate and widowed position; and I venture to say this, that a woman, be she the queen of a great realm, or be she the wife of one of your labouring men, who can keep alive in her heart a great sorrow for the lost object of her life and affection, is not at all wanting in a great and generous sympathy for you.' These remarks were received with tremendous cheering, which showed that zeal for reform was not mingled in the minds of those who attended the meeting with any feeling of disaffection to the sovereign, or with any desire to subvert monarchical government'; and the loyal feeling that animated the assembly was still farther manifested by its refusal to hear Mr. Ayrton when he attempted to explain the language he had employed.

The

The weather during the year was, on the whole, damp and chilly. The harvest, which commenced with the prospect of a good crop, was retarded and seriously damaged by heavy autumnal rains. Cholera, typhus, and other zymotic diseases made considerable ravages among the population of the kingdom, and especially that of the metropolis. The cattle-plague, which we have seen spreading so rapidly at the beginning of the year, continued to prevail during its earlier months; but gradually yielded to the vigorous measures which were adopted to check its progress. Fenian conspiracy, more injurious to individuals than formidable to the state, prosecuting its objects rather by secret assassination than by open war, had rendered necessary another suspension of the habeas-corpus act in Ireland, and was mainly noticeable as a symptom of the unhealthy condition of the body politic in Ireland, and the necessity of remedies being applied to the evils of that country more searching and more thorough than any that had hitherto been administered.

The year 1867 commenced amidst great pauperism, destitution, and consequent discontent, in many parts of the kingdom, and especially in the eastern portion of its great metropolis. Even in prosperous times these districts of London are sunk in chronic poverty; but in periods of dis

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tress, such as they were now passing through, that poverty became absolute destitution. The monetary derangements which the Russell administration met with so much promptitude and decision were not entirely removed for some time after the crisis had passed, and aggravated fearfully the wretchedness of this part of the metropolis. Thousands were unemployed; and the inclemency of an exceptionally severe winter aggravated the misery which the commercial depression had caused. The disputes between employers and employed; the reduction of wages, which was a natural and necessary consequence of the state of trade, leading to strikes on the one hand, and lock-outs on the other, intensified the suffering. It was computed at this time that at least 30,000 of the inhabitants of this brick-and-mortar wilderness depended on public and private charity for their subsistence. Many of those who were just above them were rapidly sinking to the same level, dragged down not only by the causes that had produced the poverty by which they were surrounded, but by the burden of rates varying from four shillings and sixpence to six shillings and sixpence in the pound, which were indispensably requisite for the support of the pauper population. This state of things necessitated some changes in the poor-law. The great mass of starving labour which crowded these eastern districts was brought there to a great extent for the service of those who dwelt in the wealthier and happier quarters of the great city; and it was only reasonable that they who profited by their labour in times of prosperity should contribute to their support in seasons of adversity.

Owing to divisions of opinion in the cabinet the question of reform had been left in suspense by the government, but at the last moment Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli had succeeded in persuading their colleagues to consent to the introduction of a measure dealing with that difficult question, and inspiring them with the hope that it might be so framed and so carried as to strengthen instead of weakening the conservative party. They were no doubt right; for neither the nation nor the House of Commons would have consented to leave the question any longer in abeyance, and the ministry would not have retained office a single fortnight after the commencement of the session if it had declined to deal with it. But the difficulties they had to contend

went about denouncing the Romish priesthood and the confessional in the coarsest terms, and in a manner that seemed to be expressly designed to rouse the indignation of the lower classes of the Irish Roman Catholics. But whatever may have been the motives of the lecturer, his lectures certainly had the effect which they were calculated to produce. This effect was aggravated by a work entitled The Confessional Unmasked, and which contained the substance of the lectures. In this work Murphy endeavoured to show that the tendency of the system of confession as practised by the Roman Catholic priesthood was highly immoral; and in support of these views he published and distributed by thousands and tens of thousands certain extracts from works intended for the guidance of the Roman Catholic priests in dealing with persons who came to make their confessions to them. It was evident that if the tendency of these works was as mischievous as he represented them to be if whispered in the closets of the confessional, they must be much more widely pernicious if proclaimed from the house-tops; and that if these documents were calculated to suggest evil thoughts when used for the guidance of men of education, they must do far more mischief when they were thrown broadcast, as they were by Mr. Murphy, to women and young children. The pamphlet was ultimately seized under Lord Campbell's act for suppressing indecent publications, and many thousand copies of it were destroyed. But this did not prevent Mr. Murphy from labouring in his mischievous vocation; and, unfortunately for the public tranquillity, the lower orders of the Roman Catholics fell into the snare, intentionally or unintentionally, laid for them; and instead of resolutely treating the lecturer with contempt, and leaving him to harangue empty benches, they made him notorious by breaking out into violence and tumult, and thus drew large audiences to listen to his trashy lectures. In this way disturbances were caused at Wolverhampton, Wednesbury, and other places which he visited. At Birmingham the mayor, finding that disturbances had arisen wherever he appeared, refused to allow him the use of the townhall. Murphy and his friends, however, were not to be thus baffled. They erected a large wooden building, in which the Protestant lecturer,