8

THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE.

of certain printed sermons, numbered 1, 2, 3, and of the whom were the unfortunate boys, from venturing upon documents annexed, declare their unanimous opinion-it. Their bodies were taken to the Westminster HosFirst, that as respects the preaching and publication, pital, and three of them were identified as being John or making known and public, the above sermons by the Linton, aged 15, of York-place, Southwark; George venerable the Archdeacon of Taunton, within the Adwards, aged 16, of Wilsted-street, Somers-town; A fatal Railway Accident happened on the Eastern diocese of Bath and Wells, there are sufficient primâ and John Hutton, aged 14, of Penton-place, Walworth. facie grounds for instituting further proceedings. Secondly, the commissioners, having carefully examined Counties line on the 30th ult. at a place called Twomail to pass. up the aforesaid sermons, and the charges specified in the mile-bottom near Thetford. A special cattle-train left commission, declare their unanimous opinion that the Norwich at ten minutes after nine at night, and was proposition of the venerable the Archdeacon, that to all shunted at Attleborough to allow the who come to the Lord's table, to those who eat and This latter having gone by, the cattle-train was allowed drink worthily and to those who eat and drink un- to proceed after the lapse of the usual time. The mail worthily, the body and blood of Christ are given, and train came to a stand at Two-mile-bottom, in consequence that by all who come to the Lord's table, by those who of the breaking of the gib of one of the connecting rods eat and drink worthily and by those who eat and drink of the engine. When the train was brought to a stand unworthily, the body and blood of Christ are received, Colman, the guard, went up to the engineman, who is directly contrary or repugnant to the doctrine of the told him to go back immediately and stop the advancing Church of England, and especially to the articles of train, as he should be three quarters of an hour before religion; and that the doctrines as set forth in the he would be able to proceed. Colman appears to have aforesaid sermons, with reference to the real presence, gone out and placed down two fog signals only at a disin the holy eucharist, are unsupported by the articles tance of 450 yards from the point of obstruction. He taken in their literal and grammatical sense, are next, it appears, went a few yards further back and contrary to the doctrines and teaching of the Church of exhibited his hand lamp. In the meantime the special England, and have a very dangerous tendency. The cattle train passed him, and ran into the mail-train. commissioners are therefore of opinion, secondly, that Burton the engine-driver of the mail-train was killed on there is sufficient primà facie ground for instituting the spot. Mr. Meagher, an undertaker from London, further proceedings. The commissioners at the same time was so much injured that he died soon after. The Rev. think due to the venerable the Archdeacon to state, Mr. Hepsworth of Botesdale in Suffolk, had two ribs. that in the sermons under consideration he has expressed broken and his head bruised, and several other persons his full assent and consent to the articles of religion; were hurt. An inquest has been held on the bodies, and that he has ex animo condemned the doctrines of and the following verdict returned “That the deaths the church of Rome, and particularly the Roman of John Burton and Robert Meagher were caused by the inefficiency of the Eastern Counties Company's rules, in doctrine of transubstantiation." allowing a heavily-laden cattle-train to follow after the mail-train at unlimited speed, without telegraphic communication from the succeeding station,"-that is, a notification from the station in advance that the first train had passed it.

At the Middlesex Sessions, on the 9th, Frederick Golden, a youth of eighteen, pleaded guilty to Picking a Pocket. He is a known and convicted thief; and told the committing magistrate that he had no means of getting a living-his father was in the navy, but he had never seen him since he was a year and a half old. Addressing the chairman of sessions, he said: I wish you would send me into the navy, or abroad somewhere. If you were to let me out, I should be hunted down, because I am a thief. I would live honestly if I could but I cannot; and I must live somehow, and so I have to thieve. I wish you would be so kind as to send me out of the country. Mr. Witham said, in the former war they sent all the rogues and vagabonds they could As to this into the navy; but they did not do so now. prisoner's request, he had no power to send him abroad Prisoner : I hope you will, sir. or into the navy. Mr. Witham: All I can do will be to sentence you to fifteen years' transportation; but if I do so I am not at Prisoner: I all sure that they will send you out. Mr. hope you will be so kind as to do that, sir. Witham: Well, then, the sentence upon you is that you be transported beyond the seas for fifteen years: but you must not make sure that you will be sent out. Prisoner (walking away from the bar delighted): Thank you, sir; thank you, sir!

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

A FATAL and distressing Accident happened at Leith.
A party had assembled in the house of an eminent
merchant, and while amusing themselves in the drawing-
room, at a late hour in the evening, two young gentlemen,
one of them the son of the host, commenced in dalliance
to fence with a couple of swords, when either by an awk-
ward thrust, or some accidental slip or push, the short
sword used by the latter entered his friend's side under
the right bowel, and inflicted a mortal wound. He lin-
gered for some days before he expired. The unfortunate
young man was also the son of a most respectable mer-
chant in Leith; he had only lately entered on business,
and gave high promise of becoming one of the foremost
mercantile men of the place.

On Saturday evening the 20th inst. four lads were
Drowned while Skating in St. James's Park. The ice,
where the accident happened, had been marked "dan-
gerous," but this did not prevent a rash crowd, among

Another Railway Accident took place on the night of the 3rd inst. on the Great Northern line, at a short distance beyond the Leeds central station, to the train The train was passing over a crosswhich leaves that town at 6.25 P.M., and arrives at Doncaster at 8-10 P.M. ing on one of the viaducts, when the first carriage behind the engine struck against the points, and was immediately detached from the train by the breaking of the coupling irons, and thrown over the viaduct, forty feet high. In the carriage was the Recorder of Doncaster, Mr. R. Hall, who was travelling to that town to preside at the sessions on the following morning. His right leg and shoulder were fractured, and he was very much bruised by the fall of the carriage, which was smashed to pieces. There were two or three other persons in the carriage, who were also much injured. Mr. Hall was so much injured that an order was forwarded to Doncaster to adjourn the sessions for one month. The other part of the train was after some delay despatched on its journey.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

THERE are four societies in London for employing.
boys from the Ragged Schools as Shoeblacks, posted in
On Thursday evening, the 11th instant, all
the streets.
the boys, more than 190 in number, were assembled at
a united tea-party in Exeter-hall, dressed in their re-
spective uniforms-red, blue, yellow, and dark-blue.
The Earl of Shaftesbury presided, and expressed the
high satisfaction with which he regarded the rapid pro-
gress of this movement. These societies were at once
educational, industrial, and reformatory, and they ex-
ercised an influence, through some fifty ragged schools,
over a large and important, but hitherto neglected, class
of people. The first-formed society (the boys of which
wore a red uniform) had succeeded so well, and had
established its financial position so satisfactorily, as to
induce the formation of three other bodies, all conducted
on the same plan and for similar purposes. Thus, the
The earnings
number of the shoeblacks in London had been doubled
during the last six months, and seven or eight other
towns had also begun to employ them.

of the boys of the original society were stated to be 10s. per week, even at this, the most unfavourable season of the year; and by their healthy and cheerful appearance, it might be judged how well they were cared for and instructed. Several hymns were sung in chorus, accompanied by the organ, and after addresses from one or two friends of the institution had been listened to, a testimonial, in the shape of a handsome silver-topped cane, was presented by the boys of the red brigade to their superintendent. The shoeblacks, preceded by their banners, and loudly cheering, then marched off to their dormitories, and the meeting dispersed, every one being greatly pleased with the good behaviour of the boys, and the evidence thus afforded of the results of religious and moral training when combined with active industry.

The Belfast Mercury gives a hopeful view of the Progress of Ireland. There is a decidedly increasing energy among the farmers, which it attributes to the infusion of skill and capital from Scotland and England, and to the habits of industry induced by the absence of political agitation: "During the last three years," it continues, "the sale of farm stock in Tipperary and Galway has arisen from 1,440,000l. to about 2,000,000l. in the one case, and from 1,380,000l. to about 1,900,000l. in the other. Cattle of the finest descriptions are now to be seen in each of these localities. In three different periods the number of cattle and sheep owned by Ireland's agriculturalists stood as follows:-1841, 1,863,116 cattle; 2, 102, 183 sheep.-1851, 2,967,471 cattle; 2,122,121 sheep.-1853, 3,383,309 cattle; 3,142,656 sheep. Not less satisfactory is the decrease of pauperism and the almost total absence of agrarian outrage.'

Throughout the metropolis the deaths in the present year were at the rate of 45 in 10,000; in 1849 the rate was 60 in 10,000. The following passage in Mr. Simon's report will show its object:-"It has been my principal aim in this report briefly to set before you the coincidence of two facts-1. That you have suffered from cholera below your former mortality in the proportion of 211 to 728, below the metropolitan mortality in the proportion of 16 to 45, and even below the lighter mortality on the north side of the Thames (from Hampstead to the river) in the proportion of 16 to 26. 2. That for many months before the outbreak of cholera there had been extensively prosecuted through the entire city such attainable sanitary measures as you deemed the best protection against disease. Beyond this collation of facts it is hitherto most difficult to argue. The laws of epidemic visitation are very imperfectly known to us. Partly we have learnt the conditions which augment their local spoil, but nothing of what evokes their slumbering power, nothing of what governs their world-wide spread, nothing of what determines their eventual decline, nothing of what permits their fitful mildness. In this domain of unknown, perhaps unconjectured influences, science would count it irreverence and temerity to dogmatise on single instances of correlation, or to speak of the impure impulses of that wandering plague as though they were the strokes of some machine subject to the guidance of one's human will." But although cholera is called capricious, because many populations, despite great filthiness, have suffered little retribution, yet Mr. Simon believes that in the great harmonies of nature there is no place for accident or caprice; and that scientific insight, the fruit of larger observation, will ultimately enable us to arrive at some conclusion.

At the opening of the Birmingham Borough Sessions, last week, Mr. M. D. Hill, the recorder, took for the subject of his charge to the Grand Jury, the Influence The annual festival in aid of the funds of the Comof Intemperance upon the Nation; and sought a mercial Travellers' School, took place on the 30th ult, remedy in such a measure as the Maine Liquor Law. at the London Tavern. Mr. Charles Dickens presided, But he did not advocate the immediate and arbitrary and was supported by several other literary gentlemen, prohibition of intoxicating liquors. On the contrary, including Mr. Peter Cunningham, Mr. Horace Mayhew, he showed from the course of history, that prohibitions, and Mr. Albert Smith. The presence of these gentlemen in the teeth of public opinion, are inoperative and appeared to have been a great attraction to the comvicious in their effects; and he arrived at these con-mercial friends of the institution, for nearly 240 guestsclusions-"That laws affecting the daily habits of life double the anticipated number-sat down to dinner. can never be enforced unless they have the hearty After dinner, the usual loyal toasts having been drunk, consent of the people at large, as evinced by the opinions the chairman proposed "Prosperity to the Commercial of a majority vastly preponderating in numbers and in Travellers' Schools," in an excellent speech. Mr. Moore, every other element of power over the dissentients. the treasurer, whose exertions on behalf of the institution We have made the discovery, or rather the truth has were specially alluded to by the chairman, gave an acbeen forced upon our attention, that the traffic in count of the funds. He stated that the building fund alcoholic drinks obeys that great law of political already reached 16,500l., and 5,000l. more would comeconomy which regulates all other commerce, namely, plete it. To obtain that sum he invited the generous that any interference with the free action of manu- co-operation of all present. The children at present in facturer, importer, or purchaser, diminishes consumption. the school, 152 in number, were then introduced, and Whether the restriction has revenue for its object, as in their healthy and contented appearance bore testimony the imposition of duties, or whether it has morals and to the attention paid to their personal comforts. The good order for its purpose, as in regulations respecting results of the evening's subscription were announced by the number of vendors or the hours during which they the secretary to amount to about 8007. may exercise their vocation, still the effect is found to be the same diminution of the quantity consumed. But the restrictions must not only be imposed by the Legislature, they must be carried into effect by the ministers of the law; and that they should be effective, they must not be opposed by a dominant public opinion." Mr. Hill pointed out that the Maine Liquor Law has been adopted in six States of the American Union; that in its operation it has diminished pauperism and emptied prisons; and that no State where it has been once adopted has abandoned the measure. But he also pointed out, that it was imposed and enforced by public opinion alone. In England, (he observed) not less than fifty millions sterling, if not more, is annually expended upon intoxicating drinks; while only five millions are spent on literature, including newspapers!

An interesting Report on the Cholera Epidemic of 1854, in so far as it affected the City of London, has been laid before the City Court of Sewers by Mr. Simon, the medical officer of health. From this document it appears that the cholera of the last year was less fatal in the metropolis, and greatly less in the city, than the visitation of 1849. In 1849, there died in the city 728 persons; in 1854, only 211, or 16 in 10,000, a reduction of 71 per cent on the previous mortality.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

THE QUEEN has addressed the following letter to Mr. Sidney Herbert, and through him to Mrs. Herbert, to whom it was transmitted to Miss Nightingale: "Windsor Castle, Dec. 6, 1854. Would you tell Mrs. Herbert that I begged she would let me see frequently the accounts she receives from Miss Nightingale or Mrs. Bracebridge, as I hear no details of the wounded, though I see so many from officers, &c., about the battle-field, and naturally the former must interest me more than any one. Let Mrs. Herbert also know that I wish Miss Nightingale and the ladies would tell these poor noble wounded and sick men that NO ONE takes a warmer interest, or feels more for their sufferings, or admires their courage and heroism MORE, than their Queen. Day and night she thinks of her beloved troops. So does the Prince. Beg Mrs. Herbert to communicate these my words to those ladies, as I know that our sympathy is much valued by these noble fellows.VICTORIA."

General Sir De Lacy Evans has received a congratu latory address, accompanied with a sword valued at 150

10

guineas, from the inhabitants of the united parliament- the Sultan has been pleased to confer upon him, in ap-
ary boroughs of Hythe, Folkestone, and Sandgate. The probation of his distinguished bravery and good conduct
presentation was made on the 22nd inst., by a deputa- at the passage of the Danube on the 7th of July last,
tion headed by Mr. Brockman, the Member for the and subsequently in rescuing the body of his command-
district. In replying to the address, General Evans ing officer, Lieutenant Burke, after he had fallen; and
said: "It was impossible we could always have a perfect that he may enjoy all the rights and privileges thereunto
war establishment on a military scale. We had happily annexed; provided, nevertheless, that her Majesty's
enjoyed 40 years of peace, and opinions would not admit said license and permission do not authorise, and shall
of the continued maintenance of a large standing army. not be deemed or construed to authorise the assumption
He would recall to their minds the many military wars of any style, appellation, rank, or precedence, appertain-
in which this country had been engaged, and it would ing unto a Knight Bachelor of these realms. And also
be found that the British forces seldom attained decisive to command that her Majesty's said concession and
success until at least a third campaign had set in. He especial mark of her royal favour be registered, together
might instance the war which immediately followed the with the relative documents, in her Majesty's College
breaking out of the French Revolution. England was of Arms."
great and powerful as a commercial nation, and he had
no doubt that the present contest would be brought to a
termination as decisive in its results as it would be
glorious to British arms. The army sent to the Crimea,
though young, had vindicated the honour of its country.
There was no other army to send. It was young, but
it had done its duty. Many mistakes in details had cer-
tainly occurred, but they had been the result of inexpe-
rience. No want of judgment, in his mind, had been
evinced by any officer of that staff in which he had had
the honour of holding an humble post." He added, in
answer to a remark from one of the deputation, that
"he had of late read many statements on the condition
of the troops. It was not his province, on that occasion,
to enter into this question; but he had no objection to
say one thing, and that was, that when he left head-
quarters the army was not in the condition described in
some reports. More he could not say. He would again
remind them that at the commencement of a war many
mistakes generally took place, and after 40 years' peace
such mistakes ought not to occasion much surprise."

The Marquis of Clanricarde, and his son Lord Dun-
kellin, are profuse in their expressions of gratitude to
the Czar for the release of the latter from his captivity
with
as a prisoner of war, in Russia. The Marquis expresses
the "
lively gratitude and profound emotion
which he is inspired by the "kind and gracious recol-
lection" which the Czar "has been pleased to preserve
of him. "The order which the Emperor has issued in
regard to my son is perfectly in harmony with the per-
sonal goodness that his Majesty formerly exhibited
towards me, and which I can never forget. I have
motives for thinking that no one can better comprehend
than his Imperial Majesty the public duties which under
unfortunate circumstances are required of us." Lord
Dunkellin is not less grateful: addressing the Governor
of Kaluga, he says: "This magnanimity, which restores
me to complete freedom, and unconditionally, is really
the act of a great man; and although I shall never be
in a situation to express to him my whole gratitude with
words, I nevertheless pray you to have the kindness to
inform the Minister of War how deeply I am moved by
the noble and magnanimous conduct of his Majesty the
Emperor. My heart will never forget it. An agreeable
recollection will always remain in it of my short, and,
through your thousand acts of kindness, noways un-
pleasant, imprisonment at Kaluga."

It deserves to be generally known that Lieut.-Colonel
J. H. Elphinstone Dalrymple, of the Scots Fusilier
Guards, who was ill on board ship in the harbour of
Balaklava on the 5th of November, no sooner heard of
the attack on the British lines, than he rose from his
sick bed, and though suffering from fever, and the effects
of a wound in the knee which he received at the battle
of the Alma, made his way to the scene of action, and
(the senior officers being at that time killed or wounded)
took the command of the battalion, from about one
o'clock till the shattered remnant of the brave band was
This energetic
marched off the ground at four P.M.
action nearly cost the gallant officer his life; a violent
relapse of the fever ensued, and a medical board decided
on sending him instantly to England for the restoration
of his health, which is now improving.

The following interesting notice appeared in the
Gazette of the 12th inst.: "The Queen has been pleased
to grant unto private Andrew Anderson, of the Sappers
and Miners, her royal license and permission that he
may accept and wear the Order of the Medjidie, which

Certain English residents at Pau have paid a graceful compliment to Madame Bosquet, the mother of the French General. As a token of their estimation of the prompt and efficient aid which General Bosquet brought to the British troops at the battle of Inkermann, they presented Madame Bosquet, on New Year's Day, with a handsome silver-gilt coffee service.

M. Granier de Cassagnac has received from the Pope the cross of the order of St. Gregory the Great. He lately received from his Holiness, to whom he had dedicated his "Histoire des Causes de la Révolution Française,' an autograph letter in Latin, highly encomiastic of that work; but at the same time telling him-"I Cardinal Wiseman has been appointed by the Pope a have not yet, my son, been able to read it." member of the Sacred Congregation of the Index.

The Earl of Elgin arrived at Liverpool from Canada on the 9th inst., in the Pacific. The next day he met the principal members of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, in the drawing-room of the Town-hall; and received from them addresses congratulating him on his return, and expressing their satisfaction at his sound commercial policy, and the treaty which he has negotiated with the United States.

Mr. Carleton, the Irish writer of fiction, announces, through the columns of the Nation, that he is about to leave Ireland for ever, and to close the remainder of his days in Canada. This information he embodies in the following stanza :

Ungrateful country, I resign

The debt you owe to me and mine;

My sore neglect-your guilt and shame-
And fling you back your curse of fame."
Mr. Carleton has been for many years receiving a
Government pension amounting to 2007. per annum, as
an acknowledgment of his literary merits.

Obituary of Notable Persons.

The EARL OF LEITRIM died on the 2nd inst., at his seat, Killadoon, county of Kildare, in his eighty-seventh year. MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY WILLIAM ADAMS, C. B., died on the 19th ult, at Scutari, from the effects of the wounds which he GENERAL HUSKISSON died on the 31st ult., in Mount-street, received in the battle of Inkermann, on the 5th of November. Grosvenor-square, aged eighty-two. He was brother of the late Right Hon. W. Huskisson.

COMMANDER JOLLY, of her Majesty's schooner Bermuda, who lately distinguished himself in the Grey Town aflair, died at sea on the 17th ult.

SIR ADAM FERGUSON, the friend of Scott, and a man of note in the literary and convivial circles of the last generation, died on the 1st inst., at the advanced age of eighty-six. Sir Adam Ferguson, the predecessor of Dugald Stewart in the Moral was the eldest of three sons of the well-known Dr. Adam Philosophy Chair of the University of Edinburgh.

LIEUT.-GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON ARNOLD, K.H., K.C., of the Royal Engineers, died on the 3rd inst., at his house in Onslow-square, aged seventy-three.

LORD ROBERTSON, of the First Division of the Court of Session of Scotland, died suddenly of apoplexy, on the 10th inst., at his house in Edinburgh, in his sixtieth year.

The QUEEN DOWAGER, MARIA THERESA, mother of the King of Sardinia, died on the 12th inst., at Turin, after seven days' illness, at the age of fifty-four.

The QUEEN CONSORT OF SARDINIA died on the 20th inst., of puerperal fever.

SIR GEORGE WOMBWELL, Bart., died suddenly at his residence in George-street, Hanover-square, on the 14th inst., in his sixty-third year.

REAR-ADMIRAL FORBES died on the 13th inst. He was

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.

THE Overland Mail has brought dates from Calcutta | opinion, Melbourne at this moment presents the most to the 20th, and Bombay to the 31st of December. The mission of the Burmese ambassador, it was fully expected, would lead to a treaty. The deficiency of the opium revenue of the year is only 1 per cent. of the whole Indian revenue. The Bengal bank has again raised its rate of discount all round. Trade in India is dull, money scarce, and freights low.

NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

ACCORDING to the accounts from the Crimea, the siege of Sebastopol progresses slowly; the fighting since the battle of Inkermann, having consisted of sorties from the place, and attacks upon the besiegers' working parties in the trenches, always repulsed with little loss on either side. Dispatches from Lord Raglan to the Duke of Newcastle have been published:On the 13th of December his lordship writes; "The enemy has made no movement of importance, and nothing of any material consequence has taken place before Sebastopol. The Russians moved upon our advanced pickets in front of our left attack the night before last in some force; but they were instantly driven back by a detachment of the First battalion Rifle Brigade on the right and by one of the 46th on the left. The firing, however, was kept up for some time, and the Third and Fourth