proof against injury than iron, the whole system of rail-subject. How the private soldiers regard it I cannot tell, as army is allowed to plead ignorance of the Articles of War. way management as regards the despatch of trains is to it would be obviously improper for me to converse with them No man in the army, from the youngest drummer up to the the last degree imprudent, and must undergo a change. on such a subject, but from my own experience as a private oldest general, can possibly be ignorant of the Articles of War. Unhappily, a remarkable instance of the fallibility of and a sergeant I can testify that there is an almost universal Colonel Crawley knew that every day past the eighth that he reliance upon guards, as always having their activity of body feeling in the ranks that it is worse than useless to complain kept these men in arrest he was committing an illegal act. of wrong suffered from a superior, or expect redress for in- Major-General Farrell knew that, when he knowingly perand mind available, has just occurred upon the Midland justice received at his hand; and this conviction acting upon mitted an officer under his command to keep these men im. Railway: the uneducated portion of the army-some of them men of prisoned he was an accomplice in an illegal action. General On Saturday night, between the Masborough and Kilnhurst reckless character and violent temper-often leads them to Mansfield knew that when he decided these men had done stations, as a coal train was passing the Rawmarsh station, one of the take the law in their own hands, and in revenge for some real nothing contrary to military law, but nevertheless ordered rods connected with the engine broke and the train quickly came to or fancied wrong be guilty of outrages upon their officers them to be kept in confinement for an indefinite period, he a standstill. A goods train from King's cross to Leeds, which closely which shock and excite the public mind for a time, and then was committing a deliberate breach of the law; and the climax followed, was also stopped. The guard of the latter train immediately pass away and are forgotten; while the same feeling on the of all this illegality was reached when Sir Hugh Rose, the went back to signal other trains and prevent collision. Nothing, how- part of the steady and reflecting soldier not only makes him Commander of the Indian army, in his lengthened remarks ever, was seen of him by the driver of the next train, which was also leave the army as soon as he legitimately can, but is also the on Paymaster Smales' Court-Martial, sympathised with the a goods train from Camden to Leeds, and it was with difficulty the cause of his using his influence to prevent young men in whom hardships Colonel Crawley suffered in wanting facilities to train was stopped and a catastrophe averted. As the express train was then nearly due at that place, the guard of the Camden train he is interested from entering a service where they run such cook his breakfast, but had not a word of sympathy or rebuke hastened back to order the danger signals to be put on. He had not a risk and are exposed to such contingencies. for the suffering of men so illegally imprisoned, but went out proceeded far before he stumbled against something, and, on looking, Lieut.-Col. Crawley has been honourably acquitted by the of his way to blacken the character and tarnish the memory was horrified at seeing a human foot and a quantity of brains. Court-Martial, and is entitled to the benefit of their decision; of a brave man, whose melancholy and untimely death might Blood was scattered in all directions, and fully fifty yards further on and we are therefore bound to believe that, in carrying out have secured his silence, if it could not excite his sympathy. he found the frightfully mangled corpse of the unfortunate guard. close arrest, by placing a sentry with orders not to lose sight And thus we have the singular spectacle of officers of the He was so overcome by the sickening sight which presented itself, that he of the prisoner by night or day, he was acting in accordance highest rank trampling on the law, and treating with conappears to have forgotten his object in going down the line, and the with the rules of the service, and that, in ordering a sentry tempt those articles they apply so severely to others; but it express train passed him at full speed, unchecked. The night was with such instructions to be placed over a married man with must be edifying to privates and non-commissioned officers, to exceedingly dark and foggy, and until nearly close to the Camden train the driver of the express saw nothing before him. He with his a dying wife, the annoyance and suffering the poor woman whom the Articles of War are held up as something sacred, stoker had barely time to leap off before his engine dashed into the must have borne are to be blamed on the adjutant who obeyed and on whom their slightest infringement brings down severe goods train with fearful violence. Several of the hinder waggons of the order, and not on the commanding-officer who gave it. punishment, to see how coolly they are ignored and delibethe goods train were smashed in pieces; but the most extraordinary Such is the judgment of the Court, and Colonel Crawley rately disregarded by their highest superiors when the feature of the collision is that the engine of the express was un- comes forth unscathed from the ordeal. So be it. I will not colonel of a regiment inflicts an illegal punishment upon damaged, and the passengers escaped with no other injury than a discuss the common sense or humanity of a code which sanc- three sergeants who have somehow or other incurred his violent shaking. Intelligence of the catastrophe was quickly con- tions such a decision; but assuming that the imprisonment displeasure. veyed to Masborough, and the station-master, Mr Turner, with a was carried out in a perfectly lawful manner, I would call Up to this point the military authorities are not to blame. staff of assistants, proceeded to the place. The unfortunate guard, attention to the imprisonment itself, pure and simple, and Under the best system men will be found who abuse their whose name was Atha, and who belonged to Leeds, was first sought which as a soldier I have always felt was, in as far as justice power and disregard the law; and when those in authority for. From the darkness of the night it was supposed he had mis-and the discipline of the service were concerned, the most call them to account for their injustice, they do all we can taken the line he was on, and that he had been cut to pieces by the important question of the two. down London express which had passed. It is quite natural that expect, and are blameless. But so far as known, the Horse civilians should be most attracted by the first, for that a Guards have not reproved, and certainly have not punished, Here were trains all following in quick succession, and man whom it was impossible to charge with any offence, and the authors of this offence. That an offence had been com two guards, one immediately after the other, set about the whom it was never intended to bring to trial, should be kept mitted was undeniable; but that Colonels, Generals, and appointed duty of giving warning of the stoppage, but in close imprisonment for a term of weeks appears in civil Commander-in-Chief should be brought to book because both failed, the one poor fellow having been killed on his life something so monstrous and incredible that you can three sergeants had been imprisoned in defiance of law and way, the other disabled by the horrible sight of his hardly believe it. And while the public feeling would be justice was repugnant to the official mind. Still Parliament comrade's mangled remains. Could railway directors have readily moved by an imprisonment carried out in a cruel or had taken the matter up, and the public opinion was roused, conceived such a cause of non-fulfilment of duty? They legality of the imprisonment would be taken for granted, and of a Court-Martial, and the most insignificant of the offenders irregular manner, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the and something must be done. So we had the expensive sham have as yet assumed that in no conceivable event would pass unquestioned; but it will be allowed that to imprison tried on the minor charge, which it was hoped special pleadguards be unable to go back five hundred yards to signal a a man who has been guilty of no legal offence, and whom it ing might mystify, and the professional sympathy of his judges stoppage, but here we find one killed on the errand and is never intended to bring to trial, is a more serious offence excuse; while the major offence, committed in a manner that another mentally incapacitated by the shock of seeing the against law and order than to deal somewhat harshly with a no evidence could overturn and no sophistry explain away, mangled remains. And so breaks down the main reliance man whose imprisonment is quite legal and in due course was carefully excluded from the investigation; and now upon which lives are risked in running trains at short of law. Colonel Crawley, honourably acquitted, can return to his intervals. But the practice will continue till some terrible Viewed in this light, how are we to regard the late occur-command with the sure conviction that he may carry out tragedy occurs from it, such as was so narrowly escaped in rences in the Enniskilling Dragoons? What are the facts ? close arrest after his own fashion with perfect impunity. this very instance. I do not allude to floating rumours and exaggerated reports, The Horse Guards occasionally publish circulars notifying but to the facts as we can gather them from the sworn evi-rewards for good conduct as an encouragement to the deserving dence, from official documents, and letters authenticated by and well-conducted soldier. Trials such as Colonel Crawley's the signatures of those who wrote them. Colonel Crawley let us sometimes see what these rewards too often practically placed three sergeants under arrest. Their imprisonment was amount to. Sergeant-Major Lilley, after long years of serof the most stringent character. No communication allowed vice, had reached a position beyond which those who enter outside the prison; sentries over them by night and day, the British army by the ranks rarely ascend; and if any they saw none but the military officials and their own ser- thing can console his friends for the untimely fate of their vants, who were searched at every visit. One would suppose relative, it must be the honourable testimony so universally that men so rigorously guarded must not only be accused of borne by all ranks, from the private to the colonel, to his Sir,-Such is the question mooted in the Times, under the serious offences, but also that the 'proofs of their guilt were merit as a soldier and his character as a man; for it is estawell-known initials of "J. O." The answer is so simple, so abundant that their commanding-officer could have no blished as clearly as anything can be proved by evidence that that it is difficult to believe that the question emanates from doubt of obtaining a conviction, and would lose no time in Lilley was a steady, well-behaved man, sober in his habits, the real "J. O.," because the real "J. O." is so well versed bringing them before a Court-Martial that they might receive and zealous in the discharge of his duty. Colonel Crawley, in human affairs and human kindness that he must know that the punishment due to their crimes. Why, the men were in his wordy and somewhat bombastic defence, never controthe finger of blame, and scorn if you please, can only point to never brought to trial at all! One of them, before his impri-verted this; and with all his desire to cast odium on every one man, and that man figures in the memorandum of the sonment closed, was summoned to a higher than any earthly one opposed to him, he carefully abstained in this part of his Duke of Cambridge of the 18th Dec., 1862. tribunal; the other two, after a month's imprisonment, were, case from those imputations of falsehood and perjury he If the Articles of War are not waste paper, justice will without trial, and consequently without punishment, dis- indulged in so unsparingly on the others. Sergeant-Major not be done without a trial in an English court of justice. missed from confinement and sent back to their duty; so that Lilley was then a well-conducted soldier, and what was his It is all very well for certain people to try to throw dust we are shut up to the conclusion either that great offenders reward P-Death whilst enduring an illegal confinement, a into the eyes of the public, to divert attention from the real have been most culpably allowed to pass unpunished, or that dishonourable grave, and a blasted character; publicly stig question. Has murder (according to the laws of England) innocent men have been illegally and consequently unjustly matized in an official document by the Indian Commander-inbeen committed? Were the Articles of War obeyed in punished; and which of these alternatives we should adopt Chief, and held up to the scorn and contempt of the whole India, or even at home at Aldershott, the reception of the is a matter on which the circumstances leave us little room Indian army as a worthless, dissipated man, whose death was two illegal orders at that place was in direct contravention of for doubt. When Colonel Crawley placed these sergeants caused by his own intemperance! Verily, men who look to the Articles of War? The supposed state of the officers of in arrest, he reported the matter to his military superiors; be rewarded for good conduct will do wisely to give the the Enniskillings, even if true (but which is more than and it is doing this officer no injustice to assume that his British army a wide berth. In any other walk in life a steady, doubtful, and said not to be true), is no excuse for an un- could possibly make it, and nothing be kept back which was least as to be respected in his sphere; and should some statement against the prisoners would be as strong as he sober man who attends to his duty will succeed so far at lawful act to a subaltern any more than it is for tyranny or oppression. It is within a week that Sir George Grey felt likely to tell against them. General Mansfield, after con- member of the upper classes do him some grievous wrong, or himself bound to obey the law; he reprieved the murderer sidering the case, reported that the men had done nothing subject him illegally to imprisonment, he can appeal to the Townley, although sane, because he felt himself bound by for which & Court-Martial would convict, but nevertheless oppressor might possibly be considered an aggravation, it for which it was possible to frame charges against them, or laws of his country, knowing that while the rank of his the law, viz., an Act of Parliament; and yet military mar-ordered them to be kept in arrest. Sir William Mansfield, would not be held as an excuse for the offence. If he enter tinets set Acts of Parliament and the laws at defiance. It is to be seen whether the Legislature will permit chaff in effect, said, "You'll never get these fellows punished if the British army and suffer injustice, God help him, for at and Old Bailey finesse to override Acts of Parliament and you bring them to a Court-Martial, for they have been guilty the Horse Guards there is none. the law. The electors of England will not be satisfied unless of no military offence, and done nothing on which a Court Discipline, strict discipline, is indispensable to the exist a trial be had in a British court of justice; and then if it be could convict, so we'll punish them at our own hands, and let ence of an army, which without it would become an armed shown that the Articles of War are mere waste paper, all them taste the delights of close arrest, as Colonel Crawley mob and a curse to the country. But the very essence of well and good. defines this method of confinement." Which is about as discipline is that it be impartially administered to all, high Hyde-park terrace. legal as if a judge on circuit should, in some case, say to the and low, who are under its authority and subject to its laws. counsel for the prosecution, "Well, I've looked over the de- So that while the private soldier knows that should he be positions, and I can't see that the prisoner has been guilty of guilty of disrespect or insubordination to superior authority, any offence against the Statute or Common Law, or done any- no matter how insignificant, even that of a lance corporal, he Sir, I am a non-commissioned officer in the British army. thing for which a jury would convict; so we won't bring him will be severely punished; he should also know that if he is Personally I cannot complain of the service, as it has been to trial, but clap him in gaol, and keep him there till the next unjustly treated by the highest officer in his regiment, he may my good fortune hitherto to serve under commanding officers assizes, and then see what's to be done." And I must say confidently ask redress. Whether we are to believe, after who were strictly just, and treated a man according to his that, to my judgment, the worst feature in the case is that it the revelations in recent Court-Martials, that this is the deservings. If a man got into trouble, he had to suffer the is not a misconception or misconstruction of some obscure spirit in which discipline is administered in the British army, consequences; if he was steady and did his duty, he was point of law by a single officer, but a wilful and deliberate is a question which those who propose to enter the service respected and treated accordingly. But, however, from what breach of the plainest letter of the law, by a number of supe-will do well to consider. I have seen during my service, and from what I have heard rior officers charged with the administration of military affairs from other soldiers with whom I have been associated, I know in a distant part of the British dominions. By the Articles of that my favourable experience is wholly accidental, and that War it is expressly enacted that no soldier shall be kept more it is quite possible that by the change of a commanding officer, than eight days under arrest without charges being preferred papers in characters assumed for the sake of effect, we may [As a bad custom has lately arisen of writing to the newsor from some other cause over which I have no control, I against him, and a Court-Martial being assembled to try him. may, without fault on my part, come to grief; and some day Yet these men, whom it was never intended to bring to a been sent to us by a non-commissioned officer.-ED. Ex.] as well say that this sensible and well-written letter has really find that ruined prospects and a blasted character are all I Court-Martial, of whom General Mansfield declared that have gained by years of service and good conduct. This con- they had done nothing of which a Court-Martial could viction has become all the stronger by my reflection on take notice, and of whom the Commander-in-Chief of the Colonel Crawley's Court-Martial; and I can assure you that British army declared that they had done nothing to Sir,-In looking over the list of the subscribers to the the following remarks contain not only my own sentiments, warrant their being placed under arrest, were nevertheless Crawley Defence Fund, I cannot but observe how large a but those of every non-commissioned officer with whom I kept in illegal confinement for a month, and then dis- portion of the number are military and naval officers-many have conversed (and I have conversed with many) on the missed without trial, and without redress. No man in the of them of high degree. This, perhaps, is natural enough, Correspondence. THE ALDERSHOTT INQUIRY. WHAT THEY SAY IN THE RANKS. V. I am, &c., Barracks, 13th January, 1864. CHEVRON. COLONEL CRAWLEY AND HIS SUBSCRIBERS. E 12 the rest two individuals who describe themselves as Miss and and to be expected-there is a fellow feeling amongst the old ordnance would be rendered useless, as gunners would be superior correctness; and mechanics became accustomed to look on them. Had Colonel Crawley's conduct been of a more picked off and killed before their cannon could be brought within considerable variations in size, often productive of serious mischief, flagrant character, there is little doubt that the same sub- range. as not only venial, but even as a result of necessity. But like the scribers would have been equally prompt. What weight the exhibition of their names will have upon public opinion is fied himself of its superiority, gave the first word for even infinitesimal inexactitudes; and has accustomed the men in his In 1851 the Duke of Wellington having entirely satis-Sybarite, whose sleep was disturbed by the inequality of his couch, occasioned by a ruffled rose-leaf, Mr Whitworth was impatient of another question, but there are some ladies and gentlemen in change by sanctioning the partial substitution of the Minié employment to work to the 20,000th part of an inch, till measures the list without commissions in her Majesty's service, amongst rifle for Brown Bess. The superiority of the Minié, though so diminutive have become as familiar as those of larger dimensions. Master; how old is Master - ? How flattering real, was slight, and it gave place a few years later to the In the most celebrated workshops in England thirty years ago, mechanics were chary of criticising work which was "out" by the must such testimonials be to the oppressed Colonel, who in Enfield. 32nd part of an inch, whereas in his works an error of "division," his defence announced, with much force and indignation, The Minié ball was a modification of the Carabine à is at once noticed and corrected, a division being the 10,000th part that none but military persons had any right to give or to tige of Colonel Thouvenin, which in France superseded the of an inch. The influence of these improvements in mechanical hold any opinion upon military matters. Will he, after this, Delvigne rifle in 1842. That carbine had a tige or short means has imparted a distinctive character of accuracy to the condescend to accept the subscriptions of the juveniles? or stalk screwed into the breech, around which the powder other countries; and to this nothing has more signally contributed machinery of the United Kingdom, which places it in advance of all will he tell them that they are little babies, and recommend lay and upon which the base of a ball with a conical point than the standard gauges, graduated to a fixed scale as constant them to forward their subscriptions to the fund for the house was forced by the ramrod. This pillar or stalk was liable, measures of size, for which practical engineers are indebted to the less and destitute poor, or for the benefit of the wretched of course, to become bent, and was therefore superseded by studious labours of Mr Whitworth. sempstresses P-the last certainly more worthy the attention of a young lady. If the young lady and gentleman are deter mined to lend their support to redress military wrongs, why not lend their aid to enable Sergeant-Major Wakefield to obtain justice-certainly not through a Court-Martial, but a court of law and justice? " 11 East Parade, Hastings, January 12, 1864. W.A.S. THE LITERARY EXAMINER. The Story of the Guns. By Sir J. Emerson Tennent, K.C.S., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. Longman and Co. "It was my fortune," says Sir Emerson Tennent, "at an early age to hold a commission as an officer of artil"lery in a foreign service, during a time of war. It was "in the 'pre-scientific period,' and under circumstances "which, however advantageous for observing the destruc"tive powers of ordnance both by land and sea, were "little favourable to the study of its construction. But "they imparted an interest in the subject which recent "occurrences have served to revive." In the ten years since the Crimean war more has been attempted or done for improvement in the construction of firearms and projectiles than was attempted or done in all the years before that time, since firearms were discovered. From the year 1628, when Arnold Rotsipen obtained from Charles I. letters-patent for a new waye or meanes of makeinge gonnes, whereof a patterne and proofe was shewn to the King's selfe, down to the end of 1852, not more than three hundred patents had been issued for inventions; whereas more than double that number were granted within the next seven years. the use of the Minié ball. It was a ball smaller than the Mr Whitworth was not a gun maker, and he was applied In 1852 Lord Hardinge became Master-General of the Its tendency to fouling was considerable-the distended portions of Regarded from no loftier point of view than as an order in the course of trade, the proposal made by the Government that Mr Whitworth should furnish designs for a complete set of new machinery for the Enfield establishment, was one of great pecuniary value. It would not have been difficult for him to have undertaken to supply the machines required, adapting those of known construction and making the necessary modifications suggested by himself; and it is manifest that the simple execution of such a commission on the terms proposed would have been of great commercial profit to his firm. But actuated by a higher motive, he did not feel himself justified in complying with the request; and in explanation of his scruples, he urged," says Lord Hardinge, the importance of any machine could be constructed, to make a rifle that shall require ascertaining what the first principle of this unknown secret is, before no farther alteration." It was next proposed to him to undertake the construction of machinery for producing the rifle-barrel only; but to the barrel, above all others, his objection more specially applied; and in the absence of the requisite knowledge, he stated frankly that before It is a question, whether eventually both iron and wood may not giving an answer he wished to visit the establishments of the princibe got rid of, since it is found that the expansion of a leaden ball, if pal gun-makers in London and Birmingham, and to obtain from them hollowed at the base, can be effectually attained simply by the force all the information he could collect. "I found," he says in a report of the explosion, when the metal driven outwards, finds its first and to the Secretary for War, "great difference of opinion among them, great resistance in the 'lands,' or smooth parts of the barrel left un- and the statements I received were so contradictory, that I was untouched by the rifling, against which it is pressed with great force, able to come to any satisfactory conclusion." The truth was that the and thence overflows into the grooves. gun trade generally in England at that time was described in the earliest measures of Lord Hardinge was the institution of a compre- The most skilful mechanics engaged in it worked by "knack" rather Embarrassed by defects inherent in different systems, one of the House of Commons as being in "a rude and unsystematic" condition. hensive enquiry into the whole subject of rifled arms and projectiles. than by system, and the making of two rifles of equal excellence He placed himself in communication with Mr Westley Richards, Mr was almost entirely dependent on the dexterity of the mechanic, who Purdey, and others of the most eminent gun makers in Great Britain. had no defined laws for reproducing them alike. It is only just, Six of these supplied pattern muskets of various diameters of bore, however, to men of such eminence as many of those engaged in ranging from 530 in. the smallest, to 650 in. the largest. Compari- that trade to state that this adherence to working by hand instead of sons were also made of the weapons in use by the armies of other by machinery was almost a compulsion of the period; since the military powers, and information was collected from leading factories demand was too limited to justify the erection of apparatus so costly of Europe and the United States; and by the aid of the facts and as that which would have been required to supersede hand labour. For the general public, clear knowledge of what has suggestions thus acquired, the adoption of the musket since known In this dilemna Mr Whitworth, instead of grasping at the order been done and what may yet be looked for is confused by as the Enfield rifle was resolved on, and arrangements were put for new machinery for Enfield, offered to the Board of Ordnance to assertion and counter-assertion as to this or that isolated in progress for the organisation of a government factory, to be pro- conduct a preliminary series of scientific experiments in order to fact, and it has been hitherto most difficult for any one to vided with machinery, chiefly on the American model, for shaping determine the true principle on which rifle barrels ought to be conget at a plain story in the din of the conflict of inventors. production of an arm for the British forces combining, it was hoped, chester, under his own direction, in which to carry on the necessary the various parts. Here it was proposed to commence at once the structed; provided a shooting gallery was erected for him near ManThat difficulty Sir Emerson Tennent has removed. Dis-the varied excellencies manifested in each of the pattern rifles sent in trials, and thus obtain data for his guidance. The actual expense embarrassing himself of all controversy, and leaving time by the most eminent makers in England, was of course to be defrayed by the Treasury; but he intimated his and discussion to bring to the right end any vexed ques-than its predecessor of 1851, and at the same time the musket and its actuated only by the interest with which it had inspired him. Such was the origin of the Enfield rifle' of 1853. It was stronger readiness to devote his time and attention to the subject gratuitously, The tion of precedence among the men who have caused the facts to be such as they are, he has made it his sole care to grooves and lands on the old system, with one turn in 6 feet 6 inches. the experiments from the influence of winds, and other disturbing sixty cartridges weighed three pounds less. It was rifled with gallery, he said, must be enclosed, in order to insure the protection of ascertain and bring together into simple narrative, both Its diameter was 577 of an inch, and at limited ranges it fired a causes. In it he proposed to commence a series of trials with the easy and exact, a clear sequence of the facts that form the bullet weighing 530 grains with great accuracy and force. During most accurately made rifles which could then be produced. To those history of the Rifled Musket, Rifled Cannon, and the Iron the ten years that have elapsed since its adoption, although other which proved the best he would apply certain tests, to determine the Navy since the year 1852. The little work is, for greater essential quality, it admits of no doubt that the Enfield rifle is still ticulars in which they severally excelled, and of the sources to which rifles made in England have greatly exceeded it in almost every precise form of the barrels, and arrive at the knowledge of the parclearness of statement, divided into three parts, which superior to any arm yet adopted in other countries, and its efficiency that excellence was due; and thus, by combining results, he hoped separately discuss the course of improvement in the was well attested at the Alma and at Inkermann, where, in the words to ascertain the conditions required for producing the most perfect Musket, the Cannon, and the Construction of War Ships. of the Times correspondent, it smote the enemy like a destroying instrument. The information so acquired was to be at the service of Before the Crimean war our battles were fought only angel.' the government, to whom, in order to facilitate manufacture, he with old-fashioned artillery. The Enfied rifle, thus brought into use, had also a con- eventual success in constructing machinery to produce and reproduce For would supply graduated gauges, with directions for their use. siderable tendency to foul; the velocity of its ball proved rifles giving the greatest possible range and accuracy without the The muskets borne by our soldiers in the Peninsula and at Waterloo differed in no essential particular from those with which to be lower than had been looked for, its trajectory there- minutest variance in excellence and quality, he had the firmest relitheir ancestors fought at Blenheim and Ramilies; and the substitution fore was higher and its precision less. Moreover, although ance, not on speculative theories but on the teachings of experience, of the percussion-cap for a flint-lock took place at a still later period. all were produced by the by the same means from similar derived from his accomplishment of the two great mechanical desideMilitary weapons were allowed to retain all their primitive rudeness, material, no two guns were alike in their performance. the power of making measurements with any required exactitude, even rata-"the production of true surfaces and perfectly straight lines, and whilst the utmost care and ingenuity were exerted to bring sporting The variation could only be accounted for by some subtle to the millionth part of an inch.” guns to perfection. Money and skill were bestowed without stint on a rifle to bring down a deer; or on a fowling-piece with which a imperfection, and advice was taken of Mr Whitworth who pheasant was to be shot; but any weapon, however clumsy, was was justly pronounced by the Secretary of State for the thought sufficiently good when the issue of a battle or the fate of an War Department to be the most celebrated mechanician empire was in the balance. "of this country." Mr Whitworth was especially distinThe old musket allowed so much windage, or space guished for the minute accuracy of his machines. between the shot and the circumference of the barrel, For the attainment of this consummate perfection, it is the belief that the shot rebounded from side to side as it passed of Mr Whitworth that the superiority of all machinery is dependent through the barrel and left it as the last rebound might on two elements-the power of measuring with unerring precision, The assent of the Lords of the Treasury was signified in May 1854, have determined its direction. Gravitation also very and, associated with it, the faculty of producing a true plane surface, and a gallery of 500 yards in length by 16 feet broad 20 feet high sensibly affected the direction of its course of small that is, one so absolutely level that, when opposed to another of equal was forthwith commenced in the grounds attached to Mr Whitworth's truth, their contact must be in all parts complete. velocity. As the result of experiments made in 1838, the Royal, Mr Airey, in his evidence before a committee of the House of wheels for shooting at varying distances, rests for steadying the aim, The Astronomer residence, near Manchester. This was provided with a target on soldier was told in firing at a man at 600 yards to fire Lords, in 1855, stated that the degree to which Mr Whitworth had and screens to exhibit the flight of the projectiles. Two military 130 feet above him, or in other words, if he wished to succeeded in making perfect the planing of surfaces was entirely officers were nominated by the Commander-in-Chief to assist at the hit the church door to aim at the weathercock. At the unknown before his time." To such a pitch of excellence has he experiments, and Mr Westley Richards was associated with Mr battle of Salamanca only one shot in 437 took effect. brought it by a process peculiar to himself, that a plate of metal pre- Whitworth at the request of the latter, who was desirous of benepared by him, when opposed to the face of another similarly treated, fiting by the information and experience of a gun-maker of his high has been said that for every man shot by Brown Bess the exhibits a contact so intimate as to enable the operator to lift the reputation. weight of his body in lead had to be fired away. During under one with it, as if by its actual adhesion to the other;-or if the Caffre war, 80,000 cartridges were fired at a single less closely applied, so that the thinnest possible layer of atmospheric The gallery having been thrown down by a storm, expeengagement in which only twenty-five of the enemy fell. air may still remain between, the upper plate will rest on the unex. riments were not begun till March, 1855, the interval cluded particles, as if floating on quicksilver. being occupied with experiments for the improvement of Not very long ago, a well-trained marksman, provided with an old regulation musket, was placed to fire at a target eighteen feet square for a means of determining dimensions with precision, constructed a heavy ordnance. from a distance of 300 yards, and found that he could not put even machine, so accurately and delicately made, as to measure objects into that spacious area one bullet out of twenty. At 200 yards his suc- which differ even by the millionth part of an inch-a division so Here we must pause for the present, to complete next cess was not greater, and yet the fire-arm thus tested was the regular minute as to be perceptible only by touch after it has ceased to be week our outline of the substance of this well-timed weapon of the British soldier, so late as the year 1852. discernible by the eye. So nice is the adjustment, that in using it "Story of the Guns." But the book itself should be Although it anticipates, to some extent, the thread of the following an inch of steel can be held to be an inch, only so long as the thermo-read by every man who has a lively interest in the narrative, I may be permitted here to notice, that on the occasion on meter stands at 626, the slightest excess of temperature producing maintenance of English power, which is English peace, which this exposure of the old pattern musket was made, the im- an appreciable elongation; and the standard yard, a square bar of against all who may desire to see it broken. The arrangeproved rifle which had then recently been issued was brought for-steel, when placed in the machine is so expanded by the slightest touch It With similar devotion to accuracy Mr Whitworth, in the search The offer was not at once accepted. Prompted, however, by the Earl of Ellesmere, Lord Hardinge urged upon the Treasury compliance with the sensible suggestion that the right sort of arm should be clearly ascertained before could not be less than two millions sterling. entering upon an expenditure for the supply of arms, that ward, under precisely the same circumstances, and scarcely a shot of the finger as to show an appreciable lengthening even under the influment is clear, the style simple, every technical term that missed the target; demonstrating, that if a soldier can be enabled to ence of the infinitesimal amount of heat thus imparted. must be used is also explained, and the subject so treated hit uniformly, where be hit but once out of twenty times before, his It might be supposed that the value of measures so minute must is of high interest even as a detail of remarkable energy increased value is equivalent to an addition to the numbers of the be but abstract and visionary, and that it could be only in the larger of research applied in these our times to a particular army in precisely that proportion. Not only so, but the distance at quantitiest hat their use might be available. In practice, however, inquiry. But above all its use is that it will enable thouwhich the new weapon could kill having been increased from one or the importance of aiming at such accuracy has been visibly demontwo hundred yards to fourteen hundred or more, it came to be felt, strated. The former habit of being contented with approximate sands to whom the daily argument about guns, so long that unless artillery could be improved in the same ratio as the rifle, measurements engendered a positive inability to duly estimate joined to the current news, is a speech in an unknown public opinion is most needed. The Life and Letters of Washington Irving. By his This last volume of Washington Irving's life, treating only of the American side of his history, save where the quarrels of English publishers about the right of issuing his works make an unwelcome digression, is perhaps less interesting than those that have preceded it. Yet the last years of a hale old man's life, rich in fame and in the love of friends that should be dearer than fame, cannot fail to be attractive. The narrative of the present volume extends from 1847, when Irving was sixty-four years old, to 1859, when, at the age of seventy-six, his work in life was wished recall him? The Rock-cut Temples of India. Illustrated by Seventy- BOOKS OF THE WEEK. the Papers at Kimbolton, by the Duke of Manchester. In Two Volumes. tongue, to enter into the whole of the momentous question affections of his countrymen, and with an assured hope of a happy misery which follow the pursuit of vicious courses. The with a strong intelligent interest that will make itself felt immortality, he had gone down, according to his own pathetic scene is laid in an English village, and the "two families" wherever and whenever the pressure of a well-informed aspiration, with all sail set." Who that loved him would have are those of an honest, hard-working shepherd, and an idle, drunken blacksmith, each of whom has a helpmate with qualities to correspond. Good training and good example on the one hand, with bad example and neglect on the other, produce their inevitable consequences; but the "power of religion" is shown by its fruits of repentance, and the story ends happily for all. Whatever Rock-cut temples, or chitayas and monasteries, or may be the reader's creed, his prompt assent will be given viharas, are the earliest remains of Indian architecture. to the form in which this lesson is presented. Originated by the Buddhists and appropriated by the Bateman's clever volume is admirably adapted for young Hindoos, they are so numerous that fifty groups and not less people, but all may profit by its contents. than a thousand separate examples of them have been found. Of the fifty groups, all but three only-those of Behar and Orissa in Bengal, and that of Mahavellipore in Madrasare within bounds of the Presidency of Bombay. As that part of India lies nearest to Egypt and Ethiopia, those regions were looked to for the original models of the cave temples; but Mr Fergusson, when describing these structures in his 'Illustrated Handbook of Architecture,' suggested that the localization might be accounted for by the peculiar suitableness of the rocks in the cave district for the formation of such structures. "The whole cave "district," he then said, "is composed of horizontal strata "of amygdaloid and other cognate trap formations, gene"Sunnyside, Feb. 8, 1851. "rally speaking of very considerable thickness and great "Dear Madam,-While I sincerely sympathise with you in the "uniformity of texture, and possessing besides the advanaffliction caused by your great bereavement, and have no doubt your "tage of their edges being generally exposed in perfectly brother was worthy of the praise bestowed on his memory, I must "perpendicular cliffs, so that no rock in the world could most respectfully excuse myself from the very delicate and respon-either be more suited for the purpose or more favourably sible task of giving an opinion of his poems. I have no confidence in the coolness and correctness of my own judgment in matters of "situated than these formations are. They were easily the kind, and have repeatedly found the exercise of it, in compliance" accessible and easily worked. In the rarest possible with solicitations like the present, so productive of dissatisfaction to "instances are there any flaws or faults to disturb the others, and poignant regret to myself, that I have long since been uniformity of the design; and when complete, they driven to the necessity of declining it altogether. "Trusting you will receive this apology in the frank and friendly" afford a perfectly dry temple or abode, singularly uniform spirit in which it is made, I remain, with great respect, your obedient "in temperature, and more durable than any class of temple "WASHINGTON IRVING." "found in any other part of the world." Here is a reply to a modest application from an unknown admirer to "pen (him) just one original thought:" ended. The volume is filled chiefly with letters to and from the now famous man on public and private matters : The following letter was written to a young lady, who proposed to come to him and ask his counsel about the publication of some poems of a brother who had graduated with distinction, and been cut off in the bloom of his youth: servant, "Dear Sir,I would be happy to furnish you with the original thought' you require; but it is a coinage of the brain not always at my command, and certainly not at present. So I hope you will be content with my sincere thanks in return for the kind and complimentary expressions of your letter." No man could be more bored than Mr Irving, by, as he once expressed it, "all sorts of letters from all sorts of persons." I remember his once showing me a letter asking him to subscribe to some particular book. "Now," he said, turning to me, "this must be answered. Every letter to be answered is a trifle; but your life in this way is exhausted in trifles. You are entangled in a network of cobwebs. Each letter is a cobweb across your nose. The bores of this world are endless." But there were better claims upon his letter-writing powers. Here, in part of a letter written to his old friend, James K. Paulding, when he was seventy-two, is a pleasant picture of his closing days: You hope I am "sliding smoothly down the hill." I thank you for the hope. I am better off than most old bachelors are, or deserve to be. I have a happy home, the happier for being always well stocked with womenkind, without whom an old bachelor is a forlorn, dreary animal. My brother, the "General," is wearing out the serene evening of life with me; almost entirely deaf, but in good health and good spirits, more and more immersed in the study of newspapers (with which I keep him copiously supplied), and, through them, better acquainted with what is going on in the world than I am, who mingle with it occasionally, and have cars as well as eyes open. During a long residence in India, writes Mr Fergusson now, in the Preface to this very beautiful series of photographs from the Rock temples and monasteries of Ajunta and Ellora, he was able to visit all the Rock-cut temples then known to exist in that country. First, in 1836, he examined those of Cuttack. In 1838 an extended tour was made for the purpose of exploring those of Western India. In 1841 he completed the investigation by visiting those of Mahavellipore. A paper read to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1843, and published in the eighth volume of its Journal, embodied the results of these investigations, and that paper was republished in 1845, illustrated by nineteen lithographic plates of Rock-cut architecture. Mr Fergusson thus, in one sense, made the subject his own; but in so doing he excited a wide interest in it, and produced the expression of a strong desire that these monuments might be carefully preserved and yet more generally studied. The Court of Directors of the East India Company, in accordance with a memorial presented to them, praying that some person should be appointed for that purpose, sent Captain-now Major-Gill, to copy the fast perishing frescoes of Ajunta. The pictures that he sent home during the first year of his residence at Ajunta are now to be seen in the Indian Court of the Crystal Palace. have reached this country, but instead, Major Gill sent home in the "For many years past," says Mr Fergusson, "no further drawings spring of this year to Mr Layard nearly two hundred stereoscopic the chase, of Indian life, and illustrations of the Mahometan buildings and of the scenery in the neighbourhood of Ajunta. Of the remaining half, many were duplicates, but those forming the illustrations of the present volume have been selected as being all those in the collection which could fairly be considered as representing Rockcut architecture." Seventy-four Photographs taken on the spot by Major Gill. Described ARCHITECTURE.The Rock Cut Temples of India.' Illustrated by by James Fergusson, F.R.S., M.R.A.S. (8vo, pp. 24, and 74 leaves with photograph and description on one side of each, the other side blank, and blank interleaving.) Murray. TOPOGRAPHY. Horeb and Jerusalem.' By the Rev. George Sandie. (8vo, pp. 417.) Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. TRAVEL The Cities of the Past.' By Frances Power Cobbe. (Fcap. 8vo, pp. 216.) Trübner and Co. NATURAL HISTORY.-The Herring, its Natural History and National Importance.' By John M. Mitchell, F.R.S.S.A., &c. With Illustrations. (8vo, pp. 372.) Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. K.C.S., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. (Post 8vo, pp. 364.) Longman and Co. GUNNERY. The Story of the Guns.' By Sir J. Emerson Tennent, EDUCATION. A Mathematical Course for the University of London; containing an Outline of the Subjects in Pure Mathematics included in the Regulations of the Senate for the Matriculation and Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Pass Examinations; with the entire Series Year. By Thomas Kimber, M.A. Lond. Part I. New Edition, Enof Mathematical papers set by the University from 1838 to the Current larged and Improved. (8vo, pp. 134.) Longman and Co. THEOLOGY. The Gospel in Ezekiel.' A Series of Discourses. By Thomas Guthrie, D.D. Fortieth Thousand. (Fcap. 8vo, pp. 470.) Edinburgh: A. and C. Black. FICTION. Wildfire.' By Walter Thornbury, Author of 'True as Steel,' &c., &c. In Three Volumes. (Post 8vo, pp. 303, 302, 292.) Hurst A Sporting Sketch. By and Blackett.-A Box for the Season." svo, pp. 348, 315.) Chapman and Hall. Christmas at Old Court. By Charles Clarke, Author of 'Charlie Thornhill.' In Two Volumes. (Post the Author of Richelieu in Love,' &c., &c. (Post 8vo, pp, 475.) Bentley.-'Dan to Beersheba; or Northern and Southern Friends, (Post svo, pp. 336.) Chapman and Hall. VERSE Pictures of the Past,' and other Poems. By William Bradfield. (Fcap. 8vo, pp. 228.) Longman and Co. Nottingham : Simkins and Browne. QUARTERLY.-The Quarterly Journal of Science.' No. 1. January, 1864. (8vo, pp. 212.) John Churchill and Sons.-The Edinburgh Part III. The Events of the Month: a Magazine of News, Litera PAMPHLETS. The Critical School and Jesus Christ: a Reply to M. Renan's Life of Jesus.' By Edmond de Pressensé, Pastor of the French Evangelical Church, and D.D. of the University of Breslau. Author of 'The History of the first Four Centuries of the Christian Church.' Translated by L. Corkran. (Fcap. 8vo, pp. 86.) Elliot Stock." Recent Forms of Unbelief; some Account of Renan's Vie de Jésus.' By William Lee, Minister of the Parish of Roxburgh. (8vo, pp. 39.) Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas.-The Farmer's Difficulties: Protection the Only Remedy.' By G. Wray, of Tunbridge Wells, and Rotherfield. (svo, pp. 23.) Ridgway. What England should do with her Convicts,' A Solution suggested. By W. M. Wilkinson. (8vo, pp. 30.) Allman.-The National Shakspeare Committee and the late Mr Present." An Inaugural Lecture, delivered on October 6, 1863, at King's Thackeray.' (8vo, pp. 23.) Clayton.-German Grammar, Past and College, London. By Dr Buchheim, Professor of the German Language Daldy.-'A Brief Reply to an Important Question; being a Letter to Professor Goldwin Smith from an Implicit Believer in Holy Scripture.' (8vo, pp. 24.) Saunders, Otley, and Co. I have had many vivid enjoyments in the course of my life, yet views of Indian subjects. About one half of these were scenes of and Literature in King's College, London. (8vo, pp. 24.) Bell and no portion of it has been more equably and serenely happy than that which I have passed in my little nest in the country. I am just near enough to town to dip into it occasionally for a day or two, give my mind an airing, keep my notions a little up to the fashion of the times, and then return to my quiet little home with redoubled relish. The Duke of Manchester's two volumes, illustrating 'Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne,' are based, says During a part of the dozen years here recorded, Irving the preface, upon papers of which nearly all the originals busied himself with the preparation of a revised edition of The oldest of the group of these caves is that at are at Kimbolton. A few are in the Record Office; one is his earlier works. Through them all, moreover, he was Behar, formed between B.C. 200 and the fifth century of in the Private Cabinet of the Empress Eugenie; and others hard at work on his 'Life of Washington,' the book on our era. The most complete group is that of Ajunta, which suggested an extension of the account of Catharine which he spent most care, and which will doubtless live amply and beautifully illustrated by the photographs in of Aragon-who died at Kimbolton-are at Simancas. the longest. "You have done with Washington," wrote this volume. These temples, formed between the first The preface adds that "for the account of Queen Catharine Prescott, in a letter of honest praise, "just as I thought century B.C. and the tenth or eleventh of our era, and "and for information concerning many of the persons and you would, and, instead of a cold, marble statue of a illustrate every variety of Buddhist art within that period."occurrences alluded to in the work, the Editor is indebted "demigod, you have made him a being of flesh and blood, Next to these in importance is the group at Ellora, consist-to the historical knowledge and literary skill of Mr W. "like ourselves-one with whom we can have sympathy." ing of three series, a Buddhist of about the eighth century," Hepworth Dixon and Dr Doran, to whom he begs to So thought all other Americans, and the happiness of a Hindoo formed during the next two or three centuries, "tender his thanks for assistance which so greatly Irving's closing years was not a little increased by the and a Jaina group of a century later still, the eleventh or "increases the interest of these volumes." With Cathahonour heaped upon him. Of none of his writings could twelfth. They belong, therefore, to three religions, and rine of Aragon the work opens, and the first half of he complain that they were not cordially received. In the their variety thus gives them a special interest. It is to the first volume deals with affairs of Henry the Eighth's United States he realised more than 42,000l. by the sale the Ajunta and Ellora groups that the illustrations in this reign, the second half with affairs from the accession of of his books; from English publishers he received volume are confined. Excellent in themselves, well Elizabeth to the Revolution. The second volume begins 12,2171. 10s. for copyright; the largest payments being mounted, each having its description under it written by early in the seventeenth century with an account of Walter 3,1507. for the Life of Columbus," 2,1007. for the Con- the one most competent expounder, who introduces the Montagu, and advances to the close of Queen Anne's reign. quest of Granada,' 1,5751. for the Tales of a Traveller,' whole series with a general account of their origin and The work is illustrated with steel engravings of the fulland 1,050l. apiece for Bracebridge Hall,' and Tales of structure, these photographs form one of the most inte- length portraits at Kimbolton of Henry Montagu, first Earl the Alhambra.' He died as he wished to die. On resting and delightful books that ever recommended itself of Manchester, Charles Montagu, first Duke of Manchester, November the 28th, 1859, he dined with his nephew and alike to the mistress of the drawing-room and to the and Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax. niece, with whom he had been staying: scholar in his study. Only enough has been here said Mr Pierre Irving's Life and Letters of Washington by Mr Fergusson to enable every one to read all that is Irving' closes with the publication this week of the fourth told by the pictures themselves, and they are eloquent. volume, which we have reviewed in a preceding column. Of the beautiful book of photographs from the Rockwe also have spoken this week in another column. cut Temples of India, with descriptions by Mr Fergusson, On retiring for the night, at half-past ten, bis niece Sarah, who always took charge of his medicines, went into his room to place them as usual, within easy reach. "Well," ," he exclaimed, "I must arrange my pillows for another weary night!" and then, as if half to himself, "If this could only end!" or "When will this end!" she could not tell which; for, at the instant, he gave a slight exclamation, as if of pain, pressing his band on his left side, repeated the exclamation and the pressure, caught at the footboard of the bed, and feli backward to the floor. The sound of his fall and the screams of Sarah brought the whole family in an instant to his room. I raised his head in my arms. Every means was resorted to to recall anima The Two Families; or, the Power of Religion. By J. C. Bateman. Author of The Netherwoods of Otterpool, Who is to have it?' Forgiveness,' &c. Hatchard and Co. Mr Fergusson's theory as to the Mosque of Omar, in Jerusalem, is stated by the Rev. George Sandie in the preface to his Horeb and Jerusalem,' to be at the root of the account of the Topography of Jerusalem which that volume contains. The purpose of the volume is to trace the route of the Israelites of the Exodus, from Goshen to Sinai, and to determine the sites connected with the Life book contains a folding map of This little book is so well written that we trust it will tion, and continued until a physician-Dr Caruthers, from a distance have a very wide circulation. The story is an extremely of two miles-arrived, who pronounced life entirely extinct. He simple one, and in the most natural manner sets forth the had passed away instantaneously. The end for which he had just advantages, un lens worldly than spiritual, which arise been sighing-the end which to him had no terrors-had come. His departure was sudden; but so he was willing it should be. In the from strictly moral conduct and the practice of sound and Death of Christ. The fulness of years, with unclouded intellect, crowned with the warmest religious principles, as opposed to the degradation and the Peninsula of Sinai; a plan of Horeb and Sinai; plans showing the Topography of Jerusalem according to Dr of the Past,' by Mr William Bradfield, is said in the our day of whom we know that they can raise the Robertson; according to Josephus; according to Scripture, author's preface to have been inspired by his love for dramatic taste of the public if we will let them, a and in the time of the Early Pilgrims; besides three topo- antiquities; usually the most coy of all the Muses. metrical English version of the Spanish masterpiece, graphical pictures, one endeavouring to represent Calvary A new quarterly, the Quarterly Journal of Science,' which, though but a translation of a translation, is and the adjacent part of Jerusalem, during the Crucifixion, well planned, and with much that is of sound popular indeed in itself a careful and most creditable piece the others, general views of Jerusalem in the time of the interest in its contents, is among the publications of the of English dramatic literature. It is further to the Kings and in the time of Christ. week, and there are two new monthlies. One of these is credit of Mr Vining, as manager, that he has not Miss Cobbe's Cities of the Past' is a reprint from the Impartial Leader,' which takes for its motto "No Party only accepted and produced such a play, but has engaged 'Fraser's Magazine,' of the author's impressions of travel"--but Truth and Truth only," while announcing itself as also artists to represent it who can prove of how much during a solitary pilgrimage to the East. It lightly written by Catholics, and resolved "never to speak against better things than we have had of late, the genius also of describes in successive sketches besides Jerusalem (as the "Catholic opinion." It promises to give a philosophical mis-our actors and actresses is capable. City of Peace), Baalbec (as the City of the Sun), Cairo cellany," for higher intelligences-only, in fact, for those Don Agustin Moreto of Cabana, son of Agustin Moreto (as the City of Victory), Rome in the Carnival (as the "who are pleased with solid contemplation;" a creed, and Violante Cavana, by seventeen years a younger man Eternal City in a temporary phase), Jericho, &c. (as a Day" truth only;" controversy, in which "we intend to dis- than Calderon, was born at Madrid in the year 1618, two at the Dead Sea) and a Day at Athens. cern between truth and falsehood;" social intercourse years after the death of Shakespeare. Lope de Vega was Mr Mitchell's book on the Herring, written on the banks that "shall traverse the world, and lead the mind to make born two years before the birth of Shakespeare, and in the of the Forth under inspiration from the Scottish Athens," a thorough acquaintance with human doings in general," year of the death of Lope de Vega, at the age of seventyhas for its frontispiece a folding sheet, lithographed and in fact, the reader is promised liberal supply of a compre- three, Calderon was a man aged thirty-four and Moreto was printed in colours and metals, showing the herring as it hensive omniscience, with fun and anecdote to make infal- a youth aged seventeen, already displaying his turn for song appears immediately after it is taken out of the water, in a libility amusing. The other new Magazine, which is to record and drama. He had written at least two, probably more, picture of the size of life, and with its iridescence imitated "Events of the Month," adds to the chronicle sketches, of his numerous comedies before the age of twenty-three, by a silver sheen. Five other plates represent the different essays, and a serial tale, beginning "Maud Ramsay, seated, and his career was smoothed for him by the affectionate forms of boat used in the English, Irish, and Scotch, the "with her doll on her lap, on the morning of her tenth regard of Calderon, who appreciated heartily his genius, and Dutch and the French herring fisheries. The work thus "birthday," a review of Lord William Lennox's 'Remi- probably procured for him his introduction to the Palace. illustrated is founded upon that by the same author which 'niscences,' an account of the earthquake on the 6th of When Moreto began writing, the Spanish drama, which had obtained the medal offered by the Royal Scottish Society of last October, and such queries, to be answered next month, just attained its topmost height of glory was there Arts for the best essay On the Natural History of the as "Why is our present dynasty called the House of wrestling with the superstition by which it was to be Herring, considered in connection with its Visits on the "Brunswick?" For the success of a monthly chronicle toppled down into the depths. Lope de Vega was but Scottish Coast.' Since that essay was published the more vigour of execution and a firmer unity of purpose are nine years dead when the King's Council subjected the author has, he says, been prosecuting his researches for the essential. purpose of producing a work at once more popular and more elaborate. He has frequently visited the fisheries on the West Coast, the East Coast, Cornwall, and the English Channel, and the coasts of Ireland. He has been on board several of the Dutch fishing busses, and PRESENT CONDITION OF THE LONDON STAGE-VIII. went to their head-quarters at Vlaardingen and Maassluis; he has visited the shores of the Baltic on both sides, and Since we began these articles, at a time when the the shores of the German Ocean; has resided for some time literary credit of the London stage appeared to have in Norway, and visited the principal fishing districts in that reached its lowest ebb, we have from time to time gladly Calderon but older than Moreto, Solis y Ribadeneira, at country. He has visited also most of the French fishing recorded indications of a turn in the tide of theatrical one time Secretary to Philip IV. Solis died in the unfulports from Dieppe to Marseilles. Portions of his work affairs. Managers begin to risk some action upon a better filled resolve to take holy orders. Calderon died a member have been read before the Royal and the Royal Physical opinion than they once had of the public taste, and there of the Congregation of the Apostle Peter at Madrid, to Societies of Edinburgh, as well as at the meetings of the are few or none of them who do not honour their profession which he had given all that he possessed. Moreto, having British Association at Oxford, Manchester, and Cambridge. too well to neglect the opportunity for its advancement forsaken poetry and the world, became a priest, and died The author believes that he has solved the hitherto disputed that they now find in the unsuspected readiness of the Rector of a Refuge at Toledo, where it was his chief duty questions as to food, periodical visits, migration, &c., and public to enjoy that which is really good. to tend the afflicted poor. In his latter days Moreto says that he has for the first time established the important Embodying, then, for a short time in this argument our regretted the lighter works of his wit, blameless as they fact that herrings visit our coast twice a year. Mr Mitchell comments on the pieces produced at the theatres, we shall all were. His graceful touch more than once gave new adds in his preface that he gives for the first time the now proceed somewhat hopefully from week to week with life to a hasty work of Lope de Vega's that had passed geographical distribution and also the chronology of visits the discussion hitherto so often interrupted. With hearty into obscurity, and even this play of El Desden "con el of the herring, not only on the British coasts, but where- satisfaction we record in the first place the triumphant Desden, which has made his fame in his own country ever else it has been ascertained. The work is subdivided reception at the PRINCESS's theatre of a poetical English imperishable, is founded on a poor play that preceded it into three books: Book I. setting forth the Natural His- version by Mr Westland Marston of the German version of called 'The Avenger of Women,' if not on Lope de Vega's tory of the Herring; Book II. the different modes of Moreto's masterpiece, which has long been reckoned one forgotten Miracles of Contempt.' Of Dr Guthrie's Discourses on The Gospel in Ezekiel, first published about nine years ago, it is enough to observe that the copy among the Books this Week is one of the "fortieth thousand." THE THEATRICAL EXAMINER. stage to a rigid censorship, reduced the number of the actors, forbade the production of original comedies that were not histories or lives of saints, and condemned the works of Lope de Vega as pernicious. Thus it is that we have from Calderon and Moreto so many sacred plays. But there was a true earnestness in those men, a spiritual expression of the religious fervour that was hard intolerance in many, and this characterised also their one fellow poet and dramatist, a man younger than fishing and curing at home and abroad; Book III. telling of the four classical pieces of the elder Spanish drama, The original play is like Mr Westland Marston's version the progress of the Herring Fishery from the Earliest El Desden con el Desden. This was the play which of the German version of it, in three acts, and, of course, Period to the Present Day. Louis Quatorze when he wished to delight a Spanish wife in the usual rime asonante. Schrey vogel's version agrees Of Sir Emerson Tennent's Story of the Guns' we have and mother caused to be produced at his Court with the with Gozzi's in altering the name of the hero from Don been speaking this week in another column. utmost magnificence of appointment, and with Molière for Carlos to Don Cæsar. This change Mr Marston adopts. Mr Kimber's Mathematical Course,' or cram-book of its translator. But Molière's version of the play under the He follows his German original also in omitting the Mathematics for the Matriculation and B.A. or B.Sc. name of the Princesse d'Elide was as complete a failure as character of the Prince of Bearn from among the suitors, examinations of the University of London, presupposes his imitation of Spanish heroic comedy in Don Garcie de in altering the name of the "gracioso" Polilla, con"some acquaintance with the most elementary principles Navarre, except that Don Garcie, produced for the public, fidential secretary to the proud Princess Diana, into "of Arithmetic and Algebra," and its object is said by the was immediately damned, while the Princesse d'Elide, Perin, and in adding the short character of a Fioretta, with author to be to "economize the time and energies" of produced for a Court fête, was received with polite admira- whom Perin may have a little comic business. students preparing for the before-named examinations by tion and supposed at Court to be a great success. The The gracioso was a popular addition made by Lope de "presenting in one volume the information they must piece is usually omitted, and very properly, from editions Vega to the stock characters of a Spanish play. He was a "otherwise collect from various sources." of the works of Molière, for it was written in such haste comic character, sometimes half a buffoon, like the 'fantasto obey the King's wish and punctually to grace his grand tical person' of the contemporary English Stage, more festival, that Molière had only time to put the frequently the lively representative of the shrewd popular first act and the first scene of the second act of his version mother wit, and the person of his drama through whom into metre, and hurried the rest into prose; so that the author might be with the first to laugh at any extraThe Novels of the week are the 'Wildfire' of Mr Walter the chansonnier Marigny said this Comedy had been vagance of plan or fervour of romance about his story. Thornbury, a tale of the French Revolution; Mr Charles summoned in such haste to Court that she had only time Not seldom, and especially in Moreto's comedies, he is at Clarke's Box for the Season,' which is not an opera box, to put on one of her buskins, and appeared half naked, the very core of the play; and it is so in El Desden or but Boulter's Farm, otherwise the Chateau,' in "the with one shoe off, the other on. More successful was the Donna Diana. Here it is he who suggests to the hero how "grand pasture lands of our favourite hunting country;" Italian version of this famous drama by the truest and he may touch in his cold Diana the warm heart of a woman; 'Dan to Beersheba,' a novel of American Life North and wittiest poet among Italian writers of comedy, Count how he may melt the snow on her proud heights till it shall South before the Civil War, but written without reference Carlo Gozzi, familiar to Germany through at least one throbbing come down upon the valley in an eager flood. to that catastrophe; and Christmas at Old Court.' The work in Schiller's version of his Turandot. Gozzi Italian- True as his love is, let him leave the other suitors to prowork last named is a novel introduced by lines of verse to ized Moreto's masterpiece under the title of the Philo-voke her scorn by their submission, but let him surprise Mr Webster, closed by an Epithalamium on the marriage sophic Princess, or the Antidote,' 'Principessa Filosofa, o her on her own ground, holding himself as grapes above her of the Prince of Wales, as recited by Miss Avonia Jones il Contraveleno.' Germany too has its popular version of reach, though elsewhere all the vintage of earth may seem on the Adelphi stage, and introducing into the middle of El Desden con el Desden in the Donna Diana of Joseph to have been tilled only for her. He does so. When the its modern story a mock antique drama on Cervantes' story Schreyvogel, a journalist of refined taste but little genius, warmth of his love rises to his lips there is the 'gracioso,' of the Curious Impertinent, which is called "The Shakspere who translated two of Calderon's plays as well as the play the gay confidant of either side, to warn him back into a "Forgery," and modestly suggested to have been perhaps of Moreto. He was Kotzebue's successor as secretary of show of ice; or if the lady doubt her senses, there is the sly written by Robert Greene. A soliloquy in it, upon which the Viennese Court Theatre, and commonly wrote under gracioso, a true friend though a deceiver, at her ear. He our eyes happen to fall, begins thus: the name of West. It is evidence of its popularity at is her confidential private secretary, who affects to be of one home that his Donna Diana has been one of the plays mind with herself, and can she doubt him? The part is chosen for acting in London by a German company, and well played by Mr Vining with a true gracioso's breadth that Mr Westland Marston, except a serious departure of comedy. Madman-But am I not more mad than be The novel may have been born to the author of a kindly Doll among the Muses, but lines like these make us suspect the other muse an Ida who is coy. If so, the author can apply to himself and his aim to shine in the same work as modern novelist and as Elizabethan dramatist, a line or two from the true Greene: Rare wit, fair face, what heart could more desire? Let Doll be fair, she is won; but I must woo And win fair Ida; there's some choice in two. from his text in the last scene, has thought it worth a close Mr Herman Vezin, a quietly good actor who can translation. Direct from Moreto Mr. Marston evidently rightly speak blank verse and give true but enforced has not taken a line, but he translates him through a con- expression to a poet's thought, well represents the life scientious German, and we only wish he had confined himself and love under the mask of the suitor who coerces himself at the end of the play as elsewhere to the few changes that to surprise disdain with a disdain yet greater, though satisfied the man he followed. Of that presently. Mean- as a true Spanish gentleman punctilious of courtesy. while we are, on the whole, exceedingly well satisfied. Mrs Charles Young, now Mrs Herman Vezin, plays the Mr Marston could find, perhaps, good critics to argue in Diana with much grace and feeling, and marks with support of the modification of the denouement, sacrificing, variety of expression the gradations of her passage from we think, poetry to stage effect, which is the one change a cold disdain to a piqued curiosity, a wound of pride, a he has made. He is a man credited deservedly with growth of wonder, admiration, and the loosening of the Let this, however, be said without prejudice to the good dramatic taste. Enough and more than enough we whole woman's nature in the Princess. It is a wonderful author of Richelieu in Love,' of whose new book it yet remains for us to speak critically. The only book of poems published this week, 'Pictures have had of the contemporary rubbish of the minor part for a great actress, capable of displaying nearly the theatres of Paris. It is greatly to the credit of Mr Vining whole range of her power, and absolutely demanding, in the that he has taken from one of the few English writers of second act, that she shall put forth all her arts of I am, &c., H. WADDINGTON." fascination. Mrs Herman Vezin is not a great actress, two medical men, that that inquiry did not, like all previous inquiries | borough magistrates and two medical men of Derby, and myself. but she is a charming one who has achieved her best of the same kind, originate with the gaol authorities, but was promoted Mr Scott, the other county magistrate who signed the certificate of the successes in the poetical drama, and the quality of her Donna adviser. Sir George Grey had no previous information that this was has suddenly been called into Scotland for the purpose of attending his and conducted as a matter of professional business by Townley's legal 29th of December last, and who was to have signed the enclosed letter, Diana has assured the success of this play on the London the case, nor could he be in any way responsible for any irregularity sister's funeral.-I have, &c., W. T. Cox. boards. The famous scene in the second act, where the if irregularity there was in the proceedings. No person other "To the Right Hon. Sir G. Grey, Bart., M.P., &c.-Sir,-We the cold suitor, invited to speak commonplace of love to the than a magistrate could be admitted to examine the prisoner or to in-undersigned justices of the peace for the county and borough of Princess whose colour it has, by her contrivance, fallen quire into his mental state without the sanction of the visiting justices Derby, and medical men of Derby, who signed and forwarded to you or of the Secretary of State; and as the visiting justices must there- two certificates as to the insanity of George Victor Townley, dated the to his lot to wear, pours his whole soul out earnestly at fore have been aware of the proceeding, and as no communication on 27th and 29th December last, having had our attention called to a her feet, is triumphantly scorned, and recovering his the subject was received from them at the time, or has been received memorial, signed by certain magistrates of the county of Derby" guard dexterously turns the tables on the lady and builds from them up to the present time by the Secretary of State, he could dated the 5th inst., beg to solicit your consideration of the following new success on his humiliation, is remarkably well played. only presume that what was done was done with their knowledge and facts. Upon the trial of the prisoner, Mr H. F. Gisborne and Mr J. II. But why could not Mr Westland Marston have faith to the Secretary of State, in conformity with the law, on the receipt of confined, deposed to the fact of the prisoner being insane at that sanction. So far, however, as it concerned the steps to be taken by Sims, the surgeon and governor of the gaol in which the prisoner was the end? We believe that he fell into the old snare of such a certificate, it was immaterial how the inquiry originated, pro- period, viz., on the 11th of December, and the Rev. H. Moore doubting the power of an English audience to enjoy the vided the certificate was in accordance with the provisions of the (chaplain of the gaol) made a written report of the prisoner's insanity simple play of wit and poetry. In the original play, and statute. in his Minute-book, for the inspection of the visiting justices early in in the German version of it too, the disdainful Diana is in "There is one other passage in the letter from the magistrates to the month of December, and we have been credibly informed and the last scenes all a woman, with the passion of her love effect of the respite of Townley and of his removal to a lunatic asylum governor and report of the chaplain, none of the visiting justices or which Sir George Grey thinks it right to refer. They say that the believe that, notwithstanding such evidence of the surgeon and set free. To provoke her indifferent suitor into a word of has been to cause much dissatisfaction, and to create a feeling, greatly county magistrates, excepting ourselves, have visited the prisoner or desire to win her, she tells him she has relented from her to be lamented, that there is one law for the rich and another for the taken any action whatever upon such evidence or report. We beg proud theory, and means to give herself to one of his poor; that justice has been turned aside by the power of money; and further to state that we entered upon the inquiry as to the prisoner's rivals, but she is caught in that poor little trap, and that if Townley and his friends had been poor he would have been mental condition from a mere sense of duty, and we took considerable executed. The magistrates may possess information as to the pains to ascertain the true state of his mind. On the one hand, we tied in a knot of etiquette that seems to bind expenditure of money by Townley's friends of which the Secretary of believe our certificates to be perfectly true, while, on the other, we are her to make good the word so lightly spoken. She is in State has no knowledge; nor is he aware of the manner in which the assured that none of the county magistrates who have signed the the last scene as a caught bird fluttering in the net, with magistrates believe such money to have been expended. But the most memorial of the 5th inst. have any personal knowledge of the subject none of the high concern about yet saving her dignity that satisfactory proof which can be given that the course taken with matter of our certificates. Neither the prisoner's adviser nor any of Mr Westland Marston gives her. She is all anxious dread regard to Townley is one which it required no expenditure of money his friends were present at our examinations, and they have in no way to obtain, and which would have been equally taken had Townley and influenced our judgment, or attempted to do so.-We have, &c., W. T. when they seem to be binding her to the man and her dis- his friends been poor, is a reference to a similar case which occurred at Cox, J.P. for the Borough of Derby; J. B. TORMAN, J.P. for the dainful suitor to the woman she and he have, in affected the Spring Assizes held at Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1862, when a man Borough of Derby; THOS. ROE, Mayor of the Borough of Derby; disdain of each other, professed to choose for mates. Mr named Clark, himself a poor man, and with no friends who were not HENRY GOODE, M.B. and M.R.C.S.; THOMAS HARWOOD, Surgeon, Westland Marston makes her struggle yet to brave it out; convicted of wilful murder and sentenced to death. In that case, as in also poor, and in whose defence no counsel even was retained, was &c., and Medical Officer to the Derby Union." makes Perin bid the Count fix his eye on her while she re- the case of Townley, the learned judge before whom Clark was tried, peats at the dictation of her father the form of betrothal to the in reporting the case to the Secretary of State, expressed his opinion THE ALLEGED CONSPIRACY IN PARIS. other man; makes her catch his eye, break down, cry out that the verdict was right, but called the attention of the Secretary of According to the Droit Greco seems to have been chosen by Mazzini at the unsympathetic face of the knight to whom she is State to the evidence as to the unsound state of mind of the prisoner at the time of the trial, as having, to use his own words, so intensely invented by the French police, whose public character being worse plighting herself; and in short, gives the British public important a bearing upon the question whether he ought to be than Mazzini's places them of course first under suspicion, and Imperatori to be the chief of the conspiracy against the Emperor discovered or something like the dose of clap-trap it is commomly con-executed. In consequence of this representation from the judge, an and Saglio were adjoined to him. Trabucco, who has been condemned sidered to require. The German adapter, from whose text inquiry as to the insanity of the prisoner was directed by the Secretary in this instance Mr Marston has departed, with better of State, and the result in that case, as in the present, was his at Paris and at London as a thief and a swindler, is said to have taste follows Moreto, who in this last scene showed removal to a lunatic asylum. Sir George Grey trusts that this state-lieutenants. The four left Lugano, bringing with them about 4,000f., solicited by a letter to Mazzini the honour of becoming one of Greco's only a woman in a tender tumult of distressful love, exists, and which they appear to have shared, that a similar course, ment will tend to remove the impression which the magistrates say handed by Mazzini to Greco; also poignards, revolvers, percussion until Don Carlos has been admonished by the under similar circumstances, would not be adopted in the case of a caps, and explosive bombs. They are about the size of a man's hand, gracioso that he must now give her opportunity poor man as in the case of one whose friends had the power of expending of these bombs were found at the time of the seizure. After passing and have twelve fuse-holes, intended to receive as many caps. Eight herself to loose the knot by which she is restrained. To money in his behalf. through Switzerland and France the four are said to have arrived in the expectation that he will now plight his faith to his The Times of yesterday in publishing the remainder of the corParis on Christmas day. They thought it best to separate, reside in mock love he replies, therefore, that since he is the respondence promised in Sir George Grey's letter, thus summarises different hotels, and frequently change their lodgings. Several days *Princess's knight and wears her colours, he is not yet free its contents: "We are in a position to place before the public this were passed by them in ascertaining the places to which the Emperor to plight his troth elsewhere. He waits till she has for- morning a complete history of the proceedings connected with the was likely to go, and the hour at which he would leave the Palace. mally released him from her service. Then the Princess respite of George Victor Townley, and the case has acquired and to the Bois de Boulogne. In the lining of Greco's trousers is said to They consequently repaired to the Tuileries, to the Champs-Elysées, herself plucking eagerly at the knot where she is tively observed. On the day following the conviction of the prisoner the explanations which they have very freely given, each man was to character of such extraordinary importance that it cannot be too atten- have been hidden a writing from the hand of Mazzini. According to warned that she may loosen it, claims and obtains the Mr Baron Martin, who had tried him, re-opened the question by a word of both knights that they will abide by her decision. communication to Sir George Grey, suggesting, but merely suggesting, carry a poignard, a revolver, and two bombs. The eight bombs were Her decision is, that she belongs to him who has con-a further inquiry into the convict's actual state of mind. The Judge's should not have been injured by projectiles the four Italians were to to be thrown into or under the Emperor's carriage. If his Majesty quered Disdain with Disdain. And who is he? asks Carlos. letter was not decisively worded. Of his own opinions, indeed, it con take advantage of the confusion, rush forward, and use their revolvers With two little tender whispered words, -Tusolo,-the medical witnesses at the trial had deposed in the strongest manner' veyed but this much-that he thought the conviction right, but as two and poignards. The examination of these daggers showed that the softened woman timidly creeps forward and lays her heart to the actual insanity of the prisoner as he stood at the bar, the Judge the Gazette des Tribunaux was all expended in much extravagance, blades bore the trace of a very subtle poison. "Their money," says of love down at his feet. Mrs Herman Vezin would have thought it right to call the attention' of the Home Secretary to the as at one dinner the four spent upwards of 200f. They did not wish to known how to give grace to such a close, if Mr Westland point thus raised. To this letter Sir George Grey, after three days' consideration, replied in terms implying that he himself could see expose themselves to the risk of being without resources, in case of Marston had not resolved that the taste of the British public nothing in the report of the trial to call for fresh investigation, and he being obliged after the crime to fly from Paris, and they therefore demands less delicate fare. And thus it seems that even begged the Judge to give him his own impression on the subject. received any answer to their letter at the time of their arrest. The wrote to Mazzini at the address he had given them. They had not our good dramatic poets, like our players, can fall into the Mr Baron Martin answered that he could not say that he had truth of the declarations made is proved by another circumstance. A mischievous error, against which we so often have protested, formed any decided opinion on the point,' but that he thought there letter was seized at the post-office addressed to Greco, written by should be further inquiry. Thus moved, Sir George Grey addressed tion that the verdict was right, and that the prisoner had been sane at which they waited for, and that if had arrived sooner they should have the time of the murder, but stating the question which had been since accomplished their project. Saglio, who is only twenty-two years of raised as to his present sanity, and commending it to the consideration age, is the only one of the prisoners who appears to show any of the Commissioners. These gentlemen lost no time in proceeding to repentance." Derby and instituting the inquiry with which they had thus been charged. following terins the manner in which the conspirators are said to have A Paris correspondent of the Emancipation of Brussels relates in the On the 28th of December they made their Report. In this document been arrested: they appear somewhat disposed to let Sir George Grey form an opinion The following is a copy of the letter addressed by Sir George Grey for himself from the minutes of the proceedings which they submit d'Athènes, 185 Rue St Honoré, but in a few days they separated, and "On first arriving in Paris they stopped at the Hôtel de Lyon et to Mr Evans, M.P., in reply to the memorial of the magistrates of the to him, but they do communicate their own conclusions to the extent Trabucco and Imperatori took a furnished room at 4 Rue Croix des county of Derby in the case of George Victor Townley: "Whitehall, Jan. 8.-Sir, I am directed by Secretary Sir George gant opinions thus deliberately professed by him (the convict), of his Petits-Champs. They were left comparatively free, in order that their Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th inst., trans- extraordinarily perverted moral sense, and of the hereditary taint alleged, accomplices might be caught with them, but all their movements were mitting a letter addressed to him by the magistrates of the county of and apparently proved, to have existed in the family of the prisoner's carefully watched. At length, on Sunday, the 3rd of January, M. Derby, whose signatures are attached to it. Sir George Grey has grandmother, we cannot consider him to be of sound mind; but his views Lagrange, police officer, was charged to arrest them, and he went to read that letter with the attention to which both the importance of the of right and wrong, false as they are, appear to have been coherently acted the house in the Rue Croix des Petit-Champs, accompanied by some subject it refers to, and the persons from whom it proceeds, justly upon, and with a full sense of what they involved. He reasons now agents. He was aware that the two men were in their room, but entitle it. In order to place the magistrates in full possession of the as he acted in committing the murder. Upon the point of his alleged knowing that they were well-armed, he thought it advisable to wait until proceedings which have taken place with reference to the case of belief in a conspiracy against him we pressed him very closely, Trabucco left the house, and was immediately secured, and at the same they came out, in order to avoid bloodshed. At about four o'clock George Victor Townley, a copy of the correspondence between this but we could not satisfy ourselves that this was in the nature office and the Lunacy Commissioners, together with two certificates of of a delusion.' They close their Report in these terms: Being of moment some of the agents went up to the room to arrest Imperatori. Townley's insanity received by the Secretary of State, and of the order opinion, therefore, that the prisoner continues to be now in the same the other conspirator at 185 Rue St Honoré, as already stated." Another party of police at about the same time captured Greco and for the removal of the prisoner to Bethlem Hospital under the provi- mental state as when he committed the murder, and underwent his trial, sions of the statute 3 and 4 Vict., cap. 54, sec. 1, will be transmitted we think that, applying the law as laid down by Mr Baron Martin to to you as soon as it can be prepared. this case, the prisoner George Victor Townley was justly convicted.' Signor Mazzini has written the following letter, wholly denying The magistrates will learn from this correspondence that it was in Such was the point to which the case was brought by the action of the his alleged participation in the conspiracy: consequence of information conveyed to the Secretary of State by the Home Secretary taken upon the suggestion of the Judge. But by Accusations of every description have been, since the arrest of learned judge before whom the prisoner was tried, that, in his opinion, this time action had been taken in other quarters. On the day before four Italians at Paris charged with an attempt against Louis a further inquiry as to the sanity of the prisoner was necessary, that the date of the, Commissioners' Report a certificate was forwarded to Sir Napoleon, heaped on me by the organs of the French Government, the Lunacy Commissioners were requested by the Secretary of State to George Grey, signed by three justices of the peace and two medical and repeated by the English press. It has always been my known undertake the inquiry. Sir George Grey feels that it was impossible practitioners, briefly testifying, in such language as a certain Act of habit to not discuss accusations put forth against me by avowed to refuse an inquiry so recommended by the judge, and he is not aware Parliament demanded, that George Victor Townley was insane. And enemies, and I feel a special dislike to do so when the accusations that, under the circumstances the case, he could have intrusted the on the day after the Commissioners' Report a similar certificate was come from the agents of a man who, as far as in him lies, is by mere inquiry to more able or responsible persons, or to persons likely to con- forwarded, signed by two justices of the peace, one of whom had signed brutal force depriving my country of the unity which she claims, and duct it with greater impartiality and freedom from any preconceived the first certificate, and two medical practitioners, being identical making of Rome the basis of operation of the brigandage infesting opinion or doubtful theories. The Commissioners' report is among the with those acting in the first instance, to the same effect as before. the south of Italy. Yielding, however, to solicitations of dear papers which will be sent you with the least possible delay, but the There were, therefore, three Reports made in as many days-one, in friends, I do declare: That I never did instigate any body to kill Secretary of State was not called upon to decide on that report alone the form of a certificate, on the 27th of December, another, from the Louis Napoleon. That I never did give to any man bombs, air guns, whether the sentence of the law ought to be executed or not, because Commissioners of Lunacy, on the 28th; and a third, in the shape, as it revolvers, or daggers for that purpose. That Trabuco, Imperatori, at the same time that he received it he received also a certificate, dated were, of an amended certificate, on the 29th. Why the last should and Saglio are entirely unknown to me. That, therefore, the meeting December 27, signed by three justices of the peace (one for the county have been sent it is not easy to see, unless it was thought better to com- summoned at Lugano, the absurd place of under-lieutenant given to and two for the borough of Derby) and two medical men, stating, in ply exactly with the words of the statute, which spoke of 'two' Imperatori in a brigade of four men, and the giving of the photothe terms required by law, that they had examined and inquired into justices of the peace, neither more nor less, whereas the first certificate graphs to the men, are absolute falsehoods. That my photographs, the mental state of the prisoner, and certifying that he was insane. had been signed by three. In fact, it was the latter of the two docu- with my autograph at the bottom, are sold for the "Venice EmanciThis was followed by a certificate to the same effect, dated the 29th of ments on which Sir George Grey acted, having, as is now known, pation Fund" at the office of the Unità Italiana, at Milan, and elseDecember, and signed by two justices of the peace for the county of no discretion in the matter. An Act of Parliament obliged him, on where. That no letter, with or without money, has ever been Derby (one of them being the same who had signed the former certi- the receipt of such a certificate as was sent to him on the 29th of Decem-addressed by me to Greco in Paris. Greco I know. Hundreds, I ficate), and the same two medical men. Copies of these certificates ber,, to direct the removal of the convict from the gaol to a lunatic might say thousands, of young men belonging to our National Party are also among the papers which will be sent to you. Upon these asylum, and consign him to a madhouse instead of leaving him to be of Action, are known to me. certificates from four justices of the peace and two medical practitioners executed. This obligation he simply discharged." the prisoner, in accordance with the construction which has been uniformly placed on the section of the Act before mentioned, was ordered The following is a copy of a letter addressed to Sir George Grey by to be removed to Bethlem Hospital, the capital sentence being respited, Mr Cox, the magistrate of the county of Derby, who signed the but not commuted. The magistrates in their letter of the 5th inst. certificate of insanity in the case of George Victor Townley: say, with reference to the inquiry made by two magistrates, aided by | "Derby, Jan. 8.-Sir,-I beg to inclose you a letter signed by two a of adapting their work to an assumed standard of bad taste.himself to the Commissioners in Lunacy, frankly avowing his convic. Mazzini, and enclosing 500f. Greco declares that it was that money Here we must stop for to-day, but we will not wait week to say that Mr Falconer's new play, Night and Morn, at DRURY LANE is certainly the best he has yet written. THE TOWNLEY CASE. which the following words will indicate: In view of the extrava Greco is an enthusiastic patriot, who took an active part in the enterprises of 1860 and 1861 in the south of Italy; and he has had, as such, contact with me. Any note of mine in his possession, if there be any, must, however, belong to at least nine or ten months back. Enough in reply to accusations hitherto merely grounded on French police reports.-I am, &c., Jan. 14. JOSEPH MAZZINI. |