her bonnet being found among the débris. She was re-arrested at Leek, Staffordshire, the following afternoon. Mrs. Jury was found guilty, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, with hard labour.

29. GALE AND SHIPWRECK.-A very severe gale took place on the night of the 28th and on the 29th, which caused considerable damage to shipping and loss of life on our coasts. Its most disastrous result, however, was in the Bay of Biscay, where the steamer "La Plata," bound from the Thames to South America, with telegraph cable on board, foundered off Ushant. Of the crew, consisting of seventy-seven men and boys, only fifteen were saved; they had put off in a small boat, and after having been at sea for nearly twenty-four hours, almost without provisions, were picked up by the emigrant ship "Gare Loch." Thence fourteen of the survivors were transferred to the steamer "Antenor," and by this vessel they were brought to the Thames.

It appears that the wind up to Friday evening was fair, when it blew as one man described it-" a living gale," and the ship became almost unmanageable. This was partly owing, some of the survivors declared, to the character of the machinery on board. The vessel shipped vast quantities of water, and the ponderous grappling apparatus, several tons in weight, was said to have shifted, splitting the decks and letting in the water. Another account is that she carried away her companion, and the water got down into the aft cabin, between which and the engine-room there was no bulkhead, so that, sweeping away the partition, the sea quickly extinguished the fires. When the water had thus got possession of the bottom of the vessel, one of the first effects of its force was to displace and lift the stoke plates; and these, it seems, cut the ash-pipe, through which is conveyed the sea-water for cooling the ashes. The sea then came rushing in through the broken tube, adding disastrously to the already overwhelming cumulation of waves that had broken over the deck. The captain and surgeon, who were last seen on the bridge, after a fruitless and desperate effort to launch the patent raft attached thereto, were asked, immediately before the ship went down, to put on life-belts. The answer of Captain Dudden was "No, no, never mind; leave me alone." The "La Plata " foundered off Ushant, in the full fury of the south-westerly gale, or rather hurricane, which, from the time of its outbreak, had veered round from the north. The quantity of telegraph cable which had been paid out, with the vain endeavour, by lightening the ship, to counteract the effects of the sea that broke in upon her, was 150 miles out of the 250 she had in her hold.

The lost were Captain Dudden, Mr. Hughes (the surgeon), the three officers, one of the four engineers, seven of the ten stewards and cooks, both the boatswains, the carpenter, all the eleven stokers, fourteen of the twenty-one seamen, and the whole of the cable-staff, numbering sixteen, with Mr. Ricketts, and the six

electricians accompanying him. The list of those who were rescued consists of three engineers, three stewards or cooks, seven sailors, and one lamp-trimmer, besides the boy, name unknown, who was left on board the "Gare Loch," and whose condition is described as bordering on insanity. A mental disorder, indeed, seems to have been more or less common to several among the rescued persons. A few days later intelligence arrived that two more of the crew, Mr. Lamont, the boatswain, and Mr. Hooper, the quartermaster, had been saved. The narrative of their rescue is as marvellous as any that has ever been read of adventures at sea; we take it from the Gibraltar Chronicle:

"On Sunday morning, the 29th, when it became evident that the 'La Plata' must founder, two of the life-boats on deck were manned by some of the officers and crew, in the expectation that when the ship sank beneath them. the boats would be left floating; this was really the case with one of the boats, but just as the ship was on the point of sinking, a heavy sea washed over her, broke up the other boat, in which fifteen men, including Lamont and Hooper, were sitting, and washed the whole of the boat's crew overboard. Lamont and Hooper had just risen to the surface when the ship took her final plunge, and they were drawn down again by the suction. On coming up the second time, they saw floating close to them the damaged air-raft, which they contrived to get hold of. This raft was made of compartments filled with air and joined by a canvas band, forming a seat. Seated on this band they were in a sort of trough, and the water came up to their waists, their bodies below the waist getting gradually benumbed. The sea was continually washing over them, and unless they had been men of strong vitality and sound physique they could hardly have lived through the three days until their final rescue. During the Sunday, the first day of their suffering, their anxious eyes could only discover one passing ship, and she passed much too far off to see them. On Monday there were a strong breeze and a nasty sea; but the weather was fine. Several ships passed at a distance; these they could plainly see; but by none of them could they hope to be seen. Tuesday was calm during the greater part of the day, and their hopes of safety were raised by seeing a three-masted schooner which passed within half a mile of them. They shouted with all their might, and thought they must be heard, but the schooner sailed on. The cry of distress was not heard, nor the dark speck on the water observed. Towards Tuesday evening the breeze freshened, and it continued to blow hard during the night. The men were exhausted, and in the conflict between wearied nature and hopes of life, they sank into a state between sleeping and waking, dozing for a minute or two and then suddenly starting again into consciousness. About four on Wednesday morning, the one who was in his waking moment saw through the darkness the loom of a vessel bearing down upon them, and immediately roused his companion. The vessel rapidly ap

proached, and came within a hundred yards of them. With all the strength that was left to them they uttered their cry for assistance, and after a few seconds' interval, a bright light told that their cry had been heard and was answered. For two hours the light burned like a beacon of safety before their eyes, but just before dawn it disappeared, and when day broke no ship was anywhere to be seen. Hope was fast giving way to despair, when about two hours after daylight the missing vessel bore down towards them. This was the Dutch schooner Wilhelm Benklezoon.' The master, when he heard the cry of distress, had immediately brought his ship to, and lay-to till the morning. In the meantime the shipwrecked men on the air-raft had drifted to leeward. When the master of the Wilhelm Benklezoon' found, at daybreak, that nothing could be seen, he conjectured from the force and direction of the wind the point to which any floating wreck or boat would have drifted, and bore down in that direction. But the sea was running so high that the master of the little schooner dared neither to lower a boat nor bring his vessel alongside the raft. He feared in the first case, that he should uselessly sacrifice his own men without rescuing the others, and in the latter case, his vessel would swamp the raft. He therefore beckoned to the two men to quit the raft and swim to the schooner. Thoroughly exhausted by their three days' exposure they mistrusted their powers of swimming even this short distance; but it was their only hope. Lamont, the boatswain, first made the attempt, and succeeded in getting alongside. Meantime, the schooner and raft had again separated, and the schooner made another tack to give Hooper a chance. He was still more exhausted than Lamont; but, thinking it was no worse to be drowned between the raft and the ship than to perish on the raft, he made the desperate effort, and struck out for the schooner. When he got alongside his hands were too benumbed even to clutch the rope which was held out to him, and he took it between his teeth. The little schooner was low in the water, and some of the crew leaning over and watching their opportunity caught him by the hands and so pulled him on board. They were unable to stand, and almost dead from exposure, and weakness from want of food, for it was then close upon noon on Wednesday, and they had eaten nothing since the previous Saturday evening. But they were brought round by the kindness of Captain Dorp and his crew, which could not be exceeded. The sailors gave up their berths to the shipwrecked men, and nothing was left undone that could add to their comfort." Lamont and Hooper were nursed in the hospital at Gibraltar till they were able to return to England, which they did about a month later, in a sadly crippled state.

30. DAY OF INTERCESSION.-On St. Andrew's Day special services were held in a large number of the metropolitan churches, in accordance with notice issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in connection with the Intercession for Foreign Missions. At St. Paul's Cathedral the Rev. Dr. Miller, Canon of Worcester and

Vicar of Greenwich, preached in the evening. At Westminster Abbey a sermon was delivered by Dean Stanley, and in the afternoon Dr. Caird, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Glasgow, delivered a lecture, from the lectern in the nave, on the subject of Christian Missions.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.-The list of railway accidents for November records thirty-three disasters, of which no fewer than twenty-eight were collisions; three persons have been killed, forty-seven have been seriously injured, thirty have been injured more or less, and, on a rough calculation, about 160 persons have been cut, bruised, and severely shaken. A dense fog prevailed over the greater part of the country on the 21st, and no less than eight of these accidents were reported as happening in consequence

of it.

THE VICTORIA CROSS.-Another officer engaged in the Ashantee War, Captain Mark Sever Bell, R.E., has received this coveted decoration in recognition of "his distinguished bravery, and zealous, resolute, and self-devoted conduct at the battle of Ordahsu, on Feb. 4, 1874, while serving under the immediate orders of Colonel Sir John Chetham McLeod, K.C.B., of the 42nd Regiment, who commanded the Advanced Guard." The Victoria Cross, first instituted as a reward for valour, in Feb. 1857, is now in the possession of 106 officers of Her Majesty's Army, seven officers of the Royal Navy, one officer of the Royal Marines, and two Bengal civilians. Sixty of these crosses were conferred for acts of bravery during the Indian Mutiny, thirty-seven were won by officers during the war with Russia, six were conferred for gallantry during the war in New Zealand, three were won during the China war of 1860, three have been distributed for valour during the late Ashantee campaign, two for the Umbeyla campaign, two for Bhootan, one for Persia, one for the Looshai expedition, and one for an act of gallantry in rescuing some soldiers from drowning in the Indian Ocean-the only Victoria Cross not earned under fire.

DECEMBER.

2. THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE FREEMASONS.-At a Grand Lodge of Freemasons, held at Freemasons' Hall, the acceptance of the Grand Mastership by the Prince of Wales was formally announced, and His Royal Highness was proclaimed Grand Master of the Order. A letter was read from the Prince, stating that he had appointed the Earl of Carnarvon as Pro-Grand Master; and the noble earl was introduced and proclaimed in his position by the Garter King of Arms. His lordship returned thanks for the honour conferred upon him, and announced that His Royal Highness the Grand Master had appointed Lord Skelmersdale as his Deputy Grand Master.

-A MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT has happened at the Foreign Office.-Charles Coxhead, a clerk in the librarian's department, aged eighteen, had gone to one of the upper floors to fetch some books and send them down in the lift, which is for the express purpose of carrying books and papers only, the clerks being strictly prohibited from riding down upon it. As he did not again make his appearance, another clerk went to look for him, and ultimately discovered him lying upon the top of the lift quite dead, he having apparently fallen down the shaft, a depth of forty-five feet. There seemed to be no doubt that, having placed the books on the lift and sent it down the shaft he had fallen into the opening, the place being exceedingly dark. The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death," and appended a rider recommending "that a guard should be placed round the opening of the shaft, that a man should be specially employed to work the lift, that additional light should be provided, and that the prohibition as to the clerks riding down the lift should be rigidly enforced."

1870-71.

3. INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES.-Her Majesty has received an address of thanks from the French nation for the services rendered by the English people to the sick and wounded in the war of The address was contained in four large volumes, which were placed on a table for the purpose of being shown to Her Majesty, M d'Agiout and Comte Serrurier explaining the nature of their contents. Having accepted the volumes, Her Majesty made a reply to the deputation in French, of which the following is a translation:-"I accept with pleasure the volumes which you have presented, and which will be carefully preserved by me as records. of the interesting historical events which they commemorate. They are beautiful as works of art; but their chief value in my eyes is that they form a permanent memorial of the gratitude of the French people for services freely and spontaneously rendered to them by Englishmen acting under a simple impulse of humanity. Your recognition of those services cannot fail to be appreciated by my subjects, and it will increase the friendly and cordial feeling which I am happy to believe exists between the two nations." The Queen subsequently directed that the volumes, which are very beautifully illuminated, should be placed in the British Museum, in order that the public might have an opportunity of inspecting them.

-ASHANTEE MEDALS.-On the same afternoon, Her Majesty personally conferred upon several seamen and marines the medals awarded for conspicuous gallantry during the Ashantee war. The men, nine in nnmber, on arriving at Windsor, walked through the town from the railway station to the Castle, where they were received by Sir John Cowell. The Queen, accompanied by Princess Beatrice, entered the corridor shortly after one o'clock, the men being drawn up in line. Sir John Cowell and General Ponsonby were also present. The names of the men were called in turn, and Her Majesty handed the medals to them, with a kind word to each