wearing a mask, fired a pistol at him, the ball lodging in the upper part of the left breast, close to the shoulder. He fell and instantly expired, but owing to what followed was not removed for nearly an hour. The assassin, after firing, went to the servants' entrance to the right, passed through the passage across the building, met the butler, whom he forced by threats to retire into the pantry, and proceeded onwards to the turn of the passage, where there was a dark recess, with a door opening into another passage leading to the back of the premises. Mr. Jermy's son, alarmed at the report of a pistol, left the dining-room and passed to the door opening into the back passage here the murderer fired and shot him through the right breast, killing him on the spot. Mrs. Jermy hearing a noise went to the same place, and while she knelt over the lifeless body of her husband the assassin fired a pistol at her, the shot shivering one of her arms and wounding her in the breast. Her maid, Eliza Chestney, more courageous than the other servants, went also to the passage to see what was the matter; and while embracing her mistress the murderer discharged another pistol, and seriously wounded her in the thigh. The female servants, now thinking they would all be murdered, hid themselves. The man-servant, who was in the stables, hearing the firing, and supposing that the place was attacked by a number of ruffians, swam across the moat which surrounds the house, and set off to Wymondham, where he gave the alarm, and caused a telegraphic message to be sent to the Norwich police-station. The murderer, therefore, had no difficulty in making his escape. Suspicion pointed to a man named Blomfield Rush, a farmer and auctioneer, living in the neighbourhood, with whom Mr. Jermy had had frequent disputes; and he was immediately arrested. Mrs. Jermy and the servant retained sufficient recollection to declare that, though disguised, they were certain he was the assassin. The most important evidence at the inquest and at the examination before the magistrates was that of Emily James, or Sandford, a young woman who lived in Rush's family, first as governess, latterly as his housekeeper or mistress: she described herself as a widow, but afterwards admitted that she was unmarried, and far advanced in pregnancy. First she said that Rush came home to tea at six, and took off his boots for the night; went out of the room at about nine, for ten minutes only; returned then, and did not again leave the house. Subsequently, under a more rigorous examination, she described Rush's proceedings on the night of the murders with a minuteness which clearly indicated his presence at the Hall during the perpetration of the murders.

29.-Incited apparently by the example of the Viennese, the Italians renew insurrectionary movements in Como.

29.-The IIon. and Rev. Baptist Noel in

timates his secession from the Church of England.

Died, at his residence, Chester-place, Pimlico, aged 42 years, Mr. Charles Buller, M. P. for Liskeard, and President of the Poor Law Board.

December 1.-A tragedy only paralleled in horror by the Black Hole of Calcutta occurred this evening on board the Londonderry steamboat, trading between Liverpool and Sligo. She left Sligo in the afternoon with nearly 200 passengers on board, a large number of whom were emigrants, intending to proceed from Liverpool to America. The night setting in dark and stormy, the captain (Johnstone) considered it necessary for the proper working of the vessel to send the whole of the passengers below. They were for a time unwilling to obey this command, but coercive measures being resorted to, they were all driven into the steerage cabin, a confined space about 18 feet long, I wide, and 7 high. The hatches were then closed, and as some of the poor creatures attempted to free themselves from this den, a tarpaulin was thrown over the entrance and nailed down. The most horrible results now followed. The air was insufficient to maintain existence beyond a few seconds. Sinking from exhaustion or trampled down by others in the madness of despair, a large portion of the wretched passengers were suffocated amid a scene which no survivor could adequately describe. One, more fortunate than the others, succeeded in freeing himself from the hideous charnel-house, and gave the alarm of what had taken place to the captain and mate. The hatches were at once taken off, and a few of the survivors crawled on deck. The number of victims amounted to 72; 23 men, 31 women, and 18 children. The steamer put into Derry, where most of the survivors were landed, and every attention paid to their restoration. The inquest resulted in a verdict "That death was caused by suffocation in consequence of the gross negligence and total want of the usual and necessary caution on the part of Captain Alexander Johnstone, Richard Hughes, first mate, and Ninian Crawford, second mate; and we therefore find them guilty of manslaughter and we further consider it our duty to express, in the strongest terms, our abhorrence of the inhuman conduct of the remainder of the seamen on board on the melancholy occasion." The captain and mates were tried and acquitted at Donegal Assizes on the 21st March ensuing.

:

2. In the Exchequer and Common Pleas two cases were prosecuted to a successful issue under Lord Campbell's Act (9th and 10th Vict. c. 93), making masters and companies liable for the negligence of servants in their employ. In the one case damages of 600l. and in the other of 100l. were recovered by the plaintiffs.

Abdication of the Emperor of Austria in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph. "The

23.-Abd-el-Kader presents a petition to the President of the French Republic, praying that the conditions of his surrender might be fulfilled by sending him to Syria, "near the sacred tomb of the prophets, that I might enlighten myself with new light, and my days be wholly devoted to the happiness of my family, far removed from the hazards of war, the theatre of which I abandoned for ever to the domination of France, in execution of the will of the Almighty, who lowers or raises empires as He pleases."

26.-Prince Windischgrätz issues a proclamation from his head-quarters at Nicola : 'Any inhabitant who is taken with a weapon of any description in his hand will be immediately hanged. If the inhabitants of any place shall, united, dare to attack any Imperial military courier, any transports, any or single commanding officers, so as to injure them in any way whatsoever, such place shall be made level with the earth. The authorities of the different places shall answer with their heads for the preservation of the public peace."

Panic at the Victoria Theatre, resulting in the death of two boys, and the injury of several others crowding on the stairs for admittance.

IM. Odillon Barrot explains the policy of the new French Ministry as based on the restoration of order and progress.

Died, Sir Augustus Frederick d'Este, son of the late Duke of Sussex, by Lady Augusta Murray. (See May 23, 1844.)

27.-The President of the French Republic to M. de Maleville, Minister of the Interior : "I asked the Prefect of Police if he did not occasionally receive reports on diplomatic affairs. He replied in the affirmative; and he added that he had addressed to you yesterday copies of a despatch from Italy. These despatches, you will understand, ought to be directly forwarded to me, and I must express to you my displeasure at this delay in their communication. I request you likewise to send me the sixteen boxes I had before demanded. I must have them on Thursday. They contain documents relative to the affairs of Strasbourg and Boulogne. I do not intend either that the Minister of the Interior should prepare the articles personal to myself. This

was not the case under Louis Philippe, and should not be the practice now. Besides, I have not received for some days my telegraphic despatches. On the whole, I perceive that the Ministers I have named wish to treat me as if the famous Constitution of Sièyes was in vigour, but I will not suffer it." This communication led to the retirement of M. de Maleville.

29. The Constituent Assembly sitting at Rome decree the deposition of the Pope, and proclaim the fact to the people by firing 101 guns from the Castle of St. Angelo.

30. In the course of the siege operations before Mooltan the British troops explode the principal magazine in the fort, containing, it was rumoured, 16,000 lbs. of powder. Many of the principal houses and temples were blown up at the same moment. Moolraj caused in timation to be made in the British camp next morning that he had still enough powder and shot to hold out for twelve months. The summons to surrender he indignantly ramined down his largest gun and fired back to General Whish.

--

1849.

January 1.- From Gaeta the Pope threatens the Roman insurgents with excommunication. The King of Prussia issues a general order wishing "a happy new year to his glorious war-army-line and Landwehr," and thanking them for their services during the year 1848. At a "reception" in the Palace of the Elysée National, the President of the Republic assures the Ambassadors present of his desire for peace and union, and expresses to the Apostolic Nuncio a hope that his Holiness would soon be re-established in his states. Among those who waited on the President to-day were sixty soldiers representing every branch of the old Imperial army.

Died at the Grange, Hants, in his 65th year, Lord Auckland, Governor-General of India during the greater part of the disastrous Affghan war, which he initiated with his proclamation from Simla against Dost Mahomed.

2.-Calamitous outbreak of cholera at Drewet's Infant Poor Establishment, Tooting. In one week the deaths amounted to 112.

3. Fire at the Caledonian Railway Station, Edinburgh, and destruction of a group of goods sheds.

5.- Pesth surrenders to the Imperial force, under Prince Windischgrätz. An attempt was made by the Chamber to obtain conditions, but the Prince refused to listen to the proposals, and took undisputed possession of the capital. Buda was entered at the same time by Baron Jellachich. M. Kossuth and the greater part of the Magyar troops retired to Debreczin, carrying with them the iron crown of Hungary and a machine for printing paper-money.

5.-Revival of old Christmas gambols in the Free-trade Hall, Manchester.

6.-Discussion in the French Assembly concerning the public documents said to have been removed by the President from the national archives. (See Dec. 27, 1848.)

Died, at his cottage, Rydal Water, aged 55, Hartley Coleridge, son of the author of "Christabel."

7. Sanguinary engagement between the Spanish troops and the insurgents, with Cabrera at their head; the latter defeated.

8. The Roman Assembly formally depose the Pope as Sovereign of the Papal States.

9. In New Orleans the cholera makes frightful ravages, the deaths per day averaging from fifty to eighty per cent. of the population. Latterly the place presented the appearance of a deserted city.

Opening of the new Cattle Market, Islington, designed to give accommodation to 8,000 cattle, 50,000 sheep, besides horses and pigs.

10.-Fifteen persons swept off the pier at Peterhead and drowned.

Co

At a meeting in Manchester Mr. Cobden proposed a resolution pledging himself to " operate with the Liverpool Financial Reform Association in its efforts to reduce the expenditure to at least the standard of 1835, and to secure a more equitable and economical system of taxation."

12.-John Bowring, Esq., gazetted Consul at Canton.

13.-A sanguinary conflict takes place at Chillianwallah between the British and Sikh forces. Lord Gough reports his troops to be victorious, but the triumph-such as it waswas dearly purchased by the loss of 602 men and about three times that number wounded.

Fire at Hampstead Water Works; loss estimated at 8,000!.

The Hudson's Bay Company receive from the Crown the grant of Vancouver's Island.

14. The West India mail-packet Forth wrecked on the Alcranes reef, where the Tweed was lost two years since. The passengers and crew, 126 men in number, were saved mainly by the efforts of the officers of the ship, directed by Captain Sturdee. The people were landed on a small island, and as many as could find room embarked in a brigantine, which landed them at Campeachy on the evening of the 18th.

Fire at Lincoln's Inn, destroying the chambers forming No. 2 on the east side of the square.

15. In the Court of Queen's Bench the Attorney-General moved for a writ to be directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, calling upon him to inquire into the conduct of the Bishop of Exeter, in refusing to induct the Rev. Mr. Gorham into a living within the diocese of the

Bishop. The Bishop alleged that, on examining Mr. Gorham, he found he held unsound 'doctrines, in so far as he believed that spiritual regeneration was not given or confirmed by the sacrament of baptism, that infants were not thereby regenerate, and that by reason of the maintenance of these doctrines Mr. Gorham was unfit to be inducted into the living. The replication affirmed that he was not unfit, and did not hold unsound doctrines. It was, said the Attorney-General, a question to be tried by Lords Spiritual, and it was customary for that Court to direct a writ to the Primate, to examine the clerk, and make the return to the Court. If the clerk accused of unsound doctrines should be dead, the question must be tried by a jury; but if alive, by the Metropolitan himself. Rule granted, on the presumption that the Bishop would not appear to oppose.

15.-Conference at the Aldersgate-street Literary Institution to discuss a new scheme of prison discipline submitted by Mr. Charles Pear

son.

16. The Chief Justice of Ireland (Blackburne) gives judgment in the cases of O'Brien, Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghue, against the writs of error brought to reverse the judgment pronounced at Clonmel. The Commission Court decided against the Crown in Duffy's

case.

Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce grants an injunction restraining Mr. Strange from publishing any portion of the Royal engravings. (See Jan. 26.)

17.-Heroic conduct of an Irish peasant girl at Ballylenahan, near Belfast. Suspicious of an attempt to set fire to the stackyard, Grace M'Veogh with her sister kept watch till past midnight, when she saw one of a party of incendiaries apply the match to a haystack. Taking such aim as she could in the darkness with an old blunderbuss, she discharged the contents at his head, and had the satisfaction of seeing him fall badly wounded in the yard. One of his companions approaching to see what had happened, she attacked him with an old bayonet fastened to the end of a pole, and though armed with a pistol, which he fired in her face, he was compelled to retreat to a car occupied by some others of the party, when they all fled in haste from the farm. An alarm was instantly sent to the police at Newtown-Breda, but before they could arrive to make a search the body of the man first wounded had been removed; his cap and part of his clothing covered in blood were found near the spot where he fell.

19.-Coroner's inquest on the bodies of four children, who had died in the London Free Hospital after removal from Drewet's pauper establishment at Tooting. The jury found that the children had been attacked by virulent cholera at a time when they were suffering from insufficient food, defective clothing, and impure air, and censured the guardians of St. Pancras for not obliging Drewet to perform his duty to the children committed to his care in a more

efficient manner than was brought out in evidence. The average number of pauper children in Drewet's establishment was 1,500, clothed, fed, and instructed at 45. 6d. per head per week, and the number who died of cholera this season exceeded 150. The Holborn Union obtained from another jury a verdict of manslaughter, and Drewet was placed at the bar of the Central Criminal Court on the 13th April. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

20. Conclusion of the sale of the first portion of the Stowe Library. The total amount realized was 4,5817. 11. 6d. The vellum "Junius," supposed to be unique, was sold to Mr. Rodd for 91.

Died at Ratho House, near Edinburgh, aged 60, Robert Cadell, distinguished as the publisher of the works of Sir Walter Scott.

21. About 100,000 tons of chalk fall from Shakspeare's Cliff, Dover. The Tigress, East Indiaman, was wrecked off the cliff the same day.

22. The lengthened and disastrous siege of Mooltan brought to a close by the unconditional surrender of Moolraj. This was the day fixed by General Whish for blowing up the citadel.

The Buonapartists carry the election of M. Boulay as Vice-President of the Republic.

24.-Explosion at Darnley Main Colliery, near Barnsley, resulting in the loss of 75 lives. The calamity was supposed to have been caused by an accumulation of gas preventing the usual passage of ventilating draughts through the workings. Twenty-seven of the workmen were recovered in an almost insensible state and brought to the surface.

H.M.S. Dido arrived at Portsmouth from New Zealand in eighty-one days, being the quickest passage on record up to this date.

25.--Destructive inundation at Inverness, caused mainly by an unprecedented accumulation of water in Loch Ness, and partly by the bank of the Caledonian Canal giving way at Dochgarroch Loch. The river Ness came down with alarming force, spreading desolation along its course, and sweeping away the old stone bridge which had withstood the floods of a century and a half. A great many streets of

the town on both sides of the river were submerged, and the inhabitants to the number of about 500 escaped with difficulty in open boats. A number of small bridges at Glenmoriston and Glengarry were also carried away.

Fire at the Canongate Gas Works, Edinburgh, and destruction of the gasometer. The immediate cause of this occurrence was the failure of a guide-rod on one side of the gasometer, which caused it to tilt against the frame, driving the standards outward at the same time and deranging the works of the water-lock. The gas then escaped in huge quantities and became ignited by some means never very clearly ascertained, but conjectured to have been from the friction of the masses of iron as

they fell from the frame. About 300,000 cubic feet of gas were consumed.

26. Came on for hearing, in the Court of Chancery, the case of Prince Albert v. Strange, in the form of an appeal motion to discharge the injunction granted by Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce, to restrain the defendant, a publisher in Paternoster-row, from publishing a descriptive catalogue of etchings or engravings by her Majesty and the Prince, and which etchings the plaintiff alleged to have been surreptitiously obtained by Strange, or by Judge, another defendant. On the 8th of February the Lord Chancellor gave judgment confirming and continuing the injunction granted by the ViceChancellor.

- The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland urges upon the Home Secretary the necessity for further suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, "to secure for Ireland that continued repose which is so vitally essential to her prosperity, to protect the country from the renewal of an agitation for objects that cannot be attained, and which for many years has disturbed its tranquillity, scaring away capital, destroying confidence, and rendering impossible the steady application of industry.'

27. The National Assembly resolve to suppress the Communistic clubs now plotting to renew disturbances in Paris. An attempted rising was made on the 29th.

31.-Final abolition of the Corn Laws. The event was celebrated at Manchester by a banquet protracted beyond midnight, to welcome in with rejoicings the first day of Free Trade.

February 1.-Parliament opened by the Queen in person. The Royal Speech made reference to the hostilities in Sicily, “attended by circumstances so revolting that the British and French Admirals were impelled by motives of humanity to interfere;' to the war in the Punjaub; and to the Navigation laws: "If you should find that these laws are in whole or in part necessary for the maintenance of our maritime power, while they fetter trade and industry, you will no doubt deem it right to modify their provisions." It was also announced that "the present aspect of affairs has enabled me to make large reductions in the estimates of last year." While the insurrection in Ireland had been suppressed, there was still a spirit of disaffection existing which called for a continuance for a limited time of the special powers granted last session. Commerce was said to be reviving, and the revenue in a state of progressive improvement. Amendments on the Address were moved in the House of Lords by Lord Stanley, and in the Commons by Mr. Disraeli, but in each case they were withdrawn without a division. The latter said the new commercial policy had failed in the trial, and should be superseded by a system based on reciprocity. He also contrasted the warlike condition of Europe with the promised reduction in the estimates, and declared that his party