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recently been imported into this country from the Continent. Mr. Coe, superintendent of the Bank note printing department, said that no doubt a copper-plate engraving was made in the first instance, an impression from which was afterwards transferred to the porcelain. The engraving, he said, was quite equal to many of the best forgeries of bank-notes, and the article was capable of being turned to mischievous purposes. As the consignees of this particular plate were highly respectable persons, and had no sinister object, the Bank of England did not take any steps for enforcing the statute.

8. TELEGRAM FROM THE UNITED STATES. RELEASE OF MESSRS. MASON AND SLIDELL.-The hearts of the English people, long oppressed by a painful anxiety, received inexpressible relief by the publication this evening of the following telegram:

"The Trent affair.-Surrender of the Prisoners.-Cork, Jan. 8.Shortly before the Washington left New York a telegram was received at Inman's office, from Washington, saying that the Commissioners would be surrendered, and leave for England by the next mail. The prisoners were to be set free on the 29th."

Before the next morning the London journals had received fuller information, and it was accurately known that in the afternoon of the 27th of December, Lord Lyons received an announcement from the United States Government that they consented to deliver to him the four prisoners when and where he pleased. The effect of this intelligence upon the funds proved how heavily the anticipations of war had weighed upon our commerce and industry. Notwith

standing that the Bank of England found the condition of the money market to be such that on the morning of the 8th they had reduced the rate of discount from 3 to 2 per cent., the funds received a sensible impulse from the arrival of the good news. Bargains were made "after hours" at a rise of per cent., and in the morning there was a further advance of per cent.; together 14 per cent. The highest price at which consols were quoted on that day was 93, or 34 per cent. higher than the lowest point to which they had fallen during the interval of suspense and anxiety.

The released Confederate Commissioners arrived at Southampton on the 29th of January, by the La Plata, the vessel in which they had purposed to make their transatlantic voyage two months before. It will give some idea of the breathless interest with which American news was at this time awaited, to state the arrangements by which the mails brought by the Europa on the 6th of January were transmitted to London. The Europa arrived off Queenstown at 9 P.M. The journey from Cork to Dublin, 166 miles, occupied 4h. 3m.; the transit from Kingston to Holyhead was accomplished in 3h. 17m.; the run from Holyhead to London, 264 miles, was performed in exactly five hours. The whole transit, from the steamer's deck to London, was accomplished in 15h. 3m.

9. THE "NASHVILLE" AND THE "TUSCARORA."-A current of the great gulf stream of the war raging along the coast of the late United States has set upon our shores, and has given rise to much vexation and annoyance. At the beginning of November, some excitement

was caused by the report that one or more Confederate vessels of war (or" pirates," as the partisans of the North termed them), were cruising at the entrance of the Channel, and were stopping and searching merchantmen of all nations. Then came the report that a large American ship (the Harvey Birch) had been captured, the crew taken out, and the ship destroyed by fire. On the 21st, the cruiser, the Nashville, ran into Southampton Water. She was a remarkably swift steam sloop, carrying two 6-pounder guns and 80 men. She had been equipped at Charleston for the express purpose of running the blockade and conveying the Confederate Commissioners to Europe. That harbour was too well watched by the Federal vessels to make this a safe experiment. Two of the Commissioners, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, went to a Southern port, ran across to the Havannah, and there shipped themselves on board the Trent. The news of the seizure of these gentlemen on board that vessel by the San Jacinto had not yet reached this country, and, therefore, the chief interest in the Nashville arose from her being the first vessel of war bearing the Confederate flag seen in our ports. The Nashville, having subsequently slipped through the blockading squadron, had run to Bermuda, and thence sailed for England, capturing and destroying on her way the Harvey Birch, whose crew she now had on board. Mr. Adams, the American Minister, immediately addressed a note to Earl Russell, in which he denounced the proceedings of the Nashville as "coming too closely within the definition of piracy," and pointing out the duties of a friendly nation.

Earl Russell replied, that it had been found on inquiry that the Nashville was a regularly commissioned vessel of a recognized belligerent, and that care should be had that the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act were not violated. The Nashville was, therefore, admitted into the dock, all necessary repairs were allowed to be made, but nothing done which should increase her force as a ship of war.

Soon after, the news of the outrage on the Trent arrived and caused great excitement. The feeling of irritation had been much calmed by the reparation yielded by the American Government, but the public mind was still much disturbed, when an incident occurred which revived angry feelings. On the 9th January, a fine Federal sloop of war, the Tuscarora, carrying nine heavy guns, ran up Southampton Water, and moored at the entrance to the Itchen Creek. Her object was evidently to keep the closest watch upon the Nashville, and her proceedings showed a nervous excitement which had something of the ludicrous, for she kept her fires banked up and her cable on springs, ready to start at a moment's notice. The Nashville, nevertheless, was still in the dock, whence she could not issue without a long foreknowledge by her antagonist.

The proceedings of the Tuscarora naturally caused much irritation in England. Such hostile demonstrations are scarcely within the law of nations, when made within a neutral harbour; and here was a belligerent ship of war moored within an inland harbour, blockading the entrance to one of its docks. Officers and men of the Tuscarora were also landed under various

pretexts upon the dock-quays, who stood by and watched every movement on board the Confederate, and armed men were found one night close under the ship's bows. It seemed the determination of the Federal commander to capture or destroy the enemy, without any regard to the rights of a neutral country. Such a state of things could not be permitted, and the British Government took steps to vindicate our rights. Earl Russell informed Mr. Adams that the Federal Captain Craven must refrain from all acts of this kind, that no act of hostility could be permitted to take place within British waters, and that whichever vessel first started to leave the British port, the other would not be permitted to follow her until the expiration of 24 hours. To enforce these intimations, H.M.S. Dauntless was brought into Southampton Water. The Tuscarora's captain now thought that the best plan of intercepting the Confederate would be to lie at the mouth of the harbour, to keep his steam up, and to start the moment the Nashville was seen to be in motion, thus always to have the priority; he also kept an initiative by making short trips. The British Admiralty stopped this evasion of the law of nations, by requiring that the captain of either ship should give notice to Captain Patey, the Captain Superintendent at Southampton, of the precise time when he proposed to go to sea, in order that the British frigate might take care that he had due law. The Federal captain fell a victim to his own 'cuteness. He sent notice to Captain Patey that he intended to proceed to sea "to-morrow (Tuesday) at 11 A.m.” At 11 A.M. he sent a letter, In consequence of the inclemency of

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the weather, I shall defer my departure until to-morrow, or the first fair day." Capt. Patey was not to be so "done." He replied that, "Not seeing anything in the state of the weather to prevent you proceeding to sea in accordance with your intimation, I have to request that you will lose no time in leaving the Southampton Water and proceeding to sea accordingly." As Captain Patey was thus decided, and the Shannon also had been sent to the port, Captain Craven saw that nothing could be safely attempted. He, therefore, quitted Southampton Water and the Solent on the following day; the Nashville ran out the next day, and eluded pursuit. After committing considerable mischief, she was finally chased by Federal gun-boats into Gibraltar, where she was disarmed and sold into the merchant service.

13. DOUBLE MURDER AT CLAVERING.-A terrible tragedy has occurred at a lonely cottage, at a place called Starling Green, near Clavering, Essex. This miserable hut was occupied by Samuel Law, a farm labourer and ratcatcher, about 27 years of age, and his family. He had been married to his wife Rebecca, aged 25, for seven years. They had two children, the eldest about six years of age, and the youngest, a boy, 16 weeks old. Law was a man of loose habits. The pair were miserably poor. In December last Law was convicted of having broken down a gate, and being unable to pay the penalty, was sent to Hertford Gaol for a mouth. During his imprisonment his wife had gone into the Union-house with her two children. Law's term of imprisonment expired on the 10th January. He went to her on the following day, and pro

mised to take her out if, as he said, he should sell every stick and rag he possessed. He redeemed his promise on the very next day, and early on Sunday morning he brought her out of the union and took her home. On the morning of the following Tuesday, the 14th, the woman presented herself at her mother's house, about three miles from Starling Green, accompanied by her eldest child. Her hands and dress were besmeared with blood. They had walked across the fields and through a wood in the dead of night. Upon gaining admittance she said that some one had broken into the house and had murdered her husband. She went into her mother's bed, and some time afterwards told her mother that she herself was the murderess. Soon after daybreak two neighbours, who had been made aware that something had happened, drove over to the cottage. On going upstairs a frightful spectacle was presented. Law's body, covered with blood, was lying partly on and partly out of the bed. The head was fearfully mutilated. Subsequent examination disclosed nearly a hundred wounds on the head, face, and neck, and from 15 to 20 terrible gashes on the right hand and arm. While looking at the body, Mr.Codling was startled by hearing the cry of an infant. It proved to be the youngest child, which he wrapped up in a blanket and gave to Prentice, without suspecting that any violence had been used towards it. Mr. Codling went back to Langley, where the woman was, and went to her mother's house. When the woman first saw him she reached out her hands and said, "Oh, my dear sir, poor Sam's

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gone." This she repeated several times. She said, I didn't want to hurt him, but I could not help it; I was forced to do it. I chopped him with the bill. He went to bed first, and then I went upstairs and struck him when he was asleep, and he shrugged his shoulders and jumped up. I struck him again, and he groaned very much.' She said that she struck him again several times after that. She then, according to her account, went downstairs and remained in the house nearly an hour, and then went up again and asked him if he knew her. He made a kind of expressive grunt of "Yes," and then she struck him again several times. She further said that all the time she was striking him there was such a noise on the stairs. She told witness, "This murder I have seen a month ago, and heard Sam's shrieks and groans just as I heard them last night." She also said that she went downstairs and put the light out, and then started off to her mother's; that, going along, she looked for a place to drown the child (referring, as witness presumed, to the one left alive), but she did not find any, and was afraid lest the shrieks of the child might be heard by any one. On examining the younger child it was found to be suffering from very severe injuries about the head, apparently committed with a hammer. It died the same evening. It appeared from the evidence of the surgeon of the union in which the poor woman had been while her husband was in gaol, that she had shown evident symptoms of derangement, that she had been put under restraint, and that the master had refused to allow her to leave until a certificate had been

given that she was in a fit condition to do so. When placed at the bar at the ensuing assizes, to be put on her trial, the poor creature was in a most dreadful state of exhaustion and distress. As it was abundantly evident that she was insane, a verdict of acquittal was immediately returned.

13. FARM BOILER EXPLOSION, -At the village of Stanton Wyville, in Leicestershire, an accident happened which caused great alarm amongst the agricultural community of that district from the explosion of a boiler of an engine attached to a movable thrashing-machine, by which four men met their deaths. This engine was about three or four horse-power, but, from the remains of it, did not appear in good working order. About 12 o'clock in the day, the labourers were obliged to stop working to repair the feedpump. Nearly the whole of the men, 13 in number, were gathered round the engine while the repairs were going on, and while thus congregated, the explosion took place. Three poor fellows were killed on the spot; a fourth died the same day; and several others were wounded.

14. THE GREAT PYTHONESS AT THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.-A very singular event, of great interest to students of Natural History, has occurred in the Zoological Gardens. In the fine collection of Reptilia which form part of the Zoological Society's establishment in the Regent's Park is a female Python, captured in West Africa, and placed in the gardens eleven years since. The English climate and food seem to have agreed with her, for she has yearly waxed in length and girth, without loss

of strength or liveliness. She has sometimes gorged 10 full-grown rabbits at a meal. In the same den is a male Python, much smaller than his companion, and treated by her with apparent disdain. It is stated in the article on Reptiles in the last edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, that "no reptile is known to hatch its eggs." This dictum was now destined to be refuted in a very remarkable manner. The pythoness had abstained from food for 23 weeks, when at the beginning of January she was observed to be in a very enlarged state. It was suggested that she had swallowed a blanket, a feat which was achieved by a python in (if recollection serves) the same Gardens. While measures were under consideration for her relief, it was found, on the 14th January, that she had extruded about 100 eggs. These, as far as could be observed between the close coils of the dam, were each of the size of a goose egg, enclosed in a white leather-like substance, and connected with each other by a membrane. They seemed to be piled in a pyramidal or spiral coil, over and around which the python had folded herself. The dam was so assiduous in the duty of incubation, that for long the keeper never detected her to be absent from the pyramid of eggs. At length he found her uncoiled, but before he could get round the cage, she was coiled over them again. She would accept no assistance from her mate, but seemed, on the contrary, to be angry when he approached, and pushed him away by extending one of her coils. She drank freely, but did not eat-the presence of her ordinary food, rabbits,

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