Vrutriuriat littaL
Anticipating the coming retirement of the now notorious Francis Villiers from the representation of Rochester, Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Mar- tin, the former a Conservative, the latter a Liberal, are wooing the electors ; while lecturers from the Administrative Reform Association have been diffusing through the borough their views on public affairs. As usual, both the candidates are sanguine of success.
Mr. John S. Trelawny has accepted the invitation of his friends at Tavistoe.k, and has issued an address to the electors. This is his con- fession of faith—" There is little to add to former statements of my opinions. Household suffrage, vote by ballot, economy and efficiency in the administration of departments, unsectarian education, and complete equality of religions communions in the eye of the law, are still the watchwords of my political creed, to -which time and reflection have added strength. Few of my chief friends and instructors now remain : Hume, Buller, Molesworth, are numbered with the departed : but their deeds survive conspicuous in many a page of our statute law and in the improved condition of Great Britain and her Colonies. Following very humbly in the path of such men, I hope to aid, along with many more talented than myself, in sustaining and transmitting to others the light we have received, in the full hope of the steady and progressive improve- ment of society." Mr. Trelawny's competitor is a Mr. Samuel
who also advocates Liberal opinions.
Captain Townshend., Member for Tamworth, has become a Peer, in consequence of the death of his cousin, the Marquis Townshend, without issue. The late Marquis lived many years in retirement at Genoa, where he died.
The Hull Corn Exchange, a large and handsome edifice was publicly opened on Tuesday, with great éclat. The hall was decorated with evergreens flags, and coats of arms ; and many of the most notable men of the East Riding dined therein. Some spirited speeches were made on the sy_ar _topic, by Lord Hotham, Captain Dunecimbe M.P., and Mr. Watson /CP.
During the Mayoralty of Mr. Richard Spiers, great advances were made towards a state of more friendly relations between the City and University of Oxford, chiefly by the frank and openhanded hospitality of the late Mayor. The seed thus sown has not fallen on sterile ground. On Wednesday sennight, four of the Fellows of Merton Collage; who hold livings in and near the city, entertained the Mayor, the Corpora- tion, and the Bishop, in the College Hall. The incident is the more marked as the Mayor, Mr. Pike, is a Nonconformist. The hail was de- corated with the flags of the Alied Powers, and the crescent of Turkey blazed out in a Christian college over a marble tablet that commemorates the visit of the former Emperor Alexander of Russia, in 1814. The en- tertainment consisted of a concert, of which the staple was old English carols. Between the first and second parts, the Bishop made a speech ; in which he lamented that the distanee of his house from the city pre- vented him-from coming among them on social occasions, and in which he unfeignedly rejoiced. at that opportunity of doing so. It was indeed, he said, no small element in the satisfaction he felt, that a sort-of "triple cord" was enited in that assembly—namely, the union of the University, the Diocese, and the City. Such cords are not readily broken ; and he trusted this one never would be, but that it would be more firmly than ever knotted in that good old Hall of Merton ; and that the University, the Diocese and the City might always feel united as three in one, and one in three. Mr. Pike cordially reciprocated the sentiments of the Bishop ; and the evening was closed with the performance of the national anthem.
Dr. Webb, Master of Clare Hall, Cambridge, who died last week, at the ripe age of eighty-one' had filled the place of Master for forty years. Some interest is felt in the election of a successor, as he will not only be Master of Clare Hall, but in all probability Vice-Chancellor of the University ; under whose rule whatever changes in the constitution of the University, and of the relations between it and the town, may be made next session, will be carried out.
Lord John Russell continues his pacific cam in Gloucestershire. The other day he paid a visit to the schools at he tenharn. On Thurs- day he presided over a large meeting at Gloucester in aid of the Indus- trial Ragged Schools established there three years ago. Lord John came over from Stroud in the morning ; visited the school ; heard 160 children examined ; and then adjourned to a mid-clay meeting in the Shire-hall, where he made a speech on the necessity for extending education among the lowest classes. Mr. Holland M.P., Mr. Price M.P. Mr. Samuel lowly, Mr. Baker of Hardwicke, and Mr. jellinger Symons, took i part n the meeting ; which resolved that the Gloucester Industrial Ragged School has shown by three years of success its "great capacity for further usefulness"; and they heartily recommend it and similar in- stitutions to public support.
There is a church at Ambleside of recent construction. As it was found to be intolerably cold in winter' an attempt was made to warm the church by flues leading from a coke fire. The experiment answered pretty well; but the flues got out of order, and for weeks past it had been observed that the fumes of the coke escaped. On Sunday last the evil arrived at its climax. The doors were close shut, and the coke gas nearly suffocated the congregation. A correspondent of the _Daily News de- scribes the scene.
"Young children, being nearest the floor, were first affected, and about twenty of them followed one another out before the adults took the alarm. At about the middle of the sermon the congregation roes in a body and went out, to the apparent astonishment of the preacher, who in Ins elevated pulpit, was unaware of the mischief. He was left entirely alone in the church; and it is the opinion of the medical men that if the congregation had staid a quarter of an hour longer, no one would have been able to help himself or his neighbour, and many, or all, must have perished. The scene in the churchyard was singular for a day in January : numbers of persons were laid on the grass, fainting, convulsed, and moaning; none altogether escaped injury. In the lane leading. from the church to the village, persons dropped as they walked, and lay quivering, or air if dead. Some who be- lieved themselves able to reach their homes fell at a short distance from their own doors, and one at least was actually unable to roach home till the next day. Fortunately1 one of the surgeons of the place, on his way to church, was called to a patient, and thereby left in a condition to give prompt assist- ance. During the afternoon the druggist's shop was crowded with appli- cants for stimulant medicines—debility and headache prostrating the popu- lation like a plague. None of the cases have terminated fatally ; but the latest accounts state that some of the invalids were rather worse than better."
Nothing new of a legal character has come to light respecting the Huge- ley murder ; but many stories are in circulation, and the enmes imputed to Palmer by the newspapers. grow every day. Some of them are palpably absurd. Thus, much has been made of a statement that Palmer was seen in company with Lord George Bentinck on the day of his sudden death, and hints have been ventured that Lord George died by poison ; but an exami- nation of the facts attending that event show the groundlessness of the story. Other stories refer to persons who died almost under the hands of Palmer.. His wife died in four days. When his brother's body was exhumed it pre,- sented a shocking spectacle, and the effluvia of the corpse impregnated the whole house and made the spectators ill. It is remarked that Mrs. Palmer's mother "died mysteriously'';that one Bladen„ a collector of the brewery firm of Charrington, died while attended by Palmer. Mrs. Bladen went to Rugeley and requested to see her husband's dead body ; but Palmer would not allow her to do so stating that the body was decomposing very fast and the sight would be ;xi° much for her. He afterwards searched Bladen's pockets, and brought, as he stated, the contents to Mrs. Bladen, 181. lire.
laden was surprised at the smallness of the amount, her husband having. left London, as she believed, with 2001. in his pocket. Palmer replied, that since Bladen had been in Rugeley he had been betting heavily, and had been unfortunate. Mrs. Bladen desired to have the body removed to Lon- don ; but Palmer persuaded her not to do so, as the expense would be so great. She afterwards ascertained that the sum could not have been nearly so large as he represented. Another tempted victim is a gentleman con- nected with the turf, who accompanied Palmer to the Leicester races not a great while since, and who was said to have realized a large sum of mosey by his betting on the race.
Another case of poisoning is reported. Thomas Robson, a hlacksmith of Newcastle, has been apprehended on a charge of attempting to poison his wife and another person with arsenic. His wife had gone away from him to service : he came to visit her, and on going away gave her something which he said was whisky,—adding, on her observing that it was very white, that he had put some milk with it. He told her to take it before going to bed, and to give some to her fellow servant. They tasted it, and became ill. A powder afterwards settled in it, which they threw away : on examination, it was found still to contain enough arsenic to kill three people.
The two murderers Heywood and Baker have been hanged. Heywood' had killed a widow who lived with him ; Baker shot his fellow servant. Both appeared penitent. Heywood confessed that he had been very wicked —he was an old. sinner. Baker was young, and weak; not wicked.- •
Eliza Boult, a chambermaid at the White Hart Hotel, Windsor, has lost her life by a singular accident. While carrying a jug of water, she felt against a wall the jug was broken., and the sharp edge of a fragment struck her throat, dividing the jugular vein—she died hr a few minutes. •
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