Vrouinrial.

The Town-Council of Cambridge has refused to pass an address of con- gratulation to the Emperor of the French. A resolution to that effect, prophsed on Wednesday, was met by this amendment-

" That while the Council desires to express their deep abhorrence of the recent attempt upon the lives of the Emperor and the Empress of the French, they consider it inexpedient to present an address at the present time."

The ground of opposition was the language used by M. de Moray and in the menacing addresses of the French soldiers. On a division, the numbers were equal, 12 to 12, but the Mayor gave his casting-vote for the amendment.

A large meeting to further the Reform movement was held in the Birmingham Town-hall on Tuesday. The Mayor presided ; several local notables made Radical Reform speeches ; and resolutions were adopted calling for something more than household suffrage—for the ballot, the equalization of constituencies, the abolition of property qualification, and triennial Parliaments. But the chief incident in the meeting was the reading of a letter from Mr. John Bright, setting forth his views on Par- liamentary reform and warning those who look principally for an ex- tension of the suffrage of a danger ahead.

Mr. Bright says that twenty-five years ago Whigs and Tories were afraid of an extension of the suffrage. Now, very few are afraid of it. "The franchise is no longer the dread of the aristocratic and ruling classes." The reason la, that the franchise gives no real power unless accompanied by a right to elect something like an equal number of representatives. ,could easily," says Mr. Bright, "frame a bill which would give universal suf- frage' in its widest sense, and which would confirm more strongly than ever the supremacy of the English oligarchy over the English people." The man who does not vote is almost in as good a position as the man who votes, "if the value of votes is rendered so unequal, or is nearly destroyed, by the unequal distribution of representatives among the whole body of elec- tors." Lord John Russell's last bill would have done absolutely nothing to lessen the power of the order to which he belongs. -It is not a matter of opinion, but a question of fact and arithmetic. "The contest in the ques- tion of reform will boon the distribution of the seats. Will the great bo- rough of the Tower Hamlets, with its half a million of population, be con- tent to return only two Members to Parliament ? Will Finsbury, will Marylebone, will Lambeth, and the other London boroughs? Will Glasgow, and Manchester, and Liverpool, and Birmingham, and the other leading cities of the United Kingdom, be content to dwarf themselves, politically, to the size of boroughs whose whole population would scarcely people one of their inferior, streets ? " "Any Reform Bill which is worth a moment's thought, or the smallest effort to carry it, must at least double and it ought to do much more than double, the representation of the Metropolitan boroughs and of all the great cities of the L muted Kingdom. The United States of America, and Belgium, and Sardinia, comprehend this simple question. A year ago, I was in the city of Genoa, and I found that it returned seven representatives to the Sardinian Parliament at Turin ; eovou being its fair share, calculated as- cording tothe population of the various cities and districts of the Sardinian kingdom. In this country, throughout Great Britain and Ireland, you will End that property, rated to the relief of the-poor, follows very closely the course of population ; and the only just principle of representation is, that the industry, property, intelligence, and population of the country, should be, as nearly as may be, equally represented wherever they are to be found. I am not arguing for any mathematical precision in this matter, but for such a change as shall really give the House of Commons to the nation." After strongly insisting on the necessity of the ballot,—without the ballot he dreads to think of the consequences of an extension of the suffrage in the manufacturing districts,—Mr. Bright says—"I beseech you to watch well what is proposed, and what is done. Be the measure great or small, let it be honest in every part. Include as many as you can in the right of the franchise. Insist upon such a distribution of seats as shall give the House of Commons fairly to the industry, the property, the .intelligence, and the population of the country. Demand the ballot as the undeniable right of every man who Is called to the poll; and take special care that the old con- stitutional rule and principle by which majorities alone shall decide in Par- launentary elections shall not be violated."

A sort of reconciliationinecting between the Liberals and the old Bright and Gibson party took place at Manehester on Monday. Mr. Edmund Potter occupied the chair. Mr. Dyer, "one of the oldest Re- formers " in the borough, moved, and Mr. George Wilson seconded, a resolution stating that it was expedient to found a "Manchester Reform Association." Mr. Hadfield supported it, and it was carried unani- mously. Mr. Wilson took advantage of the occasion to praise Mr. Gib- son and Mr. Bright in the warmest terms, to show them off in trium- phant contrast to the present Members, and to manifest a decided animus against "the man at the head of the Government." Mr. Wilson also said that he joined the Association with the sole object of working with it to return again to Parliament the two men who at the last election were dismissed from Manchester.

The Reformers of Norwich and Gateshead have also held meetings. The Norwich men are moderate in their demands. Gateshead asks for manhood suffrage. Both require the ballot.

Mr. Harsman has sufficiently recovered from the effects of his recent accident to appear once more in public. Last week he met his con- stituents at Stroud and Nails:worth a contributory borough, and addressed them. In the course of his speech, he explained the reasons that led him to join Lord Palmerston's Government and those that led him to resign. He reminded them that he took office at a time when the country was at war, when Lord Palmerston stood almost alone, and when his tenure of office was precarious. He did so because it appeared to him that it was the duty of every supporter to join the Government. When peace was con- cluded and Lord Palmerston was firm in office, Mr. Horsman, at the close of the session of 1866, tendered his resignation. Lord Palmerston, however, begged him to postpone it until some more convenient oppor- tunity. This Mr. Housman consented to do. The dissolution of Parliament afforded that opportunity. Had the elections terminated unfavourably to the Government, Mr. Herman would have adhered to it : as they turned out otherwise, he immediately resigned an office which had been con- demned by public opinion and policy both in England and Ireland. "As far as the difficulty of the office went, I found it took a great deal of ingenuity to occupy myself more than two hours a day with that once im- portant office and now one of the highest paid under the state. I remem- ber Sir Robert Peel once told a story of a man who gave warning to his Master that he must leave his place. Well, John,' said the master, 'I am sorry you are going to leave; what are your causes of discontent ?' Well,' said John, 'I want three things—more wages, less work, and I should like to have the keys of the cellar.' (Laughter.) Now, gentlemen, in Ireland I had high wages—greater altogether than any Secretary of State ; I had very little work, because my place was almost a amecure; and Inky havehad the keys of the cellar, because I had the giving away of the patronage and most of the good things in Ireland. But, gentlemen, I did conscientiously feel on the whole, that having, in order to retain an office which did not give me very much work, to give up a great deal of independence and freedom of dis- cussion upon general political subjects unconnected with Ireland—for in- stance, such a question as the war with India or Itenek—holding a subordi- nate place in the Government, I was not able to speak a word, and, of course, under the rules of official subordination and discipline it was my duty to vote always as the Government voted—and feeling, on the whole, that the mere empty distinction of office and the mere emoluments did not compensate for the sacrieees it entailed, and that my leaving it could be of no loss to the public service, as my place could be easily supplied—I did feel that without the abandonment of any public duty, I might resign that office, the holding of which was an advantage to no one but myself.' (Cheers.)

Some three hundred of the " puddlera " of the Holyland and Elscar Iron-works, near Barnsley, are on strike. They had recently returned to work after a turn-out to resist a reduction of wages, consenting to take the smaller pay, when the employers proposed a second reduction—the men refused the terms in a body.

The strike of the colliers andiron-miners in South Wales is at an end ; with few exceptions, the men have returned to work.

It has been discovered that the shells thrown at the Empeeor of the French were made at Birmingham, by Mr. Taylor, an engineer, who was unacquainted with the purpose for which they were intended. A specimen has been shown to the editor of the Birmingham Daily Post, who has given a description of them. "They are most ingeniously contrived, and the one brought to our office was a very fine specimen of workmanship. It is cylindrical in shape, with the ends rounded, resembling a melon more than anything else we can com- pare it to, the size about five inches by four. It is hollow, and made in two pirts. The thieknosa of the metal at one end is one inch, at the other three-quarters of an inch. The great peculiarity in the construction is the means for exploding. In an ordinary hand-grenade this is provided for by a fusee, which being lit when it reaches the powder causes the explosion. In the present instance, one end of the shell is provided with twenty- five nipples, similar to those of a gun, and upon each of these a percussion- cap is placed. When either of these caps strikes against any substance it produces the explosion. Thus all uncertainty as to the time of the explosion 311 avoided. The extra thickness of the metal at this end secures its falling the right way. At the opposite end is a hole for loading, which is dosed by escrow plug. The whole appearance of the machine is of a most dangerous kind, and on its construction and design great labour must have been be- stowed." A long ecclesiastical inquiry at Liverpool terminated in an unusual seene on Tuesday. For some tune past public scandal had been busy with the name of the Reverend Robert Abraham Gent, Curate of St. Paul's Church, Princess Park, Liverpool. The scandalous reports seem to have been spread abroad by the schoolmaster, the pew-opener, and the sexton ; and they reached the eara of Dr. M'Neile. The course he took was to call upon his Curate to resign without inquiry. Mr. Gent declined to adopt that course, and appealed to the Bishop of Chester to grant a full inquiry. The Bishop-complied with this request, and sent five Commissioners to investi- gate the charges in form. The commission was opened on Thursday Ben- night, and sat five days. The charges preferred were gross intemperance, at home and abroad ; familiarity with women, Mr. Gent's own servants especially, in his house, in public fields, in the vestry-room; and consump- tion of the wine supplied for sacramental purposes. The witnesses in imp. port of these charges were two women-servants, a pew-opener, a church- cleaner, a schoolmaster, and a sexton. The men told stories of drunkenness; the women partly corroborated those stories, and alleged acts of indecency. For the defence a vast number of witnesses were produced, respectable members of Mr. Gent's congregation, and others who had every opportunity of judging of Mr. Gent's character, and who not only satisfactorily disposed of the general charges, but gave specific answers to specific allegations. Mrs. Gent was also a witness ; and her testimony concurred with that of others in showing that Mr. Gent was a temperate man, and that the women- servants had been dismissed for misconduct. The result was, that the Coin. ruissioners pronounced a full and unqualified acquittal, holding that there were not even prima facie grounds for instituting the inquiry. The mob that had cheered the evidence in Mr. Gent's favour broke out into a prolonged shout, carried Mr. _Gent to his carriage., and, taking out the horses, drew him some distance towards his home—desating from completing his triumphal entry only at his urgent request.

Three persons have recovered, in the Leeds County Court, 21. 2s. from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, the expense of posting from Wakefield to Leeds, under these oircumstances : the clock on the plat- form was two minutes fast; that on the exterior of the station was correct ; trusting to the latter, the plaintiffs were taking refreshments when the train was started by the platform clock, and they lost the opportunity of travel- ling by it.

Mr. George Thwaites, a cotton-spinner of Euxton, near Chorley, and James Holden, one of his workmen, have been committed on a charge of burning down a mill belonging to Thwaites, which was insured for 26704 Holden denounced himself and Thwaites he alleges that, lured by a pro- mise from his master of 1001., he set fire to the mill.

Mr, Fisher, a jeweller of Bath, has had his shop stripped during the night by expert burglars' who cleared off nearly all the contents, valued at 15001. Mr. Fisher was disturbed by his dog barking; he looked out of window, and seeing a policeman near he accused hint of tearing the dog, and threatened to report hint; the constable denied the accusation, and walked away : at that time, the thieves must have been busy in the shop.

Another jeweller's shop has been plundered—Mr. Fattorini's at Brad- ford. While the family were absent at mass on Sunday morning, thieves entered from an empty house adjoining, and carried oft' property valued at 1800/.

An extraordinary case of suicide occurred last week at Rugby. On Tuesday, an elderly married woman, named Mary Over, put an end to her life by hanging herself. From the evidence of severaewitnesses given at the inquest on Wednesday, it appeared that the deceased had been for some time in a depressed state of mind, and cherished the idea that there was an in- tention to reflect upon her in the popular novel of Tom .Brown's School- days, she having been formerly a matron at Buggy School. The Jury found, in accordance with the medical evidence, That the deceased de- stroyed herself while in a depressed state of mind arising from monomania."

A colliery explosion, attended with a great loss of life, occurred at Messrs. Wilde and Co.'s pit, Bardsley, near Ashton-under-Lyne on Tuesday even- ing. There were about 140 miners in the pit at the lime. The majority were drawn up unhurt, a good many were hurt, and about forty, it is sup- posed, have perished. On 'Thursday, twenty-seven corpses had been brought to the surface ; the exact number of the dead still in the workings was not known. Shortly before the accident, the mine appeared to be in a safe working condition.

A curious set of documents relating to the marriage of Mahmoud Effendi, the Turk, with Miss Heaton, has been published. One is the protest of "Edward Heaton," the father of the young lady. He regards the baptism of Matunoud as a mere mockery, declares that the marriage was effected in defiance of his authority, and wholly against his fatherly will, and signifies his entire approval of the conduct adopted by Mr. Bliss, the Curate. Two passages from a postscript to his protest will illustrate his feelings. " 'de- sire that nothing in this protest may give offence to any party, as I write it under the bitterest feelings of mortification that a father can know and when I find that in addition to my child's rebellion against me, another man stands up, and a total stranger to me, to usurp my paternity, it does seem

that my grey hairs have been cruelly mocked Thank

more, good Mr. Bliss—fear nothing—whatever may be the menay.cneu nce ; °and when the last accents of my (Ind have died for ever on my fond ear, yours, yea yours, forbidding her maniage, shall take their place." The other documents are letters from Mahmoud Effendi to the Reverend Mr. St. Aubyn, and to a friend. The former is dated London, 27th January. Mahmoud says—" I returned to London from the country, on account of the summons of my Ambassador here. He desired me at once to leave England for Turkey for what I have done, and Mid me there to deny that I had be- come a Christian which, he said, will not prevent you continuing it tin heart.' I answered him 'No; I have become a Christian in heart and prin- ciple—I shall not hide it from any one.' I am sorry to inform you that my pay is stopped," In his letter to a Mend, Mahmoud says that he has been told that if he returns to Turkey, and does not recant, he will be killed. He will therefore live in England, as under no circumstances will he disavow his "firm belief and faith in Christianity." " The Ambassador has stopped my pay; but, thanks to God Almighty, land my wife can lives couple of months without the aid of my friends. But meanwhile, the case will be 'publicly declared in this country, to see what can be done for us. My ease is written to Lord Shaftesbury, anda few others know it from myself. If in case that any one may require to know about my practical mining, maY refer to you ? I am sure I shall be better taken care of by my friends and Christian brothers in England than in my own country."