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of certain bars and pieces of gold" in the parish of Mantfield, in East Sussex. Mr. Reynolds, solicitor to the Treasury, was present to watch the inquiry on the part of the Crown; and Mr. W. Savery on the part of two persons supposed to be interested. At the inquest, which lasted five hours, it was elicited that, on the 12th of January last, William Butchers, a labourer, whilst ploughing, turned up what he took to be a quantity of old brass, connected by a series of rings or links, and extending about a yard in length. Each link was about an inch and a half long and an inch wide. Butchers, on weighing it, found that it was a little over 11 lb., and he sold it as old brass to a man named Silas Thomas for 38. Thomas, in his turn, sold it to his brother-in-law, Stephen Willet, a cab-driver at Hastings, but who had at one time been a Californian gold-digger, and at once recognized the metal as solid gold. Shortly afterwards, suspicion was excited from the fact that both Willet and Thomas appeared suddenly to have become possessed of a large supply of money, and the police were induced to institute inquiries into the matter. The result was that Willet was taken into custody, but afterwards discharged, on the ground that the magistrates had no jurisdiction, and that an inquest before the coroner was necessary. In the mean time, Her Majesty's Treasury, on being apprised of the discovery, directed an investigation to be made, when it was ascertained that Thomas and Willet had taken 3007. to the bank at Hastings, and opened an account there; and by tracing back the notes it was found that a cheque had been given to Willet by Messrs. Brown, the goldrefiners, in Cheapside, in payment of a sum of 5297. for 123 ounces of solid gold. The jury, at the close of the inquest, returned a verdict to the effect that the gold so singularly discovered was the property of the Queen, and that Butchers, Thomas, and Willet concealed the finding of the same. It is believed that

the bars of gold have lain in the field for nearly 2000 years, and that they were ornaments worn by the ancient Celtic kings. Similar bars, which were found in Wales, are preserved in the British Museum.

-THE Duc d'Aumale invited his tenantry and several of the gentry round Evesham to a stag-hunt, which was preceded by a grand breakfast, at which the Duke and Duchess presided, assisted by the Duc de Chartres, Prince de Joinville, and the Duc de Guise. There were 500 horsemen present at the uncarting of the deer.

29..THE PREMIER AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY.-Lord Palmerston was installed as Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. In consequence of the eager throng of the citizens, the ceremony was removed from the old College Hall to the neighbouring church of St. John's, which was filled from an early hour by an excited throng of students and ticket-holders, who whiled away the tedious hours of waiting by strains of melody of a character rather different from those which are wont to rise within those walls. the appearance of Lord Palmerston he was loudly cheered. After

On

thanking the students for the honour they had conferred on him in electing him to the office of Lord Rector, he proceeded to exercise one of its privileges by lecturing the young men on their studies, and urging them to strain after excellence in all to which they devoted their attention.

After the exciting events of the day, most men would have been glad of a day's rest. It was not so, however, with Lord Palmerston. By ten o'clock the next morning he was again afoot, the object of admiration to an excited crowd that lined the streets through which he drove to the Broomielaw, where he embarked on board the "Wolf," steamer, for a trip down the Clyde. He landed at Greenock, where he was splendidly feted, and returning to Glasgow he addressed a crowded meeting, principally of the working classes, who held a soirée in his honour in the City Hall.

Before leaving Glasgow on the 31st, Lord Palmerston was made a member of the Gaiter Club. After that ceremony he proceeded to Edinburgh, where another hearty welcome awaited him.

At one o'clock the freedom of the city was presented to him by the Lord Provost; and, as the Council Chamber was far too limited in space to accommodate those who desired to be present, the ceremony took place in Queen-street Hall. In returning thanks, his lordship reverted to the three precious years in early youth he had spent at the Edinburgh University, and was glad to find that the citizens remembered him "for auld lang syne." His lordship spoke strongly of the advantages arising from municipal institutions, in the preservation of the liberties of the people, and in the education of men to take part in the larger affairs of the nation.

Lord Palmerston then proceeded to the University, at the entrance of which large crowds were collected, who cheered him on his arrival. His lordship was conducted to the Library-hall, where the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him. His lordship's reply consisted chiefly of a sketch of his own experience at the Edinburgh University and of laudatory remarks upon the University systems of Scotland and England. He dwelt with a natural warmth of feeling upon the associations called up by the sight of those walls, within which, some sixty years ago, he listened, with a goodly array of young men who have long since become famous, to the prelections of Dugald Stewart and Playfair.

At night Lord Palmerston was entertained at a banquet at the Music-hall by the citizens, the Right Hon. the Lord Provost presiding. Among the company present to meet his lordship were the Duke of Argyll, the Duke of Athole, the Earl of Dalhousie, the Earl of Southesk, the Earl of Airlie, the Earl of Fife, the Earl of Dunfermline, Lord Kinnaird, Lord Elcho, the Lord Advocate, the Right Hon. Mr. Cowper, Sir Wm. Dunbar, M.P., Mr. Miller, the Solicitor-General of Scotland, Sir David Brewster, Mr. Baillie Johnstone, and others. After the usual loyal toasts had been drunk, the Right Hon. the Lord Provost briefly proposed the health of the

noble Premier, and the toast was drunk with great cheering. Lord Palmerston, in responding, said that the kindness he had experienced in Scotland had made the deepest impression on his heart and mind. He spoke of the encouragement such honours held out to public men. He referred to his former residence in Edinburgh, and said that he looked back to that period with the most affectionate remembrance; and the associations and friendships which were then contracted he should ever regard as the most valuable of his life. His lordship then spoke of the assistance he had derived in public life from the counsel of men distinguished for their ability and talent. Reference was made to the satisfactory state of our Army and Navy, and to the existence of the Volunteer force. His lordship dwelt long and eloquently upon the moral influence of Great Britain on other nations. There was hardly a single country in Europe, he said, that had not in some shape or other, with some modification or other, institutions formed after the pattern, or at least upon the principles, of her Constitution; and he was proud to say that some of those nations were greatly indebted for the benefits they enjoy to the assistance and countenance which they received from the Government of England. Warm sympathy was expressed for the Poles, and his lordship deeply deplored the unhappy war raging in America: in the former case diplomatic interposition was, however, all that the Government-or the nation. at large, he thought-considered advisable; and in the latter case, notwithstanding the sufferings among large masses of our artisans consequent thereon, we had no alternative but to preserve a strict neutrality between the contending parties. Several other toasts were given.

APRIL.

5. ACCOUCHEMENT OF THE PRINCESS LOUIS OF HESSE.-Her Royal Highness Princess Louis of Hesse (Princess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland) gave birth to a Princess at about a quarter before five this morning. Her Majesty was with the Princess constantly during the night. In the room with the Princess at the birth of the child were Her Majesty the Queen, His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Hesse, Sir Charles Locock, Dr. Farre, and the nurses; and in the next room Sir J. Clark. In the adjoining apartment were Viscount Sydney, Lord Chamberlain; Sir George Grey, Secretary of State for the Home Department; and Baron de Ricou, head of the household of His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Hesse. Intelligence of the happy event was immediately transmitted by telegraph to the Grand Duke and Court of HesseDarmstadt, and to the various members of the royal family.

The bulletin stated that the Princess and her child were going on perfectly well.

FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT TO AN EXPRESS TRAIN.-An express train on the Great Northern Railway, travelling at the ordinary speed of forty miles an hour, was literally dashed to pieces, and yet, wonderful to relate, no lives were lost, although, of course, most of the passengers were severely hurt. The accident happened close to the Little Bytham station, about seven miles from Stamford. For some distance north of Little Bytham the line runs along a high embankment, which on passing the village itself is elevated above the tops of the adjacent houses. Some fifty yards from the station are a series of what are technically called "coal drops," by means of which coal trains are unloaded of their contents; the coals passing through openings between the rails to the ground below, whence they are carted away. At this point the line appears to be elevated somewhere about 20 feet above the road below. On a siding over the coal drops stood a number of goods vans and cattle trucks at the time of the accident, and to this circumstance must, in a great measure, be attributed the escape of any of the passengers with their lives.

An express train leaves Manchester for London at three p.m., and on this day it consisted of four composite carriages, separated from the tender by a break-van; the rear being brought up by a second break-van, in which was the guard. The number of passengers is understood to have been between twenty and thirty. At six o'clock the train had just passed Little Bytham village, and was within about 150 yards of the station, the speed being, as already mentioned, at least forty miles an hour, when the tire of the leading wheel of the engine suddenly snapped and flew off. The whole train immediately left the main line, ploughed up the ballast, and rushed through the metals of several sidings. The engine struck the first of the vans standing over the coal drops before mentioned. The noise of the shock is described as resembling the simultaneous discharge of a park of artillery, while the dust which was raised temporarily hid what had taken place from the view of those who were looking out from the station hard by. No description can convey any adequate idea of the wreck thus momentarily accomplished. Most of the cattle trucks and goods vans on the siding were completely shivered to fragments, the woodwork being detached from the wheels and strewn all around; strong telegraph poles were snapped like slender reeds, and, to add to the confusion, the wires rendered temporarily useless for communication; the engine and tender were "doubled up" in a way which plainly indicates the terrible force of the collision, while the carriages of the train were shattered and piled about the embankment in a state of ruin which rendered it apparently hopeless to expect that any of the passengers could be found alive. One of the carriages, containing several persons, occupied a most extraordinary position; the wheels at one end were resting across the metals on the verge of the embankment, while the other end was supported by the telegraph wires, and thus prevented from falling a considerable depth.

The accident occurring so near a station, assistance was promptly rendered, and the terrified passengers were extricated from the fragments. Some were drawn through the windows of the dismantled carriages. It was then found that happily no lives had been sacrificed, though many were stunned and bleeding, and were found. to be seriously bruised. Charles Clarke, the driver, was thrown with great violence from his place on the engine to the ground, and was very badly hurt. The stoker was thrown from the tender on to the top of one of the goods vans, and was very little the worse for the disaster. The guard also escaped almost unhurt. Several of the slightly wounded passengers returned to their homes by a north train, and others proceeded on their journey by the Leeds express, which came up some time after the occurrence.

But for the obstruction offered by the trucks and vans standing on the siding the whole train must have gone over the embank

ment.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT BOTALLACK MINE, CORNWALL.-In one of the wildest parts of Cornwall, and only a short distance from the Land's-end, lies the far-famed Botallack tin and copper mine. It has been worked for upwards of a century, and during that time the various ramifications of shafts, levels, courses, and adits have been worked most profitably in the production of large quantities of tin and copper.

The mine has long been notorious for the extent and depth of its workings; and, while it extends downwards to several hundreds of fathoms, in some parts the roaring of the sea and the tumbling of the boulders may be heard distinctly by the miner while at work. To obviate the difficulty of raising the ore in a perpendicular shaft, and to render the ascent and descent of the miner easier of accomplishment, a diagonal shaft has been constructed through the rock and soil, and extending seawards for about 400 fathoms. This is known as the Boscawen shaft. The incline is raised at an angle from the horizontal line of about thirtytwo degrees, and is about six feet high and eight feet wide throughout its entire length. The nature of the soil has rendered it necessary to make the shaft a little bent in some parts, so that the tramway is not exactly straight. This tramway is laid down as far as the 192 fathoms' level, and on it runs what is called among the Cornish miners a "skip"- that is, a kind of carriage, generally made of cast steel or iron, for bringing the ore to the surface, for carrying materials down to the different levels, and for the conveyance of the labourers to and from their underground toil. This skip is connected by a chain to workings at the surface, and is wound round a large "cage" or drum by steam-power as the skip ascends. This cage is under the supervision of a man who is called a "minuter," who notifies, when the alarm-bell is rung, the proper time to stop the engine.

This diagonal shaft occupied four years in excavating, and is a marvellous example of engineering skill, as well as perseverance in

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