SCOTLAND.
Mr. Bouverie was duly refilected for the Kilmarnock Burghs on Thurs- day week. His constituents intimated to him, that, having so recently heard him personally state his views, they did not require his presence. He was therefore returned in his absence.
Mr. Laing met his oonstituenta at Kirkwall on the 13th instant, to give an account of his stewardship, and explain his views on the war. Mr. R. Scarth of Binscarth occupied the chair. Mr. Laing went over the political track of the war, the negotiations, the four points, the characters of the negotiators.
He agreed neither with the extreme Peace party nor the extreme War party. The latter appeal to our worst passions, and allow pugnacity to get the upper hand of judgment ; by which, in the long rim, we may not get so much as we might have obtained by negotiation. Public opinion, paying little heed to the four points, thinks that, having got into a serape, we must fight it out until we have thrashed the enemy into abject submission. At the outset of the war we had the moral support of Europe ; but we have alienated that support:by rejecting the Austrian proposition. Ile preferred to hold opinions concurrent with those of Mr. Gladstone, Sir James Graham, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Cobden, Lord John Russell and Lord Aberdeen, than to coincide with "the unreflecting violence of the anonymous' writers in the Tittles newspaper, who are at present governing the country." Six mouths hence, public, opinion will be entirely changed- - - Turning to ether topics, Mr. Laing told the meeting; that he had been offered two posts by Lord Palmerston—the Clerkship of the Board of Ord- nance, and the Vice-Presidency of the Board of Trade; both of which his -private affairs compelled him to decline. • He had no great confidence in Lord Palmerston; Whose career he had at- tentively observed, and whose whole course had been characterized by in- termeddling in the affeirs of other nations. Mr. Laing adhered to the old Liberal creed of "Reform at home and non-intervention abroad." Ile gave Lord Palmerston credit for great ability, great tact, and great adroitness ; but he preferred Lord John Russell as a leader' and he had a higher opinion of such atatesmen as Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Gladstone, who spoke the strong- and conscientious convietions of their own minds. Lord Palmerston, on the other hand, had too much of the weathercock in his nature, and was apt to veer about to catch popular applause.
The meeting adopted the thllowing resolution, on the motion of Dr. Paterson seconded by Baillie John Reid- " Thsethie meeting, while reserving their own views on the subject of the war, express their cordial approval of Mr. Laing's conduct in Parlia- ment, and their continued confidence in him as their representative."
A meeting was held on the following day at Wick ; Mr. David Davidson in the chair. It was here resolved, that the meeting continue to have perfect confidence in Mr. Laing as their representative in Parlia- ment. Mr. Laing has forwarded this himself to the Times ; to which Mr. Davidson appends an explanation- " Although Mr. Laing's friends in Wick appreciate him too highly to do anything that might tend to precipitate a misunderstanding, or give the least countenance to the supposition that his newly-eXpressed opinions on the war proceed from corrupt motives, and therefore allowed the motion to pass without comment or a syllable of discussion, I nevertheless continue to entertain the fullest assurance, that when an opportunity offers a decided majority of the electors of the Northern Burghs will record their votes in favour of the honour of their country and its Protestant constitution."
The express-train which left Edinburgh on Monday for London by the East coast line ran off the rails when about three miles North of Berwick, and the engine tender, and one van, became a complete wreck. Happily no lives were fret, and comparatively little personal injury was sustained. Three first-class carriages ran down a fifteen-feet embankment, and fell over, one of them remaining on its top ; a guard's carriage also rolled over and was upset; while the remaining two first-class carriages were drawn off the rails, but not over the embankment. Three hours after the accident, the
appearance of the line was suggestive of some fearful disaster. In a field outside the boundary-wall of the town of Berwick, and in the direction of the sea, lay the blackened and shapeless hull of the Royal engine, the fire- place blown out, and the grass blasted for thirty yards. It had knocked two large gaps in the atone dike,. From the first the engine seemed to have rebounded and fallen towards the line ; then' leaving bu- ried in the embankment in many pieces the magnificent dome, with its royal arms, and the funnel, bolts, cranks, &c., it darted for- ward a few yards, dashed end-forwards through the wall, and upset. Next came the tender, grazing the banks, and landing with its end through the wall, the " nemo me" of the Scottish motto just visible through the gap. Above it, and resting against the tender, was the guard's van, with its wheels in the air. Partially its against these but mainly advance,
was a first-class carriage, lying on top, and having partially projecting
from beneath a carpet-bag with linen, and near this some remains et grouse which a Southern sportsman was bearing homewards front the Highlands. Further on was another first-class carriage resting on its side; then the flooring of a luggage-van lay on the embankment, with its wheels in the air, and around it the wood--work of its upper part in splinters. A yard or so from this was another first-class carriage on its side, lying on the bunk in a slanting direction, with one end almost entirely gone : through the opening thus made a gentleman had made his escape as soon as the carriage had come to its rest. Just in advance of this were two first-class carriages, one of them off the rails, but not on the bank ; the other had been replaced on the rails. Tracing back the linet three ruts, upwards of a foot deep, marked the course of the parriages. A little farther back about fifty yards of rail were torn up. There were about thirty passengers ; of whom none, we believe, have re- ceived more than a few slight bruises or scratches. One old lady, who at the time of the accident was deep in strategy, displayed greatunxiety for the recovery of her plan of Sebastopol. The engine-driver was hurt slightly on his hands and face. The fireman was thrown against the wall, and now lies in a precarious state. The engine was the largest but one in the service) of the Company, with a seven-feet driving-wheel.—Daily Scotsman.
Miss Falconer, a young lady at school in Kinross, took poisonous hair- powder, in mistake for 'Gregory's mixture" ; a doctor was called in too late, and she died.
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