THE WEEK AT HOME.
PoLrricia..— Colonel White, the Government candidate, who was rejected for Longford, has been returned for Kidderminster by a majority of ten votes over the Conservative Mr. Talbot. The entire constituency numbers 476 registered electors, 448 of whom were brought to the poll, 25 more than at the last election, when the (numbers were—for Mr. Bristowe (Liberal) 216; Mr. Haddlestor
Tory) 207. It is a peculiarity of this place that the majority is always the same within a few units. Mr. Cakeley and Mr. Robertson are busily canvassing for Shrews- bury, the nomination being fixed for to-day, and the polling for Monday. But a new candidate is said to have appeared in the field, namely, a Mr. Henry Atkin, the keeper of the public-house in the town. His principles he states to be liberal and independent. A rumour was current that Mr. Serjeant Shee had gone down to Shrewsbury to consult some of the leading Liberals.
SocreL.—The middle-level deluge is not increasing, and we learn that connected, energetic, and well-directed efforts are now being made to secure a defence against the tidal stream. The first pile- dam failed, and the pile-engines had to be fished out of the drain, and repaired. Necessary materials were sent by passenger-train from the Spithead Fort works. A substantial timber bridge, about 140 feet long, was completed in five days, and piles also driven for the dam. A large number of pile-engines and some 350 men are busily at work, forming abutments, fixing piles, preparing immense quanti- ties of clay puddle. The work, however, is said to be too dangerous to be pursued at night. The spring tides rise more than 20 feet above the bottom of the drain, and as the partly-formed fascine work and cradle-dam holds back the water, the surface sinks only 11 feet or 12 feet at the ebb. Hence there is a continual current 10 feet to 20 feet in depth, 50 feet wide at bottom, and more than 100 feet at top, running at a very rapid rate. To stein this powerful stream piles 14 inches square timber, and some of them nearly 50 feet long, are driven into the clay bottom of the drain, sometimes 20 feet, but as deeply as the pile itself will bear. Some 15,000 to 18,000 sacks were at hand on Wednesday, all filled with clay, and in a few days, when the frame work of the dam is finished, the plank panelling and panel walls with clay would proceed simul- taneously across the middle, the whole middle of the drain. Care is now taken to have everything in readiness, and two lines of tram rail- way are now nearly completed along each bank for conveying the puddle and clay sacks. The danger to the east bank of the drain was dealt with in time, and the Magdalen fen is believed to be secured. The flood, commencing at Lord's-bridge (lf miles on the inland side of the dam) washes the west bank of the Middle Level drain for a distance of six miles, expanding to an extreme breadth of about 3i miles. Above the waste appear, at far intervals, chimneys, roofs, upper windows of farmhouses, tops of barns, sheds, straw ricks, and high fences. Thieves prowl about the watery waste in boats picking up plunder. Rats and mice have perished by thousands, partridges are killed, and even the freshwater fish destroyed. The suffering of the labouring classes will be deplorable. It is calcu- lated that the average amount of labour thrown out of livelihood may be taken at three men, and three lads or women to every 100 acres. If the number of acres affected is, as stated, 20,000, we have the large number of 1200 souls left without employment. The Committee of the Thames embankment have passed a resolu- tion that the roadway on the proposed embankment should stop at Whitehall Stairs, and that a new street should be opened thence into Parliament-street. The real effect of the resolution is to secure the privacy of the Duke of Buccleugh and the other Crown lessees in Whitehall.
On Wednesday Mr. H. B. Farnall, her Majesty's commissioner to
inquire into the relief of Blackburn, &c., attended a special meeting of the Board of Guardians, where he strongly combated the idea that the Pour Law Board put a limit on the relief to be given. "This idea was very prevalent, and entirely erroneous." The amount and kind
i of relief is entirely in the hands of the guardians, and entirely uncon- trolled by any law or board. Nor has any Government attempted to control it. Mr. Farnall complimented Blackburn highly on the relief it gave. No ratepayers ought to find fault with the mode in which the Board of Guardians were doing their work. The average amount of relief given to single able-bodied men was 3s. for three days' work. To the man who had a wife and two children, 6s. for six days' work, and he would have 2s. 6cL added to the 6s., and perhaps a pair of clogs for one of his little ones. To a man who had a wife and four children 6s. was paid for six days' labour, and, in addition, 4s, and sometimes 4s. 6d., and also bits of clothing, and other things. That amount of relief reflected great credit on the Board.
Lew AND JUSTICE.--It will be remembered that Mr. Scott and Lord Seymour were at one time officers in the Garibaldian English Legion, and that in consequence of some military arrest Lord Seymour as- saulted Mr. Scott. Mr. Scott commenced proceedings against Lord Seymour in the Neapolitan Courts, which came to nothing, and an action was then brought against Lord Seymour in England, to which lie pleaded in demurrer to the effect that the English Courts have no jurisdiction in cases of assault abroad. The Lord Chief Baron de- cided that the pleas were bad. The result, so far, is, that cases of assault which take place in foreign countries can be tried at home, even when proceedings are pending abroad.
The inquest upon the bodies of the two children of the wretched Mrs. Vyse has added little to the facts already made public. The poison which she administered to the children appears to have been Battle's Vermin Killer, in which strychnine is said to enter. The contents of the stomachs of the children had not been analyzed, and in order that this might be done the inquest was adjourned to the 5th of June. During the inquiry several questions about the state of Mrs. Vyse's mind were asked of the witnesses by the jurymen, but objected to by the coroner. The organized system of agrarian assassination in Ireland seems coming to a head. Soon after the murder of Mr. Fitzgerald two Landed proprietors in the county of Cork, Messrs. Daniel F. Leahy and William Galgey, received letters of a more than usually lurid character, containing threats of assassination, and bedaubed with drawings of pistols, coffins, death's-heads, and cross-bones. Similar letters were addressed to their wives. An investigation was promptly held. It appeared the whole cause of displeasure was that Mr. Leahy recently sold, and Mr. Galgey purchased, the property called Lisheens, within six miles of Cork. Several other persons, land- agents and others, in the same county, received similar notices. In Tipperary Mr. Bianconi, Mr. Richard Phillips, and Mr. Carden have also been threatened. But the system is likely, we trust, to be speedily crushed. The Lord-Lieutenant ordered a special commission for Tipperary and Limerick to be held with all possible despatch. There was, in all probability, to be one for Cork also, where the secret society known to be in existence is likely to be brought to light. In consequence of the letters addressed to Messrs. Leahy and Galgey the following persons were arrested, viz., James Charles O'Con- nell, Miltown College, Kilmalloek ; John O'Connell, Lisheens ; John O'Connell, jun., Morgan O'Connell, Catherine O'Connell, Anna Maria O'Connell, and Jeremiah Forde, Ballincollig. Bail was ac- cepted for the women only. It appears that several drapers' assist- ants in Cork are implicated. In several of the letters, it was stated that persons were already hired to murder the offenders. One of the letters to Mr. Leahy ran : " Vile wretch, you have been the cause of much pain to Mr. O'Connell, for which you will suffer. . . . as sure as Christ died for our sins. . . . . I and five or six more will watch and shoot you for being the cause of having the land sold
all for the sake of 901. By Heavens ! you will suffer for your doings. Here is a brief description of what will happen until the coroner will give his verdict [coffin, body, pistols, &e., in pen and ink]. Your coffin will be bought if you do not see that a settlement. will be made between Mr. O'Connell and that infernal scamp Galgey.
You are the scoundrel who caused the work to go on, &c., &c. Coffin by way of signature." The other letters are even more horrible. A melodramatic air, however, runs through them all, and it is hard to say whether the impression left by them is more that of delirious passion or excessive whisky. But it should be added that when Mr. Galgey went on the land to take possession, he was first warned off, and subsequently shots were fired near him. Later one of Mr. O'Connell's daughters cursed Mr. Leahy so bitterly and violently that he had to call upon the market-beadle to restrain her. Another daughter, Anna Maria, also cursed Mr. Galgey on the lands. She went on her knees with a book in her hand, and prayed that the grass and the corn might not grow, that her curse might light upon him and his children. She cursed him "by the twelve tribes of
Israel and by the twelve Apostles. She cursed him very loud—so loud that it could be heard at a considerable distance," Altogether there is an Old-Testament warmth of colouring about the scene, and a fervour of malediction very remarkable in the present day, and which lights up in a weird manner the whole. gulf which separates Irish barbarism from modern civilization.
Against Beckham, the murderer of Mr. Fitzgerald, the jury at the adjourned inquest found a verdict of " wilful murder," after which he was observed to eat with great appetite.
FrweivcreL.—There was a rise in the Bank rate of interest last week, followed by a further heavy withdrawal of gold this week. This led to the expectation that the Directors might further "put on the screw" at their weekly meeting last Thursday. This, however, they did not do, and it may here be observed that it is not customary for them to raise the rate two consecutive weeks unless under an unusual and severe pressure. And it must further be observed that the weekly returns of the Bank of England, as now issued, are such as to show that there had been no pressure upon its resources, notwithstanding that about 400,0001. of gold was withdrawn for transmission to Cons- tantinople on account of the late loan. The stock of bullion only shows a further diminution of 166,1251., while there is an increase in the re- serve of notes of 147,3701., although the bills discounted (other secu- rities) exhibit an increase of 391,6601. The other items of the account are rather favourable, and thus it will be seen that the Bank was not called upon to make the Money Market tighter, the more especially as out of doors it was actually easier than a few days back. The mysterious financial project of M. Mires to raise 800,0001. has been prohibited by the French Government, and what little influence such an opera- tion might have had on the Market here has been at once superseded. The application for 285,0001. for the Lausanne and Fribourg Railway under a guarantee from the Canton of Fribourg has not been responded to bythe general public, although capitalists acquainted with that part of Switzerland have subscribed. Some weakness has been shown in the Market for the Scrip of the different foreign loans recently negociated. Turkish Scrip has receded to 24 'prem. • Egyptian Scrip, 1k + prem. ; RussianScrip, f prem.; Italian Loan, 70. The English Funded Securities have been more or less unsettled this week, but have now be- come steady, with very little doing. Consols, after being 93k &, have rallied to 931 I for money, and 92k f for the account ; New and Re- duced Three per Cents. have recovered to 91k k • Bank Stock, 234 36; Exchequer Bills, 10s. 13s. prem. Spanish Certificates, which had reached 9f, fell to 8f, and are now at 91. Mexican Bonds are flat, at 31k I • Turkish Bonds, 8011} and 69* 70-f. Venezuela, 23f. Rail- way Shares have been drooping in value all the week, but there is very little business to report. North Western are now at 93+ 1; Great Northern, 113} 14k ; Great Western, 72f ; South Western, 99i 100. At the annual meeting of the European Assurance Society on Friday, the report stated that the total amount of premiums re-
ceived was 130,0871., and that the assets had been increased 40,4171. ; also, than in the Fidelity Guarantee Branch the balance carried over upon the year'S operations was 6431/.
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