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Statue Committee. The statue was subsequently presented to, and accepted by, the Corporation of the town, who appropriated to it one of the niches at the side of the centre door on the east wall of St. George's Hall, that of the late Earl of Derby occupying the corresponding niche on the other side of the door.

Previous to the unveiling, the Mayor entertained at luncheon in the library of St. George's Hall about eighty guests, consisting of the chief subscribers to the statue fund, and a number of eminent strangers who had arrived in Liverpool to attend the meeting of the British Association.

The public (or as many of them as could be accommodated) were admitted without restriction into St. George's Hall to witness the ceremony of the day, and shortly after three o'clock the space allotted to them was densely thronged. The reserved seats in the central portion of the hall were also well filled.

Among those present were Sir J. Lubbock, M.P., Viscount Sandon, M.P., Professor Huxley, Professor Rolleston, Sir Joseph Whitworth, Sir W. Fairbairn, Mr. C. Vignolles, President of the Association of Engineers; Mr. Glaisher, Mr. H. G. Bohn, Mr. T. Hawksley, C.E.; Mr. Charles MacIver, Mr. Whitley, the Town Clerk of Liverpool (Mr. Rayner), &c.

The statue represents the Premier standing in a sculpturesque attitude, with his right hand resting on his chest, and his left holding a scroll of notes. He is clothed in the robes of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, these being treated, however, after the manner of the drapery of the best Greek portrait statues. The expression of the countenance is calm and dignified, the artist having succeeded in portraying the aspect of concentrated thought and power which is so characteristic of Mr. Gladstone.

The Mayor and Professor Huxley both addressed the meeting. 16. MEMORIAL TO DANIEL DE FOE.-A monument to the memory of this eminent writer was unveiled at Bunhill Fields, in the presence of a large number of persons, by Mr. Charles Reed, M.P. Mr. J. Clarke, after regretting the absence of several gentlemen who were unable to attend, referred to the origin of the monument, which had been raised principally by the boys and girls of England, in answer to an appeal through the columns of the Christian World. Mr. Charles Reed, M.P., said they were met to do honour to the memory of a neglected man, who was buried in that place one hundred and thirty-nine years ago; and although Johnson, Franklin, Scott, Lamb, and Coleridge had broken the silence, and Talfourd had demanded that a public statue should be erected to his memory, it had been left to the boys and girls of England to carry the work out. Daniel Foe-his real name-was by business a hosier, but becoming a bankrupt changed his name to De Foe. He afterwards struggled on until he paid his creditors every penny. He wrote sixty-four public works, beside many other pieces; his greatest work was Robinson Crusoe, and as such had been commemorated in the memorial. Mr. Reed then unveiled, amid

loud cheers, the monument, which bore the following inscription:"Daniel De Foe, born 1661, died 1731, author of Robinson Crusoe." A vote of thanks to Mr. Reed terminated the proceedings.

17. LOSS OF THE "CAPTAIN."-MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN.-The following gracious message from her Majesty was received by Admiral Sir Sydney Dacres, K.C.B., at the Admiralty :-" The Queen has already expressed to several of the widows and near relatives of the unfortunate sufferers in the late shipwreck her Majesty's deep sympathy with them in their affliction, but there are many others equally deprived of husbands and relatives whom the Queen is unable to reach except through an official channel. Her Majesty, therefore, desires that measures may be taken to signify to the widows and relatives of the whole of the crew, of all ranks, who perished in the "Captain" the expression of her Majesty's deep sympathy with them, and to assure them that the Queen feels most acutely the misfortune that has at once deprived her Majesty of one of her finest ships of war and of so many gallant seamen, and which has inflicted upon their widows and other relatives losses which must for ever be deplored."

21. MEETING OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS AT NEWCASTLE.The fourteenth annual congress of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science took place at Newcastle-on-Tyne. A brilliant assembly of ladies and gentlemen congregated in the Town Hall to hear the inaugural address of the Duke of Northumberland, the president of the year.

The work of the Congress began on the 22nd. Before the opening of the several sections, a general meeting was held in the Town Hall, Lord Neaves in the chair. Mr. G. W. Hastings, President of the Council of the Association, delivered a long address, reviewing the progress of public opinion and legislation concerning popular education, the property of married women, neutral obligations by international law, and other questions of the present day.

The principal sections, which met at noon on the 22nd, were constituted and occupied as follows:-Section A, Jurisprudence and Amendment of the Law; under the presidency of a Scotch Judge, Lord Neaves. Section B, Municipal Law; under the presidency of Mr. Headlam, M.P. Section C, Repression of Crime, presided over by the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P. The other sections, or departments, were those of Education, Public Health, and Economy and Trade. There was also a Ladies' Conference, at which Lady Bowring presided.

The sections continued their sittings on the 23rd, 24th, 26th, and 27th. Another general meeting was held on the 24th, when Dr. Lyon Playfair read an interesting address on the principles of national education. Next in value to this was Mr. Edwin Chadwick's essay on the economical arguments for the maintenance of national armies, such as those of Germany, composed of men usually engaged in civilian industry, in preference to standing

armies of soldiers taken for a long period of service, whether raised by conscription or by hire. The question of the propriety and policy of making laws for a neutral State, to forbid the exportation of contraband wares, especially of arms and warlike ammunitions, to the belligerent States, was debated with much animation, Professor Leone Levi, Mr. T. Hodgkin, Dr. Waddilove, Mr. Westlake, Mr. Dickinson, M.P., and Mr. Hastings, taking different sides in the discussion. A letter from Earl Russell was also read, expressing his opinion that it is sufficient for a neutral State to prohibit the sending forth of armed and organized troops, or ships armed and manned, for the service of a belligerent State; and beyond this prohibition he would not go. The address of Mr. Robert Rawlinson, C.B., on the protection of the public health, delivered at a general meeting, on the 26th, was one of the most instructive contributions. Among the other subjects brought under the notice of the Congress were the working of the Habitual Criminals Act of 1869; the state of the law with respect to compensation for personal injury by railway accidents; the better arrangement of elementary schools; the jurisdiction of magistrates in petty sessions; the establishment of tribunals of commerce; sanitary precautions in buildings and towns; the industrial employment of children; trades unions and boards of arbitration between workmen and employers; babyfarming and infanticide (at the ladies' conference); the repression of drunkenness; the co-operative action of charitable agencies; the prevention of disasters at sea, and the improvement of the condition of sailors.

Excursions of large parties to the Roman Wall, the Elswick Ironworks, the new piers at Tynemouth, the collieries, and other objects of interest near Newcastle took place, with entire success.

The Congress wound up its proceedings, on the 28th, with a general meeting of the members and officers of the Association, at which Sir W. Armstrong took an elaborate review of the session. Subsequently there was a pleasure excursion by special train to Alnwick Castle, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland.

23. TRIAL FOR BABY-FARMING.-Margaret Waters, aged thirtyfive, a widow, was capitally convicted, after a three days' trial, on a charge arising out of baby-farming at Brixton. The prisoner was proved to have inserted in Lloyd's Newspaper twenty-seven advertisements, at nine shillings each, offering to adopt children in return for a five-pound note; and it was stated that similar notices had for years past been constantly inserted for different persons. A musician named Cowen, whose daughter was about to have an illegitimate child, answered one of the prisoner's proposals, and in the negotiations which followed she represented herself to be a married woman named Willis. The child was taken away by her when it was three days old. Soon afterwards, Police-Sergeant Relf answered one of the advertisements, and in that way obtained admission to Mrs. Waters' establishment, where he found nine children in the most miserable condition conceivable, and drugged with opium.

It appeared that the largest amount of milk ever brought to the house was three pints per day, out of which as many as eleven children had at times to be fed. One of the witnesses deposed that the poor little sufferers soon appeared to lose the power of crying. The prisoner admitted that she had been four years in the "business," and that she had had "say forty" children confided to her. No fewer than ninety-two pawnbrokers' duplicates, mostly for articles of baby clothes, were found in her possession; and five of the children she had when she was arrested afterwards died. Mr. Ribton, who appeared for the prisoner, attempted to show that the worst crime that could be brought home to his client was receiving money under false pretences; but the jury, after nearly an hour's consideration, found her guilty of wilfully murdering the child John Walter Cowen.

The Lord Chief Baron, in sentencing her to be hanged, said, "You have been convicted, after a trial lasting nearly three daysduring which the jury have patiently, calmly, and deliberately investigated the case-of the greatest crime that can be committed by any human being. You undertook the charge of this poor innocent child, and while it was in your care and keeping, by the conduct which you adopted towards it by your shameful and scandalous neglect in not providing it with sufficient food and nourishment, and administering to it drugs calculated to put an end to its life, in depriving it of the chance of any medical attendance, you have caused the early premature death of this innocent child. I fear that in addition to this poor child others have become the victims of your cruel inhumanity,-those other poor children, four in number, at least three of them have been done to death through you, and those by whom you were assisted. It is necessary that the strong arm of the law should vindicate the justice of the country, and take up the cause of these poor helpless and innocent children."

Sarah Ellis, aged twenty-eight, her sister and associate, who had also been arraigned for wilful murder, but against whom the charge had been abandoned, pleaded guilty to conspiring with her to procure money by a false pretence that they would supply children with sufficient food and clothing. She was sentenced to eighteen months' hard labour; and the Court ordered Relf a gratuity of twenty pounds.

27. FATAL FIRE IN THE CITY.-A most disastrous fire occurred in the city this afternoon, involving a loss of four lives. The fire, which broke out about three o'clock, happened on the premises of Mr. William John Bush, a manufacturing chemist, at 30, Liverpool-street, Bishopsgate. Some persons passing down that street about the hour in question were all of a sudden surprised by seeing several men and women rush into the roadway from Mr. Bush's house, while at the same time others made their way into the main thoroughfare of Bishopsgate-street through a narrow court leading from the back of the premises, and loudly raised an alarm of fire. The fire-engine station was a few yards from the spot, and a steamer

was at once run out into the street and taken to the front of the building. The flames were then coming from the shop, and loud cries were heard from some persons on the second floor. The smoke was very dense, and the contents of the shop and back warehouse rapidly ignited, causing frequent and loud explosions. At ten minutes past three the "call" was received at the principal station of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, in Watling-street, and a steamengine, with Captain Shaw, the chief officer, and a number of men quickly set out. In the meantime, the alarm had been given by telegraph to other stations, and in less than half an hour, ten or twelve engines from Ratcliff, Poplar, Whitechapel, Wellclose-square, Farringdon-street, St. Luke's, Southwark, Mile-end, and other parts of the metropolis, were in attendance. The firemen numbered in all, between seventy and eighty, and were under Mr. Gatehouse, the district superintendent. Several of the vans of the London Salvage Corps were also taken to the spot. The house was nearly gutted in about an hour, and after the ruins were sufficiently cooled Captain Shaw and some of the firemen made an examination of the premises. Under the window of the front room on the first floor they found the body of Mr. James Woolley, the manager to Mr. Bush, and in a back room the remains of three persons: John Green, sixteen years of age, an errand boy; Martha Turner, twenty three, and Ellen Pope, eighteen, two of the workpeople. bodies were fearfully disfigured and burnt, but the deaths must certainly have arisen from suffocation, the fumes of the chemicals being most overpowering. The three people in the back room were huddled together, and it was thought that being unable to make their way to the door they ran into the room to avoid the smoke and if possible to escape by the window. There were about twenty people in the building at the time, but no others were missing. The bodies were taken in shells to Bishopsgate dead house, to await an inquest.

The

OCTOBER.

8. INQUIRY INTO THE LOSS OF THE "CAPTAIN."-The Naval Court formed to inquire into the cause of the loss of her Majesty's ship "Captain," which took place on the 17th of September, and to try Mr. James May, gunner, and the seventeen surviving seamen, pro forma, under the 91st and 92nd sections of the Naval Discipline Act of 1861, composed of Admiral Sir James Hope, G.C.B., Port Admiral and Naval Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, President; Vice-Admiral Sir Hastings Reginald Yelverton, K.C.B., Commandingin-Chief the Channel Squadron; Captain George Hancock, her Majesty's ship "Duke of Wellington;" Captain Edward B. Rice,

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