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bodies, it was found impossible to recognize them, and several others could only be identified by their clothes. Two of the fourteen bodies recovered were taken home, and twelve are lying at a neighbouring inn. The mine has been known as one of the best ventilated in the district. Several lamps have been found, and these had all been broken by the force of the explosion, but none had been opened.

Two more bodies were recovered on Thursday, making sixteen in all, and efforts are being vigorously maintained to get at the others. The last body brought up was dreadfully mutilated, having been buried under heavy rock and earth.

The ventilation of the pit has now been restored, and the work of clearing can therefore be proceeded with more rapidly.

An inquest was opened on Thursday, at the Swan Inn, Talke.

SERIOUS CHARGE OF FRAUD AGAINST A MERCHANT.-Mr. Joseph de Lizardi, whose failure had already been announced, was brought before the Lord Mayor, on a warrant, charged with having obtained by false pretences from Messrs. Glyn, Mills, and Co. the sum of 12,000, with intent to defraud. Mr. B. W. Currie, a member of the firm of Messrs. Glyn, Mills, and Co., said he knew the prisoner, who carried on business under the style of Francisco de Lizardi and Co., in Cannon-street. On February 3 his firm were under considerable advances to the prisoner. On that day the prisoner came to him at the bank. He had previously been pressing him for advances, representing that large sums were due to him from brokers at the Baltic Coffee-house, and consequently that the advance would only be required for a very short period. He placed a paper in witness's hand, and witness agreed to lend him 12,0007., to be repaid on February 6. The security he gave were orders for goods represented to be of the value of 23,000l. Among the documents was a bill of lading for 3234 bags of wheat, weighing together 265,191 kilogrammes, by the steamer "Anne Webster," then at Santander, to be delivered in London to the order of F. de Lizardi and Co. It was dated January 23. On the faith of his statements the advance of 12,000l. was made. He did not repay it on February 6, and it was still due to the firm. On February 12 he called several times for the purpose of inducing witness to honour his acceptances. He handed him a paper purporting to be a valuation of the securities held by the bank, and among them he found the wheat in question, said to be of the value of 50007. On that day the bank honoured his acceptances on the faith of his representation that they were secured to an amount more than four times above that of the advances they had made. On February 13 the bank returned his drafts, and the firm failed. It was subsequently discovered that the wheat had been mortgaged on January 27 to another firm, so as to be valueless as security to Messrs. Glyn.On this evidence the further hearing was adjourned, bail being refused.

22. MR. EDWIN JAMES.-The hearing of the appeal of Mr. Edwin James, some time a well-known Queen's Counsel, and one of the

members for Marylebone, to be reinstated as a member of the English Bar, was brought to a conclusion, the Judges deciding that Mr. James had shown no adequate cause for reversing the decision of the Benchers of the Inner Temple, and that he could not be readmitted to practise at the Bar. In 1861 he was disbarred by the Benchers of the Inner Temple, and against that decision he recently lodged an appeal to the Judges. The proceedings, which were conducted in private, lasted three days. Lord Chief Justice Bovill, who at first appeared with the other Judges, was objected to by Mr. James as having been engaged against him as counsel in a case adverted to in the appeal about to be heard. The petitioner stated that in the spring of 1861, the attention of the Masters of the Inner Temple having been called to certain rumours affecting the character of the petitioner, they instituted an inquiry, which terminated in the passing of a resolution vacating his call to the Bar and striking his name off the books of the society. He was then (he said) compelled to seek in a foreign land the means of subsistence, and it was only upon his recent return that he found himself in a position to prosecute an appeal. The inquiry instituted by the Benchers had reference to his pecuniary transactions with the present Earl of Yarborough (then Lord Worsley) and two other persons. The ground of the appeal now made was in substance that no proper and sufficient inquiry had been made by the Benchers of the Inner Temple into the allegations against the petitioner, and that the evidence actually taken by them did not justify his removal from the Bar.

-THE GALWAY PROSECUTIONS have concluded at Dublin. They began with the arraignment of Father Loftus, the first of twenty who have been indicted. The jury being unable to agree upon a verdict were discharged after sitting for two days. Great disappointment was caused to the public by the exclusion from the Court of all who had not obtained special orders.

The Attorney-General (Mr. Falles), with whom was associated Dr. Ball, opened the case for the prosecution on February 10. He instanced Father Loftus's address from the altar after Communion, in which he told his people that all who voted for Captain Trench would "go down to their graves with the brand of Cain;" also the scene at Athenry railway station, where his reverence is accused of having incited a mob against a county magistrate by crying "Down with the landlords!" A Mr. O'Loughlen, a voter of the county, a Roman Catholic, and a pew-holder in Dunmore Chapel, who was "spoken at" by Mr. Loftus from the altar, and called a blackguard who had the audacity to canvass his (Father Loftus's) voters, was the first witness. The priest (he said) also said something of him in Irish-a language he did not understand-at which all the people smote their breasts. When coming down from the altar with the chalice in his hand, he thanked a lady named Hancock for allowing her tenants to vote for Captain Nolan. was on this occasion that Mr. Loftus also said the brand of Cain

would be upon the voters for Trench. Mr. O'Loughlen was crossexamined, but his evidence was not shaken.

The charge of the Chief Justice occupied three hours. The jury retired at six o'clock, but, being unable to agree, were discharged at ten. It is stated that there were ten jurors for conviction and one for acquittal. The Rev. Mr. Loftus was cheered out of the Four Courts. He afterwards delivered a speech from the window of the Albert Hotel, in which, after thanking the people for their sympathy, he said he had never intended to commit an illegal act; he had merely advised the people to put down coercion, no matter in what form it was practised. He had been forced into the contest. The landlords, Protestant and Catholic, of the county of Galway had united to crush the liberties of the people, and to crush the Catholic priests of Galway out of politics altogether.

The prosecutions ended with the trial of Bishop Duggan, who was acquitted by his jury after six minutes' deliberation. Vociferous cheering and intense excitement was occasioned among the dense body of spectators by this result. The Attorney-General, in reply to the Chief Justice, stated that it had been determined on the part of the Crown not to prosecute any other cases at present.

28. THE COAL FAMINE.-All through the Lancashire coal-field, one of the most important in the country, a state of things at present prevails which certainly has had no parallel in the past. All the coal is absorbed the moment it reaches the surface, and the sidings are blocked by hundreds of empty waggons waiting for their turn to be filled. With the increasing scarceness, prices have gone up at a serious rate, until now coal, which a few years ago colliery proprietors were glad to sell at 48., is fetching over 20s. per ton. This state of things is, however, now beginning to have its natural effect. Mines which have been abandoned for years, because they could not be worked with profit, are again being opened out. All workable seams are being brought into operation, and, what is more important, new pits are being sunk. The colliery proprietors are also turning increased attention to coalcutting machines, and several have recently been introduced into the Lancashire coal-field.

A great demonstration against the high price of coal has been made at Nottingham. In the Market-square a monster meeting was held, nearly 10,000 persons being present. A procession, consisting chiefly of women-carrying an empty fire-grate and a banner bearing the words "Starvation" and "Beware, coal-owners, at the next election !"-marched through the streets to the marketplace, headed by a brass band. Speeches were delivered by several working men, and a resolution was unanimously passed denouncing the conduct of the coal-owners as inhuman, and appealing to Parliament for a Commission of Inquiry into the causes of the present high prices of coal.

A meeting of manufacturers has been held in Manchester, at which it was determined to form a Mutual Coal Supply Association,

having a capital of a million sterling, with the intention of leasing or purchasing collieries, to provide fuel for the spinners and weavers of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

-THE SOUTH WALES STRIKE has continued through the month in spite of repeated efforts at conciliation and compromise. The last unsuccessful attempt was made at the beginning of this week, but the men unanimously refused to return to work on the terms offered. The negotiations between the masters and men were conducted by a Mr. Evan Jones, a tradesman at Merthyr, acting on behalf of his brethren who are being ruined by the continuation of the strike. He waited on Mr. Menelaus, manager of the Dowlais Works, and obtained from him the following propositions to lay before the men :-"Go in at the reduction, and before March 15 we will tell you what we intend to do as to the restoration of the old rate of wages; and if you are not satisfied with what we offer, you will be at liberty to leave our employment. We ask you to have confidence in our promise of generous and considerate treatment." This was interpreted by the men to mean-"We are to work at the reduction for two or three weeks; then the old rates will be restored for three weeks, and then there will be a rise of 10 per cent."

The district was overjoyed at this supposed settlement, and on Monday (25th) there was a great meeting at Bethania Chapel, which will hold 1600 persons, and the terms, as understood by the men, were unanimously agreed to, a proposal that the immediate reduction should be 5 per cent., so as to save an unconditional surrender, being withdrawn. A deputation then waited on Mr. Menelaus, and then it turned out that the whole thing was a mistake. Mr. Menelaus repeated his terms, which were simply that there should be a truce on the masters' terms for three weeks; at the end of which either party might take what course it thought best. These terms were peremptorily and decisively rejected; and the result is, that the struggle is regarded in the district as more desperate and hopeless than ever.

A suggestion for a fresh compromise has been made by Mr. Halliday, but nothing is expected to result from it. Sir Rowland Stephenson has offered his services as referee for the settlement of the dispute. His proposal was :-That the men should empower him to make an arrangement on their behalf, but that they should pledge themselves to abide by any decision he might arrive at. This offer was contemptuously received, but Sir Rowland's services were accepted as mediator, in order to see how far the masters were prepared to go.

The Times correspondent at Merthyr describes the state of things as one of general despondency, nowhere relieved by a single ray of hope :

"The only solution which we may look forward to after the events of the last ten days is that which will follow from the exhaustion of the weaker party. Whether it will be the employers or their

workmen time alone must decide, but there is a preponderance of probabilities against the workmen. For weeks the greater portion of them and their families have subsisted on the credit of their tradesmen. Those who had no credit to fall back upon have gone begging, while their families have been sustained by the charitable distribution of the soup-kitchens; but now these sources of living are rapidly approaching exhaustion, and a few days hence their supplies will entirely cease. There will then be keener hunger than there has yet been experienced, and we must wait to see what influence it may have upon the general attitude of the men."

MARCH.

1. THE BANK OF ENGLAND FORGERIES.-Great excitement has been created in the City by the discovery-made public to-daythat bills to an enormous amount, purporting to be drawn upon a number of the principal business-houses in London, had been forged and presented for discount at the Bank of England.

The fraud is thought to be the work of a ring of smart Yankee swindlers, and its discovery was declared to have been the result of a mere accident, which had alone prevented the game being carried on to a vastly greater extent before the final and inevitable discovery. One of the forged bills purporting to bear the signature of the great firm of Messrs. Rothschilds was being negotiated, when the omission of date in the instrument induced the holder to send it over to St. Swithin's-lane for rectification. Here it was discovered that the signature was a forgery, but so admirably was it executed that its falsity was only detected through the fact that it was not written in the peculiar ink which is specially used by the firm as one of the means of checkmating that description of fraud.

The extent to which the fraud has been successful has not yet been accurately ascertained. It is stated at the Bank of England that the total sum will not exceed 80,0007., and it will be safe, probably, to put the limit at 100,000%.

The prime mover in this long-considered, deeply-laid, and cunning scheme is said to be an American named Warren, but whether he has been acting singly or with confederates is not yet quite clear; for he has so well provided against the contingency of premature discovery that he has been able so far to evade the active and intelligent exertions of the City detective department, under Inspector Bailey. For a year past he has been an occasional guest at the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, an hotel much affected by his compatriots. Here he was, like most of his countrymen, free in spending his money, and passed for an American on a pleasure tour, the only peculiarity about him being that he always declined

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