prisons from Spike Island, which in future will be a military station.

July 16. Royal Agricultural Society's Show opened at York.

International Challenge Trophy won at Wimbledon Rifle Meeting by the Scotch Team:

July 17. The Queen's Prize at Wimbledon won by Sergeant Mackay, of the 1st Sutherland Regiment.

Wexford Election-Redmond (N) 307The O'Connor Don (L) 126.

July 18.-The foundation stone of the Literary and Arts Institute at York laid by the Prince of Wales.

July 19.-Elcho Shield won by the Irish Team at Wimbledon.

New Town Hall at Westminster opened by the Duke of Buccleuch.

July 21.--Mr. Mackonochie, the Ritualistic clergyman formerly of St. Alban's, Holborn, and afterwards of St. Peter's, London Docks, deprived of his living, by sentence of Lord Penzance as Dean of the Court of Arches.

Sinking of land and immense subsidence of water from the lake and river at Dunkirk, in the Cheshire salt districts, into cavities in the earth.

July 23.-The Government abandons the second Suez Canal scheme proposed three weeks previous.

July 24.-Admiral Sir James Drummond becomes Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod. Dinner to the American and Canadian Rifle Teams at the Mansion House, London.

Order for the second reading of the Channel Tunnel Bill in the House of Commons discharged.

July 25.-Reported death of King Cetewayo in battle at Ulundi, after the defeat of his army by Usibepu. (Afterwards contradicted.)

Sir Spencer St. John, British special envoy to Mexico, presents his credentials to President Gonzales.

Speech Day at Christ's Hospital.

The family of Peter Carey, the informer, suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from Beverley, where they had been staying for more than a month.

July 27.-The American and Canadian Rifle Teams entertained at dinner at the Junior Carlton Club.

July 29.-James Carey, the informer, murdered on board the steamer Melrose, while on the voyage, with his family, from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The murderer, an Irishman named O'Donnell, was immediately arrested.

July 30.-The Sunday Closing Bill for Cornwall was lost in the House of Lords by the casting vote of the Lord Chancellor.

The Rev. T. George was fined ten shillings for causing an obstruction in the streets of Swansea in connection with the Salvation Army Movement.

August 1.-Meeting at St. James's Hall in support of the Ilbert Bill, presided over by

Mr. John Bright. [The purpose of the Ilbert Bill is to render natives in India capable of exercising judicial authority over Europeans.] August 2.-Meeting at Limehouse to protest against the Ilbert Bill.

The Goodwood Cup won by Mr. Johnstone's Border Minstrel.

News of the murder of Carey received in Ireland with exultation. Bonfires were built in the streets, around which the people danced with savage joy.

H.M. corvette Canada, which was some days overdue, arrived at Halifax, N.S., Prince George of Wales and all on board being well.

August 3.-A dynamite infernal machine, with half-extinguished fuse, was found in a factory in Cupar, Fife.

Alva, Clackmananshire, swept by a waterspout, which caused great damage to property, flooded the streets to a depth of three feet, and washed tons of boulders into them from the neighbouring hills. A man in the town was so frightened by the lightning that he hanged himself.

August 6.--Bank Holiday observed throughout the United Kingdom.

Public meeting in Trafalgar Square addressed by Mr. Bradlaugh, at which a resolution supporting his claim to take his seat in the House of Commons was passed.

The Lady Godiva procession revived at Coventry on a scale of great magnificence, the streets being elaborately decorated, and the pageant including various distinguished personages historically connected with the town.

August 7.-Welsh National Eisteddfod, at Cardiff, presided over by Lord Aberdare; the proceeds to be devoted to the founding of a scholarship at the Royal College of Music.

James Macdermott arrested at Liverpool on his arrival from America, and charged with conspiracy to murder public officials.

Joseph Bates, labourer, indicted at Norwich for threatening to murder the bishop of that city and destroy the cathedral.

August 8.-Banquet to her Majesty's Ministers at the Mansion House, London.

Forced sales on farms near Maidstone, for the exaction of extraordinary tithes. Simultaneously a public indignation meeting was held denouncing tithes.

August 9.-The postal authorities in the Punjaub seized a large number of seditious letters referring to the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh's approaching visit to India.

Manchester Ship Canal Bill thrown out by the House of Lords Committee.

Four Fenians, Featherstone, Deasey, Flanagan, and Dalton, found guilty, at Liverpool, of being in possession of nitro-glycerine for the purpose of blowing up public buildings, and sentenced to penal servitude for life.

UNITED STATES.

July 17.-Strike threatened by 15,000 telegraph operators against the Western

Union and other Companies, the strikers demanding an increase of fifteen per cent. in their salaries, extra pay for Sunday and night work, and the limiting of the day's labour to eight hours, and seven hours to be the limit of a night's labour.

July 20.-News received by the State Department at Washington of an attack made by Mexicans upon Dr. Shaw, American Consul at Monterey, in Mexico.

July 22.-Pauper families arriving in New York from Europe forbidden to land, and the steamship companies obliged to take them back to Europe.

July 23.-Severe tornado in Minnesota and Dakota; a railway train overturned by the force of the wind and thirty-four passengers injured.

July 24.-Captain Webb drowned at Niagara in attempting to swim through the rapids and whirlpool.

Telegraph strike extended in the Western States.

Seventy excursionists drowned in the Patapsco river, near Baltimore, by the sinking of a pier on which two hundred people were standing.

July 25.-The American Catholic clergy reported to the Vatican their intention of following the Pope's instructions in regard to the Parnellite party.

July 26.-All outstanding Three-and-aHalf per Cent. Government Bonds not offered for exchange into Three per Cents. called in by the Treasury. Interest to cease on November 1.

Telegraph operators' strike continued. The American Rapid Company, employing five hundred hands, yielded to their demands, the other Companies remaining firm.

July 27.-The Baltimore and Ohio Company yielded to the terms demanded by the telegraphists on strike, and work was at once resumed. The other strikers promised support until Christmas, if need be, by 800,000 knights of labour."

August 1.-Special Session held in New York by the Council of the National Land League of America, to consider the purchase of American lands by foreign speculators, to the exclusion of genuine settlers; and steps taken to frustrate the operations of the socalled "land jumpers," by State legislation.

August 2.--President Arthur opened the Exhibition at Louisville, and afterwards set out for Yellowstone Park, accompanied by General Sheridan.

The Treasury issued a circular subjecting all neat cattle arriving from Europe to ninety days quarantine.

A lock-out in the cigar trade, by which eight thousand men were thrown out of employment, terminated by concessions being made by both masters and employés.

Suicide of Senor Barca, the Spanish Minister to the United States, owing, it is supposed, to pecuniary embarrassments.

Mormon victory at the Utah elections, in all districts but one, owing to the general abstention of the Gentiles from voting.

FRANCE.

July 9-A new English newspaper, The Morning News, started in Paris, designed chiefly for the American colony.

July 15.-Serious riot at Roubaix. The Hôtel de Ville being attacked by three hundred Anarchists was defended by the police with the aid of several troops of gendarmerie, reinforced later by a battalion of rifles despatched from Lille. Six rioters armed with revolvers were arrested, and the town occupied by the military for some days.

Arrest of the Comte de Drée, at Annecy, for hissing the Marseillaise played by the band at the National Fête. He was sentenced to eight days' imprisonment and 60 francs fine.

July 20.-Unsuccessful attempt of three aeronauts to cross the Mediterranean from Marseilles in a balloon which, after travelling more than 1200 miles, came down safely near Brescia, in Italy.

July 21.-The Bandmaster of the 63rd Regiment placed under arrest for a fortnight at Limoges for playing the Marseillaise.

July 22.-M. Alfred Naquet, the champion of divorce in France, elected senator for the Department of Vaucluse.

July 25.-A fund of 50,000f. devoted by the Minister of Finance to paying the expenses of a sanitary mission to Egypt to study the nature and possible prevention of cholera.

July 26.-The Municipal Council of Marseilles accepted the gift of the Imperial Palace, on the terms prescribed by the Empress Eugénie-that the city shall reimburse her for the costs of the recent trial decided in her favour.

August 3.-The Paris police discovered traces of the existence of a secret Legitimist committee of action, and seized documents indicating the plans of the conspirators.

Arrest of two coachmen, a concierge, and other domestics in Paris, on whom were found subscription lists, tickets, and other suspicious documents connected with the so-called "Royal Essling Group," an organisation for the dissemination of Royalist doctrines, chiefly made up of domestics employed in Legitimist families. One of the prisoners admitted that 25,000 rifles had been ordered for the use of the conspirators.

August 6.-News received in Paris of Colonel Baden's successful sortie from Namdinh, in Tonquin, the capture of seven guns, and a large number of small arms, and the destruction of 700 Annamites.

August 9.-The charge of plagiarism brought by M. Mavio Uchard against M. Victorien Sardon, on the ground of a similarity between the two plays Lu Fiammina

and Odette, was decided in favour of the defendant.

No hostile steps have been taken by the French in Madagascar since our last report. The state of siege at Tamatave has been continued, and four French war vessels have occupied the harbour.

RUSSIA.

July 11-A new Convention, or preliminary treaty, drawn up between Russia and Persia, defining the north-eastern frontier, was provisionally accepted by the Persian Minister, subject to the assent of the Shah. July 13. A terrible conflagration destroyed one-fourth of the town of Rostoff. July 20.--Seventy thousand Russian troops stationed temporarily on the Armenian frontier, between Bayazid and Batoum.

July 23.-Report of a treaty between the Russian Government and the Shah of Persia, establishing a Russian protectorate over Irania.

August 3.-Report of the discovery of a Nihilist conspiracy at St. Petersburg, involving a great number of persons, many whom have been arrested.

of

August 7.-A small tin box containing explosive material was thrown from a carriage window in St. Petersburg, by unknown persons, but the explosion caused no serious damage.

Discovery at Odessa of a formidable system of fraud in connection with the shipping trade in the Black Sea. Many vessels largely insured were found to have been wrecked purposely by their pilots, who were in league with a band of salvage pirates. Fifty vessels are said to have been deliberately run ashore in less than two years.

GERMANY.

August 7. Krasczewski, a celebrated Polish poet and novelist, mysteriously imprisoned on a charge of high treason, was released on his depositing 1500 marks as caution money.

The German Emperor, accompanied by the Emperor of Austria, arrived at Ischl, where he was received by the Empress Elizabeth, and the local, civil, and military authorities. August 8.-Opening of the Luther Festival at Erfürt, attended by representatives from all the German Universities. A grand procession arranged to represent the Reformer's reception in that town in 1521, on his way to attend the Imperial Diet at Worms, passed through the principal streets, most of the characters in it being personated by the Protestant students from the University.

The Crown Prince and Princess assigned the sum of $30,000 marks, which was subscribed as a compliment to them by the the occasion of their silver

nation on

wedding, for the benefit of various sanitary and benevolent institutions in Germany.

AUSTRIA.

August 3.-The trial in the case of the Tisza-Esslar mystery in Hungary, in which fifteen Jews were charged with the murder of a Christian girl, resulted in the acquittal of the prisoners.

August 7.-Meeting of the Emperors of Germany and Austria at Ischl.

August 11. Riotous demonstration of workmen in Vienna protesting against the suppression of a newspaper devoted to the interests of the working classes. The police, assisted by the dragoons, succeeded, after a severe conflict, in dispersing the mob and Large bodies of making several arrests. infantry and cavalry were afterwards detailed to patrol the streets.

SWITZERLAND.

July 17.-Collapse of a portion of the Schmitten Railway Tunnel, between Fribourg and Berne.

July 25.-The Swiss Federal Council rejected Miss Booth's appeal against her expulsion from Geneva, on the ground that in neglecting to give an account of the collections made at Salvationist meetings she violated the law of the Canton of Geneva, and was justly expelled, in spite of her claim as a British subject to enjoy the fullest religious liberty in Switzerland.

July 30.-Meeting of Socialist workmen at Geneva, who made violent speeches, calling upon the State to provide them with employment. The workmen afterwards proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville, and on the refusal of the authorities to receive a deputation from their body, incendiary speeches were made, and the chief organiser of the demonstration unfurled a red flag. He was immediately arrested with other ringleaders.

SPAIN.

July 13.-Quarantine established in all Spanish ports against ships arriving from England, in consequence of the British Government failing to enforce quarantineregulations against cholera.

July 27.-The Spanish minister at Mexicorecalled, owing to the refusal of the Mexican Government to pay its Spanish indebtedness.

August 5.-Attempted military rising at Badajoz, in Estremadura, on the Portuguese frontier, with the object of establishing a Federal Republic under the constitution of 1869. The rebels, consisting of infantry and cavalry and a company of artillery, to the number of 900 men and 150 horses, together with about 300 civilians, crossed the frontier under command of two Lieutenant-Colonels and two Majors, whereupon they were disarmed by Portuguese authorities,

An Imperial Iradé provided for the introduction of the French language into intermediate educational establishments in Turkey.

Mr. Wyndham, British Chargé d'Affaires, was semi-officially informed that instructions had been sent to the Vali of Bagdad to revoke the prohibition against the navigation of the Tigris referred to above.

SERVIA. August 3.-The Servian Ministry resigned, and M. Myatovitch, Minister of Finance, was charged with the formation of a new Cabinet.

SCIENCE AND PROGRESS.

THE following topics under this head have been brought to public notice within the past month:

ENGLAND'S final decision against the construction of the Channel Tunnel, and the rejection of the Suez Canal scheme of M. de Lesseps by the Government have brought a double disappointment to France. The French Tunnel Company had already completed at Sangatte, near Calais, a shaft about a mile in length, about half a mile of it being under the sea, which was inspected last May by the Government Commission, and reported upon favourably. On August 2, 1883, the Company, according to their agreement of August 2, 1875, had to decide whether they would retain the concession or abandon it, and notwithstanding the abandonment of the scheme by England the French Company decided to retain the concession, hoping for a future reconsideration of the question in England. About the same time, at a meeting of the English Channel Tunnel Company it was agreed that no further action could be taken for the present, but that the Company should be ready to seize the first favourable opportunity for reviving it.

MEANWHILE, in conjunction with the Government of France, the South-Eastern Railway Company have made improvements in the approach to the harbour at Boulogne, and also extended their harbour works at Folkestone, for the purpose of establishing a new fixed passenger service between London and Paris.

Ir is estimated that the proposed widening of the Suez Canal will cost about £5,000,000 sterling. The question of expense and of the means of raising the necessary funds will be considered at the next general meeting of the shareholders in October. Meanwhile, in addition to the project of the Palestine Canal, connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, as described in our Record for June, another rival canal has been proposed. By connecting the river Euphrates with the Mediterranean, a canal, though no longer than that of Suez, would save, it is said, more than 1000 miles in the Voyage to Western India. Unfortunately a

part of the country through which it would pass is mountainous, and the engineering difficulties of the work would be formidable.

THE extension of London sea-wards is being furthered by the construction of the vast Tilbury docks, opposite Gravesend, upon which more than 1000 men, and steam machinery are actively engaged. The question of communication across the Thames below London Bridge has continued to occupy the Committee, who are to decide between ferries, a bridge, and a tunnel.

ON August 8 a new ambulance steamer was launched in London. She was built for the Metropolitan Asylums Board, for the conveyance of small-pox patients down the Thames to the floating hospitals at Darenth, and is called the Red Cross.

ON August 2, in London, a diver at work in his diving apparatus, 65 feet under water, was suffocated, owing to the bursting of an air pipe, though drawn up with all speed.

ON July 17 a new electric launch of im-' proved construction and uncommon size made her appearance on the Thames. She is 40 feet long, and capable of taking 40 or 50 passengers; no machinery is visible, the motive power being stored in cells under the seats, and the trip from Temple pier to Greenwich was accomplished in 37 minutes; a speed of about 7 miles an hour.

A NARROW-GAUGE electric railway has been built on the beach at Brighton, measuring only two feet between the rails. The car, which carries 10 persons, is lighted, as well as driven by electricity. In Paris the General Omnibus Company and Electrical Power Storage Company have been making practical experiments in the substitution of electricity for horse traction. On August 3 an ordinary tram-car fitted with the apparatus, and lighted within and without by electricity, made its appearance in the Place de la Concorde, and, crowded with passengers, ran rapidly over the ordinary roads as well as on the tramway. The cost of running the electric trams is said to be less than half that of the old system, and they are to be introduced on the Versailles tramway.

ON July 28 an adventurous marine tricyclist crossed the English Channel from Dover in his curious machine, constructed somewhat on the plan of a catamaran. The voyage occupied eight hours.

IT has been semi-officially announced that the new sixpenny telegram system will be introduced in October 1884, and that the new wires and apparatus required will cost £500,000.

THE past month has been marked by uncommon activity on the part of aeronauts. On July 14 a large balloon, in which two travellers had unintentionally crossed the Channel from Belgium, descended safely at Bromley, in Kent, On July 20 a balloon ascended at Marseilles, with three French aeronauts who hoped to cross the Mediter