saturated with blood, and contained a crushed hat, a walking-stick, and a small leathern bag. These discoveries left no doubt that the dying man had been murdered in this carriage, and then thrown from it by his murderer. It was found that his name was Briggs; that his hat and a valuable watch and gold chain, as well as an eye-glass, all of which he had with him at his departure from home, were missing; and there could be no doubt that the crime had been committed for the sake of these articles. But who was the murderer? This was a question which was asked with great interest throughout the kingdom. Every man felt that he might be the victim of a similar attack; and for a long time after the commission of the crime, if two men found themselves alone in a railway carriage, they looked at each other with suspicion, and each held himself in readiness to maintain a life-and-death struggle with his peaceful and well-intentioned companion. The clue to the detection of the person who had committed this crime was very slight at first, but was carefully followed by the police, stimulated in their inquiries by the offer of large rewards. It was ascertained that a man who seemed to be a foreigner had exchanged Mr. Briggs's chain for another at the shop of Mr. Death, jeweller, in Cheapside. A number of minute circumstances combined to fix suspicion of the crime on a young German named Franz Müller, who had hitherto borne a good character for steadiness, industry, and mildness of disposition, and who for some weeks past had been talking of emigrating to America. A cabman named Matthews brought a paper ring-box with Mr. Death's name printed on it, which Müller had given to one of his children as a plaything; and Mr. Death stated, that having given in exchange for Mr. Briggs's chain one of less value, he had added a ring to make up the difference. There was strong reason for believing that the hat found in the blood-stained compartment had belonged to Müller. These circumstances afforded a moral certainty of his guilt; but it was doubtful whether they were sufficient to procure a legal conviction, and even if they were, how could he now be taken? He was already far on his way to America, and there could be no doubt that as soon as he arrived there he would hurry off to some remote part of that great continent, where it would be impossible to discover him. These difficulties, 1865.] THE MORIBUND PARLIAMENT. 253 however, did not discourage the police who were on Müller's track. The City of Manchester, a swift steamer, was despatched in pursuit of him, having on board two experienced officers, carrying out a warrant for his apprehension and all necessary appliances for obtaining his arrest under the extradition treaty between this country and the United States. The steamer arrived some time before the Victoria which carried out Müller, and when he attempted to land he was at once apprehended with Mr. Briggs's hat in his possession. After a fair, full, and patient investigation, he was convicted and executed, confessing, at the last moment, that he had perpetrated the crime for which he suffered. The year ended under decidedly happier auspices and with better prospects than those under which it had commenced. The distress in the manufacturing districts had so sensibly abated that the relief committees were able greatly to diminish the number of their meetings, and the amount of aid distributed to the distressed operatives. The session of the year 1865 commenced on Tuesday the 7th of February. The war-clouds that had overhung Europe during a great part of the last year were dissipated, but hostilities on a small scale were still carried on by this country against Japan and the Maories of New Zealand. The queen was once more absent, and there was consequently again an absence of that ceremonial which attends the opening of parliament by the sovereign in person. A small party of ladies in the body of the House of Lords and in the galleries were almost the only persons present except the peers who were appointed to act as commissioners and to present the royal message. It contained nothing that was not already notorious; spoke in confident terms of the continuance of peace, announced a persistent neutrality as the settled policy of our government in reference to the civil war in the United States, and expressed an approval of a proposed combination of our North American colonies in a single confederacy. The home measures to which it referred were of an unimportant character; and on the question of parliamentary reform and of other organic changes it was entirely silent. It was discussed as such a speech might be expected to be discussed by a parliament whose views it echoed with tolerable fidelity. All men, even the most strenuous reformers, saw that it would be useless to bring forward the improvements they desired in a parliament which had reached its last session. The great age that Lord Palmerston had attained rendered it certain that he could not continue much longer at the head of the government; and therefore the eyes of all men were turned towards the parliament that would have to be elected in the course of this year, and which would probably commence its sittings in the year following under the auspices of a new premier, if not of a new administration. The royal message was described by Lord Derby as being the sort of speech likely to be addressed by an aged minister to a moribund parliament, whose dissolution was certain; so that the best thing its advisers could do was to find it some gentle occupation, and to take care that its dying moments should not be disturbed by any unnecessary excitement. Still, the notices of bills and motions given in the lower house on the first days after its meeting were sufficiently numerous to find the house ample employment during the whole of a long session; so that if kept without excitement, it need not be kept without work. It was well understood, however, that many of these notices were given rather in the hope of propitiating the constituencies than in the expectation of their being seriously discussed by the house. But there were some practical and useful measures, which those who brought them forward fully intended to carry through. Among these may be mentioned the Unionchargeability bill, read a second time on the 22nd of April, which established a better and more economical system of management in the different unions of the kingdom, made a more equal repartition of rates, and, which was much more important, relieved the poor from grievous hardships which up to this time the law of settlement had inflicted on them. It sometimes happened in parishes which belonged to a single proprietor or to a small number of proprietors, that in order to prevent the men who laboured on their property from gaining a settlement on it and acquiring a right to be supported from the rates, they would not allow a single cottage to be erected within the parish; so that the poor drudges who tilled the ground were obliged to walk a distance of four or five miles to and from 1865.] IRISH-CHURCH QUESTION. 255 It is true that this was the place in which they laboured. an extreme case, which did not often occur, but there were many parishes in which there was an approach to this state of things; and of course it was not only attended with serious hardship to the peasants who were obliged to undergo this great and needless fatigue, but was also shamefully unfair to the parishes which had not been benefited by their labour, but which were compelled to support them in illness and old age. The bill of Mr. Villiers applied a very simple remedy to this state of things. Instead of making each separate parish support its own paupers by rates that were equal throughout the parish, it required each separate union of parishes to support its own paupers by rates that were equal throughout the union; thus making the area of relief coincident with the area of management. The bill also put an end to a great deal of litigation between different parishes, which had arisen out of the state of the law that previously existed. It is true that the measure did not go far enough, and did not wholly arrest the evil with which it dealt. It still left untouched the difference of rates between contiguous unions; which might indeed be remedied to some extent by their enlargement, a change which for many other reasons was desirable. However, the measure passed its second reading by a majority of 203 against 131. An amendment brought forward by Mr. Bentinck to facilitate in certain cases the alteration of the limits of existing unions was opposed by Mr. Villiers on the part of the government, and rejected by the house. The bill eventually passed, and was the principal work accomplished during the session. On the evening of Tuesday the 28th of March Mr. Dillwyn moved a resolution affirming that the state of the Irish church was unsatisfactory and called for the early attention of her majesty's government. The motion was opposed by Sir G. Grey, who stated that the government was not prepared to bring forward a measure calculated to produce the result that Mr. Dillwyn desired-the entire abolition of the Irish establishment. After Mr. Hardy had spoken at some length and with great animation against the motion, Mr. Gladstone rose and entered into a full examination of the question of the Irish church. He frankly admitted that its state was unsatisfactory, but he added that having regard to the difficulties which stood in the way of the removal of the anomalies it presented, and which he could not help recognising, he was not prepared to give his assent to the proposition, that this question calls for the early attention of the government.' This declaration, to which subsequent events gave great significance, intimated that Mr. Gladstone, who had always been a firm and intelligent supporter of the Irish as well as the English church, believed that the days of the former of these institutions were numbered; that the government would at some future period be compelled to face the difficult question of its disestablishment; and that the introduction of a measure for that purpose was only a question of time. caused those who held views similar to those he had enunciated to, regard him as the future leader of their party whenever the problem should be ripe for solution. It was generally felt on all sides that as soon as the retirement of Lord Palmerston from office occurred-and his great age showed that that day could not be very far distant-the consideration of this Irish grievance would occupy a foremost place in the attention of the country and of the legislature. For the present, however, the subject remained in abeyance. It The budget of this year presented features which were all the more gratifying because they were exhibited in the face of the distress which, though rapidly diminishing, still existed in the manufacturing districts. The national expenditure for the financial year was estimated at 66,139,000l.; while the revenue was expected to amount to 70,170,000l.; so that there would probably be a surplus of no less than 4,031,000l. Of course with so large a balance, there was room for a considerable remission of taxation. Passing by some minor changes which it was proposed to make, we come to those which were most im portant. The duty on tea was to be reduced to sixpence in the pound; the income-tax to be lowered from sixpence to fourpence in the pound; the insurance duty, in conformity with a resolution which the House of Commons had passed on the 21st of March, was to be laid on all insured property at a uniform rate of one-and-ninepence, besides which the shilling duty on all policies was to be replaced by a penny stamp, and a penny receipt stamp for the payment of the |