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natives, prisoners at large, and attendants, closely following his steps; more especially when it is remembered that, only a few months before, the Chief Justice of Bengal had been struck down in open day by an assassin, either under the impulse of fanaticism or of some offence taken by reason of judicial proceedings against him. But such was the fact; Lord Mayo was himself a man of courage, and (it is said) somewhat impatient of restraint and precautions, and the necessity for such safeguards seems to have occurred to no one else. The superintendent, General Stewart, made public a statement of the precautions which he had himself taken on the occasion. The catastrophe' itself is thus described in the Gazette of India (Feb. 13):

"After several posts and stations had been inspected, it was nearly 5 p.m., and the Viceroy decided that he would visit Mount Harriet. This is a lofty hill, on the main island. There is no regular convict station on the hill; but below it is Hope Town, where there are convicts, chiefly invalids and ticket-of-leave men, with a few others required for work at the station. . . . Eight policemen accompanied him throughout." After reaching the top the party descended the hill in order to embark. "Two ticket-of-leave men addressed his Excellency on the way down, and were informed by General Stewart that on their making formal petitions their cases would be inquired into. No other convicts were met on Mount Harriet; they were all at their huts at Hope Town below. . . . By the time the Viceroy reached the foot of the hill, it was a quarterpast seven and quite dark, and lighted torches were, by order of an officer of the settlement, sent to meet the party. The huts where the convicts, some forty or fifty in number, had been drawn up, were passed. General Stewart had stopped to give orders to an overseer, and the Viceroy had walked about one third the length of the pier, preceded by two torch-bearers, and a few paces in advance of the rest of the party, when a man jumped on him from behind, and stabbed his Excellency over the left shoulder, and a second time under the right shoulder-blade, before any one could interpose. The assassin was at once knocked down by the guard and people in attendance, and but for the interference of the officers, would probably have been killed. There is no consistent account to show how the man made his way to the Viceroy, and it is not clear whether he was lying concealed on the side of the pier, or whether he rushed in from behind. Major Burns and the Viceroy's Jemmadar were a few paces from the Viceroy, Colonel Jervois, Mr. Hawkins (flag-lieutenant) and Mr. Allen somewhat behind, and the police and petty-officers of the station in flank and rear." The wounded man either fell or jumped into the water at the side of the pier; he could only utter a few words, and died in a few seconds, probably before he was placed in the steam launch which carried his body away.

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The assassin was interrogated then and there. He stated that "his name was Shere Ali, the son of Wullee; that he came from a 1 For another account see the "Chronicle."

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village near Jumrood, at the foot of the Khyber (on the northwestern frontier, that is, of the empire); that he had no accomplices; that it was his fate; and that he had committed the act by the order of God." The instrument of murder was a common knife. Shere Ali had, it seems, been convicted in 1867 by Colonel Pollock, Commissioner of Peshawur, and sentenced to transportation for life. He had been placed at Hope Town in May, 1871, “in order to perform duty as barber there." The murder in which he had been engaged was committed in prosecution of a "blood-feud" on the person of a relative; his capital sentence had been commuted as there was a presumption that the actual blow was struck by a comrade." He was tried at Port Blair for the murder of Lord Mayo, and the sentence passed on him confirmed by the High Court at Calcutta (Feb. 20). He was executed in that city, maintaining to the last the obstinate resolution of his character. Vague suspicion was naturally afloat as to his motives and supposed accomplices; and much disposition was entertained to connect the crime with the prevalence of Wahabee fanaticism among the Mussulman tribes in the neighbourhood of his birth-place. But no trace of any conspiracy has been discovered; and it remains open to conjecture whether the act was that of a revengeful convict or of a partner in an undetected plot. Lord Napier of Ettrick, the Governor of Madras, succeeded by law to the vacant GovernorGeneralship as temporary administrator; but was relieved of it by the appointment of Lord Northbrook in the course of the summer.

In the general absence during this year, of occurrences of political importance throughout the remainder of our vast Colonial empire, the progress of the diamond discoveries in South Africa may merit a brief notice, together with the administrative measures which it became necessary to adopt in consequence of them.

The Nu Gariep, or Orange River, forms throughout the greater part of its long course the boundary to the north of the Cape Colony, properly so called. Almost half-way between its source and its mouth, and also nearly half-way between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean on a line following the parallel 28° south, it receives from the north-east, the Vaal, or Yellow River, almost equal in size to itself. The extensive territory nearly encircled by these rivers is the Orange Free State, a republic of Dutch colonists, to whom independence was granted by Britain twenty years ago. Farther north-east lies a vast tract, also occupied by Dutch squatters, which assumes the title of the South African Free State. Immediately opposite the junction of the Vaal and Orange Rivers, to the north, is the region called West Griqua Land. The dominion over this was secured by Treaty under the British Government to Nicholas Waterboer, a native chief of the West Griqua tribe; but his boundaries were contested by both the Dutch Republics.

The country traversed by these rivers in their middle course is a great undulating plateau, with scanty vegetation, a dry and not unhealthy climate, and averaging from 3000 to 5000 feet above the

sea-level. It is studded with protruding masses of basalt, "kopjes" heads-as the boers call them-" protruding through conglomerate and amygdaloidal trap." The diamonds are found most irregularly scattered amidst the superficial debris of these formations. The principal sites of discovery, as yet, have been near the Vaal River, and on both sides of it.

The probable extent of the fields is still matter of speculation. Some have estimated it as low as a thousand square miles, others at many times that number.

In 1868, a valuable diamond was accidentally found in the possession of a Dutch farmer, as the author of "The Emigrant's Guide to the Diamond Fields" informs us, "who had given it, along with a number of pretty stones, to his children for a plaything." It was not long before the farmers and traders resident on the Orange River made it known that they were prepared to pay well for any diamonds which might be discovered; and the natives were not slow in finding that it paid them, while herding their masters' stock, to pick up any stone presenting an unusual appearance which they might fall in with. About this time Mr. Emanuel, the well-known London dealer in diamonds, despatched an agent to report upon the nature of the country from whence the diamonds were said to have been obtained; and that person reported that "the rumours which had been circulated were without foundation, but had been trumped up for the purposes of land speculators." Only a very short time after this report had reached the Cape, one of the most splendid gems in the world, the "Star of South Africa," a diamond of the first water, weighing eightythree carats and a half, was brought into the colony by a native, and sold to Messrs. Lilienfeld and Co., of Hope Town. This diamond subsequently realized twenty-four thousand pounds.

The effect of discoveries such as these on the minds of the population, and of foreign adventurers, too, may be easily imagined, and has been abundantly described in many publications. The wealth of a particular diamondiferous tract in the district of Colesberg, called by the diggers the "New Rush," was perhaps the crowning triumph of the speculation. The first diamond there was discovered in July, 1871, and for a long time the average production was at the rate of 1000 carats a day. But the rewards of adventure have been exceedingly variable. In November, 1872, it wa was estimated that there were 2500 "registered claimants" on the fields, and 50,000 diggers and their servants, of whom 35,000 were Europeans. "Even now," says the author of a little work on the subject, "it does not pay one man in five to dig; very soon it will not pay one in ten-no, not, as I think, one in a hundred." And, strange to say, although the discoveries have been known and wrought on for more than three years, there appears to be still a considerable divergence of opinion as to the comparative value of the diamonds themselves.

The scene of this strange aggregation of people-English and Dutch adventurers from the colony, boers from the interior, natives

of many tribes, and coolies from India-was not only almost beyond the precincts of civilized occupation, but it lay, as has been said, on the frontier, so to speak, of four distinct communities. It need not be said that this peculiarity greatly enhanced the difficulty of keeping the motley assemblage in anything like order. The diggers, however, with a good deal of ready sense, established a kind of police of their own, and submitted to some extent to a Commissioner whom the Governor of the Cape sent among them, keeping themselves independent of the emissaries of the two Republics. Serious disturbances occurred from time to time; at one of these, known by the name of the "New Rush Riot," in July 1872, the unfortunate native diggers were treated with much cruelty, and a resolution adopted, at least for a time, to exclude them altogether from the fields. At length, in October, 1872, the Governor, Sir Henry Berkeley, annexed West Griqua Land to the Cape by proclamation, on the petition of the Chief, Nicholas Waterboer himself, of whose interests sufficient care was taken. This arrangement was accepted by the authorities of the South African Commonwealth, who became parties to it. But those of the Orange River State still delayed their assent at the end of the year. Meanwhile, in the same month, the first "Responsible Ministry was organized at the Cape, and political power over that vast section of the African continent passed virtually from the home government to the people of the colony itself through their representatives and ministers.

FOREIGN HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

FRANCE.

National Assembly-Election for Paris-President and Cabinet-Budget DebateRaw Material Speech of M. Thiers-Debate of January 19th, and Resignation Crisis-Navigation Act-Anglo-French Commercial Treaty debated and denounced-Motion for Return of Assembly to Paris negatived-Resignation of M. Casimir Perier-Comte de Chambord-Party Programmes-M. Rouher— Suppression of Imperial Journals-Law of Public Safety-Letter of M. de St. Hilaire-Law of Reserve Chamber-Case of M. Janvier de la Motte-Retirement of M. Pouyer-Quertier-Law against International Society-Easter Recess-Bills for Army Re-organization and Council of State-Duc d'Audiffret-Pasquier and M. Rouher-Debate on Army Bill-Visit of the "Right" to M. Thiers-Budget Debate-" Incidents" in the Chamber-New Convention with Germany-Great Loan-" Right " and "Left"-Prorogation of Assembly-Death of the Duc de Guise.

AFTER a short Christmas recess the French National Assembly met at Versailles on the 3rd of January. The election of a new member for Paris was still outstanding, the candidates being the well-known poet and novelist M. Victor Hugo, who represented the opinions of the extreme "Left," and attracted to himself the good wishes of the Red Republicans, Communists, and friends of revolution in general; and M. Vautrain, who though of liberal antecedents, Mayor under the Government of National Defence, and now President of the Municipal Council of Paris, was yet accepted by Royalists and Moderate Republicans alike as representing the Conservative element in the politics of the moment. The voting took place on the 7th of January and resulted in an unexpected victory for M. Vautrain, the numbers polled being 121,000 against 93,000. As in all Parisian elections at this period, the proportion of electors who abstained from voting at all was very considerable. There was no excitement or disturbance of the public peace, and the only drawback to the satisfaction of the Conservative party was the anticipation that this peaceful victory might remove the only valid objection to the instalment of the Assembly in the capital itself, the natural centre of Government. To this measure it was supposed the chief of the State himself was favourable, but to the majority in the Assembly it was eminently distasteful. Legitimists, Orleanists, Imperialists, and moderate Republicans had alike the greatest repugnance to the

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