... I rhe Editor is -not responsible for the opinionS1 antd state-i isents of CorrespondentS-. BETTING AND POLICF TRICKERY. TO Tii: EDITOR OtF TE PRESTO i] Sut,-The botting prosecutions at the Preston Pohcc-. court, on Wednesday, revealed some unpleasant facts. I ?? a most irrevocable hatred of betting and everything of a eambling nature; and yet I like English fairplay. In the first of the cases ...

... THE SONG OF CHRISTMAS DAY. -Oh, I co.e on the silvery wings of the morn, When the stars are all silently beaming- 'hen the radiant Moon on her mission has gone, And the weary old world is a-dreaming ; Then I steal (In my weay lie a bird on tie wing, To those lends that are wvaking to meet me- Where the Cbristinn wvill sing tbe glad tidings I brieg, And the sweet bells lie ringing to greet mo. ...

... I _ _ THE BLACKHEATH BURGUARIES. I At Bow-street, on Saturday, Hannah Peace, a women apparently about 55, was charged before Mr. Vaughan with being in possession of property knowing it to be stolen, the proceeds of the burglaries which have taken place about London recently. Mr. Poland, instructed by the Treasury, prosecuted; Yr. Beard appeared for the prisoner. Henry Phillips, inspector of ...

... PRESENTATION TO LORD BEA ONS.- FIELD.I On Thursday, a deputation of British residents in California waited upon the Earl of Beaconsfield, at his residence in Dowmng-etreet, for the purpose of pre- senting him vfith a gold and silver oacket, containing an address expressive of their high appreciation of hie Lordship's setvicea, The deputation, which was intro- duced by Mr.13, Maclvor, MY.., and ...

... Wa crnot undertake to return commtinloetlons of whlnh we do uot avail ourealves. (ommnmicationa should sdways be iegibly written to ink, and o02 Ce side of tie ?? onzy; length Increases the difficalty of finding qwe for them. Whatever is intended icr insertion mact be anthentiated by the name and address of the auder-not necessarily for publication, bht as a gnarentee of good faith. Letters ...

... Reicent telegrams told of floods of the Tiber Ut Some and its effects, as also of the distress caused bythe Norwich floods,and more recently the inundtaion of 30 villages by the Save in Bosnia, ned the fatal railway accidents eaused in Amerioa by the storm-floods. The andermentioned par- tierlars of the most destructive floods of ancient, atd modern times, in this and other countries, may net ...

... PORRIGN HISOELLANY. I The Austrian Parliament reassembles on thc 10th iOstanit. A Reuter's Paris telegram announces that LM. Bardoux, the Minister of Public Instruction, yes- terday laid the first stone of the new school of practical medicine, and, in a speech on the oc- casion, pointed to the effort of the Government to afford the illustrious School of Medicine of Paris the means of upholding ...

... THE PROTECTION OF ANCIENT BUILD iGS. A public meeting was h-dd on Monday night at the Royal Institution, under the auspiceis of the otites ad Quei ies Boiety~forthe fr~e and imnpartial discussion ofthe principle snd practice of modern architetural restoration. Mr. TI H. I aL l Caine presided. There WaS only a small attendance. The CJIAcNiAt, in introducing the subject, said it ,v us not a ...

... I A.4i -AIi IELEGRA [S-, &O. _ _ _ ?? T The Bishop of Durham's resignation of his see w vil not be completed until the 3rd of February next. The funeral of Mra. Hannah Brown, for 5o years 'tle faithful friend of Baroness BLrdett 0oatts, and w o diel un Sitarclay last, took place yesterday at .t. Sr1ephen's, }oehoester-row. 3 The Shareholders of the Benhar Ooal Compa' y s net in Edinburgh ...

... THE AFGHkN -WAR. Ah-lst General Roberts's troops were returning to the Kooram. Valley a band of marauders of the Mangal tribe attacked the baggage train in one of the mountain passes. The Goorkhas, who formed the rear-guard, made a gallant defense, holding the Mangals in check till detachments of the 72nd Highlanders and of the 2:3rd Pioneers came to their assistance. After a sharp con- ffict ...

... ¶ONTEST. orAlPHIC NEWS _ .nt'T t K5nC QOiA-I, &C. ?? CASTLE, DEC. 14. sthe Priug5ss Beatrice walked and .*y af lrnton attended by the Dowager stpi t, stenie, by the Hon. Alexander t4Luolybeday. f vadhnesW- the Prince and Princess f,!ededby tie Hon. Mrs. Coke and ;i epth^ns 1' N., GEB., arrived at 'N ?betor- eL p-m. Prince Leopold ?? r n ys~l 1 i 5baesses from London. A' ADC .t Rev the Dan of ...

... AIR. GLADSTONE'S SPEECH. t.- We suspect that if Lord Beaoonsfield ,l could have paired off his majority in the Lords against Mr. Gladstone's speech in the Commons on Tuesday night, the country would not have been. so ftlly in- formed as it now is upon the merits and demerits of the Afghan question. Nobody knows better than the Prime Minister that isthe appealinow is from Parliament to the ...