bishop. Two other notifications were equally realistic: one being “About the 10th day a steamboat near home witnesses a derangement of its machinery. which leads to serious results” and the other, ”The public health, I am afraid, will suffer this month.” The coincidence of the first was the bursting of a steamboat’s boiler, by which seven persons were killed, and that of the second, a weekly mortality in London 371 above the average.
A coincidence of a different nature in the month of March was revealed by the Sunday Times, which announced the death of Mr. George Brett, of Rye — a cousin of the present writer — by falling overboard from the Rotterdam packet, of which he was captain. He was the last of five brothers who had found a watery grave, but not the last of the family who was destined to meet a similar death.
Curiously Fulfilled Predictions - A Remarkable Storm
124 StStill pursuing the coincidences of prophetic ventures and their realisations, we notice that the Zadkiel of the day (Capt. J. Morrison) in his almanac, while judging from the conjunction of the sun, moon and Saturn on the 5th of March, in exact square to the moon’s place at the birth of Louis Phillipe, foretels(sic) that the fugitive monarch will certainly suffer about this time, and bend his frame towards the earth” It so happened at that time that the ex-King and Queen of the French arrived at the Croydon station from Newhaven, they having travelled by special train. The meeting between them and other branches of the royal fugitives was described as one of the most painfully affecting character, After affectionately embracing the Duke de Nemours, while the big tears of sorrow chased each other down his venerable cheeks, Louis Phillipe was seen to rejoin the Queen, and leaning on her for support, he thus did ”bend his frame towards the earth,” as the whole party prepared to leave the station for Claremont.
Among Simmonite’s astrological deductions for the same month of March, was that “during the present month there will be much bickering and ill-feeling among newspaper editors.” Surely enough there was. The Irish journals for the most part were teeming with rage, abusing the English press, and giving vent to feelings of a most lawless and treasonable character against the Government. On the other hand, the English newspapers were calling the Irish journalists to account and urging upon the Government the necessity of a prosecution. Mr, Mitchell, the principal editor of the United Irishman, after indulging in the most flagrant abuse, dared to defy the Government to “Railways are not doing well this month,” was another forecast which was too truly realised for the comfort of shareholders, there being at the time denoted an unusual stagnation in railway traffic.
“ The revenue falls off this month,” had its accuracy clearly demonstrated by the deficiency shewn in the production of the budget, and the attempt to meet it by an augmentation of the Income-tax.
“The House of Commons unpopular; our national enemies gain upon us, but will be frustrated,” said Simmonite. The various tumultuous proceedings in London, Glasgow, Dublin and other places; the Chartist, meetings, and particular. demonstrations in favour of French republicanism, some of which might have been attended by fatal consequences had not precautionary measures been adopted by Government, brought the astrologer’s warning into prominence. “ The Leicester, Nottingham and Manchester trades are low,” was also a calculation the truth of which was verified by facts.
In the Astrologer for the same month we were assured that “ the south of England will be visited by maritime disasters,” coincident with which was the return to land of the Hastings and Brighton fishing-boats, reporting the almost entire loss of their nets and gear, as well as the further report of one or more vessels being lost during a violent storm.
To be added to the many curious coincidences that have occurred while this history is being written, is the death of Mr. Thomas Cooper, a leading Chartist of 1848, and the author of “The Purgatory of Suicides“ The death of this noted man, at 79 years of age, took place at Lincoln on the 15th of this present July. It is told in his autobiography how, while plying the awl, he entered upon the study of Latin, Greek and mathematics; how he became a schoolmaster, political secretary to Bulwer Lytton and a Chartist. The circumstance is fresh in my own memory how, for political speeches in the Potteries, he was adjudged guilty of sedition and suffered imprisonment for two or more years. During that period he wrote “Captain Cobbler,” and compiled a Hebrew grammar. He afterwards employed himself as a journalist and lecturer, and ultimately espoused the cause of Christianity, enforcing its doctrines from the pulpit with much earnest eloquence. He prided himself on his English proclivities, and his sympathy with the oppressed of all countries. He was, however, regarded as one of the misguided men of 1848 by a local journalist, who, in the Hastings News of June 9th, wrote :—
“These poor creatures are doing everything in their power to retard the progress of reform by their short-sighted violence. On Sunday they made a large demonstration in the metropolis, and have continued ever since to afford abundant employment to both magistrates and police. The injury to trade by these outbreaks is immense.”
That same writer, who also exclaimed with marked emphasis against the rebellious attitude of the Irish people when there were great wrongs to be redressed. would now, when all these wrongs have been righted and Ireland has been placed in a far more advantageous position than the rest of the United Queendom; when, under the firm but ameliorative policy of a Liberal-Conservatiye and Unionist Government, agrarian crime has become a thing of the past; when Ireland has become more peaceable, more contented, more prosperous and more law-abiding than she has been for fifty years, that writer, I say, would again put Ireland into a condition of turmoil and disruption by forcing upon the British Constitution a so called scheme of Home Rule at the dictation of a political autocrat. For myself, I assert with the utmost freedom that for sympathy with the weak or oppressed I place myself in the first rank, but when I find a Government ready and willing to remove all legitimate grievances, and to bestow on a people all that can reasonably be asked for as a fair apportionment of their rights and privileges, I instinctively support that Government to the best of my feeble ability. Thomas Cooper, the now deceased Chartist leader, could go no farther than myself in this one great question of union versus separation. I have it on record that on one occasion, when he was lecturing at Belfast on a non-political topic, he incidentally remarked that Irishmen and his own countrymen were alike in their love of freedom. This remark was met by a shout from one who had imbibed the teaching of the convict Mitchell, “We don’t want to be like the English! We want Nationality!” And if you had what you call Nationality, responded Cooper — that is, entire separation from England - to-day, to-morrow you would have intestine war and bloodshed — fierce war between Protestant and Catholic, You would be no more happy in the end, and would soon desire to unite with us again. Mr. Cooper was a firm and consistent believer in what he stated, even to the end of his nearly fourscore years. In 1886, when Mr. Gladstone’s scheme of Home Rule was introduced, Mr. Cooper reiterated his conviction in a letter to the Lincoln Liberal Unionist Society. To say that I share this conviction of the veteran Chartist is only to affirm what my readers must already know, whilst to corroborate what I believe to be a seriously mistaken course now being pursued by Mr. Gladstone and his supporters, I append an article from the Echo of July 22nd, which says :—
“A great, and as far as it went, beneficent experiment has been interrupted. It cannot be denied that Ireland, after passing through a troublous period, was gradually settling down and becoming more pacified and prosperous day by day, This fact stands out firm and indestructible in our national history. It is the greatest domestic fact of the last decade. For the first time in the memory of the ‘ oldest inhabitant Ireland during the last three years put on something like a contented appearance, and became law-abiding. With the exception of conflicts between different sections of the National party, the Irish people for some time up to the General Election were unusually orderly, unusually industrious, and unusually satisfied. This was a great gain to the United Kingdom, and indicated a coming conquest of civilisation. We who are in the presence of this luminous fact do not measure its importance. But that which we are not for the moment enabled to do future years will accomplish, The men and women of the future will contrast the agonising years 1880 and 1886 and the years of comparative tranquillity between 1886 and 1892, The contrast is striking, and will be memorable, Whatever may be done in the future, whether for weal or for woe, no man or combination of men can blot out the chapters of our history which recall the facts that the first portion of the period we have specified was characterised in Ireland with disturbance, lawlessness, imprisonment without trial, and passionate disaffection; and that most of the latter part of that period was characterised by order re-established, the foundations of Society strengthened, and general peace and prosperity manifesting themselves, Party orators and party wire pullers, and the smaller fry that follow in their wake, may make exaggerated statements to secure temporary advantage, but they cannot extinguish facts. And the facts are that Ireland has passed through years of perturbation and pain, and that she has entered on years of social calm and industrial development. This policy is now about to be interrupted. The experiment which we saw day by day succeeding is about to be suspended. The nation is asked to take a step from the known to the unknown, from a certain present to an uncertain future, That future may be bright or it may not We may have a coatinuance(sic) of prosperity, or we may not, But we owe gratitude to the men who have so far steered the ship of State through a troublous time, and demonstrated by a firm administration of law, and the application of ameliorative legislation, and a promise for more, that Ireland had entered on an era of pacification and progress. The responsibility resting on those who have interfered with the working out of this social experiment is immense, and history, with impartial eyes and inexorable pen, will pass judgment on their condute”
In this and the following chapter it has been conclusively shown that the year 1848 was in its political, physical, meteorological, and even local aspects a truly memorable one; and it has been further shown that the principal events of that remarkable year were coincidently with astrological forecasts; but when, as a means of testing their accuracy more than for any other purpose, these predictions and their fulfilments were recorded in the private diary of the present writer, the diarist had no conception that in the remote future of 44 years he would be writing history in which extracts from the said diary might be regarded as not altogether out of place, But so it is; and assuming that if only as “ curiosities of literature,” the said coincidences are here admissible, no apology is tendered for the following additions :—In his ”Voice of the Stars” for March, Zadkiel says, “The King of the Netherlands is now under very evil influence; sickness, losses, &c.” The prediction was realised by the death of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, the event being noticed in the Times of March 20th in the following words :- “His Royal Highness Prince Alexander is dead, which occurrence has plunged the Royal Family of William the Second into the most profound grief. The Prince had been staying at Madeira for the benefit of his health, and the first intimation received by. his family was that the Court of Portugal would go into mourning for 8 days on account of the death of this Prince.”
For Monday, March 20th the diarist writes “An eclipse of the moon was visible last evening, and a very interesting spectacle it was There was also a brilliant display of northern lights.” Touching this phenomenon The Astrologer says:— ”On the 19th of March as the moon sails refulgently into the midheaven, her disc becomes obscured, and a total eclipse, visible in these realms, reaches its greatest extent at 9h. 11m. p.m. The next day the suns ingress into Aries will furnish further data for astrological deductions. Remarkable indeed are the events thus prefigured, Great political excitements, popular demonstrations, and even riots in the manufacturing districts. This index—the radix of the year, will exert an influence over Great Britain for six months to come,” The diarist then asks, Who can read the foregoing prediction and compare it with the Chartist and other political demonstrations that have followed without feeling the force of that so-called logic of the stars from which the realised prognostications are deduced ?
From the same lunar eclipse Zadkiel predicts “some serious troubles to the Queen about the end of March and few following weeks,” although he intimates that “Her Majesty will be popular and do justice to the people.” These vaticinations would appear contradictory, and the more so as he warns at the same time “much opposition and trouble to the ruling powers of Britain.” Paradoxical, however, as those political forecasts may seem to be, they have proved accurate to the very letter. The Queen gave birth to a princess on the 18th of March, and on the 8th of April — three weeks only after her accouchment - such was her alarm at the threatening attitude of the people in England as well as in Ireland, that she removed, with the Royal Family to the Isle of Wight. And yet, so popular was Queen Victoria that when the National Anthem was played or sung at the theatres it was several times encored. She was also made the recipient of congratulatory addresses from all the principal English towns, and thus while she was so seriously troubled, she was as greatly honoured.
A Remarkable Storm
Continuing from my diary the list of fulfilled predictions, to which I have applied the term coincidences, the next extract is as follows:— ”On the 31st of March the planet Venus formed a trine angulation with Jupiter and the moon a similar configuration with Mars, As judged from these positions the weather of that day was of a warm and brilliant character. On the following day, April 1st, the moon trined Jupiter and conjoined Venus; and, as forecasted, another fine day resulted. But on the 2nd of April,in consequence of the moon conjoining both Saturn and Mercury, and forming a quartile with Mars, the weather calculation for that day was ”electrical airs, with showers of hail or rain.” Now for the coincidence. News from Liverpool informs us that the weather continued cold, wet and disagreeable up to the 30th of March. The 31st was a better day, and the 1st of April was one of the finest days of all the season The air was warm and balmy, and on the following morning it was evident that the few hours of powerful sunshine had given a surprising impulse to vegetation. A slight shower had occurred in the morning, after which the day had all the brilliancy of summer until 5 o'clock. Peals of thunder were then heard in the distance. and heavy masses of clouds rolled forward which quickly changed the sunny brilliance to a lurid twilight. For a few minutes the air was still and oppressive, and the murmurings of the thunder seemed to have ceased, while the gloom was increasing. The low clouds, which at first floated forward in dusky masses, became stationary, and there appeared to be a pause in the elements. Shortly, however, a few flashes to the westward, followed at decreasing intervals by long peals of thunder, seemed to be the opening of the elemental war; for, there succeeded such a thunderstorm as had not been witnessed for many years. The lightning broke in streams from the rent masses of clouds in the west, in the east, in the south and in the north, like sudden gushes of lava, while peal answered peal from the four points of the compass like corresponding crashes of artillery. Each commenced with a series of stunning reports, and then mingling their reverberations, they rolled together in one continuous uproar. Still flash succeeded flash immediately over the town, and clap followed clap till the buildings and ground seemed to tremble with the tremendous explosions, This was followed by a heavy fall of rain and hail which continued at intervals during the night. The storm resulted in damage to the shipping and other property. Intelligence has also been received from Huddersfield to the effect that an awful thunderstorm occurred there on the same day, which had killed three young men, and a number of sheep, besides causing much damage to property.
Meteorological Musings
Appended to the above description are the following remarks by the diarist:—”I have often been surprised at the indifference evinced by scientific men to the study of meteorology, seeing how much of everyday life depends on the state of the weather. I mean the study of predictive meteorology, and not the mere casual or even habitual watching for signs and changes; for, everybody pretends to be a judge of the weather in that manner, It is known that the moon influences the tides, and it is at least suspected that in a similar way, though perhaps to a less extent, her influence is exerted on the atmosphere; and hence there may be aerial waves as well as oceanic waves, But the Moon is not the sole regulator of the atmosphere and its mutations. The Sun in passing through the zodiacal signs must certainly exert a powerful influence, according to his position, Next in importance are the planets, which my own observations and records teach me have a sensible effect in the production of meteorogical changes and phenomena. It is, in fact, by the relative positions of the sun, moon and planets in connection with the earth that the almost endless variety of changes are effected. Meteorology, as a science, is comparatively in its infancy, yet are there certain astrometeorological rules which, if applied, enable us in a general way to forecast the probable weather a long time in advance of its occurrence It must, however, be bourne in mind that in so changeable a climate as that of Great Britain (due in some measure to local causes) many difficulties occur to thwart the judgment; seeing also that the weather changes travelling mostly from west to east, would manifest themselves some hours, or even a day or two earlier in the former than in the latter, Yet, if the study of predictive meteorology -
