The Express. — London, England, 1848-06-09 00:00:00

The man who speaks bold sedition, incites the p o pulace to violence , and recommends amasaination, let that man be brought to trial. But let us not bear s magistrate, as Mr. HENRY did in the case of WILLIAMS. talk of a tendency to sedition. A man is guilty who utters seditious language ; ho is net guilty, if his language cannot be called seditious. But the tendency to sedition is a captious, inquisitorial wres ting of the law, which we are sorry to see an E nj oi s h magistrate indulge in. We are not inclined to increase the difficulties of thetask to be performed by government and the police. We know the grave responsibilities of managing such a population as that congregated in London. But we must express the opinion that the police of prev e t tion is far more important and efficacious than thatof repression. Those best acquainted with Parisare of the opinion that the fall of the house of OttLesns was owing chiefly to the relaxation of that vigilance for the supply, employ , . and contentment of the working cla- sea in Paris, which had been the care of preceding governments. The British government has the excuse of no cabinet or minister having ever turned its attention to such eases in London. The weavers of Spitalfields have perhaps been thought of, and plans devised for locating elsewhere the depn dents on a decayed and evaporated species of in dustry. The example was feared, however, and the project abandoned. Something has been done, or rather is doing, for the comforts of the poor. But at the same time a great deal has been done to curtail their amusements. One way after another of passing • holiday or an idle hour has been prohibited to the poor, until they bare really betaken themselves to politics for want of any other pastime. Temperance is no doubt better thin porter, especially of Sundays. Merry-go- rounds are not becoming a set loaf people. Thimble rig is immoral ; and pugilism is disgusting. All this we admit : but any one of these things is preferable to sedition. Decidedly the popular amusement for the moment is congregating and listening to political spouters. It is the game in fashion, and has succeeded some other game, ss marbles supersede peg-top at school. We will not deny that there is something far from Iran quillisiig in the people choosing precisely this pas time at this particular moment. But we may exagge rate the danger in imagination ; and exaggerating it in imagination may lead to augmenting it in reality. We perceive that where the people congregate for the fixed purpose of hearing speakers and pausing re solutions, they are generally satisfied with the per formance of what is laid down in the programme. The play is acted out. They hear the speech, applaud the resolution, and, when all is over, depart quietly as they might after the fall of a curtain. The more turbulent meetings strike us to be those where there are no orators, no speaking, and where there is nothing to do but rio'. If so, the leaders are the very safety-valves of sedition; the actors that amuse and pacify the public. This, however, can be judged from what they say. If they talk sedition, let them he punished ; but it may not be wise to transport the 'chartists for the mere crime of gathering and ad dressing an audience. The difficulty of crowds and riot, is much better met in local districts. than in the metropolis. For there the local authorities are the first to interfere. The mayor and the notable citizens, the employers of the poor, can come forward to represent the danger of mere crowding, and to dissuade the well-intentioned from persevering. Very often this suffices. But in the metropolis there are no local authorities except subaltern and detested ones. The poor man sees no one above him who sympathises with him, and who tempers love and kindness with authority. He is distressed; he is fool enough to look f , r a political remedy : and the first person he finds to rebut his arguments is the policeman. This surely ought to be remedied. We are very prone to remind the Irish landlord that property has its duties as welt as rights. Has not the owner of a house duties as well as the owncrof land? Should not the middle and upper classes in cities look to the welfare of those below them, as much as the middle and upper classes in the country ? The peasant ought not to be left solely to the mercies of the constable and of the poor hou,e functionaries. Neither ought the poor artisan in the city to be abandoned to the tender mercies of the police. At the present period and state of public feeling great exertions are requisite on the part of the upper and middle classes of society, not merely in subscrip tions and philanthropic speeches, and in arming as special constables or as yeomen, but in personal efforts to become informed of the suffering and causes of comphint of the lower orders of the population, and in efforts to provide for and redress them. This is the first and great species of police, that of pre vention. Afterwards come the duties of the police, of re pression. And in this we repeat, there may be an over-nervous horror of a crowd. In several instances of late, the people have met, talked, passed resolves, and separated; when the police, secluded all the time in a church, and ignorant of what was really passing, rushed forth on the throwing of a few stones, and knocked down and severely beat boys and inno cent promenaders. The church may be a very con venient lm king-place for the police. But is it a fit one? Does not this desecrate the temple, and tempt stone-flinging against the windows of the abode of pace? It is well to keep the police out of sight, but it is not the church that should servo the pur pose of barracks. In other cases when people crowd, they are tolerated for a time, then all of a sudden bidden to disperse, and it they do not instantaneously obey, an attack is made upon them, and a score of heads are broken, in order to intimidate and disperse the rest. Surely there ought to be some more formal distinction made between an innocent crowd and a guilty mob. The mere caprice, or humour, of the policemen ought not to make this difference. The police- especially the metro politan police—have become more and more a military body. They are such in everything but the arms they carry. So that it really requires that judicial or magisterial authority should accompany them, and give, when necessary, a moral sanction and order to what is a mere physical force. We csuld adduce a host of cases during the last week, proving that the lives and limbs of her Majesty's subjects ought not to be given up to an uncontrolled police. We say this with more earnestness, from the conviction that if a strong mutual feeling of irritation be got up between any large masses of the popula tion and the police, this alone, independent of other causes, will beget and perpetuate disorder, and fling us into that very gulf which all are so anxious to avoid. WI EN the debate on the Navigation Laws was re sumed las. night, the discussion for some time turned principally on the alleged necessity of these laws to ensure the maritime ascendancy of Great Britain. The vague common-places to which Sir JOHN %Vaultt gave vent upon this topic were conclusively refuted by Mr. NIAMREGOR. The member for Glasgow, by an overwhelming array of facts and of general princi ples, established that neither in the case of Great Bri tain nor of any other country has maritime ascendancy been acquirrd cr retained by h gislative enactments. The only nation that has seriously endangered the maritime ascendancy of England, since the naval power of England has been fully developed, is Holland ; and no one acquainted with history can be ignorant that Dutch enterprise and energy transferred to the United Provinces the maritime power which had formerly been possessed by Spain —that the naval strength of Holland rose on the ruins and through the downfall of that of Spain. Had stringent navigation laws, and the possession of colonies held in a chain of strict dependence, sufficed to keep a nation powerful at sea, Spain would have remained a great maritime power. But Holland, whose infant navy enjoyed nu such artificial fostering, snatched to itself the ascendancy at sea which Spatn had once possessed. The secret of the transfer is ob vious. Shrewdness and perseverance in mercantile undertakings made the Dutch rich; valour and a passion for naval adventure induced them to turn their wealth to account in a struggle to obtain power at sea; and their self-reliance, untrammelled by arti ficial restrictions, beat down the bloated seeming might of Spain, at once inflated and enfeebled by protective laws. The disappearance of Spain from the seas left Holland and England to contend for the ascendancy it had abdicated. The characters of the rival powers had much in common. With both Dutchmen and Englishmen the love of maritime ad venture was a ruling passion; in both countries a steady and intelligent prosecution of mercantile enterprise had calla into existence a wealthy and independent middle-class; courage, aell-reiiance, great pecuniary resources, were common to both. It is not in our navigation laws that we are to seek the cause which left England, after a protracted and often doubtful struggle, the mistress of the field. BLAKE and his brave colleagues had more than once driven the Dutch from the seas, if not before the navigation laws were passtd, before their influence upon oar mercantile navy could possibly be felt. And the Dutch fleet burned, without any availing re sistance, the English ships of war in the Medway many years after these laws had come into full operation. To understand how the naval might of England continued to increase, while that of Holland dwindled away in comparison, we must take into account all those circumstances which, is the one country, led to general prosperity, in the other, to general decadence. The revolution fif 1688 gave England a great accession of personal liberty, retaining, however, a firm central govern ment. Holland never had a completely organised go vernment; and hence her whole history is notning but a succession of inveterate factious contests, and administrative makeshifts, in which the resources of the country were squandered away. England con tinued to grow in wealth, while Holland, compara tively impoverished, was crushed beneath a load of tax ation. England could afford to maintain eh pi, while Holland could not to the sameextent; flushed with the ooafldence which prosperity inspircs,England's seamen were every where triumphant, while even the dogged hardihood of Dutch mariners was chilled and pa ralysed by the cold hand of adversity. It is because in England since 1688, the general community 'has remained in a healthy and robust condition,that Eng land has possess-2d and used its ships as history shows; it is because the prosperity of Holland was at the same time continuously declining that it ceased to be able to cope with England at sea. The might both of the commercial and royal navies of England has been the consequence, not the cause, of the general prosperity of the nation. And every measure that tends to promote our national prosperity must of necessity tend to increase our naval power. Increased wealth, when linked with civil liberty, in spires every people with increased confidence in themselves and greater spirit of enterprise. The necessity of our insular position compels us to make the sea the great field upon which our enter prise is to display and make itself felt. The iustinc tire sense of the community, that all artificial regula tions of comm. rce tend but to retard and enfeeble the development of national resources, has instigated it to break the links in the chain of restrictions and pro teetions never to unite again. Sonic of these broken links still cling to us, but one by one they will be flung off; and the rapidly increasing resources of the nation, and the jubilant spirit of exertion which the consciousness of possessing them will inspire, will be a far better security for our maintaining the start we have got of other nations at sea, than such miserable enactments as those under which the once colossal power of Spain dwindled away. At a subsequent stage of the debate, Sir GEORGE CLERIC ably assailed that superstitious faith in the navigation laws, which still induces so many, in other respects reasonable men, to attribute to them some myste , ious talismanic power to pro mote national prosperity. Sir GEORGE called atten tion to the fragmentary and contradictory character of these lass—to the incessant patching and tinker ing they have received year after year, ever since the first statute among them became law—a process which has only succeeded in rendering confusion worse con founded. In the course of a century and a half these laws had become so complicated, the parties affected by them had to hunt their provisions through so many unknown and half known acts of parliament, that the necessity of codifying them in one or two sta tutes was at last felt. And ever since this step has been taken we have been assailed, on the part of the very men who clamour for upholding them, by complaints of provisions that are wanting, and provisions that are hurtful in the navigation laws. Sir GEORGE showed that extensive changes are required in this part of our national code, and that these changes have been demanded by all classes. A thorough revision of the navigation laws is needed, and the necessity is ad mitted even by those who wish to keep them strin gent. This position being established, a consideration pointed out by Mr. MITCHELL on an earlier night of the debate must also be kept in view—that the system of navigation laws which, if not beneficial, might be harmless when English commerce was comparatively in its infancy, when I lolland was our only serious rival amot'g European states, and when all the world but Europe was occupied either by barbarous and semi-barbarous peoples or by weak dependent colonies, is utterly inapplicable to the circumstances of the present age, when the extent of our commerce has been so immeasurably augmen'ed, the complexity of its international relations so incon ceivably multiplied, and when—to say nothing of the growth of other states—a mighty, independent, and jealous republic has taken the place of our then in fant colonies. It ought also to be kept in mind that the growth of new independent states around them, con curring with the adoption of a free trade policy, has an influenced the position even of those colonies, both in South and North America, which remain annexed to the British crown, as to render the abolition of the navigation laws indispensable to their economical well-being. These points, as also the detrimental influence ex ercised upon the character of our merchant seamen by the sense of security from competition with which the navigation laws inspire them, and the groundless ness of the apprehensions entertained by the shipping interests of their inability to compete on equal terms with foreigners, were handled with considerable abi lity by Sir GEORGE CLERK, and with still greater breadth of view and mastery of details by Mr. CARD WELL. The speeches of both gentlemen, however, although perfectly unequivocal, in so far as principle is concerned, were marked by a hesi tating and half-hearted advocacy of the measure contemplated by government. They evinced great anxiety to make it perfectly clear to the house that their arguments only went to show the propriety of going into committee on the navigation laws. They virtually protested against being suspected of hay ing made up their minds to support the bill which ministers are about to introduce. Both cavilled at the manner in which it was to he submitted to the house, and Mr. Cartowittr displayed considerable acumen and critical skill in detecting flaws in its provisions so far as they are known. Thisalternate blowing hot and cold naturally called up the CHAN CELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, the main object of whose remarks seemed to be to controvert Mr. CARD. WELL'S proposition, that if by repealing the navigation laws the British ship-builders and ehipowners are exposed to the competition of foreigners, justice will require the repeal of the timber duties in order to enable them to meet it with success. In this argument we need not say Sir CHARLES sig nally failed. It was not conviction, it was not sound or even plausible principle, that spoke out in his speech, but the reluctance of the CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER to let any tax escape him. The eager ness of the financial minister to keep his receipts at the highest ebb got the better of the political economist. Th;s, as well as the other discrepancies between the whig and the cons , rvative sections of the free traders. there will be time to discuss during the farther pro gress of the measure. But this halting between those who profess to have the same end in view, in the actual balance of parties in the legislature, forces a grave apprehension upon the independent supporters of free trade. A strong, and, we fear, a wea -1 grounded impression prevails that the Lords only seek for a plausible pretext to throw out the ministerial measure for the relaxation of the navi gation laws. Any marked difference of opinion be tween the two sections of free traders above-named, will be sure to be made the excuse for doing so. The tactics observed last night by the protectionist party prove this. During the whole evening—after Sir JoHN WAt.sn and Mr. MILNES had said their little say—the protectionists sate in solemn silence while one free trader after another rose to assail the navi gation laws. But no sooner was the difference be tween ministers on the one hand, and the PEEL party on the other, incontrovertibly established, than up rose Mr. DISRAELI to move the adjournment of the debate, in order that he might have time to p-epare one of his brilliant improvised sat ires —some of his impromptus .faits d Joisir— upon their mutual contradictions. Now, really, when men are so much at one upon the principle at issue, ae they are—when, in addition to this they have been so palpably approximating during the whole session— some little previous consultation might have been ex pected from them in the face of the hostility known to be entertained by the House of Lords to their common views. That this is not the case—that they are prepared to go to bullets in the House ot Com- THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 9, 1848. moos on the detallicif a measure, u to the principle of which they are agreed—betrays a lingering desire on the part of each to turn the present balance of parties to their own profit. Each bent upon establishing a character for superior tact and knowledge at the ex pense of the other, is willing to endanger the prin ciple they affect to have at heart in their contest. The Putties are ready to throw out the ministerial measure, that they may come in and carry one essen tially the same ; the ministers will yield nothing to the Peelites, lest the public should award the greater share of confidence to the latter. Both are thinking more of their own interests and reputation than of the repeal of the navigation laws, although aware that the House of Lords is ready to take advantage of their discord to prevent the repeal. The liberals will not pardon such self-seeking, for they have the success of the measure at heart. 'I he protectionists will not thank them for reprieve thus granted to the navigation laws, for they cannot rid themselves of the foreboding that it i after all, but a reprieve. The whole nation want men who will legislate for its benefit, not gamesters who will attack or defend sham measures, in order to gain majorities and establish a claim to place. GERMANY. FRANKFORT, JUNE 6.—ln yesterday's sitting of the constituent assembly it was resolved, on the motion of M. Auersperg, to nominate a committee to report on the best means of national defence, the means of recruiting the army, and the arming of the people. The committee was authorised to examine witnesses—professional and others—respecting the most efficient method of organising the national guard. and placing the defensive establishments of Germany on a footing of equality with those of foreign states, with a view to obtain materials for its report. M. Hoffken moved for a committee on the Bohemian elections, but the subject was remitted to the com mittee for scrutinising the returns of members, with instructions to report on the elections in those coun tries which are inhabited by a mixed German and Sclavouic population; and to submit to the assembly a draft of a measure for giving full effect to the will of the German people. The deputies from Limbourg were next declared qualified to take their seats, and the committee for scrutinising returns instructed to invite them to do so. It was remitted to the committee of international relations to report on the relations actually existing between Limbourg and the kingdom of the Netherlands. Lastly, tt was resolved to admit the deputies from the grand duchy of Posen to take their seats ad in terim. It was also resolved that the question raised re specting the legality . of the incorporation of the grand duchy of Posen with the Germanic Confederation should be referred to the committee on the constitu tion, or the committee on international relations. PRUSSIA.—BERLIN, JUNE 6.—The Preassische Shads An:riger of this morning contains a minis terial announcement of the finally mijusted boundary • of that part of the duchy of Posen which is to be organised and administered according to Polish laws and customs. Some alterations have been made on the line originally proposed, in order to meet objec tions raised in part by the Polish and in part by the German inhabitants of the duchy. AUSTRIA.—VIF.NNA, JUNI: 3.—The affairs of the empire become daily more complicated and alarming. The official part of the Wiener &dung of this morn ing contains a ministerial rescript relating to the an nouncement in the Prayer Zviluny of 31st ult. that a provisional government had been established at Prague. The ministers state that as soon as the official announcement of this extra ordinary step reached them, they despatched a representative to the emperor on the unconstitutional nature of the proceeding. At the same time they forwarded instructions to the head of the provincial government in Bohemia, warning him of the ille gality of the step, and charging him at his peril to abstain from giving it effect. Intimations were also forwarded to the governors of all the provinces, in forming them that the pretexts under which the proclaimers had established the so-called provisional government at Prague were false, and that the assumption of authority by the provisional govern went would not be recognised or tolerated by the im perial cabinet ; and charging them to resist and sup per all similar attempts in their respective provinces. The avowed object of the party in Prague which has taken the step of nominating a provisional govern ment is to transform Austria into a federal empire. They declare: "The relation in which I lungary has stood to the rest of the empire has been the most con sonant with natural justice: our aim is to place our selves in the same relation to the other provinces, and we will accomplii.li this though the way which leads to our goal may be long and tortuous." fhe ex-Prince of Servile, Milosch Obrenowitsch arrived at Agram, with • passport for Prague, on the 21st ult., but partly on account of the circumstances of the times, and partly on account of his being exiled with his family from the province, he was detained by the local authorities till the pleasure of the authorities in Vienna could he known. be (noun. The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Princess Rona, the Princess Alit?, the Triflers Helena, and the Princess Louise, and attended by the Countess of Desert, Dowager Lady Lytte'ton, Hon. Miss Macdonald, Col. the Hon. C. B. Phipps, Maj.-Gen. Bowleg, Col. Buckley, and Col. Bouverie, arrived at Osborne, Isle of Wight, at two o'clock on Wed nesday afternoon, from town. Mr. S. Browning and Mr. O. Godeffroy, of Ham burg, had an interview yoittrday with Earl Granville, at the Board of Trade. A deputation from Bradford, including Messrs. W. Rand, W. Murgatroyd, W. Walker, and H. W. Riple%, had an interview yesterday with the Right Hon. H. La boucherr, at the office of the Board of Trade. The Duke of Northumberland had yesterday an in terview with Sir 0. Grey. BRITISH ANTI-STATE CHURCH ASSOCIA• TION. _ A crowded meeting, convened by this association, was held lust evening in the Queen's Concert Room, Rano ver square. Dr. Thomas Prise took the chair. The Rev. 3. BURNETT moved the first resolution, That, to the opinion of this meeting, neither the civil nor spiritual interest• of the people can be effectively secured, unless perfect religi ous liberty be constitutionally guaranteed ; and that the application of national resources to any form or forms of religious worship and instruction is a clear violation of ouch liberty. which, having been seconded, was carried unanimously. Mr. C. LEAMINGTON, M.P., then moved That it Is eminently desirable to effect an adjustment of the relationa el ecclesiastical bodies to the date upon a basis which, by relieving the state of all pecuniary obligation , to them, Atoll deprive it of every pretext fur interfering in their affairs; and that to axomplish this peacefully, and by the force of public opinion only, and with due re gard to existing interests, is, in the judgment of this meeting, en ob ject which cannot De too energetically or persevr rlngly pursued. After alluding to the assistance given by the dissenting body to the anti-state church principle, he said it was quite a different matter when a person like him, professing to belong to the church, came forward to urge its separation from the. state. But why did he do it ? Simply, because he wished the church well, and conscientiously believed that the disso lution of the alliance between the church and state would be beneficial to the church, irlvantageous to the state, and highly conducive to the welfare and promotion of Christi anity. The church was in a condition of thraldom which it was lamentable and humiliating to consider; the church was not only allied to the state, but was subjugated by it. Ile read several extracts from a pamphlet which he held in his hand, written by a clergyman of the church of England, who was strongly opposed to the union. lie referred .o several abuses deeding in the church, and particularly condemned the ceremonies observed upon the election of a knight of the garter, at which the chancellor, the prelate, and the registrar of the order assisted, and cou pled the name of the Deity with that of a degraded person who had been constituted the patron taint of this country — an act which he considered disgraceful to the church, and of which he hoped never to see a recurrence. lie concluded by commending the exertions of the society in seeking to effect a removal of such abuses, and hoped that they would shortly find in the result of its work the west complete and entire success. The Rev. Dr. A.neit Eft seconded the resolution to a similar effect. Mr. G. THOMPSON, M.P., supported the resolution. There w-anothing connected with the church as an establish ment that was not utterly foreign and inimical to the exhor tations, genius and spirit of pore Christianity. The church was nothirg without its authority, nothing without its wealth, nothing without its pomp, nothing without is fetters, and, he might say, nothing without its dungeons. And all these were at everlasting variance alike with the spirit and design of the rospel. It was not only an evil in itself, but it was the fruitful parent and supporter of unnumbered other abuses. It was impossible to attempt to advance the cause of reform in any direction, on any suhject,without being met im mediately by the churchman, who opposed the propnsal, notbe cause he objected tothe reform itself, but because he knew that the general spirit of reform was to destroy the establishment which he desired to see supported. The Jews would at that moment be eligible to sit in parliament but for the spirit in the upper house of the legislature. lie thought that if the tie which bound church and state together was broken their episcopal brethren would, a few years afterwards, acknow ledge that they (the societso were 'to enemies •if theii, in begging the separation, and, in a aution, would thank them for the opportunity thus afforded of testing the power of their church. The resolution having been carried, Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD, M.P., moved: That the British Anti-State Church Association harlot undertaken, mad for cane time part eonaletently laboured, to raise publie opinion to the krel of this great &sage, le worthy the coonteaanee and e port of orrery intelligent endgames hiend of religious liberty throogn out the kingdom. Mr. Ketteusw, M.P., seconded the resolution, which was also egreed to unanimously. In compliance with l ou d cries from all parts of the room, Mr. MIALL then came forward, and made a short address on behalf of the objects of the sasociatlon, concluding by saying that it was impossible, in the face of the advancing civili•a non of the country, that such animposture as the established church could long be permitted to exist. He proposed a vote of thanks to to the chairman, which having been seconded by Mr. H. SWAIN, and duly acknowledged, the meeting separated. ASSOCIATION FOR THE AID AND BENEFIT OF DRESSMAKER/ AN/I Muumens.—An annual meeting was held yesterday, in the rooms of the fludistical Society, St. James's equate. The Earl of Arundel and Surrey presided. Mr. Grainger, the hon. secretary, read the report of the committee, which stated that the society war satisfactorily progresaing, though less in a pecuniary sense than cou'd be desired. The committees had caused express enquiries to be made as to the hours of work both in country anu in town, and there was no doubt that a marked amelioration bad taken place through the agency of the society ; and that the hours of work would be reduced at no distant period to twelve per diem. They alluded with satisfaction to the exertions which were being made to enable dreennakers and milliners to form a society to esta blish provident funds and annuities. It was considered advisable that the two institutions should be kept separate, but the committee expressed their willingness to co-operate to the utmost extent of their power with the new society. During the past year 1,273 pen 'no had been registered by the society, of whom 528 were provided with situations. Itt no one instance had the conduct of any person recommended by the committee been complained of, i; having been uni formly exemplary. The system adopted fir affording medical attendance at a very trifling expenee had worked very satisfactorily. By that system young persons were entitled, by the payment of 59., to medicine and advice for a twelve month. file number subscribing to that department during the year was 94, which number exceeded that of any former year. With regard to the provident fund, it was to be re gretted that the contributors had not been very extensive. The bonus granted out of the funds of the institution on all sums deposited on the year was such as, with the govern ment interest, would amount to 10 per cent, on all sums under 51., 74 per cent. on sums of from 51. to 101., 5 per cent. on all sums from 101. to 201., and on all sums from 201. to 30/. the interest only which is allowed by government, via., 31. 16s. Id. The committee had taken measures for securing a better system of ventillation in'workhoustei with some success. They concluded by recommending the soviets' to the parti cular attention of the employers and the public generally. The receipts during the year amounted to 3401., oat of which a balance remained of 20/. 16e. The stock held by the institution amounted to 1,2341. Resolutions were passed by which the meeting approved of the objects and conduct of the society, and pledged themselves to give it their earnest support. Lord Dudley Stuart, Mr. Redosayne, Dr. Brewer, Mr. Highly, Dr. Alibi, Mr. Le Gros Clarke, and other gen tlemen, spoke in support of its principles. The last resolu tion was a vote of thanks to Mr. Grainger, who, in acknow ledging the compliment, made some remarks respecting the pr. green of the society, which was shown by the fact, that during the first year of its existence 309 persons were regis. erred ; in the second year, 899 ; in the third, 1,217 ; and in the last year, 1,273. CHARTISTS PROCEEDINGS.—Last night the char tists held private meetings at their Assembly-rooms in Dean street, Soho. and in Circus-street. The utmost precautions were adopted to prevent the intrusion of strangers, and the reporters of the public press were refused admission, as also all other persons who could not produce a card of their en. rolinent as chartists. It is said that the object of the meet ings was principally to devise the means of raising a fund to defend the chartist martyrs , , Messrs. J ones and Williams. FEMALE CHARTIST ASSOCIATION.—A society COM. posed exclusively of women, called the Female Chartist As sociation,has been established in Bethnal green; it has upwards of 1,500 enrolled members. They hold weekly meetings at a public. house, the secretary, Charlotte Rees, attending to receive new members. A female chairman is elected, and the orators are s :elusively women. They are shout to convey in procession a petition in favour of the charter to her Majesty at Buckingham Palace. THE REFORM MOVEMENT. MEETING AT LAMBETH. In pursuance of a requisition numerously and res. pictably signed by the rate-payers of St. Mary's, Lambeth, and presented to the churchwardens, a meeting was held last evening in the vestry-room of the parish, Church-street, to take into consideration Mr. Hume's motion in parlia ment for the further extemion of reform." Mr. Churchwarden Hunt was in the chair. The CHAIRMAN said they had met there that night to con sider whether the recent statement of Lord John Rumen was true. He characterised the assertion of the premier that the people did not want reform as the most preposterous that had ever been uttered even in the House of Commons. Mr. BYRON said he thought Lord John Russell had an object in making the extraordinary etatement they had heard. He made it in order that the full espressaion of the people might be drawn out, and that he might be justified by the public voice in granting a degree of that reform so much called for. They did not, however, want such timid men at the head of aflaira as Lord John Russell. (Hear, hear.) He moved: That in the opinion of this meeting, the Commons house of parlia ment, ss now coagulated, does not represent either the feelings, the views, or the internals of a large majority of the British nation, and that this majority, upon whom falls with most dieproportionate and increasing pressure an enormous burden of taxation, has no voice whatever either in the control of that burden or any other legislative enactment. The resolution was seconded and carried unanimously. Mr. ()luny mid that no growl a poll teal untruth as the assertion of the premii r could hardy be accounted for unless his lordship had same particular abject in view. The reso'u• then he would move to express the opinion of the people of Lambeth on the subject was : That the recent declaration of lord John Russell in his place in p irliument, to the effect that the middle and working easels of this kingdom were satisfied with the representation of the people as ex emplified by the operation of the Reform Act in constituting the pre sent HMOS of Commons, is a huge political untruth, and an respects so much of the borough of Lambeth as comprises the parish, Genus:illy unfounded in feeling and in fact. C. PEARSON, Eq., M.P. who was loudly called for, pledged himself hot. y and fearlessly to support the motion of Mr. Hume, which, if Rallied, be would regard but as an instalment of what was due to them. (Loud cheers.) He maintained that it was the right of all men of mature age and sound understanding to vote for members of parliament. But it would be a mistake to refuse a little when that might be obtained rather than to demand a great deal and obtain nothing. Every attempt they made to increase their 'wit tiest rights made them stronger. Look at the metropolitan horoughs—the Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Marylebone, the ' representatives of which were pledged reformers. Another House of Commons might do Justice to the people. He could not see the wisdom of the Reform Bill, which kept the important districts of Chelsea, Hammersmith, Fulham, and Kensington, containing a population of 150,000, with out a representative, while it gave the franchise to Lambeth and Southwark. The hon. member concluded amidst loud cheering, and the resolution was carried unanimously. Mr. llYitou moved the adoption of a petition to parlia ment embodying the foregoing resolutions, to be signed by the chairman, and handed to Mr. Pearson for presentation to parliament. Mr. HARNEY, in seconding the motion, expressed his pleasure at observing the orderly nature of the proceedings calculated as they were, unlike the meeting of an armed rabble, to have weight with the government, and really and truly to forward the cause of reform. In reply to •question from a gentleman is the room as to the extent to which Mr. Hume wciald extend the suffrage, Mr. PEARBON, M.P., said he did not think that the motion of the hon. member for Montrose had as yet assumed a defi nitive shape. He (Mr. Pearson) attended the meeting of liberal members on Saturday week, at the Free.trade Club, and it was then determined that the franchise should not be confined to householders, but should be extended to lodgers. (Loud cheers.) The petition was then unanimously adopted, and thanks having been voted to the chairman, the meeting separated. MEETING AT BIRMINGHAM. Another meeting of those favourable to the more extensive reforms advocated by the complete suffrage party was held in the Town-hall, at Birmingham, nn Wednesday night. It was convened by Mr. Councillor Baldwin, the President of the New Political Union, and was attended by about 6,000 perions. The chair was Viken by Mr. BALDWIN, who, in opening the business, adverted to the fearful amount of distress which existe d in the country at the present time. Much of that was (he said) caused by the government not managing the affairs of the country as they ought to do. The SHCRETART having read a report from the Council, Mr. WRIGHT moved the first resolution. He said that he had been much through the country of late, and the cry for bread was becoming deeper daily. Lord John Russell seemed to be a sort of Rip Vats Winkle—he had been asleep for years past, and accordingly betrayed a proportionate amount of ignorance of the wishes and the feelings of the people. The history of England written is the next century would depict his lordship as a man of small mind, who, having been somewhat instrumental in procuring for the people a small measure of reform, refused to aid them in obtaining complete justice, and accordingly sunk into a position the most contemptible. (Cheers.) He denied that there was any real ground for the cry which had been raised about the safety of the throne ' • it was the prime minister who cared rather for the safety of his own place than that of the throne. There were one hundred and fifty millions of people interested in the pate* of the country, but not in such peace as now existed, which gave them a stone for food. The cry had gone forth in the country, and it' would increase in depth and intensity until nothing could resist it. With universal suffrage the constituency would be far more intelligent than any that mere house hold frage could give ; let them give every man of 21 years of age a voice in the government of the country, and a con stabulary of 1.50,000 men would not be required to preserve the public peace. By adhering to the principle of household suffrage they would shut out from the franchise vast numbers of the most intelligent portion of the community: these included the great body of commercial tra vellers, thousands of Sabbath school teachers, and of intelli gent clerks in public and private establishmects. (Hear.) Mt. Wrieht conchnied ay moving the following resolution : That thu =mingle of opiniou that the misery and dime* ot the country are the result of a system of legislation or ablishel by • par-' Hameln which does not justly represent the trading cleaves of the Melted Kingdom, and which nesrly excludes the whole of the labour ing population• and therefore this meeting openly and unequivocally declares that the statement made by Lord John Russell recently In the House of Commas is an evidence of the lamentable ignorance of her Majesty's Webers, and such as serioudy to endanger the peace of the country and the safety of the throne; and further expresses its deli berate opinion that the present ministry are fully responsible for the distress of the country and the lamentable consequences which have resulted therefrom. Mr. limb, • chartist, in seconding this resolution, said that that meeting had now the chance, and he hoped they would avail themselves of it, of declaring whether they wished for reform, and of giving an open, fair, and stand-up denial to Lord John Russell. Mr. BLAXLAND (chartist) spoke in support of the resolu tion, which was put, and unanimously carried. Mr. J. Matiost said, in rising to propose a petition to the House of Commons from the inhabitants of the borough, he would observe that s far as the character of the house was concerned, to which that document was to be forwarded, he had neither confidence in its justice, its judgment, or human ity ; but it constituted the channel through whith the senti. ments of each part of the people made known their opinions and grievances to the nation. The petition contained an ex pression of the sentiments of the people of Birmingham, and a candid statement of the distressed condition of the locality. He concluded by moving the adoption of a petition to parlia ment, praying the extension of the suffrage to every male twenty-one years of age, " having resided in one place fur the term of six months," Mr. Beinowe, in seconding the adoption of the petition, ' urged the people to unite in order to show such a front that they could not be resisted. Mr. Gases next addressed the meeting in support cf the petition, which was unanimously agreed to. Mr. Josesu STOWE commenced by observing that, although he was not a membei of the Political 'Union, he cordially sympathised with its objects. (Hear, hear.) Six years ago he was one of a party to forma a society the pur pou of which was to secure the full re presentotion of the people by moral and peaceable means. Since that time he rejoiced , in the belief that great progress had been made towards the achievement of that object; and also in the circumstance that so much good feeling pervaded all reformer-, whatever minor differences there might exist amongst th. m, especially at a time when it was essential that 411 ponies should be united. He believed that the time had ceme when it was necessary to devise the best means for at once carrying out their principles: those p inciples which Charles James Fox (Lord John Russell's political father) profes,ed nearly seventy years ago. In a speech made to the electors of West minster, in the year 1780, Mr. F's recommended certain reforms; these were the adoption of the principle of univer 'sal Buffs aae, equal electoral districts, no property quahfica. tion, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, and payment of members. For his part, he (Mr. Sturge) had always recognised and advocated the principle that man and not property was entitled to the frau chine. Let them obtain that, and he for one was willing that the other reforms should remain fur a time in abeyance. The great desideratum to secure was a full, fair, and free representation of the people. The course the people had to pursue was clear. It was to unite hand and heart against the oligarchy to procure for themselves their fall share of political rights; to wrench from the oligarchy the power they had usurped, and place it wheee it ought to be— in the hands of the people themselves. He repudiated any thing in the shape of a compromise of the principle of uni versal suffrage. He had rather (he said) have half a dozen honest men in the House of Commune, who would stand firm by this principle, than 150 who would sacrifice it to household suffrage, which, to say the least of it, wu an expediency. He be ivvcd, however, th it of those who would support Mr. Hume's motion a great number would support universal suffrage. Two-thirds of the members in the House of Commons were directly interested in the maintenance of things as they are, either them-elves cr their families receiving money from the state. It .0.3 time the people possessed themselves of the power of putting an end to such a system. Man, as man, had a right to the suffrage. If they obtained household :dif frage now it would only give rise to another agitation. It were fat better,therefore, that that question should be settled at once and for ever. Mr. Sturge concluded by moving the following resolution : That this meeting, while affirming the prayer of the petition now adopted, and declaring that it cannot support or auction any pro ceeding which would compromise the right of any portion of their fellow-eoun.rymen to a vote in the choice of those who maim the laws they are bound to obey, are willing to co-operate in legitimate and peaceable measures for the auaininent of this object with all these who fully recognise the great principle that man is entitled to the elective franchise, without any reference to his possession of pro perty either belonging to himself or others. Mr. LANGFOII.I), in seconding the resolution, said that universal suffrage was the right ssffrage, and that it had only not been obtained because the people had not been so united as they might have been. He suggested the adop tion of a system of federal agitation fur obtaining political as well as social reforms. The resolution was carried. . By a sulAequent resolution it was agreed that Mr. Scholefield should be entrusted with the presentation of the petition to parliament. The proceedings terminated shortly after 10 o'clock it the evening, good order having prevailed throughout. CELEBRATION OF THE PASSING OF TILE TEN HOURS FACTORY ACT. A great demonstration of the working elastics was held in the Free-trade Hall, Manchester, on Wednesday evening, to celebrate the passing of the Ten Hours Bill. Upwards of 3,000 persons, of bob sexes, sat down to tea, and the hall presented an animated spectacle. The chai, man, the Rev. C. 1). tVray, vice-dean of Manchester, on entering the hall was accompanied by the principal guests, amongst whom were Lord Ashley, M.l'. Lord J. Miners, M.l' , the Marquis of Blanchard, the don. W. F. Cowper, M.P., Mr. .1. Fielden (late M P. for Oldham), Mr. W. B. Ferrand (late M.P. for Knareiborough), and Mr. C. Hindley, M.P. The Rev. CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceeding., said they were met to celebrare the passing or a bill through parliament by which it was enacted that no person under 18 years of age, and no female whatever, could be allowed to work in any cotton-mill more than ten hours in one day,— * bill which had received the royal assent a year ago to morrow, and on the eve of which day therefore they were very appropriately assembled to renew the expression of their gratitude. (Loud cheers.) . The rev. chairman proceeded to contend that humanity, Justice, end religion had demanded this measure, and then called upon the various speakers. T. MAWDEELEY, an operative spinner, moved the first resolution : That this meeting of factory operatives, in congratulating each other on the find mimeo, of the agitation for the Ten flours Bill, and Mho in expressing their deep and sincere gratitude to Almighty God, beg most respeogially to tender to the Right lion. Lord Ashley, kI.P., and to John Fleiden, Esq., their best thanks for their long, unwearied, and disinterested exertions in this cause, and express a hope that thOr valuable lives may bo long spored, and that providence wtil stid oon tinue to make them the means of conferring further blessings oa their fellow-men. HENRY GREEN, another operative, seconded the reso lution._ . . Lord AAII LEY rose amidst much cheering, and said : I am particularly glad in addressing you to see not only men but women of Lancashire here assembled. It doe. really gretify me exceedingly to see you attended here by your female re lathes, because it brings before us the proof of one great re sult of the factory measure, that it has given leisure to the females; that it will tend to elevate the character el 1 females in this vast district; that it will give them time b. acquire a knowledge of those domestic duties irom which they were before excluded; and that it will enable them I with propriety to walk in that highest and noblest dignity to which woman is capable of aspiring on this earth—l menu the dignity of wives and mothers. (Loud applause.) And, having won th - e great achievement, now let me ask you how shall this great victory be improved ? You know ver . well that your opponents said it would he no benefit to confer these two additional hours upon you—you know it was said that these hours would be abused—you know it was said they would be passed in debauchery and idleness. Will it be so? Has it been so? (No, no.) I knew very well that it never has been /13, and I am quite convinced it never will le so. I am quite convinced that you will use that time for the purposes for which we have son.,ht it. (Cheers.) Now, therefore, let me implore you—it is almost an insult to im plore you, but so long have I been eugags d in this matter that I may take the liberty of adding this last entreaty— let me implore you, by your endeavours to turn to the hest account the hours you have obtained, and by your conduct and general bearing, to outlive all opposition ; and by your general demeanour to bear down all possisility of reproach, to show—what I have ever asserted you to be— that you are the finest material that God has given to this carte ; that of you may he made good citizens and subjects, good members and associates of the great human family. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, I have to thank you in my owe name, and in that of a great many others, far the honour you did us in sending a medal, struck to commemorate the giving of the royal assent to this most important measure. I had the honour, at the request of the operatives, and in con junction with other , who were named in your resalution, to present a gold medal to her Majesty, in testimony of the affection of her subjects in Lancashire and Yorkshire--" In testimony of the gratitude they felt at the giving of the royal assent to this long•sought measure." I have had the honour of speaking to her Majesty of the character of her subjects, P articularly in these great counties. I had the honour of telling her what I have said to you to night, that I did not believe there was a finer material to rule over. I did not be lieve there was a bedy of men capable of nobler senti ments than God in his providence had called her to govern. (Cheers.) And I may tell you it would have done your hearts good to have beard the zealous, ardent, and affec tionate. manner in which her Majesty replied. " I know it well: I fully believe what you say, that they are as noble a material as any sovereign was ever called upon to govern." (Loud cheers.) I told her that you were a loyal people—and et) you are; and you are loyal in every sense of the word. You are not only loyal because you love and will obey your sovereign, but you are loyal because you are true in all your reLtions of life; and I know that yon are loyal because during the whole time I have been engaged in this arduous and often times intricate contest, I have never in ono instance, du ring these fourteen years, found an operative flinch from his word or make a wilful mis-statement ; I have never found him say anything upon which I could not rely, and boldly maintain as a fact in the House of Commons. (Cheers.) Aye, gentlemen, and if I felt pride in you be ' fore. I confess that the event of the last few months have given to me a deeper and more assured a disfaction than I ever experienced in any other period of my life. When I Ice the patience, fortitude, and magnanimity with which you have endured almost unexampled privations; when I see that without resorting to any disorderly movement you have submitted in patience, believing that those who are appointed to rule you have your interests at heart, and that they will do for you whatever providence has plac. d in their power to do; when I see all this, I do declare that at no time have I ever telt each satisiactioa, and, it I may use theca bee nev n e y r our hiv le e ad l er (ilt upon more h qu p a rid tioni e in ; hli an vin d g momentousthe t enu'ues thoroughly grateful to Almighty God that it pleased him to make the land of my birth this country of England, and to make my fellow-citizens Englishmen such es I now see before me. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, di let me call to your recollection—and in c alling it to your recollection I wish to tall it to the recollection of all those who have been witnesses of this great struggle—how was this victory achieved ? Was this great victory achieved by violence ? (No, no.) By violence of manner ? By violence of con duct? By violence of language? No: this great victory is the finest proof of morel triumph that ever has been ex hibited to the admiration of a free people. I may nay with pleasure, that it cannot be said of the conduct of any ques tion of equal interest. I have attended large meetings In times of the greatest excitement —I have addressed three, four, and five thousand people collected together—l have addressed them upon a subject you know well how deeply corcerning your interests, and how close to your own affection—and yet, notwithstanding the op position you met with, I never heard a menace, an angry word—scarcely ever did 1 hear an uncharitable expression—uttered against those who, by their opposition, shut you out from the attainment of your long desired mea sure. (Bear.) You have obtained this by your perseverance and by showing your real fitness fur it. And this victory shows what can be done by the peaceful agitation alone of a free and enlightened people. (Cheers.) Now let me say one word upon the present position of the measure you have attained. Bear in mind that what you have at.ained is now iu your own keeping. It is for you to maintain the measure— for you to stand firm by the achievements you have arrived at. I tell you it is not in the power of any body of men to wrest it from you. But if you grow weary, if you are persuaded, and if you become indifferent to the great benefit you have received, I tell you it is not in tha power of your friends in p trliammt to maintain the measure against your indiffer ence. No doubt there an some parties who will endeavour to make the working of- the Factory Act as obnoxious r - poastide. I entreat you by no means to he discouraged. Depend upon it, if you wilt but stand firm, when trade shall revive you will find the means in your own bands of main taining your own rights. (Cheers.) But de let me exhort you, as 'have ever t aborted you, to the utmost forbearance of manner, and the utmost forbearance of language to these great and mighty capitalists who are the employers of labour, in these great and industrious counties. For depend upon it you have a vast number of staunch friends omoug them, and thou who mew appear in some respects to be hostile to the greet measure will, I am certain, he won over by your moral red generous bearing, and you will have the satisf.e tion of having made ardent converts of your present oppo nents. (Cheers.) Well, now, as time is short, and as there are many to address you, I will only say a few words in con clusion, and those few words shad be merely to show that we will not be behindhand with others who are very active is the Fund day, and we will become downright chartists. (Tremendous cheering.) We will have, moreover, our six roints. (Cheers.) Here they are: Public ordtr, honest labour, domestic comfort. (Hear.) First, these three, and then above all—Glory to Gall in the highest ; on earth peace, and good will towards men. (Cheers.) That is our charter —these are our six points; and may God bless and t raservo you, and the attainment of them for yourselvo end your posterity. (Loud cheers.) Mr. 3, FIELDEN next rose, and was also reef:red with great cheering. After alluding to the part he had taken in the passing of the measure, he said 1 have no hesitmioa in saying that the workers in facaries, bath males and females. are receiving higher wages while only working ten hours than they wou'd have been allowed to receive if working twelve hour?. Wages have been better suatair.ed, and work has been more equally distributed. But there are a few bets with regard to the work which I wish to communicate. You all know it to happees that returns are publ:seed in the public prints, on the authority of Captain Willis, of the number of hands employed in the mills in Manchester; and I was looking at the returns published in one of the papers of this moiniog, and found the bat re turns to be as follows The number of operatives ern ' ployed, or who should be employed, .in cotton factories, is 28,334. Or these there are—on full t ime, 20,633; cn short time, 3,164; wholly out of work, 4,507; so that there are 7,671 persona according to the return of Captain Willis, in this city—the first manufacturing city in the world— more than half of them not employed at all, sail the re mainder only working short time. Therefme there are only three fourths out of 28,000 that are in full employment, so that the other one-fourth are competing with the three.lourths to get possession of that employment ; and every . ore knows that in such a state of things an opportunity Is given to masters to reduce wages, and that wages are reduce.: by that means. .(Hear.) Now if you take the whole population em ployed in factories, according to the r turn of the inspecters, to April last, there are 545,000 so employed in Eoglaud, Scotland, and Ireland ; end whet proportion do ye.o think the number of males above the age of eighteen to that number? Their number is only 138,298; so that these factories are peopled by women and chi! then, who, some say, are able to work 13 or 14 !Pairs a day without inconvee:ence or injury to themselves! But supposing that in the other factories throughout England, Scotland, and Irelsr.:l, the employment is net more than it is in Manchester. there would be 136,2-50 persons wholly or partially out of em ployment competing with 545,000, and thereby affording the masters an opportunity of reducing their wages. Now, had the old system been in operation, and the people em ployed been working 12 hours, the number out of employ would have been 200,000, out of 545,000; and everybody knows that 200,000 unemployed comming with 1,00,000 employed, would have given the manufacturers an oppor tunity of reducing wages lower than they are, and Cost they would have availed themselves of it. So that you may rest mewed of it that your wages are higher with a ten hones' bill in operation than they would have been with a twelve hour system. Why, it aetoniahex me that wages have not been reduced much more than they bare been. And I am quite veal!), if you can pass through times like these and receive benefit, let trade revive, let labour become more plentiful, and I warrant you will get twelve boon wages for ten hours work. Good therefore, gentlemen, has resulted from the passing of this bill, and I rejoice at it, and you rejoice at it; and though some would mar its operation, if you will, as my noble friend (Lord Ashley) has exhorted you, be true to yourselves, not all the powers of England can deprive you of its advantages. (Applauee.) I know that a great: many stratagems are afloat by some engaged in cotton factories to get an alteration of this bill. Some are asking you to go fur a restriction of the moving power ; don't peotien for anything of the kind. Hold by the land where yea are : it has done good in bad times: wait and see its epera lion when good times arrive. I am goieg to wait to see the operation of the Ten Hours Bill. But I believe that when we have come to the result we must arrive at we shall have generally a maximum cf eight hours a day—that we a: all, in fact, go back to that good old system which prevailed in the time of Alfred, of eight hours for labour, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for sleep. (Loud cheers.) Mr. PHILIP KNIGHT said, though some were dissatisfied because they did not get so much wages as before. He agreed with Mr. Fie'den that they would not have tied so much by working twelve hours under the old s) stern in these bad time. He moved: That this meeting feel great pleasure in haring this orportualty of publicly expressing their sincere thanks and unfeigned gratitude to the Earl of Ellesmere, Lord Faversham, Lord John Mannera, Lard Robert Grosvenor, M.P., the Right lion. W. F. Cowper, M.P.; Charles llindky, Lag., M.P., Joseph Brotherton, bk,q., 51 . 1'., IL A. Aglionby, East., M.P., W. B. ['errand, Esq., and all other noblemen and gentlemen who spoke in favour of, and voted La., the Ten Hours' Bill en both Monaca of parliament. Mr. J. SMITH seconded the motion, and said that having hikaself worked 16 and 17 hours per clay in a factory, he cJuld well appreciate the advantages of the new regulttioce. (Applause) The motion was carried with cheers. The meetine was subsequently addressed by for I John Alakusers, the Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P., Mr. C. likaaley, M.P., and the Marquis of Blandford. Resolutions were ag'eed to, thanking Mr. Fielder, Mr. Oaeticr, and many other supporters of the Ten Hours' Bill for their services. The proceedings of t".e meeting were brought to a close with three times three hearty cheers for the Queen. IRELAND. DvaTax, JUNE 7. The committee of the Repeal Association met to d.ty to consider the programme of action assented to by the sub-committees of the Hall and Confederation on Saturday last. Considerable discussion ensued, and many objection', were made by the more grave members of the committee on the responsibility they must incur if they entered an association with gen tlemen who were neither guarded in their language er is their acts. On the other hand,it was staid that such men as now held aloof from Confederation and Hall—men of prudence, character, and weight—would nter the new combination, and would overbear the more violent. Finally, the latter party in the committee prevailed, it is said, and at a late hour this evening the basis of amalgamation was agreed to without modification. The association will be within the law," and its contemplated operation will be by the " combined operation of opinion." Mr. Meagher was brought " up" to-day before the magistrates of Henry-street police-office for an assault un a policeman, and was sentenced to a fine of 5./.. or two months' imprisonment. Another offender was punished in a similar penalty. The pecuniary . mulct in both cases was paid, but did not long remain out side the pockets of the defendants, for a number of sympathising barristers and attorneys in the hall of the Four Courts quickly collected 101., and handed over the proof of their fraternity in liquidation of the fine. The north riding has "demonstrated" against the "jury packing." There was a meeting in Nenazh yesterday. the resolutions were strong, but the laseimbly . very thin. The vice-guardians of the Kilkenny union lately applied to the Poor law Commissioners for assistance to enable seventy or eighty families of distressed weavers to emigrate to some British colony. The commissioners refer the vice-guardians to the rates, since there is no fund at their disposal to enable them to comply . with the proposal. The Irish Felon is to make its first appearance on the 24th inst. The prospectus, which was published to-iay, contains the following items Th .t the Irish people have 5 jug and indefeasilde right to 'ld. , island, and to all the moral and material wealth and resnuras to. reol, to plaheS6 ',rid govern the same for their owa use, maintenmoe, comfort, and honour as a state. Ihat