The Sun. — London, England, 1859-03-10 00:00:00

SU N, LONDo.N, THURSDAY E'VENLING, MARCH 10, 1859. THE MINISTERIAL MEASURE OF REFORM. BIRMINGHAM, WEDNESDAY NIGHT. A meeting of the townspeople of Birmingham was held this evening, in the Town-hall, to take into consideration the Reform Bill introduced into Parliament by her Majesty's Government. The large hall was filled in every part, some estimates of the number present reaching as high as 8,000. f he chair was taken by Mr. Lucy, in the absence of the Mayor. The borough members, Mr. Bright and Mr. Scholefield, were present. r. Ernest Jones, who had announced his intention of taking up the zudgels with Mr. Bright on behalf of the working classes, was accommodated with a seat on the plat form, surrounded by a select knot of his followers. After a few preliminary observations from the Chairman, Mr. C. EDMONDS moved, and Alderman LLOYD seconded, the first taesolution : "That the Reform Bill introduced by her Majesty's Go. vernment, while pretending to effect a settlement of the question, makes no adequate provision for the enfranchise ment of the working classes, disfranchises an intelligent and independent class of county voters, does not provide the protection of the ballot, and leaves the small, corrupt, and dependent boroughs in possession of an amount of in fluence which counteracts and swamps the real opinion of the country, is an insult to the people and demands the un compromising opposition of all true Reformers." Mr. BRIGHT, who was received with great cheer ing, then stood forward to support the resolution. The hon. gentleman said,—ln this great assembly there may be thousands, I think there must be many hundreds, who were here in October last, when I had the pleasure of standing before you for the first time in the character of one of your Parliamentary representatives. If there be such, they will bear me out when I say that on that occasion I told you the cause of Parliamentary Reform was in a trium phant, but, at the same time, in a perilous position. I said it was in a triumphant position, inas much as no man now dared to stand up and openly profess himself to be against all reform; in a perilous position, inasmuch as for the moment the conduct and consideration of the question were in the hands of men occupying high places in the State, but who had been in all past time consistent opponents of reform. I took the liberty of warning you then again placing any implicit faith in her Majesty's Government. I told you that they had not professed any conversion on this matter, and therefore I thought that we ought all of us to en tertain a wholesome suspicion, and to watch with intense observation every step taken by the Govern ment in connection with this great question. I am here to-night to ask you whether the warning which I gave you was not necessary ; whether the suspicion which I pointed out to you was not a wholesome suspicion ? (Loud cheers.) I ask you whether the Government of Lord Derby, in the bill which they have produced, have not adhered to all their ancient practices, and whether they have not disappointed the hope which existed in the minds of the people that they would produce a useful and substantial measure of reform? . (Cheers.) Why is it that last week any bill was ntroduced into the House of Commons ? Did the members of the House of Lords urge upon the Government to proceed with their question of reform ? (Laughter.) Is a majo rity of the House of Commons intensely anxious for a great improvement of the representation? (Cries of " No.") But surely somebody asked for it ; and who and where are they ? How comes it that Government after Government has put into the mouth of the Queen a recommendation to the House of Commons to consider the amendment of the re presentation of the people ? Because, with your present representation, your Government is chang ing from year to year. Things are almost con tinually at a dead lock, and there is growing up in the minds of a great and intelligent people the clear conviction that your constitution, so far as it mostly affects you in the composition of your House of Com mons, does not give youyour just rights, and does not secure to you that fair defence of your interests which the constitution intends, if it intends anything, by the existence of a House of Commons. (Cheers.) What is it you said when I washere lastyear ? You said it at least by affirming when I said it—you said that only one man out of five of all the men in Great Britain and Ireland had a vote for members of Parliament. (Cheers.) You said, moreover, that those who have votes are so placed that a vast num ber return few members, while small numbers re turned many members, so that not only are four out of five disfranchised entirely, but the fifth, by the manner in which members are apportioned, is ren dered almost as powerless as if he had no vote at all. What was it that we asked for ? That there should be a great many more electors; that what ever exclusions should exist hereafter should be exclusions not directed against any class, such as putting the men who wear white kid gloves on one side the line, and the men who don't on the other; but that all exclusions whatsoever, whether neces sary or unnecessary, according to the boldness or the timidity . of Parliament, should at least not be directed against one class, and that the most nume rous, but should, so far as they acted at all, act with fairness and justice through all classes of the popu lation. (Cheers.) You ask, also, with an unanimity which has never been exceeded by any people, in any country, on any question, that when Parliament confers the franchise it should confer also that which will enable you to exercise your franchise in accordance with your intelligence and conviction, and by , the guidance of your own conscience—(loud cheers)—you asked not for some miserable, delu sive, impudent sham, in the way of voting papers, but that you should vote fairly by an arrangement made by the friends of the voter under the shelter of the ballot. (Loud cheers.) You asked that small, dependent, helpless constituencies of 200, 300, or 400 electors, who are not their own masters in an election, should to a considerable extent cease to return members to Parliament in their own little circles, and that their members should be distri buted among the great populations of the coun try. Everybody who asked for a reform asked for what I have described. I don't pretend to draw an exact line either as to the suffrage or as to the distribution of members, but what I have generally described is to a greater or less extent the demand of every man in the king dom who is in earnest in urging the Government or Parliament to bring in a Reform Bill. If any man had come from abroad, and had heard that there was this general demand—a demand so general that Government after Governmentthought it necessary to act upon it—he would, of course, have expected that when the leader of the House of Commons stood up to speak for three hours and a half on this question, and to introduce a bill, that bill would have had some remote resemblance to the demands which the people had made. Well, in the midst of this general expectation we have a bill that offers several things that not only nobody wanted— (laughter)—but which men stand aghast at, and which refuses with the most insolent contempt netirlyeverything that you demand. Will you allow me for a moment, as probably all of you have not carefully read the bill, to describe to you two or three of its main points ? The only particular in which it appears to make a concession to the popu lar demand is where it deals with the county fran chise in regard to occupiers of £lO value, and from £lO up to £5O. You know that farmers or house holders in counties, if the rental or value of their occupation be £5O a-year,have a vote for the county. This bill proposes to reduce that franchise to accu piers of a rental of £lO. I presume this concession is made in consequence of previous votes of the House of Commons, and the belief in the minds of the Government that there was a majority in favour of that proposition. Now, what is the effect of that reduction ? Mr. Newmarch, a great authority on matters of figures, says that it will add to the county constituencies, now numbering 500,000 electors, about 100,000 more voters. This appears tobean e xtension of the franchise , but it is only an appa rent extension; there is a giving with one hand and a snatching away with the other. I can show that the county electoral body would be worse under this bill than it is under the existing system. Are there any of you here who live in the town of Bir mingham and have qualifications for the county o f Warwick? You know that within the limits of the borough there is a considerable division of freehold property, many lots of freehold, and many freehold houses. Throughout the whole of England and Wales there are not fewer than 100,000 of these county voters whose qualifications are to be . found within the boundaries of boroughs. By this bil!, if it should pass, all these voters will be disquali fied for the counties, and will be required in future to vote only in the borough in which these qualifi cations lie. At first sight you might suppose that it does not make much difference whether a man votes for the county or borough ; but in this case it makes a great difference, inasmuch as, probably, 60.000 men out of the 100,000 have at present votes for the bororghs, and would not get any.addi tional votes for the boroughs, but would simply have their existing county franchise utterly de stroyed and abolished, being left merely with the borough franchise which they now enjoy. This bill, therefore, proposes to do the most audacious thing which has been attempted in our time— namely, to disfranchise about 60,000 men, the most independent portion of the entire constituent body in the United Kingdom. And the measure also seeks to do another thing, which I must just men tion, to show the animus with which, this art of it is drawn. It is intended now to a ) - D pi appoint a com anission to go over all the boroughs in England and "Wales, and ascertain whether there is any portion ) f a borough left out—any suburb or adjacent vil j age, in order that the boundaries of those boroughs n lay be extended so as to-include the neighbouri ng di.. 4 icts and for what purposes think you is it to b e d on e ? Simp l y to cut. in those off . from the counties the £lO I Lout leholders who live those villagesand suburbs, to throw them into the boroughs, to weaken the popular party in the counties, and to make the county representation even more exclusively terri torial than it already is. Now, have you not ob served that in the House of Commons, e er since the Reform Bill, you have had a phalanx f men 200 or 300 strong, landed proprietors or the direct re presentatives of landed proprietors ? You have 150 of them now sitting behind this very Govern men. They are exclusive, so dull at learning anything of reform, so careless of extending any thing like political rights to the people—they are so united in defence of every political, and, as long as they can hold it, of every commercial or landed monopoly, that their Government can do nothing in the reform or improvement of our legislation. You recollect that in 1852 Lord Derby's Govern ment was turned out because Mr. Disraeli brought in a budget which the House of Commons would not`agree to. That budget was introduced in obe dience to the wishes of the 150 landed gentry who sit behind him, and now, though there are a great many Conservative members in the House of Com mons representing towns and boroughs who can have no sympathy with this bill, it is in obedience to the majority in the House of Lords, and to the 150 territorial proprietors who sit behind him, that he has offered you the £lO franchise in the coun ties, giving 100,000 more votes with one hand, and with the other taking away 100,000 freeholders to balance them. (Shame.) Why, it is not my inte. rest or your interest alone, but that of every man in England, that this system, exclusive and mono polist legislation, should he broken up ; and every county member whose constituency is composed partly of landed proprietors and partly of manufac turers, of shopkeepers, and of artisans, will be a better member for the present, and still more for the future of the country, than if he sat in the House of Commons, as most of them now do, simply as the stolid and unconvertible representatives of a dozen territorial proprietors. We come next to the question of what the Government has offered to the population and to the constituencies of the boroughs. At present in the boroughs of England and Wales there are about 430,000 electors, exclusive of that class called freemen. To this body the 100,000 free holders are to be brought in; but, as I believe more than one-half of them already have votes for the boroughs, the bill would in reality not bring in more than 50,000. But of this 50,000 a very large proportion do not live in the boroughs. For ex ample, the freehold properties in Birmingham are not held by persons living in this borough and voting for it. I undertake to say there is not a county in England—probably there is not one in Scotland either—in which there is nobody residing who is not the owner of some freehold property in the town of Birmingham ; and by this bill, whether such a person lived in Caithness or in Cornwall, he would vote for the borough of Birmingham ; but suppose Birmingham were a place, not of 300,000 inhabitants, but of 5,000, and had only from 250 to 300 electors. Let us see how this would act ; let some half-dozen country gentlemen living in this neighbourhood, each having a freehold house worth, say £2OO ; let him divide it into ten shares; or, I take the house to be worth £2O a year ; and he will have ten votes of 40s. each. Let him put his friends and dependents upon the electoral list for the borough as owners of this house—in these small boroughs you know the majority go by tens and twenties, not by hundreds and thousands, as they do here, and it would not require the buying of more than three or four, or, at most, half-a-dozen moderately-sized houses, and their division in the mode I have described, all of which could be easily done by persons living in any county of England, Scotland, or Ireland; it would not require more than three years of this bill to make it perfectly competent for half-a-dozen gentlemen, setting to work with such small boroughs, to make every one of them as completely nomination, dependent, pocket, and Totten boroughs as any one of those that were disfranchised by the Act of 1832. (Cheers.) They are not, then, going to improve the county constituency ; they intend if they can only to trans fer the members from the little boroughs to the great ones, but so to manage the law as that these little boroughs, now sadly too dependent, shall lose everyparticle of independence which they now pos sess, But this is not all. There are some remark able concessions which I have previously termed " fancy franchises." We won't discuss the ques tion of the lawyers, because everybody knows that, whether they should have votes or not, they have them, and will have them. (A laugh.) We won't discuss the question of the clergy or dissenting ministers, or the doctors, or the schoolmasters, or even the pensioners. cLaughter.) What we will discuss is this—is there in this bill the shadow of a shade of an inclination to extend the franchise to the people. I see in a newspaper which I suppose very few people read— it is one of the supporters of this bill—(laughter)— the statement that everybody may have a vote be cause everybody may have £6O in a savings-bank. (Laughter.) If this were only true—if I could announce this to-night as a great fact—why it would be the most welcome intelligence that ever reached the ears of the million. (Cheers.) I had a letter the other day from somebody in Birming ham, who told me that he had £lOO in a bank of which your esteemed member and my colleague is a director. The writer said he had as much faith in that bank as he had in any savings -bank, and he asked me to be good enough to ascertain for him whether it was necessary for him to withdraw his money from that bank and place it in a savings bank, in order that he might have the franchise. (Laughter.) I received another letter from a person living in London, who states that as Mr. Disraeli says one illustration is better than a heap of argu ments he will furnish him with one. He observed that he is one 'of those fortunate working men to whom the Government propose to give the franchise by the savings bank clause in their bill, and yet that there are none who can feel themselves more insulted than he does by this provision. He goes on to say that he has been married 12 years, and has a family of six boys and girls grown up, as he hopes, to be respectable men and women, able and willing to fulfil all the duties of citizenship. He thinks the bringing up of a family in respectability and giving themthe advantage of as liberal an edu cation as his means will allow is something in his favour, if it be not also commendable. He continues, " On referring to my bank book (for you see he speaks quite in .commercial language), I find the first deposit, which I paid in 1849, amounted to £5, in 1851 it reached £10." Now, listen. Then came a time for falling back on his little hoard, and the sum is reduced to £4. You can imagine this strong-hearted man' labouring from morning till night, putting scanty savings by, denying him self many perfectly innocent enjoyments, at length succeeding in scraping together £10; then sick ness of a child, or perhaps the loss of employment from a commercial panic, shrinks his little fund to £4. You see his anxiety, and almost his agony, as it is gradually being extinguished. He adds, " And so it goes on decreasing or increasing as our family necessities compel us to draw upon it, until after many struggles it rises to £30." Then he had a piece of good fortune which does not fall to every body. A relation of his who died left him a small sum, just enough to bring him within the pale of this new constitution. (A laugh.) Then he says, " I am bold enough to assert that I was as capable of exercising the franchise when I had only £5 as I now am when I have £60." (Cheers.) He pro ceeds :—" Another objection is this—that if I think proper to withdraw that amount and place it in a building society or in some other eligible invest ment I lose my qualification as a citizen ; if a friend should want to borrow a few pounds from me—as often happens in all classes of society—if I oblige him I shall also be disfranchised." This is his moral, " The whole thing (he says) appears to me simply absurd and insulting to common sense, which seems to be a scarce commodity where such a proposition came from." (Laughter and cheers.) I had another letter from a man living either in Portsmouth or Plymouth, who tells me he hap pens to have as much money in the savings bank as will qualify him under the bill. " Nobody," he says, " beyond you and myself knows of this fact. is it necessary that my small pecuniary transactions, my condition with regard to my savings, should all be published to my neighbours in this town ? Sup pose you were to carry this rule through all the different classes of s ociety , I say it is an insulting u and absurd proposit ion svoice which ought to be rejected by the unanimo of the country." (Cheers.) A few days memberspeech dissected the savings bank of the late Government, ago in a a eh Sir B. Hall, therebank werebo o k on o e f htuhnedtrzof Newport. He said contributors already elec torsdid he find t h at this wonder: remainedconstituency would of be just one simple voter added to the register. Onehair ' sNewportbreadth, might in vent 100 qualifications quite as good as this. This is not a qualification to admit you; it is to give y ou the show of admission with the reality of perpetual exclusion, When I think of the vicissitudes to which every man is exposed who lives upon wages, and depends for his weekly earnings upon the capi tal of another man, and the success or continuance of that other man's trade, I say there could not be a proposition more utterly fruitless for good, indi cating greater ignoriince of the condition as well as of the wants of thefpeople, or more insulting to the common' sense and !intellect of the nation. (Cheers.) If you revert to the years 1831 and 1832, you will find that a very 4elebrated and then most powerful individual, who now lies beneath the dome of St. Paul's—the Ditke of Wellington—declared that there was no need of any reform. It is said that he I even doubted whether if some one descended from a i higher sphere to teach a nation how to rule itself, 'or how to be ruled, a better constitution, or a more admirable system of government, could not have been chosen than that under which we then lived; and no doubt, as far as regarded his own order , this was perfectly true—(cheers)—but the Duke of Welling ton himself, with all his courage and all his robust ness of denial, never told you that it was necessary io go back ; he never offered you a bill which would make your representation worse ; he never proposed to disfranchise clean off 50,000 freeholders in Eng land and Wales ; he never said, patting you on the back, " put £6O into the savings - bank , save £6 a year for 10 years, excellent citizen of Great Britain as you are, and at the end of that time your name shall be written down in the voters' list of Bir mingham, and you shall i have the ten-thousandth part of a member n the House of Commons." (Laughter and cheers.) It is a very serious question. As citizens of a free country we are free to meet in magnificent gatherings like this; so long as that right is preserved to us, and men value freedom, so long freedom cannot be utterly lost. B u t, I ask you, are you willing to come to this ? Did your fathers in 1832 toil ; did they run risks ; did they devote days and nights to the carrying of great questions, that you should be told twenty-seven years after wards that four or five of you cannot have votes — that the Constitution never intended it—that the peerage would not be safe—that the Church would rock on its foundations, and, for anything I know, that you would have a better Government and be more lightly taxed ? (Cheers.) Marvellous changes have taken place within the twenty-seven years of the existence of the Reform Bill. In the county of Lancaster there are a million of people more than there were when the census on which the Reform Act was based was taken. All your railroads have been made, 300 or 400 newspapers have sprung up and are in every house; there is not a single point to which you can refer, social, commercial, political, moral, or religious, in which the people have not not made astonishing strides within the last thirty years. (Cheers.) All this was admitted by the Chan cellor of the Exchequer when he came forward to in sult you with this miserable bill. I cannot, in any language known to me, express the astonishment and the alarm with which I regard this measure. (Cheers.) It indicates not only that your rulers distrust you, but that they despise you. They might have said they did not believe the govern ment would be bettered by any . Reform Bill ; that the people were not sufficiently in earnest to justify them in proposing or to enable them to carry such a bill. That would have been a fair matter for ar- gument. But nothing can explain the effect of their having offered you such a bill, but this—that, though they distrusted you as much as ever, they despised you more than before. (Loud cheers.) If the Government of this country be good, just, and economical, why should they fear to admit the people, of whom they speak so highly when it is not a question of the extension of the suffrage ? (Cheers.) Do they mean to say that you are to keep so ignorant, so brutal, so destructive, that, if you are admitted within the pale of the constitution, you will tear down or break up the sacred ark ? They know that the power in this country—the power of tax ing and the power'of living on the taxes is a mono poly in the hands of a few hundred families. They believe, and with reason, that if there were a fair representation of opinions in the House of Commons, that monopoly which has existed for the last 200 years would be broken up—that the public eye would be upon every part of it—that the hand of a strong, intelligent people would have hold of the reins—and that the fattening of those few hun dreds of families upon your £70,000,000 of annual taxation would be put an end to for ever. (Loud cheers.) Let me call your attention just to one point on this matter. You have seen in the news papers, in the course of the last fortnight, that the First Lord of the Admiralty, without any dissent on the part of the house; has proposed to add an other million during the present year to the expen diture on the navy. I am not discussing in the least whether that addition is or is not proper at this mo ment ; but it is a fact worth knowing that within the last 20 years no less than £170,000,000 ster ling has been cast into that insatiable maw which we call the navy. While all this tremendous sum has been spent in building ships, in manning them, in feeding the men, in selling old stores and buy ing new ones to replace them—(laughter)—not a single ship of the English navy has been destroyed or seriously injured in a war, and there has been scarcely one loss by the violence of the elements or by any mistake or clumsiness on the part of the crew or captain ; therefore, whatever may have been your stock of ships twenty years ago, when they told you that you had the finest navy in Europe, they have been adding to it since to the tune of £170,000,000, a sum the magnitude of which the best head among you cannot in the slightest degree comprehend, and now they tell you that the country is in a state of absolute defence lessness, and that he is a credulous and dull Eng lishman who dares to go quietly to sleep without fearing that somebody may not land on our shores, and take possession of us before morn ing. (Laughter.) If the people of England had been fairly represented in the House of Commons long before this we should have had a ransacking of everything connected with the navy and Admiralty. We should have had honest commissions or honest committees who would have gone faithfully through the estimates year by year, and whatever we had expended we should have made sure that it was not more than was necessary, and that what it produced was of the very best ser vice of its kind. (Cheers.) You can do nothing of the kind. Now that the House of Commons has no interest in economy it consents to no fair committee, it insists upon no fair commission; and so long as you are content to toil, and sweat, and pay, this will go on, if you have not a reformed Parliament. (Cheers.) This bill which we are met here to consi der, and which is so little worth consideration, can not by any possibility pass into law. (Cheers.) If it could pass—if the House of Commons could behave so ill as to pass it—and if the people of this country were so lost to absence of shame, to all love of free dom, as to permit it to pass as it has come from the hands of the Government, I should abandon all hope of the future for this country. (Cheers.) Not one single week longer would I take my seat in the House of Commons as your representative. (Loud cheers.) I should say the highest class among us is corrupted by a long tenure of power. Our middle class has no patriotism; it is engaged in domestic or commercial affairs, and disregards the interest of the country. The great body of the country, the great body of the working classes, have been so long ex cluded from every right that they have lost even the appetite for freedom. (Loud cheers.) I can pro mise you little from the earnestness of Pailiament. I believe the bill will be rejected. It is necessary for all earnest reformers—and there are some in the house, of course—to reject it. It is necessary, also, for the exigencies of Parliament, that it should be rejected. I believe that very soon it will go the way. of several other reform bills, and I hope for the credit of its authors that nobody will take the trouble to dig it up again; but there is a future. This Government, as you see, is shattered by dissensions in its own ranks; it is shattered, too, by the enormous—shall I call it blunder or crime, of proposing this bill. I, as you know, have never said one syllable that could be called factious against the members of this Govern ment. I knew from what we had escaped when this Government was formed. I was glad to see it formed, and I have treated it on all occasions with all the forbearance and all the fairness that, if I were a Minister, and the Mintsters were in my place, I should ask from them ; but the aspect of things has changed. They have dared to meddle with this question in a manner which no one with a spark of respect for the reform cause can for one moment tolerate. (Cheers.) I believe that nothing, not even the dislocation of their opponents, nor the unsavoury character of the preceding Government, will avail to prevent this Government from coming to them ; but if Lord Derby resigns, there will be, as there always has been, a successor. There are two men to whom little sections in the House of Commons look up with anxiety and with hope. Both of them cannot be sent for at the same mo ment, and, judging from the state of the house, and judging from the fact that the crisis has occurred, or is likely to occur, on the question of reform, I presume that that Minister whose name is most associated with this question is most likely to be the future Minister. But now, although I have admitted before that I believe the sympathies and opinions of Lord John Russell are distinctly in favour of popular liberty and in favour of some real improvement in our representative system, yet bear in mind that a Minister is not a Minister of the Crown nor a Minister of the people. He is the Minister of the aristocracy, whether it be Lord Derby with his followers, or Lord John Russell with his. If he were anxious to give the people a real, substantial, undeniable measure of reform as I myself am, you must bear in mind that all those around him in the same rank and class do not feel on this question as I feel, or even as the noble lord feels. It is not in the power of any Minister to do even what an honest Minister might wish to do, unless there be an uprising of opinion through out all classes of the population. (Cheers.) You men of Birmingham, you men of the midland counties, united with the population of the metropolis, of Lancashire, and the West Riding, and with the c m a a n n t u u fa rn e tu rin mino g ri a ti n e d s n populous to m majorities districts measureso of Scotland,which now they insolently tell you are revolutionary, you can make extremely rational and beneficial, even in othaethopisincluonestoifon here the most timid r ek a i r n i g s t o o c n r e a o ; t a i no of the is nothing that you cannot do : you can do it without ba laws of your country, or of that which ought to be the highest of all laws—the moral law. -(Cheers.) You can meet ; you can discuss the question ; you can send petitions within a fortnight, which Mr. S cholefield and I can scarce carry into the house. All the, great populations can send great petitions ; you did it in 1832. The very countenances of your distrustful opponents in the house change per ceptibly as these great petitions are brought up. If we have laid aside the barbarous weapons with which men in this country in past ages, and men in other countries now, carry great political changes—. if we shudder at turmoil and abhor bloodshed—the more are w.e called on to use, unitedly with every power of combination and resolution, from one end of the kingdom to the other, those great legal and moral weapons which the constitution of our coun try permits us to wield. (Loud cheering.) Mr. SCHOLEFIELD, M.P.,rose also to support the resolution, but he was interrupted by an attempt on the part of Mr. Ernest Jones to address the as semblage. A scene of indescribable confusion ensued, in the midst of which Mr. Jones, in spite of some rough handling from persons near him, persisted in his efforts to obtain a hearing, and at length found his way to the front of the platform, where he took refuge behind. The question whether Mr. Jones should be allowed to speak was then put to the sense of the meeting, and was clamorously decided in the negative. Mr. SCHOLEFIELD then concluded his remarks, which were generally condemnatory of the Govern ment bill. The resolution was then carried by acclamations, as were also subsequent resolutions in favour of a larger extension of the borough and county fran chise, the ballot, and a re-distribution of seats. The meeting then separated. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. CRIMINAL COURT-WORCESTER, MARCH 8. (Before Mr. Justice Crompton.) William Edwards, a. labouring man, 52 years of age, was charged with a rape on a girl between 14 andls years of age, named Susannah Mason, on the 18th of December, 1858, at Kidderminster. After a lengthened trial the jury found the pri soner guilty only of the attempt. Mr. Justice Crompton, in passing sentence, said the punishment which he was able to give the pri soner was wholly disproportioned to the crime which he had committed, but, as the jury were uot satisfied that the complete offence had been com mitted, the sentence was that he be imprisoned with hard labour.for two years. William Checketti surrendered to take his trial on a charge of indecently exposing himself in a public place near to a public highway to divers persons then and there passing and repassing, &c., on the 13th of October, 1858, at Pershore. Mr. J. J. Powell appeared for the prosecution ; Mr. R. Kettle defended the prisoner. It appeared from the evidence that the prosecu tor, Charles Lane, kept a publichouse at Pershore, and that the exposure in question was committed by the defendant in the bowling-green belonging to the house, and was seen by the prosecutor and wife from an upstairs window. No other witness was called, though it appeared there were several people in the bowling-alley at the time. At the close of the case for the prosecution, Mr. Kettle submitted that the indictment was not proved, as it was necessary on this indictment to show that there was an exposure to persons passing along the highway. Mr. Powell contended that the words which re ferred to the highway might be rejected as sur plusage, and then the indictment would be proved, and the words " then and there," &c., would refer to the public place. Mr. Justice Crompton consulted Mr. Baron Channell, on the point, and held that the defendant must be acquitted, as it was not shown that there was any exposure to persons on the highway. His lordship, however, wished it to be known that the difficulty was only a technical one, which would probably not occur again. WESTERN CIRCUIT.—DORCHESTER, March 9. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr. Baron Watson.) Mary Ann Waters was indicted for stealing a brooch from a post letter at Sherborne, on the 30th of July.. Mr: Slade and Mr. Poulden were counsel for the prosecutor, and Mr. Ffooks defended the prisoner. The prisoner was a young girl in the service of the postmaster at Sherborne. On the 30th of July a small box, containing a pearl brooch, was posted at London for Mr. Gooden, at Sherborne. Mr. Gooden received the box, but it did not contain anything. Some suspicion existed in the postmas ter's mind about the prisoner, and on the 4th of August he called her into the room, and asked her to produce the contents of her pockets. She first produced a silver pencil case, which she said she had found. She then produced a pearl brooch, which she said her aunt had given her. The postmaster sent for her mother, and asked her if she had ever seen the brooch before. She said she had not, and then he turned her away. A few days afterwards, on hearing of Mr. Gooden's loss, the police were sent for, and upon going to the girl she said she had picked up the brooch from her master's floor. The girl was only fifteen years of age. The box had been opened, and resealed with post-office wax, and stamped with the pencil case which the prisoner had in her pocket. Mr. Ffooks addressed the jury for the prisoner, suggesting that there might have been irregula rities in the office, and that the box might have been on the floor. The jury found the prisoner guilty, but recom mended her to mercy. The learned Judge said it was a sad case, but it could not be passed over lightly. She must be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for fifteen months. NISI PRIUS COURT. (Before Mr. Justice Crowder and a Special Jury. _ _ FRY V. BRYANT. Mr. Sergeant Kinglake and Mr. Stock were counsel for the plaintiff; and Mr. Slade and Mr. Barstow for the defendant. Acccording to the statement of the plaintiff's counsel, it appeared that this was an action to re cover against the defendant for having written a letter containing a libel on the plaintiff, who was the son of a respectable farmer residing in this county. It would seem that the plaintiff was en gaged to be married to a young widow of fortune, Mrs. J. Foot. In June last Mrs. Foot was on a visit to her uncle, Mr. Good. On the 20th of that month a letter came to Mrs. George Good. Mrs. Good opened the letter, which was to this effect : "My dear Madam,—Excuse me for addressing you, having a great respect for yourself and family, respecting T. F. His private character is infamous. He keeps a woman. I wish you could see him. " Yours, " J. F." Mrs. Good handed the letter to Mrs. Foot. Mrs. Fry, the mother of the plaintiff, and Mrs. Bryant were related. After the receipt of this letter the engagement between the plaintiff and Mrs. Foot was broken off. The plaintiff took every step to discover wlio was the writer of the letter, and, from comparing it with different writing's of the defen dant, persons were of opinion that this letter was in the handwriting of the defendant. The letter had also been submitted to different experts, and they were of opinion that the defendant must have written it. Witnesses were called to make out the plaintiff's case, and he himself was called, and it appeared that he had been paying his addresses to the widow for four years. The widow herself was called, and she stated that she had allowed the plaintiff to pay his addresses to her, but she would not admit that they were engaged. Several experts and fac similists were called, and they gave the usual evi dence that the turns of the " d's" and the " f 's" were the same upon looking at the writing through a glass of extraordinary magnifying power. The defendant was called, and swore most posi• tively that he had not written the letter, and that he knew nothing of it. The jury, after a trial which lasted nearly the whole day, found a verdict for the plaintiff— Damages, one farthing. The judge certified for the plaintiff to have his costs. NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—YoRK, March 9. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr. Justice Byles.) Guilliers Heron, aged 23, a gipsy, was indicted for having, along with another man, assaulted and robbed Richard Gillbank of 25., at Bickerton, near Thorp-arch, on the 16th of January last. The Hon. A. Liddell prosecuted, and Mr. Shep herd defended the prisoner. The prisoner, it a pp e a r ed, was one of a tribe of gipsies encamped in a lane near Thorp-arch, and the prosecutor is a boy acting as farm servant in that neighbourhood. On the afternoon of the day in question he was going home from his work about half-past four, as it was getting dusk, when he saw two men seated on a style. They advanced towards him. Both were dark complexioned, and one had long black hair. The latter had a knife in his hand. On coming up with him they demanded his money or his life, and one of them, whom the prosecutor confidently swore to be the prisoner, put his hands into the prosecutor's pockets and took out 2s. The men then made off towards the place where the gipsy encampment was, and the prosecutor set off to find a policeman. Having obtained a constable they entered the encampment, which c onsisted of three or four t en t s , an d th e p ros ecutor identified the prisoner, who was brought out of one of them, as one of the men who had robbed him. The de fence set up was that the prosecutor, who was much alarmed at the time, was mistaken as to the identity of the prisoner, and witnesses were called to prove an alibi. These witnesees were all of the gipsy tribe, and some of them were women, with the real dark skins and black eyes and hair of their race. The cleverness and adroitness with which they fenced with the questions put in cross-examination excited much amusement in court. Their story was, that the prisoner was the youngest of six brothers, and that they were all in their tent at five o'clock, the time the robbery was said to have taken place ; that they were in their tent receiving a visit from some of the tribe in another tent from three o'clock till seven, when the policeman came. A cousin and some of the prisoner's brothers were called, and were so like him in appearance that a mistake as to the prisoner was far from impossible. They all had, as one of their women, who was dressed in a red shawl, described it, " black eyes, black hair, and dark skin—a good standing colour that would neither wash off nor wear off.' One of the pri soner's brothers said they were all at tea with the prisoner at five o'clock in their tent, and when asked what they had to eat, said they had a " hod gun" cooked, which is the provincial name for a hedgehog. His Lordship—What do you say you had— cooked urchin ? Gipsy—Yes, cooked hodgun. I'm very fond of cooked hodgun (with a grin). His Lordship's mind seemed to be filled with horrible misgivings, when the meaning of the provincialism was explained amid much laughter. His Lordship having carefully summed up the evidenee;the jury acquitted the prisoner. A number of gipsies were in court, who appeared to be in a state of great excitement during the trial, and watched each turn of it with the keenest anxiety. POLICE IN2ELLIGENCE.—March 9. MANSION-HOUSE.- - James Charles Vaughan, a respectably dressed man, was charged with annoy ing Sarah Grierson, a widow residing in Love-lane. Complainant stated that she rented some premises in Love-lane, which, in consequence of the death of her husband in July last, she had sub-let to the defendant at a rent of 14s. per week. She had since given him notice to quit repeatedly, but he refused to leave, and it was only with the greatest trouble that she at last succeeded in getting possession. More recently she had let the place to another per son, but the defendant so annoyed them by going there whenever he was drunk, and threatening to break in the door, that that person had refused to enter upon possessian. On Tuesday defendant re peated this conduct, and she gave him into custody. The Lord Mayor—l suppose he paid you the rent? Complainant—No, my lord ; I wish he had. The Lord Mayor—Then how do you know that he did not come on purpose to pay it ? Complainant—Oh, I am quite sure about that. He was there seventeen weeks, and he owes me more than Ll 4, for he never paid me anything. A police-officer deposed to the fact of taking the defendant into custody, and that a considerable mob was collected round the place, as the defen dant was swearing loudly, and throwing himself against the shutters with great violence. The Lord Mayor—Well, defendant, what have you to say ? Defendant—l went there by the advice of my solicitor, as I still hold the key ; but I am willing to give up possession. Mr. Goodman (chief clerk)—Oh, don't talk about your solicitor. This poor woman came here twice for advice, and I told her to take possession, for I am sure no judge would give you either damages or expenses. The Lord Mayor—Where is the key? Defendant—The police have it at the station. _ _ The Lord Mayor—Very well, then, let them give it to the complainant; and as to you, you must find one good security to keep the peace for six months, for it is quite intolerable that such fellows as you should take premises of a person like this poor woman, and then refuse to pay rent. Defendant, who was not prepared with bail, and was apparently astonished at the result of the " advice of his solicitor," was then locked up. GUILDHALL.—George Lewis, a seafaring young man, was placed at the bar before Alderman Salomons on the following charge : Francis Stateman said—l am captain's steward on board the Admirable, lying off Sheerness. I met the prisoner on Tuesday in Farringdon-street, and he accosted me with " Good morning, mate," after which we got into conversation about ships, and he asked me if I knew of a " billet" for him ? I mentioned several ships lying off Sheerness in commission, and he then asked me to take a glass of ale. We went into a house in New Bridge-street, and while there a third person came in, and began boasting of his strength, and offered to bet the prisoner a dozen of wine he would throw a half hundredweight a certain num ber of yards. The prisoner said he could not afford so much, but he accepted the bet for half a dozen of wine, and then proposed that we should go to some skittle-ground to test the strangers's strength and decide the wager. We accordingly went to a house in Fetter-lane, but k having no money I pawned my watch and chain, and when we got into the skittle-ground they forgot all about the wager and began playing at skittles. Alderman Salomons—Did you play with them ? Witness—Yes, sir. Alderman Salomons—What for ? Witness—£l a game, sir. Alderman Salomons—Of course you lost ? Witness—Yes, sir ; but they let me win the first game or two when we played for ls. 6d., and from that we got to 55., and then to £1 a game. Alderman Salomons—How much did you lose ? Witness—£l 55., sir, for that was all the money I had about me ; I afterwards thought I had been sharped out of my money, and returned and gave the prisoner into custody. Alderman Salomons—To which did you lose your money ? Witness—The stranger, sir, but I considered the prisoner had drawn me into it. Alderman Salomons—l am afraid you must at tribute your loss to your own folly. The officer said—l searched the prisoner, and fonnd on him £3 3s. Hid., a " duffer" watch and chain, and a " Bank of Economy" note for £5. Alderman Salomons said the " flash " note pro duced was so close an imitation of the bank note, that he thought the Bank could prosecute as it bore the printer's name upon it. However, he would remand the prisoner for a few days. WORSHIP-STREET.—Thomas Davis, 30, was charged before Mr. D'Eyncourt with stealing from the person, and also with an assault. Donoway, 129 11, said that at an early hour that morning, while in the High -street of Whitechapel, he heard the screams of a female on the opposite side of the road, and hastening across perceived the prisoner with his right hand on the breast of a gentleman, while his left was drawn out of his trousers' pocket. The ring of money falling on the pavement followed, and prisoner ran off as he swung his arm round and struck the gentleman a terrible blow with his fist in the face which felled him to the ground. Witness pursued and took prisoner into custody with a handkerchief in his possession, and some trifling amount of money. The proSecutor, Mr. Wm. White, of Mile-end, said he was in company with a female at the time in question, having just left the spot where a fire had occurred in the neighbourhood, when the pri soner came boldly up to him and acted as described by the constable. Prosecutor, after recovering from the immediate effects of the blow, pursued and he believed should have taken the fellow, but for the constable, in his greater speed, falling over him. He did not know the amount of money he had lost, but identified the handkerchief. Donoway told the court that two years since pri soner was pointed out to him as a returned convict, and had since been constantly in the company of thieves. Prisoner—This is spite of yours. You promised me three months the first opportunity. Mr. D'Eyncourt—lnstead of which you will go for trial. LAMBETll.—Richard Davis, a journeyman carpenter, who gave his residence in Kent-street, Borough, was placed at the bar before Mr. Elliott, on a charge of breaking into a house near Ken nington-oval on Sunday evening last, and stealing therefrom £1 17s. in cash. _ _ From the evidence it appeared that during the absence of the occupants of the house on Sunday night last, it was entered in the first instance with picklock keys, and on the thieves obtaining an en trance they broke open the door of a lodger's apart ment, forced 'open all the cupboards and drawers, turned out and ransacked all their contents, but, singular to say, all the property they carried away was £1 17s. from one , of the drawers, and the remains of a leg of mutton upon which the family had dined. Suspicion first fell upon the prisoner, from the fact of his previously calling at the house to see the servant, and passing himself off for her uncle, when in fact he was her fath er , an d f rom t h e fact also of his having been seen by a constable to leave the house where the robbery was committed on the Sunday night. The prisoner stoutly denied the charge, and said he spent Sunday evening and night in Southampton street, Camberwell, some distance from where the robbery had been committed. He was remanded to a future day. RED IJEER.—Last week there was an arrival of red deer at Arran, from Knowsley Hall, the seat of the Earl of Derby. There were 20 in number, and aro the purchase of the Duke of Hamilton, DREADFUL MURDER AT ALDER SHOTT. On Sunday afternoon, about three o'clock, a dreadful tragedy was committed in a house in North-lane, Aldershott, by a soldier of the 9th, named Henry Benjamin Haynes. The house in question was once a beershop called " the London Tavern," but, inasmuch as the soldiers were har boured there after the time allowed them, pickets were placed at the doors to prevent soldiers enter ing, since which the place has been what " unfor tunate girls" call an " accommodation house." On this occasion some soldiers were in the house, and, loud screams being heard from one of the many rooms, a rush was made to that room, and there was laynes seen with a razor in his hand, and a young girl named Mary M'Gowan, a native of Leeds, on her knees exclaiming, " Lord have mercy upon me ! I hope my poor mother will forgive me for what I have done ; I have been a wicked sinner !" and in a minute or two she died. The soldier Haynes was taken by some other soldiers, and on Tuesday an inquest was held on the body before Mr. Chandler, of Basingstoke, deputy-coroner. The first witness, Charlotte Davies, a girl living in the same house, said—l am a single woman. I lodge at the London Tavern, and knew the deceased, Mary M'Gowan, for about three days. She had been staying some time before at the house. On Sunday afternoon, about three o'clock, I was in my bedroom, when I heard loud screams of " Murder," and I ran to the door of the room they seemed to come from, which was the next room to mine, and I saw a soldier named Henry Benjamin Haynes take his hand, in which there was a razor, from the throat of the deceased, and put the razor on a table. The deceased was then standing against the win dow' and just as I caught, sight of her she fell on her knees, with her hands clasped together, and exclaimed, " Lord have mercy on me ! I hope my poor mother will forgive me for what I have done ; I have been a wicked sinner." As soon as Haynes had put the razor on the table he went out of the room and leant against the bannisters at the top of the stairs. I then saw him go into the further most room—not where deceased was. I believe Haynes to have been sober. I only saw him drink two glasses of ale all the day. I last saw M'Gowan, before hearing her scream, at half-past one o'clock. Henry Ferris, of the North Down Rifle 4, a very young man, said—On Sunday afternoon, about three o'clock, I went into Charlotte Davies's room, and stopped while she was dressing herself. I heard screams of Murder" from the next room, and we rushed out, and saw Haynes standing near the de ceased with a bloody razor in his hand. The de ceased was on her knees and exclaiming " Lord have mercy on my soul ! I hope my mother will forgive me ; I know I have been a wicked sinner !" I saw Haynes put the razor on the table, and the case into his pocket as he was walking out. I went into the lobby to prevent his running away, but he made no attempt to escape. A man of the Ist Royal Artillery and some of the Military Train assisted to take him into custody. I never saw Haynes before, and never was in the house before. I saw blood running from the woman's throat, and a pool of blood was on the floor. Haynes looked pale, but sober, and walked steadily out of the room. Wm. Trevanner, of the 4th Battalion of the Military Train, said—On Sunday afternoon last I was walking near the London Tavern about three in the afternoon, when I heard screams of " Mur der" coming from a room upstairs. I ran into the house, and upstairs, and saw a woman lying on her back with her throat cut. Sbe was not quite dead, and the wound was bleeding. She died soon after, while I was looking for the provost. A girl named Charlotte Davies was in the room at the time, and when I asked who had done it she pointed out the man Haynes who was leaning against the bannisters, and I told his comrades to take care of him while I went for the provost. We took him to the police station, and as we were going he said his mind had not been easy since he came from America, for what he had done there. I asked him his reason for murdering the girl, when he replied, " Poor girl ! she didn't do me any harm, and I didn't do her any harm." He said she never spoke to him, and he never spoke to her. I told him it was his intention to kill somebody, because he had his razor with him ; and he said his reason was she had caused him to have a bad disease, and sent him to the hospital, and he meant to have his revenge, but that he meant to murder Margaret Chilton. I then asked him what made him murder another one, and he replied, " The Devil done it." He appeared quite sober. I thought at first he had been drink ing, but afterwards he appeared in his right senses. I know there is such a girl as Margaret Chilton. Mr. John Shoolbraid, surgeon, of Aldershott, said that he was sent for to see the deceased on Sunday afternoon, and he found her lying on the floor quite dead, and the room covered with blood, A wound was in her throat, commencing underneath the chin at the left side of the windpipe, extending to the right side in a direction downwards about four inches, and cutting the principal vessels on the right side of the neck. There had been excessive haemorrhage, from which death resulted. Deceased appeared about 20 years of age. A comrade of Haynes, named Robert Kalender, of the Ist Battalion of the 9th, said—Haynes worked in the tailor's shop with me. We left the camp about 10 o'clock on Sunday morning and went to the London Tavern, and stayed there till half-past three, and had two glasses of ale each. He was not the worse for liquor at all during the day. We were both absent from the camp without leave. I heard some person scream, and on going to the spot I said, " For God's sake, what have you done ?" He didn't reply, but shook his head. I was acquainted with him in the Crimea. I have known him confined for being absent from work, but never knew him do any violence to any one. He was a well-behaved him. The coroner shortly addressed the jury, remark ing that there appeared a total absence of motive ; he seemed determined to commit some deed; but the reason given by one of the witnesses was cer tainly not sufficient to account for such an act. It was very rare that such crimes were committed in the presence of others, but in this case there was no difficulty in proving who was guilty. They knew nothing of the antecedents of Haynes to account for it, and he appeared rational enough at the time. The jury at once returned a verdict of wilful murder, and the prisoner was committed to take his trial at Winchester. BRUTAL MURDER ON THE HIGH SBAS. LIVERPOOL, MARCH 8. During the whole of this morning much excite ment has been manifested among the seafaring population in consequence of the apprehension of the first and second engineers of the mail steamer Bogota, from Valparaiso, Rio, &c., which arrived in the Mersey on Sunday last, and who are charged with the murder of one of the stokers on board on the voyage homewards. The name of the murdered man is Thomas Landen, aged 45, and a native of Cornwall. The names of the accused are John Buchanan, first engineer, and Archibald Mitchell. This day, at noon, after the usual morning cases had been disposed of at the Police-court, the two prisoners, both of them most respectably dressed, were placed in the dock before Mr. Mansfield, the stipendiary magistrate. Mr. Aspinall, instructed by Messrs. Lowndes and Co., appeared to conduct the case on behalf of the prisoners. Mr. Clough, the indoor Superinten dent, with Inspector Kehoe, of the police force were in attendance to watch the case on behalf of the prosecution. Prior, however, to any evidence having been taken, _ _ _ _ Aspinall said that he thought it would be desirable that some legal and professional gentle man should be present to prosecute. He thought it would be an advantage to the prisoners, the pro secutors, and the public, as it might prevent the exaggerations so often made in these cases going forth. Mr. Mansfield said that he agreed with the sug gestion, and in such an important case thought that such a course should be pursued. Mr. Tindal, solicitor to the Board of Trade, said he had no objection, if his services were required, to render his professional assistance to Mr. Clough, although he had not received any instructions from the Government. • It was then decided that Mr. Tindal should watch the case for the prosecution, and then make his report to the authorities. The case was then proceeded with, the first witness examined being Inspector Mawdesley, of the Liverpool police. He stated,—From information I received on Sunday morning, I apprehended the prisoner Buchanan, the chief engineer of the mail steamer Bogota. I apprehended the other prisoner Mitchell, the second engineer, this morning. I told the first engineer the charge, and he took me down to the stokehole of the packet and said, " The man would not work, and I ordered him to be tied to the ladder." He then showed me the ladder, and pointed out how the deceased had been tied. The ladder was about 2 feet 11 inches from the first furnace, and 4 feet 4 inches from the second. It was between two fires. When the deceased was tied to the ladder he would be about 2 feet 6 inches from the former, and 3 feet 5 inches from the latter furnace doors. By . Mr. Aspinall—The men who had to supply the furnaces would be nearer the fires than the deceased. There are six fires in the hole. There is a small passage between them. William Buchanan (no relation to the accused) said,—l shipped on board the vessel on the 25th of December at Valparaiso: d we went from there to Rio. We left Rio on the 25th of January. I was shipped as a trimmer or stoker, at £3 ss. per month. I know the two prisoners. They were the chief and second engineer on board. On the day after we had left Rio about five hours the second engineer sent me for a piece of rope-yarn. I took it to him, and lie made the deceased fast to the ladder with it. He put it round his left arm and waist. The deceased was made so fast that he could not stir an inch. His face was towards the ladder, his back and left side towards the fire. There were six fires going at the time. The ladder is between two furnaces. lam sure no person could stand the heat from the furnace for three minutes together. I heard the deceased praying to his Maker to be re leased. At that time I was up on the deck. I saw the deceased fall. I did not occur to me to go to the captain, as, from what I had seen before, I be lieved that the engineer had the control of his own men. The deceased was kept to the ladder about half an hour. I saw him drop down ; before he did so he appeared in great agony. He was waving his head backwards and forwards before he fell. I only heard him praying to his Maker. The two prisoners were there, and could see the deceased and his sufferings. The second engineer was walk ing up and down, but did not attempt to release him. I saw him carried to the forecastle. The heat was very great. When he / was taken up he appeared quite dead. He was buried that day. I did not see him buried. I can't say if the deceased refused to work. I have heard the deceased say he could not stand the heat. By Mr. Aspinall—lf I had gone to the chief engi neer I should not have got a civil answer. There had been frequent complaints of the man's skulking. By Mr. Clough—When the' deceased rolled Ins head about it came within six inches of the fire. I never knew the man to be sick. He was a strong man, about 40 years of age. Robert Wilson, a stoker on board, was uider examination when our report left. He heard the first engineer tell the second to make him fast to the ladder. The case will be remanded, there being upwards of 15 witnesses to examine. COUNTRY MARKETS. NEWARK—MAncu 9. There was a limited quantity of wheat on offer, and prices for all descriptions were about maintained. Barley a very fair show, and at last week's extreme rates. Beans were in moderate supply, and prices easier. Oats a fair sale, at late rates. White wheat, now, 44s to 48s Red do. 37s to 42s Old white 44s to 48s Red do.. 378 to 42s Barley, malting 38s to 45s Barley, grinding 283 to 30s Oats, old, .. 3os to 34s New do 243 to 283 Beans. 44s to 48s Peas ....—s to —3 BOSTON-MARCH 9. The show of wheat at our corn market to-day was tolerably good, and in improved condition, but the trade ruled heavy. There was a moderate supply of barley, at the extreme prices of the previous week. Oats were not much changed in value. Beans were fully as cheap. Wheat ..36s to 39s Oats 20s to 24s White do .42s to 45s Beans —s to —s Barley .34s to 40s Ditto, old .42s to 45s MARKET HARBOROUGH-MARCH 8. The supply of wheat at our market was very fair, but the currencies of last week were scarcely realised. Barley and other articles unchanged. The fineness of the weather causes wheat to come to market in improved condition. Wheat 36s to 39s I Oath 26s to 32s White do 38s to 42s I Beans, new 40s to 45s Barley 36s to 40s I Peas . . 4os to 44s MELTON MOWBRAY-MARCH 8. There was a tolerable show of wheat but a very languid sale. White samples realised 40s to 445; red, 40s to 425; Barley of superior quality made high rates, malting of the best description selling at 38s to 40s per qr. ; in grinding little doing In oats there was very little change, prices ranging from 26s to 36s per 24 stone. Beans scarce and at higher rates, namely, 40s to 48s per 38 stone. DUBLIN—MARcit 8. There was a small supply of all kinds of grain at market to-day, and a great degree of dulness prevailed. There was a small retail demand for Indian corn, for which Friday's prices were scarcely supported. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. ii. Wheat, white.. 22 6t025 6 I Do., new Do., red 2l 6to 23 0 Bere Do., new .... 21 6t024 6 Rapeseed Barley Oats Do., black lO 6to 11 0 Indian corn .. 28 oto 30 0 COAL MARK] (Prices of Coal per Ton at s. d. T.T—MA.nen 9. the close of the market.) Walla End. Davison's West Hart- ley 15 0 Walker Primrose 12 0 Lambert's West Hart- s. d. Gosforth l4 3 Haswell .. . l7 0 Thorpe Heugh Hall 15 0 Kelloe l6 0 Cassop .. 16 0 Kepier Grange _l5 9 Shincliffo 14 3 Hunwick l4 0 Hetton. . Braddyll's Hetton 1 5 6 South Hetton 16 9 Acorn Close 15 0 Benson 14 0 Russell' s Hetton 15 3 Powell's Duffiyn Steam 21 0 ;, 92—Sold, 45. ley 14 3 Wylam l4 6 Haswell Gas. l2 0 Hastings Hartley... l4 9 Tanfield Moor ll 3 Tanfield Moor Butes-11 3 Walls End. Harton Frarnwellgate l4 0 Whitworth .14 0 Eden.. l5 0 Tees l7 0 Ships at markel [ADVERTISEMENT.]--Holloway's Pills and Ointment— , Health—Money.—None are so poor but may command health,.the great essential to happiness, by purchasing the above noble remedies, which, in all classes and in all cases, regulate the digestion of the rarest viands or rarest fare, whenever the stomach or liver is disordered by high living, climate, over •indulgence, or undue exertion, these prepare.- tions rectify the evil, and speedily bring back energy, strength, and cheerfulness to the frame, where previously all was lassitude, gloom, and despondency. They give new life to the dyspeptic, and by their wholesome influence over the liver and stomach they improve digestion and ensure robust health, which far excels, in real value, to its pos sessor, any pleasure money can obtain. [ADVERTISEMENT.] --SIGHT AND HEARING. SPEC' . TACLES.—POWERPtIL TELESCOPES,.-OPERA, RACE, AND PERSPECTIVE GLASSES. Messrs. S. and B. Solomon, opticians, 39, Albermarle-Street, Piccadilly. Observe-- opposite the York Hotel, W.—Opera, Race-course, Field, and general Out-door Day and Night Perspective Glasses! very small, for the waistcoat pocket, each containing 12 and 18 lenses, constructed of German glass. Will show dis tinctly a person to know them at two-and-a-half and three miles, and an object from eight to ten miles distant. Her Majesty's Coast Guards are making use of them as day and night glasses in preference to all others ; they are also pre ferred for deer-stalking by sportsmen, gentlemen, and gamekeepers. Telescopes 31 inches long, by which a per son may be clearly seen and known at 31 miles' and an object at 12 to 14 miles' distance; and with an extra astro nomical eye-piece, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings, and the double stars are distinctly seen. All the above can be had of larger and all sizes, with increasing powers, and are secured by her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent. The Royal Exhibition, 1851. A valuable, newly -invented, very small,. powerful Waistcoat-pocket Glass, the size of a walnut, by which a person can b e seen. and known one and a half mile distant. They answer every purpose on the, Race-course and at the Opera houses. Country scenery and ships are clearly seen at four to six miles. They are invaluable for shooting, deer-stalking, yachting, to sportsmen, gentlemen, game keepers, and tourists. Price 30s.—Spectacle Lenses of the greatest transparent power. The great advantage derived from this invention is, that vision becoming impaired is preserved and strengthened, and very aged persons are enabled to employ their sight at the most minute occupation —can see with those lenses of a much less magnifying power, and they do not require the frequent changes to the dangerous effects of further powerful assistance. Persons can be suited at the most remote part of the world by send ing one of the glasses out of their spectacles in a letter, and stating the distance from the eyes they can read small print with it, and those who have not made use of spectacles by stating their age. Deafness.--New Discovery.—The Organic Vibrator, an extraordinarily powerful small newly-invented instrument for Deafness, entirely different from all others, surpasses anything of the kind that has been, or probably ever can be, produced. Being of the same colour as the skin, is not perceptible. It enables deaf persons to hear distinctly at church and at public assemblies ; the unplea sant sensation of singing noises in the ears is entirely re moved, and it affords all the assistance that possibly could be desired.-39, Albemarle-street. Piccadilly. Observe-- opposite the York Hotel, W. BIRTHS. BURROUGHES.—On the 7th inst., at Hoveton Hall, Nor folk, the Hon. Mrs. Randall Borroughes, of a daughter. COLVILL.—On the 30th Jan., at Calcutta, the wife of Sir James Colvill, of a son. MOSTYN.--On the 7th inst., at Talacre, Flintshire, the Hon. Lady Mostyn, of a son. RicH.—On the 7th inst., at 12, Nottingham-place, Regent's park, the wife of Sir Charles J. H. Rich, Bart., of a son. MARRIAGES MILLS—LEGGATT.—On the Bth inst., at Emanuel Church, Camberwell, Mr. Frederick C. M. Mills, of the Bang of England, to Elizabeth Mary, daughter of the late Henry Leggatt, Esq., 79, Cornhill. STANLEY—MUSGRAVE.--01 1 the Bth inst., at Edenhalf Church, William, eldest son of Edward Stanley, Esq., o. Ponsonby Hall, to Caroline, eldest daughter of Sir Geo Musgrave, Bart., of Edenhall. DEATHS. BATTY.—On the Bth inst., Emma, the wife of Chas. Batty, of Albany-crescent, Camberwell, aged 41. COLLEY.—On the 9th inst., Mr. John Lawt on Colley, 23, Bishopsgate-street-within, aged 41. CoLLINsoN.—On the 7th inst., Mary, eldest daughter of William Francis Collinson, of Highgate, and Berwick street, Oxford- street, aged 25. GasoN.—On.the Ist inst., at R ome, Ch ar l otte, the w i fe o f Colonel E. Gibson, and daughter of the late M. P. Lucas, Esq., of Wateringbury, Kent. MAtinicE.—On the 7th inst., at Spring-grove, Middlesex, Mary Blissett, daughter of the late Thelwall Maurice, M.D., of Marlborough, Wilts. VALINTINE.—On the 6th inst., at the Vicarage, Cocking, the Rev. Thomas Valintire, M.A., canon of Chichester, aged 70. WINDER.—On the 6th inst., at Vaenor Park, Montgomery' shire, John W. L. Winder, Esq. LONDON : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG' of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, No. 1 111 1 Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in. the county us Middlesex, Thursday, Much 10, 1859, - I tic Ma for ing dal Tr( wh eon Bit oft • Opt • the Yea anc met pre nqt cur. • cou 'V{ Sec] hot 110r3 tot her; all this Apx shoe food seas led. /lest greE lit it. y Tes' cult 448 Rail by R D lieu Tre the Mid him his 1 SOI plac Dor( on I Diet thei end sprJ 100 1 S~ --T'. Tre for, Con