The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-13 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL.

SEVERAL EXTENSIVE FIRES have occurred in dif-
ferent parts of the country during the past week. The
destruction of 16 Louses and other property in C.ontaidge-
shire is spoken of at length in our report front that vouoty.
Late on Wednesday night, 12 dwelling-houses, tenanted by
labouring families at Sidmouth, at a place called Mill-cross,
were burned down. It was caused by the driver of the
nor therm mail cart going into a stable with a naked candle to
bed-up his horses for the night, when a spark fall on some
straw, which speedily ignited. One man, named Dull, lost
his life in the flames. Ilia body was dug out the follbwine,.
morniny, a blackened mar.—On the same day, at Muretoa-
hampstead, Devonshire, a large tire destroyed several houses
in the centre of the town, near the shambles.—Two other
fires took place the folios ing day, at Haddenham, Oxford-
shire, and at Broodelist. At these 14 houses were burned
down.—On Thursday a fire broke out at Cwm Avon, near
Cardiff, which destroyed the greater portion of the factories
of the Cwm Avon works. The loss is variously calculated at
from 6,0001. to 7,000!. Another fire occurred on Fri-
day night, which consumed a homestead and .evcral
stacks, at Swaffliam. It was believed to have been the work
of an incendiary.—Other fires are reported to have broken
out at Burlington, Newport, and at Bury. At the former
no fewer than 28 stacks of corn were burnt, and that at Bury
occasioned the partial destruction of the paper-mills of
Messrs. Wrighleys and Co., at Heap-bridge.—The total
amount of property destroyed is stated to be little ikon of
80,0001.

BIRTH-PLACE.—A public meeting is
to be held in Manchester on Wednesday, in aid of the sub-
scription to purchase Shakapeere's house. A preliminary
meeting wu held at the Athenteum on Friday night. which,
with the exception of James Heywood, laq., M.P., for
North Lancashire, who took the chair, was very uninflues-
tially attended, but letters were read from the Earl of Elles-
mere, offering a subscription of 1001. ; Mark Philip., Esq„
offering 501. ; and Lord Morpeth 25/. ; towards the of jest of
the meeting. A deputation from Stratford-on-Avon, rim-
slating of Dr. Thompson, Mr. Braccbridge, and Mr. Flower,
attended the meeting, as representatives of the Royal Shah-
epearo Club of that place, and explained the steps proposed
to be taken. It was stated that the sale would le in London,
on the 16th inst. ; that 8091. had been already raised and
spent in securing a part of the dwelling; that the club would
fix a fair commercial value on the building, beyond which
they would not bid ; and that if they did not succeed in the
purchase, the money raised would be spent in some other
way in doing honour to the great dramatist.
Inc ItOCIIIIALE IRISH FEVER PATIENT.—Mr.
tin, the assistant poor-law commissioner, is to meet the
board of guardians at Rochdale this day, to inquire into the
alleged improper treatment of en Irish fever patient, a boy
named Michael Duignan, who died on board the Duchess of
Kent steamer, while on her garage to Dublin on the morn-
ing of the 2nd inst. It will be recollected that the verdict
of a coroner's jury at Dublin wax, " We find that al:ehael
Duignan won removed in a cart at seven o'clock in the morn-
ing of Wednesday hut from a fever hospital in the town of
Rochdale, in England, to the railway station there, and
thence transmitted ly railway a distance of 47 miles. to Li-
verpool, and there put on board the steamer the same day,
as a deck passenger, in a very weak and exhausted rate—
in a state quite unfit to undertake a voyage hire, the
channel ; and we find that his death was caused
by the exposure of his weak and exhausted frame to the cold
of a tempestuous night on the deck of the steam, r. We
cannot too sthonglv condemn the treatment of the said
Michael Duinan, by the pariah authorities of Rochdale;
and we attribute his death to their inhuman conduct in send-
ing him in such a state of weakness to Ireland." Without
anticipating the result of the proposed investigation, says oar
correspondent, I may state that in a conversation with the
chairman of the Rochdale board of guardians, he learnt that
they expected to show that the verdict the Irish jury came
to upon evidence altogether Cr parte was unmerited so far as
it reflects upon them, and that they will prove by medical
certificates that the boy was sufficiently recovered to be in a
lit state for an ordinary voyage across the channel. The fact
of his having to lie conveyed to the railway station in a cart,
which is made a feature in the verdict, is explained on the
ground that the boy was a cripple and usable to walk teen
in health, from a malformation of his feet, which were turned
inwards."

PRA/POSED FREEtTII.ADE CONGRESS OF ALL
NATIONS, AT MANCIIPATER.—In an article noticing the
forthcoming free-trade congress at Brussels, the Man-
chester Times says :
A free-trade congress of nations was thought worthy of /dam :betties%
It has been reserved for Brussel, to realise the nest Step 111 this novel
attempt "to bind the nations in a golden chain." Manchester, how.
ever, has perhaps more wisely suffered such a proposition to s 4rAnate,
in the first place, from a fort ego land. It is a grantful rerogniCcn of
the great work ofeornnwreitil emancipation, which Manchester under-
took pernmeringly, and aocomplishtsi triumphantly,—that MK nhoaid
now be invited to mend deputies to witness 4 contention of fnettraders
commence, for theconttnent, what has been already atliieted by Greet
Britain. Manchester, however, will neither forget her position, nor
its duties. The world is her debtor—but her tank was tnlr half
accomplished when England became a convert to her creel. Sym.
pathy cud co-operatics are needed for the nations that are just cosi.
meming the struggle we have ended. May their efforts mute we
glorious and suctos.ful ! Manchester, we understand, will nes: year
revive her tmestinguished ardour in furtherance in free tr:Ale, by
summoning a canaries of nations to hold their *liberations on the
spot that lus been the platform of her own power. The Free Trade.
hall will then become a shrine towards which pilgrims from al! coun-
tries will congregate. May the spirit that has no often animated
enthusiastic thomands within its walls impart again the needed
energy and earnestness, to arm the continental apostle. of the same
faith with • similar sussairanee of the justice of their caw, and the
certainty of its ultimate triumph
A "PLANET RCLER. —SI,"PERSTITION IN Isl 7.
Last week, a child of Edmund Mitchell's, a bobbin-maker,
resident two miles from Todmorden, got severely burnt by
falling against the oven door. A neighbouring woman hap-
pened to go into the house soon after the accident, and
assured Mitchell's wife that an old planet-ruler and fortune-
teller, resident at a secluded and solitary place called Frield
Hurst, near Todmorden, could cure the child instantly by
cabalistic art, for, continued the woman, he can atop bleed-
ing, kill witches and wizards, by means of ruling the planets.
Tne mother of the child went to the fortune-teller, whose
name is said to be Holgut alias Holgate, and after she had
told her story about the accident and paid him the usual
fee. he told her that she might go home, for the child was
completely cured. The woman returned, but (wand the
child crying and much worse. On Sunday Mr. Hardman
surgeon, of Todmorden, was called to see it, and under his
care the child is now in a fair way of recovery. It is stated
that the planet ruler of Frield Hunt obtains an excellent
living by his bad fortune telling, chiefly by young women.