The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-02 00:00:00

PROPINCIAL.

EXTENSION OF TEE ELECTRIC TELEGROPII.—The
posts fur the electric telegraph have been put down, end the
wires have been laid along a part of the Liverpool and Man.
cheater Railway, so that in a month or two we may hope to
have a telegraphic communication from Liverpool to London
gal Manchester. This is rather a roundabout way for the
first outport in the empire to communicate with the capital,
but as the speed of the electric communication surpasses that
of everything except thought, thirty miles more or kw is
quite unappreciable.
GENERAL SUSPENSION OP LABOUR IN COTTON
Facroxiga.—The Manchester Guardian of yesterday, says:
—" We publish a sena of resolutions, passed at a special
delegate meeting of operative cotton spinners of Lancashire
and the neighbounng. counties, held on the 29th instant,
which des roe the serious and dispassionate consideration of
all parties engaged in the staple trade of the district. It
will be seen en reference to these resolutions, that, taking
into account the great disproportion which continues to exist
between the prices of raw cotton and of the fabrics mane.
factured from it, the meeting recommended a general sus-
pension of work, " for a few weeks, during the present mild
and genial season, when, in consequence of the abundance of
vegetable food, the warmth of the weather, and the pond-
bility, in many instances, of finding out-door employment,
the privations to which the operatives would be exposed
would not be so severe." The editor of the paper continues
" Believing, as we do, that neither the present state of the
markets for cotton goods an yarn, nor the present or pro-
bable future supply of cotton, will pastify a return to full
employment in the factories for some Uwe to come, we think
that nothing can be better calculated to answer the purposes,
both of employers and workpeople, than the entire suspen-
sion of labour which is here recommended. Few of our
readers will have forgotten the beneficial effect produced
upon the trade by the general turn-out in August, 1842, and
although with the present stocks of cotton in the world, we
can scarcely hope for consequences equally beneficial from
a general stoppage at the present time, we are satisfied that
it would be preferable to any other mode of diminishing
production." We append the resolutions :
1. That this sasetkag deeply regrets the continuum of the depres-
sion which him MOW Milled hi twelve months in the ootten trade of
this district, so soda eassdag believes, front the high prior of
the raw reatorial.oribeieseme of the neceareriesof life, and mfrs.
voted by re unprorissled demand for money in consequence of rail-
riutesierbson snit 11111111111‘sirtther4 crippling rt of commerwrigacrebsslivet.
hem grodri4 th ems esJef e
Mk to diminish the extent of the evil,
cwands( Me sad theat once lessening the consumpliso of
otton NM Mr of goals • but cannot avoid ewer., re-
gret that mascara were not wooer and more univandly
adopted. 3. That though the delegates assembled at this meting
onnnot but hal gerible of the pivot:Loma to alien their fellowmen-
tires and themselves have been eubjeeted, to commemsense et the very
great reduction he the of employment, and the 1111111•111110111 t
diminution MIMI, they &We to tender their More
thanks to the esseM y of their employers ran baviog
adopted the reese dome to preierenre Is the redaction of mgr.
—4. That this trasire mould rejoice to beim that the period d dif-
ficulty wire Mar me, bat from the condor* disereportien between
the prise d emb end MUM. and the =Yore/ who have is.
ceornaLeen soden eider still .
farttti hery
e osonet to rider
,11.11/i
hr Mr
d Oi ware, I
proem. our elan has to Is endured both by the apholist and his
The. wider those circumaterm eY sonstikriag
the sibs rebel d their armee so remeadvdy al-
Mai ne to be la apertre dries, Ms wafts hr bean
W la eratislae Mather my stme meld be rift and penally
Men he Mee the mile by which wie w yet War rod ; end
reerim ebb mob morime, et amilmolowd oven
iserored, thermion brim thethe
locroinrisked if wiegarilla
fag degree degree he filer a onion Mann brit verb Ire highly
desirable to ftelW dm pabelillty sob or sepserthen el be
calamity, by eminly esagnalhast operations b ester Nib he kw
weeks during dr lama NM and geoid rms. whm in acme-
come of the sbneams• le meld& trid, psi ben weriath of the
weather, and the mobility, In mod lors of Man out-door
employment, the Meador le ebb the vos weer he exprod
would not be ea severe. —6. The thie moth& thenel pee=ri:
recommend to their fellow to Yin thiseenempet
how desirable It would be to have the scrwareme of ther orployers
and the influence of public ophdoe la its favour, deehretise secretary
to forward the resolutions of this meeting to Wilson Patton, Eq.,
M.P., J. Brotherton, Km., M.P., Mark Phillips, E.g., sad C. Hindley,
Eq., M.P., with the request ef was tag shadily eicyJd kindly
endeavour to obtain the Mean of dr man use be muse pro-
peed: Laurin: themthane siert wen be Goble part of the
operatives to bring about a smeteeful result, in a manner satisfactory
and reareetful to their employee.

- -
DEMONSTRATION OF MESSRS. FIELDEN AND COB-
Ain't; FILIINDS Ai OLD11•11.—A grand procession, public
meeting, tea party, and ball, were got up on Tuesday, at
Oldham, in honour of the late defeated candidates for the
representation of the borough. The procession was extraor-
dinarily large, and the public meeting, which was held in
front of the ITown.hall, was attended by at least eight or
ten thousand persons. At the tea party in the evening, in
the Working Men's ball, there was a large proportion of
females ; and here, after the refreshments had been removed,
Mr. Fielden, Mr. Cobbett, and Mr. Hindley, M.P. for tigh-
ten, were present, to address the elector, and non-electors.—
Mr. J. Mellor jun., was called to the chair, and stated, that in
addition to the guests they bad with them, there had been
letters sent to other gentlemen in various parts of the king-
dom, who had entitled themselves to the kindest regard and
highest esteem of the people of Oldham, by the manner in
which they had supported Mr. Fielden during his high, and
earnest, and successful struggle to accomplish what
to them hnd been so near and dear namely, the
mitigation of the hours of labour in cotton mills.
The chairman proceeded to read or state the substance of
the answers to these letter, which were from General
Johnson, Mr. Walter, M.P., Mr. Brotherton, M.P., Mr. 8.
Crawford, M.P., and Mr. Wakley, M.P. The latter gen-
tleman stated that a more honourable, independent, upright
man never occupied a seat in the House of Commons than
Mr. ',laden, for whom be entertained the highest respect ;
and he soks, " Why have the electors of Oldham rejected
Mr. Fielden ? Have the inhabitants gone stark staring
mad ? If any good explanation has appeared in any of the
journals you will oblige me by forwarding it ; fur, unex-
plained, the rejection of such a man, at such a time, is enough
to produce a feeling of di.may throughout the country.
Mr. Fielden rose a&dst great applause, and, after reading a
letter from Lord Ashley, urging Tessera of a domestic nature
for not attending this meeting, proceeded to notice the ques-
tion of Mr. Wakley. To this he replied that their
assembling together to support himself and Mr. Cobbett on
the day of nominitiou, on the day of declaring the poll,
land again on the present occasion, in such vast numbers—if
thet were any manifestation of madness, then they
were gone stark staring mad. But he took it
as • proof of their sincerity, of their honesty, of
that adherence to the principles they espoused when
they lint put him in nomination. But there was •
clam who had gone stark staring mad ; and that else eon-
slated of the 400 or 500 electors who had had the audacity to
profess liberal political principles, and by their votes had
confounded all politics. But that was the only class that he
knew of who had " gone stark staring med." For those
around him he would say, that he honoured them for the
conduct they had pursued while he was their member, and
he honoured them now, and hoped they would do justice to
the principles they had long maintained. They sent him to
parliament to obtain the Ten Hours Bill, and he believed
the obtainment of that bill had given the greatest satisfac-
tion ; and he considered it one of the most excellent mea-
sures that had pared the legislature since he had the honour
of representing that borough its parllament. He contended
that wages would not fall in proportion to the hours of labour,
as had been awned. People asked why the workers in
factories did not themselves determine to work fewer hours;
but everybody acquainted with manufacturing establish-
ments knew that the operatives must go to work and leave
it, not when they liked, but when their employers thought
fit, before that bill was peened. He charged it upon his
opponents, at the declaration of the poll, that it was the
paving of the Ten Hours Bill got him rejected; and they
said " No, it was dictatioa." Now that was what he
wanted them to say ; because if it should ever be tried to
make his rejection a ground for repealing the act, he could
refer to it, and they bad liberated him from a great responsi-
bility. He wanted to be set at liberty ; he was anxious to
get out to pass. He had served them faithfully for 14
yeah; he had never bought them—he bad never sold
them. Amongst some of the 440 who voted right and
left—for Fox and Duneuft, Duncuft and Fox—men whose
political opinions were as wide as the poles asunder—
amongst those Very mere he found diseenten as well as men
opposed to all religion. And these men complained of the
people not being educated. Now he always told them that
if they wanted the people to be educated they must give them
the Ten Hours Bill that they might have time to be edu-
cated. But they said, " Oh, oh—we cannot think of that."
The peeple bad gat the bill, however, it spite of them, and
he herd*, would snake that use of the Ten Hours
Bill, and ma these advantages from it, which it was cal-
culated to give them if they exerted themselves aright. The
females would have more time to devote themselves to do.
mastic habits, to make themselves better wives, and mother,

and daughter. Was there ever such *aortae, as that dis-
played by she 440 electors who Tined fee Fox and thincult ?
He did mot think he could fled Another 600 such ignorant
stiassd 0141A311.; hat depend upon it, if.they got that educa-
tive' which*. bill now gave them en opportunity of obtain-
ing, the .tame was not distant when they would have an
extension of the franchise. He believed that the Working
Men's Hall was built with the view of promoting this mea-
sure; and it Dad always, been his opinion that every man
who had a sound head on his shoulders', of 21 years of age,
and untainted by crime, ought to have it yoke in the election
of his representatives. Well then, let the men, who worked
to factories show that they were deserving of the franchise
I bill : Ski d
:It use they made of ton: • "end upon It the
inhabitants of Old/seat would reap the full advantages of
their past exertions to obtain it. lied it not been
for the state of the times—had it not been that labour
was scarce that the people were in circumstances of
difficulty their opponents, whether free-traders or
leaguers, would not have dared to de the dirty trick they
had done. But the fact was, that, instead of the country
being better off for free trade, it was not so well or.
They were worse now than before they got free-trade.—
Mr. J. Cobbett, the other defeated candidate, next addressed
the meeting, observing that the question of Mr. Wakley
was deserving an answer, because it was always considered
at a distance that, when a man who had a long time repro-
' sented a borough and was turned out, that it was because he
deserved it, and that the voice of the electors was a true
index to the general feeling. Was that the case here 1 Wm
it not precisely opposite to the fact ? Had they not on the
day of nomination a show of hands which put to flight all
pretences for such • supposition ? He rejoiced, therefore,
that Mr. Fielden had given that answer, and he hoped it
would go forth by means of the press as a just retrials-
, don on the part of that which was the most un-
principled of all coalitions—the free trade and tory
coalition. They had been told that the working classes
did not deserve the suffrage; but if they had it,
would they have bartered the privilege for revenge 1—
Mr. C. Hindley, M.P. for Ashton, was next called upon, and
in allusion to the question of Mr. Wakley expressed his opi-
nion that the rejection of Mr. Fielden was not the re,ult of
, the manufacturers' revenge for the passing of the Ten ROUTS
Bill, or the same feeling must have operated against himself
for Ashton, against Mr. Brotherton for Salford, and against
Mr. Sharman Crawford for Rochdale. He expressed his
belief that it was from a feeling—however mistaken that feel-
ing might be—that a degree of dictation had been attempted
by Mr. Fielden, in nominating his colleague in the repre-
sentation.—The day's proceedings were closed by a ball, and
the party did not separate till a late hear.

AN IMPORTANT NIEETING OF THE BIRKENHEAD
Door COMIKISSIONEF-9 took place yesterday; J. Mallaby,
Esq., in the chair. The minutes of the last general board,
and also of the dock committee meetings, were read over.
From the proceedings of the latter it appeared (as already
reported in this paper) that the Lannshire and Cheshire
Railway Company had offered to pay all tonnage rates upon
vessels entering into the docks, provided the charge did not
exceed Gd. per ton on foreign shipping, and Id. on coasters.
This to continue in force from September, 1847. to January.
1849, and provided the amount of such rates did not ex-
ceed 2,0001. a year. On this subject the consent of
the Woods and Forests and also of the bondholders
had been sought, but as there had not been time to
receive answers from those bodies, the chairman suggested
that the meeting should be adjourned for a week. This
led to a rather lengthy discussion, the general feeling
being in favour of the measure.—Mr. Malin asked for
information relative to a suggestion which was rather
vaguely referred to, respecting the transfer of that trust to
the trustees of the Liverpool docks.—The correspondence
which had taken place on the subject was then handed to
Mr. Ificklia for his perusal, and the matter dropped, with
an understanding that it might be discussed at the next
meeting, when further communications are expected relative
to that proposition and the offer ot the railway company.—
The Chairman said, the way in which it was put upon the
minutes was through a letter from Messrs. Crowder and
Maynard (solicitors to the bondholder of the Birken-
head docks), but which the committee thought of too
general a nature to be entertained.—Mr. W. Laird
moved " That it would be for the advantage of this
trust, to accept the offer of the Birkenhead, Lancashire,
and Cheshire Junction Railway Company, and that &special
meeting of the hoard be called for that purpose, by giving
fourteen days' notice thereof." The Chairman did not see any
objectien to the resolution, provided the words " if it can be
legally done " were added. After some further discussion,
the following resolution was unanimously adopted—" That
the law clerk be requested to call a special meeting of this
board, for Thursday, the 16th inst., for the purpose of con-
sidering the desirable proposal of the railway company, and
for varying and amending the rates, and taking such other
steps as may be necessary for carrying the proposal into
effect." Mr. Prichard, during the discussion, strong lv recom-
mended the deepening of the entrance to the docks ; that
sheds be erected on the west side of the docks; and that a
gridiron should be placed in an advantageous position.—Mr.
Hind inquired when the graving docks would Le ready I
The Chairman expected they would be ready this week.—
Mr. Potter moved the following resolution, which was
seconded and uaanimously adopted--" That it would pro-
mote the public advantage that vessels should be admitted
from and to Liverpool and Birkenhead respectively on the
footing of the nearest English port ; and that so vessels
coming from Liverpool are so admitted at Birkenhead, ap-
plication be made to the dock trustees of Liverpool to admit
• clause in their next intended application to parliament to
effect this object, if their present power do not admit their
making such arrangement at once."
A CASE OF SUPPOSED MURDER is in course of in-
vestigation at Pattingham. An Irish labourer, named
'Arkin, had been at work in the neighbourhood, when he
was suddenly missed. His brother received the money due
to deceased, and then he also left the place. The body of
Larkin has since been found in a pond with a mark of a blow
on the head. A jury commenced an inquiry on Monday,
but the proceedings were adjourned till We 6th inst.

DEVONSHIRE._

GREAT FIRE AT EXETER.—Yesterday morning,
at about ten minutes put two, the inhabitants of the centre
part of the city of Exeter, opposite Bread Gate, were alarmed
by loud terrific cries of " Fire," and before &sentence could
be rendered the whole premises of J. Solomon, extending
from Waterloo-street to the High-street, were in one com-
plete blaze. The flames first broke through the premises
from the wareroom in the rear of the shop. So sudden and
extensive was the fire that before any engines could be got
into work the houses of Messrs. Braund and Hearn, drapers,
and Mr. Risdon, draper, on each side adjoining, were both
partially ignited, some of the inmates of these esta-
blishments escaping in their night dresses. About half-
past two the tire-engines commenced playing on the
llama, but such was their violence, that the moment the shop
shutters gave way, which they did about 3 o'clock, the flames
rushed across the street, at that s,:ot nearly 40 feet wide, and
would have set fire to the house of Mr. 11. Braunds, woollen
draper, and to the house lately occupied by Mr. Prince,
furrier, but for the water the engines were enabled to supply.
The engines continued to play for some time without making
any apparent impression ; at length, the quantity of water
stopped the progress of the flames, but not until the et-cks of
Mr. Radon and that of Messrs. Braund and 'learn were nearly
all spoiled. It iscaiculeted that 10,0001. will scarcely repair the
damage done. Solomon's house is entirely destroyed ; that
of Braund and Co. very much injured, as well as that of Mr.
Risdon. A fire took place on Solomon's premises on the 3rd
of March lest, upon which occasion an inquisition was held
before the coroner. Solomon, with his ahopman, Lamb, and
a porter named Smale, were all three given in charge yester-
day morning at the Turk's Head. They are now in custody
at the city prison, and an inquest is summoned to be held at
the George Inn, North.street, this day, at 3 o'clock.

Sanest FREE gcßoo7B::fisis ancient and once
useful and valuable school, was, in the month of December
last, and still continues to be, shut up, and altogether de.
sorted. The schoolmaster sad scholars were dismissed,
under the alleged authority of a new scheme, obtained from
the Court of Chancery at an expense of upwards of 1,0001.,
for the purpose of confining the benefit of the insti-
tution to the children of members of the lAtablished Church,
in exclusion of the children of dissenters ; the gates leading
to the play-ground are demolished ; the broken windows on
the west side of the buildings are boarded up to prevent
further mischief. Since " the schoolmaster has been
abroad," it has been discovered that owing to some flaw in
the Chancery proceedings, more difficulties have arisen in
reference to the ousting of children of dissenters, than
was expected. By the new scheme it is provided, that
the Master of Pembroke Hall, in Cambridge, be the visitor
of the school, and in his absence the Vicar of Soham. On
every vacancy the trustees are to proceed to an election within
eight weeks, and if a majority should not have agreed with-
in that time, the right of appointment is vested in the Master
of Pembroke Hall and the Vicar of Sebago, jointly ; and if
they should not agree, and perfect the same within one fort-
night after, then the right is vested in the bishop of the dio-
cese absolutely. The trustees and the Master of Pembroke
Hall, andthe vicar, having neglected to appoint within the
time prescribed, the appointment, it appears, is now vested
in the Bishop of Ely, and it is hoped that his lordship will
proceed to exercise the power given to him with as little
delay as possible. As matters now stand, it seems that the
children of churchmen, as well as those of dissenters, ere ex-
cluded from that benefit which the founders of the charity;
established in the reign of Charles the Second, intended.

A CHURCH 5113.1TC11-BYIIOLTNING. A corre-
spondent states, that during divine service on Sunday after-
noon last, the church of Welton was struck by lightning,
and one of the congregation, Hr. J. Brownlow, killed on
the spot. Others were injured. In one part of thy church
five females were toned Wog insensible with their
faces blackened. A boy was discovered in another part
of the building with his clothes on fire. The buttons of Mr.
Brovnilow's waistcoat were melted; the right leg of bin
trainers was torn down, and his coat literally burnt off.
His wife was in the same pew with him, but reaped
injury. A gentleman occupying the next pew, was
knocked down by the chock, and hurt rather seriously.
On the church being surveyed, it appeared that the light-
ning first atreck the south-eastern pinnacle of the tower, and
threw down portions of the battlement. It than pond Into • •
the tower, and melted en iron rod connected meth the • •••••'
Here the onlnsit of electricity appeared to bate bees
One portion derteaded on the exterior and enteloodho
another portion dammuleri inside, and, having
stonework of dos Igor an do interior of the
thrown down the alook4lllll Patera did
rt
aisle. In this port Oat dosek worn three .
km, chandeliers, whisk annong an ler the At
fluid downwards. no on AI" an
Watallag •P
them were injured. On mwwW Y lope* wet hid es -e-
-remains of the imoififi, wheats verdict in scesetlease
the nature of his do* wotehraed. The other paths wile
were Mimed ate le be Peireiling favourably,