The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-14 00:00:00

DURIIAV.

SCENE IN COURT.—At the Durham assizes, a
stalwart Irishman, of the name of Edward'.oyle, pleaded
guilty before Mr. Justice Cresawell, to a charge of
housebreaking, and requested his lordship to favour him
with a a yen years' transportation. As the circum-
stances of the case, however, did not justify bis lord-
ship in extending to him the wished fur boon, he
substituted instead a twelvemonth's imprisonment;
upon hearing which the would-be tourist growled out
in a tone transported with anger—" Thank ye, yer
honor," and stooping down—before any one was aware
of his intentions—pulled off one of his iron-'hod
" broutzes " and 1 urled it at his lordship's head. The
formidable missile, which might have put an abrupt
termination to his lordship's judicial labours, struck
rim somewhere on the breast, moot fortunately with-
out inflicting any • zions injury. After regaining his
composure, of which the suddenness of the act had for
a moment deprived him, his lordship is said to have
observed, in • slightly disconcerted tone to those around him,
" This comes, you see, of thwarting peoples wishes." The
prisoner was immediately removed.
-

.....
COMMISSION BY THE LORD LIEUTENANT.—Lord
Arthur Edwin Rill, to be Lieutenant, M the Southern
Regiment of Nottinghamiliz2ceonranry

MCRDER OF A WOMAN AND ATTACK ON A CLF.R-
OTKAN.--On Wednesday afternoon a woman, about 31
years of age, well known in the country, was found lying on
Shaw-hacommon, near Collingburn, quite imenaitile and
covered with bruises. Her face was hltak from tt e violence
to which Ph. had been subjected, and it was found that she
had been stabbed in the neck. She was found by a gentle-
man passing the p'ace, and was conveyed to Cnllingburn,
where she remained till Friday, when she Lind, without
ever having opened her eves or spoken a w"rd since she wee
found on the common. • It was recall, etre' by a neighbour-
ing farmer that a yours, man with a lustian coat and trousers
had been seen speaseing to her an hour or two be-
fore she was found. In three or four hours after the
woman was found, a yourg man, seeminely about 20 years
of age, called without a coat at Dv: rectory of the
Rey. Mr. Haddo, of Everleivh, some few m'ies distant
from where the female was found. He represented himself
as being in want, and asked relief. The rev. gentleman
el to Live him anything, observing that he was a young
athletic man, and ought to earn a livelihood by working in-
stead of begging. No sooner had Mr. Iladdo made this re-
mark than the applicant, putting hit hands into his pocket',
pulled out several stones, and with rite of them hit the rev.
gentleman on the arm. He was taken into custody by some
persons who witnessed the assault, and on being brought be-
fore the magistrate expensed his regret that he h.d 'totems-
, ended in murdering the rev. gentleman, adding, that he had
murdered one person that day, of which they would after-
wards hear. He was committed to pri,on for the assault, and
soon afterwards the idea occurred to the magistrate that he
might be the i erson who had committed the attack on the
dl irg woman. A met which w..s found rear the body of
the woman was ascertained to belong to the prisoner, and
was made of the same materiel. as his trousers. The prisoner
gave his name as James Smith, and represented himself as
a mould. rby trade. He is a perfect steamier in the neigh-
bourhood, no one ever having seen him before. Five shil-
lings and some odd p-nce were found in his pocket. Oa
Saturday he was committed to Devises prism, to await the
result of the inquest, before being tried far the assault.

IMPEDIMENTS TO GOOD FARMING.—At the last
meeting of the Aveliog Farmers' Club. the membe rs discussed
the question .‘ What have been the chiet impeduncnts to the
practical development of British husbandry t" The sub cct
was introduced by a member from North O-kenclou, who in-
stanced es amongst the evils which have hitherto operated
again.t the cultivation if the soil Ignorance, with
its nocompanying prejudice, (Tk r oppocrd t 3 improvement,
and especially so in the application of chemical science to
agriculture. 2nd. The custom (which indeed is now fast
wearing away) of lot granting leases, without which suffi-
cient security is not afforded for the outlay of capital.
3rd. The et couragement of game and the cultivation of
hedge row timber, both of which are c len:sited to impede
to so immense extent the advaitc.ment of t griculture.
4th. Want of ready communicotioa, the ugh this watt in
now in a great measure supplied by the introducti.,n of
Steam. sth. The burden upon labour in the shape of in-
direct taxation, &c. Arid lastly, though by no means the
least, the limited application of capital and skill to the
improvement of the sod. In allusion to this latter subject,
the speaker took occasion to describe the impression lett main
his mind by a visit which he had recently paid to Nortltum-
beriand and the adjoining countits, namely that, much as
had been already done, and willing as the landowners ap-
peared to be to meet the reasonable want* of the it tenantry,
the vast resources of the coil were as yet rendered but
very inadequately available. 1 hat there rue indetit striking
exceptions to this rule he willingly admitted, and one of
these he wished to be made known not only to the parties
present, but to all in any way connected with the cultiva-
tion of land, and more particularly to the-e possessed of
it. The speaker referred to T. Andersou, I>q., who stables
on his own estate, at Little Marie, near Newcastle upon-
Tyne. When that gentleman first took poscertion of the
property be found it saturated with water, and consequently
capable of growing little else but rushes and nth grass, and,
to use his own words, there was no day in the year when he
might not have shot before dinner, within a short distance
of his house, a dish of snipes. The land near his mansion
consists of about 300 acres, in the form of an amphitheatre,
the mansion null bring situated in the centre of silty acres
of hog, around which runs a park of about 150 cotes, that
again being skirted by 150 acres of arable :anti. To convey
the 'o ater to the centre of the boa was cemparativt lean easy
undertaking, and was effected by digging there a well nine-
teen feet ueep, and four feet and a half la diameter, into
which were led three main drains, tour and a half feet ctli
and t and a hall feet wide; these drains ran quite through
the estate, and thus became the leaden for the sin
ditches cut in various directions as net did ; the water being
thus conveyed to the main shaft in immense vellum tS, the
greater difficulty remained of carp ing it away, cod this the
a. hitt d proprietor effected by forming an uncrerground drain,
on, mile in length ..nd three feet in diameter ; this drain
was in places eighty-two fret from the surface,and discharged
itself at a fall of eight feet into the • Wartsbeek. The
cost of this undertaking amounted to pee thousand pounds,
but the amount of the outlay will be soon amply it petite with
a large rate of interest, as will be seen by the sequel. Wine
Mr. Anderson first commenced his draining operations, hie
pm &c., would not realise more than five shillings per acre
;
he has this year let it at a guinea and a Self per acre, be-
sides converting an atmosphere formerly damp and impure
into one dry and salubrious. These lams, attestei as they
are by an eyewitness, are a strong proof of how much may
yet be done upon soils at present entirely unproductive, and
to all appearance incapable of improvement. The meeting
having fully concurred in the view taken of the subject by
the member who introduced it, came to the resolution con-
tained in the Svc divisions specified above.