The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-12 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL.

NORTITAMPTONSIITRE.
A Pl.nt.te MEETING took place at Northampton on Mon-
day, when resolutions wero agreed to condemnatory of the
punishment of death, and a petition adopted praying its
abolition.

.....
QUARREL AMONG WORK Hors,. AtTIIORITIEV.—Mr.
Neale, Assistant Poor-law Commissioner, has just made, at
the request of the Board of Guardians, an investigation into
a quarrel between the master, matron, schoolmistress. and
the porter of the Loughborough Union workhouse. It ap-
peared that it originated in an avowed personal dislike, on
the part of the matron, toward the schoolmistress, who had
been hut newly appointed. The matron lost no opportunity
of annoying the governess, and incited the school children
to dispute her authority over them. The porter was charged
with impropriety towards the female paupers by the matron;
and he, in retaliation, charged the matron with having per-
suaded a lunatic pauper to prefer gross and false charges
against him. This was sworn to be the fact. The porter
admitted having had " a lark " with some of the female
inmates ; hilt called witnesses to show that it was not of an
improper nature. The proceedings resulted in the compul-
sory resignation of the master and matron, the dismissal of
the porter, and the schoolmistress retains her situation.
CAPITAL PeNisitstr.'sYs.—A meeting was held in the
Public Hall, Leicester, on Tuesday evening, for the purpose
of hearing addresses on the subject of capital punishments.
A deep impression was produced by the facts and arguments
adduced, and an Anti-Punishment of Death Society was
formed. The newly-appointed Mayor, J. Fielding, Esq.,
presided, and it was gratifying to see the hearty manner in
which that gentleman entered into the subject on his first
appearance in public since his election to the office of chief
magistrate.
RTAFFORDSITTRE.
SACRILEGII AND SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF TEE CULPRIT.
Some few weeks since, the church at Butterton, was feloni-
ously entered, and the parish chest, containing the registers
and other books, stolen. The chest and its contents were
afterwards found in a neighbouring field, the robbers being
evidently disappointed in their expectations—the communion
plate bad not been left in the vestry. A reward, on convic-
tion of the offenders, was offered, and active inquiries were
made by the police, without, however, producing any imme-
diate results. The only clue to the identity of the depre-
dators was a small piece of trousers-stuff, apparently torn
from the garment of the robber, who bad effected an entrance
through one of the church-windows' and this relic of crime
was handed over to the police, by whom it was carefully
preserved. The find bustle of inquiry over—the chest and
books recovered—the affair at Butterton was sinking
quietly into oblivion, when a rather singular
cident recalled it in all its original freshness. Lag week
as a detachment of the Stoke constabulary was taking
the prisoners Cook, Dale, Malkin, and Rogers, after their
committal for the highway robbery at Clayton, a crowd of
men, women, and boys, followed in the train. One of the
busiest among the spectators was a youth named Platt, a
joiner. He pressed near to the prisoners; he consoled them
by word and look ; and when the procession, for such it
might fairly be termed, arrived at the Town-hall, Platt
affectionately bade Cook and Malkin " good bye," kindly
promising to do "what he could" for them. Just at this
interesting moment, Mr. Chief-superintendent Sweeting
gave first a searching look at Platt, and then at Platt's
trousers. The thought immediately flashed across his
mind, that the small piece of cloth, so luckily found in
Butterton church window, and so carefully preserved at
Stoke, bore a remarkable resemblance to the continuation
garments of Platt. Mr. Sweeting, therefore, dispensed with
the necessity of the parting exclamation, by immediately
placing Platt in custody with his friends Cook and Malki
found
n.
The piece of cloth and trowsers were compared, and
to correspond—evidence to show that Platt, Cook, and Mal-
kin were seen in the immediate neighbourhood of Butterton
church on the night of the robbery, was at hand, and the
case was ripe for hearing. On Monday, Cook, Malkin, and
Platt were charged, at Hanley police-court, with feloniously
breaking into the church of Butterton, on the 27th of Sep-
tember last, and stealing therefrom an iron chest and a
quantity of books, the property of Lady Pilkington. The
cue having been then fully investigated, and the bit of cloth
being produced in evidence, and corresponding exactly with
the rent in the prisoner's dress, Cook was further committed
on this charge, and Platt was also committed for trial at the
assizes. %gnome:Venn:M.

Cakftlnuximatinc.
R. J. EATON, ESQ., M.P. FOR CAMBRIDOESTIIRE.—A
paragraph has gone the round of the press, stating that this
gentleman had died at Malta. This rumour was prevalent for
some time, and wan very generally believed; although, at the
same time, it was considered rather remarkable that the
family of the honourable gentleman had received no inform-
ation on the subject. We, (Cambridge Adrestiser), can now
state on good authority, that, by the latest amounts, Mr.
Eaton is reported to have been very ill, and that his medi-
cal attendant has gone out to Malta with the view of bringing
I him home, if the state of his health will permit. Judging

LANUANWAr...
FUNERAL or FRI AUTHOR or THE WORD " TEXT°.
TAL."—On Sunday last, the remains of Richard Turner
were interred at P....eston, ground having been purchased for
that purpose thmugh the exertions of a few zealous friends
of the temperance cause. A very large number of teetotal-
lets attended the funeral, and, in addition to those residing
in Preston, there were several from Wigan, Hindley, Bol-
ton, Blackburn, Padihem, Burnley, and Lancaster. Alto-

tn.rt
tahpi.pecoaranunoesty,,tihteimi belarnietigivetithoantininb;ho.e
likes-71i;
to
father, the
The numberstreets through roategnhaed whicht he ftuhneepralrocaeumoiounntedpmetdo
wise thronged with spectators. The deceased had been up- be returned.
1
afrurmacapnre:
wards of fourteen years a member of the Temperance Society,
having signed the pledge in Oct. 1832, while in a state of
Intoxication. It may not be generally known how the term
" teetotallers " became first adopted by the members of the
Total Abstinence Society. Turner (says the Preston Pilot),
in ore of his ssppsseeoobee, which were generally characterised
by as MlaaTafxtnro of wit and blunders, being at. less for '
a word which would convey to the audience that he was a
total abstinence man, said, " 1 have signed the tee, teetotal
pledge." This speech was delivered in 1831. The word
being short aad expressive, was immediately adopted by the
abstainers of Lancashire, and ultimptely throughout Eng-
land nay, we may say, throughout the world, for both in
America and India the term is adopted by those who are
pledged to abstain from all intoxicating liquors.
MR. MACKRADY read Macbeth to a laigs audience in the
Mechanics' Institute, Manchester, on Tuesday evening. In
moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Macready, who had volun-
tarily come from London to assist the society, the president
stated that the proceeds of the admissions of strangers and
members, which amounted to 501., would be entered on the
books of the institution as a donation from Mr. Macready,
and would be expended in books for the library, and thus
Mr. Maenady would not only have the satisfaction of having
given great intellectual pleasure to a numerous auditory, but
the higher one of having conferred a great and lasting bene-
fit on the institution, which now numbered 1,800 members.
THE COBURN NATIONAL TRIBUTE FUND —The usual
weekly meeting of the Manchester committee was held on
Tuesday eveuiog. Mr. O. Wilson reported that 3181. 16s. 2d.
had been received in the amount of subscriptions since
the last week ; and that the t tel contributions to this fund
now amounted to 76,9381. Ss. 2d. It was arranged that au-
tain districts should be more strictly conversed, and that
deputations should hereafter be appointed for that purpose.
A FIRE broke out in a warehouse in Hodson square,
Manchester, on Tuesday night, which consumed a consider-
able portion of the second story and the goods therein,
chiefly ehirtings ; the flames, however, were soon got under.
THE IMMIGRATION Or IRISH PAUPERS has of late ex-
cited considerable attention in Lancashire. Oa particular
days the roads leading from Liverpool to Manchestes and
other populous parts of the county, are covered with Irish
families, consisting of men, women and childran, of all ages,
from the grandsire to the infant in arms. "We have
counted," says a Liverpool paper, "as many as half a dozen
families, in half an hour's walk, on the Liverpool and Man-
chester road ; and last week one of the county police officers,
who lives by the roadside, between Manchester and Eccles,
informed us, as a piece of news, that there were ten times as
many Irish paupers passing along the road towards Man-
chester as there usually are at this season of the year.
We have conversed with several members of these me-
lancholy groups, and find that they are from all
parts of Ireland. Some of them are from the most
distant counties, such as Sligo and Roscommon. They
all say that they cannot get a living of any sort
in Ireland, and that they are coming over to England
to see if they can find work for their children in the facto-
ries, and for themselves in any other way. Many of these
poor people are most decent and respectable in their manner:
and language. From the greatly increasing numbers in
which these poor creatures are now arriving, there is reason
to fear that they will, before loag, produce a consider ible
effect both on wages and poor-rates in the country. The
facilities for getting across to England and Sentlaud are now
so great, that immigrants of this class are likely to came in
constantly-increasing numbers, as the pressure of die-
tress increases in Ireland. Those who have paid
any attention to the nature of the extensive emi-
gration which is going on from Ireland, and which is
already sufficiently great to prevent any apparent increase
of population in a country in which it is increasing
more rapidly than in any other country in Europe, must
be aware that it consists of two kinds of einigrants--the emi-
grants of hope and the emigrants of despair. The class which
emigrates from Ireland, not from sheer necessity, but from
the hope of improving its condition, consists principally of
small f irmers possessed of some capital, say from 20/. to 1001.
each, who go to seek the means of improving their condition
in Canada and the States ; whilst the second class, the emi
grants of despair, consists of the poorest of the poor, who can-
not live at home, or obtain the means of emigrating to Ame-
rica, but who beg or borrow the trifle which is necessary to
bring them over to this country. For the last twenty years
this class has been increasing, with every improvement in the
mode of communication between the two countries, until a
populous Irish quarter has been formed in London, Liver-
pool, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, and most other large
towns in Eneland and Scotland."
EMIIIIZZLEMP.NT AT MANCIIE,ITER.—On Wednesday, at
the Borough Court, Manchester, an elderly man named
Sydney Wimp, WAR charged with embezzlement. The
prisoner had been for many years in the service of Mr.
Richards, hat manufacturer, Manchester, at clerk and
" putter-out "of work. The workmen are not employed
on the premises, but do their work by " the piece " at their
own homes. On bringina it in enmpleted, they received
a hill for the amount of wages they were entitled to draw
from Mr. Richards, who always paid wages himself. The
practice of the prisoner was to make these hills out for a
greater amount than the men were entitled to draw, and I
then to affect to have discovered the error when they with-
draw and obtain the amount of overpayment from them on
pretence, and with the understanding, that he would repay
it to Mr. Richards. Small as the separate Amounts he thus
obtained were, yet practising it with a great number of
workmen and over a period of six or seven years, the total
amount embezzled would not fall short of 2,oool.—The
prisoner was remanded till Friday. He had no legal adviser,
awl offered no defence, or objection to the remand.
NORTIWNIBERLIND.
THE WHOLE or THE. MAGI,TRATER OFFICIATTNO AT
NeleTH SHIELDS have sent in their resignations, in conse-
quence, it is understood, of their refusal to grant a license' to
the railway terminus at Tynemouth having been over-ruled
at the General Quart. r Sessions of the Peace held at Ain-
wick. An address to the magistrates of the east division of
Castle Ward, expressive of confidence in their impartiality
and justice, is in the course of signatur• in the borou,h of
Tynemouth.

TAR DAa ENRAII Musts.—Three of the policemen who
eonsmitted perjury before the coroner's jury iu this case have
teen di•missed from the police force by the Commisaioners.
It i. stated that the opinion of the law officers of the Crown
bee been taken as to whrther a conviction fir perjury could
be ebteie,.d, and that those authorities decided that it could
not u reeertLs the men Bulfoy, Fears, and Stevens, because
they were not on path when their fir,t statement was made.
As soon as this opintan was receive,l, the above-named con-
stable, were dismissed from the force, and the notice thereof
promulgated yesterday. With respect to Parsons, K, mpton,
and another constable, no opizion has as yet been given, they
will, therefore, remain under the same surveillance as here-
tofore ; but, as the offence was committed out of the jurisdic-
tion of the Central Criminal Court, they cannot be tried
until the Spring assizes in March, in all probability the re-
sult of the entire proceedings will not be known until then.

LITERATURE.
WOUNS Os CANADA.--ThO Emigrant, by Sit F. B. MEAD.—
Hochetaga, rdited by E. WARBURTON.—Canada and the
Canadians, by Sir E. BONNYCiSTLE.
Canada, we are sorry to see, has ceased to be an
object of pilgrimage, and a subject of discussion, for
liberal travellers and writers. It attracts and in-

spires Tories almost exclusively for the present,
which renders all the works upon it more conducive
to our amusement than to our instruction. Sir Francis

Head and Mr. Warburton are both magnificent de-
scribers, imaginative revellers. We cannot say as
much of their views of life.

What demon of all that is preposterous could have
induced Sir Francis Bond Head to turn politician?
It would be difficult to find a mind, so imaginatively
susceptible of the beauties and wonders of nature, and
of all the poetry and philosophy which spring from
their contemplation. It would be impossible to find
a pen more powerful to depict and express them. No
one can take a more just, more calm. more original
view of his fellows, looked at individually or so-
cially. But this intellect, so sane, so perspicacious, so
original, becomes dimm ed the instant it entArs the atmo-
sphere of politics. It loses at once a great portion of
its judgment, nobleness, and calmness, and sinks from
the height of philanthropy and philosophy to the nar-
rowness of rancour, to the fondling of prejudice,
and to the worship of mere words, the clap-traps
and Shibboleths of provincial party.
Nothing can be greater than the contrast be-
tween the poetical and the political chapters of the
present volume. From the glories of Niagara the
reader is hurried into the atmosphere of nn Orange
club-room, and from the noblest pictures of northern
nature back to political sentiment more antiquated
than 1700. The Frenchman of 1840 has learned
to ridicule the Frenchman of 1810, full of

adoration for his Emperor, of idolatry for the tri-
color, and dreaming wide awake of the glories of
Austerlitz. Sir Francis pond Head is in politics the
Englishman of 1810, which we do not ridicule on or
off the stage, because, in fact, the species has disap-
peared. But in Sir Francis we have a specimen of
the extinct race, just as if the Tory of 1810 had been
caught in a Canada winter, frozen in, and had been
brought by, some chance to life and speech in 1843,
with the still living passions and sentiments of half a
century before.
We cannot conoeive how Sir Francis Head can have
lived, or existed (for life is too strong a word), with-
out perceiving and taking count of that rapid current
in which this world sweeps on, leaving the events of
even a short time back, as lost to interest and to any
rational purpose of revival, as if they were old as
Themistocles. The idea of Sir Francis Ilead fighting his
battlesover again with Mr.Mackcnzic forthe amusement
of the readers of this present year ! What man in either
hemisphere sheds one thought on Mr. Mackenzie, or
desires to have his rashness or his fully shown up?
Of all countries and histories, Canada and its troubles
require to have a veil cast over them—over its sym-
pathisers and its Orangemen—its Franco-American
Republicans, and its Family Compact. Charity
and. good feeling would keep this veil drawn.
Canada is a country in which, and for which,
all should look forward, and none behind. Sir
Francis Head repenetrating the past, in order to brood
over his own wrongs, record his own triumphs, and
nurse his wounded vanity, merely shows that he is
still governed by the susceptibilities of the poet, not
by the wisdom of the statesman.
Sir Francis Head has got a bugbear, at the very
mention of which he foams and raves. This bugbear
his own creation is "responsible government."
These words arc good old English words, expressing
a most thoroughly old English invention; being, in
fact, the very nucleus of our institutions, the very es-
sence of our freedom. But this responsible government
is the very abhorrence of Sir Francis Head. Of English
institutions and of British grandeur Sir Francis adores
all the symbols, and execrates all the realities. He
devotes a chapter to the glorification of the British
flag, and five chapters to anathematise those who would
pretend to English freedom. The British lion and
the British crown, the royal standard, with its
embroidered animals--lions, leopards, and the Irish
harp—all these Sir Francis Head loves with the
ardour of an antiquary, not for the sake of what
they represent, but actually for themselves.
Fortunately, however, politics form but a portion of
Sir Franeis's volume. lle himself not inaptly describes
ibes
them, with far more severity than we can, as carrion,
and says, that he has added a few feathers to bear it
up through the literary atmosphere. If we have been
hard upon the carrion, let us do justice to the rathers,
and acknowledge that they arc from an eagle's wing.
Our modern literature presents nothing loftier or
finer.
Of llorheloya it is now late to speak. The
public has long since pronounced a fa% ourable judg-
ment; and the work, especially its first volume, is
written with rare originality and spirit, which makes
its reputation deserved. But do we know Canada
much the better for having perused it, or for its
glowing and imaginative pictures having passed
before our eyes? liockelaga is Canada, visited by a
gentleman de bonne societe : a ruder pioneer would
have better opened a way for our information.
Sir Richard Bonnyeastle's is an unpretentious work ;
that of, a gay, jovial, generous soldier ; Hibernian
rather in its style of anecdote and stringing of sub-
jects one to another by a very slender and impercep-
tible thread, but, at the same time, amusing and in-
structive. The engineering information is solid and
valuable, when we consider that England has spent
two millions and a half on public works in Canada.
We may ill-treat subject countries for a time, but we
certainly have a magnificent way of salving them.
England may excite repeal cries by her adminis-
tration, but she continues to stifle them with her
purse.

Fisher's Drawing Room_ erap Book. By the non. Mrs.

NORTON.
We have been lured into a peep at this handsome
volume, somewhat foreign to our grave habits, by
the promise of meeting therein two political cha-
racters. Nor were we disappointed. For, lo ! em-
bedded in poesy and silver paper, smothered by the
beauties of art and of fashion, lie the pertraita of
Richard Cobden and of Mrs. Harris. One might be
startled at finding them together. But poetry, as
well as poverty, introduces people to strange bed-
fellows. Mrs. Harris is attempting, no easy
matter for a blear-eyed lady, to get through the
eye of a needle. And indeed the old lady seems
prone to the undertaking of hopeless tasks. Cobden
looks far more apt to achieve Mrs. Hairis's pur-
pose, with his acute eye and wiry person. Each
have tributes of verse to them. There are some
beautiful and merited stanzas to Mr. Charles Villiers.
Nor are they the only specimen we should desire to
quote. The artistic portion of the volume deserves its
ample meed of praise.

U, Drama.
PrascEss's.—Mr. Scott, the American comedian,
whose previous impersonations here have been favourably
received, appeared last night as Rob Roy, in the popular
drama of that name. Our own association with the part
was Macready's masterly delineation of its rugged but inte-
resting features; and it is, therefore, a manifest tribute to
Mr. Scott's ability to say that, with this reminiscence before
us throughout the piece, our opinion of his performance was,
if not comparatively, at all events, positively, advantageous.
His stout, well-knit figure, his sonorous voice, anti manly
bearing, are well adapted to represent the externals of the
character ; and his delivery evinced judgment and feeling.
He was supported by, as times go, a very efficient /tails.
Nicol Jarrte, in the person of Mr. Compton. We had, with.
respect to him also, a perilous azociation strong in out
recollection, that of Liston, whose "ma conscience," indeed, fs
not more to be forgotten by those who ever heard it, titan
was " My father the Deacon " of the excellent bailie him-
self. Mrs. Fosbroke was a most imposing Ilelen Ma 4yreyor,
and the " Dougal creature" found an excellent r apreseeta-
live in Mr. Ryder, who certainly turns out a /PAM alarming
savage. Mr. Barker and Miss Smithson 0.;.,d apparently
their best as Frank Osbaldeston and Dir-na Vernon, and
Mr. 11. Hughes If OA a most 'famous Be„,hieigh.