The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-04-15 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

ments. Dissimulation, perfidy, and falsehood were the
familiar instrumentalities resorted to in their champion-
ship of Roman Catholic ascendancy, and their devotional
inventions, into which the father entered at considerable
length, were derogatory to the Redeemer and the great
work of his atonement. For two hours he continued to
accumulate facts, and draw inferences illustrative of the
mischief traceable to its fatal institution, and though the
ground he went over has been frequently trodden, old
arguments appeared fresh, trite statements were clothed
in such novelty and force of diction, as to keep the as-
sembly in breathless attention to the close.—Daily News.

AN AVERTED AFFAIR OF HONOUR.—The Times of
yesterday contains a correspondence between the Hon.
F. H. Berkeley and Captain Shute, of the North Somerset
Yeomanry, relative to an expr,,ssion used by the former
in the House of Commons. Mr. Berkley, however,
assures Captain Shute that he never intended to impeach
his personal courage, and the affair has ended.
SUPPLY OF WATER TO THE METROPOLIS.—We are
informed, on undoubted authority, that government have
ahandoned the idea of adopting any of the proposals for
the supply of water, bnt that a proposition will be sub•
mitted to parliament, having for its object the taking up
all the water companies, giving 6 per cent. interest on the
capital invested ; and there is no doubt but. such a mea-
sure, if properly carried out, would be highly beneficial to
the community.
William Grey Smith, aged 47, a surgeon, living in the
neighbourhood of Vauxhall Gardens, London. was tried at
the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, and found
guilty of a felonious assault upon a girl of tender years.
There were several indictments nganist him for the like
offence on other girls; and though on some of the charges
he was acquitted, his conduct has been so heinous—for
there is good reason to believe that he has ruined up-
wards of thirty young girls—that the recorder sentenced
him to be transported for life. Frances Taylor, alias
Fanny Foreman, aged 20, the victim and accomplice of
William Grey Smith in his atrocious crimes, has been
sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour.
THE LATE SARAH CHESHAM.—THE BODY STOLEN.—

Several zaltsrellaiw.

Catherine Hayes has arrived in Paris from Rome, en
route for England.

Signor Mario arrived in London on Friday from St
Petersburg.

Two regiments are under orders from the Commander-
in-Chief to strengthen the garrison of London.
The Frimley murderers will be executed at Horsemon.
ger gaol this morning.

Several Yorkshire farmers who emigrated to Natal last
summer have returned hoax again.

M. Soyer advertises in the Times for 100 active boys,
from 12 to 15 years of age, as pages for Gore House.
Mr. T. Hankey, jun. has been appointed governor, and
Mr. J. G. Hubbard deputy-governor of the Bank of
England.

The Rev. H. E. Manning, late archdeacon of Chiches-
ter, and J. R. Hope, Eiq., Queen's Counsel, were re-
ceived into the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday week.

Considerable sensation has been occasioned by the myste•
rious exhumation and abstraction of the body of Saral
Chesham, who was executed a short time hack. In ac•

cordance with the sentence, her body was delivered up to
her friends, who conveyed it in a coffin to Wix, near
Clavering, for interment. The clergyman was understood
either to have refused to- read the service over the remains,
or:to allow them sepulture in consecrated ground, and the
friends of the culprit consequently had a grave made,
within which they laid the body, they honed only tempo-
rarily, their desire being that it should receive Christian
burial. To their surprise the grave has been opened', and
the coffin and body have been carried off. The whole
A report is prevalent that Miss Talbot is about to be case is shrouded in mystery, and has caused much excite-
married to Lord Edward Howard, M.P., for Horsham, tnent.—Sunday Times.
son of the Duke of Norfolk. TUE STOCKPORT BOILER EXPLOSION.—On Tuesday
The new reservoir at Whittle Dean will cover 40 acres the coroner's jury found a verdict of accidental death in
of land. The inhabitants of Newcastle-on-Tyne are now this case. They add, as an'expression of opinion, that the
supplied with good water in abundance. junction-valve upon the boiler, leading to the howking
Two hundred and seventeen emigrants, sent out by the kiers, was closed at the time of the explosion, and that
Cheltenham Board of Guardians, sailed from Glocester the over-loadine of the safety-valve prevented that relief
for Quebec on Tuesday. One poor fellow carried his bed to the boiler which was necessary for the escape of the
from Herefordshire to Glocester, a distance of 16 miles. steam and these conjointly caused, the explosion ; hut
Twelve baskets of new potatoes from Scilly were ship- I that thisjury has no evidence before it to show by whom,

Mr. Beckett Denison is converting a large house in
Kirkgate, Leeds, a nest of the commonest lodging-houses,
into a model lodging-house.
A Joint-stock Company is about to be formed under
the auspices of influential parties in the City for man►x-
facturing iron and steel in India.

The late Sir Gilbert Heatheote's raeinz stud is to be
sold, the present baronet having none of his father's love
of the sport.

Tuesday, for the London markets, and
itv of hrnonli and rAnliflaruara fncratllar

an imm

fiat means, the said junction-valve was closed
the overloading of the safety-valve is attributable
to the act or sanction of the engineer, Joseph Hyde, o

with upwards of 655 baskets of mach

this jury express their un-
qualified censure. It is also the opinion of this jury that
the applying of this boiler to high-pressure steam is highly
censurable and, although the extra stays were applied,
such application has been done without due calculation.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—The eldest son of the Rev. Dr.
Bromby, Principal of Elizabeth College, Guernsey, was,
on Tuesday lest, found hanging inside one of the windows
of the boarders' room, in the college, quite dead. From
the top of each of the windows hangs a double cord, which
reaches to the sill, and is used for raising and lowering the
sashes, and which, from i s being undivided, forms a kind
of loop at the lower extremity. The pupils have been in
the habit of laying hold of this cord, and thereby raising
themselves up to the window, and then sitting on the sill
with their legs hanging out, and usually having their heads
between the two parts of the cord. The deceased had
frequently been seen to perform this boyish frolic, and it
is presumed that he must have repeated it on Tuesday,
and that on turning round into the room for the purpose
of descending, he must have lost his hold ;Lid been caught
under the chin by the cord, as, when he was found, this
cord was tightly- pressed against the windpipe, and the
lower part of the back of the head was, by the weight of
the body, jammed against the sill of the window.
A PAUPER ELOPEMENT FRUSTRATED.—At the meet-
ing of the Canterbury board of guardians on Thursday
last, a letter was read, which had been written by a male
inmate, with one leg, about twenty-one years of age, to
one of the opposite sex, with seven children. The woman,
with good sense, landed over the epistle to the master.
It commenced with " My dear mistress," and went on to
urge the good Mrs. Taylor to leave the union with her
seven children, and accompany the gay writer on his tra-
-1 by land, to Wales. He I

Last week, a man named Darby was drowned while
endeavottrinz, fora wager, to swim across the Thames, at
Milbank. Another young man, Edward Hucker, was
drowned in endeavouring to swim across the same spot, in
twelve minutes.

A melancholy incident occurred during the Gloucester
The Sheriff's coachman took cold on Friday,

assizes

Judges ;
died—a

ce of having to wait " on the box" for the
Saturday he was worse, and on Monday he

victim to si

Mr. Maclise is about to paint in one large picture the
portraits of all the amateur actors in Sir E. B. Lytton's
contribution play, the proceeds of the whole by en-
graving and by sale to go to the new " Literary Relief

Institution."

The stable at Stanwood farm, near

destroyed by an incendiary fire last
barn, with sixty quarters of corn, five ricks of corn, ten
pigs, nearly two hundred head of poultry, a vast quantity
of farming implements, &c.

WCS, WaS
were the

week, as

Mr. Gearh, the new M.P. for Coventry, commenced
his career as a clerk in the Bank of England. He is now

amassed considerable property by comme,,
Lions. He is a director of the Sheffield railway.
There are two Countesses of Newburgh, both widows,
The present Earl of Newburgh is unmarried. The coun-
tess under whose care Miss Talbot is placed is a convert
to the Roman Catholic religion, and resides in Chesharn-
place. She is sister to Lady Alice 13(sPI
Peel.

;ial specula

ed out the many
advantages that would accrue from his wooden, leg and the
seven children on the journey, and the great effect they
would have on the feelings of the benevolent ; and ulti-
mately tend to their being placed in comparative comfort

On Sunday week, about five o'clock.in the afternoon,
the village of Blyth, in Nottinghamshire,.was visited by
an awful atnrm of rand iirrisfrarwrr onnesnl inn nLNA

with mingled hail, snow, and raint The lightning shi-
vered a large ash tree, and killed five of a frock of sheep
that were under it.

from ibis happy link of circumstances. He said that his
proposal emanated from the most honourable motives,"
and that he had no -doubt they would live together on the
most comfortable terms. On the chairman inquiring of
the Lothario if the letter had been written • by him, he
denied it " on his honour." The board ended the mat-
ter by giving the-wooden leg gentleman 55.. and he there-
fore proceeds to Wales, unaccompanied by Airs. Taylor or
her seven children—by a union with whom he anticipated
an independence for the remainder of his life.
THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH.—At the soirtre held on
Wednesday evening, at the Russell Institution, London,
Professor Ansted, of King's College, gave a lecture on
the supply of water to large towns, illustrated by numer-
ous maps and diagrams, which was listened to with great
attention ; after which Foucalt's recent experiment, af-
fording a palpable demonstration of the rotation of the
earth, was exhibited, and was conducted in a manner
similar to the experiment at the Pantheon at Paris. The
wire, which suspended a weight of 28 pounds, was of the
the size of the middle C string of a piano. It was 30
feet long, and vibrated over a graduated table fixed to the

It is said of Hiram Smith, the approver in the ease of
the Frimley murder, that in consequence of the statement
of Mrs. Holiest that he was the man who fired at her hus-
band, the government believe that Smith has deceived

The new direct line of communication between England
and Denmark takes the passenger from London by the
Eastern t.munties Railway to Lowestoft in six hours,
thence by steam direct to Hjerting, a port in Jutland, in
26 hours, and from that to Copenhagen by land in 36
hours at the utmost.
A number of the merchants

,f Leith, at the taking of
niselves as enumerators,

the census

to several of the charitable institutions of that town.
The sum thus generously contributed will amount to no
-less than £3OO-

TI e City of London Corporation Bill, for enlarging and

majority of 246 to 124 ; and a bill now adopted by the
government for removing the market generally to some
suburb, without saying which suburb, was read a second
time by a majority of 230 to 65.
75 oft 77 ?—One of the persons engaged in taking the
census, called in due course at the house of an old woman,
who, of course, had not filled up the schedule. The offi-
cer, therefore, proceeded to fill it up, and on asking the
old lady what age she was, she replied,—" I should have
been 77, hut I war ill two years, so yo mun only put me
down 75."

and the wonderful spectacle was presented of the rotation
of the room round the pendulum. The experiment ex-
cited the astonishment of every beholder, and many emi-
nent scientific gentlemen who were present expressed
their great delight in witnessing a phenomenon which
they considered the most satisfactory they, had witnessed
in the whole course of their lives. We believe this is the
first time that the experiment has been verified in this
country.

DEATH FROM.CHLOROFORM IN LONEWN.-011 Wed-
nesday an inquest was held on the body of John Holden,
an inmate of Stepney Union. Deceased was about to
undergo an operation, and desired the relief of chloro-
form. Mr. Swain, a surgeon, administered the chloro-
form under the direction of Mr. Reynolds, and in the
presence of two other medical gentlemen connected with
the establishment. Mr. Swain said, that having examined
the deceased, and finding nothing to prohibit the admi-
nistration of chloroform, he administered half a drachm,
which was less than the average dose, without producing
any of the premonitory symptoms. He again adminis-
tered a similar dose, when the patient suddenly died with-
out exhibiting any one of the symptoms usually found to
precede the full and desired effects attendant on the ad-
ministration of chloroform. The countenance was sud-
denly suffused, the heart ceased its action, the pulse was
still, and the vital spark was instantly quenched. Wit-
ness could only account for the result on the supposition
that the peculiar idiosyncracy of the patient was such as
to render him more than usually sensitive to the influence
of the drue. Cases of the kind were of frequent occur-
rence with respect to medicines whose sanitary character
was held in general estimation, such as calomel, &c.—
Daily News.
SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.—A circumstance occurred
lately at the funeral of a woman who died of dropsy, at
the hospital here, which seems entitled to a verse in the
chapter of strange coincidences. Twelve years ago, hav-
ing been born and bloomed into womanhood at Sisted,,
she was wedded to one Joseph Manning, a carpenter at
Marks Tey, but soon after quitted the bridal hearth and,
set out upon her adventures in the world. A period
elapsed and the tidings reached the deserted one that she
was turned from wood to stone, and was actually married
to a mason named Coates, with whom she was living com-
fortably at Kelvedon. There Manning found her,. but
her second love being stronger than her first, he failed to
coax her hsck to his own fireside, and they met no more,
nor did rumour ever bring him the history.of her where-
about. Wandering. however, a few days since in Colches-
ter, in an idle excursion, he beheld a funeral cortege issue
from the hospital gate. He followed it listlessly to the
churchyard of St. Mary-at-the-Walls, and when the
corpse had been lowered to the arms of its mother earth,
he carelessly scanned the inscription on the coffin lid, and
lo ! it was his own wife. The two husbands of one wife
had been present at her funeral, one of them uncon-
sciously; and No. 1 having tendered his thanks to No. 2
for burying her so respectably, they adjourned together
to a neighbouring inn, and joined in praising alternately
the good qualities of the deceased and of the fare before
them.—Essex Herald.
THE LORD MAYOR'S BANQUET TO MINISTERS.—On
Wednesday, the lord mayor of London entertained her
Majesty's ministers. In reply to the toast of the evening,
Lord John Russell said :—" Here I might content myself
with returning my thanks for the honour of this night,
were it not that this day recalls to me the position in
which we were placed three years ago. We can all recol-
lect that on the evenine preceding the 10th of April, 1848,
there were doubts, misgivings, and fears that there might
be some violation of the public peace ; and many were
apprehensive that loss of life even might ensue on the fol-
lowing day. But on the evening of that ensuing day we
found ourselves perfectly safe—safe, I will venture to say,
not from the armed force (small as it is) maintained in
London, though that force would no doubt have done its
duty had there been cause for it—(hear, hear)—not on
account of the presence of that armed force, but because
the people themselves arose. They rose not to cause, but
to prevent, riot and disturbance. They rose to maintain,
not to subvert, the institutions of the country. (Cheers.)
My lord mayor, we are now about to see in this country
a large number of foreigners to assist in what, I trust, will
be one of the most interesting sights the world ever saw.
I know it has been said, and rumoured—and your res-
pected recorder has mentioned elsewhere the rumour—
that advantage will be taken of that occasion by some of
those foreigners who will come to visit this country, to
disturb our internal peace ; but I feel confident that peace
will be preserved, not only by the strong arm of the law
and of justice, but also because T feel that any, who being
our guests on such an occasion, should attempt to disturb
our internal peace, would be condemned by the universal
voice of mankind as guilty of the greatest violation of the
sacred laws of hospitality. (Cheers.) On that great oc-
casio.i which we are about to witness, when those who
are about to visit this country, never having had occasion
to be in England before, shall see with admiration the
extent of our trade and commerce—shall see a thriving
population—they will have reason to be convinced that
there must be somethitng excellent in the laws, something
excellent in the spin something excellent in the tradi-
tions of a people who exhibit such a spectacle. (Cheers.)
In this city I am sure they will meet with a cordial recep-
tion." (Loud cheers.) The meeting was subsequently
addressed by the American milasterk Lord Palmerston,
and the Attorney-General.

AN ANCIENT LADY.—The taking up of the census
created no little sensation at Inverness. It is said the
ladies were particularly annoyed with that column in
which their last birthday wag required. One venerable
lady we must adduce in honourable contrast to these, who
has given in the round figure of 705 (seventy-five) as her
last natal day.
A TRAGEDY.-Mr. Miller, a brewer at Ely, accused
his three servant girls of pilfering his flour. but said he
forgave them if they did not repeat the offence. That
night, the three girls agreed to destroy themselves by
poison, and for that purpose purchased fourpennyworth
each and swallowed it. One of them died, the other two
are likely to recover.

The Enniskillen Chronicle states that Mr. Chisholm
Anstey, M.P., is second son of Mr. Thomas Anstey, who
had £lO,OOO left him by an uncle, with which he embarked
amongst the first settlers for Van Diemen's Land. He is
now living, and resides at Anstey-Barton, near Hobart
Town, and has accumulated in flocks, herds, and cash,
above £200,000.
THE DUKE OF NORFOLK TURNED PRESBYTERIAN.—
We have heard, on what we consider to be good authority,
that an application has been made, by a gentleman pro-
fessing to be properly empowered, for seats in Dr. Cum-
ming's chapel, for the use of the Duke of Norfolk.—
Morning Advertiser. May not the application be on
behalf of the Duchess, who is a Protestant ?

THE TERRIER DOG AND THE LARK.—A gentleman in
Scholes has a dog, of the bull and terrier breed, which
displayed much sagacity one morning last week. On no-
ticing the escape of a lark, that had got out of its cage,
and seeing it flying about the room, the sagacious animal
captured the bird and took it up stairs, without injury, to
his master, who was then in bed.—Wigan Times.
At a late meeting of the bo,ard of guardians of I-101-
beach, Lincolnshire, a man named Willimot applied for
relief. After considering his case, the guardians told the
applicant that they had decided to allow him 2s. 63. a
week ; but Willimot said that he did not require so much
as that, and at his request the allowance was reduced to
to 2s.

AN ENORMOUS PlKE.—William Barry, Esq., of Abney
House, Little Marlow, killed on Saturday last, a pike in
the river Thames, fronting his residence, which weighed
nearly 351hs. It was a female fish, and rather out of con-
dition. Had it been taken a little earlier in the season it
must have weighed upwards of 401bs. Mr. Barry, after
three quarters of an hour's sport in an ineffectual attempt
to land it, was gompelled to shoot it.
On Saturday, a number of young men, dressed in red
uniform, and furnished with apparatus for cleaning
clothes and shoes, were stationed in the vicinity of the
Exhibition building, and west-end thoroughfares. They
are all lettered, and wear badges inscribed " The Shoe-
black Society." They have been selected from the Lon-
don Ragged Schools, previous to being assisted to emi-
grate.

Mary Anne Parkes and Jane Lewis, previously con-
victed of perjury in having endeavoured to affiliate an
illegitimate child upon the Earl of Stamford and War-
rington, were sentenced on Tuesday last by the Recorder
of London. Parkes, who had been in prison for two
months, was ordered to be imprisoned for nine months
longer, and Lewis was sentenced to be imprisoned for
six months.

On Saturday week, a young woman, named Esther
Curtis, was killed near Gloucester, by her husband, under
circumstances of great brutality. The poor woman
called upon the fellow at a public-house where he was
carousing, when he attacked her with such ferocity,
beating and kicking her, that she died in half an hour
from the injuries which he inflicted. He is now in cus-
tody. _ _

ELOPEMENT.--We have to record an elopement this
week ; the gentleman from Althorpe, the lady from the
Burringham side of the Trent. The parties were married
at Hull, which is a kind of Gretna-green for all runaway
matches from Lincolnshire. In this case, it is said, steps
will be taken to try the validity of marriages thus so-
lemnized. They have been of such frequent occurrence
lately that both the Archbishop of York and the Bishop
of Lincoln have been applied to for their interference to
check the Hull clergy.—Doncaster Chronicle.
POISONING NEAR WISBECII.—The proceedings in the
case of Ann Overnent, before the Wisbech Isle magis-
trates, which had been adjourned from the 22d ult. to the
24th, and then to the 26th, were closed on Saturday.
After a mass of evidence had been taken, the prisoner
was asked what she had to state, and cautioned in the
usual manner. She replied, " I think it very hard that
this should be laid on me, for 1 am as innocent as a
new-born babe. I hope the gentlemen will consider this,
and set me at liberty. I'm sure I'm innocent." The
magistrates, however, felt it their duty to commit the
prisoner: for trial on the charge of poisquing her mistress
by pu,ttlug arsenic in her puddings

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES IN THE PROVINCES.—The diffe-
rent insurance offices in the City have received intelligence
from their respective agents of a series of destructive
conflagrations in the provinces by which a large amount
of property had I”en consumed. At Bideford, on Wed-
nesday night, a fearful fire broke out in the extensive sail
and rope manufactory of Mr. Thomas Evans, the mayor
of the town. The loss, it is said, will amount to thou-
sands, but the premises are insured, as also the stock. A
very serious outbreak is reported to have occurred on
Lard Berners' farm, at Tirton Grange, in Leicestershire;
and a few evenings since a large extent of farming pro-
perty was destroyed at Long Melford, in Suffolk. Many
other destructive fires are included in the returns.
MYSTERY OF THE SHREWSBURY FAMILY.—The Earl
of Shrewsbury, it is well known, is a descendant of an
old Roman Catholic family who made those elves con-
spicuous at various times in the history of our country.
During the time of Queen Elizabeth the Earl of Shrews-
bury was one of the keepers of Fotheringay Castle, at the
period of the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots by
her cousin, Elizabeth. With reference to this affair a
curious tradition has been attached to the family of Shrews-
bury, and much superstition has existed on the subject.
The tradition, or legend, is to the effect that no person
becoming Earl of Shrewsbury will ever have a son who
shall live to inherit the title and estates of his father. It
was said that this judgment was originally delivered as a
malediction upon the nobleman who had assisted in carry-
ing out the views of Queen Elizabeth ; and it is said to
he a fact that this lege(' i has proved to be correct in an
incredible number of instances; hut we leave it to those
who are learned in anathemas to account for the fact.--
Observer.

THE LAWSHALL MITRER.—George Carnt, 23, for the
wilful murder of Elizabeth Bainbridge, the wife of a
sergeant in the Sappers and Miners, at Lawshall, orr the
evening of the 21st of hat January, was sentenced to
death on Friday week, at Bury St. Edmund's. The
deceased woman had married the butler of a clergyman,
who afterwards enlisted, since which time she had resided
with her father at Lawshall. About eight or nine days
before her death she went to visit a sister-in-law, whose
husband kept a public-house at Lawshall, in which the
prisoner lodged. There the prisoner took improper
liberties with her, which she indignantly rejected. On
the 20th of January she left to return home, and when
last seen was crossing the fields, She never made her
appearance at home, which caused much alarm to her
parents. On the same evening the prisoner came in much
excited, and with his clothes wet'. He said " the halter
was for his neck, and the devil had got possession of him."
Suspicion being excited, a search was made, when the
dead body of Bainbridge was found' in a pond, the dis-
ordered state of the clothes and hair showing that she
must have had a desperate struggle with some one. A
vast amount of circumstantial evidence was adduced,
amongst which was the fact that some of the deceased's
trinkets were found in the prisoner's pockets. The Bury
Herald states that the prisoner has since made a full con-
fession of his guilt to Mr. Macintyre, the gaoler, acknow-
ledging the truth of the evidence and the justice of the
sentence. He is in a very becoming and penitent frame
of mind.

MURDER AT A PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION.—Saturday
night week was observed by the tenantry of G. Lort Phil-
lips, Esq., for the celebration of that gentleman coming
into the Laurenny estate, Haverfordwest, upon the decease
of Sir William Owen Barlow, Bart. On that occasion
Mr. Phillips gave away several barrels of ale at the little
village of Rosemarket, and the event was signalised with
bonfires, fireworks, and other demonstrations of joy. The
novelty of the scene caused a great number of persons to
assemble, and amongst the number was the unfortunate
deceased, Mr. Stevens, a respectable farmer-at Westbury-
hill, and William Jones, the person charged with the
murder, who is styled a shipwright. Mr. Stevens, with
some other parties, retired to the New Inn, to partake of
a social glass, free from the noise and tumult which pre
vailed on the grounds. The prisoner came into the room
where the deceased was, several times during the evening.
About twelve o'clock the deceased and a gentleman named
Barron left the house together, in order to go home.
They had barely proceeded twelve yards on their journey
when the deceased received a tremendous blow from the
prisoner, who had evidently been lying in wait for him,
which felled him to the ground, and be never spoke after-
wards. He lingered in the most excruciating agony until
the following day, when he died. Jones was -taken into
custody, and the coroners jury the next day reterned a
verdict of wilful murder against him. The cause that
prompted the prisoner to take away the life of an unof-
feading man i 3 enve'oped in mystery. He states that the
deceased struck him first, but that was disproved by those
who saw the fatal blow given.
THE HOUSE Tax.—The following is the resolution to
bo proposed in committee on the Assessed Taxes Act by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer :—" That the duties
granted by the Act 48 Geo. UT., c. 55, and now payable
in England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Theed and in
Scotland, respectively, upon a welling-houses, and levied
and assessed according to the number of windows or
lights therein, as set forth in the schedule marked (A) to
the said Act annexed, shall be levied and assessed upon
inhabited dwelling-houses in and throughout Great
Britain, according to the annuc.l value thereof, in the
manner following—for every inhabited dwelling-house,
which, with the household and other offices, yards, and
gardens therewith occupied and charged, is or shall be
worth the rent of £2O or upwards by the year ; where
any such dwelling-house shall be occupied by any person
in trade, who shall expose to sale, and sell any goods,
wares, or merchandise in any shop or warehouse, being
part of the same dwelling-house, and in the front, and on
the ground or basement story thereof. And also, where
any such dwelling-house shall be occupied by any person
who shall be duly licensed by the laws in force to sell
therein by retail beer, ale, wine, or other liquors, although
the room or rooms thereof, in-which any such liquors

shall be exposed to sale, sold, drunk, or consumed, shall
not bo such shop or warehouse as aforesaid. And also,
where any such dwelling-house shall be a farm-house
occupied by a tenant, and bona fide used for the purpose
of husbandry only, there shall he charged for every 11
twenty shillings of the annual value of any such dwelling-
house, the sum of sixpence. And where any such dwel-
ling-house shall not be occupied and used for any such
purpose and in manner aforesaid, there shall be charged
for every twenty shillings of the annual value thereof,
the sum of ninepence."
WANTON AWD DANGEROUS OBSTRUCTION UPON A
RAILWAY.—George Hamblin, aged 14, in the employ of
Mr. Sherwood, farmer, of Purley, near Reading, was
brought before the county magistrates on Saturday,
charged by Mr. Collard, superintendent of the Great
Westernilailway police, with having, on Thursday last,
placed upon one of the rails of the said railway an iron
joint plate and bolt, with intent to endanger the lives of
persons travelling. William Hoare, shepherd to Mr.
Sherwood, said the prisoner was his assistant. On Thurs-
day morning he bad occasion to send him to the sheep-cot,
to reach which he ought to have gone through the arch.
under the railway ; that he had no business upon the
railway, and that he was a long, time gone, for which he
scolded him. The next morning one of the railway
gaugers or firemen told witness some one had placed a
joint plate, &e., upon the rail, and witness immediately
suspected his fellow-servant of being the party who did
so. He taxed the prisoner with having done it, and'he
at first stoutly denied doing so, but upon being pressed
he at length admitted the fact; and said he put it there to
try what effect a train would have in passing over it. The
prisoner further said he put a stone on each side of the
rail, that is, upon the timber under the plate, and that
when the train, namely, the express, came, it merely
jumped a little. Joseph Smith, gauger, in the employ of
Mr. Brotherhood, the permanent way contractor, proved
finding the pieces of plate, screwbolt, &c. The plate,
which is a foot long, ten inches wide, and nearly half an
inch thick, was completely cut in two from end to end,
and almost as clean as if- done with a chisel. The screw-
bolt, three-quarters of an inch thick, was quite flattened.
The magistrate, after having severely admonished the
prisoner, and commented upon the enormity of the act,
which might have occasioned the loss of many, lives, fined
him £5, and in default six weeks' imprisonment in Read-
ing Gaol. The fine not being paid, the prisoner was
forthwith committed,

THE IRON TRAHE.— The proceedings of the quarterly
meetings, just concluded. have been unusually spiritless
and uninteresting, and the attendance at the different
places of assembling, with the exception of our Town.
hall, has been both tardy and less numerous than upon
previous occasions. Throughout the week the demand
was drooping, and there was not the slightest appearance
of speculative impulse. On the part of dealers and pur-
chasers. an importunate effort was made to force down
prices, but it cues firmly and effectually resisted ; in fact,
the resources of capital and credit have already been too
heavily tasked to allow a possibility of compliance. Busi-
ness was therefore confined to the supplies for immediate
consumption, and in many instances, after being delayed
from day to day, was ultimately put off till future oppor-
tunity. For the best descriptions of iron there was some
demand, and previous prices were well supported ; but in
common use iron, rods and sheets, the trade ruled exces-
sively dull, in consequence of the late falling off of orders
in the chain and nail trades and other hardware manufac-
tures : no actual reduction, however, has been reported.
The manufacture of sheet iron was, till a late period,
monopolised by a few of the leading firms of the trade,
and commanded a figure much beyond its relative value ;
but latterly this branch has met with more attention, and
from the widely-extended competition, sheets, both in
quality and price, have sunk below the average standard,
and are now complained of, equally with rods, bars, and
hoops, as unremunerative. In pig iron there was little
business doing, and much difficulty was experienced in
realising the prices of last quarter-day for the inferior
makes. Coal and ironstone are also very flat.—The sub-
ject of s general reduction of wages seems to have formed
a topic of conversation, as being the resource to which
the Staffordshire masters may ultimately be driven,
although there is a full determination not to resort to it
till it becomes unavoidable.—Birmingham Gazette of
yesterday.
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—The character of Amine
in " La Somnambula," which was played by Mademoi-
selle Caroline Duprez on Tuesday night, is unquestion-
ably the one in which she has achieved her greatest suc-
cess. More was required than in any part which she has
hitherto attempted, but her energies increased to the
exigencies of the occasion. The music could not be more
faultlessly executed. Every morceau she sang, from the
quiet aria at the commencement of the brilliant finale,
which always exhilarates every hearer, was an excellent
specimen of the most thorough traiuing, so perfectly in
tune was every note and so finished was the execution of
every passage. The end of the opera confirmed her tri-
umph. She was called on the fall of the curtain, and then
in answer to an unanimous demand, the brilliant finale
was repeated. Coletti, who made his debut foethe season
as Rodolphe, likewise appeared in the last scene of " I
due Foscari," in which he displayed his wonted power.
Likewise, in addition to the ordinary ballet, there was the
immortal " Truandaise," in which Carlotta Geisi seemed
literally wafted along by her own poetical inspirations.
Under the Italian title of " La Muta, di rertici," the

April 15,1!51..

Pipit
•
chef d'oeuvre of Auber was produced on Thursday
for the first time at this theatre, where some year's
t
was so popular in the form of a ballet. The rePreselli„s,
tion of " Masaniello" was interesting for several ressr
A new tenor, Sig. Pardini (from the Italian opera et pjbt
lin), appeared in the part of the hero • the justly P°P et
barrytone, M. Massol came forward, ?or the first CHO of
her Majesty's Theatre, in his well known character 0,
Pietro; and Mdlle. Monti, a pantomimist of highlePo
tation, made her first appeal to an English audience,th
the dumb girl Fenella. Besides these, other two te., ,in° 0
Signori Scotti and Mercuriali, also made their deo'B,o9
Alphonso and Lorenzo. The great point of the ex" "0
the Fenella of Mdlle. Monti, who comes from the Scalathe
Milan, where for five or six years she has enj'eYed gho
reputation of being the first " mime" in Italy all"
alone would have ensured the success of the opera. Da
Monti proved that her celebrity was not a hollow one. 80,0
it is not too much to say that the character of Pendia re•
seen for the first time in this country adequately
sented. The opera was eneirely successful. The 0
P et
pal performers were called before the curtain several l'sl
during the evening. There was a very full house.