Widnes Examiner. — 1882-06-17 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

ANTI-COERCION DEMONSTRATION.—On Sunday afternoon, a demonstration by the Democratic Federation was held in Hyde Park to discuss the new Coercion Hill for Ireland. It was estimated that there were about 30,000 persons in the park. Bands and banners of various Democratic organisations and of the Magna Charta Association were conspicuous in the assembly. Several English and Irish members of Parliament watched the proceedings from the outskirts of the crowd, but Mr. Joseph Cowen was the only English member who spoke. Mr. Cowen explained that the meeting was entirely arranged by Englishmen to discuss Irish affairs. Ireland barred the path of political progress and disturbed the administration and legislation of the country. When an important portion of the United Kingdom was in a state of serious and chronic disturbance, every other poction suffered. The condition of Ireland was a national humiliation, a direct reflection on our mode of rule, and a scandal to civilisation. The interests of both countries were :he same, , and he believed the bulk of the people desired to live on terms of goodwill. Ireland was disturbed because she was suffering, and Englishmen were ignorant of the extent and intensity of her suffering. Coercion in the past had proved a failure, and would be a failure in future. It was proposed to abrogate trial by jury, to give the Executive power to stop pubrc meetings, and to suppress newspapers. He proceeded to review the powers given by the bill to police and magistrates, and appealed to Englishmen to protest against such an infringement of liberty. A resolution was passed strongly condemning the tyrannical policy of the Liberal Government towards Ireland, and protesting against the CoerciOn Bill now beitzg forced through the House of Commons as tending to strengthen secret societies, foster outrace and embitter the feeling between the two peoples. The I proceedings were orderly throughout.  The death is announced of Mr. Robert Platt, one of the largest cotton spinners in Stalybridge. Tlv will of the late Sir Francis Lyec•tt has I.ycn disputed by one of his nephews, and the Cause was tried in the Probate Court on Wednesday. There was no proof whatever that Sir Francis was mentally incapable of making a will, and the jury found a verdict to that effect. The Disfranchisement Bill now before Parliament was discussed by the Chester Town Council on Wednesday, and it was resolved to ask the House of Commons to refer it to a Select Committe, before which the Council might be heard. On Monday fhe Nottingham police reported the finding of the body of a young man named Charles Cooper in the Trent, at Nottingham. He had been missing for a week, and is supposed to have committed suicide through a quarrel with his sweetheart.  The annual rifle shooting match of the " Twenties " of England, Scotland, and Ireland for the International Trophy took plice at Cowglin, near Glasgow, on Saturday. Scotland won by 19 points, the scores being—Scotland, 1,753; England, 1,734; Ireland, 1,546.  Late on Sunday night a fire took place in Spitalfields, London, in the course of which Ellen M'Conley, aged 14, was burned to death. Her parents and brother were rescued soon after the fire was discovered, but no attempt was made to save her, as it was thought there was no other person in the house.  The Duke of Cambridge visited Pontefract on Saturday afternoon, and was present for a couple of hours at the East of England Horse Show. The Right Hon. H. E. C. Childers, Mr. Sydney Woolf, M.P.' Lord Houghton, and other gentlemen received His Royal Highness, who left for town in the evening. At Warwick, on Monday, a sergeant in the let battalion of the Royal IVarwickshire Regiment, flamed Charles DevonpOrt, a native of Coventry, made a desperate attempt to commit suicide. Placing his rifle against his mouth he discharged the contents, shattering the lower portion of his face in a shocking manner. He was reamed to the Warnford flovital. Hopes are entertained of his recovery. A Nottingham telegram states that on Saturday evening a boating fatality occurred on the river Trent at Stoke, near Nottingham. Five young men were rowing in a pleasure boat, which suddenly capsized. The river was in flood, and one named John Chater, a warehouseman, was drowned. The others had a narrow escape. The wife of a working man at Willeahall on Wednesday took out her two young children for an airing in a perambulator. Her attention was called away for a moment, and she left the perambulator at the top of an embankment. It wae blowni by the high wind down the incline and into a pond, and both the children were drowned.