IlLbt iirobintes.

Mr. Thomas Plumer Halsey was nominated as Member for Hertford- shire on Thursday, at the County-town. There was no opposition. Abuse of the League, and expressions of distrust in Sir Robert Peel, were freely indulged in by the mover and seconder of the nomination. Mr. Halsey's speech contained nothing remarkable: he would not consent to any change in the Corn-laws which diminished the present protection. Mr. William Cowper, the Member for Hertford Borough, ranked one of the speakers for the violence of his language, and spoke a word in favour of free trade, though he disapproved of Mr. Cobden's tone on some occasions. A rambling discussion followed, in which opinions of all kinds were broached, without result; and Mr. Halsey was declared to be duly elected.

Mr. Gladstone has announced his acceptance of office, in an address to his constituents of Newark, bidding them a final farewell. His address is framed very skilfully, so as to seem open and frank without telling a single thing to his electors, puzzled as they must be with the cometic course of their distinguished representative. This is the passage which stands in lieu of an explanation how Mr. Gladstone came to reaccept a place in the Government- " The Administration of Sir Robert Peel had retired from office. The party op- posed to that Administration, and led by Lord John Russell, had endeavoured to form a Government, and the endeavour had not succeeded. On the other hand, as I am given to understand, persons favourable to unrelaxedprotection were not prepared themselves to undertake the conduct of public affairs in conformity with the views which they entertained. It was in the critical juncture thus brought about, that Sir Robert Peel had unhesitatingly resumed the exercise of political power. When invited to fill the vacancy caused by the lamented re- tirement of Lord Stanley, of I had to ask myself the question n whether it was to be desired, on account of the exigencies the general welfare as they stood, that the Queen's Government should receive support? Gentlemen, I judged that such was the case."

Mr. Gladstone alleges as the reason for not offering himself to the electors again, " that a candidate recommended to their favour through local con- nexion may ask their suffrages." This is Mr. John Stuart; who has come forth as a Conservative, in a dubious address. The late Member does not say to what constituency, if any, he is about to offer himself: is he going to be " pitchforked," so as simultaneously to carry Free Trade and the House of Gladstone into the Peerage, for the enlightenment of the House of Landlords?

The Central Short Time Committee of Yorkshire have been in corre- spondence with Lord Morpeth, whose support in Parliament they crave. In a memorial they set forth the necessity of "short time," especially con- sidering the number of persons engaged in factories: they define it to be a duration of daily labour from six o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the evening, with proper intervals for meals. This is the conclusion- " Your memorialists, therefore, most earnestly entreat your Lordship's sym- pathy for their oppressed condition; and in the event of your Lordship being again called to take your seat in the House of Commons as the Representative of the West Riding, that you will gratify the expectation entertained from your Lord- ship's benevolent character, by giving your influence and support to the bill which will be introduced by Lord Ashley for the restriction of factory labour to ten hours a day for five days and eight hours on Saturdays."

Lord Morpeth replied as follows- " I willingly promise to them [the delegates] the sympathy they request with so much propriety and forbearance of languagefor the whole body which they re- present, and for their condition in life. If I now reenter Parliament, after the long interval of absence from its deliberations, and without having had the many importent questions connected with factory labour specially brought under my notice, I must reserve to myself entire freedom to deal with the propositions which may be submitted for adoption; but I shall bring to their consideration a keen feeling for the wants and wishes of the working classes, and a resolute de termination to do my whole duty towards them."

The Free-trade agitation has experienced a revival. Messrs. Cobden and Bright have resumed their travels; the advocacy of the forty-shilling free- hold scheme forming the chief object of their mission. Northampton has "pronounced "; the agricultural labourers at Goatacre, in Wiltshire, have told an impressive tale; Ilfracombe has had a meeting; but Christchurch proved refractory, and went over to the Protectionists. The Newcastle and Lancaster meetings complete the list.

The meeting at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which took place on Monday, was on a large scale. None of the public halls was capacious enough to meet the demand for admission, and a temporary structure was resolved upon. The more immediate object of the meeting was to hear addresses from Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright, explaining the position of.the Free-trade question and the registration scheme of the League. Sir John Fife pre- sided. Mr. Bright spoke first; but the speech of the evening was Mr. Cobden's. The aristocracy had done themselves incalculable harm by the displays they had made at Protection meetings. They had compelled the people to reflect upon what kind of persons it was to whom the desti- nies of the nation were committed; and the result might be an overturn too precipitate to be beneficial. The Dukes of Norfolk, Richmond, Cleve- land, Newcastle, and Buckingham, were enough to ruin their order; and the Marquises of Londonderry and Salisbury were not much better. He of Salisbury had denounced the League, and expressed his willingness to assist in putting it down. But " Hertfordshire sends three Members to Parliament: it is one of those counties which they call a unicorn county, driving three; and the Marquis of Salisbury

has hitherto been the driver. Now, ni tell you what I did directly I had read the speech of the Marquis of Salisbury. I wrote to a friend in Hertford im- mediately, and said Buy me a forty-shilling freehold in Hertfordshire.' rll be

on the list for Hertfordshire next year; and I will beg and entreat all my friends,

all good Leaguers, in the Metropolis and the neighbourhood, (where they are within half an hour's ride of the polling-place for that county) to follow my

example and qualify for it. We'll very soon show the Marquis of Salisbury how easy it is to send him back to his privacy, and just leave him as much power over the representation of Hertfordshire as any man wearing a round frock upon his estate."

Mr. Cobden denied that the Council of the League had "given away" a single qualification, or intended to do so. All that they meant to do was to stimulate the friends of free trade to avail themselves of the forty- shilling franchise: and the result of their exertions in Yorkshire was shown in the fact of Lord Morpeth's walking over the course for the West Riding. [This remark elicited " tremendous cheering."] As regarded the ultimate success of the Free-trade struggle, Mr. Cobden placed great reliance on the circumstance of the Whigs' having been bound down, by their own act, to total repeal. This secured an united opposition- " I do not know that we shall get what we want through Sir Robert Peel. I don't care whom it comes from. Get it we will. They may force Mr. Bright and myself to endure another three or four years' domestic martyrdom, sacrificing our health, and getting more gray hairs and more wrinkles by this laborious labour. (The vast assembly here rose as one man, cheered for some seconds, andfollowed

this by loud clapping of hands.) But the cheering reception you have given us

at this meeting, and our fund of 250,0004 make me confident that we shall force them to submit. It is passible they may yield to Sir Robert Peel. It is possible he may yield to them. If he bring forward any half-and-half scheme, then we have a power in the Opposition to bring against him which we have never had before. We were never an united Opposition before. I declare to you most solemnly, that up to within the last six months I have been more afraid of the Whigs than the Tories. I have looked with fear and trembling at a division in the House of Com- mons which might possibly throw Sir Robert Peel into a minority; because I was afraid that, if the Whigs came into power without recorded pledges to carry out our principles, we should have been worse off than in the hands of the Tories. Not that I think worse of those who are nearer us on some points than

those who are further off. I was afraid of the Whigs for this reason—

they have still some popularity in the country; and I was afraid that if they proposed a compromise, there would be a disposition in many parts to coin- cide with them, in order to keep them in power. But all that is past. We go to Parliament this session an united Opposition. If Sir Robert Peel does not go straight, then the sooner we find him in a minority the better. If he does not go straight, I shall not care with whom I vote if by any honourable vote I can throw him into a minority. If he does not bring forward a full measure, he'll not live through the session. With two hundred men opposed to him in a compact body, and—leaving myself out of the question—comprising nine-tenths of the talent of the House, it is utterly impossible for his Government to stand through the next session, unless he takes a course which will secure to him the support of the country on this question. If Sir Robelt Peel proposes to abolish the Corn and Provision laws, I'll cling to him as faithfully until he has done his work as I would to Lord John Russell or anybody else."

A resolution thanking Messrs. Cobden and Bright for their att end ane and pledging the meeting to assist in carrying out the registration-scheme, was passed with acclamation.

A public dinner given to Mr. Groom, the newly-elected Mayor of Northampton, on Tuesday, was made the occasion of a Free-trade demon- stration. Upwards of a hundred influential adherents of the Liberal party sat down to table. Mr. Vernon Smith, one of the Members, was Chairman; and Mr. Raikes Currie, his colleague, was present. On passing from the special business of the day to the more general topics of the political juncture, Mr. Vernon Smith remarked, that upon a similar occasion last year, the late Earl Spencer waspresent, and made his celebrated declaration In favour of Corn-law repeal. Since that time, his Lordship's opinions had been gradually making way among his party; as was well shown by the letters which had recently appeared from prominent men in the Whig ranks. Among the letter-writers were Lord John Russell, Mr. Labouchere, Mr. Macaulay, and he might add himself. As to Lord John Russell's con- version—

The conduct of that noble Lord, as leader of the party to which he belonged, had been gradually verging towards the conviction he had expressed in that letter. When he was Minster he proposed a fixed duty. Mr. Smith was not going to say a word in favour of that old friend, a fixed duty—it was out of fashion; but he believed that there was hardly one of those persons who shouted "No surrender!" but would be delighted now if they had accepted the compromise Of a fixed duty. Fault had been found with Lord John Russell's letter; but Lord John had a perfect right, seeing that the Ministers were met to con- sider the impending distress of the country, to pronounce his opinion upon that question, and to explain why he had changed his former one.

He was sorry to say that his own letter had given offence to one party- " It is to a gentleman who took to himself an expression of mine, which I will candidly say was intended for himself and a few others; but I should be sorry that it was supposed to be meant to convey a stigma upon such a body of men as the Anti-Corn-law League. Mr. Cobden answered me by applying the very same abuse which I deprecated as applied to others. He does me the honour to cast a shower of abuse upon me: and if he thinks that will advance the cause which he advocates, I have no objection that he should apply it, so far as I am concerned; but I think that as applied to others, it is calculated to retard the progress of the cause, to put up the backs of the farmers, to raise a greater opposition amongst men who, although they opposed a Ministerial proposition of a fixed duty on a former occasion, are now coming round to it."

Lord John Russell's letter had broken up the Peel Government; but the blow had been unproductive, owing, it is said, to the opposition of one man— That man was Lord Grey. If he were bound to express an opinion without having heard the statement of that noble Lord, he should have been sorry to express any unfavourable opinion of a man for whom he had so high a respect as hehad for Lord Grey; and he doubted whether on political subjects there was any public man with whom he agreed more than with Lord Grey—but let them not tell him so, for if they did, perhaps the noble Lord might think it right to dis- agree with him. (Laughter.) But if Lord Grey had any objection to sit with any person in LordJohn Russell's Cabinet, the only reason, why he (Mr. Smith) found fault with him was that he had not made his objection earlier. But he thought that the noble Lord to whom Lord Grey objected, so far from being likely to plunge the country into a war, was, by holding the high tone this country ought to hold, most likely, as he was most anxious, to preserve peace.

Mr. Raikes Currie extracted a cause of rejoicing from Lord John Rus- sell's failure-

" I rejoice that Lord John Russell did not form a Government: I congratulate you on the improved position of the Liberal party. The improved position of the Liberal party is this, that they have now a broad, intelligible, and all-important truth, on which they are all agreed, the legitimate and only honest basis of com- pact and hearty partisanship. Lard John Russell embraced the cause of total and immediate repeal with unreserved frankness, and with a decision which in- spires confidence. I believe that he attempted the formation of a Government most reluctantly, and solely from a sense of public duty; but this we have the happiness to know, that he undertook it on the basis of carrying out boldly, loy- ally, and completely, the great truth he had avowed, and gave the best pledge of his sincerity and earnestness by the offer of office to the ablest and most success- ful advocate of this or indeed of any other movement."

The cause of the failure signified little-

" Mr. Macaulay rather prematurely tells us, It was all Lord Grey.' I will only say, speaking of public men from the calm distance-ground of private life, whence, however, I have impartially and carefully observed them, that I hold a strong opinion, that any Liberal Government formed on Free-trade principles, in which Lord Grey did not occupy a prominent station and fill an important post, would be in a most false position. The depth and soundness of his economical oOnions, and their able, fearless advocacy, his bold and statesmanlike views on the vezata indefatigable of the Irish Church, his complete mastery of Colonial sub-

jects, his industry, and his thorough honesty and courage, have impressed this on every independent man. It is the fashion to call him crotchety,'—which, being interpreted out of party language, means often con- scientious; to consider him 'impracticable,'—which, in like manner, may be, that he forms and maintains opinions with sincerity and boldness."

He thought that the good sense and foresight of the aristocracy of Eng- land were sadly belied by the persons who figured at Protection meet- ings— " A few high personages, who seem to consider themselves privileged buffoons— some County. Members shaking for their seats, and a certain rank and file of Tory squires, 'full of foolish opinions and fermented liquids'—may meet to bully and abuse the Government; but the great mass of the gentlemen of England, with all their prejudices, the noblest body of freemen in the world—generous, high- minded, aye, and reasonable men—will not march through Coventry with these mouldies and bullcalves'; they will not believe that Cavendish and Russell and Howard of Naworth, that Spencer, Fitzwilliam, Villiers, and Grey of Howick, and many more whom I could name—men whose names are history, and who vindicate their names—have joined to rain their own properties and destroy their own order. The gentlemen of England will not peril their social_ position, the happiest perhaps the world has ever seen—their deeply-rooted influence, all powerful in a righteous cause—in an unhallowed and unsuccessful struggle for monopolies; they will not break up our glorious England in a deadly strife of classes—town against country and country against town—to fight the fight of supposed self-interest, with their breeches-pocket for a standard and high prices ' for a battle-cry. No; when the Minister of their own making comes down to the Commons House of Parliament, and tells them that the game is up—when he shows them that nothing but his wondrous cunning of fence' has made play for them so long, and kept justice and expediency at bay—when, gifted as he is with marvellous powers of countenance, he owns that no reasoning creature can parade their stale fallacies and now look grave in a deliberative assembly—when, famed as he justly is as a debater, making great speeches, and fond of making them, lie at last makes his pet speech of all against the sliding scale, and scatters it to the winds— how I shall delight to witness that masterly performance ! When this, and more than this is at the door, the gentlemen of England will retire from a hopeless contest; they will seize the few moments which remain for yielding gracefully what it is impossible to keep; and if, in the teeth of everything which the wisest and best practical men of their own class and profession have said and writtep and demonstrated, they will still persist in declaring they are ruined—for that is an Englishman's privilege—if they will maintain that all is lost, they may then at least declare, All is lost except our honour.' "

A temporary panic may follow repeal, but the subsequent advantages will be substantial and progressive-

" I rejoice to feel assured, and I speak after an impartial, careful, deliberate examination of the subject, and with some experience as a tenant-farmer, that nothing will be lost worth half this hubbub; and though (for I hate to overstate a case) I regret to think that some temporary depression' perhaps some temporary panic,. may at first ensue, I am deeply convinced, that all landowners and land- occupiers whose affairs are in a sound and healthy state—who are living, as all prudent men live who claim to be possessed of property and desire to retain it— that is, within their incomes—not fixing on some fancy standard as due to their position and deserts, but honestly proportioning their expenditure to their receipts, and leaving a margin for the inevitable casualties of life—I believe that all such persons will find their estates more secure, the fee-simple increased in value, and eventually their income more steady and progressive; and that where the father now sees a vast slovenly game preserve, the son will behold one gigantic garden."

The Free-traders of Cluistchurch requested the Mayor to call a public meeting to discuss the question of protection; and it took place last week: but the Protectionists, headed by the Earl of Malmesbury, assembled in force, and carried an amendment, asserting that, "in the present financial position of this country, the principle of a fair protection to agriculture and commerce is both just and politic." The Honourable Captain Harris, M.P., supported this view; but refused to pledge himself to any specific course in Parliament.

A meeting of agricultural labourers took place on Monday, at Goatacre, a village about six miles from Wootton Basset, in Wiltshire. The meeting was called by a committee of their own class; and the object was to afford the labourers an opportunity of stating their own case in their own way, and of considering the propriety of petitioning the Queen to abolish the Corn-laws. The men in charge of the preliminaries had taken means to inform the press of the intended meeting, and a number of reporters were present. We quote from the Times- " The meeting was to have been held in a large booth erected in a field; but the great expense of providing such accommodation was beyond the combined contributions which these poor people could spare from their very scanty means; and therefore they were compelled to assemble together in the cross-road of the village, and to endure the inclemency of a winter-night while they talked over their common sufferings. The whole of the arrangements apd proceedings were strikingly characteristic of the occasion. A hurdle supported by four stakes, driven into the ground beneath a hedge on the road-side, formed a narrow and unsteady platform, capable of supporting only the chairman and one speaker at a time. Below this rustic erection were placed a small deal table and some rush- bottom chairs, borrowed from a neighbouring cottage, for the accommodation of reporters. Four or five candles, some in lanterns, and others sheltered from the wind by the hands that held them, threw a dim and flickering light upon the groups on this spot, before and around which were gathered nearly 1,000 of the peasantry of Wiltshire, some of them accompanied by their wives and their children ; who thus collected presented a wild and painful appearance. In the shadows of the night the distinctive garb of their class was everywhere dis- cernible; but when the flitting clouds permitted the moon to shine brightly in their faces, in them might be seen written, in strong and unmistakeable lines, anxiety, supplication, want, hunger, ever responsive in expression to the senti- ments and statements delivered by speakers, who merely described in plain un- varnished language the miseries of their rural auditors."

David Kell, who occupied the position of chairman, and the several speakers with the exception of two persons who spoke at the close, were agricultural labourers. The chairman, an elderly man, read the resolu- tions adopted by the committee when it was resolved to call the meeting: the first was- " That, in the opinion of the committee, the distress of the labouring people, caused by the failure in the potato crop and the high price of bread, is such as to justify the holding a public meeting for the purpose of petitioning the Queen for a total repeal of the Corn-laws, inasmuch as wheat has nsen 25 per cent, while the wages of the farm-labourers have not risen 5 per cent."

The poverty and distress existing among the persons he was addressing was alluded to with much feeling by the chairman; and he instanced his own case-

" As it respects my own distress, and the calamities and miseries I have under- went and undergone, I have spoken of them before at the Ramshury meeting. But the ease is not altered now. I have only 6s. a week for keeping myself, a wife, and two small children: I cannot earn half enough to keep us: 61. 10s. must go to pay house and garden rent, and no potatoes got.

The deliverance of the children of Israel when oppressed and in bondage, by Providential interposition, was alluded to by the speaker as a ground of hope; and he thought that the exertions of the Free-traders were accom- plishing a great moral work in the nation. It was unfair that the political franchise should be attached to riches alone- " I envy not the rich man for his riches; but is it not unreasonable and arbi- trary that the rich should be endowed with the full and sole power to send Mem- bers to Parliament to legislate? The laws press upon the poor, who never had any hand in making them. But I do think the time will come when every labour- ing householder will have the privilege of sending Members to Parliament.. When every man comes under the power of every law that is made, ought not every man to have a voice in making that law ? "

William Burchell moved, as the first resolution, that

" We, the labourers of Goatacre and its neighbourhood, in public meeting as- sembled, do solemnly protest against the Corn-laws, which were enacted on the plea of being beneficial to our interest, but have been, on the contrary, injurious, inasmuch as they prevent the employment of capital in the improvement of the soil; and thereby diminish labour, and raise the price of the first necessaries of life. And we labourers declare that we are lingering out a miserable existence under the idea of being protected."

He corroborated the truth of the chairman's statement on the subject of the prevailing distress— He believed that there were at the present time many who had not a bit of bread to eat. He did not know whether the man was in tbatcongregation or not, but one man of Lyaeham parish had told him that many a night he had gone to bed hungry. (Cries of " Ah, he is not the only one!"—" No, not bey many.") Those who were in distress should come forward and manfully, make their distress known: that would show the necessity for free trade, which he believed to be the only remedy. (A voice—" It can't make us worse.") Twenty or thirty years ago, the labourers of Wilts used to go up into the hills and make a good harvest; but since trade had failed it was no use for them to go looking for reaping, for many thousands of " scribblers " and weavers out of employment went and cut down the wheat at low wages. But he believed that if every scribbler had work at his mill, and every weaver employment at his loom, they would not rob the poor agri- cultural labourer of his day's work. Many persons said that free trade would make things worse for them: be did not believe that to be possible, and all he wanted was that the experiment should be tried.

His own case was a hard one-- He had heard it said that there was no market for meat. Why was that? Because the people had not the means of purchasing meat, therefore the con- sumption was not bigger. He was past forty years of age, and he could say that he never purchased a pound of good slaughtered beef fit to be carried into market. As to mutton he had purchased a little of that; but never as much as would ave- rage a pound a year in the forty years. He knew what veal was, but he had never bad any at all. He believed that the only way to improve the meat market and increase the home consumption, was to establish free trade; and he would conclude by calling on them to unite in petitioning for free trade. (Cheers.) Free trade for ever ! (Renewed cheers.) Charles Vines, in seconding the resolution, commenced his address thus-

" Friends., I wish the moon was a little brighter just now, that I could see better who is here: but! see enough to find that there is a good many people; and almost all of 'ens wear smock-frocks and poor old hats, as I do ! Some of us heard from a pulpit a short time ago that the mind of man is like to be dissatis- fied.. I believe it. Dissatisfied minds have brought all these men here tonight. (A woman's voice—"Ay, and women too!" I believe, fellow-labourers, that if you and your families had full bellies, you would now have been at home, after being working hard all day, comfortable with your wives and families. ("Ay,. that's true.") I am sure I should not have walked all the way up here from Christian- Malford, through lanes and paths full of mud and dirt, if it hadn't been for that. I don't come here to talk politics; I don't know nothing of 'em. But I don't know much of the Corn-laws, only that they Lint done we labourers much good. Everybody knows that. (A voice—" I've had 'ens staring me in Me ,face ever since 1817?) Yes, the Corn-laws exist, and every one of us feels that the sooner they be abolished the better."

Vines stated his own case—

The average of his own income for the past two years was 7s. lid. per week; and he asked any one present to tell him how a wife and six children could be supported on that sum, without getting into debt? His wife and he had been practising economy for fourteen years, and were unable to do it. His wife de- clared that she could not accomplish it; and he was proud to say that she was as good a wife as any present had got. Since last July, his family had consumed from 78.7d. to 8s. 8d. worth of bread a week; and this was more than he had earned. As to potatoes—" I have no good ones; hardly one fit for a pig to eat: for I do rent a bit of land now, half an acre, and there is not a good potato in it. I've got here one I had boiled for my dinner today; I brought it for a specimen. (The potato was handed down and examined under the lanterns; it was black with the prevailing disease.) Yet this is what I am to feed upon when I get up to work at four o'clock in the morning, if there's no bread in the house. It is a long time till July next before we get new potatoes; and unless something turns up for we poor creatures, starvation stares us in the face on both hands. But I sincerely hope long looked-for' will come before July next." (Cheers.)

Free trade presented-the only means of obtaining permanent relief—

"We must all with one heart lift up our cry and petition her Majesty to remove the restrictions upon trade and commerce; so that the poor labourers may have bread and cheese and good table beer, to enable them to do the work which their present scanty food never can. May that cry most with a reply from our gra- cious Queen. God save the Queen ! (Cheers, and responses of " Amen! ") Friends, every man who is born and bred a labourer has for his birthright a living from the soil, to be obtained without being restricted by any laws—unjust laws 1 might call 'em— enforced by our Legislature." Vines concluded by reading the following verses from Thomas Hood's " Song of the Labourer." " My only claim is this,

-With labour stiff and stark,

By lawful turn, my bread to earn Between the light and dark. My daily bread, and nightly bed,

My bread and cheese and beer' -

But all from the hand that holds land, And none from the Overseer! "

(Loud cheers, and cries of "No Overseers for we !") " No parish money, nor parish loaf; No pauper badge for me; I'm a son of the soil, by rightful toil, Entitled to my fee. No alms I ask—give me my task: For will, or arm, or leg,

rm strong and bold, and tothis I'll hold—

To work, and not to beg." (Loud cheering.) William Parry said- " I have come a distance of twenty miles to tell my tale of distress. I have six children, a wife, and myself; to maintain on 8e. per week, bread being 13d. per gallon. The farmers tell us that our wages go according to the price of bread; but last spring I had 7s. a week, and could buy bread at 9d. a gallon. Now it is 6d. more Land a gallon a day, being one pound to each is what we want in my family. Then there is clothing and firing wanted, and house-rent to pay; but there is nothing to pay for any of these things. I told the relieving-officer that I could not keep my family on my wages. He said he would bring my case for- ward at the Bold of Guardians. Well, he sent me an order for one of my children to go into the workhouse. Now, fellow-labourers, is not one child as dear to you as another? Well, I did not know which to send. I could not part with ne'er a one. I said to my oldest girl, You are to go into the workhouse.' She did not like to go, and I spoke to others- and there I had the cries of my poor

children, which were piercing to my Don't send me, father ! don't send me ! ' Was not that enough to trry a man, without the pressure of starvation? I spoke to master about it. Oh, he says, ' if you cannot maintain them, you had better send one into the workhouse; I shall not allow you any more wages.' I said, what benefit is it to send this child into the workhouse, and banish it from its home ? it will do the rest no good, nor that one either. Besides, I should have it always upon my mind; for no man would like to part from his children in each a way.

He had asked his employer for some better potato-ground; but he asked 81. an acre for it, and this he could not pay-

" If I could get three acres of land at the same price that the farmers get it- 21. an acre—I could provide for myself and family. (A voice—" Ay, the labourers would not let the land go out of cultivation.") But the farmers say it will, if we have free trade. (Cries of " No, nor) Where I come from, there are fields and fields fall of nothing but thistles. Why? Because there are not farmers enow to cultivate the land. Some of the land our people reaped produced two thistles to one wheat-ear. (Cries of "Shame, shame!" I was at home emptying this wheat, and master came into the yard: I said, Look at this ! ' the thistle-down was flying off like a snow-storm. I said, You had better have bad more labourers to cut the thistles out: the land will never be cultivated while this goes on.' He said,' But I have kept all the sixpences in my pocket.' (Murmurs.) I wish the farmers would have public open meetings to discuss these subjects?' He had attended a public meeting at Ujhaven, and had got into dis- favour in consequence— His master had told him that he thought himself a fool for not turning him away for attending the meeting at Uphaven. The fact was the farmers wanted to keep the labourers in the dark. The farmers and landlords held their meet- ings in private, and would prevent the labourers from having any meetings at alL The labourers must be persecuted for meeting together • but farmers and land- owners might meet and devise how to starve the poor lahourers, and that was all right. (A voice—" Never mind, it won't last long.") He hoped not. His master (Mr. Wansborough) said that free trade would starve them. (Cries of "Let's try it; why, we be starving now!"). He said, "You won't have any money, if you have free trade." How many in that meeting had money? He would venture to say, none. (A labourer—" I have been five weeks without a farthing in my pocket; I have never seed any money all that time.") He eaw no hope for them but in free trade. There was plenty of bread and meat waiting to come into this country, but the Corn-laws would not let it come in. Their cry, then, most be, "Free trade, free trade for ever!" (Cheers.) William Taylor said—

He had a wife and four children, and expected soon to have five; and was at present out of employment. For the last seven weeks he was in work he got 6s. 6d. per week. For many days be had been without a bit of bread to eat. A person in the crowd—" But you are one of the protected Wiltshire labour- ers. Were you discharged from your employment because you were so weak you could not work ? " Taylor—" Yes, I could not work because I was not strong enough; I could not get victuals to make me so; and my master, 3Ir. Styles, of Whitcomb, dis- charged me. I have no work now, and not a sixpence."

A voice.—" Go to the Duke of Richmond, at No. 17, Bond Street." (Cries of " Hear, hear! )

Another voice—" Did ever any of your fellow labourers give you bread when you were starving?"

Taylor—"Yes, several times: I han't had any today but what that man gave me. (Pointing to a labourer in the crowd; who replied, " Yes, I gave him some to- day.") May God Almighty soon send free trade."

[This poor man need not have called himself a starving man; his emaciated appearance spoke in stronger terms than his voice could utter.]

All the resolutions having been passed, the proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the press, and three cheers for " Free Trade " and "Cob- den and Bright." Many of the poor people had long distances to go be- fore they could reach home.

The Protectionists continue to display much diligence in their agitation. Sir Robert Peel has not been so keenly hunted down at the recent meet- ings as at the earlier: a desire to allow him " law " till the meeting of Par-

Jisrosnt has been somewhat more readily evinced. On some occasions, the necessity of acting as well as speaking has been broached; and at the Waltham meeting, a mode of action was named—the conversion of the central society into an electioneering instrument, and the acquirement of forty-shilling county freeholds. In the majority of cases, the "no- surrender " doctrine has prevailed, but a less impracticable spirit has been displayed in others. The list includes meetings of the East Surrey Pro- tection Society, the Sussex, (three meetings,) the Lincoln and Lindsey, the Horncastle, Melton Botley, Swavesey, Lynn, Cheshire, North Bucks, the Waltham, and the Boston.

The Horncastle Association met on Saturday, at Horncastle • the Hon- ourable Sir Henry Dymoke in the chair. Lord Worsley and Mr. Christn- pher, the Members for the Northern Division of Lincolnshire, were present; but they did not take any part in the discussion; reserving an exposition of their opinions till the business part of the meeting had been disposed of. The resolutions contained the usual affirmation as to the danger which threatened the agricultural interest; and the speakers who enforced defen- sive measures did not hesitate to attribute to Sir Robert Peel the authorship of the impending evil. Lord Worsley prefaced his remarks by mentioning that he attended the meeting by invitation; and that he had paid much attention to the observations which had been addressed to them by the several speakers. He had found that, by common consent, the present danger was attributed to Sir Robert Peel; but he thought that this was scarcely fair. His conviction was that a portion of the blame ought to be attached to those County Members who supported the Minister in his Corn- law and Tariff alterations; a circumstance which enabled him to raise the cry that his modifications had received the full consent of the agricultural interest. Lord Worsley denied the truth of this inference: the agricultural interest had nothing to do with the matter; and the truth was, that those Members who supported Sir Robert Peel had sacrificed their pledges at the shrine of party. But Sir Robert had not disappointed him— The electors would recollect, that on the hustings at the last election, be told them distinctly that he had no confidence in Sir Robert Peel ; and expressed his conviction that he would avail himself of the first opportunity for proposing the repeal of the Corn-laws. It was charged against him that he misrepresented Sir Robert Peel on that occasion. It was undoubtedly the opinion of the agricul- tural constituencies at that time that Sir Robert Peel and his party were men who would oppose any alterations in the Corn-laws. Shortly afterwards, Sir Ro bert propm.ed considerable modifications. It was a difficult matter to ascertain his real opinions on the Corn-laws from his speeches. He only knew one occa- sion when Sir Robert declared that the repeal of the Corn-I ws would be inju- rious, and that was in his speech at Tamworth in July 1841: that was the only occasion on which a positive opinion was given. In his last speech in the House of Commons on the subject, there was evidently a lurking intention in his mind to get rid of protective duties altogether; but how soon, was not so clear. A compromise had been spoken of—

Ile did think, about a year ago, that there were appearances which would make one almost suppose that the time was arriving when a compromise might be effected: but that day was gone by. He was quite satisfied that there could be only one ground for entering into a compromise—namely, if it could effect a final settlement of the question, so as to stop all agitation; for the agitation of the ques- tion was doing the farmer infinite injury. (Loud cries of " Hear, hear! ") But before one encouraged anything like a compromise, the question would be, " Can one be effected that will put an end to this agitation? " He believed no compro- mise would do so. It was at present generally believed that the Government meant to propose a fixed duty with a descending scale, to go down so much each year until at last it vanished: and that by some people might be supposed a good compromise; but he could not think so. There would be precisely the same agitation going on till the last shilling was got to as at present. But many members who represented agricultural constituencies, by supporting the present Corn-law gave encouragement to the idea that the agriculturists could bear less protection. It was said that part of Sir Robert Peel's measure was to throw upon the Consoli- dated Fund the payment of the highway and poor and county rates, and then to claim an alteration in the Corn-laws for the manufacturers, as bearing part of that of which the agriculturists would be relieved. Now, he had never been one of those who advocated protection to agriculture solely on the ground of the exist- ence of burdens upon the land; he had thought it most important that the country should be kept as far as possible independent of a foreign supply: but he did not see that it would at all effect the principle of the Corn-law if the Government were to relieve the farmers of the peculiar burdens now paid by them; and there- fore, however glad he might be to see a different arrangement made with regard to certain fixed payments, that was independent of the Corn-laws; and he thought they ought to be very careful how they accepted of such an arrangement—that sort of relief might be bought too dear. He was not quite sure it would be wise that those payments should be made out of the Consolidated Fund. Government would then be likely to claim the management of those affairs; and the farmers might have to bear their share in the payment and have no voice in the manage- ment.

Lord Worsley's advice— Ills notion was, that the farmers should make a determined stand. That was his opinion in 1841. He thought the farmers were of opinion at that time that their Representatives should make a stand, and not desert them in the hour of peril. As doubts existed, it would be well to be prepared. A rumour had pre- vailed that it was the intention of the Government to open the ports for six months: that intention, it appeared, had been abandoned. There was no doubt, he thought, that the subject that broke up the Administration was the Corn-laws. The com- mon rumour was, that some of the members of the Cabinet would not agree to their repeal: twenty-four hours, it was said, were given to the Premier to recon- sider his determination, but he was inflexible. Then Lord John Russell came in; and from circumstances which had already been fully before the public, failed in forming a Ministry. Sir Robert Peel carried his point: those who opposed him came round to his views, finding that he would never give up his opinions, having arrived at them after due deliberation. He believed that Sir Robert Peel seriously thought that the course he had adopted was for the benefit of the country. He had a majority of ninety in the House of Commons at his back, with the House of Lords at his call; and he would not, therefore, have broken up his Government on slight grounds, nor would he have again accepted the reins of power without being fully convinced that he would be enabled to carry his views into effect. Re might not make the attempt immediately on the reassembling of Parliament; there would be a general election in two years, and he might perhaps wait until then: but there could be not the slightest doubt of his ultimate intention. Lord Worsley's own course—

He would repeat, that he would give no pledges; although he contended that when a public man made a declaration he was bound to carry out his views as he described them, or if he saw grounds for altering them, then either to explain to his

constituents his reasons or resign his trust into their hands. Upon some sub- jects new circumstances might arise, and a doubt would exist as to the policy of refnsing a change; but upon a matter like the Corn-laws there could be no doubt

of the opinions entertained by the representative on the one hand or the consti- tuents on the other. His constituents could never be in ignorance of his opinions on these matters, nor could he be unmindful of theirs. If, then, he went into the House of Commons and voted for any alterations in the Corn-laws even though he had given no positive pledge on the subject, he would not be acting

the part of an-honourable man. He should leave that meeting without giving any pledge; and yet they would be fully able to judge as to the course he should pursue during the ensuing session of Parliament. He could see no necessity whatever for making any alterations in the present Corn-laws. The famine was gone: there was a disease among the potatoes, but there was an enormous yield.

Mr. Christopher addressed the meeting; but beyond a general adherence to the no. surrender declarations of Lord Worsley, nothing calling for notice

was said. He spoke at greater length, and with more point, at a meeting of the Lincoln and Lindsey Society, held on the previous day at Lincoln. Mr. Christopher had watched the movements of the Cabinet, and the result was the reverse of satisfactory—

There had always been a wavering when the interests of agriculture were at stake. He had seen a gradual adherence to the principles of the Anti-Corn-law Lftgue; while one Minister in some cases contradicted the assertions of another. He had heard Sir James Graham, in the last session of the Melbourne Adminis- tration, make a most excellent speech in defence of protection. Since that time he had observed great misgivings in the mind of Sir James Graham. Sir James Graham had since said, but apparently. with considerable hesitation, that in the present state of our commercial relations, and the risk we should run from Conti- nental wars, it was not desirable that we should be totally dependent upon them for the supply of our food. At the close of the speech in which this opinion was expressed, Sir Robert Peel rose and overthrew the arguments of his colleague; adding, that this country must to a large extent be dependent upon foreigners. Now be could not but admit that he entertained some suspicions with respect to the Cabinet, considering all that had been said and surmised on the matter, and considering that none of the Government organs had given any satisfactory ex- planations of the rumours afloat.

Mr. Christopher's course—

So little confidence had he in Sir Robert Peel, as he had recently told a leading member of his Government, that he could no longer consider himself one of his supporters. (Cheers.) The course he should take next session would be firmly to resist any aggression. He would join no party except that which might be called the Country party in the House of Commons. (Applause.) He would have no connexion with any official man who proposed further to tax the native industry of the country. (Cheers.) If the agricultural body were united, and adopted a manly independent course, he was convinced that no Administration could be formed which would be bold enough to attempt to subvert their interests. At the Botley (Hampshire) meeting, on Monday, the attendance con- sisted of landowners and farmers, and some tradesmen. Two points may

be noticed—the moving of an amendment condemnatory of the Corn-laws, by a landowner, which found a seconder in a tenant-farmer, but met with no further support; and the adoption of resolutions of a somewhat original kind—

"That the present meeting is by no means wedded to the Corn-laws, nor do they ask for exclusive protection: bat having, in common with other agriculturists, invested their property and entered into heavy engagements on the faith of exist- ing laws, and the prospect of obtaining certain average prices as a fair return for their capital and exertions, they require, on the principle of reason and justice, that their property shall not be sacrificed, their prospects blighted, and they themselves misled by the delusive cry which prevails, and which the class-legis- lators of the League are now endeavouring to excite." "That wheat cannot be profitably cultivated under the present crisis at a less price than from 50s. to 60s. per quarter; and if foreign be admitted duty free, the poorer soils must immediately be thrown out of cultivation as arable land, and the quantity of English wheat produced be much lessened; and therefore this kingdom will be dependent on foreign countries for a great part of the supply; and eventually, in an unproductive season or in time of war, that supply would no longer be obtained, and famine would then overtake us in reality; as the poorer soils would not again be made to produce wheat until the end of two years."

The West Norfolk Society met at Lynn, on Tuesday; the Marquis of Hastings presided: Lord Sondes, and Mr. W. Bagge, one of the Members

for the Western Division of the County, were present. The chairman addressed the meeting at some length, and quoted Lea's British Tariff to show that corn was not exclusively protected, but that a similar advantage was extended to almost every article " of British manufacture." He amused the meeting by reading the epithets applied by some of the Free- traders to the landlords and the farmers, which he had been at the pains to collect and string together—

He would take a few epithets which had been applied to the landowners in the publications of the League. They were called "monsters of impiety," " relentless

demons," "merciless footpads," "swindlers," "plunderers of the people," and, to crown all, " murderers." These were the epithets applied to the landlords; but in what terms were British farmers mentioned in the League circulars ? They were called " deluded slaves," brute drudges," " plodpates," " hawbucks," " chow- bacons," " clodpoles," and so forth.

Lord Sondes could scarcely bring himself to believe the rumour that Sir Robert Peel intended to abolish, or—what was equally objectionable—to alter the Corn-law. He could not withdraw his confidence till he had re-

ceived conclusive evidence that Sir Robert was about to take the course attributed to him; but if such should prove to be the case, he could place no confidence in any public man. He did not, in general, approve of

pledges; but he was ready to pledge himself to support to the best of his power any Minister who would afford due protection to the interests of

agriculture. Mr. Bagge mentioned, that when he first entered Parliament, he supported Sir Robert Peel; but circumstances had since occurred which had materially shaken his confidence in the right honourable; Baronet; and it would be a long time before he again became what was termed an " ha- bitual follower" of that Minister.

The Waltham meeting, Which took place on Wednesday, was to have been presided over by the Duke of Rutland; but the Duke of Cambridge, who arrived on a visit, induced his Grace to play truant and substitute the hunting-field instead. Example is catching; many of the more influential Protectionists took to horse also, and followed the Ducal sportsmen. Lord Charles Manners, the Duke of Rutland's brother, and Mr. E. B. Farnham, Member for North Leicestershire, remained, and put their shoulders to the wheel. The chair was assigned to Mr. Smith, a tenant-farmer. He men- tioned that an effort was to be made to extend the operations of the Cen- tral Society so as to include electioneering matters; the object being to counteract the registration scheme of the League. A resolution asserting that the continuance of the present Corn-law was absolutely necessary to enable the farmer to cultivate the land at a profit, was moved by Mr. Bradford, in a speech which advocated the purchase of forty-shilling free- holds. Lord Charles Manners avowed his continued adherence to the cause of Protection; but as the intentions of Sir Robert Peel were shrouded in mystery, he thought the meeting would act prematurely if they did not leave some opening " for the consideration of what might be satisfactory to the country as well as advantageous to the farmers." This opinion was entertained by the Duke of Rutland as well as by himself; and they had embodied their views in a set of resolutions, which he would move as an amendment-

" 1. That, assailed by the increasing and unconstitutional enmity of the Anti- Corn-law League, and alarmed and perplexed by reports of an intended reduction in the protection which we yet enjoy, we deem it necessary to reassert our oft- repeated conviction, that no further redaction of its amount can take place with- out exposing us to the hazard of widespread ruin.

" 2. That we desire no advantage which will be for our exclusive benefit, or to the injury of other classes of the community; but, considering as we do that our labour and profession are in connexion with native industry as closely as those of any other class, we feel that we are equally entitled to claim protection as a right which cannot be foregone without a diminution of the energies of cultivation, and consequently of the actual amount of home-grown food.

"3. That we therefore respectfully lay our case before the Legislature of the country; and earnestly pray that no change may take place in the present laws regulating the import of corn, unless accompanied by measures which, by equaliz- ing the burdens which now press, if not exclusively, at least chiefly on the land, shall maintain us in the integrity of our present position."

Mr. Beesley approved of these resolutions; remarking, that " he was not prepared to say that he would object to a change in the Corn-laws- that would be stupid; but he was prepared to say that he would resist to the utmost any change that would be likely to lessen the present amount of protection." Mr. Farnham, M.P., spoke to the question of compro- mise— For his part, he did not wish for any-eompromise; for they had Cobden and Bright's own words for it that no compromise would satisfy them—nothing less would satisfy them than total repeaL If so, then they would keep up an agita- tion baneful to trade and destructive to the agricultural interest. If there were to be a compromise the agriculturalists would be most likely to suffer, as they had suffered before. 'He for one should certainly claim for agriculture the present amount of protection.

He concurred in two of the resolutions; but as to the third, he thought it would be better to leave out the part which followed the word" corn." His object was to avoid the slightest appearance of a desire to " compro- mise " the question. The curtailment was generally assented to, and the resolutions passed unanimously.

The lace-weavers of Nottingham, engaged in the twist and warp branches, are in a state of distress arising from the want of employment. The factories are nearly all shut up; and the prospect for the winter is gloomy. A public meeting was held on Tuesday, to devise measures of temporary relief; and a subscription was commenced.

At the Quarter-sessions of Newcastle in Staffordshire, held on Tuesday, Regi- nald Ashford Wise pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining under false pretences 5501. from the Newcastle Bank. The young man's father is said to have been formerly a banker at Totnesa, and his brother is a Magistrate for Staffordshire. He was sentenced to be transported for seven years.

A robbery has been very adroitly committed at Carfield Hall, Harlow, in Essex, the residence of Colonel Wayde. Five men went to the 'Hall the other day, and began surveying the grounds as if for a railway. The leader of the party then in- quired for the Colonel; and learning that he was in Paris, the man appeared much disappointed, as he was, he said, to have met the Colonel at Carfield HAI that day about a proposed railway: he consented to put off the business, however, till another time. While this man was conversing with the Colonel's wife and the butler, his companions, who had entered theplace with him, were busily employed; and when the railway people had gone, it was found that they had earned with them articles of jewellery to the value of 3001. or 4001. A man has killed himself, at the village of Beinfieet, in Essex, by .drinking seven half-pints of gin! he had laid a wager that he would swallow nine half- pints.

A whole family, with a person who was on a visit, have been poisoned at Tad- caster, by eating of the root of monk's-hood in mistake: a boy had been directed to dig up a root of horse-radish, but took the poisonous weed instead. Medical assistance was obtained, and all recovered, with the exception of the visiter, Mr. Farrar, a butcher: he died in two hours.

On the Devonshire coast the wreckers have been pursuing their nefarious practices. When the Ness Indiaman went ashore at Padstow, crowds flocked to the wreck to plunder; the military were called out to protect the property; never- theless, there was much pillaging. The cottages have been searched for miles round, and many persons are in prison. A man and a woman were found dead on the shore, killed by drinking the rum that floated from the ship. A dreadful accident occurred on Wednesday, between Sarr and Minster, on the line of the South-eastern Railway. A new engine, going at a great speed, went beyond the rails, and turned over; crushing to death one poor fellow, named Hol- lane • and injuring two others, one of them severely. Hollan.s was a native of Birchington; he has left a wife and eight children to deplore their irreparable loss.—Kentish Observer.

The inquest on the two men who were killed by the late accident on the Nor- folk Railway was resumed on Monday. The Coroner had made an application to Government for an engineer to assist in the investigation: the only reply from the Home Secretary was a notification that the letter had been sent to the Board of Trade. Mr. Marshall, the superintendent of the locomotive department, was examined. He considered the causes of the disaster to have been those surmised by Mr. Bidder. He bad inspected the engine since the accident; and found no rupture in it. Mr. Thurtell, a passenger in the train, gave very positive evidence as to the great speed at which it was proceeding at the time the engine ran off the rail: just previously he had timed a mile by .a passenger's watch—It was done in fifty-two seconds. The passengers were alarmed at the speed. The inquiry was again adjourned, in order that General Pasley might be summoned; the Jury being resolved to examine him to test the statements ot the Company's officers.