Vnutintro.

Most of the reelections of the members of the new Administration have now been got through.

Mr. Herries, President of the Board of Control, was returned for Stam- ford on Saturday. At the nomination, on Friday, he stated that he was "resolved on using his utmost endeavours to mitigate, at all events, if he could not alter and reverse, that unfortunate policy" of Free-trade. On Saturday, in his speech of thanks' after reelection, he made this reply to an elector's question " How about the Corn-law ?"—

"That is undoubtedly a question of vast importance, and one of no small difficulty. It is a matter of great importance to decide how those who dis- approved of the repeal of the Corn-laws should act, now that those laws have been repealed. The question has been often raised under the title of Protection, and there are many in this country—I believe there is a large majority in this country—who are of opinion that protection ought to be ex- tended to all branches of British industry which may require it. But I am not called upon to argue that abstract question now. The question is with respect to the law as it now stands. I believe the duty of a statesman or of the Legislature is to use his or their efforts to render the law as it now stands conducive to the welfare of the community at large, or if that cannot be done, to alter it for the public good. Upon that point I must tell you, that without adhering rigidly to this or that mode of supporting, assisting, and Metering the agricultural interest, on every occasion on which the necessity for action or advice may arise, my advice and my conduct shall be directed to giving the utmost practicable assistance and support to the landed inter- ests of this country." The election mob was very obstreperous. Mr. Herries could not make himself heard till resident gentlemen had again and again besought " fair play" for him. On his making a declaration against the ballot, shouts arose—" If we had the ballot we should not have you'!" and whenever he referred to "the electors," he was corrected, by rough reminders from the crowd, that the Marquis of Exeter is his returning constituency.

Mr. Beresford, whose name before he was made Secretary-at-War was more familiar. as Major Beresford, was returned again for North Essex, on Tuesday. The affair was one " of course " with the agricultural electors; but the opposition of the artisans of Braintree was manifested by inter- ruptions to Mr. Beresford's speech of thanks, which made him rather testy. In repelling the vigour of these demonstrations, the Seeretary-at- War " appealed not to men from the factories of Braintree, but to men who had votes in the county; his duty was to the freeholders, not to the rabble." Concerning the new Administration he said, he knew the stuff of which it is formed—" they might fail from many causes, they might fail from want .of ability, or from the factious opposition of unjust Men, but they would never fail from want of principle and determination to carry out that principle to its extreme."

Mr. Banker, Judge-Advocate-General, was returned for Dorsetshire also on Tuesday. Leading political topics were not touched on by Mr. Bankes. The features of his speech were, a tribute to the present Speaker of the House of Commons, and a free use of Mr. Coppock's Whiname and reputation, as the vehicle of sarcasm at the expense of the

gs.

Mr. Arthur Duneombe, Junior Lord of the Admiralty, was returned on Tuesday for the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Mr. Henley, President of the Board of Trade, was returned for Ox- fordshire on Wednesday. His speech of thanks to the electors, assem- bled in the County-hall at Oxford, was an expanded expression of the cautious opinions put forth in his anticipatory address.

In reference to the Corn-law, he said, there are three parties concerned with that law—the people at large, the tenant-farmers, and the landlords. Now he, for one, never imagined—and he thought that subsequent ex- perience had somewhat confirmed his views—that the landlords would be the class most affected by the change. He had expressed this opinion for years before the repeal of the Corn-law ; he repeated it now, and those who best understood the question had found that he was not very far wrong. The class most concerned, the one that he thought would be most affected, was that of the tenant-farmers. It had chanced that the blow fell almost en- tirely on them. The third class, the labourers, he had certainly thought would be more affected in the way of wages than they have been. But at the time when he fort:tied that opinion, 1846, labour was much more in excess than it is at present. It is impossible not to see, that in con- sequence of what happened in Ireland, where 1,800,000 persons either by death or emigration passed away, and in consequence also of the enormous number of persons who emigrated from this -country, there are fewer labourers in this country—and he was glad of it—to do the work required of them. That was one of the causes that had prevented the la- bourer's wages from becoming lower than they had been. He rejoiced at this, but these circumstances had given greater advantages to the labouring classes than any one had a right to believe. (A Voice—" Free trade P') The operation of free trade had been, not only among the farmers, but among the trading donee as well, to sharpen the competition that had previously existed. Another circumstance had come in to aid and assist the sharpness of that competition ; he alluded to the wonderful discoveries of gold that were taking place in every part of the world. Those discoveries had lowered the rate of interest of money; and that diminution had tended to force money into every channel of employment, and to increase the competition that previously existed, to a grievous extent. The consequence of all this has been to throw upon the tenant-farmers the effect of the changes that have taken place. As to the prospects of the present Administration, he said it was not now the first time—since at the public meetings of the county he had said the same thing in season and out of season—that he told his agricultural friends that the question on which they felt most interest would be settled at the next general election. He had endeavoured to call to their attention the va- rious circumstances that had occurred to his own mind, and which must be all weighed with a dispassionate judgment, to enable the nation to come to a right conclusion. It was not what might suit the population of thatgreat city or county—it was not what suited Manchester or the West Ridiug of York- shire—it was not what suited Scotland or Seeland—but the question must be considered with reference to the interests of all and according to the in- terests of all. At the various agricultural meetings he had attended, he had not shrunk from telling his agricultural friends what he now told them. He should have thought it unworthy of him if he had not, as these things struck his own mind, communicated them to his good friends. They had before them, then, some very conflicting elements on which this great ques- tion would have to be considera. Since 1845 end 1846, when these great changes occurred, there had been empty workhouses and full gaols. This had never happened before, because whenever the workhouses were empty the gaols had been comparatively empty too. He was not about to express any opinion as to the cause of one of these facts, but they would not be dis- puted as elements necessary to be taken into account in considering the whole condition of the nation. Taking the United Kingdom, he believed that, from the year 1846 to the present time, the number of persons.passing through the gaols was double last year compared with 1846.* That was most remarkable, because the workhouse-door could be olosecl against a man, but the gaol-door could not. Looking at the United Kingdom, and its various parts and dependencies, there was in some a very general prosperity, and In others the deepest and most pressing distress. He knew that in the busy hive of the manufacturing districts there was full employment at satis- factory wages, and that there was, consequently, contentment among the great mass of the people ; but when he crossed the Channel be found that there was no employment for the people—that the land was laid waste—that when land was sold purchasers could scarcely be found for it— and that such a state of prostration and terror existed that the people were fleeing from the land as from a pestilence. He was not stating whether the prosperity arose from this or that source, or to what cause the distress was owing ; but all would have the justice to admit that this great question could not be settled by reference to a particular community, but to the whole mass of the people. Another anomaly existed : the trade of this country during the last thirty or forty years had vastly extended itself, but with that extension of trade there had been a regular diminution of profits. He had figures before him which could not mislead, and which showed, that while the trade of the country had wonderfully increased during the last six years, the aggregate profits of trade measured upon incomes exceeding 1501. had diminished by 14,000,0001. No thinking man would withhold this fact from his purview. As to the future, he could only repeat that this greatly- agitated question would be settled at the next general election. One's opin- eon might be influenced or modified, but the opinions of the Government, -both collectively and individually, must bow upon this point to the will of the nation. If their views were overweighed by the great majority of the nation, it would be not only their interest but their duty to give way.

On the subject of Parliamentary Reform he said, he stood perfectly free to consider dispassionately any real improvement of the Reform Act which might be brought forward : he would not oppose any change he thought beneficial, "nor use Parliamentary Reform as a cry, whenhe thought it not likely to succeed."

Mr. Christopher, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, met his eon- stituente, the electors of North Lincolnshire, on Saturday. His speech of explanations, like his written address, was one of the frankest that has come from the new Administration. The election is today ; and Mr. Christopher is not likely to be opposed.

" It would be madness in any statesman, however able he may be, how- ever honest and sincere, to pretend to appeal for-a reversal of the Free-trade policy to a Parliament based and established on the principles of Free-trade. It will be the duty of the noble Earl and his colleagues not to introduce any controversial measures to the consideration of the present House, but to con- fine themselves to proposing such measures as would put the Sovereign in the position of carrying on the public service, and to the introduction of cer- tain measures of Law Reform which it was ce4sidered necessary to pass into law as speedily as possible. Gentlemen, when these objects have been achieved, it will be the duty, and it is the intention of Government, to ap- peal to the people on the broad principles expressed by Lord Derby. The Prime Minister has declared himself that he has not altered his views or any of those principles which he declared to the country, and it will be for the people to respond to the appeal so made. It will not depend upon Lord Derby, but upon the constituencies of the kingdom, whether in the ensuing Parliament he will introduce a general system of import-duties ; a system -which I believe to be for the real benefit of all the working, producing inter- ests, of this country."

He besought them "not to pay any attention to the absurd reports spread aboutin Free-trade newspapers relative to the insincerity of Lord Derby." . . . "Do not believe these anonymous Free-trade authorities when they say that the noble Earl at the head of the Government has abated one jot ofthe prin- ciples which he has all along advocated. If I had any idea that the noble lord really had abandoned any of his Protectionist principles, I should never have condescended to hold office under him, much as I value the distinction conferred upon me. It will be for you and the constituencies throughout the empire to say at the approaching general election whether an import-duty shall protect British industry and capital or not ; and depend upon it that

• Mr. Henley has corrected this statement, by a letter published in • the news- papers . _re the number of commitments last year was not twice as manyns 1846, but one hail MOM. unless Lord Derby is in the ensuing Parliament enabled to make the wished- for change, you will never again be able to stand up for the principles you hold. The approaching general election is the time when the appeal will be made to you plainly ; and if you are ready and determined to return as re- presentatives Members of whose real opinions there can be no mistake, . then I believe your cause will be triumphant' but if, on the contrary, a majority of representatives should be returned to the next Parliament entertaining the same views as the present one, then it would be in vain to offer any .fur- ther opposition, or to make any further appeal. Gentlemen, the cause is in your own hands and in the hands of the constituencies of the country, and it is not in the hands of any Ministry which her Majesty majceall to office."

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce have agreed unanimously to a petition to the Legislature, containing these points- " Uncertainty paralyzes the operations of commerce and shipping, endan- gers industry in every branch, and retards the progress of agriculture both at home and in the Colonies; and as, from recent changes in the Govern- ment of this country, that dreaded uncertainty exists and is increasing, your petitioners, disavowing, as this Chamber has always disavowed, all intention of interfering in party politics, humbly but earnestly pray, that your Hon- ourable House may instantly take such measures as may assure the country that no retrocession shall take place in the commercial policy now existing, which, founded on the immutable principles of justice, is diffusing happi- ness by spreading employment on every side, and elevating the moral cha- racter of the people by diminishing poverty and crime."

The Manchester Commercial Association have adopted petitions, stating that the Association are "firmly of opinion that any return to protective duties cannot be permanent, and that any attempt at their reestablish- ment would only lead to continued and organized agitation " • and ear- nestly calling upon her Mdjesty's Government "at once to declare its fu- ture commercial policy."

The merchants of Liverpool, adverse to Protection, resolved, at a public meeting on Tuesday, that they fully coincide in the propriety of the re- constitution of the Anti-Corn-law League, and will strenuously support it.

A numerous and influential meeting of the inhabitants of St. Matthew's and St. John's, Manchester, on Tuesday evening, considered the propriety of petitioning Parliament in favour of the substitution of reproductive labour for non-productive labour or compulsory idleness in workhouses, as a means both of ameliorating the condition of the pauper population and of diminishing the burdens of the ratepayers. The Reverend T. R. Bentley, Rector of St. Matthew's, presided ; the Rector of St. John's, and three other clergymen, Alderman Pilling, several Common Councillors, and other leading citizens, took part in the proceedings. The Chair- man advocated the cause Of "reproductive labour" by economical rea- soning, andby Christian persuasion. On the 1st of January 1850, a period of boasted prosperity, there were upon the rate books of England and Wales 931,328 persons receiving in-door and out-door relief: what an incredible waste of money, and loss of humanlabour ; and what an enormous amount of incentives to crime, of pernicious influences on society and public 'virtue, that text suggested ! He introduced to the meeting Mr. Stark, the Secre- tary of the Poor-law Association, a body which was formed some time since to inculcate the principle of giving reproductive employment in workhouses, and which is now increasing its activity and enlarging the sphere of its influence. Mr. Stark stated, that the principle of reproduc- tive pauper employment is making great progress in America, and is even applied in Spain. The Liverpool Poor-law Board have appointed Mr. Carr, the late Master of the Cork Workhouse, to the Mastership of the Liverpool Workhouse; a deputation from the Vestry having been to Cork and satisfied itself of the great advantages, both to the poor inmates and to the ratepayers, which Mr. Carr had there obtained by an intelligent application of reproductive employment among the paupers. Resolutions to petition Parliament in favour of the objects advocated by the speakers were unanimously adopted.

The firivilege of bonding in Manchester, which was taken away be- cause the Corporation refused to repay to the Government the expenses, according to agreement, has been renewed, the Bonding Warehouse Com- pany having guaranteed the Corporation from loss.

A meeting has been held at Holmfirth to adopt measures respecting the Holm Styes reservoir. That reservoir is considered to be in a very dangerous state if any large accumulation of water should take place : it stands at a considerable altitude at the head of a narrow valley ; if the embankment should burst, more destruction in the valley beneath would take place than even in the case of the Bilberry disaster. The meeting adopted a petition to the House of Commons, calling for some measure for the protection of the inhabitants, and for a law which would make the individuals forming the reservoirs commission responsible civilly and criminally for the results of mismanagement : for the ruin and loss of life at Holmfirth they are responsible in fact, while in law they are absolved. Several commissioners were present at the meeting, and promised that they would see that the water at Holm Styes was kept down to a safe level ; but the body of the meeting were not satisfied with this, and some protested that all the water ought to be drawn off and the embankment reconstructed.

Four men have been tried at Nottingham Assizes for the murder of Wil- liam Roberts, at Rufford. Roberts was one of the Earl of Scarborough's gamekeepers ; the accused formed part of a gang of poachers. On the night of the 13th October, there was a desperate conflict between considerable bodies of poachers and keepers ; each party did their worst : the keepers were armed with flails and stones, and the poachers with sticks and stones. A keeper broke the arm of an opponent with a blow from a flail ; others were hardly leas hurt. Roberta's skull was fractured in the melee, and he died in two or three days after. The Jury convicted on the minor count of man- slaughter; and the prisoners were sentenced to fourteen years' transporta- tion. A point was subsequently taken by Mr. Sergeant Miller on behalf of Sims and Meeks, two of the convicts, that, inasmuch as they were disabled by the blows they received in the early part of the fray, and before the mor- tal wound was inflicted on the deceased, they could not be considered as taking part in the manslaughter which was the result of that wound. This point was reserved.

Pitman, Stokes, and Hall, have been convicted at Huntingdon of participa- tion in the burglary and violence at Baveley. These were the men who broke into the house of Mr. Fairley, a Scotch farmer, but were held at bay by him for above an hour—each party firing many gun-shots at the other, up and down the stairs—till he and his wife were made to yield by suffoca- tion, the robbers having lighted a fire of green bean stubble at the foot of the stairs. After Mr. Fairley had capitulated, the robbers severely beat him and his wife. They were all sentenced to be transported for life. •

At Durham Assizes, John Wailes pleaded guilty to a charge of man. slaughter at Lanchester. There was a dispute about the possession of a public-house occupied by John Teesdale, father-in-law of Wailes ; a number of men, some with fire-arms, broke into the house to take legal possession ; on the stairs, Wailes fired a gun at Codling, one of the intruders, and wounded him in the leg : the hurt was mortal. Sentence, six months' ins. prisonment. A bill preferred against Teesdale was thrown out by the Grand Jury.

Thomas Bremer, an engine-driver on the Midland Railway, was convicted of the manslaughter of Taylor, a stoker, at Nottingham. Bremer had started early in the morning with a luggage-train from the town ; soon after the train was delayed ; Bremer did not send back a notice to a passenger-train which was to follow shortly, and that train ran into the stationary one : Taylor was on the second train, and was killed by the collision. Sentence, four months' imprisonment.

At Swansea Assizes, George Wilbows was convicted of forging signatures to a petition for mercy addressed to the Crown. John Joynes had been con. victed of manslaughter; his stepfather thought that by petitioning his sen- tence might be commuted; and he engaged ?Wilbows, who was in the habit of selling his services as amanuensis, to write out a petition. He soon pro_ duced the document, with a number of signatures attached, including that of the Mayor of Cardiff, with those of many other persons of note; he subse- quently pretended to get more signatures, the stepfather paying him for hie trouble in soliciting them. The petition was sent to the Home Office ; in. quiries were made ; and then it turned out that all the signatures were forged. Sentence, imprisonment for six months.

The cross-charges of assault by Lord Ranelagh and an officer of the Greenwich Railway were to have been investigated at the Maidstone Assizes ; but the counsel on each side having consulted togethert it was mutually agreed to proceed with neither case : a verdict of "Not guilty" having been taken in the indictment against Lord Ranelagh, the matter fell to the ground.

A serious riot or "mutiny" occurred in the Mersey on Saturday morning, on board the New York packet-ship Queen of the West. When the crew were mustered for the outward voyage, there were only twenty-six hands; the seamen held that there should be thirty ; grumbling ensued, and symp- toms of insubordination. The master, Mors, a German, seized one man by the collar; immediately several of the crew fell foul of him, knocked him down, and beat him with handspikes and belaying-pins. Mors got away and fetched a revolving pistol,. which he attempted to fire at one of the men, but it missed fire. Again the crew attacked the master; but eventually they were quelled by the master and mates using cutlasses with great freedom, inflicting numerous wounds, and nearly cutting off the arm of one of the men. The master then tied up a seaman and flogged him. Subsequently, eleven of the crew were taken ashore by the Police to Liver- pool ; but as the riot took place on the Cheshire shore, the prisoners were sent to Birkenhead.

On Monday, nine of the men were produced before the Birkenhead Ma- gistrates : two were in the hospital, and others were much hurt. The master stated his case, and witnesses were called to corroborate the statement. Mors admitted that he had twice appeared before the authorities at New York on charges of ill-treating passengers, and that he had been fined in small sums on those occasions. Mr. Aspinal, counsel for the men, desired the case to be sent before a jury. Witnesses, called to give a different colour- ing to the affair, stated that the master committed the first assault. A ship- ping-master's assistant admitted that his employer got 1/. for each man shipped ; sometimes captains had half this money as a perquisite; if Mors had got rid of twenty men and shipped others, the shipping-master would have got 201., and the captain might have received half; but no such ar- rangement was ever thought of. The Magistrates convicted the seamen of assault: they sentenced one to pay .a fine of 51., three to pay 3/. each,- and the others to pay costs • with imprisonments, in default, varying in extent from two months to fourteen days. Further charges were threatened against the master.

Some time since, two attempts to affiliate a child upon the Reverend Stephen Matthews, the incumbent of Hanging Heaton, failed. The mother of the child was a young girl, a teacher in a parochial echool under the cler- gyman's care. The people in the locality were much dissatisfied with the decisions of the Magistrates. The matter has since come under the judg- ment of Mr. Matthews's spiritual superior, the Bishop of Ripon; and the in- quiry has terminated by a judgment against Mr. Matthews—he is deprived of his benefice for adultery.

Mr. Thomas Phillips, a farmer of Pentrenaboth in Brecknockshire, is in custody on a charge of murdering his illegitimate child, by giving it to a now which devoured it ! The accusation was made by a discharged labourer, in consequence of a quarrel with Phillips ; but a boy corroborated his state- ments. Williams, the accuser, deposed, that in March 1850 he had reason to believe that Margaret Morgan, Phillips's servant, had given birth to a child; this infant the farmer threw to a savage sow ;. the sow was eating the child when Williams came up. Phillips threatened to kill Williams if ho divulged the matter. Margaret Morgan stood at the door of the house and saw the child devoured. The woman was in court, and the Magistrates now ordered her into custody. From a cross-examination it came out that Williams has a " delusion" : he believes that a ghost has lately carried him many miles across the country. This might have been useful for the prisoners ; but the boy, Thomas Davis, gave an intelligent straightforward corroboration of Williams's evidence. The prisoners were remanded, that more witnesses might be summoned. Some of these further witnesses have made depositions increasing the credibility of the charge. The prisoners were again re- manded.

Edwin Gwyn, a young fellow of Coleford in the Forest of Dean, having been remonstrated with by his sister for constantly demanding money of their mother, he set to beating and kicking her. 'f he young woman was ironing at the time ; to escape her brother's violence she ran out of the house, the iron in her hand ; he followed, and she threw the iron at him. Unforiunately, it struck him on the head, fractured the skull, and caused death three days after. A Coroner's Jury deemed the act of the sister was one of self-defence, and returned a verdict of "Excusable homicide."

Miss Julia Gordon, a young lady of fifteen, one of the daughters of Lord Henry Gordon, has lost her life, at Hampton Court Palace, by accidental burning. While sitting by the study-fire early in the morning before dress- ing, her night-dress caught fire;. her mother was alarmed by her screams, ran to her aid, and succeeded in extinguishing the flames • but the young lady was so badly burnt that she died two days after. Lady Gordon was severely burnt in her efforts to save her daughter's life.