t4t Prontum.

The "shipowners and others" of Tynemouth gave an entertainment to Mr. George Frederick Young, M.P., on Friday last week, "in ac- knowledgment of his advocacy of British interests both in and out of Parliament." Mr. Alderman Popplewell presided ; and Sir Matthew White Ridley, Mr. Matthew Bell, M.P., the Honourable H. T. Riddel, . and other gentlemen of local station or note, were present. Mr. Young acknowledged "the crowd of sensations which pressed with overwhelm- ing force on his recollection when he stood in the town of Tynemouth once more, to address those who supported him through three contested' elections as their representative in Parliament." Then, striking into the beaten track of his political orations, he declared his rejoicing belief that the time is over for the adversaries of Protectionists to defeat them in detail by fret dividing them and separating them from each other.

An excursion-train on the Great Western Railway has been run into near Bath, while on its return from London. In Brislingtou tunnel, the engine from some cause broke down; while the train was stationary, an engine and tender from Bath ran into it. Though no limbs were broken, several per- sons suffered from cuts and bruises, and a lady's knee-cap was fractured. The driver and stoker of the engine that did the mischief were charged be- fore the Magistrates of Keynshom with negligence. They pleaded guilty, but made some excuses in mitigation of punishment. They were both fined, with the alternative of imprisonment in default of payment.

Two accidents have occurred on the East Lancashire Bailway. at Liverpool. A man who was signalling a train at night to proceed more slowly, so mis- calculated the distance of the engine, that he was knocked down and crusheit to death. The other disaster exhibits the most culpable negligence. l'art of a bridge had been removed, to make the crown of the arch higher for street-traffic ; a lueaage-train came up at night, the driver of which knew nothing about the Mem that had been made in the railway ; a light was exhibited, but he saw it too late to stop the train, and the engine and a number of waggons fell through the aperture. The fireman escaped by scrambling over the waggons in the rear ; but the driver was so much luirt that he lies in a precarious state.

A boy only ten years of age has pleaded guilty at Chester Assizes to a charge of placing pieces of iron on the rails of the London and North- western Railway. He artfully covered the iron with hay, to deceive the policemen. It was stated that many attempts of this kind have recently, been made, requiring the greatest vigilance to prevent disaster : sixteen ex- tra policemen have been placed on the line for this purpose.

The shepherd of a farmer at Steventon, Berkshire, near the Didcot sta- tion on the Great Western Railway, was on Saturday last driving a flock of sheep across the line between Denchworth Bridge and the Fanngdon Bead_ station. He had driven the sheep through the gateway on to the line, but had not taken the precaution to, open the gate on the opposite side to let the sheep pass through ; and the consequence was, that a train coming up at the time ran into the flock, and killed forty-seven sheep. as well as the shep- herd's dog. The line presented an extraordinary scene of slaughter, and the cries of the wounded sheep were piteous in the extreme. No blame was at- tached to the engine-driver, as it was impossible to cheek the engine in time. to prevent this wholesale destruction.—Oxford Journal.

Another fatal accident has happened at Bedminster, in the Halm) Tato colliery. While four men and a boy were descending the shaft in a bucket— the depth 240-fathoms—the rope broke near the top, the bucket having

He held this meeting as a public demonstration that the shipping interest

of this country is determined now to assoeiate itself in the closest bonds. with the agricultural, not for the support alone of its own peculiar and separate interest, but in the maintenance of that principle, the abandonment of which destroyed equally the Navigation-laws and the Corn-laws. From that room that night he felt assured a voice would go forth that would echo over the length and breadth of the land, and summon around the banner of a moderate and equal protection to every English interest against the fo- reigner; a combination which should bid proud defiance to all the vaunting arrogance of their enemies, and should achieve from them that justice which was all that they claimed, which was what they would resolutely demand, and which they would shortly have. (Bursts of applause.) The repeal of the Corn-laws was alleged to be for the prosperity of the working-classes and to a certain extent that prosperity existed : it was owing to the wages of labour not having fallen so rapidly as the price of commodities. But they were steadily decreasing, and then the working classes also would experience the full weight of the injurious system which was exercising its disastrous influence over other classes and interests- fl The port of Bristol has thriven well this year. At a late meeting of the Town-Council, the report of the Dock Committee wan read, and it appeared that the income exceeded the expenditure for the year by 3000/. The foreign tonnage exceeded both that of lust year and the exceptional year 1849, by nearly 20,000 tons. The Committee recommended that the dues on auger be reduced from 3s. to Is. del. per ton, and those on tea, coffee, and cocoa, wholly remitted; and the Council unanimously • adopted the proposition.

nearly reached the bottom ; and the mass, six noshes and a half wide by two inches thick, and weighing three tons, together with the iron bonnet or shield, fell upon the unfortunate people, crushing them to death. A long time elapsed before ropes of sufficient length and of the proper construction could be borrowed to descend the shaft. In the mean time, there was great tribulation at the mouth of the shaft; and one old man, whose son was in the bucket, was so excited and alarmed that he fell down dead. The fall of the bucket and shield damaged one of the "trunks" of the shaft, and it was feared that eight men who were in the workings might be in danger ; but they did not suffer. The accident was the consequence of a flaw in the rope, and not of any wilful damage done to it.

The inquest has corn men red. It appears that the workmen in the pit looked with suspicion on the rope ; they thought it was bad from top to bottom, it was so frequently being " spliced." But they had never complained to any of their employers—they "did not like to speak their minds," "poor men'are tied down too tight now" ; they only spoke of it among themselves. The Coroner remarked, that it was very extraordinary they had never complained ; they had not acted fairly by their employers. The men who had charge of the rope said, if they had known any part to be weak, they would immediately have strengthened it : this had been done in some places, by taking out frail por- tions of the rope, and then splicing the ends to each other with iron plates ,riveted through, the strands of the rope. The rope broke close to one of -.these iron splicings, which had been made only a few days previously by the colliery blacksmith. Towards the close of the proceedings on Wednesday, Walter Smith, a collier, said—" For the evidence I have given today I shall be out of work. I should wish much to see the splice. [It was produced.] Is that the splice which they say has broken ?" The Coroner—" Yes, they say so." The Witness—"It is a wilful lie. I have looked at the two pieces of rope ; I do not believe that either of them belong to the part of the rope which was broken last Friday night." Brookman, the blacksmith who spliced the rope, had sworn to his belief that these were the identical spliced ends; and Police Inspector Alexander had sworn positively that he saw these ends cut off the rope in the pit for the purposes of the inquest. It appeared, however, that the rope had before that been cut in many places, in order to its being more readily moved off the bodies of the men whom it fell upon and killed.

At the continued proceedings, yesterday, evidence was received from rope- manufacturers on the make of the rope, and on the identity of the pieces shown to the Jury. The testimony went to show that the material was good but the structure not the best : the rope had been made too narrow, and too thick, instead of being broader and thinner with the same material. 'On inspecting the structure of the pieces and comparing them with the ends of the main rope from which it had been stated that they were cut, the rope- makers seemed to be in doubt as to their identity. More of the colliers stated that they had constantly been in fear lately ; but as others of their com- panions had disagreed with them and pooh-poohed their distrust, they had not complained to the managers. The inquiry still proceeds.

At Monmouth Assizes, on Saturday, Thomas Griffin Phillpotts, an at- torney, was tried for perjury. In March last, an action of ejectment was tried. It was proposed to read a copy of a will to show that one William Joseph was dead ; and when it was objected that this office copy was not evi- dence, Mr. Phillpotta offered himself as a witness, and swore that he had compared the document witkthe original will at Llandaff Consistory Court, and had examined it with the act-book and the act of probate. All the material parts of this statement were untrue; and at this trial it was so ,proved. At the ejectment trial, in consequence of objections, the document was withdrawn. It was now objected that the contents of Joseph's will were utterly immaterial to the determination of the issue in the action of ejectment; that consequently what Phillpotta swore was immaterial, and could not.be the subject of an indictment for perjury. Mr. Justice Erle said, though his own private opinion was that the law ought to be that whatever was sworn in the course of a cause in a court of justice might be the subject of an indictment for perjury, yet he had not the least doubt that as the law now stood, that which could be the subject of such an indictment must be some- thing capable of supporting the issue. He would not now determine this question, but reserve it for the Court of Criminal Appeal, if the verdict should be against the defendant. The Jury pronounced the defendant guilty. He was admitted to bail till the next Assizes, in order that the point raised on his behalf may be argued before the Court of Appeal.

John Murphy and John Keefe were tried for the murder of Thomas Dowd, at Newport, as formerly described. The Jury found Murphy guilty of ag- gravated manslaughter, and Keefe simply of manslaughter : the first was sentenced to be transported for life, and the other for fourteen years.

At Liverpool Assizes, on Thursday, an action was tried for breach of pro- -mise of marriage. The plaintiff was Miss Walker, who had been a nursery. governess in a gentleman's family, and is now a dressmaker ; the defendant, Mr. Woolstoncroft, is an ironmonger of Bury, in comfortable circumstances. The young man not only promised marriage, broke the promise, and married another, but he seduced Miss Walker : the mother had threatened him with a charge of rape from the circumstances of the seduction, when he promised to marry his victim at a fixed time. The Jury gave 3501. damages.

At Gloucester Assizes, on Tuesday, Edward Jordan was convicted of set- ting fire to a cottage wherein his aged mother slept : she was rescued with difficulty from the flames, in estate of insensibility. The particulars of this -shocking crime were mentioned some time back. Sentence of death was re- corded, but the punishment will be commuted to transportation.

James Wailing, a seaman, nearly sixty years old, having been discharged from the Royal Navy with a pension of 9s. a week, went to Ipswich to live with his sister. He took 601. in cash with him. After a time, he induced Martha Moyse, a girl of nineteen, to live with him as his wife. Recently he grewjealous, apparently with some cause ; and on Tuesday.evening he at- tacked the girl with a razor, gashing her and cutting her hands and fingers; then he cut his own throat, and died in three hours. Martha Moyse is not in danger. The sailor had been drinking, but "knew perfectly well what he was about : he expressed delight at what he had done, and desired to do more both to the girl and himself.

At Croydon Assizes, last week, Hiram Smith, otherwise Richard Trawler, was placed at the bar to plead to the Coroner's inquisition charging him with the murder of the Reverend George Edward Holiest, at Frimley. The pri- soner pleaded "Not guilty." Baron Alderson, after the Jury had been em- panelled, said that in this case no evidence would be offered against the prisoner, for very good reasons, with which, no doubt, they were acquainted. Faith must be kept with all persons ; and no evidence being offered, they would say that the prisoner was not guilty. This was done; and the ap- prover was set at liberty.

James Adams was found guilty of forging and uttering orders for the de- livery of goods in the name of Lord Villiers, to defraud tradesmen of Ciren- cester. Sentence, fifteen years' transportation. Elizabeth Williams, a com- panion of the man, was acquitted.

William Powell, a farmer and innkeeper at Tavem-y-Goweg, in the Swan- sea valley, has been convicted at Brecon of burglariously breaking into the house of David Williams, at Trecastle. Another man was formerly convicted

of this offence, as it now appears, wrongly. After that man's trial, Morris, a tinker, denounced Powell; he saw him breaking into the house, and was subsequently bribed to keep the secret. Powell's object, apparently, was to steal certain mortgage-deeds which Williams held. Williams, an old man, repulsed the would-be robber, and from the view he got of him declara., that it was "Tom the blacksmith"; and on that testimony "Tom the blacksmith" was convicted and transported, but has since been set free. The real culprit has now been sentenced to transportation for ten years.

William Boucher, the draper's assistant of Bath who fired a pistol at John Birley, a ahopman at a rival draper's, has been convicted at Bridgewater As- sizes of a common assault. The counts charging an intent to main and dis- able were withdrawn, as it was evident that the young man only meant to frighten those who had thrown water over him. Sentence, one month's im- prisonment. John Mickleburgh, the farmer who murdered his maid-servant at Thran- deston, has declared that his family shall not be disgraced by his execution ; he will starve himself to death. He has taken only tea and coffee while in gaol; and has said that after he had bid his wife adieu and made his will he will take no kind of nourishment.

It has been discovered that Messrs. Andrews, drapers of Wolverhampton, have been systematically robbed for some time past. William Neale, an as- sistant, abstracted goods from a large stock, and sent them by rail to Binning. ham to a Policeman named Mills, who, with the aid of his wife and a girl, sold them ; Neale going to Birmingham once a week to receive his share of the money. Both the men invested part of their ill-got gains in a savings- bank. All the four persons implicated are in custody. Mills had borne a good character as an officer.

While a sailor was walking between Rochester and Maidstone in the even- ing lately, a ruffian sprang from a hedge, demanded his money, and aimed a blow at his head ; the sailor parried the blow with his stick; a second ruffian now appeared, and discharged a pistol ; the sailor laid about him with his cudgel, and the cowardly villains ran off. When the sailor got to Maidstone, his hand was found to be badly wounded with the pistol-shot.

Mr. Thomas Shelton, of Ufford, near Stamford, has killed John Hunt, a labourer, by an inconsiderate act. Several persons had been out shooting at rabbits, and subsequently at a mark; they got a little the worse for liquor ; and on their return home, Shelton, in a "lark," fired at Hunt's hat ; the charge entered his head and killed him instantly. A Coroner's Jury has given a verdict of "Manslaughter."

While a gentleman was bathing at Ramsgate, he was carried out of his depth, in a very rough sea. The owner of the machine, a good swimmer, plunged in with his clothes on, pushed the gentleman towards the shore, and then himself sank from exhaustion. The gentleman was eventually got to land, but died in a few minutes. Another man who tried to recover the machine-man's body almost perished in the attempt.

About four o'clock on Friday evening, the steeple of St. Cuthbert's Church, Thetford, fell on the roof of the building, carrying away one of the arches and destroying the organ. The building is very old ; it is built of flint and freestone, and has been repaired many times.