gbe 43robintes.
A meeting was held at Stone, on the 6th instant, for the purpose of forming the Agricultural Society of North Staffordshire. Mr. J. Wise, of Clayton Hall, who had taken the lead in getting up the meeting, was called to the chair. The Society was duly constituted ; Lord Hather- ton, Lord Sandon, Mr. Watts Russell and Mr. Adderley, the Members for the Division of the County, and several other country gentlemen, taking an active part. A letter was read from Lord St. Vincent, offering support upon a condition-
- "In order, however, to give it due encouragement, I coasider protection as indispensable. I do not mean a monopoly in the language of Corn-law Re- pealers, or exclusive protection, but that only which shall be commensurate with the protection afforded to other branches of native industry. Whether such protection shall be afforded by a fixed or fluctuating duty, may be an open question ; but the principle of protection, as before qualified, I consider to be absolutely necessary for the preservation of the landlord and tenant, and, above all, for the labourer of the soil and all the industrious classes. To an asso- ciation based on such a principle, embodied in a resolution, I would be a decided friend, but to no other. My son, who will shortly be in possession of a much larger stake in the land than I am, most heartily concurs with me; and 1 sign for him as well as myself."
This led to the principal point of debate—whether politics should be admitted for discussion at the meetings of the Society or not ? The Chairman and the vast majority of the meeting were in favour of ex- cluding politics ; and a proposition to that effect, moved by Mr. Minton, and seconded by Lord Sandon, was carried almost unanimously.
A meeting of farmers and others was held at Chelmsford, on Tues- day, to form a society for the protection of agriculture, and to adopt measures against the proceedings of the Anti-Corn-law League in Essex. A Provisional Committee was appointed ; and it was arranged that on a future day should be called a public meeting, at which the County Members and the principal landowners should be invited to attend. .
The annual show of stock and agricultural dinner at Steyning were held on Monday ; the Duke of Norfolk in the chair. There were two notable points in the speeches. The Duke of Richmond "stated most emphatically, that he was the stanch friend of agriculture ; and that upon the agricultural interest was based the we/fare of this nation. His opinions were unchangeable and unchanged ; and with that interest he would sink or swim." And Mr. II. D. Goring, who spoke last year, or was reported to speak, in such terms that many persons took him for a Free-trader, now said, that a "misunderstanding had gone forth in the newspapers : he was no Free-trader, nor ever should be."
The Brill District Conservative Association dined on Thursday. The Duke of Buckingham and the Marquis of Chandos were present ; the County Members absent. The speeches were trite and tame. The health of the Premier is said to have been very coldly re- ceived; audit was followed by a song called" The man could never get warm," "which elicited as much laughter for its supposed allusion as for its inherent humour." The Duke of Buckingham said a good deal about the necessity of supporting British agriculture : he regretted that gentlemen who made speeches at agricultural dinners in support of the toast " Prosperity to the British Farmer," detracted from the merit of those speeches by giving contrary votes ; and he "solemnly called on the representatives of the agricultural interest throughout all parts of the United Kingdom, to come forward now, and steadily to maintain the opinions which they had broached at the hustings ; and, by their votes, record their firm adherence to the cause of the British farmer."
Several papers record " the progress of incendiarism " in the agri- cultural districts. Thirty qsarters of wheat, a quantity of straw, a large barn, stable, sheds, and cow-houses, on the farm of Mr. Snelling, at St. Mary's Cray in Kent, were destroyed on Tuesday ; and there were two "devastating conflagrations" near Farnborough, last week. The greatest alarm prevails in that part of the country, "owing to the fre- quent acts of incendiarism." There have been four fires near Oakhatn, in Lincolnshire, since the winter set in. In Bedfordshire, in conse- quence of frequent incendiary fires, the Bedford Association for the Protection of Property has appointed men to help the Rural Police in keeping watch. Five fires occurred last week in Cambridgeshire ; four have recently occurred in Berkshire, three in Lancashire, several in Norfolk and Suffolk, and four within a few days in Hertfordshire. Letters have been picked up in Bishop Stortford, in which other pro- perty is threatened. The greatest alarm prevails ; four fires having occurred near that town alone within a fortnight.
The Commissioners of Inquiry into Welsh grievances have taken the opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor-General as to the legality of certain tolls exacted in Carmarthenshire on vehicles repassing the toll-gate after having passed in the same day ; and the Law-officers of the Crown pronounce the tolls in question to be illegal. It is said that this opinion, obtained earlier, would have swept away great part of the grievances which provoked the riots.
The turn-out at Ashton has come to an end ; Messrs. Rayner having been refurnished with hands, and the weavers having returned to work at the other mills. The masters, as is most commonly the case, have had the better in the struggle ; for they have not only obtained their own terms, but the incidental advantage of selling off their old stocks at higher prices during the cessation of work.
New colours were presented to the Forty-fourth Regiment, at Ports- mouth, on Monday ; and a large concourse of officers, noble and gentle- folks, and others, witnessed the ceremony. The colours were conse- crated by Archdeacon Wilberforce. They were presented to the En- signs appointed Jo receive them by Lady Pakenham, the wife of the Major-Generalscommanding the district. In a neat speech, Lady Paken- ham alluded to the disastrous retreat from Cabal; adding-
- - - - - - " Yet when I look around me on the few brave men who survived those almost unheard-of perils, and those who have since joined their ranks, I feel assured that the future career of the Forty-fourth Regiment will only remind the world of its former existence by displaying to more than ordi- nary advantage the well-known bravery of British soldiers, and so, if I may be allowed as allusion to the fabled bird of old, rise like ts phcenix from the ashes of its predecessors."
Sir Hercules Pakenham also, addressing "Colonel Shelton and the Forty-fourth Regiment," and complimenting them on their high state of discipline, alluded to the Cabal affair-
" In the struggle of wart when man is opposed to man, in general the best disciplined troops carry their point ; hut to this there have been many marked exceptions. But when, in any operations, an army is exposed to extreme vio- lence of the elements, particularly to continued snow, the bands of discipline are relaxed, and disorganization soon takes place : if to this is added the acting in a country the most impracticable in the known world, and being beset by a numerous and savage enemy, the most disastrous results may be expected. In the catastrophe that befel the army retreating from Cabul, the Forty-fourth Regiment were not in any degree answerable for the unfortunate circumstances in which they were involved. Like the Grand Army of Napoleon, in Russia, the troops were exposed to almost inevitable destruction ; but the high responai- bility of their being so placed rested on the commanding authority. I now wish to impress most earnestly and emphatically on the regiment, that the attention of the whole Army is fixed upon you ; that the Commander-in-chief expects that by the combined action of all ranks you will establish a high regimental character."
After three adjournments, a Coroner's Jury closed an inquiry into the death of Maria Plummer, at Sidcup in the Bromley Union, on Wednesday. The woman, who was forty-nine years of age, had been separated from her husband. Some time back, he was punished for ill- treating her; and she herself having been in prison for some minor offence, he refused to take her into his house. She wandered about, obtaining occasional aid from neighbours, and sometimes sleeping in the open air, until she died in a public-house, of complaints brought on by exposure and want of food. Some blame was cast on the Relieving officer ; but he stated that he could not relieve her, because she had a husband; and he feared to be reprimanded by the Board of Guardians. In point of fact, the woman did not ask him to relieve her, but only to oblige her husband to find her a lodging ; and he sought the man for the purpose. The Jury returned a verdict of " Manslaughter against George Plummer, the husband of the deceased " ; and he was committed to Maidstone Gaol for trial.
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