i4t Vruttiurto.

The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University received, on Thursday, through Lord Derby the Chancellor, a letter from Lord Palmerston stating that the subject of University Reform will be made a Government mea- sure in the approaching session of Parliament, and will form one of the topics of the Queen's Speech.

Oxford University has sustained a heavy loss by the unexpected death of Dr. Harington, Principal of Brazenose College. Dr. Harington was in good health on Friday, when be drove out with Mrs. Harington. But during the drive he appears to have caught some cold, inflammation of the bowels ensued ; the ablest medical aid proved unavailing, and he ex- pired on Tuesday morning. Dr. Harington was only fifty-three years of age. He took a first-class at Christchurch in 1821 and was shortly after elected Fellow of Brazenose. In 1833 he was presented, by the Princi- pal and Fellows of his College, with the Rectory of Oulde, in Norther:op- tonehire ; and in 1812 elected to the headship of Brazenose. He was an active man ; in politics a Liberal Conservative, and in University matters a Reformer. Dr. Harington was the proposer of Mr. Gladstone at the last election.

Mr. Spiers, the Mayor of Oxford, "in compliance with a feeling generally entertained throughout the city, and with the approbation of the Magistrates and Town-Council," has issued a notice strongly recommending the citizens to observe Monday the 26th December as a holyday--Christmas Day falling this year on a Sunday. At the meeting of the Council, when Mr. Spiers brought the subject under con- sideration, he stated, in reply to a question, that whenever "be gave his workmen a holyday, he paid them the same wages as if they had worked."

The activity of the two candidates for East Gloucestershire in addrese- ing meetings of their constituents shows that the vacant seat will be se- verely contested. We may repeat, that the candidates are Sir Michael Hicks Hicks-Beach, " Conservative " ; and Mr. Edward Holland, Liberal. Mr. Holland will indorse the address of his opponent with this interpretation of the epithet Conservative—" a conservation of everything good, and a destruction of everything evil."

It appears that Lord Paget has declined to come forward as the Liberal candidate for South Staffordshire, "for reasons perfectly satisfactory to the Liberal party.". The ladies of Durham have presented Lora Adolphus Vane with a snuffbox and a diamond ring. "it is presumed that these gifts, value 70/., are meant to console the noble and gallant Guardsman for the loss of the representation of Durham." He is reported to have been "deeply affected" at the presentation, on Tuesday, at the Exhibition Rooms.

A meeting of deputations from certain Boards of Guardians in Lancashire and Yorkshire was held at Manchester on Monday, "for the purpose of de- termining what steps should be taken during the next session of Parlia- ment, either to limit the powers of the Poor-law Board, or to attempt a more extensive alteration therewith." Mr. Holt, of Stubbylee, Bacup, occupied the chair. Letters were read from Mr. Walter, Lord Goderieh, and Mr. Wickham, Members of Parliament, generally in favour of limit- ing the powers of the Board. The first resolution simply declared that next session was a favourable opportunity for applying to Parliament for a limitation of their powers : but this did not satisfy the meeting, and an amendment in favour of "the discontinuance of the Poor-law Commis- sioners, now called the Poor-law Board," was affirmed by 16 to 8. The complaint against the Board was, that it possessed unconstitutional powers, denied the right of relief acknowledged for centuries, punished poverty as a crime, and restricted the Guardians. It was alleged that the Poor-law Amendment Act no more requires a commission to carry it out than any other act of Parliament. A committee was appointed to give effect to the resolutions, with full power to send a deputation to London ; and the meeting pledged itself to raise money to defray expenses. The principal speakers were Mr. Joshua Fielden of Todmorden, the Reverend Mr. But-. ler of Nottingham, Mr. Samuel Fielden of Oldham, Mr. German of Brad- ford, and Mr. Smith of Bradford. Mr. Cheetham M.P. doubted the pru- dence of the amendment. They would get large support in the House of Commons for modifying its powers, but not for entirely abolishing the Board itself. Mr. J. M. Cobbett M.P. thought that if they could not get the abolition of the Board, the amendment passed this day would strengthen their hands in going for the modification.

[Mr. Holt having stated that, "according to a Parliamentary return of last session, the cost of the central Poor-law establishment at Gwydyr House was 260,000/. annually," Lord Courtenay, the Secretary of the Board, has published a letter in correction of that statement. Lord Courtenay informs us, on the authority of the estimates of the current year, laid before Parliament last session, that " the entire cost of the establishment of this Board, indlitling the salaries of the President, Secre- taries, Inspectors, (with their travelling expenses,) clerks, messengers, and servants, together with the law charges, and all incidental expenses,. amounts to 34,0731." The estimates comprise, besides this sum, several charges which form no part of the expenses of the central establishment, and which until 1846 were defrayed out of the rates. These charges are- Poor-law auditors, 13,500/.; schoolmasters and mistresses, 22,000/ ; half of the expenses of the medical officers of the Unions, 80,0001.; in all, 115,600/. " According to the same estimates, the aggregate cost of the Poor-law Boards for England, Scotland, and Ireland, including the salaries of auditors, school-teachers, and medical officers, amounts to 214,494/.1 Called upon by one hundred and twenty inhabitants, the Mayor of Newcastle convened a meeting for Monday, to consider the propnety of petitioning her Majesty to coeperate vigorously with France for the de- fence of the Ottoman empire." A crowded meeting was accordingly held on that day in the Lecture-room, Nelson Street ; the Mayor, Mr. Woods, occupying the chair. The chief speakers were Sir John Fife and Mr. George Crawshay. The first resolution declared, that not only the cause of Turkey, but that of European liberty and civilization, is placed in imminent peril by the unprovoked and unprincipled aggressions of Russia. The second resolution declared, that "the exigency has now assumed a

shape which renders it indispensable that her Majesty should seek the ad- vice of her Parliament with as little delay as possible, in order that the British nation may know the position in which they stand with the ag- gressive power, Russia; and may be called upon (a call to which we doubt not they will cheerfully respond) to make such exertions and such sacri- fices as may be necessary to enable her Majesty at once to cement her alliance with the French nation and their Emperor, for the purpose of offering a consistent and vigorous resistance to the policy and proceedings of the Russian Government" Both resolutions were adopted.

One hundred and four inhabitants of Maidstone have memorialized the Commissioners of the Treasury begging that Government should with- draw from allmilitary interference in the Turco-Russian dispute ; alleging that if it does not, the Almighty will be offended, and may send judgments upon "our beloved country.'

The fund raised for the benefit of the cholera sufferers in Newcastle amounts to upwards of 6000!.; and a school is to be formed for those chil- dren whom the terrible visitation has made orphans. The authorities are said to be carrying out Lord Palmerston's stern hints with considerable vigour.

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton has consented to preside at the next soirée of the Leeds Mechanics Institution.

The Duke of Newcastle has subscribed 200/. and a suitable piece of ground for a new church at Cudder 'Cilia, Basford, Notts. The Bishop of Lincoln has devoted 501. to the same object.

The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol has issued a pastoral letter to the inhabitants of Bristol, urging them to use every exertion for the este- tablishinent of model lodging-houses.

The first stone of a Roman Catholic cathedral was laid at Shrewsbury on Monday, by " Bishop " Brown. The young Earl of Shrewsbury has given 15,0001. for the erection of the building. The late Mr. Pugin fur- nished designs, and his son will carry them out.

Lord Palmerston has addressed a letter to the parochial authorities of Portsmouth ordering all the vaults and graves under the various places of worship to be closed forthwith, and all interments in the grave-yards at- tached to the same to be discontinued on and after the 1st of June next.

The late Mrs. Opie—the story of whose life is deserving of an enduring record—was interred on Friday sennight in the burial-ground attached to the chapel of the Society of Friends in Norwich. The funeral was strictly private.

The workmen engaged at the Eastern Countiea Railway. Company's works at Stratford have entered into an arrangement for the establish- ment of a bakery on the cooperative principle at Hudkon Town. Opera- tions for the supply of the staff of life will shortly commence.

The Birmingham cattle and poultry show took place this week It is described as nearly approaching in excellence, and in the number of cattle, sheep, and pigs, to the Smithfield Club show. But its character- istic was the poultry; of which several thousand pens were exhibited. Some idea of the mania for poultry may be conceived from the fact that the produce of the sales, before four o'clock on Tuesday, amounted to not less than 1000!.; a cock and hen (Bramah Pootras) were sold for 1201., the auctioneer declaring that "they were thrown away at that price." A large and distinguished company attended the show.

In addition to the great Birmingham Poultry Exhibition, similar spec- tacles will take place on the 22d, 23d, and 24th instant, at Kendal ; in Cornwall on the 27th and 28th; at Honiton on the 28th and 29th; and at Liverpool on the 18th and 19th of January. Who shall say that the poultry mania is on the wane ?

Only 200 persons, and some of them mechanics and others having no connexion with the strikers, applied for work at the Preston mills last week. The large sum of 26,434/. has been distributed among the people out of work since the lock-out commenced. At the weekly open-air meet- ing on Saturday, a good deal of time was occupied, as usual, in combating the remarks of the Times. The speakers denied the competency of the writers, from their want of knowledge. Said one orator, "What does the editor of the Times know about a steam-loom ?—as much as a pig knows of geometry."

A meeting of the middle classes" was called on Monday evening by the delegates, that the real facts of the dispute might be placed before them. A good many of the tradesmen and others not of the working classes attended, and Mr. Councillor Dixon consented to preside. But the speeches and resolutions were all on the side of the strikers, no one ap- pearing on the part of the manufacturers. Cowell stated that the workers were willing to submit the dispute to arbitration.

The bottle-makers' strike on the Tyne and Wear has terminated. In many cases the masters and men have "split the difference," and a rise of wages has been given; in others work was resumed at the old rate. Some of the people sent to prison have been liberated, and have returned to work, and it is expected the rest will be also set free. Business is very brisk.

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At Liverpool Assizes, last week, Thomas Moore was tried for the murder at Reddish of two little boys, the children of a woman with whom he lived. The evidence showed that one morning he took the children out; the three were seen going towards a particular part of a canal: in the afternoon Moore entered a house to dry his clothes ; he said he had got wet by slipping into a river while helping a woman to get a can of water. When he returned home at night he inquired for the children, saying he had sent a message by them respecting his dinner, which he wished to be sent to him, and that he bad given the eldest one an umbrella. Search was made for the children. At last the bodies were found in the canal near which Moore had been seen ; the water was drained off, and the umbrella was found sticking in the mad. A number of little circumstances east suspicion on Moore. The children were entered in burial-clubs for 191. 48.; but the mother had done this, and the grandfather received the money. There was no direct evidence that Moore murdered the children. His counsel enlarged upon this, and urged that there was no motive for so heinous a crime : the children, on their way home with the message and the umbrella, had doubtless been playing on the canal-bank and had fallen in. Baron Alderson thought there was an absence of motive and a lack of evidence. The Jury pronounced a verdict of "Not guilty."

At York Assizes, Edward Deane Hunniball, formerly a coach-builder and lately a quack doctor, was convicted of bigamy. Both his marriages were

made for the sake cif sooner, the ladies hiving considerable.ireperty, the last case he told many lies, and pretended- to ht.:Iran:imy!, 'as the lady is a Dissenter. The togue'received aysehtenee'd:Sitlaitt penal servitude. George Blackburn, potato-dealer atlirothertd_ stied the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, in the Pontefract County Court, for the sum of 71. 10s. damages, which he suffered by the late delivery of twenty-0(ml, sacks of peas. The goods-maneger at Knottingly hakproinised that the peas should be in Leeds by two o'clock 0...m., Theyhautnot arrived at seven a. m., and he lost his market; whereupon Blackburn refused to take them, and brought his action. The Judge held that those,baslfhpan a breech of an implied contract, but that Blackburn was wrong in not taking thepels and selling them for what he could get. Damages, 41. 4e. Catherine:Callanan, formerly servant of Miss Sellon hat obtained in the Devonshire County Court a verdict against that lady for 111. 6a. wages The defence was, that the girl had been taken out-of, charity, and that's) agreement had been made to pay her wages. Notice for Svar

served. ".

An inquest has been held at Hull on the body ef Robert Garvey, who did after a prize-fight between him and Joseph Field. A surgeon ascribed death to blows on the head and chest. A verdict of "Manslaughter" wrwre. turned against Field and the two seconds.

While Mr. Russell, of Downend, near Bristol, was at church on Sunday evening, and Mrs. Russell was alone in the house, she opened the dooria consequence of a knock ; four men, with their faces masked, rushed in, and while two secured Mrs. Russell the others plundered the house.

John Wilson, a young man, has been committed at Blieffield for uttering a number of forged Bank of England notes. They were clumsily- untitled; they appear to have been supplied to him from Birmingham.

Woodcock, a desperate inmate of Derby Gaol, has committed a violeatas. sault on a gaoler, striking him down with a bludgeon which he had fOthied by breaking up a bench. Fortunately, aid quickly came, and murder woo prevented.

John Clark, a sullen-looking man, has confessed that he set fire to a wheat-rick at Streatley in Berkshire, as he was "in distress, and wanted to get transported," He has been committed.

Several persons who attended the Cambridge Race ball are suffering from fever; and two have died. The fever was caused by Malaria, which escaped from an old drain accidentally broken into near the ball-room. Many are not expected to recover ; among those are members of the families of Sir George Tyler and Mr. Booker M.P.

A disaster attended with rather singular results has occurred at Working- ton, on the Whitehaven Junction Railway. Some points, instead of closing after a train had passed through, remained open; a luggagm-train, which followed, pawed through the points, ran into a siding, smashed a wooden bulkhead, mounted the station platform entered the station, and were almost through it before it came to a stand. Booking-office, porter's office, and two waiting-rooms, were completely filled by the train, which smashed to pieces everything in its way. Fortunately, no one was in the place at the time, the station-master having escaped. The engine-driver and stoker leaped off in time; the guard was slightly bruised.

There has been another collision on the Manchester tuaLiverpool line, at Preston Moss station. A goods-train was to be shunted across the rails; fog-signals had been placed to stop an approaching passenger-train ; but from some mischance it dashed into the luggage-train. A guard and some passengers were bruised, but none were hurt very seriously.

Two coal-trains came into collision, on Thursday, in the Stoke tunnel on the Great Northern Railway. The guard suffered severely.

Five men and a boy have perished by suffocation in a coal-pit at Wordsley, near Stourbridge, from some wood-work taking fire near a furnace in the workings.

The crew of the collier Flora have had a narrow escape. She brought up off Whitby, in thick weather; the master and most of the hands went below to sleep; the master felt a sense of suffocation, and returned ' to the deck; the crew were discovered in their hammocks insensible but recovered when dragged into the air by the mate. The coals had taken fire. The people were fain to escape in the boats.

Jonathan Smith, a gunner's" mate, has died in Hasler Hospital, Gosport, under strange circumstances. Medical skill had given him no relief from his sufferings, supposed to have arisen from dropsy. But two hours before his death, a living snake, nine inches in len,gth, came out of his mouth. It is supposed that the reptile was swallowed when very small, in water drunk at Snake Island, Tnncomalee

The bed-furniture in a convent at Bristol has been found on fire in two rooms at once. The superior thinks the fires must have been wilfully caused.

Some revengeful poachers have been poisoning the dogs and game of Mr. Mundy, of Shipley Hall, Derbyshire.

A man has perished of Cold and hunger on the mountain of Graig Las, in Camarvonshire ; having lost himself in a fog.

James Redgen, a Cambridgeshire pauper lately deceased, who had been in the receipt of parochial relief for the last twenty years, has been proved to have been through life an arrant impostor. A great quantity of wearing ap- parel has been found in his cottage; and in addition to aome.71. in money, already discovered, it is generally believed that a further large sum was se- creted by him somewhere in the neighbourhood.