Zbe iprobintts.

Sir George Grey was again elected for Devonport, Captain F. Berkeley for Gloucester, Mr. William Francis Cowper for Hertford, Lord Marcus Hill for Evesham, Mr. Jervis for Chester, all on Saturday, and all without opposition. Lord John Russell's address to the London electors supplied' the topics upon which the new Ministers expatiated to their constituents.

The Manchester election took place on Monday.; and the return of Mr. Milner Gibson was also unanimous. Mr. Gibson spoke with more decision on some points, especially on the Sugar question, than any of his col- leagues— The circumstance of a Member for Manchester having been selected for sec responsible an office as that of Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trade, was good evidence that the Ministry intended to carry out the principles of commercial free- dom. "There is very shortly to be brought forward the question of the Sugar- duties; which will put their sincerity to the test as a question of free trade in sugar, just the same as the old question of free trade in corn. We say, that the agriculturist in his corn is exposed to the competition of the world; therefore, the grower of sugar ought to face the competition of the world. At the present time,, you exclude, by your Sugar-laws, one-half of all the sugar produce of the world from competition in your markets: we ask that your markets may be thrownopen to the sugar of the world. We are not actuated by any feeling of animosity to the Colonial proprietors: on the contrary, we ardently desire that the Colomesr should prosper: but what we say is this, Our first consideration must be justice in our system of taxation, fair play to all classes of her Majesty's subjects ; and that we mast extend to the Colonial proprietors the same principles of free trade that we are going to give to the people of this country?' On the subject of ' national education he remarked—" do not know what plan may be in contem- plation, but I sincerely hope that whatever mode may be adopted for advancing the coarse of knowledge among the people, and their moral training, it will be consistent with the true principles of religions liberty. I believe that only upon those principles can any system of education be successful. And I am quite certain, that if we are to give in any shape or form public money for education, we are bound to give such a system as all can participate in--a system that shall not be placed under the exclusive control of any religions society. Some questions were put to Mr. Gibson by the Reverend Mr. Scholefield,, a Chartist preacher, as to his willingness to support universal suffrage, annual Parliaments, the Ten-hours Bill, and the amelioration of the Poor- law. His replies were, that should any measure be introduced for extend-._ iug the suffrage, he should give it his favourable consideration: annual Par- liaments he considered too short: he was a friend to short hours of labour, but- wished that amelioration to be brought about by the employed and the em- ployers themselves, rather than by act of Parliament: he was prepared, to - assist in the removal of Poor-law abuses.

Lord Alfred Paget was reelected for Lichfield on Wednesday.

Mr. Charles Buller was reelected on Thursday for Liskeard. In hie. address to the electors, Mr. Buller adverted to several topics of interest; particularly that of sugar. He was quite ready to admit that sugar stood on a different footing from corn; and if he had reason to believe that the- discriminating duties between free-grown and slave-grown sugar, devised by the late Government, were calculated to discourage slavery, he should be prepared to vote for their continuance. It had been proved, however, be- yond question, that no good purpose was promoted by the distinction. On the other band, he believed that much might be done to discourage slavery; by the influence of our country acting upon Brazil, Cuba, and other slavir- holding states, in the way of inducing them to abandon it, purely from regard to their own interests, and showing them the utter abhorrence in. which the slave-trade is held in this country and other civilized nations. He enlarged on the topics usual with Ministerial candidates in the late reelections, with a felicity above the average, but not above the average of his own speeches.

Mr. Rich was reelected for Richmond on Monday.

Mr. Vincent made little way in the poll for Plymouth: at the official de- claration, on Saturday, the numbers were—for Ebrington 714, Vincent 187.-

Mr. Vernon Smith has addressed the following letter to his constituents, the electors of Northampton, through the medium of some private person. .20, Saville Row, July 8, 1846. "Sir—As some of my constituents have expressed an anxiety to know whether I should accept office under the new Administration, I wish, through you, to in- form them that I have declined to accept my former station. I have held such a place, with their repeated sanction, during previous years; and hope, by so doing, that I have acquired some information and experience to add to my public utility to them.

"But the period for such service is passed; and I now think that I should lower the political position in which their constant kindness has placed me, by' occupying any such post. I would not shrink from the sacrifice or avoid the la- bour; but I should be very sorry, in my person, however humble, to sanction the belief that official emolument is a motive of action among public men. Sufficient shock has already been given to public virtue. " It is my intention, which I trust will meet with the approbation of my friends at Northampton, to give the most strenuous support to the present Ministry.' Some of you regret the expulsion of the last: I do not. It was due to public character. The change does not excite the minds of men, as they think it little more than a change of persons. The old friends of Liberal opinions are substituted for the new; but Liberal opinions are safer with old friends than new. " Political fidelity, not dictated by private friendship alone, or founded on any personal obligation, is no bad guide for ordinary men. I have adhered to Lord John Russell as the leader of a great party, which I consider only as the repre- sentation of a great principle. Such a course of action may be humble, or to some men appear submissive: I believe it to be compatible with the most deters mined desire toadvance the interests of your country, although it precludes the free vent of each new notion of your own. But I have seen so many good mea- sures retarded by the wilfulness and conceit of their supporters, who have been obliged to withdraw their objections shortly after they have raised them, that I prefer not uttering to uttering and eating my own words.

"I congratulate you on the success of the Corn Bill. We have, however, to await many mischief's from the manner of its settlement. We have to expect much reaction from the exaggerations of its promoters. I earnestly entreat those who will listen to me, in those places which are the abode of men whose lot it is to labour, and to gain their daily bread by the sweat of their brow,' not to count upon the `abundance promised them by a retiring Minister. What I do heartily hope is,. that we have secured steadier prices of food, and some guarantee against the varieties of our seasons and the wants of increasing numbers of our people. "Under the many clouds that darken the political horizon, I request you to give the new Ministry your good-will and a fair trial. If it meets with forbear- ance from the friends of its principles, and only reasonable opposition from its adversaries, I trust that the head of it will have resolution enough not to forgive those who would destroy it by internal rupture—the moat frequent item in the bills of Ministerial mortality.

"I am yours truly, R. VERNON Sauna."

The Royal Agricultural Society of England held its country meeting at Newcastle-on-Tyne this week. The programme was the same as that at previous meetings in other towns—an exhibition of implements and cattle, lectures and discussions, with a dinner, and a closing sale of animals. At Newcastle, the exhibition-yard for the cattle and implements was erected on the moor to the South of the race-course, and in the immediate neigh- bourhood of the town. It was divided into two compartments, the one for the cattle and the other for the implements; and occupied a space of about fourteen acres. On Tuesday and Wednesday the implement department was thrown open to public inspection. There was not much in the way of novelty, and the attendance did not come up to expectation. On Thurs- day the cattle were exhibited; in the evening the grand dinner was given in the Pavilion; and on Friday there was a sale of stock.

We have the fact on excellent authority, that the utmost eagerness pre- vails at the present time to get possession of farms. The Earl of Yar- borough has a farm to let in Lincolnshire, for which there were this week as many as forty applicants.—Hull Packet.

The harvest has commenced in the vicinity of Oxford. Several fields of winter beans, containing excellent crops, have been reaped ; a large quantity of rye has already been housed; and the wheat and barley harvest have also commenced. The crops in the neighbourhood are considered full average ones.

Several pieces of wheat have been cut in the neighbourhood of Brighton. New barley was sold in Maidstone market some days since. Wheat-reaping has commenced in Hampshire; in Berkshire also the harvest has begun.

At the Northam tonAssizes, on Wednesday, the case of the executors of

Ashby against the us Life Office, the particulars of which were stated in a report of the trial at t the last Assizes, was again submitted to a Jury, a rule for a new trial having been obtained from the Court of Exchequer. On the present occasion, the former verdict was reversed; the Jury, after an hour's consideration, finding in favour of the plaintiffs.

At the Bedford Assizes, on Tuesday and Wednesday, a new trial took place in the case of Coultas against the Reverend Dr. Bowes, for criminal conversation. There was no verdict, however; the Jury, after deliberating for six hours and a half, intimating to the Judge that there was no probability of their agreeing upon a verdict; and, with the consent of both parties, they were discharged.

At the York .Assizes, on Saturday, Julian Herman Marcus, lately a stock and share broker at Leeds, was indicted for forging the transfer of a number of shares of the Croydon Railway Company. The evidence was to this effect. Mr. Daruton Lupton, a Leeds gentleman, employed Mr. Marcus to buy and sell shares for him; apparently leaving him a good deal of discretion in the matter. In August last, Mr. Lupton went to Mr. Marcus's office and inspected his account in the ledger: he there found, that one hundred Croydon shares had been bought for him, and then sold again at a profit, which was regularly entered to his credit. He had not given any authority to buy. these shares, nor had he signed the transfer. It was proved that Marcus had signed the transfer " Daruton Lupton "—this was the forgery. Mr. Sergeant Wilkins, for the defence, said there was a total absence of all mtention to defraud: Mr. Marcus had wished to return kindnesses which lie had received from Mr. Lupton, by making a profitable speculation for him: no in- dividual could possibly be defrauded by the transaction. Mr. Justice Cresswell took the same view of the law of the case—no intent to defraud had been shown. After some discussion between the counsel for the prosecution and the Judge, a verdict of acquittal was entered on Mr. Justice Cresswell's view of the legal points of the case; the general question not being put before the Jury.

At Winchester Assizes, on Wednesday, Thomas Mallard Shurmur was tried for shooting at Thomas Brealey, with intent to kill him. The prisoner was foreman over some works near Andover; Brealey was time-keeper: Shurmur suspected that Brealey had robbed him; and, calling him into the clerk's office one day, he asked him for the money he had lost; Brealey said he knew nothing about it; whereupon the accused took a pistol from his pocket, and, saying, " Then you are a murdered man!" he fired. Brealey was badly wounded in the jaw, but not fatally. Shurmur had been kind to the prosecutor; and declared that he only meant to frighten him: he seemed to regret the disaster. The defence set up was, that the wounding was not wilful, but accidental. The prisoner was found guilty of an assault only, and was ordered to be imprisoned one month.

On Thursday, Lieutenant Hawkey was tried for the wilful murder of James .Alexander Seton, at Gosport, in May l845, by shooting him in a duel. The pub- lic are familiar with the circumstances of the case. The evidence was very voluminous, but of the same nature as that given on the trial of Lieutenant Haw- key's second. It described the anger of Mr. Hawkey at the presumed attempt of Mr. Seton to seduce Mrs. Hawkey; the quarrel of the two gentlemen; the duel in which Mr. Seton was wounded; and the death of the latter gentleman, after a surgical operation performed on a tumour originating in the wound. Mr. Seton addressed the lady at a public ball, which exasperated Lieutenant Hawkey; he resented it with a marked insult; and a challenge from Mr. Seton was the con- sequence.

In the cross-examination of the medical witnesses, the prisoner's counsel re- newed the attempt to elicit an admission that the death of Seton proceeded, or might have proceeded, from the surgical operation, not from the wound itself. But Mr. Baron Platt would not allow of this: he ruled, as Mr. Justine Erle had done on the trial of Mr. Pym, that such evidence was inadmissible. When the examination of the witnesses had closed, Mr. Cockburn took two objections to the indictment: the deceased having died after a surgical operation, the inflicter of the original wound could not be deemed guilty of the man's death; and the in- dictment was incorrect—it should have stated that Mr. Seton died of an operation rendered necessary by a wound, not of the wound itself. The Judge overruled both objections.

Mr. Cockburn then addressed the Jury for the prisoner. He enlarged upon the insult which Seton had offered to Hawkey by his overtures to his wife: some- thing had passed which he was not at liberty to mention. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkey had endeavoured to avoid Seton, but he would thrust himself into the lady's society. Moreover, Mrs. Hawkey had induced her husband to promise not to challenge Seton. Mr. Cockburn then adverted to the proceedings at the ball: Seton solicited Mrs. Hawkey to dance in the very presence of her husband; the prisoner was excited, and naturally used strong language—be called Seton a blackguard and a scoundrel—who would not have done the same? Mr. Seton made no apology; and when Mr. Hawkey appealed to the evidence of his wife, Mr. Seton declared that it was false! True to his pledge, Mr. Hawkey did not challenge the man who had injured him. Mr. Cockburn enlarged upon the antagonism which exists between the language of the law and the demands of society with regard to duelling; and at the conclusion of an eloquent address, be called a number of military officers, of all ranks, who gave the highest character to the prisoner as a humane and good-tempered young man.

Mr. Baron Platt summed up adversely to the accused on the law of the case, but favourably with regard to the evidence. The Jury immediately returned a verdict of " Not guilty "; upon hearing which, a shout burst from the crowd of spectators in court.

The swindler Wyndham has victimized the owner of the Royal Victoria hotel at Tunbridge Wells, by the usual trick: he paid his bill with a fictitious draft on a bank,—deceiving the hotel-keeper by showing a letter purporting to be written by Gurney and Company. Wynoham called himself Wellesley; but his identity has been detected through his handwriting.

At Carlisle, on Saturday, Mr. Petty, a retired tradesman, was walking with his daughter on the banks of the river Calder: he made a sudden stop, and asked his companion to hold his walking-stick while he went down to the stream to wash his hands; but instead of doing this, he plunged headlong into the river, and pe- rished in his daughter's sight.

The inquest in the case of Clerke, the Policeman who was murdered at Dagen- ham, was resumed at that place on Tuesday. A number of witnesses were ex- amined, chiefly Policemen, as to the finding of the body, and the hours at which

the deceased was last seen; but nothing which tended throw a light on the perpetrators of the crime transpired. The Coroner, however, said that he had re- ceived information which might possibly lead to some discoveries; and at his sug- gestion the inquiry was adjourned for a fortnight.

Several fatal accidents on railways are reported. A child two years old has been killed between Nottingham and Beeaton, by a train passing over it: the infant had strayed from a garden near the line; and when observed by the engine- driver, there was not time to stop the train soon enough to save it. A guard on the Birmingham and Bristol Railway had left his post to converse with a friend who was in a carriage; on the whistle announcing that the train was approaching a station, he scrambled over the roofs of the vehicles to regain his proper place; but his head came in contact with the archway of a bridge, lie was knocked off the carriage on to the line, and died shortly after from a fracture of the skull. A. workman on the Birmingham and Derby Railway has been killed by attempting to cross the rails as a train was coming up.

An accident which caused much alarm, but, fortunately, no injury to the - sengers, occurred on the Midland Railway, between Nottingham and Derby, last week. The tire of a wheel on the first carriage of a train broke; the carriage ran off the line, and proceeded for some five hundred yards on the road: another car- riage then went off the rails; but the engineer was able soon afterwards to stop the train.

Three fellows have been charged before the Magistrates of Wrcxhall, near Bris- tol, with a most abominable attempt to overturn trains on the Great Western Railway. In company with another man, the prisoners took a large gate from a field, and threw it across the down-line of rails near Bedminster: two trains passed immediately after, but, though both received a shock, fortunately neither was thrown off the line. The ruffians were committed for trial.

An atrocious attempt was made one night last week to overthrow the train on the Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway, between Bitchburn and Crook. Some villains had propped back the switches; which sent the engine off the line; but, fortunately, that was the extent of the accident.—Durham Advertiser.

With respect to the late fire at Soham, it is stated that no fewer than ten pre- vious attempts at incendiarism have recently been made in the street where the conflagration commenced. Though the buildings destroyed, seventeen in number, were insured in the Suffolk Insurance Company for 6,0001., the contents of many of them, the property of poor people, were not; and much distress has resulted.. Corneliusand James Harvey, the uncle and nephew accused of causing the fire, were reexamined by the Magistrates on Saturday. Cornelius is a wealthy farmer: James is a young unmarried man. On the night of the fire, the uncle was ob- served lurking about the spot where the outbreak occurred; and he told a person who questioned him, that "he expected a fire would break out," but did not ex- plain why he thought so. It was urged on behalf of the prisoner, that he was watching his own property: but his vigils took place at a distance from his farm- The fire originated M a barn adjoining young Harvey's warehouse, to which the flames subsequently spread; it was then broken open, and little property was ob- served in it. James made a claim to an agent of the Suffolk Company for the amount of insurance on his stock: he had declared that his loss was double what the insurance covered; but it was proved that, previously to the fire, he had re- moved the great bulk of his goods to other houses in the town. The Company's agent gave him into custody for attempting to defraud the office. A number of witnesses deposed to these facts. Both the prisoners were committed for trial; the Magistrates refusing bail for Cornelius Harvey, though more than 5,0001. was tendered.

The recent explosion at the salt-works at Droitwich has caused the death of three persons; a man and a boy having died since the disaster, in addition to the man who perished at moment.