rsaiuriat 3ilttao.

Major Sibthorp, eldest son of the late Colonel Sibthorp, was on Wed- nesday elected Member for Lincoln; without opposition. In his hustings address he said, that he was opposed to a " patched-up trumpery peace " ; that he desired to see the Church-rate question settled, and the Income- tax readjusted ; and, avowing himself "a Conservative, but no party man," he pledged himself to assist earnestly in removing all proved abuses in the administrative system of the country.

Lord Raynham, son of the late Member for Tamworth, now Marquis Townshend, has issued an address to the electors. of Tamworth. His principles are those "entertained and advocated by his father." He is for diffusing education among the working classes, improving their social condition, and increasing their material comforts—he says nothing of politicalprivileges.

Two of the Cornish Members, Mr. Robartes• and Mr. Kendall, at a recent meeting of a Farmers Club, held at Wadebridge, offered some sensible observations on the propriety of collecting agricul- tural statistics. Mr. Robartes said, that accurate accounts of the states of the crops at the end- of each harvest would benefit all classes, and farmers especially ; because the state of the harvest in, fluences every undertaking, agricultural, commercial, or manufacturing, that takes place during the year. At the same time,, no farmer should be required to disclose his affairs to his neighbours, but the returns should be sent to a central office. Mr. Kendall set himself to dissipate the fear of the farmers that if the landlords knew their secrets•they would raise rents. But his reason was not very consolatory. The more a landlord becomes acqusinied with tenant-farmers and their position, he said, "the more he is satisfied that among all parties who invest capital, and who use energy and ability, there is no body of men who make less money than the farmers of England. That is a fact; and you need not be afraid that by making your affairs known you-will be fbund to be so rich that the landlord will be anxious to have more out of you." The, farmers seemed to be well satisfied with the reputation; of poverty.

The Earl of Albemarle addressed a party of Norfolk labourers on the subject of benefit clubs, on Tuesday evening, at East Harling, near At- tleborough. The general conclusions at which he arrived were—that benefit societies should not meet at public-houses ; that they should have a graduated scale of payment ; that they should:not insure superannua- tion allowances or deferred annuities, but that their committees should- assist the members in obtaining Government annuities, which could be purchased on safer and more advantageous terms.

The Fellows of Clare Hall met on Monday and elected the Reverend Edward Atkinson as their Master, by 18 out of 19 votes. The absence of unanimity was occasioned by one of the electors voting for himself. Mr. Atkinson was third in the first class of the Claasical- Milos, and se- nior Optime in 1842, ; and he has been for many years Tutor of Clare. Hail.

Yorkshire at least seems to have made up its mind as to who is the hero of the Balaklava charge. A guinea-subscription has been raised and applied in the purchase of a handsome sword, worth 250 guineas, and it is to be presented as a testimonial to Lord Cardigan- for his con- duct on the 25th October 1854. All the subscribers are Yorkshiremen ; and among them are tbur Dukes twenty-two other British Peers, eighteen Members of the- House of dommons, and four Baronets.

The Town-Council of Cambridge held a special meeting on Tuesday,— Mr. Ekin, the Mayor, in the chair,—to take into consideration the state of the Eastern Counties Railway, and adopt measures- on the subject. A report of a committee appointed to inquire into the matter came to the conclusions, that-the Board of Trade has not sufficient controlling powers ; that there is no cheap and summary process by which the evils of =ne- cessary delay, overcharge, neglect of the permanent way and rolling sleek, can be obtained ; and that the management of the railway. is in- trusted to persons elected by the shareholders, the counties and' principal' towns interested being entirely unrepresented. On the motion of Mr. Beales, seconded by Mr. Wisbey, it was resolved, that in order to facili- tate the repairs determined on by the Directors, and to allay the alarm Which naturally, exists, the necessary arrangements ought forthwith to be made to temporarily divert the traffic between London and Cambridge to the line through Hitchen ; that the Board of Trade be respectfully re-

quested to cause surveys to be made immediately of the other lines of railway belonging to or worked by the Eastern Counties Railway Com- pany; that the powers of the Board of Trade are not sufficient for the protection of the public ; and that in other respects the existing laws relating to railways require material amendment.

Manchester has emphatically pronounced in favour of the proposal to raise a "Nightingale fund." At a meeting in the Town-hall, on Thurs- day, very fully attended, and numbering among its speakers Mr. Sidney Herbert, Lord Stanley, Mr. Monckton Milnes, Mr. Mark Philips, Mr. Bailey, and Mr. Entwistle, the projected establishment for nurses under the control of Miss Nightingale was received with a general concurrence, and a considerable amount was subscribed on the spot.

The great feature of the criminal news continues to be the inquiries into the charges against William Palmer of Rugeley. The inquest on the body of Anne Palmer, his wife begun on Friday last, was concluded on Saturday with a verdict of " Wilful murder " against Palmer. The chief witnesses were medical men. Dr. Knight was one of Mrs. Palmer's guardians, and had known her from her infancy. He was called in to attend her professionally on the 25th September 1854. As Mrs. Palmer was too much exhausted to describe her symptoms, Mr. Palmer described them ; and from his description Dr. Knight concluded that Mrs. Palmer was suffering from "summer or English cholera." He prescribed diluted prussic acid, for the purpose of allaying the retching. Two hours later he called again, and found that she was relieved. Ile never heard more of the case until he was told that Mrs. Palmer was dead ; and he came to the conclusion that she died of summer cholera, from statements made by Mr. Palmer. Benjamin Thurlby, assistant to Mr. Palmer, deposed that he saw Mrs. Palmer the day before she died. "She said she felt as if she was sinking through the bed." He made up Dr. Knight's prescription ; "it did not contain tartar emetic or any preparation of antimony." " Mr. Palmer," continued this witness, " was a very kind man, and very kind to Mrs. Palmer."

Some entries from Palmer'sjournal were here read. They simply de- scribed how Anne had returned, and wont on—" Anne ill in bed' often. repeated ; " Arms very ill, Bamford called " ; this on the 29th September- " My poor dear Anne expired about twenty minutes past one" ; then, "Oct. 3. Buried poor Anne" ; and "Oct. 8. At church, sacrament."]

Dr. Henry Monckton, a physician at Rugdley, made a post-mortem exa- mination of the body on the 22d of December last, and forwarded portions- of the body to Dr. Taylor. "A most careful examination of the parts failed to detect any alteration in the structure sufficient," in Dr. Monek- ton's opinion, " to account for death." " The appearances were not con- sistent with her having died of English cholera.' Professor Professor Taylor de- posed, that, in conjunction with Dr. Owen Rees, he examined the stomach, heart, lungs, liver, and various other parts of the exhumed body, forwarded to him by Dr. Monckton. Ile found all the organs healthy. A. thin pasty- looking brownish substance was spread over the lining of the stomach, and, in parts in the small intestines ; and the inner surface of the rectum was covered with a deep-red-orange-coloured substance. Dr. Taylor described how they had analyzed the different parts, and found antimony everywhere. The brown pasty matter found in the stomach yielded antimony. [Here he displayed the quantity found.] The coats of the stomach, the large and small intestines, the orange-red deposit in the rectum, yielded a larger proportion of antimony than the stomach or any other parts. " This," said. the Mader,. " is the antimony extracted." The coats of the rectum, the chyle, the liver„ spleen, heart—" here is the antimony from all these." " In this investi- gation," he continued, " fifteen different analyses were made of the body, occupying us from the 26th to the 31st of December ; and the conclusions at which we arrived from the results of our investigations were these. Fire; that all parts of the body of the deceased examined by us contained anti- mony. In the stomach and intestines the antimony was partly in a-soluble form; while in the liver, heart, spleen, kidney, and lungs, it had been the result of absorption during life. Secondly, the largest quantity of anti- mony was found in the rectum and its contents • next, in the stomach and its contents ; then, in the bile taken from the gall-bladder ; and the small- est. quantity was found in the lungs. Thirdly, the presence of antimony in the contents of the rectum, or lower bowel, proves that the discharges from the bowels of the deceased contained antimony up to the time of her death ; that she was passing antimony by purging when she died. We came to that conclusion, of course, before• we heard the evidence of yesterday. And the presence of this mineral is sufficient to account for the vomitting, or diar- rhcea, or both, from which the deceased was stated to have suffered. The fourth conclusion was this—from the presence of antimony in the sto- mach of the deceased, we infer that a preparation of antimony must have been given to the deceased a few hours before her decease. Fifthly, from the discovery of antimony in the stomach and intestines, especially in the rectum or lower bowel, we infer that the antimonial copper, if not taken by the deceased as the result of a series of accidents—not one accident, but a series—was improperly administered to her, either by ignorance or design. Sixthly, that, in our opthion, the antimony found by us in the body of the deceased has not been the result of one large dose, but of several doses taken at intervals some days before her death, and to within a few hours of her death. Seventhly, that the antimonialeparation taken by deceased was what.is eommonly called tartar emetic— this white powder] ; and this may or may not have acted as a poison, according to circumstances. It may or may not have been the cause of deceased's death. In the event of the ex- istence of any natural cause for the illness of the deceased, it may have ac- celerated her death, by producing great depression and exhaustion of the powers of life. Eighthly, in the examination of the stomach, bowels, and other organs of the deceased, we could not detect any changes as the result of natural disease. There was nothing to account for death in the shape of dis- ease. On the other hand, there was nothing in these appearances inconsistent with the death of the deceased from frequent doses of tartar emetic. That is all sir." Had tartar emetic, as suggested, been substituted by Mr. Bamford for tartrate of potass, other and more serious symptoms would have shown themselves in the deccaaed. " I never knew of a death from antimony of such a description as this ; and yet the death of this lady is quite conformable with her death from poison, and at the same time, death from any other cause." " The deceased was saturated with antimony." "This is a case of the ad- ministration of antimony in small doses." Finally, lie said that "from the medical evidence given as to the state of the deceased during the last eight days preceding her death, and from the discovery of antimony in the stomach, bowels, rectum, and all parts of her body, it is my opinion she died from the effects of tartar emetic, and no other cause, after antimony,." Dr. Owen Rees said—"I am decidedly of opinion that the deceased died. from the effects of antimony administered in small• doses, repeated at in-- tervals." Dr. Knight, recalled, said that he now believed that Mrs. Palmer. was suffering from the effects of antimony, at the time he was called in. The opinions of Dr. Rees and Dr. Taylor:had modified his opinions as to; the cause of the death of Mrs. Palmer. Agood deal of evidence was taken respecting the attempts made by Ira- liam Palmer to assure the life of Mrs. Palmer ; with the view of showing, that although her health was good, only four out of seven proposals were accepted. A bottle containing tartarized antimony, taken from Palmer's surgery, was produced. The Coroner summed up; and the Jury, after an absence of twenty minutes, returned their verdict in this form—" We find that Ann Palmer died from the effects of tartarized antimony ; and that that was designedly administered by her husband, William Palmer. The an- nouncement of the verdict was -followed by decided manifestations of satis- faction from a large number of persons in the hall. The Coroner, after a pause—" What doyou mean by its being `designedly' administered ? " The Foreman—" We mean that it was designedly administered for the pur- pose of destroying life." The Coroner—" That, gentlemen, is a verdict of wilful murder r " The Foreman—" That is our verdict."

The inquest on the exhumed body of Walter Palmer was be at Ruge- ley on Monday; was continued on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then adjourned till the 23d. For the prosecution, twenty-three witnesses were ex- amined ; including seven medical men a solicitor, three actuaries, and some attendants on Walter Palmer. The evidence, both of the medical gentlemen and his personal attendants, showed that Walter Palmer was a confirmed drunkard ; that he would drink a quart of gin in a day ; and that he had been affected with delirium tremens. The symptoms attending his death were those which precede apoplexy ; and all the medical witnesses concurred in opinion, having heard the evidence respecting his mode of life and the spe- cial circumstances attending his death, that he had died of apoplexy. The examination of the parts of the body submitted to Dr. Taylor yielded no mineral or vegetable poison ; and Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rees came to the conclusion that " there was nothing in the appearance of the viscera io account for death"; and "that, in the absence of distinct evi- dence of the nature and duration of the illness of the deceased, they were not able to give an opinion of the cause of death, whe- ther froth disease or poison." The evidence elicited up to Wednesday did not alter that conclusion. Thomas Walkeden, a grain-agent, with whom Walter Palmer boarded at Stafford, deposed that the deceased had nothing to drink for an hour before his death ; that William Pal- mer was present ; and that he, Walkeden, was only absent from the room a minute during the time. It was from Walkeden also that an ac- count of the death of Walter Palmer was obtained. Dr. Taylor said that his opinion was given on the supposition that everything Walkeden had said was correct. When the case had proceeded thus far, the solicitor for the prisoner asked whether the prosecution would be carried further. The so- licitor for the prosecution said that " most important " evidence had yet to be adduced. George Whyman, a chemist's assistant, deposed, that " on a Tuesday in August last, William Palmer purchased of him " one ounce of powder of jalap and one ounce of hydrocyanic or prussic acid, paying four- pence for the former and tenpence for the latter. He sold nobody prussic -acid in August except Mr. Palmer. Thomas Myer, " boots " at the Grand Junction Hotel, Stafford, deposed, that on Tuesday the 14th August, two days before Walter Palmer died, William Palmer gave witness two bottles wrapped up in white paper to keep for him : next day, the 15th August. Palmer called for the bottles, and poured something from the small bottle into the larger bottle, and back again into the small bottle : Mr. Lloyd the landlord came in and saw the transaction : in the evening Palmer took them away in his gig. Palmer gave the boots some brandy, and it " made him i sick mmediately." Lloyd, the landlord, deposed, that on Saturday the 11th August Palmer had bought of him a bottle "of the very best old brandy," saying that he wanted it for his brother, who had been drinking " inferior *tuff." On the 15th August, Palmer told Lloyd that he was going to " give his brother something that would stimulate him." Lloyd noticed that the colour of the fluid in the small bottle was " white as water." On the morn- ing of the 16th Walter Palmer died. Some evidence was taken with regard to the insurance for 13,0001. effected on the life of Walter Palmer, to show that it was effected at the instance of William; but it was not strong legally. One of the medical witnesses, Mr. Waddell, deposed that William showed great eagerness to get his brother's life insured, and attempted to dictate the answers to a letter of inquiry from the insurance-office in a manner that Mr. Waddell could not allow. Mr. Wad- dell also stated, that, referring to Walter Palmer, and marking the communi- cation as " moat confidential, he wrote—" His life has been rejected in two offices. I am told he drinks. His brother insured his wife's life for many thousands, and after the first payment she died. Be cautious." In reply to a letter from William Palmer to the wife of Walter, demanding repayment of monies, Mrs. Palmer, after expressing her astonishment at the demand, said —" Poor Walter's explanation to me, over and over again, was that you had insured his life for, I think ho said, 10001. ; and that you had promised to advance him 5001. of the money, but that you had put him off from time to time, and were just giving him a few pounds now and then to go on with until you could find means to pay him the whole." Mrs. Palmer when called as a witness, showed so much emotion that it was agreed to take her evidence in a private room. On the day after her husband's death, William Palmer went to Liverpool to apprize her of the melancholy event. She asked why she had not been summoned to the deathbed of her husband ? He replied, that Walter had broken a blood-vessel, and his appearance was too ghastly for her to see.

A collateral inquiry before the Magistrates into the conduct of the Post- master of Rugeley has arisen out of the Palmer case, and has resulted in the committal of that functionary for trial on a charge of " opening a letter on its transit through the Post-office, contrary to the statute, and in this case calculated to defeat or impede the course of ice." Cheshire, the Post- master, was in communication with William Palmer1" before the 'latter was

arrested, and Palmer had asked him to tell " anything he heard." On the 4th December Professor Taylor posted a letter, enclosed in an envelope, pro- perly fastened, to Mr. Gardner, the solicitor for the prosecution in the case of Cook. That letter stated, among other things, that no poison had been found in Cook's body. Cheshire admits that on the morning of the 5th De- cember ho saw the letter, as he alleges, " open," and that he read it. "Elated" at the discovery that no poison had been found, he fastened up and forwarded the letter—so he states—and then, calling on Palmer, told him the secret it contained. Palmer instantly, communicated the news to Mr. Ward, the Coroner, by letter; adding, that he hoped the verdict next day would be that Cook " died of natural causes, and thus end it." George Bates carried this letter to the Coroner, and at the same time, by Palmer's direction, procured some game and sent it to Mr. Ward. Bates says he sub- sequently carried a second letter to the Coroner and by Palmer's direction secretly gave it him ; but, in a note to the Magistrates, forwarding Palmer's first letter, the Coroner says, " I have only one. ' After this, George Bates repeated his deposition that two letters were delivered to the Coroner. Cheshire the Postmaster was admitted to bail.

Crime is very rife in the West Riding of Yorkshire, especially highway robberies with violence. Yet the West Riding refuses to establish a Rural Police.

.A razzia by a gang of burglars on a woollen-mill at Churwell, near Leeds, brought on a deadly fray between them and the watchmen. Some suspicion was entertained, and a watoh was set. After the regular mill-watchman had left the premises at six o'clock in the morning, six men appeared, opened a door of the mil, entered, and proceeded to remove cloth from an upper floor to the lower one or to the yard. At length the watchers pounced on four of the robbers who were in the yard, locking two in the mill : a fierce fight ensued : one of the burglars fired a pistol ; as another was run- ning ofi' a watchman fired at him, and the charge entered his thigh. One of the depredators got off; but five were secured. The wounded man,. Steel, a carter employed at the mill, has since died. Two of the other prisoners were known thieves. A Coroner's Jury pronounced the killing of Steel "Justifiable homicide."

Four young men have played a disgraceful prank at Leeds—at night, when drunk, they entered a nunnery by a window which they found un- fastened, threw some articles out of the window, and made much noise. This aroused the inmates, the police came in, and three of the drunkards were captured. The Magistrates told the offenders they had " approached very near to the committal of a felony" ; but as the young men expressed regret for their conduct, they were allowed to go free on making a donation of 151. to the Infirmary.

Thomas Barker, a Bolton man, who was in great poverty, has killed him- self at Leeds, in a public-house, by thrusting a red-hot poker down his throat ! He placed the poker in the fire took it out when red, cleaned the end by striking it on the floor, and then thrust it into his mouth ; persons in the room immediately withdrew the poker; but the man was burnt in such a way that he died a week or two afterwards.

Mr. Tennant, a respectable chemist, was convicted at Liverpool of crimi- nally assaulting a young girl, and he was sentenced to four years' penal servitude. There seems reason to believe that Mr. Tennant was innocent. The girl proves to be a most abandoned character ; even at the trial most persons in court were surprised at the verdict, the Judge having summed-up for an acquittal. The case has been brought before the Home Secretary ; and Mr. Tennant—being deemed innocent—has received a " pardon.

Lawton, an elderly man, who had long been employed in the bank of Palmer and Greene at Lichfield, has been arrested, taken before the Bir- mingham Magistrates, and remanded to Lichfield, on a charge of embezzling 60001. or 70001. of his late employers' money.

The lengthened investigation before the Coroner at Burnopfield, respect- ing the assassination of the young surgeon, Mr. Robert Stirling, has at length terminated with a verdict of " Wilful murder" against Richard Rayne and John Cain.

Robbers at Wiveliscombe have performed much labour and run great risk for a very paltry booty. A gang of burglars—four in number, it is supposed —broke into the bank of Messrs. Hancock. They broke open drawers, and one iron safe, but the " strong-room " they could not penetrate. They carried off only 31. or 4/. from a private till.

A tire of a wheel of a first-class carriage in the up mixed express-train on the Great Northern line, broke on Wednesday, about two miles South of the Tallington station. Before the train could be quite stopped, the carriage turned partly over; and two passengers—Lady Harris, and a son of Colonel Smythe—were hurt :, the lady suffered a fracture in one of her arms.