(at Vtnuturto.

The Royal Agricultural Society held its' annual meeting, this year, in the Home Park of Windsor ; the Queen and Prince Albert La l big gone down specially to see the show on the first day, ,Monday. It is admitted to have been an excellent exhibition of British stock. The clas- sification of the cattle has been extended from four to many more: classes, embracing the breeds of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and thc,Channel Is- lands. All the beasts are reported as having been more than usually good ; the South Down sheep, the short horns, the Herefords and the

pigs, as having been the " strongestpomts." , • ,

The show was largely attended on Tuesday ; and on- Wednesday, the day of the customary dinner, the " yard" is reported to have been in- conveniently crowded.

The dinner, or rather the speechmaking after the dinner, is always a, grand affair. The Duke of Richmond, as President, proposed the loyal toasts. Prince Albert replied for himself and the Queen;'. contrasting the present time with the period when the Barons "clad in steel, with lance and war-horse," met at Runnymede to wrest the Great Charter from the "trembling" King John.

The speeches generally, and the toasts, were an interchange of compli- ments and colloquial essays upon various matters. M. Van de Weyer,. the Belgian Minister, made a lively speech upon English and Flemish agriculture : he said that in many diplomatic despatches, "dissertations on breeds of cattle and manuring take the place of the idle and dangerous political gossip of former times." The Duke of Richmond, in acknow- ledging his own health, said that "at no show in the world had so many good animals ever before been congregated." Lord Ashburton made the most singular speech of the evening. The toast he had to propose was "The agricultural labourers." He showed the state of dependent rein- ,lions of class with class and pointed out the peculiarities of the labourer's position.

"And yet there are those who think lightly of the labourer—who call him rude and boorish—who make his ignorance u byword. They say he is un- educated, because he knows little of things which do not concern his own calling; but, above all, because he is taught to do, and he is not taught to talk—because in this land where we choose Members of Parliament by their talk, and Cabinet Ministers by their talk—a false test of ability, a false test of knowledge, a false test of education, has been set up, and by this false test the labourer has been judged. (Loud cheering.) But it is not by this test, it is by his works, that you shall know hun. Try him by what he does, and not by what he says? (Loud cheering.) What- ever they may do in Parliament, the shepherd is never chosen on account of his power of talk. "You judge the agricultural labourer by what he can do ; you love him for his .honest worth ; instincts; you reverence him for his won- drous sagacity, for the genius of his and now when we are met together at this high festival, with the magnates of the land, with the distinguished in arts and literature of the civilized world—now that we hive expressed our loyalty to the Throne—our respect for the illustrious Prince our patron, and the patron of all that elevates society—now that we have expressed our gratitude to our distinguished guests for their presence, to our especial leaders and benefactors for their services—we find no toast so satis- factory to our judgment, so grateful to our feelings, as the toast of 'The La- bourer,' even though he cannot talk." (Great cheering.) One or two other speeches finished the proceedings ; Mr. Evelyn Deni- son eliciting a hurricane of cheers by incidentally mentioning the name of " Stanley " in connexion with the impetus given to the use of guano by Lord Stanley's Liverpool speech some years ago.' The President elect is Lord Ducie, who was unable. to attend from AL. /less.

A great Exhibition banquet was given on Saturday last by Mr. Wil- liam Brown, M.P., to the Royal and Foreign Commissioners, on board the American steam-ship Atlantic, at Liverpool The foreign guests who were in London had a special train placed at their disposal; and the Eng- lish paid excursion-fares. Arriving in Liverpool, they were met by Mr. Brown; who took them on board the America, which was just starting with the New York mails, and thence to Birkenhead and Woodside. The banquet was held in the dining-saloon of the Atlantic, and was in every respect profuse and splendid. After the customary toasts to Royalty, the "President of the United States" was proposed by Mr. Brown. Mr. Da- vis, the American Charge d'Affaires, in acknowledging the toast, remark- ed that the products of his country might be meagre at the Exhibition, but let those who said so come and look at Liverpool, and into the docks and warehouses, as they had done that day. Lord Granville did duty, as usual, for the Royal Commissioners ; enlarging upon the international in- cident, that they were meeting, in the midst of Liverpool, on American ground—the deck of the Atlantic. M. Zohrab was the spokesman for the Foreign Commissioners, and Mr. Henry Cole for the Executive Com- mittee. Mr. Cole, tracing the great influence of penny postage on the origin of the Exhibition, was led to a kindred subject—international com- munication; and he announced that an association had been formed to promote cheap postage and easy communication among the nations M. Charles Dupin, M. Wolowski, M. de Bourg, M. Von Viebahn, Lord Ash- burton, and Mr. William Brown, had agreed to keep the question con- stantly before their respective Governments. Dr. Herman, who acknow- ledged "the Jurors," said that the consequences of the Exhibition would not be merely commercial, but they would be found in the influence which England's methods of working and acting would exercise on foreign

nations. -

The novelty of the entertainment consisted in the "peace and Qom- meree" sentiments proposed by Mr. Brown, and spoken to by foreigners. They were proposed in the following order.

"Success to the undertaking of all men of letters and science, engineers, and mechanics, whose heads and whose hands have added considerably to the social comfoets of mankind." "Peaceful commerce : may it ever flourish, to carry religion and civilize- tion into the remotest corners of the world."

"The world's commercial fleet: may it continue to navigate the ocean free from war's alarms, and add to the prosperity, the happiness, and the comforts of the whole human race."

"The armies and the navies of the great nations of the earth : may they ever meet as friends and not as foes, to cooperate for some great public good." Finally, the health of Mr. William Brown was given by Lord Gran- ville. Mr. Brown wished the Crystal Palace to be called "the Palace of Peace" ; by the contents of which the nations would learn to appreciate each other's worth. He rapidly traced the commercial history of Liver- pool. In the reign of Charles the Second, they had only 15 boats, tonnage 2560. In 1756, their dock-dues were 2200/.—now they had reached 230,000/. The population of the county in 1700 was 170,000—now it is more than 2,000,000; the population of the town in 1700 was only 6000—in 1851 it is upwards of 400,000. In 1760 it took four days to go by coach from Liver- pool to London ; now we are enabled to reach the Metropolis in six hours ; while by those splendid vessels, one of which they were then on board of, they could travel from Liverpool to New York in nine or ten days. Wind- ing up with a Free-trade sentence, he wished to impress upon foreigners the fact that it is their interest to send us what is least valuable to them and most valuable to us ; while Englishmen in return would give them what is least valuable to themselves and most valuable to their friends.

The company then left the Atlantic, went ashore, and finished the evening with the Mayor in the Town-hall of Liverpool.

The election for Knaresborough has terminated in favour of the Conser- vative, Mr. Collins, a native of the borough ; who secured a majority of 92 over 64 given to Mr. Andrew Lawson, Protectionist. Mr. W. H. Watson Q. C., entered the field at an early period, but retired before the "local influence which had so far prevailed" as to deprive him of all hope of success. On the nomination, the disappointed politicians who bad hoped for a contest brought out another candidate, Mr. Andrew Lawson, apparently without that gentleman's consent, so determined were they to contest the "local influence." Though Mr. Lawson is a Protectionist, he had the support of the local Whigs. Mr. Collins asserted that Mr. Lawson had promised not to stand in opposition to him. Never- theless a poll was demanded, even when the show of hands went in favour of Mr. Collins. Subsequently, Mr. Lawson addressed a letter of thanks to the electors, and stated that he had only promised not to divide the interest nterest in the event of Mr. Watson's resolving to go to the poll. The chairing was dispensed with, in consequence of the riotous conduct of the opponents of Mr. Collins.

Mr. Edward Strutt was elected on Wednesday, for the borough of Arundel, vacant by the resignation of Lord Arundel and Surrey. He made a profession of faith to the "very small assemblage" of "independ- ent" electors ; declared himself a Reformer who had had a hand in passing the Reform Bill, and who now thought that the time was come when a further extension of electoral privileges was "safe and de- sirable"; he was also a Free-trader, prepared to resist all change to- wards Protection ; upon the religious question he said, that as a member of the Church of England he could not take the same view as their late excellent representative upon Papal aggression, but he "yielded to no man in his ardent desire to promote the cause of religious liberty,"—by which phrase he did not "merely mean the full toleration of Protestant Dissenters or Roman Catholics, but he meant equality in the eye of the law."

The Visiting Magistrates of Gloucestershire discovered, in January last, a state of things in a private lunatic asylum at Northwoods, conducted by Dr. Henry Hawes Fox, not at all consistent with law. Peculiar entries in the books at the establishment first excited their suspicions ; which were further increased by the explanations tendered. Dr. Fox was requested to produce the orio-inal orders and certificates of admission in certain cases pointed out by the Magistrates; which he declined to do, because, he said, there were " trivial inaccuracies" in them, "such as the Is not tailed and the is not dotted." Subsequently, moreover, he produced what he called the original orders and certificates. These documents pertained to she cases under ex- amination, and the Magistrates found that in the first and worst ease there was an order which had been fabricated by Mrs. Hawke (who appears to have been Dr. Fox's woman of business) only six months before the inves- tigation. In this particular case the original order was not forthcoming-, though the patient to which it referred had been in the custody of Dr. Fox for thirteen years. "Having thus gone through the first case, the Visitors next examined the papers in the other five cases, and ascertained, as regard- ed the six, that in two there were originally no orders; that in three the orders were illegal; that at least four of the certificates were so, as was the admission of at least three of the patients upon the authority of one, in- stead of two certificates, without cause assigned to the orders." This ex- tract is from the entry of the Magistrates in the Visitors' journal at the Asylum.

These discoveries led to a thorough examination ; and the Visitors found that by far the greater proportion of all the formalities prescribed by the law for the admission of patients had been systematically violated or ne- glected. The following extract is a specimen. "Of patients illegally re- ceived by Dr. H. H. Fox, upon the authority of one certificate only, without due cause assigned for the same by the person making the order, there are 54. Altogether, of patients illegally received, there are 105. A wife has been admitted into the asylum upon the order of her husband, and upon the authority of one certificate only, and that certificate signed by her husband. A letter from Dr. H. H. Fox to a person making an order states—' If there be any inconvenience in getting a second certificate, it can be dispensed with until after admission.' And to another—' The second (certificate) can be procured at my house if more convenient.' "

There were no medical certificates whatever made by Dr. Fox upon the admission of patients—he delegated that important function to Mrs. Hawke. The result of the investigation may be estimated from the deliberate asser- tion of the Visitors, that Dr. Fox had rendered himself liable to two hundred and eighty prosecutions for misdemeanours.

These facts were read at the Gloucestershire Trinity Sessions, upon an ap- plication for a renewal of the licence. There were seventy Magistrates pre- sent. Dr. Fox defended himself, His defence turned on two points. In the first place, he said, that the "informalities" exposed by the Visitors had occurred long ago and existed no longer ; in the second place, he con- tended, that the documents were sufficiently legal to protect him from a pe- nal prosecution, and that they had been approved by the Lunacy Commis- sioners and the Visiting Justices. He warmly denied that any wilful deeep-

ta

tion had been practised. The upshot of the affair was 'a-scompro licence being granted to Dr. Fox, as proprietor of Northitoods, fo ception of insane patients, and to his son, -Dr. William Foisudj e as superintendents and medical attendants thereof, they aloftsts* the provisions of the act of Parliament in regard to the funclesou.t..44:

the house. . • :Tie. -

At Abingdon Assizes, on Tuesday, Mr. Joseph Caudwell w tried for firing at Alexander Henry Ross. This was the case where three University men entered the prisoner's premises to play pranks with certain cannon which he had placed before his house. Mr. Ross was seriously hurt, and he may yet lose the use of a hand. This young man was examined; and he ad- mitted that a most unjustifiable "lark" was played off at 31r. Caudwe l's : he and his fellows were attempting to pull down an image when they were fired upon. Other witnesses were examined. Mr. Pigott addressed the Jury for the prisoner ; and said that the witnesses who had been called, mid who belonged to the University, might have made very considerable attain- ments in study, and were no doubt complete masters of the dead langunges, but their conduct clearly demonstrated that they were not advanced One whit in the social scale of society. The house of Mr. Caudwell was at- tacked at the midnight hour, and he might therefore very reasonably sup- pose a burglary was contemplated. He no doubt fired hastily' but, under such circumstances, it negatived the supposition that he dis- charged the gun with the view of maliciously injuring any person. In his summing up, Mr. Justice Erie reprehended in severe terms the conduct of the University gentlemen ; and said he had watched closely their demeanour in court, and was sorry to observe an entire absence of perception of the misery their imprudent net was likely to produce. He directed the Jury that the prisoner could have no reason for supposing that the young men were about to attack his house ; and as they were merely displacing his cannon, not attacking his doors or windows, he was not justified in firing at them ; and that it was their duty to find him guilty, and then it would be for those who had to administer the criminal law of the country to consider the punishment which ought to be imposed. The Jury deliberated for ten minutes and then gave a verdict of "Net guilty" ; which was received with a burst of applause, the crowd in the street shouting with delight for some minutes.

On Wednesday, Caudwell was tried for perjury. Ile was not in coin's The case was this. In 1849, Caudwell induced Golding, a tradesman, to sign two bills of exchange, to accommodate a Mr. James, and to lend him 2/. in cash for James's use ; Golding only intended to sign one bill, and the other signature was obtained by trick,—Golding, seeming to have acted in a very simple manner, signing merely because Caudwell put the paper before him. James turned out to be a man of straw, and Goldin,-' had to pay both bills. He sued Caudwell for the 2/. in the County Court; Caudwell there swore that he had lent the money to Golding, who had since repaid him ; the Judge did not believe him, gave in for the plaintiff, and refused a new trial. Then Golding entered plaints n the County Court against Caudwell for the amount of the bills, on the ground that he had accepted them for the accom- modation of Caudwell. The latter thereupon applied for a certiorari to Mr. Justice Talfourd to remove him into one of the Superior Courts, on the ground that the Judge of the Oxford County Court had conceived a most un- founded prejudice against him; and he made an affidavit in which he re- peated what he had sworn on the trial, stating that the Judge had declared his conduct most suspicious and discreditable, and refused him a n w trial, though he was prepared with the evidence of a Mr. Hitchcock to prove what he had alleged. He specifically stated, and it was upon these statements the present indictment was founded, that he lent Golding 2/. to advance to James on the 18th day of May 1849; and that Golding came the next day to his house and repaid him the said suns of money; and that after the report oi the trial appeared in the local newspapers, Mr. Ifitchcoek called on Caud-, well and reminded him of the fact that Golding had paid him the 2/., and that Hitchcock was at deponent's house when Golding called, and addressing Caudwell said, "Here is the 2/ , and thanks." Upon this affidavit a cer- tiorari was granted. The real fact was, that Hitchcock had seen a man named Jervis pay 2/. to Caudwell ; Caudwell told him that this person was Golding, took him to Jervis's shop, and induced him to sign a paper,—he, thinking Jervis was Golding, declaring that he had seen Golding repay the 2/. The case was made out to the satisfaction of the Jury, who quickly found a verdict of " Guilty." Mr. Justice Erie said it was as bad a case as could well be conceived; and passed a sentence of seven years' transportas tion.

Mary Elizabeth Johnson, the lady who passed off forged cheeks drawn upon Blackwood and Sons," to a chemist in Lambeth, has been acquitted by a Jury at the Old Bailey, on the ground of insanity.

Gloucester has been startled by the evasion of one who had hitherto been an honoured citizen, but against whom there are now niece than one accusa- tion of forgery. William Henry Barrett, miller and corn-dealer, carried on a large business, and in 1849 was elected by the Town-Council as Sheriff of the city. A fortnight since, it was found that Mr. Barrett was "not at home" to business-callers, and it came out that he and his wife had pri- vately left the place. Soon after, a charge of forging a bill of exchange was brought. against the miller, and a reward of 100/. offered for his apprehen- sion. It is rumoured that many forged bills were uttered by the ex-Sheritl; not, apparently, to rob the persons whose names were used, but to raise money: it is said that several of the false bills were taken up by Barrett when they became due. He has hitherto escaped the searches of the Police. The Sheriff was not a very comely official : he is thus described—" Thirty years of age, five feet seven inches high, slight in build, has a short pale face, narrow forehead, wide mouth, gray sunken eyes, black hair, and small whiskers : he stoops, is knock-kneed, turns out his feet much when walk- ing, and has an awkward shuffling gait."

A gang of five men, wearing black masks, and armed with pistols, aroused the family of Mr. Hine, at Healey in Cheshire, during the night, and demand- ed all their valuables, threatening to break in if their demand were not complied with ; some of the ruffians did force a back-door, but were stopped by an inner-door. Mr. IIine and his son, who are Quakers, consulted ; and, to escape a worse fate, capitulated, giving a gold watch and chain and some money to the robbers ; who then decamped, declaring that the family had got off a great deal too well. Consternation prevails in the vicinity with all who inhabit lone houses like Mr. line's.

A railway mail guard has been robbed at a disadvantage. While bathing in the river Eden, a navvie, masked, and armed with a six-barrel revolving pistol demanded his money ; another navvie was in the distance. The naked guard was obliged to yield up watch and cash ; with which the rogues de- camped while their victim was dressing that he might hasten to inform the Police. The same armed robber has since eased two farmers of their purses, and extracted a purse containing two sovereigns from a commercial traveller in the latter case, the victim was but too glad to get off so cheap, as he had 500/. or 600/. in his gig. The revolving pistol was the means of extortion in each case. The people in the neighbourhood of Carlisle were much alarmed at these repeated depredations, carried on with impunity for a time.

Both the men have since been apprehended at Maxwe ltown, across the Scotch border. One turns out to be Tinyon, a poacher ; the other Monteith,

ostensibly a gardener, but a well-known desperado. Monteith was seized while in bed, and he made an effort to get possession of his revolving pistol, all six barrels of which were in order for firing. The guard's watch was found on Monteith. The prisoners were conveyed to Carlisle.

Several burglaries having been committed at Cardiff, suspicion fell upon Fisher, an ex-policeman, and a warrant was issued. He fled, but was cap- tured by Superintendent Stockdale at Holyhead. Fisher, a powerful fellow, was brought by rail towards Bristol, securely handcuffed; he complained that his wrists suffered, and, as the carriage-door was locked, Stockdale re- moved one of the handcuffs. Some distance from Bristol, the tickets of the passengers were collected, and the collector omitted to relock the door of the carriage containing the prisoner. When the train was put in motion, Fisher suddenly opened the door and leapt out ; Stockdale followed, but fell, and was disabled by hurting his shoulder ; Fisher was more lucky, and got clear off.

A gentleman at Macclesfield was so deceived by the pretended inquiries, plausible manners, and robber-tales of a man who called himself a detective policeman, that he not only took him home and gave him refreshments, but afterwards walked out again with him in the evening to hear more stories of clever captures. Having walked for some distance on the towing. path of a canal, the soi-disant policeman seized his victim by the throat, threw him upon the hedge-bank, and taking a valuable watch from his pocket, leisurely walked oft'.

Adonijah Edward Jordan has been committed to prison on suspicion of a most diabolical offence. He had lived with his mother, a woman eighty years old, at Sinwell in Gloucestershire ; but lately he had left her to reside with his father, who had separated from his wife. Edward robbed his mother of a bed ; but a Magistrate compelled him to restore it. The son threatened re- venge. The mother's cottage and an adjoining one were burnt down, and the aged woman was with difficulty rescued from death. The son was suspected of raising the fire, and the circumstances discovered warranted the Magis- trates in sending him to gaol.

No light has been thrown on the mysterious discovery of fragments of a woman at Norwich. A local paper contains a letter from Mr. Day, a sur- geon, who " casually " examined some of the remains soon after they were discovered. He thinks there was evidence that they had been obtained for anatomical purposes, but "most culpably and wantonly abused." He men- tips two appearances that he thought indicated the dissecting-knife to have been used.

A riot occurred at Liverpool on the 14th, provoked by a procession of the Orange Lodges of that town, who marched with Orange banners flying and bands of music performing " Boyne Water." They were met by a body of Irishmen, who are said to have begun the fray by a volley of granite stones picked up from the road. The Orangemen replied by a regular charge, in which pistols are said to have been fired and sabres used against the Irish- men; who gave way after a short and unequal conflict. The wounded were carried off to the hospital ; the clubs formed anew, and proceeded on their march to the same inspiriting music as before. During the day, the light was renewed at several points.

Another fatal accident has occurred at the Northside colliery at Bedmin- ster. Three men went down the shaft, which is in course of reparation, to see if the workmen generally might safely descend. When they were drawn up at the signal given by themselves, a corpse was found in the bucket, while the other two men were insensible from fractures and other hurts. Mr. Stuart, the agent of the works, afterwards descended the shaft to see what was wrong ; and he found all right, excepting that one of the trunks had been torn from its place. He supposes, that while at the bottom of the shaft, after ringing the bell, the bucket in swaying to and fro hitched in the trunk, and that when the engine began to work, the trunk was pulled away and fell upon the men.

One man has been killed, and two have been dreadfully scalded, by the bursting of a stop-valve in a steam-pipe at a saw-manufactory at Sheffield.

A fatal accident has happened on the railway between Pontop and Shields. While a locomotive was running down an incline, a rail got loose, and the engine went down an embankment and turned over. There were six men on the machine ; two leaped off, and escaped without serious hurt ; but the other four fell under the ponderous mass. Some time elapsed before it could be raised : two men were dead ; and each of the others had a thigh broken.

The passengers in a mail-train on the Exeter and Bristol line have been in danger from combustion : the tire of a wheel broke, great friction ensued, the floor of the carriage took fire, and presently the brok, n wheel dashed a hole through the door. The alarmed passengers in vain endeavoured to com- municate with the driver; fortunately the train speedily came to the out- skirts of Bristol, and the inhabitants seeing the fire, signalled the driver, who stopped the train.

Four young men, joiners of Waterhead, have perished in Lake Winder- mere, by a sudden squall upsetting the sailing-boat in which they were.

Five men have perished by the foundering of a coal-schooner on the Cul- ver Sands in the Bristol Channel, while on the voyage from Newport to Bris- tol. A man and a boy lashed themselves to fragments of the wreck, and were picked up alive.

Two men have killed themselves at Sherwood, by drinking immoderately. A gentleman at whose house they had been working gave them brandy ; he left them in the parlour for a short time, and they took the opportunity to drink a large quantity of spirit from the decanter.