Mr. Frederick Peel addressed his constituents at Bury on Thursday.

His speech mainly related to the past. It was an "account of my stewardship" speech ; but some passages are worth extracting—

Speaking of the financial measures of the past session, he said they obliterated the last traces and vestiges of protection. They did away with the differential duties in favour of colonial timber-growers, colonial wine- growers, English clockinakers, ribbon-makers, silk-manufacturers, and many other branches of trade. These duties were the remains of a once powerful family, but they were not less at the present time injurious on that

account He believed such large sums had never been voted in any session as during the last for the military and naval defences of the country. Ninety thousand seamen and marines, or just double the number voted in 18.53, were voted for the navy. The great expense that the navy had en- tailed upon us mainly resulted from our having to reconstruct our vessels of war, in order to enable us to sustain our maritime superiority. The same thing, to some extent, might be said of the army, there having of late years been a complete revolution in the construction of fire-arms and ordnance. It was doubtful, however, after all, whether the Volunteer movement had not been the means of winning from other nations that respect in which this country was now held. The failure of the Reform Bill was mainly at- tributable to the indifference of the country. It was a question surrounded with difficulties, but would not be allowed to sleep. Finality had long been given up. If they wished it, the laws of the country could no more be stationary than the progress of the people. If they could not have pro- gress at the rate they could desire, at least they should have some progress. Progressive legislation was in favour at the present day, and he held it was wiser to remove abuses gradually than to remain until a demand would be made to wipe them all off in a day. Some alarm was felt at the numbers which the late Reform Bill would have admitted to the franchise; but the more hands there were holding up the state the stronger it would be. He did not think the working classes wanted more than a fair share of political power, or more than would enable them to act in harmony with the other classes for the common weal.

The Rugby and Dunchurch Conservative Association dined on the same day at Rugby, and enjoyed a dessert of after-dinner speeches ; Mr. Newdegate, as in duty bound, furnishing the piece de resistance. The "County Members" were toasted, and declared vocally to be "jolly good fellows," Lord Ingestre leading the bacchanalian chorus. Mr. Newdegate, in reply, spent much of his time in attacking Mr. Bright and the French treaty, and dealing out doctrine pretty much like "pro- tection." Coventry, he said, did not help the farmers to resist the re- peal of the Corn-laws ; but Coventry is now suffering from the effects of free trade, and it is the duty of the farmers not to desert them. Mr. Newdegate elaborately defended himself against the charge of wasting the time of Commons by much speaking, and described minutely why he spoke so ofted. At the close of his speech, he said-.— "There are many subjects which I should like to touch upon, such as the movement which is going forward on the Continent. England has been iso- lated too long in her protest against the temporal tyranny of Rome. Now, two-thirds of Italy have been freed by the exertions of that genuine hero Garibaldi. We have seen his friend Gazazzi bringing the Bible in his track ; it is announced that Canon Wordsworth is about to take to their aid his great knowledge of abstruse matters of doctrine and ecclesiastical his- tory. In France, we see the ancient spirit of independence in her Church is gathering among the secular clergy ; we see her great ruler following in the footsteps of Charlemagne, in adopting steps to restrain and repel from France the temporal and spiritual tyranny of Rome." Mr. Newdegate then referred to the alliance formed between Charle- magne and Offs, King of Mercia, by means of which the former, through the instrumentality of Alcuin, repelled the superstition of image wor- ship; and, in conclusion, expressed a hope that the Emperor of the French might join England, not only in arms and in commerce, but in spreading throughout the world the seeds of that true religion which alone can fit man for freedom.

The Abingdon Agricultural Show was held on Monday. Mr. Walter, M.P. was the successful competitor for short-woolled Southdowns, and also for pigs. There was also a dinner, at which Mr. Walter appeared as a successful competitor in oratory ; he passed from agricultural stock very quickly to take stock of the last Session of Parliament :— "The House of Parliament in connexion with which you have drunk our health& is, as its name implies, essentially a talking assembly. Its chief function is to talk, and you will all, I think, agree with me that this year it has performed its duties in a most exemplary manner. (Laughter.) But it is often possible that the greatest gifts of Providence may be abused, and if the House of Commons has not succeeded in doing much more than talk, I can only attribute it to the extraordinary influences of the weather; thew influences, gentlemen, which have made our turnip fields produce a great deal more leaves than roots."

Mr. Norris, M.P., following up Mr. Bass at Derby last week, in a genial flow of fun, went also to the question of "talk." " Mr. Walter has traced the origin of the word Parliament to its source, and has told you that Parliament is a government of talk—pointing, at the same time, to the abundant quantity of it which we had during the past session—I hope I may be forgiven if I say that to endure to hear all that talk was a penalty upon any man's constitution. (Laughter.) We met earlier, broke up later, and sat night after night for more hours than du- ring any session in the modern history of our country ; and if, as my hon- ourable friend Mr. Walter says, we did but little, then our sins were chiefly of omission, and nothing can be said of what we did in the way of mischief in commission ; but, although there was a long reign of talk from the be- ginning to the end of that tedious session, it was not the Ministers of the Crown nor the organized Opposition, neither Lord Palmerston nor Mr. Dis- raeli, Mr. Henley, Sir J. Pakington, or any of her Majesty's Ministers, who occupied the time of the House; neither was it the county Members in general, nor those for Berks in particular. I am indebted to my honourable friend Mr. Michael Bass, the Member for Derby, for a statistical ac- count of the names ot the men and the number of times they detained the House in debate. God knows where the country might have drifted if Mr. Aa don, the Member for the Tower Hamlets, had not spoken 217 times. (Laugher.) Mr. Edwin James, the Member for Marylebone, 196 times ; Mr. 1). Griffiths, the Member for Devizes, 101; and Mr. Newdegate, the Member for Warwickshire, 103. Excluding the Members for the city of London, and Lord Enfield and Mr. Hanbury, I find that the Metropolitan Members made altogether in the aggregate, 955 speeches. (Laugh(er.) It was not, therefore, the county Members, nor her Majesty's Government, nor her Majesty's Opposition who detained the House, but it was the pet Members for these large constituencies, who believed that the interests of the country required them to be always in a state of nervous anxiety lest the world should miss the benefit of their opinions." (Laughter and cheers.) Mr. W. E. Forster, of Burley Grange, Otley, twice unsuccessful as a candidate for Leeds, is now a candidate for the vacancy at Ripon. Mr. Reginald Vyner, a cousin of Earl de Grey and Ripon, is also a candidate. Both gentlemen are Liberals.

The leaders of what was once the Conservative party in Newcastle- upon-Tyne, have had a meeting, and resolved not to start a candidate, notwithstanding the inviting prospect of three Liberals in the field, for

the vacant seat.

A gentleman in the United States, Mr. William Mills, has presented Rugby school with a large velvet flag, in token of his admiration of what he had read of it in Tom Brown's School Days. Mr. Day, who represented the donor of this offering of good-will, was introduced by the head- master to the school when assembled for calling over on Thursday, the 22d of November. Mr. Day said that after seeing the school he did not wonder at at Mr. Hughes (the author of Tom Brown) loving it and being proud of it, and speaking of it so lovingly and proudly as he had done— "For Tom Brown's sake," he added, "we shall always be glad to see any of you on the other side of the water. Let this flag be a token of the recep- tion that would greet you there. We are willing to sing as heartily as any of you God save the Queen,' and to shout Floreat Rugbeia.' Mr. Mills shares the prejudices of Tom Brown, and wishes the school-house to be the custodians of the flag." It is a large flag, made of crimson velvet (school- house colour,) with the school arms worked in the centre, and American flags crossed at each of the corners, and altogether presents a very handsome appearance.

Government has appointed Mr. Tremenhecre as a commissioner, for the purpose of taking evidence as to whether it is necessary to adapt the Factory Act, with some modifications, to the lace factories in Notting- ham, its neighbourhood, and other parts of the county.

A court-martial was held on board the Impregnable, in Hamonze, on Monday, for the trial of Mr. George Samuel Thunder, the chief engineer of the Hero. Thecharge against the prisoner was, that he was on the evening of the 20th of October last, in a state of intoxication as the ship left ort- land, U.S., with the Prince of Wales on board. He pleaded guilty, but urged that he had been nearly twenty years in the service, and good con- duct. His statement was confirmed by testimonials. The Court passed sentence—of dismissal from the Royal Navy.

John Bourne, a little boy nine years old, who attended the Devon and Exeter Central School, Exeter, died on Friday week. lie had complained of the ill-treatment he received at his school, and fell sick on the 2d of No- vember. Whilst the boy was in bed, Hawker, the teacher, called to see him, and said— "I did not strike you, to hurt you, my bey ; " to which The poor youth replied—" Yes, you did, sir, for you made me sick." Hawker told the parents that he never used the stick, but he might have struck him once with the "pointer." A surgeon could not externally de- tect the cause of death. The inquest was then adjourned to allow time fora post modem examination.

At the Inquest, the jury returned a verdict of Manslaughter against the leacher.

A frightful mistake occurred last week. John Ashton, a labourer, from Waterside, Lancashire, met his death on the night of Thursday week from the hand of Thomas Beevers, a boy, twelve years of age, whose father is an innkeeper, and gamekeeper to Mr. Pilkington, of Swindon near Thurlstoue. Thomas and a younger brother slept alone at Swindon Lodge, 600 or 700 yards from any house. Their father has allowed them to have a loaded gun for their protection. Between eleven and twelve o'clock on Thursday night, before they retired to bed, they were alarmed by hearing footsteeps outside the lodge. Immediately afterwards an attempt was made to enter the lodge; the elder lad, supposing another attempt was being made to rob the place, -opened the window and fired at a man whom he saw standing on the door step. The boys ran and informed their father what had occurred. He found the deceased, whom he had engaged that day to work for him, lying dead. It is supposed that Ashton got intoxicated, and had gone to the lodge to sleep with the boys.

A shocking murder was committed at Whitwood, in Yorkshire, on Sunday morning. Joseph Wilkinson was returning home intoxicated,' at half-past twelve on Saturday night, and proceeded along a footpath ; opposite the house inhabited by persons named Hirst, he used indecent and insulting language towards Mrs. Hirst, whose husband directed Wilkinson to leave his premises. Angry remarks passed between them, and Mrs. Hirst felled Wilkinson with a garden hoe. Mr. Hirst seized a wooden rail and struck him several times on the head, breaking the rail and fracturing Wilkinson's skull; death ensued in two hours. The Hirsts were taken into custody and remanded. A coroner's inquest has been adjourned for a post mortem .examination.

'The Jury have returned their verdict on the Trent Valley Railway acci- dent. The Coroner summed up on Saturday, and the Jury agreeing to the verdict of Accidental death, appended a series of suggestions to the North- Western Railway Company-1. The rules should not permit the officers to despatch fast trains and slow trains so close to one another ; 2. That the drovers van in cattle trains would be more safely placed in front of the -cattle trucks than behind ; 3. That the telegraph at Atherstone station should be kept in communication day and night with the stations at Tam- worth and Nuneaton as to arrivals and departures ; 4. That an additional .communicating signal should be placed and worked at each end of the sta- tion. The Jury also blamed Mooreroft, the station master, and Barber, the engine driver.

On Monday afternoon, a fatal accident occurred on the Bolton, Leigh, and Kenyon branch of the London and North-Western Railway. A goods train, drawn by two engines, left the Atherton station at five minutes to four, being one hour and five minutes late. Some plate layers, who were repairing the line about a quarter of a mile from the Atherton station, un- aware of the delay of the train, had taken up a rail, and before they were ready to replace it, saw the approach of the goods train. The gauger sent a man to signal to the driver to stop. This could not be accomplished, owing to the heavy train running down a steep incline and the slippery state of the rails. On arriving at the place of the missing rail, the first engine turned completely over, the second turning partly on the top of it : the waggons piled one upon another. Richard Higginson, driver of the second -engine, was killed. John Elliott, driver' and John Valentine, stoker' of the first engine, jumped from their engine ; the former sustained a deep lacera- tion of the upper portion of the thigh and contusion of the ankle, and the latter some severe contusions. The stoker of the second engine and the breaksman escaped with very little injury.

Two men were killed on Saturday by falling down the Bull Fleck Coal- -pit, Portobello, near Wolverhampton. Joseph Newill, an engineer, wished to descend to put a new bucket on the pump ; he fastened the lashing chain round his waist, and, as he supposed, made the ends of the chain secure to the draw-chain; he had scarcely left the mouth of the shaft before the lash- ing-chain parted from the draw-chain ; he fell upon a scaffold not far below him on which Enoch Mason was at work. The scaffold was demolished, and fell to the bottom of the shaft, and with it Mason and Newill. Both were killed.

On Monday, a mill, in course of erection in a field near Burnley Brow, Oldham, was blown down : all the men had left, except two, who were en- gaged in the second story ; they observed the beams of the ceiling slipping from their places. One, Ramsden, leapt out of the staircase window, but the other, Fleming, was buried in the ruins. He was rescued from his position, much cut about the head and face, but not seriously injured, some doors having fallen in such a way as to protect him from the descending beams.

A fire occurred in the Royal mail steamer La Plata, lying in the tidal dock at Southampton, on Saturday. The appliances in the dock-, with en- thusiastic assistance from the officers and crews of other vessels in the dock, succeeded in extinguishing it in a few hours. If a South-west wind had been blowing, the vessel would have gone ; as it is the damage is not great.

The Chamber of Commerce at Sheffield, have passed a resolution in favour of the appointment of a French Consul at Sheffield.

The Nottingham Theatre was opened for religious services on Sunday last. Captain Hutchinson, of the Royal Artillery, preached the sermon.