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XUELUUL Two of the Parliamentary seats made vacant by the judicial changes were again filled on Wednesday. Sir John Troinilly was rechosen by Davenport, in his new character of Attorney-General ; and Mr. Alexander E. Cocklearn, as Solicitor-General, was restored to his seat for South- ampton. Neither candidate was opposed. Sir John Balmily was rather 44 questioned," and conceded that he would support some modification of the Window-tax : his only marked declaration was one that if his election depended on it be would maintain the African squadron. Mr. Cock- burn echoed his Parliamentary support of a foreign policy of inter- ference; -which seemed be meet the "enthusiastic applause" of the Southampton Liberals. Both candidates pledged themselves heartily to perseverance in the law reforms with which they have identified their reputations.

The National Reform Association assembled a greatmeetiaig et Wymondhane in Norfolk, on Wednesday afternoon. The Sheriff of Nor- wich presided ; Sir Thomas Beevor and Mr. 3. H. Tillett of Norwich were the speakers of localnote ; Sir Joshua Walmsley. M.P., Mr. George Thompson, M.P., Mr. Alexander Mackay, and Mr. Thomas Idgenteer, formed the Metropolitan deputation. The muster is estimated at five thousand, comprising many of the agricultural classes : they came troop- ing by railway, &e. some from distant parts of the county, and tempered the politics with "cups that cheer, but not inebriate.' fir Thomas Beevor contrasted the past with the present- "I have known this town some forty years and upwards ; and I well re- member that thirty-five years ago, a few days before or after an election, it would not have been safe for any aims to ride through the town with colours of either party, and, with the exception of two of my friends, not a man dared to express his political feelings. But now, how the times are changed! I little thought then that Wymonscharn would ever be selected as the most proper place in which to hold a meeting of this kind. From my earliest years I have been a sincere and ardent though not very active ?Wadden on the side of Reform. I have naturallya love for ease and quiet ; and if I appear to have grown cool in my opinions sal have advanced in years, it is sunpIy the increase of this love that has made me take a less active part in politico; but the aentimenta rheld in my earliest youth are unchanged, and I hope that, as they were not adopted without due consideration, they will never alter while I live."

The Royal Agricultural Society is holding its peripatetic meeting at Exeter, with a success that the reporters described very elatedly. The city. of Exeter had voted 1,200/. towards the expenses ; and the natives of Devon and the :other Western counties have received the Society's visit with a hearty welcome and a wholesome manifestation of approvaL The great day was Thursday, when a mamilfieent show of cattle was made.; the "Deems" having it "all their own way" on their own. amphitheatre. The short-horns were but middling, and the horses infe- rior ; but the sheep were good, and the pigs positively "splendid." Ow- ing to the distance, some of the leading machinists did not send their in• ventions to the competing show of machinery ; so on this point there was a somewhat diminhaished exhibition.

The great dinner took place on Thursday, and was graced by the attend- ance of noblemen and foreign ambassadors in the usual abundance. In the after-dinner speeches there was once a slight approach. to a scene. The Fall of Yarborough had too broadly advised the farmers to stimulate themselves in the education of their suns; and Mr. Lister, one of the prize-judges, retorted that the landlords should be educated too—in the business of managing the land they own. Some confusion was caused, and Mr. Lister stood half-inclined to saymore and yet was restrained by mur- murs: at last, fearing that "he might come out with something that might offend," he sat down; and the rest of the speaking was of hearty

agricultural improvement" tone.

The Oxford Circuit affords two instances of genuine English litigiousness.

At Abingdon, on Friday, was tried an action of ejectment, in which Butler, a silly youth of seventy-five, sought to recover from Perrett, an obstinate boy of eighty-nine, a piece of land six yards long and four yards wide. Many years ago, one Jane Hunt occupied the land in question, but as she was "only a lodger," that is, only a tenant for life, she was lax in her guardianship, and allowed the defendant to encroach and remove a fence two yards onwards over his maiden neighbour's domain. When the plaintiff came into his reversion, whiel he had purchased, he claimed his uttermost inches ; and vouched old documents, aged witnesses, ancient codlin trees, and the ruins of old masonry, to show where his boundary had originally stood. The defendant trenched himself behind "old abutments " ; and ad- duced the adverse memory of rival centigenarians, who had gathered apples from the "ancient codlin trees" while standing on spots inconsistent with the boundaries which the plaintiff claimed. The Jury probably decided an their ownlocal knowledge, as Junes always did in ancient times ; for though the evidence on oath was perfectly irreconaeable, they," without one minute's heeltatiolt, gave a verdict for the plaintiff." The expense of the trial was "at least one hundred times the value of the piece of land."

The other trial was an instance of the voluminous pleading which is pos- sible even under the retrenched logic of the "new rules," now nearly twenty years in force. The professional reporter of the Circuit describes the endless divarications of the legal maze—the trial being an action of waste directed by the Court of Chancery for its assistance, the parties being Tulle venue Tune, and the locus in quo being a farm at Southbridge in Berkshire. 4' For -upwards of two hundred years before the new rules, the general plea of 'not guilty' served all useful purposes in an action of waste ; but by those rules a defendant was compelled to state his defenee specially on the reoord. The consequence in the present instance was somewhat to the following effect—The declaration complained that the defendant had cat down divers oak, elm, ash, and beech trees. The defendant, besides a general traverse, pleaded that the trees which she cut down overhung and injuriously the highway, and that she for that cause cut_ them down. The plaintiff thereupon new assigned ; that is to say, in plain English, he alleged that it was of the destruction of certain other trees he had complained, beside those so cut down on account of overhanging the highway. The defendant again justified the cutting of those other trees on the ground of firebote. Again, the plaintiff new assigned; and the defendant then justified on the ground a ploughbote, housebote, lcc.; and so the proceedings went on that length the very unusual number of six new assignments appeared on the record; and the defendant having exhausted all the totes inthe law-books, was obliged to stand at bay and meet her foe with the general issue. It is needless to add, that while both were embarrassing each other in a network of pleading, there was some special demurring. The plaintiff had intrenehed himself behind a special demurrer, but he was compelled by the Queen's Bench, after hear- ing pert of the arguments, to abandon that system of tactics, and go to the country. To the country they now came with fourteen distinct inures raised on the record ; but what all these were it would be impossible for most ordi- nary mortals to say with anything hie precision' even the Lord Chief Jus- tice himself, before he began to sum up the case today, required the counsel on both sides to agree amongst themselves as to the questions which they wished him to leave to the jury ; and when they had so agreed, and he had put them to the jury, and the jury had answered them, the counsel for the losing side did not seem quite dear as to how far those findings would dispose of the issues raised by the pleadings. The main question in the cause was, what was waste with regard to timber, and what was timber in Berkshire ? It was agreed on both sides that the only trees that were timber by the ge- neral laws of the land were oak, ash, and elm, and that these were timber only when arrived at their age of maturity, that is to say twenty ; and it was further contended for the plaintiff that, by the custom of certain comi- ties where oak, ash, and elm are scarce, other trees may be timber, and one of the issues raised by the pleadings was whether, by the custom of this part of the country, beech was timber ? The utmost value of the timber cut down wastefully by the defendant, according to the plaintiff's own evidence, was ()illy 14/. ; but the evidence for the defendant showed that none was cut down rmproperly, and that all that was cut was necessary for the repairs, firebote, &c. to which she as tenant was entitled.

"Ilia Lordship commenced his summing-up by observing how lamentable it was that this family should first go into Chancery and then come before this special jury for so small a matter as a few trees that were worth at the utmost only 141.; and in conclusion, left to the Jury the questions agreed Upon by the counseL Was there improper lopping? Was more timber cut than was necessary for repairs or firebote? Were there other inferior trees that might have been more properly cut down ? To all which the Jury

answered, ' No.' To the question' is beech., by the custom of this country, timber, they said that beech of certain dimensions may be timber by the custom of the county, but that none of the beech described by the witnesses was timber, except one stick, which had been cut into planks, and might therefore be considered timber, and that that stick had been properly cut down for repairs. The last question put to them was, whether certain tress had been cut down with the view of benefiting the highway • to which they answered ' No.' This was the only finding against the defeiadant; but her counsel said this was immaterial, as the other findings covered all the ma- terial issues on which she relied. The plaintiff's counsel thought otherwise. Both parties claimed the verdict. His Lordship would not say who was en- titled to it ; that was a question for the Court above ; and, at the desire of the plaintiff's counsel, he asked the Jury to assess the damages to which they

the plaintiff entitled if the Court above should say the verdict ought to be entered for him. The Jury said they were not aware he had suffered any damage." The damages were at last contingently aseessed at one farthing.

At Winchester Assizes, on Tuesday, there was a rather remarkable trial for bigamy. Sophia Wheeler Winter, a pretty young woman, was the per- son accused. In 1837, she was married to William Winter, a Fortaea trades- man; they lived happily together for some years; but then her husband got an appointment abroad. During his absence ahe became acquainted with Alfred Dodswell, son of a Lieutenant in the Navy; Dodswell persuaded her that her first marriage was illegal, as she was a minor ; and she consented to marry him, in 1848. In May last, Winter returned, and claimed his wife ; on being assured that her first marriage was valid, she left Dodswell for Winter. In revenge, Dodswell instituted the present prosecution. In sum- ming up, the Judge regretted that the charge had been instituted ; but told the Jury that the offence had been legally made out. The Jury, however, found a verdict of "Not guilty." The Judge refused to allow the expenses of the prosecution.

On Tuesday, Tollerten, Scholey, Farrar, and Jacques, were tried for the murder of John Dawson, at Otley. The particulars of this outrage were mentioned at the time of its occurrence. The prisoners were navigators; one night, when much excited by drink, they roamed about the town sued at length began to break windows ; several inhabitants interfered,atel one of them struck Tollertrai a violent blow on the head with a stick. Mat ' the navigators became more outrageous, assailing any one who happened to come across them : John Dawson was stabbed as he came but of his house, and he died in a few moments; his brother was also stabbed, but not fatally ; and a woman was similarly wounded. Whether the accused should be con- victed of murder or of manslaughter, seemed to turn upon the amount of pro- vocation they received before they struck John Dawson. The Judge rather inclined to a finding for the minor offence, Tollerton having been wounded first; and the Jury eventually gave a verdict of "Manslaughter." Tollerton was sentenced to be transported for fifteen years, and the others for life.

At Devizes A R4I7PS, last week, Abraham Dicks was tried for cutting and wounding Elizabeth ]Denley with intent to murder her or to do her grievous bodily harm. This was a very shocking case. Hicks was a married labourer living at Ashton Keynes ; the woman is married, and has six children. On

i the 8th of March, she came up with Maks, who was driving a cart home- wards; and she offered him a pint of beer to give her a lift in the vehicle. When she was in the cart, the prisoner attempted to make very free with her; she resisted; then he abused her frightfully—kicking her in the face, cutting her with a knife, and finishing by throwing her into the road ; where she was found senseless, drowned in blood, her clothes torn to pieces. This was the surgeon's description of the state of the sufferer—" On the 8th of March, I was called in to see Elizabeth Donley. I found her lying on the floor upon some straw; she was insensible from lose of bleed; her head was saturated with blood ; her clothes were much torn, said there was blood all over them. The temporal artery on the left side of her head was divided; it had been cut; it was a very dangerous wound. There were incised wounds on the opposite side of the head and across the chin. There were contusions. The whole of the nasal bone was so shattered that I removed it altogether. The upper jaw was broken ; two teeth on one aide and three on the other had been knocked out. The bone of the jaw was driven through the roof of the month. I was not able to set the jaw-hone. These wounds must have been inflicted by a kick, or a blow from a blunt instrument. They could not have been caused by a fall from a cart, nor could they have been inflicted by one blow. The wounds were dangerous to life. She cannot masticate her food. The jaw lias become fixed, and the only mode of feeding her is through the aperture caused by the toes of the teeth ; and so she must remain for the rest ot her life." The prisoner's counsel could only urge that Hicks did not in- tend to murder the woman. The Jury convicted him on the second count, of an intention to do grievous bodily harm. The ner exclaimed that he

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was innocent—" Although I have been found y here, I shall have an- other trial, and then it will be different." . Justice Coleridge reproved Hicks for his shameless denial of guilt so clearly- proved; and exhorted Lim to prepare to meet that other Judge to whom he had alluded. The sentence was transportation for life. Hicks—" lain glad of that ; I wanted a good ride."

At York Assizes, last week, Bailey. and Ensor wore tried for throwing a canister of gunpowder against the house of Mr. Butcher, with intent to damage the house and to do Mr. Butcher bodily harm. The prosecutor, a manufacturer, had disputes with his workmen, and they "struck." OW night, Mr. Butcher was aroused by the breaking of a pane in his bedroom- window; he found that a ladder was reared against his house, which a man. was then descending ; on some leads below the window was a canister with a burning fusee attached; presently the canister blew up. The defence was, that the men were drunk, and intended merely to frighten the prosecutor by exploding a little gunpowder. They were found guilty.

Charles Sutcliffe was tried fore highway robbery in July 1848. The ease was a peculiar one. William Hanson was robbed by seven men ; five of them were convicted and transported ; among them was a man named Clif- ford. In May last, Sutcliffe surrendered himself, and made a confession that he was one of the robbers, and that three of the transported men—including Clifford—were innocent. Mr. Hanson was examined : he was positive that Sutcliffe was riot one of the robbers. When called on for his defence, the prisoner said that the brother of Clifford had got hold of him, and kept him a month at his house until he had committed to memory the d heory had told to the Magistrates ; that he gave him 31. to go and tell it, and premised him 1001., as it might get his brother pardoned : the prisoner knew nothing what- ever about the robbery. The Jury acquitted him.

Augustus Holman and Joseph Holman, father and son, were indicted for forging and uttering three bills of exchange. The father pleaded " Guilty " ; but in consideration of the son's youth, and that he was the father's clerk, no evidence was offered against him. The youth was at once liberated. The total of the frauds is said to amount to nearly 4,000/.

At Chelmsford Assizes, on Thursday, John Ager was tried for the murder of Marital Piper. While walking home at night, Piper put his arm round a girl who was Ager's sweetheart.; when Apr exclaimed against this, the other young man answered offensively; then Ager stabbed him with a knife. The case was clear; and the prisoner's counsel could only plead for a verdict for the Ismer offence of manslaughter. The Jury acceded to this view ; and the prisoner was sentenced to be transported for life. Henry Mason was tried for firing a gun at Daniel Cunningham and his wife. Risson had lodged with the prosecutors; they disagreed,and he was compelled to leave the house' he was very angry at this, and had been heard to threaten vengeance. One night, a gun was fired into the bedroom of the Cunninghams, wounding husband and wife, but not fatally. The evidence left no doubt that Risson was the party who fired the gun : he lived close by ; went out at night with a gun ; returned in the morning with the gun in a state that showed he had recently fired it ; and told an impro- bable story of having been to shoot a rabbit. He was convicted, and sen- tenced to be transported for life.