23 DECEMBER 1854, Page 8

4t Vrouiurto.

Mr. Pete has issued an address to the electors of Norwich, acquainting them that he has resigned his seat in the House of Commons, because, having contracted with the Government to make a railway from Balak.. lava to the trenches in front of Sebastopol, he is thereby incapacitated, by the strict construction of the letter, though not the spirit of the law, from sitting in the House. He might avoid the legal consequences by absenting himself, but he thinks that if he did so he should be wanting in duty to his constituents.

Mr. Holford was elected for East Gloucestershire on Tuesday, without opposition. He professes "decidedly Conservative" opinions; and will support any Government who shall prosecute the war with 'vigour.

The meeting at Manchester to call Mr. Bright to account was held on Monday. So great was the rush to the Town-hall, that order was kept with difficulty. The excluded kept calling " outside !" but the included were not disposed to move. The Mayor presided. Mr, Weed moved and Mr. Absolom Watkin seconded the first resolution declaring that the citi- zens of Manchester do not concur in the opinions expressed by Mr.

Bright in his letter i recently circulated in Russia ; on the contrary, they are convinced that the war s necessary and desire that it may be carried on. with energy, Mr. Alderman Watkins moved, and Mr. Alexander Henry M.P. seconded, an amendment to the effect that Mr. Bright had a right to express his opinion, and that it would be tyrannical and unjust to censure him for the manly avowal of his sentiments. Mr. Entwisle hoped they would not look upon the question as one affecting Mr. Bright only, but Manchester and England. When Mr. Bright stood up to speak, a noise arose, and continued for a quarter of an hour so deafening that nothing could be heard. Mr. Bright, however, told the reporters, that he claimed a right to express his views on the war ; that he did not re- gret having written the letter; and that he never would shrink from pur- suing the course he had taken. After this came such atumult that the Mayor declared he could not decide whether the original remlution or the amendment had been carried, and he dissolved the meeting.

Mr. Bright went off with his friends to the League Rooms, and there treated them to a speech in peace.

. Sir Charles Napier arrived at Spithead on Sunday, in his flag-ship the Duke of Wellington • and on Monday he embarked in the Fire Queen for Portsmouth. On binding, he was welcomed with much applause b a large concourse; the pier decked out with flags. On the same day, a inspecting the dockyard, he was met by Lady Napier, and proceeded to London.

The cattle and poultry show at Birmingham last week, which attract- ed large numbers of agriculturists to the town, was of greatadvantage to the manufacturers of agricultural machines ; for the farmers purchased The barque Pride of the Sea has been consumed by fire in Cardigan Bay, seven miles from Barmouth : the crew escaped. The vessel burned for thirty hours, illuminating at night the Merionethshire Hills, and forming a grand spectacle. The cargo was worth 30,000/. There were suspicions that the crew had fired the ship; but the master attributes the loss to spontaneous combustion.

The fine ship Queen of the West, an American liner, was wrecked on the 14th, on Lougharne Sands, in Carmarthen Bay, on her voyage from New York to Liverpool. There were 140 passengers. All hands were saved, and a large portion of the cargo will probably be got out of the ship.

Four miners have perished in a coal-pit at Bedminster: they were de- scending the shaft, some of the machinery gave way, and then the rope broke ; the miners fell to the bottom, into a pit of water, and the ponderous rope fell upon them. largely of them, patronizing particularly new inventions.

The burglary season seems to be setting in with its usual incidents. At Southampton, the inhabitants are in great terror : Many robberies have been committed ; subscriptions are made for the capture and conviction of the burglars; the Police force is to be increased, and householders are arming, themselves with revolvers. At Birmingham, burglaries attended with vio-• lence are reported : • in one case a house was entered in broad day, and the woman who had charge of it was shamefully misused by one of the ruffians who plundered the place. At Newcastle-on-Tyne, a number of men are in custody, who are supposed to be members of a gang who have perpetrated it least twenty burglaries of late in Durham and Northumberland ; they did not condescend to take plunder less costly than plate or jewellery : oneof those arrested is a journeyman silversmith, who is supposed to have been useful to the gang in disposing of the plate. There has been a serious collision between poachers and keepers in 'di' e preserves of Mr. Buck M.P., near Bideford. A. "navvyt" Harry Snell, 'de- liberately fired a gun at the keepers, wounding three : it is feared one will lose an eye. Snell has since been arrested.

Mr. Gilbert, the Bristol oil-merchant, has been committed for trial on a charge of feloniously receiving oil, stolen by his clerk Davey. The clerk has been discovered and arrested, and sent to prison on a charge of stealing the oil.

The charge recently made against Messrs. James and Thomas Gidlow, mine-proprietors at Arley, and Battersby their servant, of wilfully "drown- ing" a mine, seems to have arisen from some dispute with a neighbour- ing landed proprietor who owns the "drowned" mine. The prosecution has been abandoned at the Liverpool Assizes. Mr. James Gidlow was tried at the same Assizes for assaulting a woman who persisted in trespassing on his land to get water from his well ; this prosecution abo arose from the dispute with the neighbour : the verdict was "Not guilty." The squabble between the landowners will probably be settled by arbitration.