Zbe Vrobinces.

The election for North Lancashire took place on Tuesday, in the Court-lioase at Lancaster. The Grand Jury-box and seats for counsel were filled with ladies ; among whom was Lady Stanley. Lord Stanley was proposed by Mr. Townley of Townhead, and seconded by Mr. P. Dawson of Hornby Castle. Mr. Brooks, the Manchester manufacturer and a delegate from the Anti-Corn-law League, now came forward to ask Lord Stanley a few questions ; but he was stopped by the High Sheriff; who said that he must first ask if there was another candidate to be proposed. Mr. Moss, a publican, proposed Mr. James Acland, (the Anti-Corn-law lecturer,) and Mr. G. Jackson, a spirit-merchant, seconded the nomination. Lord Stanley then addressed the electors. He was for some time prevented by the noisy disapprobation of the supporters of the League, and by the cheers of his own friends. He said he would wait patiently until order was established; and then he began by questioning upon what conceivable pretension Mr. Acland claimed to represent that important division of the county ? He never had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Acland before, but be had heard of him, and he would tell them how— He had heard of him going about from town to town, from county to county, and from election to election, haranguing, discussing, and agitating the question of the Corn-laws. He had heard of Mr. Acland frequently as a candidate ; but he had never yet heard that Mr. Acland had had the good fortune to find any constituency to return him ; and from one remark that fell from Mr. Acland that morning, he thought it very possible that if Mr. Acland were to find a consti- tuency to return him, he might not find it so easy to get the qualification which would entitle him to sit in Parliament. (Laughter.) The last time he heard of Mr. Acland, was at the recent election in the borough of Tamworth ; with which borough, he believed, Mr Aclaud was just as intimately connected as he was with the county of Lancaster, and of which borough he seemed to have re- presented the feelings and opinions as accurately as it would turn out he did those of the electors of Lancashire—if he really had come forward with any serious intention of being proposed as a candidate for their suffrages. He saw it announced in very pompous language, that Mr. Acland, at the last election for Tamworth, was about to perform the magnanimous feat of facing Sir Ro- bert Peel on the hustings. (Laughter and hisses.) He was about to go and "with undaunted courage to beard the lion in his own den." This was all very well, but before he went he should have taken care to find out that the lion would be at home. ..What was the result of that announcement ? Why, that the constituency of Tamworth sent up an universal requisition to Sir Robert Peel, begging him not to give himself the trouble of coming down to the bo- rough, and assuring him that he should be elected in his absence. Mr. Acland then made his speech on the hustings, and was duly laughed at by the electors ; and having been duly laughed at, and having made his speech, he also made his bow and retired, without asking for a polL Lord Stanley was very much dis- posed to believe that what Mr. Adana did at Tamworth he would do at Lan- caster, and with the same success.

Lord Stanley reverted to the charge of inconsistency which had been levelled at him for leaving Lord Grey's Cabinet ; and he disproved it by a retrospect of the facts connected with his secession. As a mem- ber of Lord Grey's Administration, he had zealously supported the reform of abuses, as the best principle of conservation for the institu- tions in which those abuses existed. But towards the close of Lord Grey's Administration, a measure was introduced, which, in his view, tended to subvert one of those institutions which they were bound to cherish and support—a measure by which it was intended to convert to secular purposes the revenues of the Church. He could not blink his opinion and support a measure of which he disapproved. At once, and without hesitation, he abandoned office, place, the power which he then held, and the prospect of power for the future. This was no hastily-formed opinion : he had obtained within the last week a singular testimony that as long ago as 1826 he foresaw what was likely to occur. Lord Stanley then translated from the French of the Revue des Deus Mondes, a passage to the following effect : it occurred in an article on the state of parties, written by M. Duvergier de Hauranne, a gentleman of Liberal opinions widely differing from Lord Stanley's, and filling a prominent station in the French Legislature— "On this point I have to relate a fact, which is at once curious and proves that the supposed apostacy of Lord Stanley is the fruit of a long and per- severing conviction. In 1826, when he was an eager Whig, I met him, when lie was a candidate at Preston ; and after the election I passed some days with ;him at Lord Derby's. Among the subjects of conversation, there was this very one respecting the temporal property of the Church, its nature and desti- nation. I had on this point the ideas we entertain in France ; and was sur- prised to find them combated with much eagerness by Lord Stanley. I said- ' You are wrong to commit yourself too far on this point : your friends the Whigs, and especially Mr. Brougham, your principal Parliamentary supporter, seem to have different views on this question, and I should not be surprised if they do consent some day to an alteration, which appears to you so unjust. What would you do in that case ? ' Lord Stanley answered me immediately— '1 would separate from the Whigs. On many points I know how to make sacrifices to my party ; on that one I never can.' To say the truth, I did not take very seriously the peremptory answer of Lord Stanley, and soon forgot it : but how is it possible not to recall it to recollection, when, seven years after, I saw him on this very question do precisely that which he told me he should do."

Lord Stanley proceeded— If there were any persons in that court, or elsewhere, who could for a mo- ment suppose that his conduct in 1834 was the result of a change of opinion— though of an honest change no man need be ashamed—he appealed with con- fidence to this declaration from an unsuspected witness, that his views then were the same as in 1826, and as they now were in 1841; and that the course which he bad said he would take, in a certain contingency, he had taken, when circumstances arose which, however painful to himself, compelled him to do so. From the year 1834, it appeared to him that the Government of Lord Melbourne was becoming day by day more tainted with extreme opinions, and were alien from the moderate views of Conservative Whiggism which be adopted and maintained. Day by day, he found questions against which the Whig Government had strongly contended allowed to be first open, and then adopted by the Administration of Lord Melbourne. He saw that very Government, which had been abused as the base, brutal, and bloody Whigs, by Mr. O'Con- nell, now relying for their Parliamentary support and their existence as a party on their subserviency and obedience to that very Mr. O'Connell. Be found that gradually extreme opinions were obtaining preponderance; and if the measures of the Whig leaders were to be carried at all, it was not by their own trength, but by the assistance of those whom in politics that party had opposed. In such a Government he could place no confidence. Its fall was clear and certain ; and the only question was how long it could stagger on under the in- creasing dissatisfaction of the people. In 1834 he refused to join Sir Robert Peel's Government ; in 1841 he agreed to join it : but there was no inconsistency in that— From that time to the present, he had been in close and repeated confidential intercourse with Sir Robert Peel. No position, no great measure had been taken by the party acting under Sir Robert Peel, without his cordial concur- rence and sanction. On all subjects he had been admitted by that right ho- nourable gentleman to the moat frank and unreserved communication of his opinion. On all subjects of past policy he had been able cordially to agree with him ; and from a full discussion of the course which her Majesty's pre- sent Government intended to pursue, be had no reason to anticipate the

slightest difference between the views of Sir Robert Peel and those which he entertained. After having sat by his side for the last seven years—after having shared his counsels and fought with him his Parliamentary battles—if at the

end of that time their efforts had succeeded in displacing the late Administra- tion, and he then refused to form part of the new, so far from being able to plume himself on his consistency, he thought that every man in the country would tell him that he was the most intolerable blockhead that ever dabbled in politics.

Lord Stanley denied that Sir Robert Peel's Government was to be distinguished by a bigoted support of the Established Church : the principle upon which they should act would be, to maintain the Esta- blished Church in its integrity, and at the same time to maintain a per- fect equality in respect of the civil rights of all denominations of Christians. Lord Stanley then turned to the Corn-laws ; a subject on which he repeated many of the arguments just now current with his party. He did not pretend to be ignorant of the existing distress ; but

he did not think that it was solely or mainly attributable to the opera- tion of the Corn-laws, or that an alteration of those laws, whether de- sirable on other grounds or not, was the only or most efficient mode of remedying the distress. He would tell them frankly to what he attri- buted it— Were they told that their exports of manufactured goods had sustained a diminution ? He knew very well that Mr. Acland would not tell them so.

He knew that Mr. Acland would tell them, that from the year 1831 to the year

1841, the exports of cotton-manufactures had nearly, if not quite, doubled. Thiswas an enormous extension, an immense increase, of British goods taken by the markets of the world. From 1831 to 1841 these same Corn-laws had been in operation. Throughout that period there bad been fluctuations of manu- facturing and commercial prosperity ; and if the distress now felt were attri-

butable to the Corn-laws, why had it not been uniformly and systematically

felt from 1831, as it was at the present moment ? Had such been the,case ? Why, it was notorious to all, that the years 1334, 1333, aud 1836, were years of great, and he would venture to say extravagant, manufacturing prosperity.

And what was the result of that great prosperity ? Why, in 1836 he thought it was, the Poor-law Commissioners published an account that at that moment

there was in Manchester and its neighbourhood so great a demand for labour, that, in addition to all the manufactories then in being, there were in progress mills and machinery to the value of 3,000,0001.; and that in the course of the following year there was a demand for 80,000 additional hands in Manchester and its neighbourhood. There existed this demand, and a vast number of hands were invited to come in ; labour was abundant ; the prosperity was sup-

posed to have no end ; the manufactured exports increased with a rapidity unknown and unheard of, for the markets of the world were glutted with British produce. The manufacturers were compelled to sell on low terms, not

only to meet the competition of foreigners, but als,) that unwise competition which was established among themselves. To add to this misfortune, the Joint Stock and Country Banks gave large and unusual facilities in the way of discount. Large fictitious capital was advanced to manufacturers of no capital; and these men were tempted, by the facilities thus afforded them of obtaining credit, to enter into a race of competition with men of real capitaL

This created an unnatural demand for manufacturing labour : hut the fever passed away, after destroying a large portion of those persons who had em-

barked in these speculations, and who dragged in their fall a vast proportion of manufacturing labourers called into employment by this ruinous system of overtrading: when it failed, they were discarded and thrown on their Own

resources. Now, this, in his conscience and before his country, he believed to be the great source of the pressure on the manufacturing community. The manufacturers had glutted every market of the world with their manufactures. They had been running a ruinous race of competition with each other, by

which they had diminished and lowered their profits to little or nothing. They began then to find that they had embarked their capital in a ruinous specula- tion ; they worked short hours, closed their mills one after the other; and the

result of it all had been, not only the loss of their capital, but the throwing out of daily employment and the means of earning an honest livelihood of thou-

sands of persons, who bad swarmed the markets of labour, and who were unable to obtain those necessaries and comforts of life which the labouring-classes ought to have.

At various times the distress had been attributed to various causes : at one time, to the National Debt, and it was proposed to wipe that off with a sponge ; but in doing so they would ruin hundreds of thousands who had vested the fruits of their honest industry in the Funds : at another time, the distress was laid to machinery ; but what Government, what individual in his senses, would think of putting a tax or pro- hibition on the machinery which is the source of our national pros- perity? and now, if they were to injure one of the great interests of the country, lower the price of corn, and throw a large portion of the wheat- lands of the country out of cultivation, they would entail on the popula- tion, and on the working-classes in particular, the most serious, grievous, and irretrievable evils. Repeating some of the arguments against the

fixed duty, Lord Stanley observed that they could not legislate for the seasons : they could not make that fixed and certain in price which God and Nature had declared should be unfixed and uncertain in its abund- ance. He called upon Mr. Acland to tell the electors what was the result which he anticipated from the scheme of the late Government. He declared it to be his firm and sincere belief, that the removal of the restrictions which affect the importation of foreign corn into this country would be ruinous, in the first instance to the farmer, and in the next not less disadvantageous to the manufacturing interest itself. He should not hereafter be liable to blame for having held out any fal- lacious hopes.

Mr. Brooks, the Delegate from the League, now catechized Lord Stanley a little. Was not bread, he asked, dearer in this than in any other country ? Lord Stanley replied, that the tendency of the Corn- laws might be to raise the price of corn above its natural lever; but he believed that they kept it from those extravagant fluctuations which

were so common in other countries. "Did not the law increase rents?" No doubt, an increase in the produce of the laud frown render it more

valuable to the landowner. "What protection had the manufacturing operative ?" Lord Stanley thought that the operative must depend, in a great measure, upon the success of the trade in which he was engaged: in the silk-trade he was protected by an ad valorem duty of 30 per cent. Presently it came out that Mr. Brooks was a flax-spinner ; and some one asked him if there was no protective-duty in his trade ? No reply. Lord Stanley—" Mr. Brooks, I did not hear your answer." Mr. Brooks —" Because I gave none." He did not know : he had not attended to that point. Lord Stanley—" Don't you think, Mr. Brooks, that it would be better if everybody attended to their own business?" Mr. Brooks—" That is precisely what brought me here today." After more of this catechizing, Mr. Acland stepped forward to deliver an address. A freeholder asked him if he was qualified to sit in Parlia- ment? It appeared that the law gives twenty-four hours in which to answer that question ; so Mr. Acland met with no further interruption, except from the jocose remarks of his hearers. He disclaimed being a party to the act of those who had placed him in nomination : he was there merely to hear Mr. Brooks's catechism of Lord Stanley. He then launched forth into an Anti-Corn-law commentary of an hour and a half's duration on Lord Stanley's speech ; smart enough, to judge by the small specimen of it quoted from the Manchester Guardian, but pus- sessing little novelty. The show of hands proved to be greatly in favour of Lord Stanley. Thanks were voted to the High Sheriff, and the meeting separated. Lord Stanley afterwards issued a printed address, thanking the electors. On the way to his inn, Mr. Acland was seized by the Deputy-Con- stable on a Queen's Bench writ, which charged him with a malicious libel on the Mayor of Manchester, conveyed in the accusation that the Mayor had falsified the return at the late election, and with inciting divers of the Queen's subjects to riot on that occasion. He was after- wards liberated, on bail to appear at the next Assizes.

Lord Eliot was nominated as a candidate for East Cornwall, on Wed- nesday, by Mr. J. H. Tremaine, seconded by the Honourable George Fortescue ; and reelected without opposition. Mr. Fortescue paid a tasteful compliment to the Irish administration of his relative, Earl Fortescue; and trusted that the same principles of honest intent, mo- deration, and impartiality, would guide the new Lord-Lieutenant and his Chief Secretary. Lord Eliot's manifesto occupies but a few lines in a speech of no great length— He was deeply sensible of the difficulty of the undertaking; and if he did not despair of success in it, it was because he relied on the good sense and the good feeling of the great body of the Irish people. Be knew that the policy of Sir Robert Peel would be a sound and a wise policy, a policy of peace and conciliation : be would study the interests of Ireland by developing its re- sources, and endeavouring to improve the condition of its people ; he would legislate for it in a generous as well as a just spirit. The Executive Govern- ment of Ireland, at the bead of which was a nobleman under whom it would be Lord Eliot's pride and pleasure to serve—a nobleman of moderate political opinions, of inflexible integrity, and of calm and sound judgment—the Execu- tive Government of Ireland, he repeated, would vindicate the authority of the law, would repress with vigour all turbulence and outrage, but would exercise its power with moderation and with justice. It will pay court to no party, but it will do justice to all ; it will not be the government of a party, but the government of the whole Irish people. He trusted, in following this course, that it would not only deserve, but obtain the good-will of the nation. He should not presume here to speak of the legislative measures which it was in the contemplation of her Majesty's Government to introduce; but he might venture to assert, that in any measure that might be introduced, the real rights and the real interests of the Irish people would be religiously and scrupulously respected.

He had been asked on the hustings, whether, if he accepted a situation under Sir Robert Peel, he would resign it if an alteration in the Corn- laws should be proposed— He answered, on the spur of the moment, and he now repeated, that under no circumstances would he consent to any alteration in the Corn-laws that should, in the fair judgment of the great body of the agriculturists themselves, deprive them of a sufficient protection. Ile did not believe that a Cabinet composed of men who had always advocated the interests of agriculture could propose any change that would be detrimental to that great national interest. If any such event should occur, he should think it his duty to relinquish the office be held. But he conceived it to be perfectly possible that an alteration might be made : it may be wished to bring together in harmony the great body of the people on this question ; and to any measure which would be satisfactory to the manufacturing interests, and which would not be injurious to the agri- culturists, he should be prepared to give his support. He thought that a sliding-scale offered the best security against fluctuation and uncertainty of the seasons.

East Kent reelected Sir Edward Knatchbull, on Monday. The Baronet was proposed by Sir E. Deering, and seconded by Mr. IV. Diedes. There was no opposition. Having been formally declared, Sir Edward returned thanks. He was more cautious than any of the Ministerial candidates who have yet addressed their constituents, in speaking of the intentions of Government : he seemed to have a dread lest he should be drawn out— His honourable friends who had done him the kindness to propose him as their representative had alluded to certain great measures which must of ne- cessity occupy much of the public mind : under any other circumstances but those in which he was at present placed, he would with the sincerest pleasure have entered into a full explanation of his own opinion of those measures ; but he trusted that, considering the position in which he stood, lie should be ex- cused if, upon that occasion, he abstained from the adoption of such a course. He desired that it should be distinctly understood that he was not anxious to shrink from the discussion of those subjects. They were well aware of the principles upon which he had always acted, and from the maintenance of those principles they might rely he would never swerve. Under the peculiar circum- stances, then, of the position in which he appeared before them, he hoped the electors would pardon him for not entering into any explanation in reference to any measures of political policy, because they must be fully aware that any thing which might fall from him might be looked upon and considered, not as the opinion of himself as a private individual alone, but as the opinion of those with whom he had the honour to act as a member of her Majesty's Govern- ment.

He made one exception from his reserve, in favour of the Corn-laws-

That question was one which he, as well as every member of the Govern- ment, looked upon as being one of the highest importance, as requiring their deepest consideration, and one in reference to which they desired to arrive at the best result they possibly could with a view to the interest of the agricul- turist as well as to that of all the other different interests of the kingdom ; and it would be fuck desire, as it was their most anxious hope, that the decision to which they might come would meet the approval of all classes of the commu- nity. As regarded the principle which was at present in existence—the prin- ciple of a sliding scale—in his opinion that principle was the most expedient, and the best calculated to increase the interests of the country. But at the same time, whilst such was his opinion, he should be ready to enter into the consideration of any other proposition which might be shown to be calculated to prove of a more beneficial character to the great interests of the country. And he trusted that in the progress of the consideration of the subject, he might be at liberty to hold frequent communication with those of his consti- tuents who were more deeply concerned in the question itself, with the desire that he might thereby reap all the benefit to be derived from the practical knowledge of those gentlemen. It was his earnest hope, as well as it was that. of others, that, let this question be put upon whatever footing it might even- tually be deemed advisable, that footing should be one of a decidedly perma- nent nature.

At Newark, on Monday, Sir R. H. Bromley proposed and Colonel Whetham seconded the Earl of Lincoln, the late Member, as a candi- date for the representation of South Nottinghamshire. No other can- didate appeared, and the Earl was declared duly elected. In returning thanks, he took great pains to assure his agricultural supporters of con- tinued protection— He rejoiced to observe that all attempts to convince the agricultural interests that Sir Robert Peel was their secret foe bad failed. There were, no doubt, points in the present Corn-laws which required consideration and amendment; but in revising this important question, the Government of the right honour- able baronet would adhere to the sliding scale, and afford adequate protection and encouragement to native agriculture. Me believed it was generally ad- mitted that some improvement might be made in the mode of taking the aver- ages: but such admission afforded no real foundation for any argument in favour of a fixed duty, which was altogether delusive, and could only serve as a stepping-stone to total repeal. They might rest assmed that domestic agri- culture would be cordially supported by the present Government, because by such a course the welfare of the poorer classes as much as that of the farmers and the landlords would be promoted.

An election took place at York, on Tuesday, of a Member for the North Riding of Yorkshire, in the room of Mr. William Duncombe, who has lately succeeded to the barony of Feversham. Mr. J. H. Lowther, M.P., proposed the Honourable Octavius Duncombe, the brother of the late Member. Mr. Lowther dwelt upon Mr. William Duncombe's liberality to the local charitable institutions, upon his assiduity in Par- liament, and upon the requisition of 4,000 electors who had called upon the new candidate to stand. Mr. T. L. Fairfax seconded the nomina- tion; and no other candidate appearing, Mr. Octavius Duncombe was proclaimed Member for the North Riding. In his speech of thanks, he avowed himself strictly a Conservative ; and he promised to defend the Church from the assaults of her enemies, to support the agricultural interest, and to amend the new Poor-law. After the election, on the motion of Mr. W. Garforth, seconded by Colonel Mitchelson thanks were voted to Lord Feversham for the ability with which he lied repre- sented the North Riding in four successive Parliaments.

Alderman Thompson was elected for Westmoreland on Wednesday, in the room of Lord Lowther, who has been made a Peer. There was no other candidate. The Alderman devoted much of his speech to cut- ting up the late Ministers : one strong point was their bungling policy

in China by which, while they were risking all to reduce the price of sugar a farthing a pound, they raised the price of tea one shilling a pound.

The result of the poll at Sunderland was officially declared on Fri- day : the numbers were—for Howick, 705; for Attwood, 463. Lord Howick attempted to address the electors, but could not make himself heard. Mr. Attwood was more successful. He complained of charges of corruption being made against his party, while the other side were

not at all scrupulous in their own practice. Mr. Binns, the Chartist, was silenced by the noise of the -meeting. Lord Howick aftewards de- livered an address from the balcony of his inn. He was chaired through the town, and some disturbance occurred during the ceremony- " As the procession was proceeding down Whitburn Street," says the corre- spondent of the Morning Post, "the mob commenced hissing in passing a pub-

lic-house called the Reform Tavern,' from which Mr. Attwood's colours were

displayed, and the scene led to violence and outrage. A party of Mr. Attwood's friends were collected in and around the house, and first dirt and then stones were thrown by both parties. There are contradictory stories as to which party

began this warfare. A stone from some one hit Lord Howick on the right hand, and another hit Mrs. Bell, who was in another carriage. The windows of a public-house were broken all to pieces ; and the landlord, a person named

Edward Liddell, rendered infuriate by the destruction of his property, pre- sented a fowling-piece out of one of the windows, and without attempting any deliberate aim, snapped the gun, which flashed in the pan. The gun was sub- sequently examined, and found to contain only powder and wadding. The mob now rushed into the house, broke the furniture, and threw it about the streets, destroyed the ale and spirits, and in short completely gutted the house. Upwards of 2001. which was in the house disappeared under the active exer- tions of the mob."

No serious personal injury was sustained by any one. A report spread abroad that an attempt had been made on the life of Lord Howick. Liddell was examined before the Magistrates on Satur- day; and some of the witnesses described him:as "apparently" pointing at the carriage in which Lord Howick was ; but there appeared no proof whatever that he aimed at any one in particular. He was remanded till Monday, for further examination.

Liddell was examined again on Tuesday ; when the Magistrates put forward the following formal declaration of their decision- " That, having taken into anxious consideration all the circumstances of the case they were unanimously of opinion that the charge of felony was not satisfactorily borne out by the evidence ; while they were equally agreed that the prisoner had been proved guilty of a most abominable and outrageous assault, for which the Bench were somewhat disposed to send him to take his trial at the Quarter-Sessions. However, taking into consideration the serious pecuniary loss the prisoner had sustained in consequence of his bad conduct, the Magistrates thought the demands of justice would be answered by imposing on him a fine of Si., and calling on him to enter into recognizances, himself in 501 and two sureties in 25/. each, that he should keep the peace for twelve months."

The required securities were entered into at once.

A dinner was given to Lord Howick on Monday, in the spacious hall of the Athenteum. Mr. Walker Featherstonhaugh, Lord Howick's proposer, was the Chairman ; and among the company were Mr. Henry Mitcalfe, M.P., Mr. Hutt, M.P., and Mr. J. T. Wawn,. DLP. In his speech Lord Howick dwelt with satisfaction upon the fact that out of six Members returned from the Tyne and the Wear five are in favour of Free Trade. He endeavoured to coax the Chartists into moderation— While he applauded their purity and did homage to their sincerity of pur- pose, he differed from the policy which they pursued no less than from the opinions which they entertained; and he regretted that a man like Mr. Binns, whose abilities, as evinced on the hustings, were of no common order, should not have taken a more practical course. It must be evident, he thought, to every calm observer, that the times were unfavourable to further constitutional changes. The public mind could not at present be agitated upon that subject with practical effect. The most hopeful questions in the present day were Free Trade and National Education, and to these should all Reformers bend their enemies. He hoped that such men as Mr. Binns would not stand aloof, but that Reformers would all unite for the attainment of practical measures. When these were attained—when the physical condition of the people was raised by Free Trade, and their intellectual and moral condition by National Education—then, though he might still be found to differ from Mr. Binns on constitutional questions, there could be no doubt that the measures advocated by that gentleman would occupy a much more favourable position.

Several speakers addressed the company ; which broke up betimes, the Chairman leaving his seat at ten o'clock.

In consequence of the failure of the bank of Messrs. Hobhouse and Co. of' Bath, the Radical Member for Hereford City, Mr. H. Hobhouse, has determined to accept the Chiltern Hundreds. This will create a vacancy in the representation. A meeting of the Radicals was held at Biggs's Rooms, on Wednesday evening, to select a new candidate. The Conser- vatives are active, and have every hope of returning a Member for this Radical city.—Correspondent of the Standard.

A public meeting was held in the Town-hall of Salford, on Monday evening, to petition against the prorogation of Parliament until the Corn-laws shall have been discussed. The hall was completely filled. The following were the resolutions proposed, and passed unanimously- " That an intensity of distress, unprecedented in this borough, has prevailed during the last three years, by which the labouring-classes are placed in a most

destitute condition, and the capital hitherto employed in business has most ruinously diminished. That there are at present of dwellinghonses 2,030, and of cotton-mills, factories, and mechanics' and other workshops, seventy-four in

number wholly unoccupied, which would yield a rental of 27,852/. per annum ; whilst vast numbers of respectable and industrious individuals, who were tenants and work-people, are deprived of comfortable residences and the means of labour and support ; thus engendering disease and demoralization, and threatening to involve the whole community in general ruin. "That the existing Corn and other unjust laws, which prevent the people of this country from obtaining the means of subsistence in the markets of the world by the exchange of their manufactured produce, together with the taxes

exacted from them, not for the benefit of the state but for the profit of mono- polists, are, in the opinion of this meeting, the main causes of the prevailing lamentable and heart-rending distress." In moving the first resolution, Mr. Holland Hoole broadly stated the vase of the petitioners- " I have told my tale before. I have only to repeat what I have said on former occasions at meetings in this borough and in Manchester—that our trade

is at present in a state of very deep depression ; and that that depression has been more lasting and permanent than ever any similar depression was known to be, I think, in the memory of the oldest tradesman in Manchester." Mr. Lockett, who seconded the resolution, gave further testimony— He had for a number of years taken an active part in the affairs of the bo- rough, as an Overseer, Guardian of the Poor' and in its municipal affairs gene- rally; and the distress was greater now than he had ever known it. It had in- creased, was increasing, and, unless something were done, would increase to an alarming exent. The people were absolutely driven from their dwellings; many were obliged to leave the town ; and others were congregated two or three families in a house, to the detriment of their health and the destruction of their .comforts.

What was the cause of that distress ?—

Were the people less industrious, less disposed to work, or less moral than in former years ? No; they were able and willing to work, but could not find

employment. The increase of paupers in the town of Salford was alarming.

In 1835 and 1836, the average number receiving out-door relief was 994; for -the year ending March 25th 1841, it was 1,727. It was distressing thus to see people driven to pauperism, and coming with squalid faces before the Board. If such was their condition now, what would it be in winter, if things did not alter? But crime increased in as rapid a ratio as poverty. The county-rates, including expenses of prosecutions and other matters, were in 1835 and 1836 1,563/. per annum ; for the last four quarters they amounted to 3,4231.; and if they went on increasing they could not be paid. Mr. T. Barley junior quoted several statistical details by which he showed that, comparing the present state of the cotton-trade with what

it was three years ago, 400,000 persons are now out of employment, and 6,000,000/. less of wages is distributed to the people ; or, compared with the amount of employment which the existing means and ap- pliances would provide for the people, 700,000 or 800,000 people may be considered to be deprived of employment, and 7,000,0001. of wages 'withheld; a far larger amount than the sum distributed by the Poor- law and eleemosynary aid throughout the United Kingdom. Mr. J. Harding, who seconded the resolution, asked those who ascribed distress to the increase of machinery, what the people would do if the machinery were destroyed ? The Reverend J. W. Massie moved that a memorial to the Queen, founded on the resolutions, be drawn up and sent to Mr. Brotherten for presentation. The motion was agreed to.

A similar meeting was held at Reading, in Berkshire, on Tuesday. About fourteen or fifteen hundred tradesmen and mechanics of the town were present. Among others, the following resolution was passed- -" That this meeting, feeling a deep conviction of the evil tendency of the +Corn and Provision laws, and of the great advantage which would:result to the nation by their repeal, feel impelled to use all lawful means for obtaining that object."

Meetings for the same object have been held at Stockport and De- vizes.

The Young Men's Anti-Monopoly Association of Manchester held its second monthly meeting, at the Athenmum, on Wednesday week. The object of these meetings is to prepare the members to combat the arguments of the supporters of monopoly. The question for the even- ing was, "Are the Corn-laws unjust?" First a lecture was delivered On the subject, and then a general discussion followed. The discussion

was neither narrow nor one-sided: several arguments in favour of the laupporters of the law were kept in view; one speaker, for example,

remarked upon the lecturer's censure of indirect taxation, that it might be concluded that since the nation had agreed to it it was just ; another gave the aristocracy credit for legislating with a view to the general good. Several members joined in the debate ; which appears to have been kept up with equal vivacity and good order. [An asso- ciation of this kind seems an improvement upon the ordinary de- bating-club : its subjects of discussion are real and practical ; and therefore the debaters, while practising their readiness of thought and tongue, are less likely to fall into idle word-catching and sen- tence-grinding, thart when they set themselves to discuss "whether Milton or Shakspere was the greater poet "—Demosthenes or Cicero the greater orator—Alexander or Julius CEesar, Napoleon or Welling- ton, the greater general ; knowing perhaps as little of strategy as of Greek or Latin, rhetoric or prosody. Yet even a debating-club is better than the mere tavern-parlour. The "Young Men" of Manchester take a grade still higher, and their example deserves imitation.] The Doncaster race-meeting terminated on Friday, with a better quality of racing than could have been expected from that of the pre- vious days. The Handicap of 5 sovereigns each, with 30 added by the town, was won easily by a length, by Sir C. Monck's Garland, against four other horses. Mr. Bell's The Squire carried off the Scarborough Stakes, of 30 sovereigns each, from Colonel Cradock's Pagan and Sir W. Milner's Osberton. A race was run for the Park-hill Stakes, of 50 sovereigns each ; Mr. Powlett's Muley Moloch beating by a head. Lord Westminster's Lampoon, as second, received 100/. out of the stakes. The Hornby Castle Stakes, of 20 sovereigns each, with 50 added by the Corporation, were won by Mr. Orde's Bee's-wing, with the greatest ease, against the Duke of Cleveland's Sampson. Mr. Heseltine's Shadow bore off the Town Plate of 100/., against three other horses. The second received 33 guineas.

The Corporation, at the suggestion of the noblemen and gentlemen supporting the races, have agreed, in order to render the meeting more attractive, to contribute 1,0001.; a portion of which will be disposed of in the form of a cup, value 300 guineas, with 50 sovereigns for the second horse ; 2001. to the Great Yorkshire Handicap, of which the second horse will be entitled to 100/.

The line of the London and Brighton Railway was opened on Tues- day to the public. Great numbers of persons assembled at the Brigh- ton terminus at an early hour to witness the spectacle. A band of iplofessional and amateur musicians and singers was stationed under the shed at the terminus ; and, joined by thousands of voices, they greeted the arrival of the first train with the national anthem in a general chorus. A grand dinner was given to the Directors, at the Ship Hotel. A dis- play of fireworks in the gardens terminated the festivities. The first train started at seven in the morning from Brighton ; and a special train, containing some of the Directors and their friends, left Brighton at half-past eight. The line starts from London Bridge, and runs for a short distance upon the Greenwich road. It follows, with little excep- tion, the line of the turnpike-road till a little beyond the Parsonage, where it crosses. It recrosses the road at the Baleombe station ; and meets it again at Reeomb. It enters Brighton near the Old Church. There are five tunnels—Merstham, 1,800 yards long ; Balcombe, 1,120; Hayward's:Heath, 220; Clayton, 2,200; and Patcham, 480. The prin- cipal shaft of the Clayton Tunnel is 270 feet below the surface of the earth.

A serious accident occurred on Friday, on the Great Western Rail- way, in the Box Tunnel. Forty or fifty men were employed in remov- ing ballast from the transoms ; and while they were at work, two trains met in the tunnel, so suddenly that two of the workmen, being unable to get out of the way in time, were knocked down. One of them re- ceived such severe injuries that he died in an hour afterwards. The other, though dreadfully lacerated, is expected to recover. From the evidence given at an inquest on the body of Burns, the man who died, it appears that it is an unusual circumstance for two trains to meet in the tunnel ; and it was in the confusion into which the men were thrown, and their frightened endeavours to reach a place of safety as each successive signal to clear the road was given, that the accident arose. The Jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death," with a deodand of Is. on the engine.