rbc Vrobinces.

Lord Morpeth has issued the following reply to the requisition from the electors of the West Riding of Yorkshire

" Gentlemen—I am deeply penetrated by the gratifying import of the invitation which has just been conveyed to me. More than one reason might have induced me not to resume a Parliamentry life at present; but if the electors of the West Riding shall determine to persevere in the prompt and generous movement they have made in my favour, _I cannot hesitate, in such a crisis of public affairs as the present, to put myself at their disposal. I appreciate the kindness of the suggestion for dispensing with a winter canvass, and I should feel it invidious to visit some of the polling-districts and omit others. I will, therefore, present my- self on the day of nomination at Wakefield, and there submit the issue to the de- cision of this great constituency. The inhabitants of the West Riding are already acquainted with the principles by which my public conduct, in and out of office, has been guided. I still adhere to them in all essential points: but if I am sent to the House of Commons at the present juncture, I should deem it the main ob- ject of my mission to insist upon an immediate and final repeal of the Corn-laws. " I have the honour to be, gentlemen, ORPICTIA.

Mr. Daniel Gasket], who formerly represented Wakefield, has been in- vited by the Free-traders of that borough to become a candidate when a vacancy shall occur; and he has consented.

Admissions of a singular kind for a " constitutional " Peer were made by the Marquis of Londonderry at the annual meeting of the Durham County Conservative Society, in Sunderland, on Tuesday. The Marquis presided; and complained that he had been "unjustly censured" for the defeat of Mr. Purvis at the last Durham election—

One seat in the representation of the city of Durham had always been filled in the interest of the Wynyard family; anti he felt it to be his duty to uphold the influence of his family by all means in his power: he was still convmeed that the course he had deemed it his duty to pursue on that occasion was right; and it was now evident, in keeping Mr. Purvis out, that he had taken the proper course to uphold the family influence in the city, which was identified with the true interests of the Conservative party. Mr. Purvis had now withdrawn all fur- ther pretensions to the representation of that city, and had shown that he could. mot be elected in opposition to the interests of the Wynyard family.

Having in this fashion disposed of the city, his Lordship turned to the county, and announced his arrangements—

He had always resolved that Lord Seaham should become a candidate for the Northern Division on the first occasion after he had attained his majority; and whenever a vacancy happened Lord Seaham would be prepared to redeem a pledge given some years ago, and often repeated. As regarded Mr. Liddell, that gentle- man had no claims on the representation paramount to those on which Lord Seaham rested for the suffrages of the electors. Mr. Liddell had only come for- ward at the last moment, backed by a subscription, without making any especial rsonal sacrifices; and it bad always been understood and implied that Lord ham would, when an occasion arrived, stand forward and uphold the Conser- vative influence in this division of the county. In pursuance of this determination, Lord Seaham would be a candidate at the next election, and would give every elector an opportunity of recording his vote; and so determined was he to maintain the position he had taken, that he would rather spend ten, fifteen, or twenty thou- sand pounds in a contest, than he would withdraw, after the pledges he had given and the hopes he had held out.

Free-trade meetings are scanty in number; and such as have been held. do not possess any distinguishing feature. Brighton, Lewes, Carnarvon, and Malmsbury, are the places.

•

Agricultural Protectionists, under the impulses of doubt and alarm as to the measure kept in reserve for them by Sir Robert Peel, have been hold- ing meetings during the week. The list includes the Warwickshire Pro tection Society, the Worcestershire, Devonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bed- fordshire, Sussex, (two meetings,) East Cumberland, Somersetahire, Berk- shire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, the Melton, and. the Banbury. In the majority of cases the resolutions adopted amount to n this—that agriculture cannot exist without " protection again4 the foreign competitor; that the existing protection is scarcely enough, but as it is in danger of being swept away it behoves the agricultural body to adopt measures for averting the rain which threatens them ; and that with this view, preparations be made for selecting, on all occasions, as represen- tatives in Parliament, those only who are known to be " true, uncompro- mising, and unflinching friends of protection." The proceedings present one prominent feature—the declared determination of the agricultural body to rely upon themselves for the future; not trusting to Ministerial professions; believing that Sir Robert Peel has already deeply injured them, and intends to complete his work with their utter ruin. The Hertfordshire meeting presents the solitary instance of a formal adherence to Sir Robert Peel and the " Conservative majority" of the House of Commons, on the principle that every man should be considered honest till he is proved to be a rogue. The League formed a subject of attack at all the meetings; the cry of "scarcity " received no belief or toleration; and Sir Robert Peel, where not actually denounced, was spoken of as a man to be feared rather than "trusted—in no case was he claimed as a friend.

The Sussex Protectionists commenced, at Lewes, on Tuesday, the first of a contemplated series of meetings. Mr. Richardson, a County Magis- trate, was called to the chair. Mr. John Ellman enforce:d a comprehensive resolution-

" That we therefore recommend every farmer, nay, every welt-wisher to his country, to come forward boldly and exert himself strenuously to return as Mem- bers to Parliament, those and those only who will speak out plainly, and not suffer one iota of our present protection to be taken from us, whether it he by Whig or Tory. That in so doing, we are convinced that we are not only preventing our own ruin, but also that of the millions of tradesmen, artisans, and labourers, en- tirely dependent for support on the agricultural interest of the empire." Carried, with applause; also the following, moved by Mr. I3urrell-

" That when we recollect that from 548. to 56s. was named by Sir Robert Peel as the price the farmers might look forward to under that law taking an average of years—and when we also remember the farmers have not received that price, and that even now, with reports of famine falsely and wickedly set abroad' to raise 'the price, the average of wheat is only 58s. 9d.—we cannot but express the opin- of this meeting, that if any part of that protection be taken away, the te- try of the country will be grossly deceived." t In connexion with this resolution Mr. Ellman remarked, that the aver- age of the six weeks when Sir Robert Peel proposed his bill was 61s. 10d.; whereas the average at the present moment was only 58s. 9d. The second meeting of the Sussex Protectionists was held at Chichester on Wednesday, at the Corn Exchange. The proceedings were unusually animated; a circumstance attributable in part to the presence of the Duke of Richmond and some others of the Lennox family, and also to the fact that the meeting were not on all points of the same mind, which caused some amusing Rallies and repartees. The Earl of March, as usual, was not able to attend; but he sent a letter instead—a lecture in favour of the Corn- laws. A solemn auto da fe closed the business of the day, the Times newspaper being the martyr. The Honourable and Reverend L. V. Harcourt, who presided, character- ized the proaeedings of the League as " unconstitutional, anti-national, and most injurious to the working classes." Mr. Pryme implored the meet- ing to be active, lest ruin should overtake them—

There never was a time that agiieulturists should bestir themselves more than at present; seeing that the head of the Whig party had declared himself in favour of free trade, and that the head of the party in power seemed disposed to follow that example. He believed that, unless the agriculturists were firm, they would be sacrificed in the next session of Parliament to the Anti-Corn-law League.

Captain Pilkington was intrusted with a resolution which pledged the meeting to return only such men to Parliament as were known to be the unflinching friends of agriculture. The Captain's enforcement of his pledge excited jocularity in some of his hearers— He was happy tosay that the popular clamour for free trade did not prevail in the county of Sussex, as it did in some of the manufacturing districts. The culti- vators of the soil—the British farmers—bad been denounced as wicked and un- christianlike and grasping monopolists. (A voice, "So they are!" Confusion.) They had been told that the landlords and farmers had been withholding from thepeople the food which Providence intended for them. (Cries of " True, true!" followed by cheers.) They were not monopolists. (A cry, " They aver and uproar.) The manufacturers who had amassed wealth, and the money- lenders, were the monopolists. The men who speculated in corn, and bought it up to sell at their own price, were monopolists; not the farmer, nor the land- owner. They were obliged to pay rent, poor-rates, and tithes. (A voice, "Take of the tithes, then." Hisses and cheers.) And they were often compelled to sell at any price they could get: they were no monopolists. Could they show him a farmer who had made his fortune? No. (Cries of "Thousands, thousands! ") No; he was an animal unknown. (Laughter and cheers.) Were there such a one, Dr. Buckland would soon be down andgeologize him; see what stratum he was made of, and send him up to the British Museum in a glass case. (Roars of laughter.) The farmer, too, paid more than the manufacturer. Who paid for their religion, and provided for the sick and poor ? The farmer and the land- owner. (A voice, Who keeps the farmer, "3 The farmer was subject to every vicissitude of weather, and when he spent his capital and labour could not foretell what return he was to have; whereas the manufacturer and the artisan could. Therefore the farmer should be protected. Would they like to see the farmer and his men. put to eat rye bread-and boiled beans, and live upon only fourpence a day ? (Cries of " Curry powder!" and much laughter.)

The resolution was duly carried; also another which directed petitions to be presented to both Houses of Parliament.

The Duke of Richmond was received with cheers, mingled with cries of "Salmon! salmon!" His introductory remarks were congratulatory in so far as the number and influence of the meeting were concerned; but tho same feeling did not exist when the state of things at the political fountain- head was considered-

" Gentlemen' it has been said by some that we ought not at the present mo- ment to move, because first we ought to wait till we hear what the plan of Sir Robert Peel is. My opinion upon that is, if we wait until then it will be too late: it will be like shutting the door after the steed is stolen. We know that Sir Robert Peel does intend to get rid of protection; whether gradually or not we know not, but we know that he is going to do it. And why do we know it? I must call your attention to the facts of this case. Some fortnight or three weeks ago, after Lord John Russell, the leader of the Whig party, proclaimed his anxiety to join the League, what does Sir Robert Peel do? Because one or two members of his Cabinet will not violate every pledge made upon the hustings, and every opinion expressed by them during their whole lives, he resigns his office. That office is to be filled up by. the Queen; who sends for Lord John Russell; who would have been• able to form a Cabinet had it not been for disagreement among some of his friends. Well, then, what did Sir Robert Peel do? Heave up the reins of government to the party who he knew would carry the immediate repeal of the Corn-laws. (Cheers, and cries of " No,nor) Well then, I would say, I wish rather that he had done it himself. ("Ay, so he will 1') Well, then, if a man can be guilty of such treachery, for Heaven's sake let him come forward and avow it. (" Hear, hear!" and cheers.) What was it that he wanted at that moment? The repeal of the Corn-laws. But he could not carry it; and therefore he threw up the government, that it might come into the hands of Lord

i John RusselL That is conduct, in my opinion, unworthy of a stateatnan." (Cries of " No, no!" and cheers.) The Duke next referred to a handbill which had been put into his hand as he was going to the hustings, signed " One of the Million," and which advised the labourers to sign a petition for free trade-

" In this handbill—("Read, read! ")—it is said, Sign for free trade: you will have more work, better pay, and better living.' Now, if you look at the countries where corn is cheap, they will show you what will come to you. In those coun- tries, as you have been told already, the labourers are worse off than labourers in any other part of the world; they are worse fed, clothed, and housed. Some time since, an Irish labourer came to London, and with his only sixpence went to pur- chase some eggs: the shopkeeper gave him four. Why, exclaimed lie, I could have a dozen for that money in the county of Mayo.' Then,' asked the shopman, ' why did you not stay there?' Why,' said the Irishman, ` because I could not get the sixpence to purchase the eggs with.' (Loud laughter, and cries of Thafsnew I where did he get the =pence then?") Now, you will observe, that is exactly what, in my humble opinion, will be the case of the labourers of Eng- land, and more particularly of the agricultural labourers." He entreated the agriculturists not to " compromise " the principle of protection- " I ask you not to compromise this great-question; because if we once seek to compromise it, we get rid of the principle altogether. I ask you also to re- member, that in the event of war with a foreign country, if we grow not nearly as much wheat as is necessary for the consumption of our own people, whether France, Germany, Russia, or Poland, will not be able to defeat us—not on the , plains of Blenheim and Waterloo, nor in the actions of Trafalgar and the Nile, but in the task of providing food for our people? Gentlemen, I can only tell you, that in pre, eating your petition, I shall be happy to express to her Majesty the deep value I entertain for the yeomanry and labourers of England, and to assure her of my deep sense that the public opinion is very different from the bought and popular clamour which has been excited in some of the manufacturing dis- tricts. Gentlemen, you as well as I have interests to protect and support. I ask you all to make a pull, a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether. And when, I ask, have the respectable inhabitants of this county made that pull in vain ?"

Lord William Lennox wished from his heart that the speeches just de- livered had been heard by some of the members of the League. Mr. Cob- den and others were very abusive of the landlords; but let them look at home, and consider the tortures they inflicted on helpless children ; and here Lord William revived the old stories of the Factory Committee. As to the Premier— He considered Sir Robert Peel had forfeited his word, and violated the pledge he gave when he went into power under the banners on which was inscribed "Pro- tection to Agriculture." In the words of the poet, " An open foe may prove a camel

But a pretended Mend Is worse. '

They had that in Sir Robert Peel; and the sooner they got rid of him, and those that supported him, the better. He was at a loss to know where Sir Robert Peel would take his seat in the House next session. The Radicals would have nothing to do with him. Cobden bad said at the Covent Garden Parliament, lately, that no man of respectability and know ought to speak to such a man. The Pre- mier's own friends were disgusted with him. He (Lord William Lennox) was in London during the Ministerial interregnum, and he could assure the meeting that a Conservative would be immediately recognized by the long face he pulled. " The greatest political scoundrel that ever existed" was a mild term to some that he heard applied to Sir Robert Peel. He thought they must have him on the floor of theHouse; and he recommended the agriculturists to send up an empty sack marked " English Agriculture," and tell Sir Robert to bolster him- self up with full sacks from foreign ports. In conclusion, he would read to the meeting some lines written by a late President of an Agricultural Society, Sir John Sinclair-

" Let this be held the farmer's creed : For stock, seek out the choicest breed, In peace and plenty let them feed ; Your lands sown with the choicest seed, Let It not dung nor dressing need ; Enclose and drain it with all speed ; And you will soon be rich indeed."

(Great laughter.) To those lines he had added a few others-

" Turn out Sir Robert with all speed ;

His Cabinet from tree trade weed ; Don't trust to him—a broken reed, Who's faithless both in word and deed: Protection seek ; and thus agreed, The farmers may be rich Indeed."

(Cheers and laughter.) A voice added— The worst of verses I ever zeed";

And another-

" And the worst of readers I over heard read."

The speeches having ended, three cheers, with an admixture of hisses, were given for the Duke of Richmond; but three rounds of groans were dealt out to Sir Robert Peel. Then came the burning. A newspaper bearing strips of paper, upon which were printed in large letters, " The Times," was paraded about, and cries of " Take it away!" "Down with it were heard from the hustings. " Complimentary cheers " are said to have proceeded from the crowd when the Leading Journal was recognized; but the parties bent on the burning persevered, and accomplished their ob- ject without molestation.

The Warwickshire Association assembled at Warwick on Monday. The Earl of Aylesford was in the chair; and two of the County Members, Mr. C. N. Newdegate and Lord Brooke, were present. Mr. Dugdale and Mr. Shirley, the other Members, were absent. Mr. Dugdale's detention was involuntary; but Mr. Shirley did not choose to attend, thinking it impolitic to take a part till Sir Robert Peel had submitted his propositions. This sentiment was received with marks of disapprobation.

The Earl of Aylesford opened the proceedings by adverting to the restoration of the Peel Ministry. He expressed himself at a loss to assign a reason for the previous break-up—

What had been the original cause of their dissension, and of the way in which those dissensions had been reconciled, they were utterly ignorant; and there would be no opportunity of explanation till the meeting of Parliament. But the effect upon the country had been a general apprehension that measures were entertained by the Cabinet for a reduction of the protection which British agri- culture at present enjoyed.

Lord Brooke, the new Member for the Southern Division, made his ddbdt; his election having taken place in his absence. He dilated on the terms on which he had been returned— They had not only done him the honour of returning him to Parliament, but they had returned him independent and unfettered. They had sent him to Par- liament to use his best endeavours for the benefit of the country; and if on the present occasion, he did not pledge himself at once both to measures and to men, it was because he postponed it to a future occasion, when he hoped to be able to answer to his constituents for his conduct in Parliament.

The agriculturists, he observed, were encompassed with enemies. There was the League with their money; and there was also Lord John Russell, who by a kind of second-sight, acquired, perhaps, during his residence in Scotland, had gone suddenly round from a fixed duty to free trade. But how did the question stand with the present Government? _ This, of course, was a difficult question, which nobody could decide at present, for no one knew what the present Government would propose. All they did know was, that they must stand prepared, come what might—that they must stand prepared to act. He trusted and hoped that Sir Robert Peel would be their friend. He was at the head of a powerful Government and a powerful party; and he trusted that Sir Robert would see the necessity of standing up for protection. He could hardly think that, with the example before his eyes so recently of the utter failure of Lord John Russell to form a Free-trade Government, he would propose those measures which were generally ascribed to him. But should he do so—which he trusted and believed he would not—he would meet the fate of his immediate predecessor. At the same time, they ought not to condemn him un- heard. They must wait with patience, but with firmness and caution, to hear what measures he meant to propound, and then act with boldness and decision. He begged to remind them, that Lord John Russell had acknowledged in his letter that the majority in the country was opposed to free trade. They were, there- fore, a strong party in themselves, and they were strong in the goodness of their cause; and would they be thrown down and overcome by a factious minority? They ought, however, to follow the advice of his Lordship on another point: he advised his friends, by their meetings, their resolutions, and their petitions, to give the Government an excuse for repealing the Corn-laws. Let the agricul- turists by the same means give the Government an excuse for holding to them. Lord Brooke concluded by moving a resolution disclaiming all ground to protection for the sake of exclusive advantages to agriculture, but on the ground of the national advantages it conferred. Carried without dissent.

The second resolution was then moved by Mr. Holbeche. It asserted, " that a diminution in agricultural protection would check the improve- ments that were now going on, and would prove injurious to the best inte- rests of the country generally."

Mr. Granville seconded the motion; and bespoke a fair hearing for Sir Robert Peel, doubtful as his position might be—

Every man was to be held innocent till he was proved guilty. He hoped this would be the case with their present Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, and that he would not further break his solemn pledge to protect the interests of agriculture. But Sir Robert Peel's resignation, and his making way for Lord John Russell's return to power fora short time—these circumstances made them feel uneasy; and no one knew what amount of confidence to place in the stability of the present Corn-law. It had been asked what were agriculturists to do under these circum- stances? His answer was, let them watch—let them unite firmly together; and should a dissolution of Parliament take place, let them return men who would not follow in the somewhat devious course of Sir Robert Peel, but who would compel him really to give protection to agriculture. The subsequent resolutions were submitted and disposed of in due form. We shall cull a few extracts from some of the speeches, as illustrating the hopes and fears of the meeting.

Mr. Graves denounced the League; accusing it of a desire to corrupt the constituencies, and of raising outcries for bad purposes— Among the boldest of the statements that had been so put forth, was the asser- tion that the harvest of this country was deficient. For himself, he never had better crops than this year; and he could state that lie had raised more good potatoes from the same quantity of ground last year than he had ever done before. He believed there never was a time when the cultivators of the soil were more in- clined to improvement; and if they were allowed a few years prosperity, they would add greatly to the productions of the soil. The question of scarcity was also adverted to by Mr. William Umbers: but he thought that potatoes were not the only diseased article in the market—

It had been said, and with some truth, that there was a potato disease in the country : but there was also another disease among them—a politician's disease; for he thought rotten politicians were nearly as numerous as rotten pota- toes. He thought as electors it was their duty to find a remedy for this disease; and if they could infuse a little more integrity or independence into them, they would be greatly more wholesome. There were, however, two exceptions, and among these he must place their own Members. Mr. Charles Lucy, speaking of probabilities, was not sure whether the agriculturists would not have been better off if they had had to contend with Lord John Russell.

He would quote the words which Sir Robert Peel had himself used in the House of Commons to Mr. Disraeli, with the alteration of only a single word— "Give me the bold, erect, and manly foe„

Whom I may meet, perchance return the blow : Oh, Heaven, of all the ills thy wrath can send,

Save me, oh save me, from a treacherous friend I "

He had only to say, further, that if they were but true to themselves, when a

tecneret election came, they would beat all the Lord John Russells in the kingdom. Cheers.) Mr. Newdegate had also his misgivings as to Sir Robert Peel— He confessed he thought there was danger that Sir Robert Peel would attempt to undermine their protective system. Sir Robert uttered last session a few words which Mr. Newdegate heard, and which he would never forget—that he doubted whether the doctrine of protection could be maintained upon the argument of re- taining this country independent of a foreign supply of corn. The man who could begin to doubt that doctrine was already more than half a Free-trader in his heart. (Loud cheers.) But he was not surprised that Sir Robert Peel doubted it. He had already, by his monetary system, rendered the country dependent upon foreign exchanges for the means of purchasing our food from each other; and it was but one step further to make us dependent upon foreign nations for the supply of that food itself. He believed, after attentively considering what had fallen from Sir Robert Peel and Sir James Graham—be confessed it did seem to him that they were making progress as Free-traders. The rupture in the Cabi- net, the throwing the Government into the hands of Lord John Russell just when that nobleman had announced himself as determined to carry ultra free trade—taking these facts and circumstances together let no man tell him that there was not cause for fear. He might be told that it was not fair to draw conclusions at present. But there was no good policy in restraining the expression of opinions which were formed on a sound basis. Sir Robert Peel was her Majesty's Minister— they were her it'aijesty's people; theirs was a representative government, and it was their duty to hieeir opinions represented. (Loud cheers.) And he told them that the time had con. 1, ‘thby meetings like the present, by the determination of their con- duct, by the open and unflinching avowal of their opinion, to show to her Majesty and Sir Robert Peel—when he spoke of her Majesty, he did it with the deepest respect, but she was the head of the state, and she acted through her Minister— to show the Minister your feelings—to show him that if he meant to go farther towards free trade he would be going against the feelings of the nation.

4n address to the Queen, petitions to both Houses of Parliament, and an " extra " subscription, were all agreed to.

The members of the Essex Society assembled at Colchester on Satur- day; and were addressed by Sir John Tyrell and Mr. Charles G. Round, the Members for the Northern Division of the county, with several others. Sir John Tyrell declared that he scarcely knew the position in which the agriculturists stood at the present moment—" Whether they were in the hands of a provisiotud government, or whether the Duke of Wellington had gone to Sir Robert Peel, or Sir Robert Peel to the Duke, no one knew." He was inclined to suspect, however, that all was not right, from the cir- cumstance that Lord Stanley, the friend of the Duke of Richmond, had retired from the Government. Mr. Round promised to oppose all attempts to alter the present sliding scale.

The Duke of Buckingham presided at the annual meeting of the Royal Bucks Agricultural Society, held at Aylesbury on Wednesday: Captain Fitzmaurice, M.P., and Mr. Clayton M.P., were present. The Duke con- fessed himself altogether in the dark as to the causes which led to the re- cent change of Ministry— lie had heard it ascribed to a difference of opinion on the subject of' the Corn- laws. It was rumoured that Sir Robert Peel had declared in favour of repeal, or at least of a large modification of the existing law; and under such circumstances, it became the imperative duty of the agriculturists to be watchful of their inte- rests. And by whom, he would ask, was the threatened blow to be struck? Why, by their own professed friends: the Whigs were consistent in the cause they had adopted; but not so the Conservatives, who had been placed in the ascendant by the agricultural voice. He could understand its coming from the Opposition, and could accord to them that they had honestly and fairly adhered to their prin- ciples; but if it be the case with Sir Robert Peel and his colleagues that they had agreed to become the instruments for a repeal of the Corn-laws, and thereby de- stroy the agricultural interest of the country, he was then prepared to say that they were acting in the very teeth of those by whom they had been supported, and whom they were bound to protect. These were his opinions; but he was desirous of waiting for confirmation until the meeting of Parliament, when they would be able to know what the real intentions of the Ministry were with refer- ence to this important question.

Captain Fitzmaurice reciprocated the opinion expressed by the Chair- man, that the agriculturists possessed the power of compelling the existing Administration to stand to its engagements. He moved a resolution im- plying suspicion of Ministers, and warning the agricultural body of their danger.

The Bedfordshire Society held its meeting on Saturday, at Bedford. The catechizing of Lord Afford and Mr. Astell, the County Members, was one of the objects; and both gentlemen were present. In the introductory speeches, reflections of the usual kind were heaped on Sir Robert Peel,— Major Gilpin asserting that the Premier had inflicted " a heavier blow " on agriculture than any which had been given by the League; and the League itself was described by the Chairman as " an association the most powerful ever known either in or out of Parliament." The assurances tendered by Lord Alford and his colleague were not bold enough for the excited agri- culturists. Lord Alford declined to say whether he would support Sir Robert Peel, or not, in his apprehended policy; declaring that " he would not consent to go into the House of Commons bound to a certain course." He endeavoured to comfort the meeting by a figure drawn from two rail-. way trains, the one in chase of the other, and Sir Robert Peel the driver of the first— Sir Robert Peel was not justified in the precise course he took: but they were in the position of people who engaged to go by a train at thirty miles an hour, and the man puts on the steam and takes them at the rate of one hundred; but, however angry they might be, they would admit be was the only person to take them in safety; and his excuse would be, that there was another train coming after them at the rate of one hundred and fifty miles an hour, and, by Jove, that was the only plan of getting out of the way. (Great confusion.) Still, be ad- mitted that Sir Robert Peel had no right to make children of them, as he had done.

Mr. Astell seems to have been heard in silence. He assured the meeting that he was still a Protectionist, but he did not say whether he would ad- here to. Sir Robert Peel or abandon him.

The Hertfordshire Society met at St. Albans on Wednesday. Three Peers were present,—the Marquis of Salisbury, the Earl of Essex, and Lord Deere: the chair was assigned to the first. The Marquis declared his inability to clear up the -mystery which surrounded the Ministerial position. He could not account for the recent changes on the ground that necessity existed for a repeal of the Corn-laws- " There was no fear of scarcity; prices were moderate; and there was no want of employment. Looking at these things, he must say, that if Sir Robert Peel had so far forgotten himself as to resolve on a repeal of the Corn-laws, he could only attribute the change to fear. With regard to the League, he would not stop to pass an opinion as to whether or not it should have been put down long ago by the strong arm of the law; but, for himself, he should be most willing to sup- port aoy petition to Parliament, or remonstrance to the Government, against the continuance of the atrocious practices of that body:'

The Earl of Essex adverted also to the Ministerial position. He could not allow himself to think that Sir Robert Peel intended to commit the deed imputed to him; and he thought that the abuse and censure heaped upon him could only have been justified by the certain knowledge that Sir Robert meant to repeal the Corn-laws—not merely that he intended to modify them; in a word, that Sir Robert Peel was to adopt the policy of Lord John Russell. Now, he could not believe that Sir Robert had any such intention; and he did not think it would be proper. or politic to take any strong measures against his Administration on the supposition that he meant to propose repeal. At the same time, he must say that the agri- culturists were in the condition of children, who, if not much burnt, were much scorched. The Earl touched upon a practical question of some importance—

I allude to a measure brought in last session for the introduction, duty free, of Indian corn, lentils, and linseed. No one will accuse me of being a Free-trader, but I believe no measure would be so beneficial to agriculture as the abolition of the present duties on the articles I have named. If such a change was effected, instead of seeing in your county but a few cows and heifers in the shape of horned cattle, an abundant supply might be furnished to our markets. If the farmers of Norfolk and Lincoln can furnish a large quantity of horned cattle at the present ruinous prices of the food on which they must be fatted, how im- mensely their condition must be improved when they have only to pay a half or a third of the present price for the products I have spoken of. It is an undeniable fact, that the amount of stock imported has been quintupled since the passing of

the Tariff. The importation of of i sheep has risen from 108 to 18,000; and yet we all know the price meat in London is from 8d. to is. a pound. This is taproot that we do not raise at present a sufficient quantity to meet the demand." Lord Essex concluded by moving a resolution essentially different from those adopted at other meetings: it was— "That the accessionj a new Administration to office since the notice of this meeting makes it adviMle to abstain from proposing any specific resolutions as to the rights of agriculture, until some further indication is given of the measures supposed to be contemplated by the Government."

This was carried without dissent.

Lord Dacre moved the next resolution: it expressed implicit and un- abated confidence in the justice of Parliament; deprecating at the same time the designs of the Leaone. Lord Dacre entered at some length into an exposition of the theory upon which the Corn-laws were established: he disliked the word "protection," as not conveying the right idea. He summed up his argument thus—" I want, then, in short, no other protec- tion than taxation general, free application of capital, free disposition of its produce, and free trade in manufactured articles." As to the League, Lord Deere was anxious to stir up resistance to its designs- " If I could induce you to combine when others conspire against the freedom of election and independence of Parliament, I should not fear the result of the dis- cussion of protection to agriculture in the House of Commons: but when I wit- ness the terrific intimidation of the great moneyed power, and the tremendous engine which these men have put in motion for assimilating this county to the state of some in the North, I feel called on by the attachment of old ties to sti- mulate you to exertion, while I express my indignation at the detestable tyranny attempted to be imposed on you."

The resolution was carried; also another which conveyed a request to the County Members to support the views of the meeting in Parliament.

The Members of the Northamptonshire Society gave expression to their opinions at a dinner which took place at Northampton on Tuesday. Mr. Manning, of Harpole, was in the chair; supported by Lord Southampton, Sir Charles Knightley, M.P., Mr. T. P. Maunsell, M.P., and Mr. A. S. O'Brien, M.P. Many speeches were delivered, similar in sentiments to those uttered at other Protection meetings; though the delivery may per- haps have been more intense, from the convivial appliances.

Lord Southampton had occasion to return thanks for a toast; and be ex- pressed his regret that he, who was the smallest landed proprietor among the noblemen in the county, should be the only one present— The assemblage, however, of such a numerous and respectable body of the tenantry was, in his mind, a satisfactory answer to a letter which he saw lately in the Globe, written by Mr. Vernon Smith to a Radical barber in Northampton— (Great laughter)—who had called upon the Member for the borough to attend an Anti-Corn-law League dinner. Lord Southampton characterized the League as the "greatest rogues in existence"; recommended the meeting to fortify them- selves by reading a certain speech by the late Mr. Canning; and adverted to the potato-disease, and several other things bearing on the food question. He would not allow his Members to go and do as they did last time; for he knew that in London, when he talked to many of them on:these subjects, they said Oh, but, if we turn out Peel, who is to come in ?" Never mind that. Peel, when in Opposition, was a much greater and more powerful man than he had ever been at the head of the Government, when nobody knew in what way he was going to act. He had always heard Peel say in the House of Commons, "I shall do this or I shall do that,' as if he had been at the head of the Government; but now, when he was there, he was afraid of speaking that way. He was afraid a great many representatives of the farmers of England were exceedingly doubtful. He for one would elect persons who would not stand any nonsense, and who would put out Peel as soon as they would Russell.

The East Cumberland Society met at Carlisle on Saturday; Sir George Musgrave in the chair. The speakers abstained from any direct allusion to the Ministry; confining their strictures to the actings of the League, and asserting that the Corn-laws were working well for all classes, and that the cry of scarcity was factious and unfounded.

At the Nottinghamshire meeting, which took place at Newark on Wed- nesday, letters from Lord Lincoln (Member for the Southern Division of the County) and Mr. W. E. Gladstone (Member for Newark), accounting for their absence, were read. Lord Lincoln said- " If I now stood in the position of an independent Member of Parliament, un- fettered by the ties of official duty, I should have been not only willing, but anxious either to attend the meeting, (though not a member of the Association,) or to give such explanations by letter of my views upon the subject, which will no doubt be brought under discussion, as my constituents would under such circumstances have had a right to expect. As a Minister of the Crown, I am precluded by a sense of public duty from taking either of these courses."

Mr. Gladstone-

" Business, independently of other difficulties, will, I fear, prevent my comply- ing with the invitation to the meeting at Newark." " I trust, however, that m whatever situation I may be placed, 1 shall always be desirous to secure for agri- culture everything that upon a just view of the general interests it can claim, and to see those who are connected with it exercise a powerful influence upon and as a part of the community."

Other excuses were received. Lord John Manners, Mr. Gladstone's col.. league in the representation of Newark, declined to accept an invitation to the meeting, on the ground that he is not and never was a member of the Society. Mr. Knight assigns bad health in excuse. The Duke of Portland writes thus-

Welbeck, Dec. 28, 1845.

" Sir—I have received your letter. If I find that the Agricultural Protection Society propose to adopt efficacious measures for their protection, I shall be quite ready to assist them; but not otherwise; for I cannot encourage the delusion that, except by fighting the Corn-law League with the same weapons, they will do the smallest good.

"I am, Sir, your obedient servant, SCOTT PORTLAND."

The Protectionists of Bury St. Edmund's arranged for "a public meet- ing of the inhabitants," to be held on Friday week; but they were out- numbered and outvoted by the Free-traders who assembled on the occasion. A resolution deprecating any alteration of the Corn-law was moved on the one side; and an amendment, assigning many evils to the existence of that law, was put forth on the other. The majority in favour of the amend- ment was in the ratio of 20 to 1.

It is now definitively arranged that the colliers and miners of Cyfarthfa are to have an advance in their wages of ten per cent. The operatives of Dawlais, Pendawan, and Plymouth, will be advanced at the same rate.—lifonmoutla Merlin.

Not long since, an order for forty thousand stand of arms was received in Bir- mingham from Government; in consequence of which, and other orders of a simi- lar character, the gum-trade is in a state of high prosperity. Most of the guns ordered, it is said, are to be put in store at the barracks at Weed=

Yarham, the man who turned Queen's evidence with respect to the murder of an old woman at Yarmouth, has been arrested in Gloucestershire' on suspicion of having been the actual murderer. A Mrs. Dick had declared, that, after the three men whom Yarham tried in vain to convict had been acquitted, he confessed to her that he was the real criminal. He has been privately examined before the Yarmouth Magistrates.

The inquest on the bodies of the two men who were killed last week on the Norfolk Railway commenced, at Thetford, on Friday. Johnson, a plate-layer, stated, that at the time of the accident the train was proceeding very fast—pro-

bably a mile a minute. He had inspected the rails at that place in the morning, and at that time no defect was apparent. Mr. George Parker Bidder, the engi- neer to the line, was examined. rhe disaster occurred on an "incline" of 1 in

100. This was his surmise as to the cause of it—" It is clear to me or to any other practical man, from the state of the engine, the condition of the rails, the length the engine travelled from the rails, its turning twice over after tearing up and twisting the rails, that the engine-man shut the steam off suddenly. The steam-regulator indicates that he did so. The effect of suddenly shutting off the steam is, that the engine retards the velocity too much at once, and causes the carriages to rush violently on the engine. Where this takes place at a particular point of vibration, it will depress the after-part of the engine, and throw it on one side, while the carriages would be thrown upon the other. I therefore consider the immediate cause of the accident to be the great velocity and the sudden shutting off of the steam. From the inquiries I have made of several persons, I find than was a cause why the steam was thus suddenly shut off. There was not much depth of bank where the accident happened, only six feet: this portion is liable to very little subsidence: further on, the bank is sixteen feet high: previous to the accident, workmen were employed making a lift' on the line, to cure a subsidence that had taken place: they had been making a larger lift than usual, and they had placed 11green flag as a signal for the trains to pass over that portion of the line at a moderate velocity. Before coming to it, the driver ought

gradually to have reduced the steam. The probability. is, however, that the driver may have run down the same incline a thousand times with the same ve- locity and not met with any accident. There must have been an uncommon concurrence of unfavourable circumstances to have caused the accident. I should have no objection to travel tomorrow over that portion of the line at the rate of sixty miles per hour, with the steam suddenly shut off." The train was behind time.

The guards of the train not having sufficiently recovered to attend, the inquiry was adjourned.

It was resumed on Tuesday. The evidence as to the speed of the train was very contradictory. Some eye-witnesses thought it was going at the* usual rate;

others that it was greatly accelerated. The accident was ascribed by several persons to a different cause from that surmised by Mr. Bidder: their testimony pointed to some explosion in the engine which forced it off the rail. A farm- bailiff noticed that a great quantity of fire was falling from the furnace; then

came a volley of steam, and the engine " jumped ". a man on the engine ex- tended his arm as if moving something, and then leaped ofE Both the guards of

the train declared that it was only going at the usual rate, thirty-five miles an hour, or a little above it—that is about forty. Coldman, one of the men, felt the engine jumping, and then be saw the engine-driver shut off the steam; but till that time it had not been interfered with. A vast volume of steam arose at the moment the engine jumped—witness believed, from some rupture of the boiler. The inquest was again adjourned. General Pasley, the Government Inspector-General of Railways; instituted an inquiry into the cause of the accident on Wednesday. He viewed the spot where it occurred, and examined the engine, which had been partially taken to pieces to see if there had been any rupture: nothing could be discovered calculajed to force the engine off the rail; no tube or rod or axle was found to have been injured. General Pasley did not question the guards of the train. As usual, " he gave no opinion as to the cause of the accident "; and it is mentioned as a matter of com- plaint that the railway companies are never put in possession of his full report on the causes of disasters, but merely receive occasional hints for improvement.

A labourer on the South-eastern Railway has been killed at the Ashford station; the engine of a coke-train having knocked him down while he was busy moving a "lorry ": the engine-driver used every effort to make him aware of his danger and avoid it, but in vain.

A railway labourer has been cut in two by an express-train on the Brighton Railway, near Tinsley Green. The man had been drinking; and in attempting to cross the line at night, with a companion, he was knocked down by the engine; the other narrowly escaping a similar fate.

It has now been ascertained that the bursting of the tank on the works of the Harrington Water Company, at Liverpool, destroyed five lives; eight persons were grievously wounded; and a good deal of house property was ruined or damaged. A Coroner's Jury have returned a verdict of " Accidental Death."

Abberley Hall, near Worcester, a handsome Italian villa the property of Mrs. Moillett, was totally, destroyed by fire on Christmas-day. A party of friends had as- sembled, and their festivity was painfully broken by the alarm of fire. The only water which could be obtained was that from a pond a quarter of a mile off; and though every effort which the circumstances permitted was made to save the building, the flames soon gained the ascendant, and baffled the attempts to subdue them.