6 JANUARY 1855, Page 6

to Truuturro. The election for Sunderland has terminated in the

defeat of Mr. _Digby Seymour, the-new Recorder of Newcastle. The nomination took .place on Monday, the pulling on Tuesday. Mr. Dighy Seymour was proposed by Mr. Joshua Wilson, merchant, and seconded by Mr. Thomas Thompson, solicitor ; Mr. Henry Fenwick was proposed by Mr. Allison, brewer, and seconded-by Mr. Alcor*, the tthairman of the Shipowners:Society. 'The peculiarities of the contest were local, and to a great extent personal. Mr. Seymour seems to have displeased some by taking an office in the Newcastle Corporation; the Dissenters by his votes on the Maynooth and nunneries questions; the Shipowners, as they state, by his misrepresent- ation 'of-their views in Parliament. Mr.-Seymour declared that he stood as a Radical ; he was not dependent upon-the Newcastle Corporation ; he had not voted against the Maynooth grant in particular, but had voted against all religious endowments by 'theState. There was a great deal of noise, fighting, and confusion ; and Mr. Fenwick was scarcely heard. He admitted that he had come forward as the shipowners candidate. Mr. Seymour obtained a show of hands in his favour ; but the poll went against iim. Fenwick, 9.56; Seymour, 646.

At a meeting held in the 'League Rooms, Manchester, on Thursday morning,—Mr. George Wilson in the chair,—it was resolved "that a-soirée be given in honoiir of the Members for Manchester, to take place at the Corn Exchange on the 19th of January." The resolution was moved by Mr. Alexander Henry, seconded by Mr. George Hadfield M.P., and car- ried unanimously. In -addition to Mr. Milner Gibson and Mr. Bright, Mr. Cobden and the 'Members for Lancashire are to be invited. [For -what purpose ?]

Mr. Cardwell, the President of the Board of Trade, dined with .such of his -Oxford constituents as are Druids, at their annual festival on New- Year's Day. After dinner, he made a speech comparing the state of England on the first day of 1851 with that.of the first day of 1855. The main points were, that although war lies come upon the nation in the interval, yet trade is prosperous, and the revenue flourishing ; that the martial spirit of the people has not degenerated; and that British colo- nies continue to grow and prosper.

Sealiam, a risinglittle port in the North, possesses a Literary Institute, which `has been mainly built at the cost of the Marchioness cif London- derry. It was inaugurated on Wednesday : Earl Vane presided over the meeting, and Sir Archibald Alison spoke the inaugural address. Natu- rally, his first topic was the town of Seaham, and the patronage extended to its rising fortunes by the Londonderry family.; from this he branched off to the uses of the institution, and insisted en the necessity of educa- ting the working classes. -Strikes formed another topic ; in dealing with which he advised the operatives always to strike when the money-market is rising, and never when it is falling. The consideration of the National Debt led to a lamentation over the sacrifice of the Sinking-fund as it ex- isted in 1815, which if continued would have liquidated the National Debt in 1845; and so lie passed to the war. The ,most interesting pas- sage in this part of his speech was the following-

" How was it, again, that in this contest with this great power we had made so sudden a transition from the exultation of victory to the despond- ency of defeat ? That was to be found in the neglect of the experience of .former wars. They saw that a great deal of blame was sought by the public _journals to-be laid-on-this Minister and on that General. He stood there neither to vindicate one Minister nor another, nor one General nor another ; but he stood thereto point out to his fellow countrymen the errors and faults, he would almost say the national crimes, which had led to this war as a national punishment.' We had been all along unduly confident in our position, and had overlooked, during the long peace, all future preparation for war. The infatuation of the country in this respect had been such that when it came to be recorded in the pages of history, it would appear almost incredible. There had not been a single Minister since 1815 that had not come into power, or endeavoured to retain power, by perpetual reductions of the armyand navy. That had not been a matter of .party. Whigs, Tories, and Radicals, huddle same end in view, and among them they had done their best to render this great nation utterly powerless in the midst of its neighbours. . • . . . Really, in this matter there was but one mode of securing national in and a durable peace, and that washy tieing always prepared for war. During the forty years of peace we had been relaxing the sinews of war, and showing that we were wholly .uuprepared for any purpose of suc- cessful defence. We were the richest nation in the world, and the greatest in commerce; we were the object of envy to every state under the sun ;.and was it wise—was it not rather the height of madness—in a country like this to-go on reducing its.arniaments year after year, and so proclaiming to the world that we were in.no condition to fight in the-event of being menaced by aggression or hostility ? He must say., our existence as a nation at this tame might.almoet be ascribed wholly to Divine interposition, for.it had not

en preserved either by the wisdom of our statesmen or of our .people."

The Bishop ofEt.' David's has -announced to his -clergy that be intends o.dev.ote thesurplus of his income to the purposes of the .Church in -his

ocese. His -fixed stipend is 45001., hut .actually receives 55001.; eyond this there is now an accumulated surplus of 14,000/. The Bishop nsiders himself to be " bound in honourandlonesty" either to transmit his sum to the Ecclesiatical Commissioners orto expend it in his diocese. Ef he send it to the :Commissioners -they will spend it in England. Now he Church in England is rich, but in Wales it is poor. The Bishop herefore intends to expend the surplus in his very poor diocese in build- g parsonage-houses and increasing the stipends of clergymen who at resent receive -butlittle.: he will also, perhaps,:be.able to assist Brecon ollege.

A specimen of. official -"Mismanagement," resulting in great suffering, reported by the Times. The Himalaya steam-ship arrived at Ports- outh on Wednesday about two olelock p. m. ; and immediately began to • embark the wounded and invalids she had brought from •Zoustau- ople.

" The,crew of the Himalaya, and a few of the better able of the invalids emseives," says the report, "were the first to begin the work of landing e crippled:and their baggage. We saw no Admiralf3uperintendent of the kyard on duty, or any Major-General Commandant of the garrison, con- neatly much. delay, confusion, and pain-were unnecessarily occasioned; d what appeared more cruel than all the rest, the luggage of all landed ransacked on the open jetty, before.a single officer or man wasallowed leave for home or hospital. This was a disgraceful exhibition and

e as painfulto the low Customhouse officers who were compelled to, per- = the duty as it was to a bystander to witness. Surely the Government in wn ought to have provided for the baggage of-the .wounded being examined r passed in a different manner, or else have augmented the Portsmouth ustoms• staff to a degree proportionate to the .urgency of the case. Al- hough the place of landing these brave invalids was flanked on one side by the great and celebrated naval boapital.of Heeler, and by a newly.arected and most capacious military hospital in Portsmouth garrison on the ; d although the arrival .of the Himalaya had been known twenty-four urs at least, yet there were no ambulance conveyances at hand to receive them when the ship hauled alongside the dockyard to land her sickly troops nor were men at hand to render aid and support the sick without the am- bulances. Indeed the nature of the accommodation on the spot may be guesaed from the fact that a number of the comrades of such as ware wbolly or partially footless, legless, armless, or eyeless, helped from the ship to the _jetty their more crippled and more helpless fellow sufferers, where they -sat them down on their own baggage, a log of timber, or anything that afforded a seat, or on the damp deck of the jetty. Eventually, however, a representative of the Military Governorship of Portsmouth appeared. Lord Methuen, Colonel of the Royal Wilts Militia, with a fatigue-party of-about forty men of that regiment, gave them some assistance ; and, on the arrival of some eight or ten stretchers from the medical department at Portses., under the direction of Dr. Robinson, the worst of the wounded patients (patient, indeed, the poor fellows were under all these trials) were placed in them, and removed to sick-quarters. The Brigade-Major of Portsmouth garrison, Major Dalgetty, eventually arrived at the scene of confusion ; but at half-past three-very little had-been dene to facilitate the disembarkation of those who arrived in the port at two o'clock on Tuesday ; and we under- stood that not above fifty had been landed ; and but few others appeared likely to be landed last night, or until 'arrangements' (that's the official term) could be made. At the time this despatch left, however, (7.30 p. m.) we are glad to state all the wounded had been got out of the ship, and by means of omnibuses got away to sick-quarters."

There is now in full operation at Hythe, a school of musketry, whither small detachments of regiments are sent to learn Millie rifle practice. The course of instruction at the training school is confided to the di- rection of a lieutenant-colonel commandant, aided by two assistant in- structors; and comprises the theoretical as well as the practical. The practical is subdivided into two headings—drill and practice ; under the former of which are included the cleaning of arms, target drill, judging- distance drill, and the manufacture of cartridges ; while under the latter are comprised target practice and judging-distance practice. Great care is taken that the drill in judging-distance shall approach as nearly as pos- sible to actual practice in a campaign. The present regulation Minie will be succeeded by a lighter musket, of Enfield manufacture.

The Commissioners appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to inquire into the grounds of certain charges preferred by the Reverend Joseph Ditcher, Vicar of South Brent, against the Venerable George Anthony Denison, Arch- deacon of Taunton, for having in three sermons preaohed in the Cathedral of Wells taught doctrines oontrary to those of the Church of England reaped- iug the eucharist, met, on Wednesday,at Clevedon, Somersetshire, and opened proceedings. An objection to the jurisdiotion of the Commission was made by Dr. Phillimore on behalf of the Archdeacon, but overruled by the Commissioners ; and they overruled another objection also, to the instru- ments under which the Commission acted. The remainder of the proceed- ings on Wednesday consisted in proving that the Bishop of Bath and Wells is patron of the Archdeaconry of Taunton; that notices were properly served upon Mr. Denison; and that he preached and published the sermons in the diocese. The Commission then adjourned.

The records of crime and dupery can 'show few cases surpassing the fol- lowing. A Mrs. Morris, of Willen Hall, Barnet, was committed for trial last week, on a charge of forging her husband's acceptance to a bill for 1500/. How came she in that plight ? In 1811 she married the son of one of our chief London Printers' but his family soon obtained for him a di- vorce, from bed and board. In 1846 the woman married a stockbroker, Mr. Morris, of Willen Hall. In newly furnishing of his house, Mr. Morris em- ployed an Oxford Street firm ; who sent down their foreman, a Mr. Owen, to superintend the work. The bride successfully made love to the foreman, and they became most intimate. This went on-for some time prosperously : but one day Mrs. Morris sent a pressing request to Owen that he would sec -her, and the lover obeyed the summons. She asked him to lend ber money-; he declined ; she offered a bill for 15001., signed by her husband ; Owen agreed to discount this, and also aceepted the lady'a jewels as security.; giving 11001., and deducting 400/. for six months' interest ! When the bill became due, Mr. Morris declared his signature a forgery ; when the jewels mere examined they were found to be paste! Mrs. Morris had flown to Paris ; but she was followed and brought back.

Harriet Ardron, daughter of a small farmer, was the belle of the village of Thorpe Ilesley, near Rotherham ; she had many suitors; she finally chose Anstone, a moulder, and preparations were made for the weddiqg. One evening last week, she met in the street a rejected suitor—Daniel Hawks- worth, a miner. While they were conversing, -he loaded a gun ; when Harriet Ardron was-about to leave him, he said he would shoot her if she stirred ; he immediately fired, the charge of shot entered her side, and the died the next night. Hawksworth said, "I did it!" in answer to several persons who came up ; he assisted to carry the girl home, and made no effort to escape. His victim made no formal deposition before her death.

The street robbers have discovered a new method of dealing with their victims. On Tuesday evening an elderly man, named Simms, was walking up Livery Street, when be observed a man lying on the ground near the railway wall, apparently intoxicated. Simms raised the man, and at his own request led him towards the railway station. On their way the fellow accused his charitable conductor of having stolen his .watch; and two other men suddenly coming up insisted on taking him to the police-station. Simms became alarmed, and, to convince the accusers of his innocence al- lowed them to search is pockets ; an opportunity of which they readily ly availed themselves, and having secured about 148., the scoundrels knocked him down and decamped. Simms, who was considerably injured, was re- moved to-the Queen's Hospital—Birmingham Gazette.

The Tynemouth Magistrates have committed James Anderson, master and owner of the schooner Sir Howard Douglas, on a charge of scuttling his vessel with a view to defraud the underwriters.

Three keepers of 'Viscount Falmouth, at Beimpten in Berkshire, have suf- fered greatly in a night encounter with six poachers: the head 'keeper had his arm broken in two places. Two of the poachers have been taken.

Richard Ward, who had been a clerk in the Leicester Post-office for ten years, has been sent to prison for embezzling eightpence—he had affixed eight cancelled stamps to registered letters.

Mr. Oliver, the-great Liverpool shipowner, has at length been adjudicated a bankrupt ; some of the smaller creditors thinking' they would not be fairly treated under the proposed _plan of winding up the estate by trustees.

A Coroner'sjury have returned a verdict of "Manslaughter" against John Lawson, driver of a luggage-train which dashed into another train stop_ping at Walsall, causing the death of Stretton, a fireman. Lawson seems to have acted in a reckless manner.

A collisiqn attended with the lees of two lives occurred on the Eastern Counties Railway on Saturday-night. 'The mail-train from Norwich came -to a stand at Two-mile Bottom, about two miles and a half South of Thet- ford; the gib or cotter of one of the connecting-rods of the engine -had broken, and the driver told the.guard it would causes delay of three-quer-

ters of an hour. The stoppage occurred on a sharpe curve, near a cutting. A special cattle-train was known to be following the mail, but at a safe in- terval. Colman the guard of the mail ought to have gone back a good dis- tance, placed a number of fog-signals upon the rails, and exhibited his hand-lamp, to stop the cattle-train. But it is said he went back only 450 yards, placed only two fog-signals, and then exhibited his lamp. The cat- tle-train approached at a speed of thirty miles an hour: the driver declares that he attempted to stop his train as soon as the guard's lamp was visible ; but there was not time, and the train dashed into the mail. John Barton, the driver of the latter, was under the locomotive, endeavouring to repair it : he was killed instantly. Mr. Meager, an undertaker's assistant, was hurt internally, and died soon after. Three other persons were hurt, but not fatally : 'Mr. Ricicnall, an undertaker ; the Reverend Mr. Hepworth, of Botesdale—two ribs broken ; and Cornell, a guard—compound fracture of the leg. An empty hearse was smashed to pieces ; the damage to the trains was not extensive.

The inquest was begun on Tuesday. The driver of the cattle-train de- posed, that as he was descending an incline, and turning a curve, he saw the guard's light a little way off : it was then impossible to prevent a colli- sion. He heard no fog-signals explode.

A serious accident happened at the Leeds Central Station on Wednesday night. A train, belonging to the Great Northern Company, was pushed along a lofty viaduct preparatory to entering another line, when the hind- most vehicle—going first, however, as the engine was propelled backwards— got off the rails, and two others followed ; and one of these, a composite carriage, broke away, crushed the wooden rail of the parapet, and fell into a yard beneath. It was much broken by the fall. There were six passen- gers in it. Five seem to have escaped without very serious hurt ; but Mr. Robert Hall, Recorder of Doncaster, was taken out of the debris insensible : his right leg was fractured, and his collar-bone broken ; but he was thought not to be in immediate danger. Mr. Hall was proceeding to open the Don- caster Sessions ; in consequence of this disaster they have been adjourned. The people connected with the railway surmise that a cinder had got be- tween some points and forced the train from the rails.

On Monday night all traffic was stopped on portions of the Eastern Coun- ties line—between Yarmouth and Reedham, and between Reedham and Lowestoft—by floods, which in some places actually washed up the rails. The disaster arose from the sea damming up the mouths of rivers on the Norfolk coast.

An entirely new and very extensive factory is forthwith to be erected at Enfield for the manufacture in large quantities of the rifle-musket ; and the Board of Ordnance has now entered into the necessary contracts for the buildings and machinery. Messrs. Fairbairn, the well-known engineers of Manches- ter, have contracted to complete in six months the whole of the buildings, motive-power, and mill-shafting/ &c./ and other contractors will within the same period complete and fix the tools and machines used in the various pro- cesses of rifle-making. The engines are to be capable of exerting a force of upwards 200 horse-power ; and machines of the newest and most approved character will be employed in every department of the manufacture, so as to insure both perfect accuracy in the weapon and economy in the cost of its production. The extent of the contract with Messrs. Fairbairn is understood to be about 60,0001.—Times.