Cht Ibrunium.

The great and long-promised demonstration in the Free-trade Hall at Manchester was made on Tuesday. The hall was arranged to accommo- date, as nearly as possible, three thousand persons ; who sat at tables dis- posed in parallelograms over the body of the room, in the front and side galleries, and on a raised platform, where the guests and Vice-Presidents took their places. These tables were covered with pink and white drapery, forming alternate checks. The entertainment did not come pro- perly under the denomination of a " banquet "; as the bill of fare will show. It consisted of 4000 pies, 4800 meat sandwiches, 3000 fruit sand- wiches, 2000 raspberry and strawberry tarts, 1000 black currant tarts, 300 pounds of biscuits, eight hundredweight of grapes, four hundred- weight of raisins, half a hundredweight of almonds, three hundredweight of figs, 6000 pears and 6000 apples, and 213 dozens of wine.

Among the guests present, or who had accepted invitations and sent apologies for absence, were nearly one hundred and twenty Members of Parliament ; of these upwards of sixty attended. Among the Vice-Presi- dents were delegates from thirty-five towns ; and as the audience were admitted by ticket, it represented the pick of the industrial element of the North, from Manchester to Glasgow, the Irish Free-traders, and the out- lying manufacturing districts all over England. At half-past six, the cheers of the meeting saluted the entrance of Mr. George Wilson, the Chairman of the Anti-Corn-law League ; who was closely followed by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Milner Gibson, and Mr. Bright. When all were ranged in their places by the industrious young men who acted as stewards, the Reverend Mr. M'Kerrow performed a religious ser- vice, described as a " grace " partaking of the nature of a prayer. This being over, the guests disposed of their light fare in about half an hour ; then came the loyal toasts, and afterwards the real business of the evening. Mr. George Wilson proposed " The Free-trade Members of the House of Commons" ; uttering in his speech the watchword of the meeting.

He briefly adverted to the past history of the League ,- to its struggles and its success; carrying his hearers with him through the familiar phases of the agitation down to the Protectionist meeting of last year, when Lord Derby received the Drury Lane deputation, denied that he had changed his opinions, and told the farmers that he only waited to give the signal, "Up, Guards, and at them !" We were a little ruffied at this, said Mr. Wilson, but we consoled ourselves by thinking that two little facts had escaped Lord Derby's notice—that he was not the Duke of Wellington, nor were the Free- traders the French. (Cheers and laughter.) But when Protectionists ac- ceded to office, it was necessary to inform her Majesty's Government, that at the slightest appearance of danger to Free-trade, a demonstration should spontaneously burst forth surpassing all anticipation. Hence the recon- struction of the League. What they were now met for was, "to take care that this Question was brought to an immediate settlement one way or the other." (Great cheering.)

Having concluded his speech, and the toast having been drunk, Mr. Wilson called on Mr. Cobden to respond, "as the representative of the largest constituency in the kingdom." Mr. Cobden was greeted with continued and hearty hurrahs. He at once entered on the topic in hand ; glad to see that sentiment in the speech of the Chairman so loudly applauded where he said, that "what you expect from us [the Members of the House of Commons] is that we should bring this question of Free-trade or Protection to a speedy settle- ment."

That was the sole object the meeting could have in view. What they must ask was—" How it is that, when undoubtedly nineteen-twentieths of the population of these realms are in favour of Free-trade—when in all our commercial cities you cannot find a sane man who is for Protection—when, I verily believe, in the whole metropolis you could not find a score of indivi- duals outside of Bedlam who would commit themselves to Protection—when the whole agricultural labouring population are vehemently in favour of Free-trade—how is it that in such a state of things it can be necessary that we should meet here again to protest against a Protectionist Government ruling this country.? Why, gentlemen, the reason is this—and although I am as little apt. to infringe the rule of a Free-trade meeting by introducing extraneous topics as anybody—the truth is this, that our House of Commons is a packed House of Commons." (Loud cheers.) It is a House where in- tellect and wealth are so unduly represented, that ingenious jugglers can shuffle the cards and play their genie, and win the stakes, in spite of the opposition of nineteen-twentieths of the population. If all are true to their principles, "we may bring this question to a close, as we are bound to do, in my humble opinion, . before next Christmas." (Cheers.) He asked their opinion of a plan which ought to be followed by the Free-traders in Par- liament. "We want to make a Government declare its opinions." (Cheers and laughter.). We have had the election, the grace asked for by Lord Derby; there is a considerable majority in the House of Commons pledged to Free-trade : "all I stipulate for is, that when Parliament reassembles, we should know whether the Government be now Protectionist or Free-trade." " I propose, therefore, to follow out that view which seems so much in ac- cordance with your sentiment ; I propose that the Free-trade Members of the House of Commons should bring Lord Derby's Government to a declara-

tion of their • • ciples on this question. (Loud cheers.) Now, I say that • • ' • 4: • oh does not contain a distinct renunciation and recants-

!!"' V -t;• on the part of this Administration, then I think the Free- 4_4{) trade majority, if they are true to their principles—as I honestly hope and believe they are—are bound, either by an amendment to the Address, or by a substantive resolution in the House, to declare that no Government will have the confidence of the House of Commons which does not avow—mind, I say avow—its determination to adhere to the policy of Free-trade as it has hitherto been adopted, and to carry it out in every practicable way. I say the House of Commons should call upon the Government to avow its opin- ions; because I draw a very great distinction between a declaration of the Government, or the intimation—the mystical intimation—from the Govern. ment that they don't intend at present to interfere with Free-trade, and an avowal of the Government that they have changed their opinions, and they are honestly in favour of Free-trade. I say that, having nineteen-twentieths of the population of this country, and a large majority of the House of Com- mons, in favour of a certain policy, our constitutional system is a farce un- less you can have a Government in harmony with that majority. It is not enough to satisfy you, I sun sure, that those who have been the inveterate enemies of the principles which you have met here to support should be left in possession of the Executive power in this country, and free to damage the progress of those principles, or to prevent their extension, and if possible to bring back a return of Protectionist principles. That will not satisfy you, nor satisfy the country. But why I wish a determinate and specific course to be taken by the Free-traders, is this, that nothing short of that will ever settle the question in the agricultural districts." (Chmrs.)

The dark corners of the agricultural districts are the great home of the de- lusion of Protection. There, faith in the Ministry which talks one thing at the market-table and another in the London clubs still survives. Nearly every agricultural county has been carried in favour of Protectionist candi- dates, while " our ablest men among the agriculturalists," like Mr. Pusey- among our "Liberal aristocracy," like Lord Norreys—and " eminent men," like Mr. Cornwall Lewis—have been discarded for denying Protection. The political party who have crept into power on the faith of this delusion have encouraged these proceedings ; and it can only be put an end to by "carry- ing the theory to an immediate issue in the House of Commons,"—compel- ling Government to avow itself Free-trade, or to go, as it honestly must go, into opposition to advocate its principles. The agricultural districts have been kept in a state of suspended animation by the course pursued by the political landlords of the country. He had witnessed the effect of this long- continued delay upon the interests of agriculture. "You are prospering here," and if they are not prospering in the South of England, it is very much owing to the fact that those engaged in rural occupations have had their attention turned from their individual pursuits by the delusion prac- tised on them.

"But I sometimes hear it stated that you are short of labour in this part of the country. Now, having resided some time in a purely agricultural dis- trict of England, I venture to say, that the wages of agricultural labourers in the Southern counties—including Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucester- shire, Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and all the counties Southward, including Devon and borset—the wages of agricultural labourers, the heads of families, honest, industrious men, do not average nine shillings a week, and in Dorselshke and Devonshire many are working at seven shillings a week. They are bet- ter off than they were under the regime of Protection, when the price of the loaf was double what it is at present ; but they are not so well off as they ought to be ; and ' the reason why' is that there is not capital enough in the agricultural districts to give the people full employment. You cannot improve the condition of the labourers in the agricultural districts of Eng- land—and I want to see them improved there, rather than to see them com- pelled to come here for employment—more effectually than by investing capital in the cultivation of the soil, with-the view of affording them employ- ment: but if you want to deter the flow of capital to the land, you cannot do it more effectually than by keeping up those delusions under which the farmers of this country are looking to Mr. Disraeli and Lord Derby- for their safety, rather than to the increase of their capital and the application of skill and industry to the culture of the land.. In the interest of the agriculturists, therefore, I call upon the Free-traders in the House of Commons to bring this question to a decisive issue." (Cheers.)

Would that suit political parties? "I hold that we are are not to con- sult political parties in the settlement of 'this question." Do political par- ties want to procrastinate the question, that they may play a game of delu- sion in the hope of tripping each other up, and having Free-trade in reserve as a small and infinitesimal subject for party discussion ? If so, we can have nothing to do with any political party whatsoever. As to forming a Liberal party in the House of Commons, all people who look to them for the form- ation of a party to determine the policy of the country have a very insuf- ficient notion of what it is that constitutes the force of political movements in this country.

"Now I should not wonder if we should be met by some wise politicians with the question, what are you going to do if you turn out this Govern- ment—how will you make another? Well, I think that question is much easier of solution after the experience of the last six months than it was be- fore. (Laughter and cheers.) I don't think we shall ever be in any great difficulty in finding a Government, after the experience of the last Govern- ment. We have a Cabinet now, I believe, comprising a dozen very worthy and respectable men, but I venture to say that there are at least five hundri d men in the body of this hall who arequite as competent to fill the office of Cabinet Minister as those gentlemen. (Laughter.) It has been shown that it does not require that you should have ancestors who were Ministers before you ; it does not require that you should have been chin-deep in 'red tape' all your days ; it does not require that you should have a broad coat of arms, or even a crest; it does not matter what lineage or race you belong to ; there is no sort of embargo henceforth against anybody being a Cabinet Minister. (Cheers.) Therefore, the difficulty we used to be met with is very consider- ably lessened. But we started—the Free-traders started—by declaring that they had no political objects to serve. I confess I won't be chargeable with such transparent hypocrisy as to affect the modesty of not being able to be as good a Cabinet- Minister as some half-score gentlemen now in office." (Great cheering.) We are entitled to say, that whatever else the men may be " we must insist upon having a Free-trade Administration." If it be the men now in office, they must distinctly and emphatically repudiate all the doctrines they have been promulgating in their past lives on this great question. Re- pentance, even at the eleventh hour, should not be denied them ; but it must be emphatic.

"They must say that Free-trade does not lower wages; they must say that Free-trade does not cause a drain of gold from this country; they must say that Free-trade has not thrown land out of cultivation in this country ; they must say that the land of this country is still worth something ; and they must say that wheat, good wheat, has not been imported into this coun- try, and cannot be at twenty-four shillings a quarter. Those are a few of the things they must say, whereas they said the very opposite before." And there must be no accompaniment about " compensation." Individuals may have, but classes have not any right to compensation. And they must be pre pared to carry out Free-trade, and "not sneer at the 'Manchester School.'"

Sir William Clay spoke in reply to the toast which connected his name with " The Constituencies who have sent Free-trade Members to Parlia- ment."

Mr. John Bright responded to " The Anti-Corn-law League" ; and proposed the toast of " Free-trade."

At the farewell meeting of the League four years ago, one of the toasts was "the memory of the Anti-Corn-law League." Opp nents said it was the ghost of the League; but they were not the first y of people who have been driven from the field by a ghost. The spirit of the League is alive, and dares and defies any Cabinet to touch the sacred question of k'ree- trade.

He justified the reorganization of the League, by the fact that Lord Derby is in office. It is difficult to say how he got there. "I have heard of generals surrendering with whole armies at discretion. -I am not sure that the leader on our side of the House did not surrender without discretion. (Laughter.) Some say his staff was disorderly ; some say his troops mutinied. Some felt that they were almost as often led into the ranks of the foe as led against them. But, whatever be the reason, somehow or other Lord Derby came into office. We had Protection blasts ; and finally, Lord Palmerston offered himself as the great trumpeter, and the walls of the 1Whig Jericho fell at once to the ground."

He described the Ministers, and'recited their Protectionist sayings ; and thought the farmers would ask " what advantage it was to them that these talking Protectionists, orators when in opposition, should become dumb dogs that cannot bark when in power." "I certainly anticipate a great and most interesting breach of promise' case; and what with corn, and ships, and co- lonies, Mr. Disraeli will be the defendant against the claims of three fair ladies at once."

The Free-traders, as events have proved, had always been in the right. "But," said Mr. Bright in a bantering tone, " we are not statesmen : we are cotton-spinners, and manufacturers, and bleachers, and printers, and shopkeepers, and traders of all kinds, and professional men. We are not statesmen, and we have never pretended to be so. In this country there has been a great gulf fixed between all those inte- rested in industry and the paths of statesmanship ; and, though we were right fourteen years ago, and have been right on this question ever since— though three Cabinets have been wrong, and one of them has not yet put itself right—it is to be held that we are not statesmen ; and that those men only who could not see what was simply right on this great fundamental, all-absorbing question, are entitled to describe and to carry out the political policy of the nation. We have not hereditary brains. We are a Jacobin Club.' That you know on the authority of a gentleman who is a member of the Cabinet, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the leader at least of a minority of the House of Commons. Why, a man who calls us a Jacobin Club must think it is not consistent with loyalty to the Throne to declare that the people of this country shall not be starved. We'll teach him whether we are a Jacobin Club or not. (Prolonged cheering.) But we are the Democracy. Lord Derby says this; and he must be a high authority, for his blood for twelve generations has flowed at the high level of an earldom-. Yet not all the ancestors of the Stanleys ever did one-thousandth part so much to give comfort and tranquillity to this country as we the De- mocracy of the Anti-Corn-law League, have done." (Loud cheers.)

Mr. Brighes closing sentences were—" The patriotism of our day does not consist in the destruction of monarchies or the change of dynasties. Our fathers wrested the institution of an annual Parliament from unwilling and despotic monarchs : be it ours—and I speak to those who can do it if we will it—be it ours to wrest a real House of C,ommons from a haughty nobility, and to secure the lasting greatness of this nation on the broad foundations of a free Parliament and a free people." (Enthusiastic cheering.)

The other speakers were—Mr. Keogh, who created a sensation by dis- owning the doctrines of Mr. Lucas on religious persecution, Mr. H. F. Berkeley, Lord Goderich, Mr. Cheetham, and Mr. Milner Gibson.

Mr. Muntz the Member presided over a dinner given at Birmingham on Wednesday, to celebrate the coming into operation of the new Patent- law. Mr. Seholefield and Mr. Spooner were present.

There was a game-preserving riot at Keighley on Tuesday. Poachers had made free with the pheasants in the woods of Mr. W. B. Ferrand, of Harden Grange and had assaulted his gamekeeper. They were apprehended and held to bail. But when the keeper, Johnson, was leaving the court, he and his master were hooted and pelted by a mob. The persecuted men took re- fuge in a shop ; and the crowd grew so violent that the Riot Act was read : and failing in its effect, soldiers were sent for from Bradford. These soon restored order ; and captured some men and boys, who were held to bail.

Mrs. Mary White, an elderly widow who lived by herself in a little cot- tage at Milton, some ten miles from Plymouth, has been found murdered in her bed : by two blows on the neck with some sharp instrument the assassin had almost severed her head• from the body while she slept. Mrs. White kept a shop, and was reputed to have a good deal of money : the murderer carried this off. At present the officers are at fault in tracing the criminal.

At the second sitting, on Monday, of the Coroner's jury on the bodies of the Blackbands, who were murdered near Stafford, a surgeon described the cause of death—fracture of the skull. He supposed that the bodies had been exposed to the action of fire for three or four hours ; and other wit- nesses expressed a belief that the corpses had been burnt by having fuel piled upon them—probably hay, saturated with turpentine, pitch, or a simi- lar combustible : there was some hay partially burnt in the room.

Four men have been arrested on suspicion—two of them sons of the de- ceased.

A curious charge of assault has been brought before the Bristol Magistrates. Mrs. Shovelan accused the Reverend Mr. Cullen, a Boorish priest, with hav- ing kicked her while she was on her knees praying in his chapel. Mr. Cullen did not deny the charge ; but stated that he kicked the woman in contempt, not to hurt her. Mrs. Shovelan is a religious monomaniac : she believes that Mr. Cullen is the Holy Ghost, that she is quickened in spirit by him, and will bring forth a spiritual Saviour ; she annoys the priest by going to his chapel, though it is not in the district where she lives ; and her ambiguous expressions are calculated to injure Mr. Cullen's reputation: he once had to give her into the custody of the Police: on the present occasion, fearing she was about to renew her persecutions, he contemptuously kicked her, and forcibly thrust her from the chapel. The Magistrates did not in- flict any punishment on the priest, but declared that lie had exceeded his duty, and had "acted with much indecency." No one has a right to remove a person from a place of worship when no impropriety is committed : if the woman causes an annoyance, Mr. Cullen must complain to the proper au- thorities.

It having been ascertained that robberies of post-letters had taken place at Wells, a trap was set to detect the delinquent : two money-letters to ficti- tious personages were sent to Wells, and one was given for delivery to each of the two letter-carriers. One man returned the letter to the post-office, but not so soon as he ought to have done : he was dismissed the service. The other, John Allen, did not return his letter; and at his house were found two bank-notes which had been stolen from letters. He was com- mitted for trial.

Another " accident" by running an express-train into a goods-train ! The ten o'clock express-tram from Brighton on Monday morning, as it ap- proached the Redhill goods-station, near the Reigate junction, dashed into part of a goods-train which was in the very process of being shunted from a siding on to the up-line--that is, on to the line upon which it must have been known the express-train was approaching. The shock was great, though the speed of the express had been slackened as the train stops at Reigate junction. Some trucks were destroyed, and both engines were da- maged. There were twelve or fourteen passenger-carriages, full of people ; and very few escaped entirely unhurt. Cuts and bruises abounded, and a lady sustained a compound fracture of the leg. Fortunately, two medical men were in the train ; they were slightly hurt themselves, but they immediately rendered assistance to their fellow sufferers. Other surgeons having arrived from Reigate, splints and bandages were applied to the lady's leg, and she was conveyed back to Brighton without being removed from the carriage. The Earl of Chichester and Lord Foley were in the train ; the former was wounded on the head. The driver of the goods-train, the guard, and the pointsman, (Lambe, Clarke, and Brewer,) were taken into custody. On Tuesday, they were charged before the Reigate Magistrates with en- dangering the lives of passengers by their neglect. The evidence showed that the collision was produced by their acting contrary to the rules laid down for them. If either of the main lines at Redhill are obstructed, pro- minent danger-signals are ordered to be exhibited ; and these can be seen by approaching trains at a great distance. The driver, guard, and pointsman, ought to have taken care on Monday morning that the up-line was not in any way obstructed at a time when an express-train was due ; and if any unavoidable occupation of the rails had occurred, the danger-signals should have been exhibited. Three minutes before the collision, the station-master saw that the line was clear, and that the signals denoted it, and he then went into the station ; directly after, the engine and some trucks were moved out of a siding on to the up-line : all the prisoners should have looked to the signal, and seeing it denoted a clear line, they would have known that that was a prohibition against encumbering the up-rails. The following circulars were read.

" London, Brighton, and South-Coast Railway.

" Traffic-Manager's Office, Brighton, September 13.

"NOTICE TO STATION-MASTERS, SIGNALMEN, AND OTUERS.

" No engine or train must be put across the main line on any account until the distance signals have been pulled over to ' Danger '; and no engine or train must be crossed at any junction when an express-train is due, under any circumstances.

" I am, &c. GEORGE HAWKINS."

"Tragic-Manager's Office, Brighton, July 1852.

" Sir—I have seen with a great deal of pain in the public prints that several very serious accidents have lately occurred on different lines of railway.

" There are few of these accidents which might not have been prevented if com- mon care, forethought, and attention bad been used.

" I am still more sorry to say there have been several acts of carelessness on our own line, which might have led to serious results, and which would lose us the proud distinction of being one of the most carefully conducted lines in England. "Fellow-servants, let me entreat you not to forfeit your good name. Let increased care and attention show your determination to prevent these awful occurrences here. Above all, regard the main line as something sacred, never to be obstructed unless absolutely necessary, and then only after every precaution has been taken, and every signal rightly shown.

Engine-drivers, you know the dangerous points ; be watchful there, prompt, and ready to act with decision and energy if the signalman has done wrong. All of you remember, a moment's thoughtlessness may cause the loss of precious lives ; and that we can only retain our reputation by never-ceasing vigilance.

" Yours truly, GEORGE HAWKINS."

The driver's solicitor ascribed the accident to want of hands at the station : Lambe had been shunting. "innumerable" trucks for half an hour • the pointa were open, the pointsman signalled him to come on, and he did so. Clarke, the guard, declared that he gave no orders to move the train. The pointsman threw all the blame on the fact that the station was undermanned and supplied with insufficient sidings : had there been a man at the signal the disaster would not have happened. From the remarks of. Mr. Fresh- field, the Chairman, the Magistrates seemed to coincide with the driver and pointsman as to the insufficiency of the staff at the Redhill station ; but this did not affect the question as to the negligence of the accused, and they convicted all three; inflicting on each the highest punishment in their power—two months' imprisonment, with hard labour.

Thomas Clark, station-master at King's Norton on the Midland Railway, has been charged before two Magistrates at King's Heath with causing a collision. He allowed a goods-train to remain on the line when an express- train was due, and used defective signal-lamps : the express-train ran into the other, and there were disastrous consequences, though no loss of life. It appeared that Clark had altered the burners of the lamps, so that they gave hardly any light; and the driver of the express could not see them in time. But it also appeared that the goods-train was despatched from Birmingham two hours after its time, with a passenger-train to follow in half an hour; to allow this to pass, Clark put the goods-train on the other line but forgot to apprize the people in charge of it that the express was due. The Magis- trates said, there was no excuse for the defendant neglecting the signal- lamps ; but, in consideration of the undue responsibility thrown upon him by the company, by despatching the goods-train from Birmingham two hours after its customary time, and which was the main cause of the accident, they should mitigate the penalty below the suns to which he would otherwise be liable. They fined him 50a.

A poor old woman named Withers, very deaf and partially blind, has been killed at Burghfleld, on the Basingstoke and Reading branch railway : she had been struck down by a train while passing a level crossing. No one in the train knew of the accident ; her mangled body was discovered half an hour after, by a woman who lives near. Formerly there were gates at the crossing watched by a policeman; but both have been removed—for the sake of economy, it is said.

Early on Monday morning, there was another large slip of earth in the Spittal Gate cutting on the Great Northern Railway, covering both lines of rail, and requiring many hours for its clearance. In consequence of the former slip, and the late wet weather, men had been put on the watch, so that timely notice was obtained.

The gale last week which visited the Eastern coast was frightfully de- structive of life and property. A long list of vessels wrecked is published, the whole or the greater part of the crews of which were saved ; but the re- cord of losses in which the whole crews were drowned is hardly leas exten- sive—it is supposed that nearly a hundred mariners perished.

A disgraceful " wrecking " scene was enacted at Shields : the Marie Eli- zabeth, of Christiania, with a general cargo said to be worth 100,0001., went ashore, and soon began to break up ; while the brave pilots were risking their lives to save the crew, a lawless mob revelled in drunkenness—knock- ing in the heads of casks of wine and spirits that came to land, and drinking the liquor out of boots, sou'-westers, &c., and also plundering the bales and boxes washed up by the sea. Some of the wretches were carried away in carts to the workhouse, insensible; while others were arrested by the Po- lice, and have since been committed to prison. A most distressing accident occurred on Saturday last, in the Dean of Windsor's woods at Butleigh in Somersetsbire. A party of gentlemen were shooting with Mr. Neville ; among them were Mr. Hungerford Colston, of Lydford, and Mr. Tudway, of Wells. A woodcock had just fallen in a thicket ; and while these two gentlemen were searching for it, from some unknown cause, Mr. Tudway's gun went off, and lodged its contents in Mr. Colston's knee. He was carried home to Lydford with as little delay as possible ; and, upon examination, it was found that the bone had been so badly shattered that the three medical gentlemen who had been summoned decided unanimously that no time should be lost in taking off the leg. This operation was all but completed, when Mr. Colston sank under the exhaustion.