Ebe tirobintes.
A grand dinner got up at Lynn for Lord George Bentinok "came off" on Tuesday. It took place in the market-house, as no other building was large enough to contain the company; nearly eight hundred being present. The Earl of Orford, High-Steward of the town, officiated as chairman; having on the right Lord George Bentinck; and being supported by the Marquis of Granby, M.P., Major Beresford, M.P., the Reverend J. Bowen, the Duke of Rich- mond, Lord Sondes, Mr. Disraeli, M.P., Mr. William Miles, M.P., and Sir H. Berney. The Vice-Chairman, Mr. J. Cobon, was supported by Mr. Bagge, M.P., Sir John Tyrell, M.P., Mr. George Hudson, M.P., Mr. Wode- house, M.P., and Mr. Sergeant Byles.
Although the tickets were 20s. each, the dinner was entirely cold, with the exception of soup supplied to the two principal tables. The Morning Post, though not given to fault-finding in matters that involve the good management and forethought of the Protectionists, complains of the in- sufficient manner in which the place was fitted up. "The seats in parti- cular were of the slightest construction, and several of them gave way be- fore the dinner commenced; while, towards the close, one, on which several ladies were standing, broke down, and precipitated the whole party to the ground; fortunately, however, without inflicting any serious injury.' The Chairman introduced the toast of the day with a reference to the implicit reliance which the Protectionists placed in Sir Robert Peel; to the treachery of which they had been the victims; the services rendered by Mr. Disraeli at she commencement of the conflict; the appearance of Lord George Bentinck on the stage; his being chosen by 240 Members of Par- liament as their leader, after proving beyond question his devotion to the cause of Protection, and his possession of high ability, untiring activity, energetic perseverance, and undaunted courage: the Chairman expressed a hope that Lord George may one day hold the Vghest office in the state! Lord George Bentinck made a long speech in reply; essentially a col- lection of the facts and arguments which had done duty over and over again during the Corn-law debates in the House of Commons— In the course of the ponderous oration, he declared that Mr. Disraeli's powerful eloquence, unequalled in the present House of Commons, had done far more than anything be had done to defeat the Minister that has betrayed them ! Lord George deploringiy announced that wheat had fallen from 40s., 50s., and 70s., the prices at the time of the late "highest prosperity," to 56s. and 28a. now. He announced that the great end of the party, which owns Lord Stanley for its leader, is to recover the protection they have lost, but failing that, to seek com- pensation for the peculiar burdens they bear. It is only for the Protectionists to prove that if Sir Robert Peel is fickle Meg are constant; and the day could not be long distant when they mast recover that which they have lost. But to do this, they must follow the example of South Nottinghamshire, of Gloucestershire, and Dorsetshire. The tenant-farmers must do the work; they must not trust to their landlords. It was not the landlords of South Notts, but the tenant-farmers and freeholders, that carried the day. The farmers of England pay tithe, which manufacturers do not; and they are at the least entitled to protection against the *nailed produce of foreigners. He had been accused of using rude, coarse, and violent language, and of using such licence as never before was heard within the walls of Parliament or had dis- graced its dignity. "Ii .he first instance, I was mused to vengeance by the way in which I saw the whole agricultural constituencies of the empire betrayed. If anything could have justified a man in rising in rebellion, it would have been the conduct of the late Prime Minister of England. If I used strong language—a licence that had never before been suffered in the House of Commons, it was be- cause neither in my own time nor in the time of living men had there ever been an act of such prodigious tergiversation, of such treachery, of such political pro- fligacy, as was committed by the Government of Sir Robert Peel." As long as there is spirit in Englishmen I will defend them. I will rise in indignation against such conduct as that. It has given me a tongue, that for eighteen years was silent in the House of Commons; and if I am to be told that I have used a licence that has disgusted the country, I answer, that I believe that if I spoke from my own heart, I spoke the language of the hearts of the nation." This is the present position ot affairs now. "I am blamed by many of my friends that I have turned Sir Robert Peel out of power. (Loud cries of "No!" and cheers.) Now, I avowed from the first, that if free trade was to prevail, it ought to be carried by honest men. (Great cheering.) We were told that this measure was to be carried, partly, I am sorry to think, by the assistance of one to whom this country must ever owe a debt of gratitude; I mean the Duke of Wallington. I believe it was carried in a great. measure through his means; who teld the Peers of Englead that it was to save the Queen of England from the government of Cobden that they must consent to vote against their consciences. Now, I say, for one, that Iliad rather be governed be Cobden than by Sir Robert Peal. 1Ve ask for an open and an honest foe and we find no difficulty in repel- hug his hoatifity ; but we were betrayed by Judas professing regard for the poor. (Loud cheers.) I therefore call on you to exert yourselves now and show that you have still courage and manliness, and that- you still have thesspirit that ever distinguished Englishmen, and that you will not be made a base utensil to serve- the dirty purposes of every trading politician." The Duke of Richmond echoed the Chairman's eulogy on Lord George Bentinck, his unremitting zeal, his untiring activity, his splendid talents, and his expression of those highly honourable feelings without which party politics and the House of Lords itself axe all worthless-
" My noble friend said he had been very much attacked for using strong lan- e. I am not one of those who can abuse him for that; because I generally speak as I feel, and I say that after that conduct of Sir Robert Peel—I speak of his public conduct—I know of no expression in the English language that can strongly enough mark my horror of it"
He knew that there were some faint-hearted men who say, " What is the use of prolonging the contest? You must be beaten at last." The truth of this he denied. He denied also that the great mass of the operatives in England areln favour of free trade. It appeared to him that in the hands of the Protectionists the future weal or wo of this great empire is placed.
Mr. Disraeli was put in requisition-for a speech— Whatever may be the consequences of the change which has taken place, this he would say, that it had been conceived in panic and consummated in treachery,. To such as maintain that the Protectionists ought not to have so strongly opposed a Ministry they had before supported, his answer was, if you ask a man to dine with you, and detect him stealing silver -spoons, it is no breach of hospitality to show him to the door.
Although he had assisted in punishing the late Ministers, he did not wish it to be supposed that he was inclined to support the policy of their successors. " The difference between the sentiments of Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel is not. so great in principle, but it is vastly significant in expression. I should say, with- out any exception, the most guarded-Free-trader I ever became acquainted with is Lord John Russell: but I pretend not to prophesy, because if we are tojudge by what he has done he is ready for everything. (Laughter.) But we must distin- guish between the mature conviction of Lord John Russell and that puerile fana- ticism which marked the late Prime Minister of England. I do not wish our policy to be misconstrued if we do not go into a mechanically violent opposition against the present Government. It was sufficient to show to the people of this country that we had all done our duty under an exigency so remarkable. What we wished the people of England to see was this—that although our chiefs had forgotten us, we remembeeed our constituents; and all that we see in the present Government is but a further reflex of the last, as the last was but an exaggerated copy of the gentlemen of Manchester. No sooner was Lord John Russell Prime Minister of England than he repeated the tale of Sir Robert Peel. He told you that the principle upon which he was going to conduct the Government of England with respect to its commercial policy was the principle of buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest. That was the principle of Mr. Cobden; who stole it from Mr. Deacon Hume. From Mr. Cobden it came to Sir Robert Peel; and it now becomes the principle of Lord John Russell, as it was the principle of Mr. Cobden and Sir Robert Peel. You remember in the Arabian .Nights, that a hunchback swallowed a fish-bone that stuck in his throat, and he became appa- rently dead. He was then recommended to be thrown down a chimney to remove the bone. It was done, but without effect; and he was then thrown down one chimney after another, until he had gone through the street. (Great laughter.) Still it was all of no use—he remained in the same condition. At rids moment Lord John Russell has the hunchback in his possession. (Laughter.) Whether he will extract the fish-bone from his throat or not, I don't know; but I am cer- tain of this, that all those gentlemen who are so devoted to this principle are too ready, when once they have served their turn, to wash their hands of all respon- sibility. That principle, I believe, made a clerk in the Customs a Secretary of the Treasurry. It made Mr. Cobden the head of a great agitation movement It kept Sir Robert Peel in power when he did not know how otherwise he might govern the country; and now, notwithstanding Lord John Russell's letter, it bs made him Prime Minister. The question is, having got the hunchback, how will he get rid of him?" Mr. Disraeli denied that it is the principle of commerce "to buy in the cheap- est and to sell in the dearest market:" "It is the principle of trade, it is the prin- ciple of retail trade, but it is not the principle of commerce; and, like all alleged principles which are false, I will show you it cannot be practised. The real prin- ciple of commerce is barter, an interchange on egual terms of equivalent advan- tages. Why, some years back, this was a favourite theme of the political econo- mists. It was received and hailed as an axiom. Iacceptit as such. Itis utterly antagonistic to the new, the pseudo principle of commerce, now so much vaunted? "Why is Lord John Russell Prime Minister at this present moment? He comes forward and tells you, the reason is that he is seeking to maintain a policy which is to allow England to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest. Ask Sir Robert Peel the reason for his conduct, and he will refer_you to that apothegm. AskMr. Cobden, and he will also refer you to that axiom. No one can deny this, that it is a most unprecedented state of affairs. There is something mystical, something cabalistical in that sentence, to have produced such a change. Where is the great agricultural interest which is the basis of the polity of England, and hail been for centuries? I cannot believe that this nation—and when I say this na- tion, I mean all classes, with their primary intelligence—will be governed by words—will be degraded to a mere distinction between hocus and pocus. Will the blood of men and the spirit of a free countryresult in such an ignominious and mystical catastrophe?"
The subsequent speeches were not remarkable; bitterness against Sir Robert Peel being their common characteristic.
'The Nottingham and Lincoln Railway was opened on Monday. The line—thirty-three miles in length—had been inspected by General Pasley on Friday : he expressed his great approbation of the works, and stated that it was the finest line over which he had hitherto travelled. The open- ing-day was very unpropitious, the rain falling heavily. Trains with large parties passed between the termini s the carriages were decorated with flags, and the passengers were entertained with music. There was * cold collation at Nottingham at mid-day, and a dinner at Lincoln at a later hour.
An action involving the responsibility of railway engineers for the proper ful- filment of their engagements, occupied two days this week at the Shrewsbury Assizes. Mr. Francis Giles, an engineer of some standing, had been employed by the projectors of the Dudley, Madeley, and Ironbridge line, to prepare plans and sections and other details necessary to be submitted to Parliament. Ile repre- sented to the managing committee that everything was going on well; and re- celled sums on account to the amount of 4,000/. On the 30th November, the last day on which the plans could be deposited with the Board of Trade, the mes- senger did not arrive at the office of that Board till after twelve o'clock at night, when the doors were shut. It was subsequently found that the work had been executed in an inaccurate and incomplete manner, so much so as to have rendered the drawings of no use even if they had been deposited in time. The unfortunate engineer appears to have abandoned himself to despair on finding that he could not sustain the load of his engagements: he was acting for four lines at once. He became nervous with anxiety amounting almost to anguish. Oct the ad De- cember, he admitted to the phuntiffs that the fault was entirely his own, and that "there was a fatality about it." No less than 40,0001. had been expended in the preliminary arrangements for going to Parliament: but although the company
were unable to go on in consequence of Mr. Giles'e failure tofulfil his engagement, the outlay was not entirely loot, for an amalgamation was effected on fair terms with the Shrewsbury. end Birmingham line. In the course of the trial, an inti- mation was made on the part of the plaintiffs that they had no wish to crush the defendant. The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs—dm:rages 4,500/.
At Guildford, on Thursday, a new trial in the case of Coeke Items Wetherell commenced. The facts were indicated 4 the time of the previous trial; which took place last summer, at Croydon, sad resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff of 3,0001. damages. The defendant is a clergymen, and the father-in-law of Mr. Croke; sold the charge was that of criminal convematiori with his own daughter.
At the Hereford Assizes, on Tuesday, the cause the Queen versus .Bartlett underwent another trial. The theta were previously stated. The defendant is the officiating minister of Iffington in Leonunster; and he was prosecuted under a criminal information for a libel on Mrs. Tozer, his wife's sister, and the wife of Mr. Tozer, a merchant in London. The defendant had quarrelled with his own wife, and wished a separation; a.ud bile. Tozer having, as he thought, taken a decided part against him, he retaliatedS and threatened, if she did not desist, to expose her to her husband and her family as indulging in impure habits previously to marriage: he also insinuated that she had made infamous overtures to himself. The Jury returned a verdict of "Guilty." The sentence will not be passed until next term, when the defendant will be called to appear in the Court of Queen's Bench to receive judgment: he will be at liberty to file affidavits in mitigation of punishment.
At Warwick Assizes, on Thursday, Mary Ann Lawlesa was tried for feloniously ad- ministering poison to her husband and to a Mrs. Murray. Theevidenoe fully proved the offence. The prisoner purchased arsenic, which she put into a teapot when making tea for her husband, and for Mrs. Murray and her child; the latter having called on a visit: all three were ill from the effects of the poison, but recovered.. The accused was found .guilty. When asked by the Judge what account she could give of the transaction, she said her husband had ill-treated and beaten her, and once tried to strangle her. Sentence of death was recorded.
As the train going from Lewes to Hastings approached the Polegate station on Wednesday afternoon, the engine ran off the line, dragging the tender and one of the carriages after it. No personal injury WAS sustained.
A boiler exploded at an iron-furnace near Parkend, in Gloucestershire, last week; a number of persons who were near it were much hurt, and three have died—two men and an infant. It is considered that the disaster was the result of gross neglect: the people who should have attended to the boiler allowed the steam to be generated until it attained a pressure of some 650 pounds on the square inch: at least Mr. Walkinshaw, an engineer, calculates that such a de- gree of pressure alone could have produced so great an explosion as that indi- cated by the state a the boiler, which was rent to pieces.
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