Vraniurial.

The election of a new member for Taunton in the room of Mr. La- bouchere took place on Tuesday. There were two candidates, Mr. Ben- tinck, a Tory, and Mr. Barclay, a Radical. The latter was defeated, the numbers being—Bentinok, 381 ; Barclay, 336. One more vote is gained by the Tories.

Mr. Dunn, the Conservative candidate for Dartmouth, was elected on Monday, in the room of Mr. Schenley, unseated for bribery without op- position.

At Devonport, the seat vacated by Sir Erskine Perry, has been very sharply contested. The Tory candidate was Mr. Busfield Ferrand, the Liberal, Admiral Sir Michael Seymour. Mr. Ferrand took the lead at the poll on Tuesday, and kept it until three o'clock; his majority of 150 in the morning was gradually reduced to 100 at noon, 70 at 2, and 40 at 3 o'clock. At the close of the poll he was beaten by 49 ; the numbers being, Seymour 1096 ; Ferrand 1047. It is stated that the election was carried by the members of the Temperance Association, who did not vote until the afternoon. There will be another election for the seat vacated by Mr. James Wilson, who goes out to India as a financial Member of Council. Sir Arthur Buller is the Liberal Candidate.

The respectability of Norwich, scandalized with the disclosures before the late Election Committee, which led to the unseating of Lord Bury and Mr. Schneider, is occupying itself with the consideration of re- medial measures. The Town-Council have debated certain resolutions, to the effect that at fhture elections candidates, with their. active and influential supports, should be called upon to sign a declaration pledging

themselves to abstain, both directly and indirectly; from bribery, cor- nipt and illegal expenditure, and organized and systematic canvassing. It is proposed that a sort of agreement should be drawn up to this effect on both sides, and that any alleged infraction of the understanding should be referred for adjudication to Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Walpole, by whose decision either party should abide. These resolutions were met with a strong under-current of ridicule and incredulity as to their successful operation, but were nevertheless adopted, and doubtless they reflect credit on the Council, as a kind of protest against improper practices.

A public meeting at Berwick has adopted a resolution praying for an inquiry into the corruption practised at the late election there.

A large number of factory operatives met in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on Saturday evening, and presented to Lady Shaftesbury a fine marble bust of her husband as a token of their gratitude for his ser- vices in obtaining the Ten Hours Act. Lady Shaftesbury warmly thanked them. Lord Shaftesbury added his thanks to those of the Countess, to whom he said their testimonials were indeed more due than to himself.

For he must tell them that in the year 1833, when the matter was pro- pounded to him, he had great doubts, not of the justice of the cause, but of his own competency to undertake it. He sought counsel on the right band and on the left, but he left the issue to the decision of his wife, and she, without a moment's hesitation, said, " Go forward, and to victory !"

He gave his audience some sound advice on the question of strikes, and on the use they should make of their time.

The Sunderland Docks, projected by Mr. George Hudson, and con- structed by a company for some 750,000!., have been passed into the hands of the Commissioners of the river Wear. The town kept holiday on Wednesday, when the transfer was formally made.

At Warwick, the trial of an action for libel—Wallington versus Edwards Wood—was concluded on Monday. The trial bad occupied three days; the record extended over 200 legal folios. The plaintiff; Mr. Richard Archer Wallington, of Leamington, attorney and solicitor, sued Mr. Edwards Wood, of Stank Hill Park, formerly a solicitor, " for compensation for the publi- cation iu the local newspapers, and in the form of a pamphlet, of a series of libellous statements, consisting principally of a heavy censure brought by him and by his contrivance on Mr. Wallington, from a judge of eminent authority, and the most exalted position—Lord Campbell." Defendant pleaded not guilty, and, moreover, that the libels were true in substance and fact. The following is an outline of the case. In 1857, Mr. Walling- ton proceeded against Mr. Wood, on behalf of his client, Mr. Bateman, who had been acting as surveyor to Mr. Wood, for 911. The result of the action was, that Wood was awarded to pay Bateman 861. This he promised to pay by cheque on the day following the taxing of the costs of the suit. The money was not forthcoming on the day specified. On the 6th- of September last, a writ of capias was issued out against Wood. He could not be found. On the 29th, Mr. Wallington saw him in a railway-carriage at Rugby, tele- graphed the information to Squiers, the officer who had the writ, and then accompanied the train, in which Wood was, to Leamington. The writ had changed hands ; it was now held by Bradley, of Warwick. Thither repaired Wallington, found Wood at the 1Varwick Arm_ ,s and instructed Bradley repaired do his duty." Bradley did his duty, and told Wallington—after an interview with Wood—that "Mr. Wood declared he had paid the money, but that he was willing to give his cheque for the amount over again, which Mr. Bald- win, the landlord, was going out to get cashed." The gaol closed at ten. Mr. Wallington, who had been Under-Sheriff; obtained the gaoler's con- sent to keep open till twelve. Wallington agreed to take the cheque for 861., but refused a cheque for 101. which Wood was about to give him, and which —in answer to his inquiry, "how much the expenses were,"—Wallington said he thought would cover them. Wallington, however, insisted on Wood's giving him a "memorandum," implying, says Wood, that he (Wood) had kept out of the way, and that expenses had been thereby in- curred. This memorandum Wood refused to sign, and tore it up. At the request of Wallington, Wood drew up a memorandum to this effect :— " Take notice, I pay your demand beyond the debt and costs, to avoid being taken to gaol, under protest, being now in the hands of the sheriff's officer." This Wallington refused to sign, and soon afterwards Wood found himself abiding, until next day, in "a damp and filthy cell in prison." Sub- sequently, he brought an action against Mr. De Gex [a London agent of Wood's who had received the original payment of 861.] for false im- prisonment, "and which drew on Mr. Wallington the censure of the Judge." Wood indemnified the proprietors of the _Leamington Courier for inserting the report of the trial ; and published a pamphlet—" The case of ' Edward Wood versus De Gex,' tried at the Warwick Lent Assizes, 1859, before the Lord Chief Justice Campbell (as reported in the Warwickshire Advertiser and Leamington Spa Courier), with appendices, disclosing the disgraceful arrest of the plaintiff, the judge's flagellation of R. A. Wal- lington, solicitor, the keeping the gaol open at midnight, and other flagrant particulars." The libel complained of was contained iu the words of the severe condemnation expressed by Lord Campbell of the course Mr. War- rington appeared to have pursued, said Serjeant Shee, the plaintiff's counsel, and he believed that Lord Campbell was betrayed into using the words he did by the complexion of the case then presented to him. From the evidence it appeared that Wood never evaded the sheriff's officer ; that one of Wallingtou's clerks, who had received Wood's money, had, inadvertently, not handed it over ; that Wood had been proceeded against several times by Wallington ; that ho believed the 101. Wallington asked of him for expenses was an extortion " under colour of its being losses sustained by his client from the delay in paying over the amount due to him ; " and that the pamphlet was an answer to letters, from the plaintiff; in the Courier aspersing his character. The judge, Lord Chief Justice Erle, thought Mr. Wallington had not exceeded his duty to his client ; exculpated him from vindictive feelings to- wards Wood, and directed the Jury—" if they consider the minor alle- gations only in the libel proved, they must find for nominal damages; but if they considered that the graver charges were proved, then the compensation to which Mr. Wallington was entitled should be ample for the satisfaction of the public." Verdict for the plaintiff—Damages 7501.

At the Gloucester Assizes, Miss Henrietta Constant sued George Wilt- shire, a London jeweller, to recover 2001., money lent. Wiltshire courted Miss Constant and promised to marry her, if she would lend him some money to begin business—he would bnng her to a home for ever. After he bad got the money, for some reason the engagement to marry was broken, and Wiltshire made difficulties about repaying the sum. The girl had done him great injury first by breaking her.promise, next by lending the money and then wanting it back. The Jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff. At the same Assizes, Captain Cunningham sued Mr. Clavering, an at- torney, and his wife to recover 800/. While Mrs. Clavering was unmarried, Captain Cunningham lent her 1000!., in order that she might get her brother—an officer in the Indian Army—out of difficulties. She repaid 200!., but after her marriage said that the money was not lent to her but to her brother. The Jury in this case also found for the plaintiff.

At the Monmouth Assizes Matthew Francis, a tailor and hawker, has been found guilty of the wilful murder of Sarah, his wife. There was no doubt that he killed the woman, and he did not deny it. Originally she bad been an " unfortunate." Francis married her, and she became well conducted_ He was evidently very fond of her, but in the whole they did not agree well, and Mrs. Francis left him. He said he could not live without her ; he fol- lowed to the house where she had sought a refuge ; and before several per- sons, when she refused to return home with him, he cut her throat with a razor he had sharpened and prepared for that purpose. The question at the trial was whether the crime was manslaughter or murder. The Judge and Jury alike were of opinion that Francis had committed a murder. He was therefore sentenced to be hung.

During the trial Francis suffered horribly from nervous agitation: once he had a "fit,' and several men were required to hold him. When he re- covered, his groans distracted the court. The evidence was of a most pain- ful kind, yet many ladies, it is observed, some of them young, sat out the whole scene.

At the Croydon Assizes Mr. Knatchbull Hugessen, Member for Sand- wich, obtained a verdict against Admiral Vincent and others for libel. In June last, when Mr. Hugessen went to Sandwich for reelection, the de- fendants published a placard giving notice that, as he had been guilty of bribery at the general election, he was not eligible. Now, although' it is lawful to give such a notice where bribery has been proved, it is not legal in a case where it has not been proved. The defendants withdrew all de- fence, and agreed to a verdict for five guineas damages ; a verdict which will carry costs. Stephen Bamfield Bell, surgeon, has been found guilty at the Bodmin Assizes of the manslaughter of Captain Caddy, and sentenced to penal servi- tude for life. In this case there was a family quarrel' Captain Caddy, who as seventy-two years of age, was called in to protect the mother and sister °f Bell from his violence. i3e1.1 slew him with a spear, the first weapon that came to hand.

Another case of the murder of a wife by a husband has occurred. Thi time Bedfordshire is the scene of the crime. Mrs. Castle ill-treated by her husband, then working at Ware, sought protection with her friends at Luton. He followed, and persuading her to return with him to Ware, he cut her throat on the road. The poor woman seems to have fought des- perately for life. Castle took to the woods, and after wandering some time surrendered. He is only twenty-one years of age, and had been married only six months.

On the other hand a woman of Dursley in Gloucestershire hns, in a fit of drunkenness, cut the throat of her husband, as he lay sleeping. She has been committed for trial.

An old man has been murdered near Leeds. He was walking to his home across a field between Rarebit's and Roundhay. It is conjectured that two men were engaged in beating him to death with bludgeons. Their plunder was only 2s. and a watch !

A railway train proceeding from Whitby to Pickering on Saturday plunged overhead into the fen bogs. The engine-driver and stoker were buried with the engine, but were got out again by the passengers. Nobody was seriously hurt. It is assumed that the heat of the sun had distorted the sleepers and thrown the rails out of level, and thus caused the train to leap into the bog.