Ebe Probintes.

Mr. Roebuck responded publicly, on Saturday, to the invitation which he has received from Sheffield to stand for that borough on Mr. Ward's re- tirement, by an address accepting the signal and unexpected mark of esteem and approbation, and expounding his present political creed. Mr. Roe- buck's opinions are well known; but some passages have a peculiar in- terest from the new circumstances of the times. His tone is unusually moderate—" The experience of many years has, I hope, made me wiser," he says, "and taught me the mode most conducive to the practical appli cation of the principles which I profess; but from the principles themselves I have not departed.' He stands up stoutly for extension of the suffrage —" a faller scope to the popular will." Rigid economy and free trade must give range for the active energies of an industrious nation. "Connected with this subject in many ways, and with the wellbeing of man- kind in many more, is the great subject of Colonization. The Colonies of Eng land have been planted in spite of the mischievous interference, and not by the aid of the Government of England. It is high time that the intelligence of her peo- ple should act upon our rulers, and make them directly useful in extending our name, our language, our institutions, and the blessings of an enlightened religion, over the vast regions which nominally own our rule, but which yet lie useless to us and to mankind. To this end, it appears to me, that the whole subject of our colonies calls for a complete and immediate revision."

He touches upon the subject of religious establishments-

" I am myself a member of the Church of England. I was educated as a mem- ber of the Established Church ; and, after a careful consideration, I have seen no reason to leave the fellowship of my childhood and youth. But this determina- tion has been formed after consideration, and is the result of my own will, utterly independent of that of any other man. What, then, I have demanded for myself —the right that I have vindicated in my own person—I demand for all others. I insist upon religious and well as civil liberty. If my mind be enthralled by ar- bitrary will, and not led by the suasion of reason, I am more a slave than if you put my body into chains. While I demand for all this freedom, which I have ex- ercised myself, I proceed yet further: I hold every coercion on this subject im- politic, as well as unjust. You may compel to outward observance, and to false declarations ; you may create hypocrisy and discontent; but at word of command you cannot make men believe. "With this view, therefore, I am led to deprecate, on all proper occasions, every attempt to make establishments which exist for the purpose of promoting any peculiar religious opinion state establishments. In a country like ours, of com- plicated relations, of long-established habits and opinions, I cannot expect that my opinions on such a subject should be immediately acceded to; and I am not prone to feel hurt or to take offence when I Sad men differ from me concerning it. But though we cannot change at once what has been long established, we can far more easily prevent new steps in a wrong direction; and therefore, to any exten- sion of such religious establishments I shall direct unceasing opposition."

Mr. H. E. Stanley appeared before his electors at King's Lynn, for the first time, on Wednesday; having been elected during his absence in Ame- rica. Mr. Stanley's speech was a creditably composed address; upholding Protection, and promising that he would follow in the steps of his prede- cessor, Lord George Bentinck.

The long expected banquet in honour of Mr. Cobden and in celebration of his return to Parliament by the West Riding of Yorkshire, was given in the Corn Exchange at Wakefield on Wednesday afternoon. About seven hundred persons were present, seated at a score of tables, and at each table sat four leading Free-traders as stewards: the leading Free-trade Members of Parliament occupied places of honour near Mr. Cobden. Mr. George

Goodman' of Leeds, presided; and opened business by reacting letters of excuse and sympathy from Mr. Monckton Milnes, Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr.

Charles P. Villiers, Sir William Molesworth, and Mr. Hamer Stansfeld; also a letter from Mr. Hume, containing this discourse on the prospects of the veteran's Parliamentary policy— "At no period of our history did I see better chance of efficient economy and retrenchment, if the people will but come forward. But I must at the same time say, that we shall not have a permanent economical Government until we have the popular power in the House of Commons increased by extension of the suf- eage,protection to the voter, and a more equal distribution of the representatives. Many well-intentioned men delude themselves with the idea that financial reform under the pressure of distress is all that ought to be sought for; whilst I can look back to two or three fits of economy and retrenchment, attended with much mischief in many cases, where parties employed by Government are discharged on every such fit of economy, instead of our keeping up a steady and moderate and suitable establishment for public services. Parliamentary reform would, I

think, secure steady economical government; and therefore I shall again at- tempt, after the recess, my motion of last year."

The toast of the evening, proposed by Mr. Goodman, was—" Our dis- tinguished and patriotic Member Mr. Cobden, with thanks to him for past invaluable services to his country and mankind, in the cause of free trade, and an assurance of the hearty sympathy of his constituents in his present labours on behalf of economy and peace."

Mr. Cobden, amidst uproarious tokens of welcome, apologized briefly for not having long ago met the electors of the West Riding at home, and thanked them for having bestowed on him, when thousands of miles away, the most distinguished honour that can be conferred on a citizen of this country: but since his return he had found himself occupied in public avo- cations, and he had felt assured that dealing with a body of intelligent and practical men' they had been satisfied while he pursued his duty and their welfare—had been content that he and they should be together in spirit though they were apart in body. Referring to the complimentary association of his name with the three principles free trade, economy, and peace, he begged it to be clearly understood, that in then meeting they did not propose to glorify any individual, but simply to honour the principles enumerated—to render, if possible, more secure the attainment of the first of those principles, and to pave the way for carrying out effectually and speedily the other two. Declining to make a "Free-trade speech," he still re- plied to the assertions that free trade in corn—which we have had less than three months—is a failure. What would have been our position now if the repeal of the Coen-laws had not been carried just when it was The general opinion of persons conversant with these matters is that wheat would be 708. a quarter. The condition of things consequent on such prices would have been towus crowded with paupers, and capitalists meeting together to try and avert impending ruin, as they did in 1839. But what is now the condition of things? "1 don't say that trade is as good as it might be, or as I hope it will be; but, taking the condition of the mass of the working population now, and comparing this with what it was in 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, and 1843, I say there is now a state of great prosper- ity. Nay, 1 doubt very much whether that portion of the labouring classes of this county and Lancashire which is fully employed in the mechanical arts, in manufactures, and in other pursuits—I speak particularly of skilled workmen— ever in their lives were in the possession of a greater amount of comfort in ex- change for their labour than they are at this moment ; because you have now not merely food, but raiment and all those human luxuries which are happily within the reach of the working classes, cheaper than, as a whole, at any time when the trade of this district was peculiarly prosperous. When we go back to 1835 and 1836, for instance, though there was great prosperity, the price of many articles of clothing was then much higher than now; cotton goods were about double what they now are. The working classes are doing better than their masters at present." Free-traders never professed that free trade in corn was a sort of alchemy which was to discover the philosopher's stone, and cure all diseases; though that had been said of them, to make them look ridiculous. They had never said that free trade in corn would prevent the evils of excessive speculation in railways— those sores in every family and counting-house; that it would prevent civil wars on the Continent, and their injurious operation on our foreign trade; or would for- bid the potato rot. None of these evils had they professed to cure: but what they did say and do say is this, that whether foreign or civil war happens, or railway speculations turn out disastrous or potato rot comes, you will be a great deal better able to bear all those evils with free trade in corn than you would have under the old sliding scale. They never said more than that; and, if so much of what they professed has been done, who has a right to say thatfree trade has been a failure? But they were told there is great difficulty and embarrassment in certain portions of the agricultural districts. "There has been a great deal too much of outcry about distress in the agricultural districts. (Cheers.) I think it is a dis- grace to certain portions of those districts that they have made any outcry at all during the greater part of 1847 and 1848. The farmers of England were placed under more fortunate circumstances than ever they had been in this country with- in the memory of man. They had capital crops and unprecedentedly high prices; at least, prices without a precedent since the war. Bear in mind, that when in former times they had a high price for their corn, it was from a deficient crop; bat during 1847 and 1848 they were in the glorious position that the scarcity and high price of corn arose from the failure of the potato, while they had capital crops of wheat. They never had such an opportanity of actually coining money as in the spring of 1848 and during the whole of 1847. In Hampshire corn was selling at 51. the quarter ; 100 shillings the quarter was refused in Chichester market: and now those people are meeting and declaring they are all ruined be- cause they have had three or four months' bad trade! It is disgraceful both to farmers and landowners to make that outcry. (Cheers.) You had eighteen months of bad trade—you had more; at the very time they were getting this price for their wheat you were carrying on your business at a loss. In Lancashire, losses during those eighteen months must be measured by the extent of the manufactory. If it was large, the loss was about 1,0001., and if smaller, the loss was about one-half or one-third of that sum per month. Yet you did not come whining to Parliament; you stood manfully during the storm, and were ready to go to work with the first gleam. (Cheers.) We do not pretend to say that the farmers will not have a difficulty in going through the transition state—monopoly to free trade. It is in the very nature of things, that if you have been trying on evil courses for thirty years, the ordeal of getting into a right coarse must cause one pain. A man does not recover from a fever without going through a very painful state of languor." The farmers had been warned that they would have just such difficulties as the manfacturers had in 1817: the latter had then to adopt a new system of business —to make larger returns in quicker time, and to produce more from a given quantity of machinery in a given time; and they now told "the farmers, and landowners too," that they must go through the same process: they must have their energies quickened, they must make their land more productive, they must come to terms with each other by which they may have the utmost possible production out of the soil. 'All these we intend they should do—it is for their interests as well as ours that they should ; and whilst they do not, but, instead of that go whining to Parliament and talking of transferring the taxes off their shoulders on to ours —whilst they indulge in such child's play, they make themselves simply ridi- culous in the eyes of men of business, and we tell them we have no sympathy for any of their pretended distress." (Cheers.) They say they can't compete

with foreigners. The manufacturers have to sell their cloth so cheap that when it has gone to China or New York, and has paid carriage and heavy duties, it

shall still compete with the foreigners' cloth. The farmer has only to compete

with the foreigners' corn when it has paid carriage to this market. The latter is therefore sure of a higher price than the foreigner for his corn, and the former is sure of a lower price for his cloth than the foreigner requires. The farmers may have difficulties, but they cannot be allowed toget indemnification from the manu- facturers' pockets if they cannot make their trade answer. He had been watching with some anxiety the course of the farmers' friends in Parliament; but they had not, as he had thought they would, begun to join with the Free-traders in reducing the expenditure of the country: they believe still, or find it their policy to affect to believe, that they can put their hands into the pockets of the manufacturers and indemnify themselves. He wanted the agri- culturists and landowners to be convinced that to go back to protection in any shape

is impossible. (Cheers.) He was not talking the language of a party, but of every party—" there is no party now in existence, having a leg to stand on in the

West Riding of Yorkshire, which is in favour of a return to protection." When the county constituencies are satisfied of this, they will join in reducing the taxation rind expenditure of the country. Meanwhile, " if they won't help us to

reduce the expenditure, we will take care that they only have low prices to pay high taxes; and if they continue to pay high taxes it shall be their own fault. . . . When I see the farmers getting up a row in South Hampshire, and carrying

down a Mr. Shaw to be more prominent than the squires themselves in clamour-

ing for protection, I pity them; they are positively past all hope of salvation. (Cheers.) The farmers are a class of the most dependent, politically, on

the face of the earth. They every now and then burst into a sort of saturnalia, these political bondmen ; they mean nothing, it ends in nothing. . . . Oar friends in the Southern counties will perfectly understand that we see through the whole case—that we know exactly bow the land lies. If the tenant-farmers and the people of the middle class in the South of England really want to reduce taxation—if they want any amelioration in those laws that affect them with re- spect to game, with respect to occupancy, or in any other way in which legisla-

tion can be to their interest, they must join us, but not to impose an 8s. or 10s. duty." (Cheers.) Considering the fewness of farm-tenant qualifications, coin- pared the general constituency—in the most rural districts it is shown by

Parliamentary returns to be about one-eighth or one-seventh only, in Lancashire not more than one-tenth—for them to set up for themselves without the middle class, is the most hopeless, helpless, childish thing, that human beings could resort to. Mr. Bright'a attempt to get rid of the Game-laws for them will be something like the Malt-tax over again—they will help him little. Mr. Cobden commented on the character of the support given him on his re- trenchment motion. He was in good company, with Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Middlesex on his side. Of all the large towns, indeed, only Liverpool—a strange anomaly seeing that financial reform originated there, and Sheffield—rather pecu- liarly situated under present circumstances—(Laughter)—plumped against him. Analysis shows that enlightened and free public opinion was with him on that motion; as it certainly ever was with Mr. l'illiers, before Sir Robert Peel took up free trade in corn.

"But," said Mr. Cobden," I may boldly say that I never expect to be in a ma- jority in reducing our expenditure to the standard of 1835. Government will take care of that, as they did of the Corn-laws; they will do the work themselves.

(Cheers.) If we were in the majority, the Queen would have to send for us; and that would not suit them. (Cheers.) Some Government must do it for us. To be sure, our right honourable friend and neighbour Sir Charles Wood has only made a beginning—that is his polity. It is intended only as an encouragement for us to go on. Perhaps he could not do more this time ; but it is quite plain what he means if you persevere, especially in the West Riding. A great deal more will be done next year, and it will be all done as soon as possible." (Loud cheers.) He wanted to enlist the West Riding in two or three practical questions, which his opponents called Utopias. The West Riding had a knack of making Utopias

realities ; they had made Clarkson's Utopias and Wilberforce' s Utopias Into

realities, and had made the madness of 1839 into the realities of 1849: so he wanted them to take up his other Utopias; and one of these is to reduce expen-

diture, by means which seem to follow naturally out of their struggle for free

trade. He called on them, therefore, to raise the cry for Colonial reform. (Cheers.) They were as much interested in the reform of the Colonial system as the Colonies themselves, or as they were in their own municipal affairs. It is only

by Colonial reform that the Colonies can cease to be a field of patronage for the dominant class, and that the present expenditure of the empire can be reduced. It is only by Colonial reform—by giving the Colonies self-government—that we can guard against border and native wars, with their expenditure. He meant no attack upon Lord Grey—one of the first that boldly advocated the principles of free trade; nor upon Mr. Hawes—a man of business from among themselves, who industriously and honourably fills an office under Government—" What I do find fault with is, that men should allow themselves to be put into an office to do ins-

possibilities: it would require omnipotence and omnipresence almost to be able* from a street in London to govern more than forty dependencies in every latitude. Suppose we had to send up to Sir George Grey to have his authority for every-

thing we do in municipal affairs: would we tolerate such a thing? And yet we have railway transit that performs the distance between this and London insix hours ; and by the telegraph, that will communicate with the Metropolis in a

minute, you can talk with the Home Office; yet you would not tolerate its interference in Wakefield, Leeds, or Manchester. How, then, do you think that in Downing Street they can govern the people of New Zealand and Australia? Before they can exchange communications, ten to one the object of those commu- nications will have passed away." Mr. Cobden dwelt at some length, and with considerable emphasis, on the peace and arbitration topic; promising himself success in it, chiefly because he has the sturdy cooperation of the Quakers—who, for peaceable men, are certainly the most combative and pugnacious in a moral sense that one knows. He wound up with a practical exhortation, that his hearers should look after the county registration—" There is going to be a poll-book published, for which I have put down my name as a subscriber. Now, every district committee, every local committee, and every individual who can afford to purchase, should gets poll-book, study it in the same spirit they do theitadgers or their day-books, in order to try to bring the balance on the nght side", Mr. Bright made a long speech, mainly in support of Mr. Cobden's final advice to look after the registration. He accumulated many proofs that the country is making as great progress in opinion and political improve- ment as it ever made; but he urged the farmers to unite with the Free- traders of the towns in obtaining further reforms; and he made an ominous allusion to the House of Lords, as having "no idea beyond that which it had years and years ago "—" it will repeal no bad law, and make no good one," except on compulsion.

The other speakers were Colonel Thompson, Mr. J. G. Marshall, 11.P., - Mr. George Wilson, Mr. William Brown, M.P., Mr. Henry, M.P., Mr. Ed- ward Baines, and other gentlemen from Sheffield, Wakefield, Bradford, Leeds, Halifax, and Huddersfield.

Protection to agriculture still causes some movement in the province!. Meetings have been held at Market Harborough, Warwick, Oxford, Ux-

bridge, find Romford; and others are summoned in Devonshire and Lin- colnshire.

The Oxford meeting was distinguished from the rest, in being called in opposition to the opinion of the Protectionist aristocracy; whose behaviour was sharply criticized by an influential tenant-farmer. The High Sheriff presided; Mr. Henley and Lord Norreys, the two high Protectionist County Members, were present; the moderate and far-seeing Mr. Harcourt not showing himself. Mr. Gillett, a large and enterprising farmer, and cattle- breeder, and a stanch Protectionist, proposed the first resolution calling for immediate relief to agriculture.

Ile accused the Committee of the Oxfordshire Protection Society of refusing to call for a farmers' meeting to petition against the Malt-tax; and denounced the opposition which, as he personally knew, was made to the movement by the landed proprietors; imputing the motive of fear that the repeal would be followed by an augmentation of the wholesome property-tax. He asked if these were the considerations which induced them to forget the professions, put forth with such ostentation, that the interests of landlords and tenants were identical. He cau- tioned another class, the land-agents, against pursuing a servile cause—against taking the places of all-work, and doing the business of slave-drivers. Lastly, he had a few words with the Couoty Members on the platform. (Cheers. "Thai's right! walk into them!") He believed protection would and must come back at last; but they might as well promise showers of Californian gold-dust, as promise protection just now. Their way was to drive free trade on; and that would at last either bring them round again, or bring an extensive remission of taxation.

Allusion having been made to reduction of national expenditure, Mr. Langston, the Liberal city Member, excited derisive laughter and uproar by asking, " Show me any wasteful expenditure." Mr. Blackstone, M.P. for the adjacent borough of Wallingford, inveighed against Sir Robert Peel, and supported the repeal of the Malt-tax as a compensation for his narrow popularity-courting policy. Lord Norreys foreswore Mr. Disraeli's imprac- ticable local-taxation motion. Mr. Henley adverted to the great variety of opinion, and advocated reduction of public expenditure. Resolutions for the repeal of the Malt-tax were agreed to.

At the ironmasters' quarterly meetings held during this week, the late advance of 20s. a ton was maintained. The trade is much better than it was at the last quarter-day. In many of the largest concerns the wages of the thick-coal men have been raised sixpence a day.

At Taunton Assizes, on Friday, Horatio Jennings Warren and Samuel Hen7 Fuller, opulent silversmiths in the city of Bath, were tried for having in their possession without lawful excuse a sileer spoon bearing the die-mark of the Gold- smiths' Company, which die-mark bad been transposed or removed from other silver ware stamped by the Company. The charge is the same that made so much noise in December last, and upon the making of which Messrs. Fuller and Warren were liberated from custody only on finding bail to the amount of many thousand pounds. They had employed a workman to take a silver skewer of ancient pattern and high metallic purity, bearing the Goldsmith-hall die-mark, and by skilful soldering so to make additions to its length and breadth as to manufacture a ladle of large size, which should appear to be of higher purity than it really was. The defence was solely a dialectic exercise of great length by Sir Frederick Thesiger, to prove that the prisoners had been guilty of an addition, and not of a transposition; that is to say, they had added baser metal to the purer marked metal, rather than transposed the latter to the former. It seems that the 7th and 8th Victoria provides a different punishment for an "addition" which has not been duly restamped, and a "transposition": the former is a more venial crime than the latter. The evidence showed that the prisoners considered they had done very wrong when they were in danger of being found out. Up- wards of twenty witnesses—including some of the county gentry—swore that the prisoners bore the "highest possible character," despite Lord Denman's wondering question, "Can it be consistent with the highest possible character that persons should commit frauds on the revenue?" Lord Denman had no doubt that a transposition had been effected; but the Jury found a verdict of "Guilty of an addition, not of a transposition,"—which under the terms of the indictment was equivalent to "Nut guilty." The verdict was received by the audience with shoats ot applause.

At the recent Somerset Assizes, three women, old offenders, were convicted of attempting to fire Frome Workhouse, by piling oakum together and then setting light to it. Two were ordered to be transported for ten years, and the other to be imprisoned for a twelvemonth.

A young spendthrift of Rotherham, son of Mr. Bland, superintendent constable of Rotherham, has attempted to assassinate his father. He was in the habit of pilferieg his father's cash, and on such occasions Mr. Bland searched drawers to endeavour to recover the money. While Mr. Bland was at Pontefract Sessions, his son purloined some money ; placed a loaded pistol in a drawer, and fastened it with a string so that if the drawer were pulled open the pistol would go off. On Mr. Bland's return he discovered that he had been robbed; his son was out, and the father opened the drawer as the young ruffian had expected: the pistol went off, but, fortunately, Mr. Bland was not standing immediately in front of it; and he escaped with a slight abrasion of the skin on the side and a wound on the back of the hand. Mr. Bland immediately had his son taken into custody, and he was sent to London to be enrolled in a regiment ordered for foreign service.

Griffiths, the young man who was recently convicted of the murder of a fellow labourer at Cwingoody, was hanged at Hereford on Wednesday. He made a full confession of his guilt, and appeared truly penitent.

Many fires in rapid succession have devastated farms in the vicinity of Here- ford, and there is no doubt that they have been wilfully caused. In one case, where much property was destroyed, a boy of fourteen has confessed that he fired the premises, from a spiteful feeling towards his master. He has been committed for trial. A man has been s nt to prison on a charge of causing another fire. In a third case, the evidence a nst a suspected person was not strong enough to warrant his detention. Ju he was discharged by the Magistrates of Here- ford, news came to the Guild l that a second fire was raging at a farm that had suffered only a few days before.