Zbe Tirobintes.

The seventh annual general meeting and exhibition of the East Essex Agricultural Society took place last week, at Colchester. After the show, nearly seventy gentlemen sat down to dinner ; Sir George Henry Smyth in the chair. The Chairman heartily defended Government from attacks which had been made upon them elsewhere respecting the Tariff. It had been, he said, but a choice of two evils. For if the Go- vernment had not carried the present bill, they would have had a worse measure—

They must therefore be satisfied ; and he certainly did not see all the danger which some persons predicted. He did not attribute the late fall in the prices to the alteration of the Corn-laws, because, in the face of a good harvest, there always would be a reduction of prices. With respect to the Tariff, he did not feel that apprehension which some gentlemen did; for he did not believe that a fat bullock could be brought over in a fit state to present at Smithfield market. They well knew that a blow on a fat beast was considered a great detriment to the meat ; and he did not believe that beasts could be brought over, particularly in rough weather, without being so much bruised that the butcher would not like to purchase them ; which circumstances, coupled with the expense of con- veying bullocks from the interior of foreign countries to sea-ports for shipment, would, be thought, be a great check to a large importation of fat cattle. With respect to lean beasts, he saw still less to.fear; because he had often been told, and he believed farmers were generally aware, that it was little use attempting to fat a bullock unless it was a good-bred one, and that a good-bred beast was the only kind which proved an advantage to the farmer. He had travelled a great deal, and he maintained that there was no such thing as a well-bred beast abroad ; and if he was right in these conclusions, there could be no great fear from the importation of foreign beasts. He considered, however, that the price of meat was too high ; and he should like to see beasts bought at a lower price, and meat sold lower: this would amount to the same, and he thought no farmer would object to it.

Mr. Shaw, however, cautioned his hearers not to lull themselves into security as regarded the importation of foreign cattle—

lie had had his attention for some years past directed to agriculture, and every branch of it be bad watched narrowly ; and he could not see why there Should be greater difficulty in bringing beasts from the opposite coasts of Eu- rope than from Scotland or Ireland. The voyage from the one certainly seemed much the same as from the other, and there were those persons who maintained that the former was the easiest. At a meeting of the Cornwall Polytechnic Society, held on Tuesday week, Mr. Featherstonhaugh, who was associated with Colonel Mudge in the British Commission to survey the disputed North-eastern Boundary, both under the late and the present Administration, entered into a hearty defence of the Ashburton treaty. There were, he said, three courses open to the British Government,—to adhere to the extreme right of Great Britain, at the risk of endangering peace ; to have another reference, costly, and perhapedelaying the question for eight or ten years, and leaving us after all in a worse position than we had ever occupied; and lastly, a compromise. He had himself suggested the last course to Lord Aberdeen, though he had reason to believe that the suggestion was quite unnecessary to that experienced statesman. Mr. Featherstonhaugh vindicated the particular provisions of the treaty, as advantageous to both countries.

Sir Charles Shaw, freed from his official reserve by his dismissal from the command of the Manchester Police, has sent to the papers a letter of explanation respecting the late disturbances in that town. He states how, as Chief Commissioner of Police, be had no means of knowing what was taking place without the borough, except chance interviews with the Commandant of the troops. On the afternoon of Monday the 8th August, the Commandant told him that he bad received a letter from the Magistrates of Ashton, requesting him to have troops in readi- ness. Sir Charles took steps to obtain information, and sent two sets of Inspectors to Ashton and Staleybridge, to reconnoitre. They reported all quiet, but all the mills had been stopped ; and they brought a re- port that next morning there was to be a march of' " turn-outs " to Manchester. Sir Charles ordered a horse-patrol to the Ashton road, to bring the earliest news of any movement ; and went himself at three o'clock on Tuesday morning (the 9th); being met at starting by a se- cond vague report. He then went to Ashton and Staleybridge to gather information. He bad an interview with "the gentleman who the people said was the cause of the strike" ; went to Ashton Town-hall, every room of which was open, but not an individual was in the building from whom he could gain information ; went to a meeting of the "turn-outs," but could not distinguish the words of the speakers ; and returned to- wards Manchester ; giving strict orders to the horse-patrol whom he had stationed on the road to watch the mob, and bring the first news of their march. On the road, he encountered "six determined-looking men," who had left the meeting for Manchester- " I then accosted these six men. They did not know me. While in con- versation with them, the second in command of the County Constabulary passed me on his way to Ashton; but we did not recognise each other. These men told me that yesterday they had turned out all the • hands' at the mills, and that this day the people were going to Manchester to do the same, and take bread, as they preferred death to starvation. I warned them that they would find both military and police at Manchester. I used my best endea- vours to point out the folly of their actions, and to prevail on them to return to influence their comrades to remain at home. They would not listen in any way to my suggestions, and therefore 1 galloped to Manchester."

Here he gave information to the military authorities, to have the troops in readiness ; impressing upon the Commandant the importance of "having the fight out of the town " : but the Commandant told him that he was powerless without a Magistrate. Sir Charles aent a note by a cab to the Stipendiary Magistrate, and another by an Inspector to the first County Magistrate that could be found, "as the borough Magistrates for the last three years had refused to act." Before this, Sir Charles had ordered his own Police force to form on the Ashton road.

The Stipendiary Magistrate, Sir Charles says on "undoubted autho- rity," "delayed full three quarters of an hour in my office in the Town- hall." Sir Charles went to change his clothes, which were wet, and then repaired to the Ashton road. The troops (Dragoons) did not arrive till shortly afterwards. He found the Magistrate parleying with the mob- " I was then quite close to the Magistrate. I reined back a few paces, and said, in a loud, distinct voice, which must have been heard by the military, Sir, I must protest in the strongest manner against these people passing. Sir, I report to you officially, that these very men, who tell you that they are going to be peaceable, informed me this morning in Ashton, that yesterday they had turned out all the mills round Staleybridge, and that they were coming this morning to Manchester to do the same, and get bread.' The Magistrate on this came nearer to me, and said, ' They promise to be peaceable.' I shrugged my shoulders and answered, You have heard what I said.'"

The mob marched forward— "Shortly after this, the Stipendiary Magistrate came up, declaring that the lead- ere of the procession had not kept their promise to him, and asking me, where was its head? I answered, 'You will be clever to find it, ashy this time it has fifty

heads ; in fact, they are all loose; but still, if you will permit me, I will, and can, stop them, sal have got about two hundred Police close at hand.' His answer was, No, no, we must have no collision.' We halted here for some little time; we doing by persuasion what we could with the mob, who jeered us in return. One man was most insolent to the Commandant. I proposed his being apprehended, but the Magistrate would permit of no interference. The mob thenpaased through Minshull Street, a part assembling in Granby. Row Fields; their chief speaker calling on them to preserve 'peace, law, and order,' as their meeting was legal, the procession having been conducted into the town headed by the civil and military authorities, who were then listening to them. The Stipendi- ary accompanied by another Magistrate escorted this assemblage from Granby Row Fields as far as the Ashton Road ; but while this was going on, the mob were attacking in other quarters, and continued to do so ; but were so rapid in assembling, destroying, and dispersing, that the town was in a state of anarchy. Such were the events of the • evil hour.'" Sir Charles Shaw adopts a phrase used by the Attorney-General at Chester, that "for some days the town was at the mercy of the mob, and the authority of the Magistrates was at an end "; the Magistrates, meanwhile, keeping up "a heavy fire of resolutions, placards, notices, proclamations, 8tc. Sir Charles having, on the 11th, ordered a body of Police to put these placards in execution, by dispersing a band of rioters, they were ordered back to the Town-hall by the Mayor.

At Stafford Special Commission Court, on Saturday, thirteen persons were indicted for riotously assembling at Charchfield colliery, in West Bromwich, on the 29th of August. The case was a specimen of the com- mon violent assaults to compel a strike in the district. The following is a summary of the facts—

On the 29th of August, daring the late torn-out of the colliers in South Staffordshire, the men employed at Mr. Salter's colliery at Churcbfield, near West Bromwich, were desirous of returning to their work. They were usable, however, to go down the pit to work until the "bond," that is the full comple- inent of men, had arrived. In the mean time, a large mob of colliers marched to Churchfield, with the view of preventing the men going to work. At this time there were four Police-constables, and five Special Constables. The mob, from three hundred to four hundred in number, was led on by Bates, one of the

prisoners ; who, on approaching the pit, shouted out, "Come on, my lads!" The Police and Special Constables immediately formed in line ; and as the

rioters approached, Police-constable Baxter asked them what they wanted. Bates replied, "Those men out of the pit." The mob then commenced a furious attack. Hundreds of stones were hurled at the Police ; Police-con- stable Baxter was felled to the ground, and most seriously wounded; the engineer was obliged to seek refuge in the engine-house, where the rioters fol- lowed him ; and it was not until the arrival of a detachment of the Worcester- shire Yeomanry that the mob was dispersed.

The accused were all convicted.

Ten men were tried before Baron Rolfe on Monday, for an unlawful assembly at Mr. Host's colliery, and assaulting Benjamin Benton. Sergeant Talfourd stated the facts of the case : this is one of the most flagrant in point of personal violence— On the evening of the 15th August, four persons were taken into custody, and locked up in Wolverhampton, on a charge of riot; the next morning a large mob assembled with sticks and bludgeons. The mob then went away to- wards one of the collieries, and on their way they met a constable named Ben- ton. Some of the mob cried out, "That is the man who took the prisoners yesterday." On that some of the mob threw stones at him ; and he made his escape into the house of a woman named Hanshaw, who had a son lying sick in bed. The poor woman being terrified, shut the door, but at last was com- pelled to open it ; when the mob rushed up-stairs, and found Benton concealed in the room. They dragged him out of his hiding-place, and began beating him with bludgeons, and continued to do so until he became almost insensible. They cut and wounded him in a most dreadful manner; and the prisoners, or one of them would seem to have desired his death. The prisoner dish, after the constable had been severely beaten, raised him up from the ground, and said, "lie has not had enough.' Clark then struck him in the face several times. The cinders with which the constable had been beaten and cur, were not of the light description commonly known as cinders, but of a weighty and most dangerous kind. After having beaten the constable in that savage man- ner in the house, they dragged him to the brewhouse, and some of the mob called out, "Kill him, kill him !"

All the prisoners were convicted ; and were sentenced to transporta- tion for life.

On Monday, after an investigation of more than two days' duration, before Sir Nicholas Tindal, several rioters were convicted of demolish- ing the house of the Reverend Mr. Aitken.

The trial of Thomas Cooper, the Leicester Chartist, began on Tues- day, before Sir Nicholas Tindal. He conducted his own defence, with the assistance of Mr. Lee and Mr. Yardley on points of law. He was indicted for riotously and unlawfully assembling, on the 15th of August, and for arson in demolishing the house of Mr. Parker, at Stoke-upon- Trent. Evidence was first tendered to prove Cooper's connexion with the mob of actual demolishers. Joseph Mills, a painter and gilder, of Hanley, was at a meeting on the morning of the 15th: about a thou- sand persons were present with bludgeons in their hands-

" I heard Cooper say, when addressing the mob, that he considered himself the self-elected chairman of that meeting. After that a man came forward and moved a resolution agreeing to stand by the resolution passed at the Man- chester meeting, to cease labour until the Charter became the law of the land. I heard Cooper say it would be an easy matter to get the Charter - for if only one-tenth part of the population were to come out on a given day and hour, and say,' We will have the Charter,' nothing could stop us. He also said, alluding to the strength of the soldiers, that there were not more than ten sol- diers for every large town in the kingdom. Alluding to the strike, he said that some people thought the winter-time would be the most favourable, but he thought the present time was the most favourable; that it was better to he idle in fine weather than in the winter; that it was better to be idle when there was plenty on the ground. He would not advise them to steal, nor would he steal himself, but left them to put their own construction upon it. They all rose up and shouted ; and then they went towards Lord Granville's collieries. Those around the platform appeared to be leading the others. I followed them down ; and at the first pit the engine was stopped. After the last engine was stopped, they ordered myself and some others who were stand- ing on a bank looking on, to come down and join them. Many had very large cudgels. I accompanied them a little distance and got away."

Other witnesses deposed to the arrival of the same mob at Mr. Parker's house ; which they reduced to a mere shell. One of them ad- mitted, on cross-examination by Cooper, that there were persons stand- ing outside the house who seemed to be looking on out of curiosity.

Cooper addressed the Jury at considerable length; describing his pre- vious life and conduct to show that he would be one of the last to coun- tenance violence. He declared that he condemned the destruction of property; he had counselled the working-people to preserve the peace. He denied, with solemn adjurations, that he was in the streets on the night of the fire. He called witnesses to prove an alibi; and they de- posed to his being in the George and Dragon from nine o'clock till midnight. One witness said, that while Cooper was at the George and Dragon some one came in and said that Forester's was all in flames ; and Cooper said he was very sorry for it. During the examination of the witnesses, Cooper remarked that some "respectable persons" on the Bench were "perpetually smiling and laughing at the answers of the witnesses." At first Sir Nicholas Tindal said, "I have seen nothing of the kind ; and the Jury I am sure are only attending to the evidence." Subsequently, when Cooper repeated the complaint, the Chief Justice said, " I am sorry that any persons should make any dis- play of feeling in a court of justice, either one way or the other." On Thursday, the case closed with Cooper's acquittal. He declared that his alibi was "as true as the Gospel "; and thanked the Judge and Jury for the pains they had taken with his case ; apologizing to the Chief Justice for having interrupted him once or twice in the course of his summing up, in order to point out circumstances in his own favour.

It is said that he is to be again tried for sedition.

Some amusement was occasioned on Friday, by an application for an order to admit into the Court a Mr. Peplow, clerk to Mr. Roberts, a Chartist attorney, who had been refused entrance on the ground that he was a Chartist. Chief Justice Tindal gave the necessary directions; observing, that for his own part he did not know what a Chartist was.

A plot was detected, on Thursday, among the prisoners in Stafford Gaol, to escape from prison. A letter was written by a prisoner under sentence to the Governor of the gaol, Mr. Brutton, disclosing the pro- ject: a strong military guard was immediately stationed round the

building, and artillery was placed within. The ringleader is said to be Henry Ellis, under sentence of transportation for burning Dr. Vale's house. The plan was, to seize the wardsman, capture sixty stand of arms known to be in the gaol, make prisoners of the officers, and libe- rate all the Chartists.

The business of the Cheshire Commission closed on Saturday. The individual cases possessed very little interest. Several prisoners were convicted of rioting and felony in a plundering attack on the Stock- port Workhouse. One was sentenced to transportation for four- teen years ; three others, for seven years ; and the rest to terms of in. prisonment, with hard labour, varying from one to two years. Other prisoners were convicted of riots at Marple and elsewhere ; the highest sentence being transportation for ten years, the lowest three months' imprisonment with hard labour.

Lord Abinger, Baron Alderson, and Sir Cresswell Cresswell, opened the Special Commission for Lancashire, at Liverpool, on Monday. The calendar contained the names of 117 prisoners.

Lord Abinger's charge to the Grand Jury was a second edition of that which he delivered at Chester. After some general remarks on the necessity of repressing lawless assemblages, he enlarged on the causes of the distress-

" You are aware, gentlemen, that occasional reverses in the tide of prosperity in a manufacturing and commercial nation must occur; and that when they occur they must produce, to a greater or less extent, much distress and priva- tion among the labouring classes. I presume that the state of the country for some months, if not for some years back, may be traced to some of these checks in the tide of commercial and manufacturing prosperity. Much has been said of the privations to which the working classes have been reduced ; and I make no doubt that they are considerable; fur it cannot be denied that many of the usual channels of trade have been interrupted, and that there was existing a general feeling of despondency among commercial men as to the advantage of engaging in commercial enterprises, the result of which was attended with great uncertainty : but, I am bound to say, from the experience I have acquired as to the history of this insurrection in a neighbouring county, that that distress has been greatly exaggerated. It does not appear, from any evidence which I have hitherto seen or read, that the parties engaged in these excesses either complained of the high price of provisions or the want of labour."

He then considered "what gave rise to the immediate occurrence which was the commencement of these transactions," which he said had not been ascertained ; and he touched on the political ecoaomy of wages- " Whether it was owing to the imprudence or indiscretion of any master- manufacturers—whether it originated in the schemes of any persons, who con- sidered that a general turn-out would tend to the advancement of their own political objects—or whether, when the disturbances commenced, they were not checked so early as might have been done by greater activity on the part of the Magistrates—all these are circumstances at present left in obscurity, and which i can be developed by time alone. But it s certain from the information to which I have referred, that the disaffection of the labouring classes does not seem to originate in any voluntary feeling (if I may so express myself) of their own respecting their privations or the high price of provisions. They all seemed to be sensible that the rate of wages must depend on the price of provi- sions; and I think it is evident that they saw that those who promised them an increase of wages, by a diminution of the price of corn, were not persons to be trusted."

Among the labourers were many "possessing considerable power and some talent," who had a disposition to make use of the insurrection for political objects ; and among them "a society of persons who are recognized by the name of Chartists "—

" Instead of telling the persons engaged in these disturbances that their con- duct would probably make their condition worse, they endeavoured to persuade them that the true:remedy for all their grievances was the adoption of what they call the Charter,—which appears to be principally aimed at a larger re- form of Parliament than has already been adopted ; and in defiance of the pro- mises, and no doubt the sincere hopes, of those patriots who introduced and carried the late reform of Parliament, that it was to be a final, efficacious, and satisfactory measure of reform, these infatuated persons (for they also must be

infatuated) have formed an opinion, grounded on what foundations I know not, that a representation created by universal suffrage and vote by ballot, to- gether with the payment of Members of Parliament, would be a panacea for all evils; and endeavoured to inculcate these doctrines on the assembled multitudes

they addressed, and to persuade them that to perpetuate the insurrection against their masters, and to make it universal, was the best means of getting the Charter. They mixed up with their orations many affected recommenda- tions to peace and order ; but, gentlemen, you will find these recommendations always accompanied by false and exaggerated statements of the general feeling of the country."

He pointed out that Government might have framed the charge against the rioters as the graver one of high treason- " The people were told that all England was in arms ; that Scotland was pouring forth hundreds of thousands of men ; that Ireland was coming to

the battle ; and that the men of Birmingham, to the number of 100,000, armed

with steel and fearless of the force of the military, were ready to join them and carry the day. These are circumstances which plainly show that these parties endeavoured to delude the multitudes they addressed with the notion that their force was becoming irresistible, and that they might effect their ob- jects by alarming the Legislature, or by imposing restraint even on the Sove- reign. I must say, gentlemen, that if these conspiracies, having such purposes n view, bad been made the subject of prosecutions for high treason, the conse- quences might have been serious indeed to the parties concerned. I sin at a loss to know what distinction there is between a conspiracy to subvert the Government, and impose force and restraint on all the branches of the Legis- lature on purpose to have a particular measure passed into law, and the crime of high treason. By the law of this country, the crime of high treason is tech-

nically limited to an attempt on the life of the Sovereign, or to raising war on the Sovereign ; but the Judges have from the earliest times considered that a conspiracy to levy war and to employ force to restrain the will of the Sovereign is an overt act of high treason, and, if satisfactorily proved, is sufficient to justify a jury, when combined with the intention of really imposing restraint on the Sovereign, in finding it to be high treason."

He gave big view as to what constitutes an unlawful assembly- " A great deal has been said at different times as to what should be con- sidered an unlawful assembly ; and I am sorry, to say, that what has taken place in this country has given rise to discussion on the point both in courts of law and in Parliament. But one thing is clear, that an assembly consisting of

such multitudes as to make all discussion and debate ridiculous and a farce, never can be assembled for the purpose of deliberate and calm discussion. WiU

any person in his senses say that when a man assembles together 3,000 or 4,000 individuals, he does so to form a deliberative assembly, to discuss speculative points either of law or government ? Such a profession would carry with it Its own refutation. lf, therefore, an assembly consists of such multitudes as to render all notion of serious debate impossible,—or, if you find that at such an assembly all attempts at debate are put down, and that the only object of the parties is to hear one side,—the meeting ceases to be an assembly for delibera- tion, and cannot protect itself under that pretension."

The Jury, he said, would decide on their own judgment whether or not the violent and inflammatory speeches which would be submitted to them were of a tendency to produce disturbance. An allusion to the placard issued at Manchester on the 17th of August recalled him to the subject of the Chartists- " For this purpose, they propose those changes which I have before referred to, the adoption of the principles of the Charter; that is to say, they desire that the labouring classes who have no property, should make laws for those who have property—that the labouring classes, who have shown by their recent conduct that they will exercise a tyranny over their fellow-labourers, should make laws for the protection of labour. These persons never take into con- sideration, that the very object of law and civilized society is the protection of property from the outrages of one or more individuals, and the protection of person from the violence of those who attack it. They show by the example of their own conduct, by the violation of the law by which they live, bow little calculated they are to compose a Legislature like that which they aim at as the result of the Charter. The consequence of the success of their endeavours would be, not a reform of Parliament, but a subversion of the Government ; because everybody who reflects on such things knows, that the establishment of any popular assembly entirely devoted to Democratic principles, and elected by persons the vast majority of whom possess no property but live by means of manual labour, would be inconsistent with the existence of the Monarchy and the Aristocracy. Its first aim would be the destruction of property and the overthrow of the Throne; and the result would be the creation of a tyranny so intolerable that the very persons who assisted in establishing it would be the first to put it down; and out of the confusion which would ensue would pos- sibly result a military despotism. You will excuse me for using this language to gentlemen of your description; but I cannot help expressing my deep con- cern, that some of the persons who propagate these doctrines appear to have talent enough to know the consequences to which they must lead, and yet per • severe in attempting to delude the people, for some private objects of their own—perhaps in the hope of acquiring some consequence for themselves, or actuated by malice against the success of those who have left them at a dis- tance in the competition of honourable industry."

Here followed an eulogium on the British constitution— "Who can say in the county of Lancaster, that labour wants protection from the law ; that working-men, even of the lowest description, if they possess diligence, talents, and application, may not arrive at the highest honours of the state ? How many examples are there of persons who, in a class of society not superior to many of those who form the objects of the present prosecu- tions, have acquired by their talent and frugality, fortunes, honours, and dis- tinctions, under the fair fabric of the British constitution, which these unhappy men are desirous to destroy ; a constitution the only one in the world which, as is known from repeated examples, properly protects labour—which gives the poor man, if his talents are but exercised with diligence, sense, and frugality, an opportunity of rising to independence and fortune ? "

The Judges sat in three separate Courts. The particular cases hitherto brought before the Commission have possessed scarcely any interest ; being merely detailed repetitious of the scenes enacted during the riots, only of less interest, because the general narrative is broken up into dry brief accounts of the acts of individual rioters. Several prisoners were convicted of an attack on the mill of Messrs. Birley, which was so often mentioned during the disturbances. Mr. Feargus O'Connor was allowed to traverse till the next Assizes, without personally appearing ; being absent on account of ill-health. The following prisoners also, recently committed for seditious conspi- racy from Manchester, traversed to the next Assizes ; being in the meantime ordered to find bail— James Scholefield, James Leech, Christopher Doyle, John Campbell, Bernard M'Cartney, Richard ()Ulu, George Julian Harney,William Hill, [editor of the Northern Star,] Robert Brook, John Thornton, Thomas Brown Smith, James Allinson, Samuel Parke, Thomas Renton, William Scholefield, Richard Pill- ing, [the same, we believe, who boasted that he originated the strike at Staley- bridge, which led to the march from Ashton to Manchester on the 9th of Au- gust,] John Durham, James Fenton, William Stephenson, John Crowley, Albert Woolvender, George Inman, Thomas Storer, William Woodruff, Thomas Pit, Frederick Augustus Taylor, John Wilde, and John Massy.

John Turner pleaded " Guilty " to the charge of printing, at Man- chester, a seditious placard, "The Address of the Executive Commit- tee of the Chartist Association." Having expressed contrition for the offence he had committed, he was discharged, on his recognizance of 100/, and two sureties of 501. each.

As elsewhere, the indictments were frequently put in the form of ac- cusations not directly of the riot, but of incidental offences. For in- stance, Edward Knowles was indicted for stealing ten pieces of wood- . " On the 9th of August last, said the Attorney-General, a large mob marched into Manchester, and took possession of every part of the town. On the 10th all business was suspended, and the mob marched about doing pretty much as they pleased. On that day, several persons went to the Bolton Railway-station, and there determined to turn out the hands employed in that branch of busi- ness. The prisoner, upon that occasion, helped himself to a piece of timber, took an axe and cut the wood up into bludgeons, for the purpose of serving those who were assisting him in the general riot with weapons of offence or of defence against the authorities if they were attacked. Now we apprehend that the taking this piece of wood, for the purpose to which it was turned, was as much stealing as if the prisoner had taken it for the purpose of selling it and putting the money in his pocket."

Knowles was convicted, and sentenced to transportation for:seven years.

Here is a specimen of another of the riots. Two young men, Stacey, and Tear, were indicted for riot at Salford, on the 12th of August : the evidence of the witness is thus summed up— "A large mob attacked Seger and Dewhurst's dye-works, and turned out their hands. They then proceeded to the works of Messrs. Wilson and Co. At Se- ger and Dewhurst's, nearly 2,000 panes of glass were destroyed, and the exterior damage amounted to upwards of 801. At Wilson and Co.'s works, they broke 1,195 panes of glass, besides lamps in the yard and other things. The youth Sta- cey was an apprentice at Wilson's, and had received wages during the twelve or fifteen months preceding the riots, to the amount of more than 40/. Sometimes he. had earned I/. per week, and sometimes only 5s. per week, his average wages being 12s. For about three weeks before the riot, he had only received 5.1. per week ; but he had never less than 5s. per week whether he worked or not. His father, who was employed in the same factory, earned much more wages than he did, the average being about 1/. a week. During the riots, he said that he would rather be transported than continue at his present occupation."

They were both convicted.

The Leeds Mercury of Saturday reported that M`Douall the Char- tist had been taken into custody at Guernsey ; but we do not hear any thing more of the fugitive.

It is said, the Chartists of Sntton-in-Ashfield are so disappointed at the result of the late strike, and disgusted with their leaders, that they have had a tea-drinking and mock funeral procession to bury the Charter.

The Merthyr colliers are now permitted to work their "full ratio "; but the condition of the miners is as bad as ever, for the slight reduction that has taken place in the price of provisions is evidently no advantage at all to the unemployed, who have not wherewithal' to purchase them. A new furnace at Ynysfach was recently put on blast ; and will perhaps in some degree benefit the western part of Merthyr, by affording a little more employment to some of the hundreds of honest artisans who are now willing to work, but yet, being unable to obtain it, are half- famished.— Welchman.

A dangerous accident happened to Sir William Geary, at Oxonhoath , on Thursday week. On entering his dressing-room, he fell over a glass screen, and a large pointed fragment inflicted a bad wound behind the right side of the jaw, severing a principal branch of the carotid artery. By the direction of Lady Geary, her maid, a Swiss, tightly compressed the wound with her hands, until medical assistance arrived. The carotid artery was tied. Sir William remains in a dangerous condition.

On Tuesday last, the body of an elderly gentleman, named Mills, a resident at Portishead, was found drowned in a pond in that parish. Mr. M. left his home on the previous day, saying he was going to visit a friend at Portbury. Although rich, he was of very penurious habits ; and it is believed that the dread of having to pay the Income-tax weighed on his mind, and led him to commit suicide.—Bristol Mercury.

Eliza Bailey, who was charged at Union Hall, some time back, with robbing Mr. John Marquis, at Preston in Lancashire, and liberated for want of evidence, has again been seized and examined before the Magistrates at Birkenhead. Mr. Marquis lost two 500/. notes and nine 100/. notes ; which were stolen in his pocket-book, out of his coat breast-pocket, by a man and woman with whom he entered into con- versation, in the streets of Preston, on the evening of the 4th September. Witnesses deposed that, on the 6th September, a 100/. and a 101. were found at the Railway Inn in Birkenhead, after Bailey and a man who was with her had left the inn ; and that Bailey had, on the 5th Septem- ber, hired a lodging at Preston for a week, a man being with her at the time. At the previous examinations in Loudon, evidence was given of Bailey's having attempted to sell a 500/. note. She was committed for trial at the next Knutsford Sessions.