Zbe fOrobintes.

Mr. Disraeli is continuing his round of visits to the electors of Bucking- hamshire; expounding to the farmers his political sentiments in his own mystical and brilliant literary style of eloquence, and regaling them with delicious flatteries on the historic renown of the county. At Amersham, on Tuesday, he dined with the farmers who attended the market, and after dinner seasoned the wine in this fashion— "As to' the North governing England, I find, from the history of this county, that everything great in political life—everything favourable to public liberty— everything favourable to Parliamentary reputation and power—everything fa- vourable to the national greatness—has been conceived, matured, and exercised in this county. (Loud cheers.) The county of Buckingham had always taken a lead in the political fortunes of this country. The Parliamentary constitution of England was born in the bosom of the Chiltern Hills; as to this clay our Par- liamenta7 career is terminated among its Hundreds. (Cheers and laughter.) The Parliamentary constitution of England was established when Mr. Hampden rode up to Westminster surrounded by his neighbours. Buckinghamshire did that for England. It has done inure. It gave us the British constitution in the seventeenth century, and it created the British empire in the eighteenth. AU the great statesmen of that century were born, or bred, or lived in this county. Throw your eye over the list—it is a glorious one—from Shelburne to Grenville. Travel from Wycombe to Buckingham, from the first Lord Lansdowne, the most accomplished Minister this country ever produced, to the last of our classic states- men. Even the sovereign genius of Chatham was nursed in the groves of Stowe, and amid the temple quam dilecta of Cobham; and it was beneath his oaks at Beaconfield that Mr. Burke poured forth those divine effusions that vindicated the social system and reconciled the authority of law with the liberty of men. (Great cheering.) And in our own time, faithful to its character and its mission, amid a great Parliamentary revolution, Buckinghamshire called a new political dos into existence, and enfranchised you and the farmers of England by the (Mandell clause." (Vehement cheering.) Mr. Cobden has issued, from Venice, an address to the electors of Stock- port, soliciting a renewal of their suffrages. It is a document of great simplicity and plainness, without pretension of any kind— Mr. Cobden regrets that the electors should have to exercise their franchise at a period of great manufacturing idepression. He remarks, however, that the ca- lamity under which they labour is shared by almost the whole of Europe. Free trade could not avert a sudden and calamitous visitation of Providence; it can only alleviate its pressure: and the soundness of Free-trade principles is proved by the fact, that the Governments of the Continent, almost without exceptim, abolished their multiform regulations of the corn-trade at the moment when; if their interference be ever efficacious, it was most needed—" we see them now re- lying on emancipated commerce alone for saving their people from the horrors of famine." The scarcity will in all human probability be of short duration, and the sudden reaction may protract the transition from the restrictive system to a more equable state of freedom: the exorbitant prices of the scarcity will produce a larger growth and a glut; a similar process will affect the value of freights— some shipowners having cleared the value of their ships in a single year. It will therefore need men of tried convictions to withstand the effect of reaction on the Free-trade question. On that ground, "with renewed health," Mr. Cobden offers himself for reelection.

He concludes with a slight allusion to general affairs—" Gentlemen, if at this distance I do not attempt to enter upon the discussion of other matters, it is not because I sin insensible of the importance of the questions which must at the earliest possible moment engage the attention of the Legislature; foremoitt among which is the state of Ireland. I will only add, that in every question brought before Parliament, I shall, to the best of my humble ability, act upcsi the principle of doing equal justice to my fellow countrymen in every part of the United Kingdom."

In reply to some inquiries put by a deputation from Liverpool, Lord John Manners has signified that he has no objection to stand for that city, if snob should be the wish of a large body of the constituency. Be thereupon avows his political principles—

The welfare and independence of the Church of England and Ireland are his primary objects; not a mere conservation of her power, but a just method of ena- bling her resources to meet the demands of a growing population. The cause of the Church is not, however, to be promoted by violence or injustice towards those of a different communion. Desiring to act justly by the Roman Catholics, he will still oppose any attempt at State endowment. Lord John adheres to the Govern- ment plan of Education. With reference to commercial matters, he declares him- self adverse to the present vexatious system of excise imposts, and desirous to reduce all customs-duties to the point which will combine the greatest amount of imports with the largest revenue. He considers the Bank Charter Act to require amendment; experience having shown that the machinery is not self-acting.

Dr. Bowring and Mr. John Brooks of Manchester have commenced their electioneering labours in Bolton. They met a large assemblage of the Li- beral electors on Friday week, in the Temperance Hall; the non-electors being admitted into the gallery. Dr. Bowring made a telling speech; and he regained his position on the Ten-hours Bill by declaring his willingness to let it have a fair trial. Ho made a contribution towards hie future bio- graphy— A paper had been circulated in the town, headed "Dr. Bowring and the Track System:' In that paper he was designated a hardy apologist and itinerant sup- porter of the track system—a charlatan, a humbug, gorged on the public purse, fattening on plunder—a needy, seedy fellow; and it was declared that he should be called "Impostor Track Bowring to the end of his days." ("Shame, shame!") Now though he had seldom or never spoken of his private affairs, he might be permitted to state, that he was the managing rtner of a concern which employed 1,200 workmen, and upon whom 5,000 or 6, persons depended. Of their feel- ing towards him he would mention one example. He visited-the locality not long ago: he was received by multitudes on the tops of the hills that overlook the valley where his property is placed; he was escorted to a school-room which the company in which be is a partner had built, and where several hundreds of children are constantly instructed; he was conducted thither without the slightest knowledge of what was to occur; and in the centre, covered with flowers and laurels, there are three superb silver salvers% which those poor people, by small

subscriptions, had purchased to present to him, and the value of which was 100

guineas. The track system !—Iie found the truck system in that valley: he abolished it. (Tremendous cheering.) He was the first man to do so in the dis- trict; and every man in the neighbourhood soon afterwards followed the example. He hoped that the. printers, the publishers, and the circulators of the documeat referred to would mire into these facts; and, if they found than to.be true, act tion. (Loud men, had brought against him an unjust accuse-

like honest men avow that they The chairman read a paper signed " Non-elector," containing the follow- ing questions to both the candidates-

" 1. Will you, if elected, move, second, or support when brought forward, a mo- il= for the People's Charter, whole and entire? 2. Will you vote for the return of Frost, Williams, and Jones, to their native land? 3. Will you pledge yourself to this meeting, that if elected you will on all occasions sacrifice your private, your personal, and your party interests, for the public good?"

Dr. Bowriug answered all the questions in the affirmative; and with re- gard to the last, expressed a hope that the friends of extended and univer- sal suffrage would enable him to show to their opponents that they are worthy of the trust they are seeking. This produced much cheering. Mr. Brooks also was very well received; and the meeting declared both to be fit and proper men for their representatives.

A section of the electors of :Huddersfield have applied with success to Mr. John Cheetham of Staleybridge, to come forward. Mr. Cheetham is described as " a Dissenter, a decided opponent of the Government educa- tion measure, of the doctrine of centralization, and of the extension of Go- wernment patronage."

There seems every prospect of a contest for Halifax. It is understood that Sir Charles Wood and Mr. Protheroe will again come forward. Mr. Ernest Jones, a Radical barrister opposed to the Government plan of edu- cation, is already in the field; and Mr. Edward Wall is expected to stand in the Dissenting interest.

It is presumed that there will be no opposition to the return of Mr. Hutt for Gateshead.

Mr. W. A. Wilkinson has addressed the electors of Sunderland as a thorough Free-trader, and as adverse to the Navigation-laws. Mr. Hudson and Mr. Barclay, the present Members, stand again.

Mr. J. Cr. Smith, of Heath House, near Wakefield, has come forward for York, on Conservative principles, in the room of Sir John Lowther, who retires.

Mr. David Urquhart has offered himself as a candidate for Bridport. He professes Liberal opinions.

Mr. Ackers retires from the representation of Ludlow.

Sir Charles Morgan relinquishes his seat for the borough of Brecon.

Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill will not again offer himself for Wood- stock; and the Marquis of Blandford has come forward to be elected.

It is now expected that Mr. Philpotts will resign; a number of his firmer supporters having signed a declaration of neutrality towards all Members who will not support the views of the Anti-Church Association.

The rather confused state of matters at Cambridge has been freed from some of its complication by the retirement of Mr. Manners Sutton. The Liberal candidates are Mr. Shafto Adair and the Honourable W. F. Campbell.

The Fates seem bent upon disappointing Mr. Salomans. No sooner has he issued his address announcing an intention to stand for Maidstone, than he is forced to issue another address intimating that " circumstances in connexion with the election in 1838, for which he is not and ought not in any way to be made responsible," compel him to decline entering upon a canvass. The "circumstances" alluded to are understood to be a de- mand that Mr. Salcanans should pay the whole amount of the outstanding debts contracted during the contest in 1838; any connexion with the borough on his part having begun in 1841.

..An address to the electors of Maldon has been issued by Mr. T. B. Len- mord: he declares himself a supporter of Liberal opinions.

Mr. Apsley Pellatt, of the Falcon Glass-works in Southwark, has con- aeented to stand for Reading, on the Liberal interest.

Mr. Henry Thomas Hope, who formerly represented Gloucester, has commenced an active canvass for that city. Neither Captain Berkeley nor :kis colleague Mr. Philpotts has yet made a personal 'appeal to their con- intitnents.

Mr. E. J.-Hutchins has come forward as the successor of the Honourable C. F. A. C. Fonsonby. in the representation of Poole. Another candidate `bus also appeared, in the person of Mr. Montague Merryweather Farmer, of Woodcote, in Surrey.

The British Association for the Advancement of Science met, in its seventeenth session, on Wednesday, at Oxford. Hosts of persons distin- .gnished for social standing or scientific attainments poured into the city: among those who have arrived or are expected, besides numbers of English noblemen, literati, and scientific philosophers, are Lucien Bonaparte Prince of Canino, the Chevalier Bunsen, Mr—Bancroft; Count Rosen, M. Nilson, and M. Lansberg, from Sweden and Norway; M. Van der Hoeven, from Holland; M. Ehrenberg, from Prussia; M. Struve, from Russia; and M. Leverrier, from France.

The General Committee assembled on Wednesday morning, for the else,- Sion of officers and the transaction of routine business. The financial re- port was favourable: the year began with a debt of 1251.; there is now a balance in hand of 169L; and the property of the Association is valued at 5,2001.

At three o'clock there was the general meeting, in the Theatre, for the installation of the new President, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, M.P. for the University of Oxford; who was inducted to his post by Sir Roderick Mur- chison, the late President. Sir Robert Inglis's introductory address was distinguished by a tasteful modesty, interesting matter, and a felicitous ex- pression. He dispensed compliments on many sides,—to his predecessor, with whom be deprecated comparisons; to the Reverend Dr. Robinson, Professor Owen, Mr. Robert Brown, and Colonel Sabine, who supplied the materials for the expository part of his speech; and he closed with a happy allusion to the union of religion and science presented by such a meeting in that ancient abode of learning. In the course of this speech Sir Robert made several interesting and important statements on the progress of science— Alluding to the discovery of the planet Neptune and of several new comets, he observed that, by means of the elaborate star-maps now in use, a comet cannot come within range of a telescope, even for a few hours, without being discovered; hence the innumerable additions to the recorded list of those bodies.

The Astronomer Royal had communicated to the Association a most interest- ing discovery. In this communication, Professor Airey, referring to the differences found to exist between the lunar theory and actual observations, and explaining that such differences could only be reconciled by the assumption of some varying error affecting the two epochs of the moods mean longitude, stated that two dis- turbing causes were at length discovered, both attributable to the influence of the

.planet Venus. The doctrine of the influence of the moon and of the sun on the tides was no sooner established than it was thought probable that that influence must have the lighter fluid of air also under its grasp; and it is now clear, as.the result of the observations at St. Helena by Colonel Sabine, that there is a corre- `spending influence on both .flnids—that there are tides in the air, as in the sea, excited by the same causes. The eminent Tuscan philosopher Matteneci has made important discoveries concerning the generation of electric currents by muscular contraction. " Com- bining physical experience with the ordinary course of physiological research, Professor Mattenca has fully established the important fact of the existence of an electrical current, feeble indeed, and such as could only be made manifest by his own delicate galvanoscope, between the deep and the superficial parts of a muscle. Such electric currents pervade every muscle in every species of animal which has been the subject of experiment, and may, therefore, be inferred to be a general phionomenon of living bodies. The delicate experiments of Matteucci on the tor- pedo agree with those made by our own Faraday upon the gymnotus electrkus, in proving that the shocks communicated by those fishes are due to electric cur- rents generated by the electric organs which owe their most immediate and power- ful stimulus to the action of the nerves. In both species of fishes, the electricity generated by the action of their peculiar organized batteries—besides its benumb- ing and stunning effects on living animals—renders the needle magnetic, decom- poses chemical compounds, emits the spark, and exercises all the known powers of electricity."

A kindred subject is the influence of ether on the human frame. " It would seem that the stimulns of ether applied largely or continuously is full of danger; and that weak constitutions are sometimes unable to rally and recover from it; bat that when the influence is allowed to extend no further than to the suspen- sion of sensation, the recovery is as a general rule complete. It is this remarkable property of ether which will long place the name of Dr. Jackson, its author, and that of Dr. Morton, its chief promoter, among the benefactors of our common nature."

The researches commenced by Professor Owen, in 1838, into the minute struc- ture of fossil teeth, have led to extensive discoveries in the microscopic tissues of animal bodies. "The hairs of the different mammalian animals also offer to the microscopical anatomist a field -of observation. Exact knowledge of the nature of the retina, of the vitreous and crystalline humours, and of other delicate con- stituents of the organ of vision, has been remarkably advanced by the skilful use of the improved microscopes of the present day. Among the proposed arrange- ments of the Association at its present meeting, one evening (Tuesday the 29th,) will be specially devoted to an exhibition of microscopic objects. The most bril- liant result of microscopic anatomical research has been the actual observation of the transit of the blood from the arteries to the veins, proving Harvey's doctrine of the circulation of the blood."

Thanks for this address were moved by the Marquis of Northampton, and seconded by Chevalier Bunsen; who made the welcome announcement that Alexander von Humboldt is convalescent.

At a special meeting of the Liverpool Town-Council, on Monday; trto- port was read recommending a very large reduction of dock-dues. [WC took occasion to animadvert on the excessive dock-dues at Liverpool, in the Spectator for the 10th of April.] The Staffordshire Advertiser has put forward a distinct and positive contra- diction of the statement which went the round of the London papers last week as to the insecurity of a bridge of the Trent Valley Railway across the Tame at Tamworth. " It is perfectly true that the bridge has been erected on the same principle as the one over the Dee at Chester, where the late melancholy accident occurred; but it may be mentioned,that whilst the span of the latter was nine feet, that of the former is only seventy feet. Notwithstanding which, to satin the public mind, this and several other bridges on the Trent Valley line are being greatly strengthened; a precaution on the part of the directors which will, no doubt, be fully appretiated by the public."

The adjourned inquest at Nutbourne on the body of Gregory, an engine-driver of the South Coast Railway, was resumed on Tuesday last: it will be remembered that the man was killed by an accident on the 81st of May. The witnesses ex- amined were engine-drivers, Mr. Kirtley, superintendent of locomotives, and some persons who had been passengers. The evidence chiefly turned upon the question whether a certain engine, numbered 40, was safe. It was one of four built on Mr. Stephenson's plan; and it was described as a "jumping" engine—that is, it shook with a motion up and down. It was said that one of the engine-drivers, Johnson, had expressed a fear of riding on the engine; but the fact appeared to be, that he was discharged for contumaciously refusing to allow two drivers to go with him on an engine in order that they might become acquainted with tbe road. Hee- keth, formerly an engine-driver, said that the engine number 40 was more affected than others by any badness of the road; but he did not think that it would go off the rail on a straight line, unless something happened to the road. It came odt that the engine had been altered, by making the springs more rigid, in order to render it more steady; but the alteration had the contrary effect, and the engine was to have been restored to its original state. A surgeon deposed, that Peel the stoker, though recovering his bodily strength, was so shaken in mind as to be in- capable of appearing as a witness, but he might be better in a month. Accord- ingly, the inquest was adjourned Until the 3d of August.

Another fatal accident has happened at Nutbourne. While Barnard, a signal- men stationed at the Drift Lane level crossing, was signalling a train, another came up on the other line; the man was confused by the two trains, and in at- tempting to cross the rails he was Struck by an engine, and killed. The trains were both keeping time, and it was usual to pass each other at this spot.

As a goods-train on the Great Western Railway was ascending an incline near Wootton Bassett, last week, during the night, with one engine in front and one in the rear, the fore-part of a timber-carriage became disconnected, and the first engine posted off with this and a few trucks; one end of the timber fell upon the ground, and, burying itself in the soil, formed an obstacle to the progress of. the second half of the train. The driver of theiastengine, thinking it was the ascent which caused an obstruction, put on the steam, and drove the waggons over each other with tremendous force. There was a great wreck; and eighty-one sheep and lambs and a calf were killed. None of the railway people were hurt.

Another accident happened on this line on Monday afternoon. As the express- train approached Reading from the West, at its usual rapid rate, the ash-box of the engine, a new one, came off; the luggage-van, which was placed immediately behind the tender, was upset, and the carriages were thrown off the line: yet, though the.passengers were violently jostled and dreadfully alarmed, not one was hurt. The line was torn up to a large extent.

The Bishopstoke and Salisbury branch of the South-western Railway has been unfortunate in disasters, arising, apparently, from deficiency in the works. Very early on Sunday morning, a great number of labourers were set to work to secure a tottering viaduct over the Avon, near Salisbury; the stone coping and some brick-work were taken down, and large pieces of timber were placed under the

arches to support them. It is therefore hoped that the rebuilding of the arches may be earned on without obstructing the general traffic over the same, or any se- rious accident happening." A large building at Salisbury intended for the re- ception of goods has been found incapable of supporting the slates necessary to cover it in! " A few days since, this ill-built place was examined by Mr. Locke, the company's engineer, and other gentlemen connected with the company; when the works were condemned, and all the men ordered off; Mr. Fisher, a builder of Salisbury, having been appointed to either rebuild or so far strengthen the works as to make them safe. Many are of opinion that all must come down."

On Wednesday morning, a disaster occurred in a clay cutting about three miles from Salisbury. While a number of men were at work, a ponderous mass of earth fell down, burying some of the people; two were much hurt. Many accidents have occurred at this spot.

There has been some rioting at Windsor, terminating, apparently, in the victory of the mob. On one side of the town is a piece of public land called the "Bache- lors' Acre:" the Commissioners of Pavements began to sink a well on this land: daring the night, the excavation was filled up. The following day, the work was recommenced; but in the evening a mob collected, began to fill up the shaft; and when the police attempted to interfere, the mob fairly drove them away. The well was filled; a flag planted over the spot; and the people marched round the Acre. It seems that the Commissioners have succumbed; the apparatus for sinking the well having been removed.

Parsons and Ilickton, two of the Policemen charged with perjury and conspi- racy at the Dagenham inquest on Policeman Clark, who was found murdered, have absconded; and Government has offered a reward of 50L for their apprehen- sion.

An extensive fire has occurred at Liverpool; by which the Vauxhall Mills, ten stories in height, and maimed with Indian corn and meal, have been utterly consumed.