tkr , frouintro.
'The representation of Chester, vacant by the promotion of Sir John Jervis to the bench, has been filled up by the election of a Whig, after a sharp contest. The candidates were Mr. William Owen Stanley, son of Lord Stanley of Alderley, and Mr. C. E. Egerton. At the nomination, on Saturday, Mr. Egerton declared he would tread in the footsteps of his namesake, Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egirton, and never cease to pro- mote the welfare of Chester. Mr. Stant sy referred to his support of rail- ways in the neighbourhood as proof of his local claims on the gratitude of the constituency ; and reminded the electors that this was the first eontested election since the death of the lamented Sir Robert Peel— 'would they do anything to reverse what might be called his last benedic- tien and his dying belief? The show of hands was in favour of Stanley. The polling commenced on Monday, in favour of Mr. Egerton but at noon it had turned in favour of Stanley, and ended in his return, by 986 votes to 645. At the last contested election for Chester, the Whig and Tory candidates polled 800 votes and 300 votes respectively. 'The representation of Chester, vacant by the promotion of Sir John Jervis to the bench, has been filled up by the election of a Whig, after a sharp contest. The candidates were Mr. William Owen Stanley, son of Lord Stanley of Alderley, and Mr. C. E. Egerton. At the nomination, on Saturday, Mr. Egerton declared he would tread in the footsteps of his namesake, Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egirton, and never cease to pro- mote the welfare of Chester. Mr. Stant sy referred to his support of rail- ways in the neighbourhood as proof of his local claims on the gratitude of the constituency ; and reminded the electors that this was the first eontested election since the death of the lamented Sir Robert Peel— 'would they do anything to reverse what might be called his last benedic- tien and his dying belief? The show of hands was in favour of Stanley. The polling commenced on Monday, in favour of Mr. Egerton but at noon it had turned in favour of Stanley, and ended in his return, by 986 votes to 645. At the last contested election for Chester, the Whig and Tory candidates polled 800 votes and 300 votes respectively.
Sir Robert Peel has issued an address to the constituency of Tamworth, thanking them for his election. With respect to his political principles, he writes as if cautiously advised- ' You have received from me no more specific declaration of my political opinions than that contained in my former address ; and I am sure you would be as unwilling to fetter my actions, as an independent Member, as I should have been to pledge myself to any particular course, which, in the rapid progress of public opinion, might hereafter be proved inconsistent With the interests of the country. I trust, however, after a certain lapse of time, when you will have had an opportunity of reviewing my conduct in Par- liament, you may agree that I have discharged my duties in a manner worthy the approbation of my constituents, and entitling me to a continu- ance of those favours I now so sincerely acknowledge."
Mr. Roebuck attended-in the Town-hall of Sheffield on Thursday, to offer those annual explanations respecting his representative trust, which his predecessor Mr. Ward established a custom of giving to the con- stituency of that borough. A large public meeting assembled, under the presidency of the Mayor. In the first place, Mr. Roebuck defended his arraigned vote for the 24,0001. to the family of the Duke of Cambridge. As the majority of the people are in favour of Monarchy, it is but justice to make a suitable provision for the Monarchical family. Secondly, he defended his non-attendance at the meet- ings of the Parliamentr.try and Financial Association. His arena is the House of Commons : it is easy to speak to applauding hearers, but diffictilt to state boldly, fairly, freely, and decorously, your opinions where all the prejudices of ancient education and i-dividual ambition are against you. In opening his address he impliedlv impeached the value of the usage which had brought him there. The often-cited example of Andrew Marvel has become less applicable, as the post-office, the railway, and the telegraph, have brought the Metropolis into daily communication with places which in Marvel's time were a month or six weeks in receiving Metropolitan news. Every vote now given is published next morning before the voter's eyes are open ; his acts are now better known through the press than if he came down once a week to give his own version of them : he need not therefore thrust himself upon his constituents unless some very important matter calls for him.
Of the few things he had to remark, the first would regard his prophetic view of the political history of the next year. He must frankly_ say, that with the present Administration he is by no means satisfied. He neither agrees with many portions of their international policy nor with their policy on our internal concerns ; and if, instead of being at the end we were now at the beginning of the session, we should find that the great principles of free trade and liberal government are in daily, hourly danger.
"The present Administration is, unfortunately, in all its good purposes undecided : it is in its aspirations for liberal government so lukewarm, that the slumbering power of the House of Lords, which is ever directed against liberal government, has reared its front, and has awakened its energies; and next year, so sure as Parliament meets, you will find that those energies will be directed both against free trade and liberal government generally. . . . . There must be no lukewarmness either as regards free trade or the Irish or the English franchise. These three things will be made the battle- field next year ; and you will have this Administration, so sure as it meet! in February, put day after day in a minority in the House of Lords ; and every act of theirs, whether good or bad, will be shipwrecked by that body." The Attorney-General, on his reglection at Davenport, unequivocally stated this ; he saw that this division dispute, and eager fight, will take place. A great interest is about to be jeopardized because of the lukewarmnesa of some ot those who will have to conduct the fight on our aide. It is to be hoped the feeling abroad will have its influence, and that we shall have an Irish fran- chise that deserves the name, and a proposal to make a large addition to the English suffinge : in the face of the feeling of the country in favour of these proposals, the House of Lords will not dare to interpose between the people and their representatives. As to the possibility lately referred to, that the House of Lords may be regarded with contempt—if ever he felt a tendener to look with anything but favour on them, it was when lately he saw that the despots abroad found their chief support among them ; "when the battle for Russia, for Austria, for Prussia, was fought there and successfully fought, and when-our only hope to prevent the down-sinking of the heart of every liberal-minded man in Europe was by getting an opposite expression of opi- nion by the House of Commons." In the latter House, Ministers themselves impeded the progress of substantial legislation, by their multitudinous and disorderly presentation, day by day, of fresh measures which it was im- possible to carry out by their own want of order and energy, they thus did more mischief than if they had done nothing—careless alike of the enor- mous expense to the country and disappointment to the public mind. But the Members of the House further increase this confusion of ostensible business without real progress. Mr. Cobden has stated how he nightly wstehed for a chance to be on the ballot. Mr. Roebuck has done the same, as fruit- lessly: for when his opportunity at last came, he had broken down, 'through previous application and fatiguing attendance. There is a set of Members who have a fancy and pleasure to see their names always on the books of the House ; twenty or thirty of them are ever on the watch for their insignificant mo- tions, which deprive ethers of their fair share of opportunity for the most important sub.jeets The country gentlemen, perpetually forestalled by this crowd, despaired of getting a day for their Malt-tax discussion. "Under these circumstances, ten of them, I think, combined together, and every one of them put his hand into the box, with the full intention that the first of them that was called should give the Malt-tax for diacussicm ; and that was the only way in which they were enabled to get the discussion. They got it, and they were beaten, as you all know. If I could get ten friends to de the same with respect to the Irish Church, I should fancy I had a very de- cent minmity to go out into the lobby of the House of Commons with.' In conclusion he said—" You know what I have done for you ; you know the principles upon which I have acted. The time will come—it may come more rapidly than some of us, or at least some of you, expect—when you will be again called upon to select your representatives. If the sample that I have given you in the last two sessions be not to your liking, you will than have the remedy in your own hands. I am frank with you—you will then be frank with me. I cannot alter my course of conduct, because that course of conduct is the result of a good deal of calm reflection. The principles whch have governed that conduct you know. The conduct itself has been before you. If it suits you, you know how to reward the servant; if it does not suit you, you know how to punish bins." Mr. Roebuck's speech was very warmly received, and much interrupted by cheers. It was unanimously resolved, "That the best thanks of this meeting are hereby given to John Arthur Roebuck, Esq., for his inde- pendent conduct in Parliament, and for his attendance here this day." A correspondence has taken place between Viscount Adare, M.P., and the Glamorganshire Protection Club, relative to the future course his Lordship intends taking upon the great question of protection to agricul- ture and British industry. The vagueness of his Lordship reply has determined the Club to withdraw from him their panacei support.--•
ltforning Post.
A silver mine has recently been discovered at Tytherington, near Thorn- bury, Gloucestershire. Scientific gentlemen and others have come down from London for the purpose of inspecting it, and it is stated that they have most encouraging prospects.—Times.
At Worcester Assizes, on Saturday, Thomas Somerton, a baker, was tried for perjury. Somerton had been fined for trespassing after game at White- lady's Aston, in Oxfordshire, on the information of Thomas Petford junior ; subsequently, Somerton laid an information against Petford's father for shooting game without a licence ; he swore that he shot two partridges on the 1st of January, at White-Lady's Aston. This was the alleged perjury. Seven witnesses deposed that Mr. Petford was at Birmingham on that day. But four other persons swore, for the defence, that they had seen him in the village on the 1st of January. Somerton was found guilty, and sentenced to be transported for seven years. At Huntingdon Assizes, last week, John Mynott was tried for the man- slaughter of Thomas Houlditch, at St. lye's. The prisoner was an inn- keeper and horse-dealer ; at St. lye's fair, in March last, he was walking about the streets, flourishing and smacking his whip ; Houlditch came up on a spirited mare Mynott showed her the whip ; the rider said the mare would throw him if Mynott did that, and threatened to dismount and hit the dealer if he did not desist. Mynott did so for a time. But at a subse- quent period of the day, he flourished his whip behind the mare, frightened her, and she ran away ; knocked down an old man in the road, and at length fell on her rider, who died soon after from a fractured skull. The prisoner was convicted. 31r. Baron Alderson said he had no doubt that Mynott now deeply regretted his misconduct; but he must be punished. Suppose Sir Robert Peel's death had arisen from similar misconduct by any person, how much he would have had to lament it ! Sentence, six weeks' imprisonment.
William Muff and five other young men were tried for conspiring to injure and ruin Cornelius Robinson in his trade, and to deter and prevent others from working for him. Mr. Robinson was a tailor at St. lye's ; he wanted to reduce the wages of his journeymen, of whom the prisoners were a portion; the whole "struck." They not only did this, but prevented " tramps " from entering the town, so as to cut off that supply of workmen ; and when Mr. Robinson had hired men from London, paying their fares and giving them 22. 6d. each, only one came ; and he went away again in a few hours, fear- ing a broken head from the "strike" men. The prisoners had threatened to rum Robinson. Eventually, a compromise was effected ; the prisoners agree- ing to a verdict of "Guilty," and entering into reeognizances to come up for judgment if the offence were repeated. Mr. Cooper remarked that they had acted in ignorance of the law. Mr. Baron Alderson—"I dare say : now they know it, and I hope they will act accordingly hereafter. If they re- peat this conduct they will be punished, and very severely too."
At York Assizes, on Friday and Saturday, William Ross, a youth of nine- teen, was tried for the murder of his wife Mary, by administering to her ar- senic in treacle. The prisoner married Mary Bottomley at Easter 1849; subsequently, he and his wife went to live at Roughton, a village on the bor- ders of Yorkshire, where the woman's family were settled. After a time, Ross disagreed with the Bottomleys ; he charged his mother-in-law and her son with robbery of their ledger; they were sent to prison, but at the Ses- sions the Grand Jury ignored the bill against them. Ross was heard to vow vengeance against all the family ; and on the 16th of May last, he bought five ounces of arsenic at Ashton-under-Lyne. Mrs. Ross was entered in two burial-clubs : from one, a penny club, 41. would be paid at her death; from the other, a club at the mill where she worked, 6/. 68. On the 17th of May, Ross quarrelled with his wife, and was heard to say to her, " Thou's worth more dead than quick" ;—on her death fees would be received. On the 28th of May, the wife was taken very ill, with the symptoms of poisoning ; and she died on the 30th. The prisoner would not let a doctor be fetched, but said he would go himself; then he reported that the doctor was not at home, but that he had left a message for him—the fact was, Ross never went to him. He removed his wife from one room to another, and cleared away all traces of the matter she had thrown off her stomach. Immediately after her death, he sent to inquire about the burial-club money. He had talked of going to America if his wife died. When arrested, he made vary- ing statements. A post-mortem examination showed a large quantity of arsenic in the viscera. The Jury soon found a verdict of "Guilty."
prisoner exclaimed with great energy, firmness, and uplifted hands, "Not guilty, my Lord ! not guilty, my Lord !" The Judge told the unhappy youth that his protestations of innocence were useless ; his guilt had been but too clearly proved—" all who have heard the evidence in the case must have in their minds the conviction that yours was the hand which admiiils- tared the fatal draught, and I am as much persuaded of the fact as if I had seen it with my own eyes." The prisoner paid the greatest attention to the Judge, and again loudly exclaimed, with extended arms, "I am not guilty, my I,ord loin not guilty of the crime !"
A disaster similar to that of the Cricket steam-boat in the Thames has occurred at Bristol. The Red Rover, an iron steam-boat of small dimensions, plied for short distances at Bristol ; she was new to that port, but is said to be an old Waterford boat. About half-past eight o'clock on Monday night, she landed her passengers at Hotwell's Wharf, and immediately received another cargo. IfIhen about fifty persons had got on board, and others were following, the boiler exploded ; the vessel was torn to pieces, and a great number of passengers were killed, mangled, or thrown into the water. For- tunately, there were numbers of wherries near the place, and the people in the water were speedily picked up. Ten were already, dead—the engineer of the vessel, six other men, and three children. The wounded were reported to be eighteen in number ; many received fractures of their limbs, others were badly scalded. Two of the wounded people have since died, and others are in danger. An inquest was early began; but after hearing some witnesses, the Coroner ad- journed the inquiry, in order that the excitement might abate and calmer evidence be secured. On Thursday a great many witnesses were examined. Some described the disaster ; others attempted to account for it. The testi- mony on the cause of the explosion was very contradictory. Some said the safety-valve was in a proper state, others that a greater pressure was put on it just previously to the accident. On the 10th May, the boiler was taken out to be repaired ; it then appeared to one man to have been made safe, having been strengthened with stays. Samuel Bowden had intended on Monday night to go on board the boat ; but he refrained, because it was crowded, and because the sound of the whistle showed that the steam-pressure was ulnae. There was no steam escaping from the safety-valve. He induced several perms not to go on board. The boiler was rather small compared with the size of the engines. Mr. James Rawlins said, the boiler was recently thoroughly re- paired, and its strength properly tested. The engineer of the boat had been a blacksmith. Nicholas, a boiler-maker, had inspected the boiler before it was last patched up : it was in a very bad state ; he declared that it could not be repaired to be safe ; but his son, despite his remonstrances, had re- paired it : this very man lost his life by the explosion. Nicholas ascribed the disaster to the thinness of the boiler-plates and the insufficient number of stays : the boiler had always leaked, sometimes putting the fire out. A number of witnesses then expressed a belief that the boiler was safe ; but one
had refused to buy the boat because he thought it unsafe. The Jury viewed the remains of the boiler : it appeared to have been a dilapidated article previous to the explosion.
While the Queen steamer was lying at Devonport recently, to take on board an excursion-party of 200 persons, the boiler exploded, blowing off the quarter-deck and making other havoc. A young man was blown into the water, and perished. Very fortunately, none of the excursionists had em- barked. When the body of Lane, the young man, was recovered, last week, an inquest was held. The disaster seems to have originated in the insuffi- ciency of the " stays " fixed inside the boiler in certain parts. The vessel and machinery had been recently inspected by a Government officer, who re- ported that both were in good order : an engineer who has been examined by the Jury at one of its sittings thought that the insufficiency of the stays should have been perceived by the official.
The South-western Railway excursion-party to Southampton, on Sunday last, were shocked by a fatal accident to one of their number. In conse- quence of the great number of passengers, two trains were started, one a little in advance of the other ; but as the first engine seemed incapable of dragging its load, the second pushed up to it, and assisted in propelling it. Near Basingstoke, the first train shot ahead for a little way ; when the second joined it again there was a shock. A man had been improperly sit- ting on the edge of one of the open carriages, and the concussion tilted him over : he fell beneath the carriages, and four of them passed over his heal and arm. Four other persons were also thrown out, but not seriously hurt.. At the inquest, held at Basingstoke on Tuesday, it appeared that the de- ceased was William Samuel Jones, aged twenty-seven. Verdict, "Acci- dental death."
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