Zbe 1Probinces.

The Anti-Corn-law League held a meeting in Preston on Thursday last week, "for the promotion of free trade, and the extention of the electoral franchise through the purchase of forty-shilling freeholds by the working classes." The crowd that flocked to the Corn Exchange Rooms was greater than the place would hold. Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright attended as a deputation. The principal speech was that of Mr. Cobden: who warned the meeting that they were going to have bad trade; and that they would do so solely because, in consequence of a deficient harvest, they were going to pay more for their bread. That, he observed, was the state of a savage and not of a civilized nation; it is only among savages that the ravages of famine from the failure of a single crop should ever act in such a way as to produce widespread distress and ruin, and that the people should perish for want of food. In the midst of some arguments against the Corn-laws, he animadverted on those persons of the manufacturing class who ape the aristocracy. He was anxious to be identified with the trade of the country; and he thought that those who aspire to be what they are not, mistake their OW11 dignity and importanse-- " There is no true dignity. in .playing second fiddle to anybody; and those who do so only get laughed at for their folly. I know a case exactly in point. In Cheshire, there is a young Want the son of a wealthy manufacturer, (I shall not mention names,) who is exceedingly fond of hounds and horses, of hunting and sPerting, and whose greatest ambition it is to ape the manners and keep the corn- any of the neighbouring squires. He is the 'darling of his mother, who encou- rages him in all his extravagant expenses, on the plea that he is such a credit to the family, and keeps such good society—to say nothing of the five or six hunters Winch be keeps besides. Well, this young gentleman was lately riding along the Toad, with a certain friend of mine, a nobleman, and a hunting squire. On com- ing to a turn of the road, he thought that he would be able to make a steeple- chase ride across the fields, instead of going round; and when he was gone, my friend inquired who was the young fellow with such capital cattle; when th,e squire replied, Oh, he's only one of them cotton chaps off the hills.' Now if any of the cotton lords of Preston have the same ambition as the Cheshire cotton chap, let them think of what was said of him behind his back. The squires, although just before they may have been drinking your wine, will say of you, He's only cotton chap from Preston.' They won't know anything more about you. It is always a great mistake for a man to attempt to set up for what he is not. For what he is, he is something; but as a mere sham, he is nothing. A cotton-spinner 15 somebody while he sticks by his order; he has in that both rank arid respectability. It is through such as he that Manchester has become a great and important town in the estimation of statesmen and in the eyes of the world; and that greatness was acquired only by the Manchester manufacturers setting up for themselves and forming an order of their own. It is to them that we owe the Institutions and Athenteum which have made Manchester celebrated; and it is the same men who have worked, and are still working, the Anti-Corn-law League." After exhorting the people of' Preston to multiply their electoral qualifi- cations, he predicted that next session there would be a " kick-up" on the question of Free Trade- " I should not be surprised if the Government were to break up upon it. Be- fore that takes place, however, there will be much writhing and convulsion; for the landowners will not part with the sliding-scale without a struggle. Fancy a lamb in a wolf's throat and the difficulty of getting it out again, and you will have a pretty accurate notion of the contortions of the landed aristocracy when called upon to relinquish protection. Some of the Conservative manufacturers in Lancashire have so much confidence in Sir Robert Peel, that they say, when the proper time comes he will abolish the Corn-law himself. They do not consider that he has two characters—a private and a public one. In public, be is obliged, by his party, to talk of free trade as a distant measure, and of the necessity of protection; but in private and in his heart, he is as good a Free-trader as I am. He would make short work with the Corn-laws if left to himself; but his col- leagues don't want him to do it. They are determined to stick to their order; as they are not, like the Prime Minister, the sons of a cotton lord. If the Lanca- shire manufacturers had taken the right view of the question, they would all have joined us in our efforts to obtain free trade; and then they might, if they chose it, have still adhered to their party. Sir Robert might then have told his sup- porters, that, unless they conceited the rights of the people and the millowners, they would be left without a party in Lancashire and Yorkshire; but, that once done, they might still have retained their power and influence. If Sir Robert should have played false upon this question, I predict that he will not only be beaten, but that his political character will be killed, and he ought to have for an epitaph, 'Died of the imbecility of his party."

The deputation held another meeting in the Cutlers' Hall at Sheffield, on Monday; Mr. Edward Smith presiding. Although the tickets of ad- mission were la. each, the Hall was crowded; no small part of the slue dience consisting of ladies. Most parts of Mr. Cobden's speech were re- petitions of remarks which he has lately uttered elsewhere; but one or two passages are less trite. He observed that the failure of the potato crop ought not to have been such a calamity in England— Why, the potato crop had failed for three years successively in America; and it was thought so little of, that in this country it had hardly been heard of, and when heard of it was only through the means of scientific publications. Why had they heard so little about the failure of the potato crops in America for three successive years? Because no man, woman, or child in America, was constrained to live on potatoes alone. Why was it, then, that in England four or five millions of people rejoiced on potatoes, as Dr. Marehain said ?—and he deserved nothing better to rejoice upon for such a speech.

He hazarded another prophecy— He had no doubt that if Parliament met, and if in the mean time the ports were not opened, the Premier would get up and show to the House, by a most eons elusive line of argument, that it would have been a very bad course to open the ports, and that if such a course had been adopted corn would have been rendered dear. (Laughter.)

[This feat will not cost Sir Robert the trouble of invention: it has already been performed, with considerable plausibility, in the December number of Bktekwoods Magazine.]

On the subject of registration, he referred to a boasting paragraph in the Standard, which stated that the League had won only four counties out of forty- " Now I tell the Standard, that these counties are of more importance than all the others; that Yorkshire, Lancashire, Middlesex, and Cheshire, contribute infi- nitely more to the wealth and power as well as the intellectual and moral great- ness of the country, than all the others put together; and that no Government will ever be seen opposed in principle to the voice of those counties. It has al- ways been so. Mr. Wilberforce was, thirty years ago, Member for Yorkshire: he always voted with the Government: this county was considered of so much im- portance, that I remember reading lately, in his Life, that when Mr. Wilberforce went to hold a meeting in Yorkshire, at the close of the last century, and at a time of great excitement on the subject of the French war, so anxious was Mr. Pitt to get the adhesion of this county to his principles, that he would not allow' Mr. Wilberforce to wait until his carriage was ready for the journey, but sent him off in his own: Mr. Pitt sent an express with further directions to his supporter at Stamford, and begged that the result of the meeting should be communicated by express to London. When at the time of the Reform Bill, Yorkshire returned Henry Brougham, it was the signal of the downfall of the Boroughmongers; and in 1841, when Mr. Wortley succeeded Lord Morpeth, the defeat of the Whigs was at once taken for granted. And when Yorkshire sends up her Members to vote in support of Mr. Villiers for the total and immediate repeal of the Corn- laws, then' take my word for it, the Corn-laws will be found to be not only 'doomed' but dead."

The next meeting was held in the Leeds Music Hall, on Tuesday even- ing. The Mayor presided, and the most influential persons in the borough attended. Mr. Edward Baines junior stated the results of the League's registration activity in the West Riding of Yorkshire last year—

They made no fewer than 3,369 new claims bi the West Riding. Out of these they succeeded in establishing no fewer than 2,836 claims. They succeeded also in striking off, upon valid objections, no fewer than 1,242 of their opponents. On the other hand, the Tories succeeded in sustaining 983 new claims, and struck off from the Free-traders 953. But the result of all this showed a most encou- raging gain on the side of the Free-traders, for there remained a balance in their favour of no fewer than 2,142. This, with their former gains since the last election, converted Lord Morpeth's minority of 1,194 into a majority of 1,272.

Mr. Baines announced a most important fact, as yet unknown even be the deputation, Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright. He had that morning re- ceived, with a subscription of 51., a letter from Lord Morpeth, which he would read for the meeting.

" Castle Howard, Nov. 24, 1845.

"My dear Mr. Baines—I perceive that you are about to have a meeting at Leeds to promote the qualification of electors, with a view to further the objects of the Anti-Corn-law League. " You will probably remember being present upon an occasion when, amidst very strong surrounding inducement, 1 forebore from pledging myself to the entice extent of those objects. All that has since intervened, all especially that is now occurring, a fellow feeling with my old friends in the Riding, (although I less than ever anticipate any probable renewal of a political connexion between us,) and a sense of what has been effected by the Anti-Corn-law League to advance their great end, alike combine to pat an end to all further doubt or reserve on my own part, and I write this without concert or consultation with any one else. The contribution I enclose for your immediate purposes is of very trifling amount: it would not be easy to foresee what calls may not be made upon any of us in the course of the ensuing year; but I wish to record in the most emphatic way I can my conviction that the time is come for a final repeal of the Corn-laws, and my protest against the continued inaction of the State in the present emergency.

"Believe me, dear Mr. Baines, yours very faithfully, "MORPETH." "Edward Baines junior, Esq." The reading of this letter was received with loud and frequent bursts of approbation. Mr. Cobden declared that the five pounds which it enclosed was worth any five thousand that the League had yet obtained-

" It is somewhat remarkable, that only forty-eight hours ago, I was talking to my friend Mr. Bright with regard to our prospects; and I then remarked to him how sincerely I wished that Lord Morpeth was placed at the side of Lord Howick [Earl Grey] in the ranks of the Free-traders; and I remarked, that in such a case, with two such young statesmen identified with us, whether the old politicians at one side or the other were opposed to us, we should be sure of men fit to occupy office whenever Government should give way on this question; and I now rejoice to find that Lord Morpeth has come forward with no inducement but the feelings of his own good heart—without balancing himself, and without mystifi- cation, wholly and heartily to join us in this great movement. * • * I be- lieve that at present Lord Morpeth has no intention of standing; because he says so, and he never uttered a syllable that was not of transparent truth. But whether he has or not, you have a dirty to perform. The West Riding of York- shire has now the privilege of having a noble scion of the house of Howard at its head. Lord Morpeth now leads you, and you must be worthy of your leader; and that you cannot be if you suffer the West Riding again to fall into the hands of the alonopolista. You have it decidedly in your power to prevent such a catastrophe."

Among the resolutions which the meeting adopted, unanimously, was the following- " That this meeting has heard with the highest approbation and delight the declaration of Lord Morpeth in favour of perfect freedom of trade and the total and immediate abolition of the Corn-laws: that it receives this declaration on the part of one of our wisest statesmen, and most beloved and influential public men, as an encouraging evidence of the progress of the Anti-Corn-law League in public opi- nion—as a strong additional motive for patting the West Riding in a position to return uncompromising friends of free trade to the House of Commons."

A public dinner was held at Winchester on Monday week, to celebrate the return of the new Mayor; and when the Members for the borough were toasted, Mr. Bickham Escott responded. He was cheered loud and long; and not less so when he delivered the following portion of his re- marks, every point of which was echoed in approving sounds—

A most serious calamity had afflicted this country, the failure of the potato crop. Commissioners had been sent to Ireland by the Government, and it was ascertained that the crop there, as well as in most parts of England and Scot- land, would be greatly deficient. In the neighbourhood where he lived,he be- lieved that a full half of the food consumed by the people altogether was potatoes, and two-thirds of that food was destroyed. Something must be done to remedy the evil; for there would be more industrious men brought to starvation on ac- count of this scarcity than had been known in the memory of man; not actually to perish from want, because our law would not allow a man to starve, nor, as he trusted, would society permit it. He felt bound to state this plain fact; and it was for those in power—if, indeed, we had a government at all—to take somesteps to provide against the growing calamity. Some people were ready, when they saw a great many propositions made and new views developed in these days, which became necessary from the altered state of circumstances and the varying course of the world, to feel an aversion to measures which they had not been accustomed to contemplate, and to condemn as new, and strange, and sudden, what neverthe less might be wise and good. Then, what was sometimes called new was found, on inquiry, to be very old, and approved by experience. He was about to do no more than quote history. He had been looking a little to what our ancestors had done under similar circumstances, and what those had done who were older than any whom we called ancestors. When the famine was sore in the land, the oldest nation upon earth, of which they had any record, sent to another country, to Egypt, where they had a brother, Joseph, whose providence had reserved granaries for them, from whom they bought such stores as preserved themselves and their kindred and their people. Now, though we had no brother Joseph in Egypt, we had a brother Jonathan across the Atlantic—a younger brother, ready to assist vs, and we refusing to be helped. For what were we doing now? He thought something worse than nothing. Our merchants were forced to send corn out of the country, when God only knew how soon we might want it ourselves. He be- lieved there was no place in England that afforded a fairer epitome of the country's general interests than that city. This idea was suggested to him by his friend the worthy Mayor. He found in it a learned and pions clergy, a high-spirited set of tradesmen, many members of one branch of a profession to which he once had the honour to belong, some landlords, some active and practical farmers, and an eminent body of medical men, second to none in the kingdom. There were also enterprising labourers and artificers equal to any in industry and skill. These were the interests which politicians must consult; and he had endeavoured to consult them, without fear or hope of favour, without any view to his own personal advancement, save in the trust to which they had advanced him.

At the Dunster Agricultural dinner, on Friday, Mr. Thomas Dyke Acland, the Member for West Somersetshire, was present; and was well received, in spite of doubts as to his stanchness in supporting "protection." He stoutly disclaimed Free-trading predilections: be was as desirous as ever of supporting agricultural interests; it was quite a mistake to think that he WM opposed to protection. But it was impossible to look round without seeing that a change must come—not this year, nor the next— that farmers could not continue to stand where they now do; and in- stead of pledging himself to a particular course by joining agricultural associations, he would hold himself free to act according to circumstances, and so as " not to make the matter worse."

A Church-rate contest at Cheltenham has caused a deal of agitation and ill-feeling. For the rate, persons 655, votes 1,151; against it, persons 1,050, votes 1,101. At the close of the proceedings, the Reverend Mr. Close ad- dressed the Vestry, for the purpose of allaying the popular excitement. He particularly alluded to the coercion which had been resorted to in order to compel parties to vote in favour of the rate—

He had, he said, learned with unspeakable regret that some respectable trades- men had been threatened with the withdrawal of patronage if they did not vote for the rate: nothing could be more reprehensible than such a course of proceeding. The hand of persecution had never been held up that it did not paralyze the poor man. It was his duty, as a minister of peace, to declare his disapproval of such conduct: the humblest man in the community had an undoubted right to exercise his franchise without intimidation. An advance of 6d. per day has been given to the thick-coal colliers in Dudley, making their wages now 5s. per day.

On Friday last, the labourers in the employ of Sir R. B. Williams Bulkeley, Bait., M.P., were informed that their wages would be increased one shilling and sixpence a week. This spontaneous and seasonable addition to the poor men's weekly stipend will, we have no doubt, be properly appretiated. It will go st great way to alleviate the distress with which this class of our fellow beings is threatened by the failure of the potato crop.—Carnarvon Herald.

A boat-race at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, between Henry Clasper of that town and Pocock of London, was performed on Tuesday. The course was from the Tyne Bridge to Leamington Point, a distance of five miles; the stakes were IDOL a side; the boats were small light skiffs. The weather was rough, with a strong North- west breeze; which was in Clasper's favour, as he knew the course and the best points of shelter: he won the choice of sides, and selected the Northern side of the river: his boat was covered with stout canvass; Pocock's was open. The Londoner took the lead. On the way, he went inside his antagonist, and the boats were entangled. Clasper afterwards retorted the same manceuvre; and from that tune he obtained the lead. Soon afterwards, Pocock found it necessary; to land, and empty his boat, which had shipped a great quantity of water; and, on reembark- ing, he found Clasper more than half-a-mile a head. That difference was never recovered, and the Newcastle-man won easily by more than a quarter of a mile; having rowed the distance in forty-five minutes.

Thomas Treater, an old and eccentric Warwickshire farmer, has been murdered in mid-day. He resided in a lone cottage near Berkswell parish; a thinly-peopled region. Early in the morning he set a boy to work in the fields, and then returned to his house. When the lad came for his dinner he found the shutters closed and the doors fastened, but from the strange ways of the old man he thought nothing of it. The farmer not appearing the next day, the place was entered forcibly; anti in a wood-house adjoining the kitchen the body of the old man was discovered, on the floor, bathed in blood, with a carpenter's axe sticking in the back part of the skull: a bill-hook was also found covered with blood. The place had been ran- sacked; the motive of the crime having been, apparently, the reputed wealth of the victim. Two men who were seen about the house are suspected.

An inquest has been held. A great deal of evidence was given, of a circum- stantial kind, and implicating a young farm-labourer named Reid. He and an- other person had been seen near the spot on the day of the murder; marks were observed apparently made by his boots and cord trousers; lie had since absconded, and had thus escaped seizure. A verdict of "Wilful murder against some party or parties unknown was returned.

Railway speculation has had a victim at Huddersfield. Mr. Fell, a respectable chemist and druggist, having obtained many allotments in new lines, found that he had become responsible for a larger sum than his capital warranted; this preyed upon his mind, and lie destroyed himself by swallowing prussic acid.

One line of rails on the Brighton and Chichester Railway, as far as Worthing, was opened on Monday. An accident happened to one of the trains: a horse en- gaged in drawing a train of earth-waggons having been allowed to get upon the traffic-line, the engine and tender were upset, and the horse was killed. The train was going slowly, else the collhioa might have been very disastrous. The care- less waggoner was taken into cost sly.

An express-engine which was canveying a gentleman from Bristol to Gloucester the other night, when about elevea miles from Gloucester ran into a goods-train that was standing across the line. The engineer and stoker were thrown off the engine and were bruised, while the passenger was severely shaken. No lamp was exhibited on the goods-train; and the guard has been taken into custody for a breach of the by-laws.

A luggage-train was nos into, the other night, on the Great Western Railway, at Box station, by an engine which was to have assisted it from behind up an incline. The night was dark and tempestuous; the lamps at the station had been blown out; and the train was of great length—forty trucks and two third-class carriages. The driver of the assistant-engine saw the engine of the train pass, and heard its whistle; and when he thought all the carriages were ahead he moved on to the line, dashed into the broadside of the train eight or nine trucks from the end, and only one from a passenger-carriage! Part of the train was detached by the shock, and some of the other carriages were forced off the line. The passengers were greatly terrified, but none were hurt.

A young woman residing at Oxford has been killed on the railway, at Abing- don Road station, in attempting to cross the line. She had got out of a tram in which she came from Oxford, and as that train moved on she thought she might cross the railway in its rear: just as she stepped upon the down-line of rails, a fast train dashed up, and she was crushed to death.

A dreadful boiler-explosion has occurred in Sunderland, at the Bishopwear- mouth Iron-works. Eight hundred hands are employed on the establishment: at eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, the majority of the people went to break- fast; but about fifty, the greater portion of whom were in the rolling-mill, near the engine-house, remained on the premises. Ten minutes after, the boiler, is large one, exploded with terrific violence; breaking the roof, throwing down part of a large chimney, and carrying portions of the materials to a distance of five hundred yards. Several of the workmen were buried in the ruins; and after a time it was ascertained that two men and two boys had perished, while no fewer than twenty-two persons were more or less injured. It is not known how the disaster occurred, and it is feared that the eugineman will not live to throw any light upon the subject.

Two pitmen, named Dickenson and Crozer, were last week "decanting" some gunpowder, and one of them was smoking his pipe at the time! The powder ex- ploded, the men were blown up by the blast, and they are now totally blind.— Gateshead Observer.