Vinniutto.

The Suffolk Farmers, whose meeting at Stowmarket in June last created some stir, and who then, despairing of a return to protection, if not convinced of its injustice, formed the Suffolk Agricultural Relief As- sociation, met the Financial Reformers at Ipswich on Tuesday. This meeting is one of great importance, as showing the tendencies of the agri- cultural mind, which are broadly developed in the objects agreed to at Stowmarket, as follows,—sympathy with financial reform ; abandonment of mere Whig and Tory politics; repeal of the game-laws; revision of the county expenditure; tenant-right ; reform of the tithe system ; re- moval of restrictions on the growth of exci articles.

The meeting at Ipswich was called mainly to fraternize with the Fi- nancial Reformers, (of which body Mr. Charles Lattimore and Mr. Slack officially attended,) to organize the association more thoroughly, and to appeal to the public for support. The temper of the meeting was very decided. Mr. Welch of Yaxley, who took the chair, said the meeting "showed the public dawn of a conviction on the tenant-farmers' minds, that they had too long allowed others to act for them" ; that they were "resolved to use every constitutional means to obtain fair play in their agrieultural operations"; and that "farmers had been used as ladders on whicii 'others climbed to the pinnacle of power, and when the object was accomplished, the ladder was kicked down like sere wood." On the important subject of tenant right, he said—" If a man built a castle in a.cabbage-garden, he could not touch it at the end of his lease. All other classes had remuneration for unexhaustecl improvements, but the farmers had no provision of this kind in their leases." Mr. S. B. Johnson, of Wickham, made a straightforward attack upon the Protec- tionist leaders, who had "fearfully deceived them." He taunted Lord Stanley with not having "filled up the breach" when Lord John Russell resigned office. He held out the right hand of fellowship to the manu- facturer and artisan ; saying- " If you will join us in attempting to remove the burdens under which we labour, we will assist you. (Cheers.) We don't ask you whether you are Protectionists, Free-traders, Whigs, Tories, or Radicals; we have no- thing to do with that. We ask you whether you like the Malt-tax ? If you don't like it, and the other burdens of which we complain, we ask you to endeavour to assist us in removing them." (Cheers, and cries of " We situ! ) One of the resolutions pledged the Association to support only those candidates for Parliament who would further the objects of the Asso- ciation.

The members of the York Catholic Association met on Wednesday, in St. Wilfred's Hall, and adopted an address, which fiercely condemns the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill; speaks harshly of" persecuting Liberals " ; de- clares that the "Whig press" has excluded their "explanations and re- monstrances"; is grateful to the "small section of the press" which has refused to give up its original principles; and finally, binds the members of the Association to vote for no l'arliamentary candidate who will not "pledge his honour" to vindicate the cause of civil and religious liberty.

Revived synodical action at Exeter has met with the approval of the South Church Union. At the annual meeting of the Union, held in the Town-hall of Brighton on Thursday, a resolution to that effect was passed. In a second resolve, the Union assume that "the assembly of Convocation is a thing which must shortly be conceded to the Church." With reference to the presence of the laity in the said Convocation, they cannot new "without apprehension the idea of any lay element in Con- vocation, deliberating on, or deciding upon, questions env; buiireetly af- fecting doctrine, without the-prior restoration of that godly discipline con- templated by the Church in all her canons and services."

A statistical table has been published showing the great changes which the introduction of railways has produced in the population of towns. The rapid advance made by those on lines of rail, compared with the de- cline in the number of those between or far away from railways, is very striking. The towns where the decrease is most obvious are South Molten, Honiton, Axminster, Shaftesbury, Went, and Epping. The towns in which the greatest increase has taken place are Birmingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Carlisle, Swansea, Great Grimsby, Ipswich, and Leeds.

A railway fete and yacht race came off at Lowestoft on Tuesday anti Wednesday. A special train ormixed carriages conveyed the directors of the Eastern Counties Railway and some of the higher officials from Shore- ditch to Lowestoft, a distance of 126 miles, in three hours and a hall At a dinner, over which Mr. Peto presided, he announced that he was going over to Norway on Saturday, to construct the first line of railway in that country ; which would connect Christiana with Copenhagen, and bring St. Petersburg three days nearer London than it is at present.

Croydon is reported to be making rapid strides in sanitary improve- ment, so that it will shortly be well drained and supplied with water. A new cattle-market,. with all necessary conveniences, was recently com- pleted, and opened early last month.

Goodwood races occurred this week. The weather on Tuesday WO very fine-, the company choice, and the racing good. Wednesday's sport was spoiled by the ram, and the retreat from the course at the close is described as "most disastrous."

For the Goodwood Stakes, thirteen horses started. The winner, Colonel Anson's Backbiter, a six-year-old, ridden by Flatman, waited on the rest to the distance ; then he took up the running, headed them about seventy yards from, the post, and, won cleverly by a length. On. Thursday, "Cup- day," the weather turned out very fine; the course was crowded with a fashionable company, and the sport was of the right sort The race for the Cup was especially good. Nancy, a three-year-old, and Cossack, aged, ran front the bottom of the hill right iway from their horses ; tho mare leading by three or four Imigtlas, an Cossack gradually gaining

ground, being only a length behind at the poet. Nancy belongs to Mr. Mar- tinson, and was ridden by Charlton. After the race, Mr: Pedley, the owner of Cossack, called upon the stewards to have Naney's mouth looked at ; the result to be stated next day. The rest of the sport was very good, and was kept up to ta late hour.

On the last day—yesterday—the racing was remarkably good to the close. The judges pronounced Nancy to be three years old.

Several tinmen were tried at Stafford, before Mr. Justice Erie and a Spe- cial Jury, for a conspiracy to raise wages. It appears that latent dissatis- faction existed in the manufactory of Mr. Edward .Perry, of Wolverhampton, with respect to the prices paid for tin-work. Accordingly, the National As- sociation of United Trades for the Protection of Labour sent down delegates to talk the matter over with Mr. Perry. He declared that he knew of no differences. But as the delegates intimated that he had better consider the subject, since they had power to array the operatives against any master in England, he consented. Negotiations went on from the 8th of April until July 1850; and then Mr. Perry, having got contracts from his men, refused to treat any longer; telling them that he would not allow the interference of third parties. The consequence was, that means were taken by the dele- gates to get the men from the manufactory, and they succeeded. The men left the factory by degrees ; so that at length Mr. Perry was obliged to placard the streets to get others. From the evidence it was clear that the men had com- bined or conspired ; but it also came out that the masters had held meetings and were acting together. In summing up the evidence, which was very long, Mr. Justice Erie said, "with regard to the law, nothing could be more clearly established than that workmen were at liberty, while free from engagements, to enter or not into employment as they pleased, and had a right to agree among themselves to say, 'We will not go into any employment unkss we get certain wages.' One workman, perfectly free from engagements, might say, 'I will not go into employ unless I have a certain rate of wages' ; or all such workmen might agree that, as ablebodied workmen, they would not take employment unless the employer gave a certain rate. But it wbuld be most dangerous if they were to extend that doctrine to that which -Was charged in this indictment, or if they were to suppose that workmen who thought that a certain rate of wages was not sufficient had a right to combine in order to induce men in the employ of their masters to leave their employ- ment for the purpose of compelling their masters to raise their wages." The jtiry found a verdict of "Guilty" on all the counts, twenty in number, ex- cept those which charged violence, threats, and intimidation. Subsequently, eight of the same men were tried and found guilty on all the couuts of a similar indictment, and especially of attempting to force a book of prices upon the " noneonforniinsa" masters. Mr. Justice Erie ob- served in his summary of the case, that he thought the Messrs. Perry had acted very well ; but he also said that the book of prices proposed by the men seemed fair and reasonable, and that as Mr. Robinson, the Mayor of Wolverhampton, had offered to mediate, it might perhaps have been better had the Messrs. Perry availed themselves of that offer.

At Exeter Assizes, on Tuesday, there was a very important trial with re- spect to the restraint of lunatics by relatives. John Yeo was prosecuted by the Commissioners of Lunacy for an "assault" on Charles Luxmoore, know- ing him to be of unsound mind, and having voluntarily undertaken the charge of him. Yeo is brother-in-law to Luxmoore; who had been insane for many years, and had been confined and chained for thirteen, during most of the period in his parents' house, but for the last fonr years at Yeo's farm. The trial was for the treatment during the four years. When Yeo took Lux- moore's parents and himself into his house, he brought from the Luxmoores' former residence a wooden cell in which the lunatic had been confined, and adopted towards him the same treatment that he had experienced from his parents, now bedridden. The man was confined in this cell, seven feet long, seven feet high, and between four and five wide ; a chain was riveted to his leg, and was carried through the floor and attached to a beam below. When a Magistrate recently heard of the lunatic's confinement and went to the place, Luxmoore was found in his cell naked ; the place was exceedingly filthy ; there was a bedstead with the legs cut off; but no bedclothes; there was a little straw in the den ; the interior was so dark that a lantern was required to inspect it at mid-day. It did not appear that Yeo had any evil intent in thus treating his brother-in-law, but that he only continued the system adopted by the parents ; who seem to have kept the poor creature confined to save the expense they would have in- cun-ed by sending him to an asylum. Witnesses called for the defendant declared that Luxmoore was violent, dirty in his habits, and addicted to de- stroyirg or polluting any clothes given tb him : if he were cleansed and dressed, he soon tore his garments and was as naked as ever. Dr. &lanai', medical superintendent of the Devon Lunatic Asylum to which the pa- tient was removed on the order of a Magistrate, declared that since he had been there he had been very clean, quiet, and inoffensive : treatment such as he had suffered would make him violent, increase his disease, and render cure less probable : only a very strong constitution could have endured such treatment ; it had debilitated Luxmoore. There seemed to be no imputation on Yeo that he kept the man a secret prisoner ; but, on the contrary, his confinement was, said a clergyman, "notorious in the village." Yeo's counsel argued, that he had acted from no improper motive ; and re- minded the Jury that not very long ago lunatics were confined in dark cells, chained, and flogged, in asylums. 'Mr. Justice Coleridge, in laying down the law for the Jury, remarked that mere ignorance of the law did not absolve a man from its penalties if he broke it. Though magistrates have been au- thorized to chain lunatics, no such authority has been given to private per- sons. The Jury returned a verdict of "Guilty," but strongly recommended the prisoner to mercy. The Judge approved of the prosecution and verdict, and in the course of his address to the prisoner remarked.—" I hope the re- sult of this inquiry will be beneficial, not only in this county but in the country at large, if peradventure the same ignorance of the law shall exist elsewhere which appears to have existed in your part of the country. That a person at this time of day should be found, with a good conscience, and against whom no bad intention exists, which I believe pro- perly to belong to you, yet acting as you have done for the last four years, is indeed a most surprising thing: that you could suppose that you were au- thorized to chain for four years, in a cell such as the evidence has described, a poor lunatic—that you could do it really and truly with great affection for the individual, and under the same roof where an affectionate father and mother were living—is a thing that will hardly be believed, except upon such evidence as we have heard today and therefore the Commissioners of Lunacy would have been greatly wanting in their duty, wlien such facts were brought within their notice, if they had failed to make it as public as possible, and to Put it in a course of investigation before a jury, and to bring the party im- plicated to answer for it in a court of law." Acting upon the recommend- ation of the Jury, the wishes of the prosecutors, and his own feelings, the Judge made the sentence as lenient as he could—six months' imprisonment in the common gaol; which would not subject the prisoner, a respectable man, to the punishment of hard labour.

At Maidstone Assizes, Hatheriey, formerly Governor of Cranbrook Union Workhouse, has been convicted of administering drugs to a pauper girl whom

he had debauched. It was stated that he had offended in the same way, with regard to another pauper girl. When the cqlprit's counsel spoke of calling. witnesses to character, Mr. Baron Alderson said it could not be of much im- portance in such a ease. The Reverend Edward Irvine stated that he enter- tained a high opinion of Hatherley -and was proceeding to detail how the accused wrote letters to him on religious subjects, when the Judge inter- posed, and declared that such evidence ought not to be received : it only went to show that a man might be capable of committing the most atrocious- crimes under the mask of religion. The sentence was two years' imprison- ment, with bard labour.

On Wednesday, Mr. Watson, an innkeeper of Greenwich, obtained 501. damages from Mr. Sellers, a wine-broker, for the seduction of his wife. The damages would probably have been much greater but from the fact that the plaiutiff, a man of seventy, had married his bar-maid, a handsome woman of thirty ; who after the man iege presided over the " ordinary." table, ear- rounded by the miscellaneous company usual there. Chief Justice Jervis• pronounced it not a case for " inflated" damages, On Wednesday, there was a conviction under Lord Campbell's new statute. Edward Wood was tried "for being found at night with skeleton-keys and other housebreaking instruments on his person, with intent to commit felony." He had been formerly convicted of felony. Sentence, ten years' transportation.

A breach of promise ease caused some amusement, but ended less laugh- ably for the defendant. Mrs. Kingsford, widow, of Deptford, keeper of chandler's shop, had been promised marriage by Mr. Dye , but as Mr. Dye was in very poor circumstances, the marriage was not to take place till his brother's death, when he would inherit some property. The brother died. and after a time the faithless swain married another lady. It came out that Mr. Dye is sixty years old, and Mrs. Kingsford fifty-five, and a grandmother. Sergeant Shee, for the defendant, made merry with these facts. The Jury took a more sober view, and gave 40/. damages.

At Durham, on Wednesday, ft case of criminal conversation was tried, in which both the gentlemen were surgeons. Mr. Potts was plitintifl; Mr. Bul- man defendant. It was clearly established that Mrs. Potts, six months after her marriage, became a drunkard. The husband had already got a verdict against another man for improper behaviour with Mrs. Potts. The Jury estimated the loss Mr. Potts had suffered from deprivation of the society of such a wife at lo.

At the York Assizes, no fewer than thirteen men have been convicted of highway robbery, seven of the cases accompanied by personal violence. Mr. Justice Williams said the criine had become so frequent as to be a " com- plete nuisance." All the convicts will be transported.

At Stafford Assizes, on Saturday, an action of trespass was tried against Gerard, a shopkeeper in the l'otteries, for assaulting and knocking out the left eye of Mr. Ball a gentleman farmer. Some years back Mr. Ball lost his right eye in a scud! with a relative ; and, from the evidence, it appears that Gerard was anxious that Ball should lose "the other eye,"—at one time urging an acquaintance to "knock it out," and at another declaring that he would have it out. Gerard and Ball left a public-house to,gether, quar- relled, and fought ; they fell together near a thorn hedge, and Ball's eye was so wounded that he last the sight. For the prosecution, it was urged that Gerard struck the eye with some sharp instrument ; for the defence, it was suggested that a thorn might have pricked the eye. The Jury gave a verdict for 300/. damages.

On Monday, Beardmore and Bloor were convicted of having robbed James Brothers, near Hanley. A third man not in custody was also engaged in the crime ; which was one shnilar to many that have recently been perpetrated in London: the three pounced on ftrothers at night, twisted something round his neck, overpowered him, and then pillaged their victim. The convicts received a good character as regarded their previous conduct ; and, thus escaped with only a twelvemonth's imprisonment.

At the Dorchester Assizes, Garland, who killed Captain Symes at Lyme Regis, when that gentleman attempted to drag him from a man he was mal- treating, has been found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to transporta- tion for twenty years.

At Norwich, on Monday, Henry Groom was charged with the murder of John Ayton, at Holkhani. The main circumstances of the case have been already mentioned. At the trial, it was proved that Groom had in his pos- session the exact amount of money, including a country note, of which Ay- ton was robbed; indeed, the prisoner did not deny it was the money, but said he found it near the place where Ayton was murdered. The case was as clear as circumstantial evidence could well make it, and the Jury unhesi- tatingly gave a verdict of " Guilty." Capital sentence was pronounced.

A passenger-train on the Leeds and Bradford Haiiway ran into a luggage- train which was standing at Nen lay station ; and though none were killed, a number of persons were much hurt : the leg of an elderly woman was broken.

In an action tried before Baron Parke at the Derby Assizes, on Monday, Mrs. Ellen Blake, widow of Mr. John Blake, who was killed near Clay Cross station when the luggage-train ran into a train on the 19th May, obtained 4000/. damages from the Midland Railway Cempany, in compensation for the pecuniary loss she sustained by the death of her husband.

Three men have been scalded to death by a boiler-explosion at Heyhurst, near Oldham. A plate over the fire-box gave way, and a wall was thrown down ; this will supported a flag-stone in an upper floor; the sufferers were on that floor, they ran towards the door to escape, and fell through the aper- ture into the midst of the steam. Two were taken out alive, but died directly after. The boiler itself was not displaced.

While a luggage-train was proceeding along the South-western line on Monday night, on approaching Bishopstoke both driver and fireman fell asleep ; the fire got low, and the train proceeded slowly. Priswell, the driver, fell off the locomotive ; the guard noticed the accident, and stopped the train : it is said that both the driver's legs were broken. The sleepers were sober; they said they were worn out with fatigue, having been up for two days and nights. [Numerous complaints have been made of the irregularity of the South-western trains; of late they have frequently been behind time: the Exhibition traffic is greater than the rolling stock and the staff can pro- perly cope with.]

The inquest on one of the two men killed during the Orange and Irish riots at Liverpool terminated with a verdict of "Manslaughter" against per- sons unknown. .

In the ease of William Jones, the Jury gave a verdieCof "Wilful murder," but were unable to fix the crime on any one, though suspicion fell upon three men. The Jury handed this paper to the Coroner—" We, the undersigned Jurymen in this painful investigation, request you to con- vey, the disapprobation of this Jury of public party or pohtieal processions, and that you will use your influence with the authorities to prevent a simi- lar occurrence."

Another fragment of a human being has been found in the vicinity of Norwich : a young man picked up a hand in the grounds of Mr. Merry, at Bracondale. It is believed that some of the fragments last found have been deposited since the original discoveries. If a murder has been committed, the Police conclude from their inquiries that the victim was not a resident at Norwich. Robert Leece, a young joiner at Whitehaven, has been committed to prison on a Coroner's warrant for the manslaughter of his aged father. Leece is addicted to drink ; one night he went home, quarrelled with his father, and scuffled with him ; the old man whirled round, fell on the floor, and died almost instantly. It is.cluestionable whether he died from any blow or kick by his son, or from mere excitement. The Magistrates, before whom Leece was brought irrespective of the inquest, thought that no case was made out against him, and they dismissed hias from custody so far as their jurisdiction was concerned.

A squabble between two linendrapers living next door to each other at Bath, one closing early but the other keeping open late, led to an ill feeling between the assistants. They threw water at each other as they passed down a lane at night. One of them, Bowcher, declared that he would shoot any one who threw water at him ; one night he was thus saluted ; some time afterwards a pistol was fired at John Buley, a water-thrower, as he looked from a window, and lie was slightly wounded in the forehead. Suspicion fell on Bowcher, and he is in custody.

John Brudenell junior has been committed by the Windsor Magistrates for setting fire to a brewery, the property of his father. The elder Brudenell had put a man in possession of the place to oust the son, who had received notice to quit ; and the tire occurred during this man's temporary absence.