be Vrobinces.

A Manchester correspondent of the Standard describes how the Anti- Corn-law League have begun their active operations in the business of electoral registration: they appear for the time to have created a panic, with some signs of a reaction— "Saturday last being the last day for serving notices of objections, the two previous days presented such a scene of bustle and confusion at the Post-office as was never, perhaps, before experienced in this town. Parties were seen wending their way from Newall's Buildings to the Post-office with large parcels of letters, which upon inquiry turned out to be notices of objections that were to be served by the letter-carriers on most of the Conservative voters for the borough and South Lancashire. Many of these objections are of a most frivolous and vexatious character. It is said that upwards of seven thousand have been served by the Leaguers, and that it is their intention to contest them every one. * * * The notices have been served without any regard whatever to the number issued, or the means of sustaining the objection. • *• Bow far the Leaguers will succeed in sustaining their objections and in striking voters out of the list, in a great measure depends upon the activity that will be displayed by the Conservatives in the forthcoming contest. I know that preparations are making, not only to defend the respectable electors from the aggressions of the League, but also to place upon the list every person of independent principles who is justly entitled to the franchise. To accomplish this object, Messrs. Caistor and Farnworth, both active young men and respect- able solicitors, have been appointed."

Another correspondent of the Standard, writing from Exeter, is "credibly informed" that in that city notices of objection have been served by agents of the League on 1,000 Conservatives ; 324 in one parish. The total number of voters at the late election was 2,500.

The foundation-stone of the monument to Lord Durham, at the top of Penshaw Hill, in Durham county, was laid on Wednesday, by the Earl of Zetland. The monument, which is to bean imitation of the Temple of Theseus, will be seventy or seventy-five feet high, and will command the view of a large tract of country. At least 30,000 people congre-

gated to " assist " at the ceremony. The Earl of Zetland appeared as Grand Master of the Freemasons, escorted by several of his brethren in procession ; and he performed the office of the day in this fashion—

Having adjusted the stone, he strewed some grain upon it, and said, " I strew this corn as a sample of plenty "; he next poured some wine and said,

" I pour this wine as a sample of cheerfulness " ; and lastly, some oil, and ob- served, " I pour this oil as a sample of comfort and cheerfulness; and may the Almighty God of the Universe bless this place, and the kingdom at large, with abundance of corn, of wine, and of oil, their comfort and continuance in love ; and may the same Almighty Power preserve the inhabitants in peace, unity, and love ; towards which great object, during his earthly career, no one was more anxious or laboured more zealously than the nobleman whose me- mory we are here assembled to commemorate.'

A prayer was read by the Reverend Robert Green, and the cere- mony terminated.

The presentation of colours to the Forty-ninth Regiment, on its re- organization, took place in the Barrack-square at Winchester, on Tues- day. The ground was kept by a detachment of the First Battalion of Grenadier Guards; the regiment was drawn up under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Adams ; the Bishop of Winchester, accompanied by several clergy of the district, Sir Hercules Pakenham, the Major- General commanding the district, and Lady Pakenham, came upon the ground about one o'clock ; and a numerous concourse of visiters in- vited by the officers assembled to witness the ceremony. The Bishop of Winchester delivered an address to the soldiers, in which he took

occasion to vindicate his appearance among them by reminding them that they might essentially and truly be the peace-makers of a con-

tentious world ; recalling how the deeds of the regiment in Holland, at Copenhagen, at Quebec, and in China, had led to peace ; and exhort- ing them to be men of daring and of resolution, yet pacific in their principles. Having concluded, he offered up a prayer. The colours were delivered to the Ensigns of the regiment by Lady Pakeuham, with the following address-

" I feel much interested in the scene before me, and must try to express the high importance I attach to the present solemnity. I consider the colours

that I am about to present to the Forty-ninth as emblems of the past career of the regiment as well as earnests of their future success ; they bear the names of many battles, extending from the ' Rocky Mountains of North America'

to the Great Wall of China ' ; but I esteem it one of the highest privileges of the British arms, that wherever they have been successful hitherto, that success has been attended by the bright halo of Christianity spreading abroad where the darkness of Paganism had formerly reigned. May I express a bumble hope that such will be the case in China, and that the success of the Forty-ninth at Amoy may be a pledge of this happy result! Receive these colours, and bear them forward as gallantly as you have already done; and may the Lord God, the God of Battles, give you the victory."

Sir Hercules also delivered a speech ; thanking the Bishop for his ad- dress ; the officers of the First Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, (who had aided in its reorganization,) for its state of discipline ; and alluding to the past services of the regiment. Finally, Lieutenant-Colonel Adams, in a very neat speech, returned thanks to the Bishop, to Lady Paken- ham, and to Sir Hercules ; and told some stories from the annals of the regiment, to excite the emulation of the soldiers-

" The first I shall bring to your notice was Sergeant Frazer, of the regiment at Stoney Creek; who, when volunteers were called for by Colonel Plender- leith, to capture some guns that were playing upon the regiment whilst form- ing, stepped out, and with about twenty-five men, the first he could collect, accompanied their Colonel, rushed up to the guns, and took them. Sergeant

Frazer stabbed seven Americans, and captured a General Officer ; for which gal-

lant conduct he was promoted to the Adjutancy of the New Brunswick 'nun- cibles. Another, Lieutenant Fitzgibbon, who, with about forty-five men and a small band of Indian warriors, captured, through stratagem and great daring, 23 officers and 485 rank and file, two field-pieces, and a stand of colours. Both these two gentlemen are now residing in Canada, and are Colonels of Militia. And there are now in our ranks, I am proud to Bay, some who have called forth the admiration of their superiors, as well as that of their comrades, for good service rendered during the struggles in China." The colours were paraded before the Regiment ; which marched be- fore the General in slow and quick time. The men were then dis- missed, and were regaled at a substantial dinner provided by the officers; who entertained their visiters at a dejeuner-i-la-fourchette. In the evening, the sergeants gave a ball ; and next night the officers gave a grand ball.

The Roman Catholic " cathedral " at Nottingham was consecrated on Tuesday, with great splendour : the ceremonies extended over seven hours. The buildifig itself appears to be a noble one; it is in the early English style, and is, professedly, a perfect return to the ancient arrangements of a Christian temple. There is a central tower and spire rising to the height of 164 feet. The edifice is 180 feet long, and 80 feet in width at the transepts. All the interior is richly finished.

A case of clerical intolerance is related in the Macclesfield Chronicle. The Reverend O'Neil Pratt, the minister of Christ Church, while en- gaged in reading the burial-service over the body of a young man who had been a member of the " Rational " Sick and Burial Society, broke off in the service and addressed the friends of the deceased, upbraiding them for bringing the remains of an infidel and unbeliever for interment in that cemetery, and putting questions to them which he would not permit them to answer. A portion of the burial-service was unread. A complaint of Mr. Pratt's conduct has been sent to the Bishop.

The Halifax Guardian announces that the Yorkshire cotton-spinners are preparing to strike for an advance of wages ; being encouraged to such a course by the fact of the spiuners in various parts of Lancashire having obtained an increase. They desire an advance of ten per cent upon the wages at present paid.

The Manchester Guardian mentions a remarkable resort of mechanics to coiiperative land-occupancy as an auxiliary means of subsistence-

" One of the woolsorters societies in Bradford have taken a lease of a small farm in the neighbourhood, which they intend to convert into a pretty Eden- spot, for their own amusement (and interest, if possible) and that of the public generally. It consists of eight acres, which are divided at present into four fields; in one of which there is an excellent spring of water, which the wool- sorters intend to convert into a swimming-bath, to be constructed in one of the fields. Part of the land, at least, is of excellent quality, and no doubt the whole of it might soon be brought into good condition. The woolsorters intend to cultivate it as a society, not as individuals; and in this respect the speculation differs from the principle of the small allotment system. The idea of renting the land was suggested during the late depression of trade in the town, and the land was intended as a field on which the society might employ its members when out of regular work."

Some colliers attempted to blow up with gunpowder the boiler at the Deep Pit Colliery, near Sheffield, on Sunday night, in order to prevent other colliers from returning to work in the mine ; a turn-out having taken place some time back. They thrust a barrel of powder into the fireplace, not knowing that there was any fire there, and were thus caught in their own trap : the powder exploded, shaking every thing around, and moving the boiler six inches : how it threw confusion among the incendiaries, was guessed from the pieces of hats, caps, and coats, much burnt, scattered about on the spot ; and one man was left by his companions at his sister's door in such a shocking state—that of blackened sore all over—that he could not be known : his face looked like a coal, his hair was burnt off, his eyes were swollen, he was nearly speechless, and was expected to die.

Two men and three lads have been killed at a coal-pit at Dearham, near Maryport They were descending the shaft in a basket, when the rope by which they were lowered broke, and they fell to the bottom, a depth of fifty yards : all were killed on the spot.

A fatal boiler-explosion occurred last week, at Little Madeley, in Staffordshire ; one of the firemen being smashed to death by a quantity of falling bricks. Large masses of iron and numbers of bricks, some red hot, were driven about in all directions by the explosion. One large piece of iron travelled a quarter of a mile.

The neighbourhood of Ipswich has been much alarmed by a fire on a farm at Handford Hall : no great deal of damage was done, but the fire was conceived to have been wilful ; and hence the alarm, as it was hoped incendiarism was at an end for the present

At Liverpool, on Monday, Leonard, the man who cut and mauled his wife to death, as we related on the 3d instant, was tried for the crime, and found guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to be transported for life.

Mr. Resker, a master-mariner, met with a dreadful death last week in an Ipswich steam-boat ; falling among the machinery, by which he was horribly crushed and torn.

Johnson, a stoker on the Brighton Railway, fell off a teader last Sun- day night, and his right arm was crushed by the train passing over it. The limb has been amputated.

A field of barley on the line of the Ristern Counties Railway, in the parish of Rivenhall, was set on fire last week, by a spark from an en- gine; and two acres of grain were consumed.

Two very destructive fires occurred on Sunday and Monday, at the village of Winsharn, near Chard : twelve houses were burnt by the first fire, and fourteen or more by the second. Incendiarism is suspected.