'Or Vrauturr.g.
The nomination for the vacant seat at Liverpool was on Tuesday. The proceedings seem to have excited little interest, and the speeches of the candidates certainly were not likely to increase it. Sir George Bonham is not a speaker, and his peculiar manner and lack of rhetoric seem to have caused a great deal of merriment. He was proposed by Mr. Thomas Littledale, and seconded by Mr. F. Shand. His rival, Mr. Joseph Christopher Ewart, was proposed by Mr. G. Maxwell, and seconded by Mr. Robertson Gladstone. Sir George Bonham summed up his politics in the definition that he is "a follower of Lord Derby "; and being sharply interrogated as to the Maynooth grant, he said he would oppose it, "because of the party he belongs to." Mr. Ewart came forward as the representative of the Liberal party, as a "commercial man," and as one who desired to see fitness the only qualification for office, and prac- tical measures of administration carried out by practical men. Mr. Ewart obtained the show of hands ; and at the poll, on Wednesday, he received 4718 votes, Bonham only 4262. The nomination for the vacant seat at Liverpool was on Tuesday. The proceedings seem to have excited little interest, and the speeches of the candidates certainly were not likely to increase it. Sir George Bonham is not a speaker, and his peculiar manner and lack of rhetoric seem to have caused a great deal of merriment. He was proposed by Mr. Thomas Littledale, and seconded by Mr. F. Shand. His rival, Mr. Joseph Christopher Ewart, was proposed by Mr. G. Maxwell, and seconded by Mr. Robertson Gladstone. Sir George Bonham summed up his politics in the definition that he is "a follower of Lord Derby "; and being sharply interrogated as to the Maynooth grant, he said he would oppose it, "because of the party he belongs to." Mr. Ewart came forward as the representative of the Liberal party, as a "commercial man," and as one who desired to see fitness the only qualification for office, and prac- tical measures of administration carried out by practical men. Mr. Ewart obtained the show of hands ; and at the poll, on Wednesday, he received 4718 votes, Bonham only 4262. This is a remarkable result, as Mr. Evart had recourse to none of the ordinary arts for securing success. It is not impossible that it may to a great extent be due to the new bribery laws.
Mr. Edmund Antrobua, a Conservative, who lost his election for Sur- rey in 1852, was returned for Wilton on Wednesday, without opposition. He sits in the room of Mr. A'Court, now Special Commissioner of In- come-tax.
The Liverpool "Dock brandy" of the Lancashire and'Yorksbire Rail- way was opened on Monday. It places many of the docks in direct con- nexion with the railway system. The line is a mile in length, but from the many sidings the rails extend to fifteen miles.
At a meeting of ironmasters at Wolverhampton, on Wednesday, it was -resolved to reduce the price of bars and hoops 20a. a ton.
At the Norwich Assizes, the Reverend F. W. Waldron brought.an action for libel against the Reverend William Bates, Rector of Burnham. The plaiatitf, formerly the curate of Mr. Bat-ca, is the master of en endowed school at Wyndham in .Leicestershire. The libel consisted of a letter written .by. Mr. Bates to the trustees of the school, proffering proofs of the abominable wickedness of Mr. Waldron, and calling upon them to dismiss him. Renee the action. The defence was a justifioation of the libel to the satisfaction of the Jury. It was made out, that while Waldron was curate at Burnham, he had artfully seduced his servant Louisa Johnson, a girl of seventeen, and finally had recourse to violence to gratify his 'passions. In the same house lived Mrs. Childs, mistress of the adjoining National Schools ; and it seems that the poor girl complained to her of the conduct of Waldron in its earliest stages : but Mrs. Childs took no steps for the girl's protection. Recom- mended by Waldron, Louisa Johnson accepted a situation in the house of Mr. Bates, a barrister, and the brother of the Rector of Burnham. Here her misfortune made itself evident, and she was sent' home. On his side, Mr. Waldron denied every statement made by Louisa Johnson, Mrs. Childs, and Mr. Bates. He called a witness, Mary Ann Grix, with the view of showing that Johnson had been iutimate with one Norris, a lad. But "Polly Grix " also gave evidence that Mr. Waldron was on "good terms" with her too, and was accustomed to kiss her "by way of a joke," and take her on his knee. The Chief Baron had Mr. Waldron called into court: he heard the statements, and denied that he had ever kissed Mary Ann Grix. The Jury found a verdict for the defendant.
Mr. Moses Hart, a picture-dealer of Birmingham, has obtained, at War- wick Assizes, from Mr. S. C. Hall, forty shillings damages for a libel which appeared in the Art Journal, imputing fraudulent practices to Mr. Hart in
selling pictures by "modern masters "—the dodge of the "old masters" having had its day in the Midland counties—which were merely copies. The plaintiff proved that several piotures whose genuineness had been im- pugned were true ones ; and evidence of a contrary nature in respect to others was produced for the defendant. Baron Alderson, in summing up, spoke with severity of the offence of publishing in newspapers imputations upon the characters of individuals without amply sufficient grounds ; and expressed his opinion, that if people would assume to themselves functions which nobody expected them to discharge, and, under a sense of what they chose to call duty, inflict serious injury upon others, they ought to be compelled to make a full compensation for the wrong so inflicted. The forty-shilling verdict after such a charge is significant.
At Kingston Assizes, Robert Simpson, an engine-driver on the South- Eastern Railway, was tried for the manslaughter of several persons by negli- gently causing a collision at Croydon, in August last. This was the case where an excursion-train from Dover ran into an engine belonging to the Brighton Company, which was standing on the main line to take in water, —a dangerous praotice. The Jury agreed with the prisoner's counsel, that the disaster was not caused by his negligence, and quickly pronounced a verdict of acquittal ; the Foreman adding that they exonerated him from all blame. It was alleged that this trial was really at the instance of the Brighton Company ; it was avowed that the South-Eastern Company pro- vided for Simpson's defence : the two Companies have yet to settle which is to bear the costs of the "accident," some 12,000L
The riotous proceedings of the colliers seem to have ended for the time. Bilston, Wolverhampton, and Walsall, the evil-disposed have been awed by the presence of soldiers and police ; and most of the miners seem to have returned to work. Some damage has been done at collieries by breaking ma- chinery or turning water down the workings.
Three Russian prisoners scaled the walls of Lewes Gaol the other day, and were at large for a time; but they were quickly recaptured.
Great distress prevails among the carpet-weavers of Kidderminster ; num- bers of men, women, and children being out of employ. Some of the sufferers ask for means to emigrate. Lord Ward and the inhabitants of the town have given temporary aid.
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