i4t rotfiutic.
The Protectionist demonstrations in the agricultural districts are con- tinued. At a meeting of the "landowners, occupiers, and tradesmen of Driffield and its neigbourhood," on Thursday week, one of the leading speakers, Mr. James Harrison, characterized "the celebrated speech delivered by Mr. Cobden at Leeds" as "the most disgraceful and abominable speech that had ever been made at a public assembly,"—" a speech that would entirely prevent Mr. Cobden from being returned again to represent the West Riding of. Yorkshire." At the same meeting, 1%Ir. Henry Hill started a new and effective way for the tenant-farmers to compete with foreigners • namely, by aid of the charity of their landlords- " He would have their County Members take an example from Sir Tatton Sykes, who invariably rode round his farms and relieved the distresses of his tenants_ He would also have them take example from Lord Harewood, who at a late meeting, when his health was drunk, told his tenants not to despair, but if they could not got on, to come to him and he would relieve them. (Cheers.) Now if the fanners had but landlords like these they would beat all the fo- reigners. But against foreign competition, as the farmers were now, they could not stand ; for in many instances rent was paid-out of capital, and many could not even pay it out of that." (Great cheering.) • • The Protectionists sustained a defeat in public meeting at Knaresbo- rough, on Thursday. The meeting was "numerous, and of a very in- fluential character ' ; it consisted of the gentry, farmers, and tradesmen of Knair,sborouggla and its neighbourhood; and it was held, says the Morning Post, "for the purpose of passing resolutions in favour of native industry." On the motion of Sir C. Slingsby, Mr. Joseph Dent, of Ribston Hall, 1 lately High Sheriff of Yorkshire, was called to the chair. lie opened &with a few Protectionist sentences ; the delivery of which was much in- terrupted by cries of "Settle your rents !" &c. Resolutions in favour of roteetion were moved and seconded, amidst much uproar caused by the bjecting part of the meeting. The Chairman was about to put them for doption, but was prevented by loud clamour ; and Mr. James Jennings, weaver, moved an amendment against any duty on corn, as destructive o the best interests of the kingdom. The amendment was seconded by . Dudgeon, a tailor from Ripon • whom the Chairman refused to hear, because he was a stranger to Knaresborough, and had "had his turn at ipon." Mr. Dudgeon coolly asked the Chairman whether he were a aresborough man; and proceeded himself to put the amendment he ended. The Chairman called for a show of hands on the first resolu- 'ons. Much confusion followed : "a great number of hands," says the Times "were held up for the resolutions ; but those on the opposite side appeared to have a majority." Very soon after, "the Chairman, in the midst of clamour, dissolved the meeting." [The Daily News says the majority was five or six to one ; the Morning Chronicle says the Protec- tionists were totally routed ; the Morning _Poet says that "all the resolu- tions were unanimously affirmed."] At the monthly Board of the Council of the Queen's College at Bir- mingham, held on Tuesday last,—Lord Lyttelton, Principal of the Col- lege, in the chair,—Charles Rann Kennedy, Esq., the recently-appointed Professor of Law, submitted to the meeting a detailed statement of his plan of legal instruction. Mr. Kennedy proposed to the Council to deliver three courses of lectures annually, in the months of May and June, No- vember and December, January and February, each course to consist of thirty or forty lectures - and to give examinations at the close of each term, with three annual prizes to be awarded to the three students who shall on the whole have passed the best examinations. Mr. Kennedy's proposals were unanimously adopted. The Council are now prepared to receive into the Arts Department resident and non-resident students in- tended. for the legal profession, whose parents or guardians wish them to 1 be qualified to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree, by the possession of I which, under the recent act of Parliament, only three years under articles to a solicitor will afterwards be required.
A distressing case of starvation has occurred at Southampton. Elizabeth Biggs, a delicate young woman, whose poverty.had made her a constant re- cipient of parish relief for some months past, applied to theparish doctor on Friday last week for medical relief : the doctor knew her case well i he saw that she was more in need of nourishment .and shelter than of medicines, and he gave her an order for immediate admission to the workhouse. Her bro- ther accompanied her thither, and she obtained admission ; but it Would seem that she remained only a short time : too delicate to endure the severe cold of the lodging in the "tramp-houses" where casual paupers are given shelter 1 for the night on a bed of straw with the covering of one quilt, she complained of illness, and on her own request was let out of the workhouse. She was found by her sister in the afternoon, sitting on the ground in the street, with her ehild of two years Old at her side : she seemed too weak to go on to the lodging-house on which she bad a poor-law order for a night's sleep. Her f sister took her to this lodging-house for the night. Next day her eider found her very ill indeed, from sheer starvation ; and asked why she bad not ap. ' , plied to the workhouse people for a loaf ? "A tall man, a doctor," she said, " told the relieving-officer not to do so, and bade her go to her own parish, . for her parish would not do so for them." Her sister persuaded her to go once more to the workhouse ; but the porter refused admittance, on the / ground that she had no order for that day. The sister 'took her to lodgings, i and paid for a bed for one more night. Next morning, Flieebeth Biggs was ' - so ill that Mr. Cooper, the union Surgeon, was sent foe. He sent her medis !eine immediately, and attended in the course of the day ; but too late to save her life; for on his arrival she was already dying. At five in the afternoon she died. At the inquest, the people of the lodging-house stated that she 'had been offered food, but was unable to take it. The surgeon and the 1 relieving-officer were fully examined. After much deliberation, the Jury
I gave the following verdict— .
- We find that the deceased died from starvation and exposure 14 the cold, and ithpablwe annetgioefathoen common pm on necessaries of life; ansd etlztethe ere ‘1,1shbaeenagcrirt asritiuoln- of the Poor-laws at Southampton,,in not receiving the deceased into the workhouse, iThe correspondent of the Times states that the Board of Guardiatie, with and providing proper lodging and nourishment on the nights of Triday and Saturday of last week ; but no sufficient evidence cloth appear to the said Jury as to' who are ' the parties actually blameable." ‘• the Mayor in the choir, have held an investigation into- the conduct of Sim- ' monde, the officer, who rejected Biggs; from the work-house door. 'Witnesses
depose to hearing him refuse Biggs the relief ordered by the surgeon, and tell her that "there was nothing for her that night but the tramp-house." The Guardians resolved to indict him and had him arrested and brought , before the Bench of Magistrates. Evidence of his drunkenness was then
I aotieruceeasodf:thaid ...whasousreenoiffiancidaised.halnve bteenhe mdieranisgedtime,bythitunthe Gounardiansds and. some Poor-house from destitution, attended with circumstances of alleged i official neglect, has also occurred at Manchester. Mary Hunter, a woman 1 who gained a scanty but honest livelihood by selling apples,'&c., was taken II ill with pain in her side on Saturday week. She lodged in the kitchen of Mrs. MI/enough, a woman nearly as poor as herself, and slept on the flagged floor, with but a few flocks between her and the stones, and a- piece of carpet for her sole covering ; she was corpulent, however, and did not while well suffer acutely from cold. Mrs. M'Donough went for a doctor several times that day, but could not get one. On Sunday she got directions fromjlr. MI-Gill to put on a poultice ; which was put on, without relief to the patient. On Monday the poor woman was dangerously ill, and consented that an order for the workhouse should be applied for ; but Mr. Pierce, the relieving- officer, bad moved his residence and could not be found for some time : he gave a note to Mr. Noble, the parish doctor ; and the note was delivered, but "no one came that day." On Tuesday Mr. Noble's assistant, Mr. Brown, came, and ordered a poultice ; but said nothing about removal of the patient from the stone floor. He directed Mrs. Ill'Donongh to come for medicine ; she went, and was told she must fetch a bottle—no bottle would be given with the medicine : after further loss of time a bottle was got, the medicine procured, and administered—without relief. During Tues- day more ,poultices—without effect; more messages backwards and forwards to the relieving-officer and surgeon, with warnings that the woman would be dead by morning. Visits were made by the officer and surgeon late in the evening. On Wednesday the poor woman's breath grew short, and en Thurs- day at dawn she died.. On a posh-mortem examination, it appeared she died of acute internal inflammation ; and Mr. George Morley Harrison, surgeon, deposed that such a condition would, in the first instance, be produced by ex- posure to cold, and would subsequently be aggravated-by the want of proper "Died and other comforts. The Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of "Died from inffinzunation of the lungs, aggravated by exposure and lying in the place deserted"; and they expressed their unanimous opinion that there had been neglect on the part of the overseer and the medical man who visited the deoeased ; recommending that a copy of the depositions be forwarded to ' the Poor-law Board. [A witness at the inquest mentioned that Marv. Hunter was of the same religious congregation with himself : she seldom gof more to eat than brown bread, and "sometimes butter," with tea to drink : she was honest, "very grateful" for some small presents of left-off clothing, but "never asked for anything" : her character was without reproach.] Stratton, a clerk in the Aylesbury Savings-bank, has absconded to America, taking with him his wife and two children. He had got possession of a con- siderable sum belonging to an aged relative; and it would seem that he had been appropriating money paid to him as an officer of the bank : a person named Fauler produced a bank-book showing that he had paid Stratton 301..; but there was no manager's cheek marked in the book nor any folio referring to the ledger. It is expected, however, that Stratton's bank de- falcations will not be very extensive in excess of the amount of property he has left behind him.
Davenport, the man who dangerously wounded Policeman Reed, at South- ern, some menthe ago, has been apprehended on the borders of Wales.
A sad accident has occurred at the Maghull station of the East Lancashire Railway. A train came up consisting of only its carriage; there wore more passengers than could be accommodated in so it was resolved to attach another• ; and to effect this, the tram was moved on to the other le
line. Whit is arrangement was going forward, another train was heard approaching ; . knowing that they were oh the wrong rails, the passengers grew alarmed, and several jurmpect. out ; of these, three got on to the other rails : the approaching train was on them, and all three were killed.
A conflagration of agricultural buildings and produce near Cambridge, on Thursday week, was aggravated by the circumstance that a great number of domestic animals were burnt to death. The disaster occurred at the home- stead of Mr. Elliott Smith, of Girton, and ended in the destruction of all the farm buildings and all the stored produce of a large homestead, with a small adjacent house belonging to an aged widow. It is attributed to incendiary handsalthough Mr. -Elliott Smith is a " most kind " as well as " most spirited" employer of the poor. The Cambridge Chronicle remand] the " worst part of the affair," and interjects] a remark founded on observation, that the evil-doers had no svmpathy among the labourers, who worked in- defatigably in the effort to subdue the flames. The fire arose " in the eye of a high wind," and had risen uncontrollably high even before discovered. "Eight fine horses, three bullocks, two calves, twelve cows and heifers, twenty-seven pigs, and a large- quantity of poultry, were consumed. The cries and moans of the poor animals, which were beyond the reach of human aid, -Were frightful ; and if the villain who was the cause of this frightful destruction of property were on the spot, it must have excited a feeling of something like compunction even in his bosom. This at any rate is certain, that had he been recognized he would beyond a doubt, hi the excitement of the moment, have met alitte similar to that of his- poor victims, at the hands of the bystanders, e yard-dog stiew&--d in saving himself by en almost supernatural effort ; for he made off with his keneel (a eery heavy one) at his heels, and was afterwards found at some distance," The damage done to Mr. Smith's property was about 2,000/. ; he was folly insured. Mrs. Carter, the aged person whose cottage was burnt, has lost the whole of her furniture and wardrobe.
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