Zbe Vrobinces.

On the 19th November, the Bishop of Exeter addressed a letter to the clergy of his diocese, on the observance of the Rubric in the Book of Common Prayer ; and it now makes its appearance in the newspapers. He first alludes to the differences in the Church, and the evils resulting, and to the fatal consequences of change introduced by private individuals, "whether from a desire of novelty or as part of a systematic attempt to bring back our Church nearer to the corrupt usages from which it was reformed." At the recent meeting of the general Chapter of Exeter Cathedral, after a discussion of three hours, more than two-thirds of the number agreed that the only remedy appeared to be "at once to re- strain all undue change, and to look to the law as our sole guide "— " Of that law, one main and leading object, since the Reformation, has ever been to establish 'uniformity of public prayers and administration of sacra- ments and other rites and ceremonies.' This object, good in itself, becomes inestimable when we look to the evils which it alone can prevent. But uniformity, it is manifest, can only be secured by laying down one rule. This the law has done. And if process of time have introduced some relaxations in practice, issuing in the great evils we now deplore, it is a convineino proof that the true remedy for those evils must be sought in returning to a faithful observance of the Act of Uniformity. "Now, 1 do not say that every departure from any minute direction of the Book of Common Prayer, enshrined as it is in this fundamental law, deserves to be stigmatized as a violation of the national compact ; but I say, that the duty of strict obedience to it cannot be too strongly felt by any—least of all by the clergy. To this duty we pledged ourselves in our ordination-vows. We renewed that pledge as often as we undertook the cure of souls, or were other- wise admitted to serve in any office in the house of God. To tb.? strict fulfil- ment, therefore, of that duty, no faithful minister of God's Word will think it a hardship that his Bishop should now recall hint. He will rather gladly re- oognizo rh. &op.: of recurring to it, at a time of general doubt and difficulty, as the one, the only rule, by which our practice in public prayer can be honestly or safely regulated."

The Bishop assumes that the laity would readily acquiesce, were the nature of the changes introduced to prevent change duly explained. He therefore, in the language of entreaty and authority, exhorts the clergy to render "a steady, uniform, and peaceful obedience to the laws of the Church, especially in all that relates to the public worship of Almighty God as enjoined in the Rubric of the Book of Common Prayer.' He abstains for the present from details, but advises a very cautious and forbearing tone in all that respects the duty of the laity as laid down in the Rubric- " For instance, you are bound to read at least one sentence of the offertory whenever the communion-service shall be read ; but it is left to your discre- tion whether you should read more—in other words, whether you should en- force a collection. Now, in every church in which the congregation in general is prepared to regard the collection as the exercise of a high Christian pri- vilege—the privilege of offering to God—of giving to him of his own—there I advise that a collection be always made. But wherever the pervading tone and feeling is not yet of this high order, be patient, strive, but strive gently and with prayer to God, to raise your people to a better mind; and till they have attained to it, shock not their prejudices, irritate not their selfishness, it may be their worldly-mindedness. Only let them not deceive themselves; let them see and feel that you 'seek not theirs, but them.' Tell them the truth in love, and leave the rest to God."

While he urges a full observance of the Rubric, the Bishop cautions the clergy against exceeding it ; and he advises no deviation from the present modes until the practice and propositions of different deaneries and dioceses have been collated. As to the question of using the sur- plice in preaching, trivial in itself but endowed with a factitious im- portance, he settles it by construing the law to require that it should always be worn in the preaching of a sermon. He lays down a new rule not contained in the Rubric, but sanctioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, "that where there is a sermon in the evening, it be de- livered after evening prayer, in the accustomed manner—that is, pre- ceded by a collect, (unless the Bidding prayer be used,) and the Lord's Prayer, and followed by the blessing.'

The Standard publishes a correspondence that passed at the latter end of last month, between Mr. Gabriel Kennard junior, late Church- warden of East Farleigh, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, about ecclesiastical differences in the parish. Mr. Kennard complained, eight months ago, of innovations introduced into the parish-church by the Reverend Henry Wilberforce, the Vicar ; and the Archbishop appointed the Reverend Dr. Griffiths and the Archdeacon of Maidstone to make an inquiry. On their report, he abstained from further interfereuce. Mr. Kennard now complains that the innovations are not only con- tinued but increased : objectionable books are continued in the paro- chial schools ; transubstantiation and other objectionable doctrines are preached from the pulpit ; Mr. Wilberforce uses two crosses in the pri- vate worship of his family ; he introduces the word." blessed" before

the name of the Virgin Mary in repeating the Creed; and the practice of chanting the service is carried to a great extent.

Mr. Kennard also touched upon the misdeeds of others. The Vicar's brother, Archdeacon Robert J. Wilberforce, in conversation with the writer, once defended the use of the material cross- " The incumbent of the neighbouring district of Tovil, which includes a por- tion of our parish, has lately put up in his churchyard a conspicuous wooden cross, nearly four feet high, at the head of the grave of his departed infant, as if openly to outrage the feelings of every true Protestant, in accordance with the suggestion of a Tractarian publication entitled the Ecclesiologist, which, in a recent number, says—' We do confidently look for the general restoration both of churchyard and village crosses. The cross (1. e. the material cross, which is to be set up in churchyards) is the true protection of Christians; they are never so safe as under it. The graves in a churchyard, and the cottages in a village, cluster around it in security.' The objects of these crosses, it after- wards states, are ' to excite the devotion of the living and to secure the peaceful repose of the departed.'" The general purport of the Archbishop's reply is, that some of these charges have been disposed of by the former inquiry ; that others are not sufficiently specific ; and that he had never found the doctrine of transubstantiation in any sermon by Mr. Henry Wilberforce. In a re- joinder, Mr. Kennard put some of the charges in rather more specific terms, but adds nothing of general interest.

Mr. Ward, of Balliol College, Oxford, recently published a tract entitled The Ideal of a Christian Church, which has called forth some notice, as the most violent and excessive of all the Tractarian publica- tions. It contains this passage- " It is now three years since I. a clergyman of the English Church, writing in my own name, published an opinion, that the Articles were not directed against those who retained the old doctrines, so that they were willing to join in a protest against the shameful corruptions in existence, and also to give up the Pope '; that " theArticles do not exclude' the opinions which 'had existed in the Church for an indefinite period.' No argument had appeared of any force against these positions; and, what is more to the purpose, no condemna- nation of them by any authoritative tribunal.

"Three years have passed since I said plainly, that in subscribing the Ar- ticles I renounce no one Roman doctrine; yet I retain my Fellowship, which I hold on the tenure of subscription, and have received no ecclesiastical censure in any shape."

The Dean of Christchurch formally complained of this work to the University authorities ;! and a number of remonstrances from Bishops came in, requiring that the matter should be seriously taken up. Ac- cordingly, Mr. Ward was summoned to appear on Saturday before the Vice-Chancellor, Proctors, and Pro-Vice-Chancellors, assembled in the Delegates Room, with a notary-public in attendance. Mr. Ward at- tended, and was required to acknowledge or to disavow the book pub- lished by him, with his name in the titlepage ; and to say whether he ad- hered to or disclaimed the doctrines propounded in that work. He asked for two days' time to answer whether he would acknowledge his own book.

In a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, written on Tuesday, Mr. Ward desired to correct some false impression that had gone abroad ; and he denied that he had been guilty of any unworthy subterfuge. He says, that "he was summoned on Saturday, not as before a tribunal which claimed the power of authoritatively putting questions, but merely that he might have the opportunity, if he so 'wished, of disavowing certain opinions, previously to the Hebdomadal Board proceeding further against him." Whenever authoritatively informed of the whole proceedings intended, there should be no want of perfect openness on his part.

The Bishop of Chester consecrated a new church at Bolton on Sun- day, under peculiar circumstances. It was once the chapel belonging to a congregation of the Methodist New Connexion; but the incum- bent, Mr. Thomas Berry, with the whole congregation, joined the Church of England a few years back. The chapel was altered to fit it for being a chapel of ease to the parish-church: last Sunday it was con- secrated by the Bishop, and the incumbent received an episcopal licence to preach.

At a meeting last week, the Liverpool Cotton-Brokers Association agreed, by a large majority, to memorialize the Treasury for repeal of the duty on raw cotton.

The Leeds Intelligeneer of Saturday reports meetings recently held at Fernley Tyas and Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield, at which Mr. Fre- derick Thynne, agent to the Earl of Dartmouth, delivered prizes to the agricultural labourers. A new method of carrying out the allotment system was advocated, with practical effect- " At Fernley Tyas, Mr. Thynne appealed to the Christian feelings of the tenantry on the desirableness that such as had cottagers employed on their farms should allot a rood of land to each cottage, and thus give every poor man a stake in the hedge,' a share and interest in the property of the land. With his cow or his pig, formerly the appendages of many cottages, by this means restored to him, contentment and security would once more be the lot of the English peasant. This plan, we have the greatest pleasure in informing our readers, is in course of being carried into effect; so that in a short time there will not be a cottage in that village without its rood of land. The example of ' Messrs. Leigh, Nowell, Roberts, Kaye, and others, is already or about to be followed by all the tenantry, and every farm in the township will have its ap- pendage of cottage allotments. The property on the farm will thus be de- fended by its natural guardians—the labourers or cottagers employed upon it." There is an industrial farm at Fernley Tyas, which seems to have been established by means of a grant from the Manufacturer's Relief Committee ; which was thus converted to capital, has answered its full purpose, and has returned a profit. An agricultural school is about to be established at Fernley Tyas ; Lord Dartmouth having already set the example on his own estate- " The children receive instruction at their books in school during the morn- ing, and in the afternoon they are trained in the operations of field-gardening. This admirable plan is found to work well; the boys displaying the utmost alacrity in their out-door labour. We believe it is intended to apportion a share, a fourth or a sixth part of the value of the annual produce, to the boys, by way of encouragement ; the remainder being devoted to defraying the master's salary and other expenses." Itte Slaithwaite meeting, the Reverend J. M. Maxfield, Vicar of Mars&ti, alledetrittri-township of allotment-holders on Earl Fitz wil- liata's property-- This town, which thirty years ago was inhabited by colliers, with all their habitual filth and vices, he went through a few weeks since, and was astonished to see a handsome row of cottages erected; and it bore the significant title of Reform Row. He could not, however, object to the neat buildings be- fore him, although he did not at first like the name. About a quarter of a mile farther, he came to a large field, not a waste one, but divided into neat cottage-gardens, and let to the labourers, and altogether it bore the appearance of industry; and he immediately thought, if this is what Earl Fitzwilliam means by Reform," let him go on in it. A little farther on still, he saws very suitable church erected for the assemblage of the inhabitants to offer up their prayers and praises to the Almighty for all the blessings bestowed by his bountiful hand. Now, whether the church preceded the allotments or the al- lotments preceded the church, he was unable to say ; but he could say that the men appeared to be contented and happy; and he had no doubt but that the same results would follow in every place where it was carried into effect.

Mr. Maxfield also read extracts of a letter by a boy aged sixteen, who described the management of a farm connected with Watford Workhouse : the lad wrote-

" I have got all my harvest in; and we had our harvest-supper in Lord Essex's park, and were all very comfortable. After dinner, we had a game at cricket with his Lordship's sons and servants: and I can tell you it was a holyday with all in the place, as they never heard of such a thing as a 'harvest- home' in the Union-house. I think it would be a good job if there were more that had harvest-homes at the Union-houses."

The Poor-law Commissioners have issued an order constituting Leeds an union under the Poor-law Act; and a meeting was held in that town, last week, to resist the introduction of the law into the borough. The meeting was convened by the Mayor, on the requisition of 700 persons : it was composed almost wholly of the working-classes, and the speakers were mostly Chartists. One of them suggested that the working of the law should be resisted by the refusal to pay rates. The Poor-law, the Commissioners, and Mr. Malthus, were the subjects of strong animad- version. Resolutions, passed unanimously, expressed regret and alarm at the introduction of the law into the borough; and appointed a Com- mittee to promote the election of guardians opposed to the law.

A general strike of the colliers of Lancashire and Cheshire is threatened. On Saturday last, the workmen of every pit in Lancashire and Cheshire, except the St. Helen's district, sent in to their masters a written appli- cation demanding an advance of twopence upon each shilling they now earn. Should their demand be refused, the result will be a general strike. Many meetings have been held, and the miners seem resolute in their purpose. Mr. Roberts, "the Miners' Attorney-General," is very busy in urging the men to pursue their present course.

The strike of the Barking fishermen is at an end ; the employers having consented to a system of shorter voyages, and the men re- linquished their demand for increased pay.

The two protracted inquests on the bodies of Mr. Dean and Mr. Varnalls, killed by the accident at Beeston on the Midland Counties Railway, have closed. The evidence taken on the latter days was mostly a repetition of what had gone before ; but we may pick out a few points.

Mr. Kirtley, Superintendent of the locomotive department, said that first-class carriages are safer than second-class carriages, because they

are lined and padded.

Mr. Peter Clarke, Superintendent eif• 0 *ha pan..,ay. con- 151dCICti that tile suicey in railway travelling would be greatly insured if electric telegraphs were established. He stated that his own salary was 800/. a year ; Mr. Lightfoot's 1801., the highest given to a station- superintendent. Mr. Hannay, formerly a Director of the Company, related a fact bear- ing upon the question of responsibility. One Smith, a guard, refused to leave Nottingham station when ordered to do so by Mr. Lightfoot, because the train wanted a break. Mr. Lightfoot complained of Smith for disobedience ; but the Directors supported the guard. Mr. Light- foot had no control over the locomotive department ; but he could of course start special trains, or delay a train if requisite. Each Coroner summed up the evidence at great length ; pointing out its conflicting nature, and aiding the Jury to unravel and compare it. On Saturday, the Jury on Mr. Dean's case returned a verdict of "Manslaughter against Robert Lightfoot "; and accompanied it with a written paper, which was read by Mr. Coroner Browne, as follows- " The Jury cannot separate without expressing their opinion, that notwith- standing the arrangements generally prevailing on railroads, much might yet be done, and ought to be done, to render railway travelling more secure; espe- cially in regard to second-class carriages, which, though they may not be made as comfortable, may be made as safe as those of the first class. The Jury further consider that passengers ought on no occasion to be taken on the wrong line of rails without their previous knowledge or consent. They also suggest to Railway Directors, that much greater safety may be secured by the general introduction of electric telegraphs upon the various lines. There is another point which the Jury think ought to be attended to, and that is, that in future great care should be taken to ascertain that all the Company's servants are intimately and perfectly acquainted with their several duties; and the Jury cannot too strongly express their conviction that Jonathan Raven has not sworn to the truth in his depositions, and that he is utterly unworthy of the confidence of the Railway Company, and unfit for the service of the public. There is another point on which the Jury wish to remark respecting Mr. Lightfoot, and that is, they are exceedingly gneved, on aemrunt of the many favourable circumstances in his favour, to place him in the painful situation which. they have done, and nothing but a paramount sense of duty has induced them to do so. The Coroner wishes to join with every individual of the Jury in expres- sing his sorrow on the occasion. There is another thing which is desired to be recommended to the Railway Company, and that is the situation of Mrs. Dean, who, in the prime of life, has been suddenly and in a moment deprived of the stay of her existence and of her support; and the Jury hope that provision will be made for her by the Railway Company, so as to preveut her feeling in addition to her heavy loss the sorrows of destitution and privation." The Jury on Mr. Varnalls's case returned the following verdict, on Tuesday night- " We find a verdict of Accidental Death '; and we impose a deodand of 1,000/. on the engines, tenders, and carriages, being the property of the Mid- land Railway Company. The Jury are convinced the collision took place in consequence of mismanagement, and the want of a clear understanding on the part of some of the Company's servants of the directions which were given ; but, owing to conflicting evidence, we are not able to decide who are the parties individually implicated. We are also of opinion that much improvement may be Made in the general management of the Midland Railway, particularly at

the Nottingham station, which would tend materially to secure the public

safety. We think it important that the servants, especially the enginemen and guards, should be properly instructed in and duly impressed with the import- ance of the printed rules ; which should as much as possible be observed to the letter. We are also of opinion that Jonathan Raven, the Beeston station- master, has given evidence before this inquest which the Jury can place no re- liance upon; and that he ought to forfeit the confidence of the Railway Com- pany, and be no longer retained as a public servant."

Acting under the advice of his solicitor, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Light- foot absented himself for a time ; but on Tuesday he surrendered to take his trial on the 16th instant. His ease has excited much sympathy in Nottingham. An address to the Directors, calling on them to con- tinue their confidence in him, has been very extensively signed, and by many of the leading people of the town ; but Mr. Campbell has urged its withdrawal until the result of the trial be known.

General Pasley, Inspector-General of Railways, has addressed a letter to Mr. Lightfoot, informing him that he had ascribed the cause of the accident to an error in judgment on his part, in setting aside the direc- tions given by John Kearsley, and communicated at the Beeston sta- tion by James Howitt. To this letter Mr. Bruce Campbell has replied, without Mr. Lightfoot's privity, protesting against that prejudgment of the case ; pointing out improbabilities in parts of the evidence that seemed to bear against Mr. Lightfoot, and especially the fact that Howitt, though he said " something" about another train at the Beeston station, distinctly said that Kearsley only spoke of "the next train."

An accident truly terrible happened in the Birmingham station-yard of the Grand Junction Railway, on Tuesday evening. William Gray- stone, a young man employed as a cleaner, assisted in moving an engine from one line to another ; and as it went forward, he was in front of it. Several persons told him to get out of the way. He answered, that all would be right, walked on, and jumped into an ash-pit. Here he might have avoided all danger, by srooping and suffering the engine to pass over him ; but, after standing for an instant, as if not knowing what to do, he ran to the end of the pit, and tried to scale three or four steps. The engine struck him, dashed him forward, and he was found lying dead in a second ash-pit eight yards further on, dreadfully mangled. A Coroner's Jury have returned a verdict of " Accidental Death."

Two workmen employed on the South-eastern Railway have been killed between Dover and Folkstone, in the Abbot's Cliff tunnel. They were returning home from work through tbe tunnel at the time that two trains passed each other ; and it is supposed that the noise of the up-train prevented them from hearing the approach of the down-train, the engine of which struck them.

A fatal accident has happened on the Blackburn and Preston Rail- way, which is in process of making. At King's Bank there is a deep cutting at the side of a hill ; and on Tuesday afternoon a large piece of earth, weighing perhaps eight or nine tons, fell from the higher ground, at a spot where three men were just about to leave their work. One man was quite buried, and must at once have been crushed to death against a waggon ; the second was so seriously hurt that his recovery was accounted very doubtful ; the third escaped, but so narrowly that a snuff-box in his pocket was crushed.

Scene barns, full of agricultural produce, have been destroyed by fire at Walton in Hertfordshire : the damage is estimated at 2,000/. Mr. Abel Smith, M.P., is the owner of the farm ; and a neighbouring farm belonging to him was burnt about ten weeks since. Both fires are sup- posed to have been wilful, and a labourer has been arrested on sus- picion.

The Grand Stand on the Newcastle race-course caught fire on Tues- day night ; but assistance having been immediately obtained, the flames were subdued, after consuming the roof and the staircase. Mr. Fen- wick, a solicitor, lives on the premises.

A desperate affray with poachers has occurred on Lord Middleton's grounds at Wollaton, near Nottingham. Four keepers had seized two poachers ; when nearly a score of the poachers' companions came up, rescued the prisoners, and dreadfully beat the keepers ; one of whom now lies in a dangerous state.

Abrams, a gamekeeper of the Duke of Buckingham, has been fined five pounds, at the Buckingham Petty Sessions, for kicking and beating a boy who was throwing stones at birds (not game) in a hedge. When convicted, Abrams trumped up a charge against the lad, of taking a hare by means of a springe; but the boy's innocence was clearly proved. The gamekeeper has since been committed to take his trial for firing at three boys : he wounded one in the hand.

An explosion of fire-damp at the Cwm Avon coal-mine, near Aber- avon in Wales, has caused the death of four men. Three were killed by the explosion, and the fourth by the foul air as he was endeavouring to rescue his comrades. The explosion was caused by the use of an un- protected candle ; a common practice ia the mine, as the air is gene- rally very free from hydrogen.

Two colliers have been killed by an explosion of fire-damp at Seghill mine, near Newcastle. The use of candles was the cause of this dis- aster.

Several stage-coach accidents have recently occurred; and one, which bappened on Saturday near Beaconsfield, has proved fatal to an old man. The horses shied at a white post, and at the same moment the reins broke ; when the coach was drawn on to a bank and overturned. The coachman, and an aged couple who were seated outside, were violently thrown to the ground ; the driver and the woman being much hurt, while the man was so seriously injured that he died the next morning.

The body of an infant has been found in the plantations at Frogmore, the residence of the Dutchess of Kent. A Jury have declared it still- born ; and there is no evidence to point out the mother.

A female beggar has been committed to Carmarthen Gaol for va- grancy, on whose person were found six pounds in cash and 200/. in promissory notes ; the notes sewed into the lining of her bonnet.