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Sir Francis Baring was reelected for Portsmouth on Monday, without Opposition.
Mr. Matthew Talbot Baines, President of the Poor-law Commission, was on Wednesday reelected for Hull, without opposition. Mr. Baines in his speech of thanks cleared himself of the charge of hunting for place. He had opposed Ministers on the Income-tax and the Navigation-law—he still thought the latter should not be repealed: but Sir George Grey had, unsolicited, offered him the place of Under. Secretary of State for the Home Department; an offer which he declined. In accepting the office now conferred on him, he accept- ed a precarious salary not half of his present income, and was foregoing prospects of valuable professional promotion.
Mr. Frederick Peel was elected without opposition on Tuesday, as Member for Leominster—the seat vacated by Mr. Barkly on accepting a Crown office. The proceedings were peculiarly marked by quiet and or- derly sobriety. No public-house was opened; there was no procession, and not even a band of music; and the Vicar refused to allow the Abbey bells to be rung. Mr. Peel expounded from the hustings opinions of Liberal Conservatism. He showed the unreasonableness of pledges; upheld free trade; and would promote economy, though he would lend himself to no extreme cry- " I think," said he, "that it is much better to inquire what are the bond fide requirements of the year 1849, rather than what was the expenditure some four- teen years ago; and I will add, that I would vote for no expenditure which is not required by an enlightened regard for the public interest; while on the other hand I will not engage to support any improvident retrenchments in our naval or military force, which may cause embarrassment and require increased exertions hereafter in order to make good that which was so inconsiderately abandoned, and which had proved a bad economy in the end."
Bolton election took place on Thursday. The candidates were Sir Joshua Walmsley and Mr. Thomas Ridgway Bridson, a resident Conservative of much local influence. Sir Joshua was successful: the votes at the close of the poll were—for Walmsley, 623; Bridson, 567.
It is rumoured in Reading, that a vacancy in the representation of that borough is probable, through the elevation of Mr. Sergeant Talfourd to the bench, in place of a Judge about to retire.
Mr. George Stonehonse Griffith, a highly-respected brewer of Brighton, has been robbed and murdered on the Horsham road, near Piecombe, about seven miles from Brighton. Three persons who had been out shooting were returning home very early on Wednesday morning in a cart; seeing a man who lay motion- less in the road, they alighted, discovered that it was Mr. Griffith, and that he was dead. Be had been shot in the breast. One of his own pistols, which had been discharged, was lying near; the other was in his pocket, loaded. On the spot were found the frame of a pair of spectacles, so covered with lace as to con. cut the wearer's face; a broken whip, an empty purse, and a clasp-knife. Mr. Griffith's money and watch and chain were gone. The murdered man had been to Horsham to collect accounts, which was done once a month. He had travelled in a gig: the horse and gig were found, at five o'clock in the morning, standing near Poynings Church, above a mile from the scene of the crime. The reins had been cut; the splash-board and step showed marks of a struggle. So did Mr. Griffith's clothes: it seemed as if he had fallen into the road on his knees. The murder appears to have been committed between nine and ten on Tuesday night —a shout was heard for help, moans, and the report of a gun or pistol. The only building in the neighbourhood was a farm-house. On the 11th January, Mr. Martin, an assistant to Mr. Griffith, received this anonymous letter—with the Brighton post-mark—" Sir, some parties intend to rob you next time you goes to Horsham so bee on your gard."
It having been supposed that John Timms an elderly man who keeps a coal- yard at Leeds had a good deal of money in 'his house, four men planned to rob and murder thm. One of them afterwards declined, but lent a hammer to his friends to strike Timms with. Two of the men got into the house at night, by pretending that they wanted to buy coals, and then Rawson struck the old man on the head with the hammer; but though he fell from the blow, he got up again, and struggled with his assailant. The other fellow went up stairs to search for the booty; but hearing the struggle below, he hurried down and ran out of the house, Rawson following. Rawson and Spooner, the man who lent the hammer, are in custody, and have confessed; the former declaring, however, that he only meant to stun Timms, not murder him: they have been committed for trial. A third man was arrested, but the evidence did not seem to warrant his detention.
Among other crimes for which Birmingham is becoming conspicuous, a despe- rate highway robbery was perpetrated there recently. Mr. Beasley had been col- lecting rents, and was returning home with a large bag of silver; near a waste piece of ground, a man seized hold of the bag from behind ; a struggle ensued, and the thief stabbed Mr. Beasley with a knife, knocked him down, and made off with the booty. The wounds were not dangerous.
Ann Reynolds, a respectable young woman of Birmingham, has been stabbed, it is feared mortally, by Benjamin Cutler, a young man whose addresses had been rejected by the girl.
Mary Anne Skinner, a young woman, died lest week in Kingston poor-house, in the Portsea Island Union. On the approach of death, she made a most astound- ing confession to one of the Guardians, who, in the presence of a number of wit- nesses, reduced the statement to writing. She said she had been seduced by a lawyer living at Gosport; and that two infants the result of their intercourse were murdered: the first, apparently, was killed by the woman, at her seducer's prompt- ing ; the second was carried away by the lawyer's clerk, and "disposed of as the first had been." Other atrocious circumstances were detailed. A Magistrate MA sent for to rehear the confession; but the woman was too terrified or too much ex- hausted to repeat it: she died next day. The gentleman named by Skinner has hitherto been considered one of the most respectable men in Gosport. The woman was pronounced by a surgeon to be sane when she made her statement.
It has been discovered that Rush purchased a five-barrelled pistol in Shoreditch a short time before the Stanfield Hall murders. The shopman has identified Rush.
George Howe, of Yarm, in Yorkshire, is charged with poisoning his infant child. Howe's wife lately died, leaving the infant who has been poisoned, and a boy three or four years older. Since her death, Howe has paid court to a woman with money, who objected to marry him on account of his children; and he has often wished the infiint would die. A widow who was feeding the child, when Howe was near, was called away; bat, distrusting Howe, refused to give him the child to hold during her absence, and took it with her on her errand: in her absence the child's pap was poisoned with oxalic acid, and the child was killed. Several circumstances fixed the guilt on the father, and he is committed for trial.
An extensive cotton-mill at Newton Heath, near Manchester, belonging to Mr. Barratt, were burnt down last week, while the owner was at the Free-trade ban- quet.
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