211)E Vrobintes.

Saturday was the polling-day for Bridport ; and a severe contest there was from the opening of the poll till its close. The excitement within the booth extended to the mob without; who testified their interest in the strug- gle by pugilistic encounters. At four o'clock the Romilly party were do-. lighted by the exhibition of a majority of two; but the returning-officer, after a close scrutiny, decided that Mr. Cochrane was the choice of the electors, by a majority of one! Shouts of triumph followed this turning of the tables, raised all the louder as the Romillyites were unable to conceal their chagrin at the snatching of the prize from their grasp. Of 479 electors who voted, more than two-thirds were polled by eleven o'clock, at which hour Mr. Cochrane had the advantage by twenty-two. Effort was redoubled by Mr. Romilly's supporters; and at twelve o'clock he was six ahead. At one o'clock, both candidates were equal; at two o'clock Romilly was four in advance; at half-past three o'clock, both were again equal; at four o'clock the returning-officer decided the numbers to be—Cochrane 240, Romilly 239. It is alleged that this majority would have been swelled to two, had not a voter, for reasons guessed at, refused to take the bribery-oath. Mr. Day, a Protectionist, one of the persons who announced the advent of Mr. Montgomery Martin as a candidate, but who declined the contest, voted for Romilly. A petition against the return has been spoken of; but this is in- consistent with the tone of Mr. Romilly's speech to the electors in taking leave.

The reelection of Captain Carnegie, the new Lord of the Treasury, far Stafford, was opposed in the first instance by Mr. Lawrence Heyworth, of Liverpool, a well-known Free-trader; but Mr. Heyworth being a Teetotaller, and the electors of Stafford having a predilection for beer, they found they did not suit each other, and Mr. Heyworth went home. On Thursday, however, the day of nomination, a barrel of beer was produced in front at the hustings, and with it two opponents to the Lord of the Treasury. The three candidates were put in nomination; and each made a speech. Cap- tain Carnegie took his stand upon the merits of the Ministerial policy; Dr. Sleigh, of Brill House, Bucks, raised the standard of Protection; and Mr. E. Watkin, the son of a Manchester manufacturer, claimed support on the ground of being a thorough Free-trader. The show of hands was for Mr. Watkin; but as that gentleman was not in possession of the necessary property qualification, he could not go to the poll. The contest lay, there- fore, between Captain Carnegie and Dr. Sleigh.

In the evening of the nomination, Dr. Sleigh and some Protectionist friends harangued from the windows of the Star Inn, and made other pre- parations for the approaching contest. At eight o'clock on the morrow, four booths were opened, and at nine the Doctor had polled a vote. Every hour, however, added to the number; and at four o'clock the aggregate was found to be 25. Captain Carnegie polled 733; and he was declared duly elected; Dr. Sleigh admitting that he had been honourably and fairly defeated.

No opponent has appeared to contest Windsor with Mr. Ralph Neville, another new Lord of the Treasury. The former chairman of Mr. Neville's Committee declined to support him; but he found a substitute in Mr. William Jennings, a brewer, who is doing the business as well. The no- mination takes place today.

At the meeting of the Trent Valley Railway Company, on Monday last, Mr. Edward Tootall, Deputy Chairman of that Company, and a member of the Board of the London and Birmingham Railway Company, now to be consolidated into the "London and North-western Railway Company," announced the intention of the directors to have a telegraph laid down immediately from London to Liver- pool, and from London to Manchester, by which communications may be trans- mitted from London to Manchester in three minutes or less, and an answer re- ceived in three minutes more. This will be the greatest stride in our means of communication with the Metropolis ever yet made; and it is utterly impassible to estimate all the benefits with which it may be fraught Its importance in a national point of view cannot be over-estimated; and we hope that no untoward circumstance may interfere to prevent its being carried to completion without unnecessary delay.—Maschester Guardian.

Messrs. Eforrocks, Miller, and Co., have commenced the engine at one of their mills, the Moss New Factory, for eleven hours only, in order to test the effect this reduction would have upon the earnings of the hands. They intend trying it for a month.—Preston Chronicle.

A subscription for the benefit of Mr. Wilderspin, the unwearied promoter of infant schools, has been commenced at Wakefield. The list is headed by some great names and the amount already subscribed exceeds 3001. Mr. Wilderspin has organized in various parts of the kingdom infant schools for upwards of 26,000 children.

The Government survey of the portion of the cliff that overhangs the Naval Yard at Dover has been made, and the cliff has been declared to be in a dangerous state: but when or how it is to be rendered safe has not yet transpired.—Carner- bury JournaL A public lecture was delivered last week at the Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge at Preston, on" the Frauds of Picture-dealers."

The Bishop's Stortford coach, which ran on the Essex and Hertford road for nearly a century and a half, yielded last week to" the rail." Some of the inhabitants took a parting trip and a dinner on the occasion; and a subscrip- tion is in progress for a piece of plate to the disconsolate coachman.

A prize-fight between two men named Cleghorn and Belly, which took place on 'Tuesday at Blythe, about ten miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, resulted in the death of Reily on the following day.

There are reasons to fear an epidemic, of a strange and malignant character, has attacked the flocks of several farmers in the neighbourhood of Hardwick. The ap- pearance of the animals after death offers no symptoms of inflammation: the only pert affected is the lungs which appear tender, and ready to fall in pieces. Mr. Fisher, of Rowthorne, as lost nineteen hogs out of a flock of sixty; and several other farmers have lost eight or ten. The sheep are seized, on turnips, with difficulty of breathing, refusing their food, and die in a few days. The disease appears infectious.—Derby Reporter.

The Preston Guardian announces that the potato disease has made its appear- ance in the new crop. "Potatoes grown in frames, which had thrown up shoots eighteen inches high, have been dug up, and found so much affected as to be unfit for use. Some which had been planted out of doors, the shoots of which had not appeared above ground, have been examined and found also affected, the shoots 212 many cases being rotten."

Mr. Henry More William Singleton, a Commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, was killed last week by a singular accident. Mr. Singleton, accompanied by Mr. Ilulvert, also a Commoner of Trinity, and Mr. Clark, a livery stable-keeper at Oxford, went to Bicester on Friday, to witness a steeple-chace. The party left that place on horseback about nine o'clock at night, on their return to Oxford. The two students appear to have raced on the road; and when near Gosford turn- pike, they put their horses to their mettle and dashed off at a great speed, Mr. Singleton taking the lead. The toll-bar was closed, and no lamp was exhibited; the rate that the horses were going at would seem to have prevented the riders from pulling up as soon as they saw the gate; Mr. Singleton's horse made a dash at it, smashed it to pieces, and pitches' his rider into the road; the other horse cleared the gate as it was falling. Mr. Singleton was insensible when i taken up, and died n two hours. The tollman's excuse for not exhibiting a lamp was, that the night was a light one, and it was not needed. A Jury of ma- triculated members of the University, presided over by the University Coroner, has found a verdict of "Accidental Death "; adding, that the turnpike-keeper was much to blame for not lighting a lamp.

An alarming accident happened at the Scotch Church in Birmingham on Sun- day morning. In the midst of the service, the floor began to sink with a crash; all was terror and confusion; but, by the exertions of the minister and some of the congregation, a little order was restored, and the people left the building in safety. On examination, it was found that a portion of the floor had sunk some inches and from the decayed state of the joists a much greater descent might have been apprehended.

The trial of Mr. Pym, at Winchester for aiding and abetting Lieutenant Haw- key in the killing of Mr. Seton, in a duel near Gosport, in May last, has brought to recollection all the circumstances connected with the occurrence, but without adding any new fact. The ease was tried before Mr. Justice Erie, on the 6th instant Mr. Cockburn and Mr. Sergeant Kinglake defended the prisoner. The immediate cause of the duel was a quarrel which occurred at a weekly ball held on the 19th of last May at an inn at Southsea; but the knowledge that Mr. Seton had for some time been making improper overtures to Mrs. Hawkey must have been rankling in the mind of Lieutenant Hawkey. Mr. Seton gave the challenge; Lieutenant Hawkey asked Mr. Pym to act as his second; and the meeting took place on the afternoon of the 20th May. Mr. Seton was wounded, but not mortally, it was believed, till it was discovered that a tumour with a distinct pulsation had formed in his groin. On the 31st an operation was performed by Mr. Listen, with the approval of all the medical attendants but the patient died in sixty hours after. The evidence as to Mr. Pyin's connexion with Lieutenant Hawkey was founded chiefly on the evidence of his own servant; who stated, that at half-past four o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th, he was desired by his master to take off his belt and follow him. He did so and proceeded to the sally-port; where Mr. Pym was joined by Lieutenant Hawkey. All three got into a boat; the servant taking charge of a brown paper parcel which his master had given him, and which sontained something hard. They landed on the Gosport side and passed through the town; and on arriving at the Preventive Station, Mr. Pym took the parcel from his servant, and desired him to remain them till he returned. In about three quarters of an hour, Mr. Pym called his servant, who followed him; and, on coining to a wounded man, he was desired to ran for medical assistance. Mr. Cockburn, for the defence' urged that the indictment was irregular. It ought to have set forth the fall facts of the case. The wound inflicted by Lieu- tenant Hawkey might have been the primary cause of Mr. Seton's death, but it was not the proximate or immediate cause; there was something, not the act of the prisoner, supervening, which was the actual cause of death; and this inter- mediate or supervening cause did not appear upon the face of the indictment. Mr. Justice Erie was of opinion that the indictment was good. The person who gave the wound was responsible for the consequences of the medical treatment, provided that medical treatment was by men of competent skill. Thinking that to be the law, the medical treatment was to be considered as one of the ordinary consequences of the wound, and need not be stated in the indictment; which charged the act for which the prisoner was responsible, namely, the firing of the pistol-bullet into the body of Mr. Seton. Mr. Cockburn then proceeded with his address; adducing the usual arguments in extenuation of duelling; citing the ex- amples of Pitt, Tierney, and Londonderry; and contending that Dr. Johnson, the stern moralist, had vindicated the practice, under certain circumstances. There were countries where the practice of duelling was almost unknown; in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, it rarely occurred; but they had instead the knife or stiletto of the assassin, or the poison of the clandestine murderer. Would the change be for the better? Mr. Cockburn gave a minute narrative of Mr. Seton's overtures to Mrs. Hawkey, as detailed by the lady herself to her husband; and commented on the fact that the man who had attempted an irreparable injury was the chal- lenger. The Jury would look at every fact that would make in favour of the ac- cused; and even if Mr. Hawkey took aim at his antagonist in order to preserve his own life it did not follow that Mr. Pym went to the field with the intention to do more than vindicate his friend's honour; and when they found this young man doing no more than thousands had done before him, they could not find him to have been actuated by wilful malice.

At the close of this address several witnesses were called, who spoke highly of Mr. Pyin's character. Mrs. Rawkey's evidence was tendered, but refused. Mr. Justice Eric, in summing up, stated the law of the case thus—that where a challenge was sent and accepted, if one party died by reason of a shot from the other, all who were present at the duel, the person who fired the shot and the second of either party, were in law guilty of the crime of murder. If the fact were established that the prisoner at the bar, from any motive, consented to act as second in the duel, he had violated the law.

The Jury, after consulting a few minutes in the box, returned a verdict of "Not Guilty."

At the thne of the occurrence, Mr. Pym, who is not yet twenty years of age, appears to have been a cadet in the Marine Corps; and was on familiar terms with Lieutenant and Mrs. Hawkey. The witnesses spoke to his altered appearance; some of them were scarcely able to recognize him. Mr. Cockburn, in speaking of Mrs. Hawkey, said he had been told that sorrow and anxiety bad worked a gne vous change in one whose beauty was once the theme of every tongue.

An action of some interest in connexion with life-assurance was tried last week at Northampton, before Mr. Justice Coltman and a Special Jury. The plaintiffs, Ashby and Others, sought to recover the sum of 5001. from the defendants, the Argus Life-office, being the amount insured on the life of Richard Ashby, who died in May 1845. The defendants pleaded, in substance, that at the time the policy was effected the insured had a disease tending to shorten life and fraud and covin. The disorder Mr. Ashby was alleged to have been suffering life, was hernia. The burden of proof being upon the defendants, the case of the Office was first entered upon. In Apn11844, Mr. Richard Ashby, a farmer at Bugbrook, being then sixty-three years old, effected an assurance on his life for 5001. Before the transaction was completed, the usual questions had to be answered in writing; one series being signed by himself, another by an intimate friend, and a third by his usual medical attendant. Among the questions put was one relating to the existence of hernia or rupture; and all the three answers distinctly denied the existence of any such complaint, then or at any time previously, or of any other disease or affection tend- ing to shorten life. At this stage of the business, Dr. Robertson, a physician, was asked by the Office to examine Mr. Ashby; which he did, asking him particu- larly if he had any rupture, and warning him that concealment would vitiate the policy. The answer was "No, nothing of the sort"; and, relying upon this answer, Dr. Robertson did not make a personal examination, but reported favourably of the case to the Office. The paper signed by the deceased contained these words- " I declare that all that is stated or contained herein is true, and I agree that this declaration shall be the basis of the contract." Upon the strength of these docu- ments, the assurance was effected, at a premium of 341. Dr. Robertson was ex- amined for the Office: also Dr. Kerr; who stated that Mr. Ashby consulted him, in November and December 1843, for a complaint which he found to be irredu- cible hernia.

It was contended for the plaintiffs, that the disease was not hernia, but enlarged testis, which Mr. Ashby had had from his birth; and that the rupture of which he died came on a few days only before his death, from the effects of three very strong emetics which he had taken one after the other. In support of this opin- ion, the evidence of several surgeons was given; among others, of Mr. Helston, who signed one of the papers required by the Assurance-office. His evidence was. to the effect, that before answering the questions he examined Mr. Ashby, and did not trace the existence of hernia- but found an enlargement of the left testis

and a thickening of the spermatic cord. [It appeared that this witness had re- ceived a letter from Dr. Robertson, the medical referee of the company, requesting him to state in confidence the disease of which the deceased died. He wrote ire answer, that the deceased had had a hernia about four months before be died, but that he had reduced it. During his examination on the trial, Mr. Helston denied that this statement was true.] Mr. William Walker, the partner of Mr.. Helston, was present at the operation for strangulated hernia, the malady with which the deceased was attacked shortly before -his death; he only survived the operation fourteen hours. Had Mr. Ashby been afflicted with henna at an earlier period, he must have seen it. Mr. James Mash, who performed the operation, gave it as his Opinion that the malady was of recent origin. Other witnesses spoke to the frequency with which some other maladies were mistaken for hernia.

After Mr. Justice Coltman had summed up, the Jury returned a verdict find- ing that the deceased, at the time of effecting the insurance, had hernia, but that no fraud was intended. The Office is consequently exonerated from the payment of the sum insured.

At York Assizes, on Wednesday, Hodkin and Eastwood, two lads each only in his eighteenth year, were tried for a strange and daring attempt at murder and. house-robbery. The prisoners, armed with sticks, went to a beer-shop by the roadside a few miles from Sheffield, and took some food and beer in the same room where the master, Thomas Greaves, was dining with his family, two men-

servants, and a girl. Spddenly., one of the accused knocked down with a blow of

his stick one of the servants; immediately after, Hodkin drew a pistol from his pocket and fired at Greaves, wounding him badly in the cheek. The other man- servant immediately seized Eastwood; but Hodkin escaped for a time. A loaded pistol was found in Eastwood's possession. The prisoners were found guilty of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm; and were sentenced to be trans- ported for fourteen years. At the Salisbury Assizes, on Wednesday, Gallagher, a private in the First Dragoon Guards, was tried for shooting at his wife with intent to murder her. In December last, the prisoner had a fortnight's leave of absence; during which he left his wife at the barracks at Trowbridge: on his return it was reported to him that the woman had been unfaithful. Maddened by jealousy, Gallagher got drunk, and then went to his room, with a carabine in his hand: he fired across the room towards his wife, but a yard wide of her person. The prisoner con- ducted his own defence. He said that in his jealous fit he had got drunk, for the first time since he had been a soldier: in that state he took his gun to shoot his wife; but when he was to fire at her his heart failed him, and he fired wide of the mark: had he meant to shoot his wife he could not have missed her. The soldier received a good character. He was immediately acquitted. On Wednesday, five men were tried for firing at Bell, a gamekeeper, with intent to murder him. Bell and another keeper encountered a gang of poachers at night in a cover; a struggle ensued, and a gun was discharged at Bell; the shot passed through the cuff of his coat. Three of the prisoners were found guilty, and sen- tenced to transportation for twenty years; the other two were acquitted on this charge, but pleaded guilty to one accusing them of poaching. At the Chelmsford Assizes, on Saturday, Mr. Piggott, a farmer in the vicinity of Kelvedon, prosecuted the Eastern Counties Railway, for damage done to some buildings by fire from a locomotive engine. The plaintiff's farm adjoined the line of rail; in ;august last a piece of coke or a spark escaped from an engine and set fire to the thatch of a shed, whereby much property was ultimately destroyed. In support of a plea that this was the result of negligence on the part of the Company, Mr. Farey and Mr. Homes-sham, ngineers, stated, that when engines threw out fire to any extent, it was a proof that they were overworked, and were not sufficiently powerful for the load they had to convey; and that the throwing out of fire might be prevented by having a wire guard over the top of the chim- ney, or else a plate perforated with holes in the smoke-box; neither of which con- trivances, it would appear, was made use of by the Company. For the defence it was said that the defendants took every reasonable precaution: the use of either guard or plate diminished the power of the engine, and did not entirely preclude disasters like the present. The Jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff. At Lincoln Assizes, on Monday, Bromhead, a blacksmith, brought an action against Sperling, a beer-shop-keeper at Horncastle, to recover damages for injury

done by a dog the property of Sperling. As the plaintiff was going along the street one night, two cogs of Sparling's set upon him, and one of them tore his clothes and lacerated his hand. The dogs were noted as ferocious. Verdict for the plaintiff—damages, 251. An action against the Reverend Timothy Fish Ford Bowes, D.D., of Barton, for criminal conversation with the wife of John Coultas—both in his service— was tried at Bedford Assizes before Mr. Baron Parke and a Special Jury. The trial occupied Tuesday and Wednesday, and terminated in a verdict against Dr.

Bow es 2501.

At the Maidstone Assizes, on Tuesday, a young MAE named Bownay was con- victed of throwing a stone at a train on the Rochester Railway: when taken into custody, he said he had let the stone fall, and intended no mischief. Many offen- ces of the kind have been committed lately. The prisoner was ordered to be imprisoned for six months with hard labour.

Two youths have committed a murder at Newark-upon-Trent, by drowning a girl in a canal. The body was found in the water, with a shawl tightly twisted over the head. Circumstantial evidence implicated Horner and Heselby, two lads of bad character; and when arrested each accused the other. An inquest has been held, and a verdict of " Wilful Murder" returned against the prisoners.