gbt Vrobincts.

The Free Trade Hall in Manchester was crowded on Wednesday even- ing by an " aggregate fleeting " of the Anti-Corn-law League; Mr. George

Wilson in the chair. This meeting was held to receive a statement as to

the position of the League; but some documents not having arrived, the formal statement was postponed. Mr. Cobden delivered a speech corn- prising less of direct statement or exposition than of miscellaneous remarks; but it was as clever and effective as might be expected from the speaker. One of his leading topics was the state and prospects of Ireland-

" We are told, that in a country where the great bulk of the population are always upon the verge of famine—where that gaunt spectre now threatens to

stalk through the land—misery, starvation, and even death, may be the portion

of millions of our fellow-countrymen in Ireland. Now what is the remedy fix this? We do not come to talk about the principle which is applicable to all times and seasons; but what, I ask, is the natural and obvious remedy against the gaunt famine that threatens a country like Ireland? You would say, Open

wide the ports, and admit the bread of the whole world to feed the people.' (Cheers.) That is the obvious and natural remedy; that is the remedy which

an unenlightened despot would at once fly to. Witness Russia, witness Prussia, witness Germany, Holland, and Belgium: these Governments have not waited, but when their people have been threatened with want they have at once thrown

open their ports, and in some cases stopped exportation in order to supply their

people with abundance of the first necessaries of life. Why has not our Government taken a similar coarse? Why have they waited to learn Christianity from the Turk, or humanity from the Russian? Is it because our Government is less merciful than that of the Mahometan Sultan? Is it that our boasted consti- tutional power is less humane than that of the despot of Russia? Or is it that

our Prime Minister, who holds the responsible position of Sultan in this conntiy- is it because he is afraid that if he takes the step—the obvious and natural and necessary step—he will not have the support of the country in throwing open the

ports of this kingdom to foreign corn? If that be his doubt, we meet here to give him the support which we can give him. I hesitate not to say, that what- ever may be the attempts of the aristocracy to thwart the Minister in taking that course, there is popular power enough in the country to support him in that act of humanity. We support him here in this magnificent meeting. What we say, South Lancashire will say whenever he appeals to it. We speak the voice of this West Riding of Yorkshire whenever he chooses; and Middlesex will endorse what we say in this hall. (Repeated cheers.) You have animated the hearts and hopes of this empire; and a Minister having this support of the vast multitude in this country—having their intelligence at his back, which he may have whenever he chooses to draw upon it—I say he is a criminal and a poltroon if he hesitates a whit."

And Sir Robert Peel has the power, because his party cannot do with- out him- " Let anybody sit in the House of Commons as we do, opposite to Sir Robert Peel, and watch the proceedings of his party. lie comes down to the House night after night: with the exception of his colleague, Sir James Graham, the whole of the side of the House upon which they sit may be called a dreary waste as far as statesmanship is concerned. Sir James Graham, although I admit he has manifested great administrative talents, has not exactly arrived at that state of personal popularity in this country that he can take Sir Robert Peel's place. Sir Robert Peel is therefore despotic with his party; and with the power he possesses he must be content to take the responsibility which attaches to power. I need not

tell you that the word 'responsibility' has an ugly and sinister sound in the ears of the Prhne Minister: but let us be understood—by responsibility we mean moral responsibility. He is responsible to Ids country; he will be responsible to history, if he fails upon this occasion in taking that step which he is bound to take to save a large portion of the people of this country from famine."

Mr. Cobden did not wish the Free-traders, because foreign corn will be admitted, to throw up their caps and consider the question as " settled"— " I do not exactly see my way to the settlement of this question yet; I wish I did. I do not think the opening of the ports would settle this question. We had the

ports opened in 1826; but they passed a new Corn-law in 1828, with all its hor- rible iniquities. It is not because Ireland wants feeding that we shall necessarily have a repeal of the Corn-laws. Ireland has been in a state of semi-famine for the last thirty years: and in 1822 you had subscriptions in England—every church was thrown open—you had 250,000/. raised in England, and sent to Ireland, to save the two provinces of Connaught and Munster from a state of actual famine. But nobody said a word about repealing the Corn-laws then; not the slightest syllable was said about relieving the people of Ireland by admitting foreign corn: and what I wish to impress upon you now is this, that it is not the opening of the ports alone we want, but we want to set our backs against them to prevent then

from ever being shut again. Do you not think we may find some arguments

nearer home in favour of the principle we are advocating? (Cries of" I believe many of you are brought here because you have an idea that things are not looking quite so promising as they have been even in Lancashire. (Cries of "Hear, hear!") You are not arrived exactly at that state they are in in Ireland; but what is the price of oatmeal? I believe that what used to be a guinea is now 35s.; and I believe, too, that flour has advanced 60 per cent—that the flour which used to cost Is. 8d. is now selling at 2s. 6d. Am I right? (Loud cries of "Yes, yes.") Then you have bread still dearer—because flour makes more than its own weight in bread, I believe; and every man who is now spending half-a-crown in bread is just getting one-third less for it than he did this time twelvemonth. Every man will then have one-third less to spend upon the other things which he uses. We have come to the old story again,—if he has so much more to spend in what he eats, he will have less to spend in what he wears; and if there is more Loss to the baker, and through him to the miller, there will be less to go to the draper and to the wholesale dealer. You will then have less work, while you will have more to pay for your food. Then the masters cry out at their short profits; then there will be no more strikes for higher wages. It is the old thing coming round again; and I believe many of you here have felt it and that you are come here to see whether you are likely to get rid of this thing. It will not be got rid of, however, by throwing up your caps, or because a lord has written a very ambigu- ous sort of a letter, or because another honourable gentleman makes a speech that you cannot tell what he means—and, indeed, he does not appear very clearly to comprehend it himself. You must not throw up your caps and fancy you are going to have the Corn-law abolished without thinking of it, by any such adven- titious aid as that. It will have to be done by your own right arms, if it is done at all."

There is a new class in the country deeply interested in this question-

" Now I wonder if we have any people here that have got any interest in rail- ways? (Loud laughter and cheers.) I should think, judging by that response, that almost every lady and gentleman who have come here has a little sympathy in that direction. Now the railway people have got a king.' Kings sometimes make speeches, though we never expect much from kings' speeches. Cobbett once wrote a grammar for the purpose of teaching statesmen how to write better kings' speeches; but I do not think that your railway kings have studied that grammar. You have a king,' and he rails at the League. He is given to railing, and he calls the League a selfish body; he denounces us. I think your king and his subjects are more deeply interested just now in the success of the League than any other class of the community. Did you ever take a look at the trains starting from the Leeds or Sheffield station, or out by Ashton? You who have got shares in railways, just go and take stock of your business: see who your customers are; inquire from the secretary or one of the directors how much they receive for first-class passengers' how much for second-class, and how much for third-class; and then you will be able to understand how much you are indebted to the working-classes for the prosperity of your lines. Learn where the cheap trains go, how much they carry, and how much they pay, and then just make a little cal- culation. Here is John l'homas, his wife, and seven children; they earn together a guinea a week: his wife comes and says,John rm paying 3s. 2d. more for flour than I did three months ago." Then,' says John, we must give up the trip to ./Uderly—we shall not be able to take that.' Go and tell your 'king' this. They sometimes call him Bonaparte: recollect that a man may be a Napoleon among navigators and only a navigator among statesmen. He is a king '—they call him a king: I am not happy at nicknames, but I will give him a title. He shall be one of those pasteboard potentates that shuffle and cut and win tricks—call him the King of Spades.' (Bursts of laughter.) I do not know how it is, but there is nobody who atraeks the League but you may be almost certain, whatever fame or reputation they had before—you may take it for granted, I say, that that man is at the end of his tether, he is just at the brink of the precipice, and all his public fame and character goes overboard. We were attacked by an Ex-Chan- cellor once, and what a figure he has been cutting in Punch ever since! Then we have had Ministers attacking us, Ex-Ministers too, who thought we should be mad if we persevered for free trade. What is become of them? Depend upon it, the people will be afraid of running their heads against that stone wall called the Ants-Corn-law League."

A hint to railway shareholders-

" I wonder if there is any man who has laid out his money upon railways that has not bought a county qualification? I cannot imagine a man showing less calculation or sound foresight than the man who lays out his 501. or 100/. in buying a couple of shares in a railway, rather than upon a freehold qualification. It is the forty-shilling qualification that can make railways profitable, by giving vs free trade. I like these railways too, and I will tell you why. They are carrying common sense—that is, when your king does not travel upon them— into the agricultural districts. (Cheers and laughter.) The great proprietor and squire in the West and South of England have all been anxious to have railways. For many years they have wanted railways to their own houses; and they found

i out that f they were to have them they must come to Lancashire or Yorkshire, for there was nobody else that had e either the money or the wit to make them. That makes them sympathize with the prosperity of Lancashire and Yorkshire: they come into contact with business men, and they understand men of business. Few of them take shares perhaps—I do not think they do much in that way, though. They are beginning to feel that railways are a barometer of the state of trade; as you all will find it out by-and-by. I like railways—they are drawing us more together: they are teaching the landowner to feel for the manufacturer, and placing the manufacturer upon better terms with the landowner. I wish there to go on: but they cannot prosper unless you have something to carry upon there. The more trade you have—the more free trade—the more profits will your rail- ways bring." Nobody objects to railways now; but how was it with landlords ten years

ago?"T-

en years ago, the Marquis of Chandos then, but the Duke of Buckingham now, presided at a public meeting at Salthill, near Windsor; at which the fel- lows of Eton College, and other great and distinguished men of the county, assembled, to celebrate the first defeat of the Great Western Railway BilL What do these fellows say now? Why, even the Pope himself is now in advance on these subjects; and they are only some ten years in advance of the Pope. This is encouraging. Indeed, we are only now about three or four years in advance of the Monopolists with our argument. About three or four years ago, we put out our placards stating that the population of the country was increasing at the rate of" a thousand a day. I was passing by when I heard a man with a shovel in his hand reading it upon the wall. ' That a a lie, anyhow ! ' he said. But that in- credible fact at that time has been so well established, that now even Lord Stan- ley and Sir James Graham admit it is true, and are compelled to acknowledge theta is necessary to make provision for the large and increasing population. This is also encouraging: it shows that the principle we contend for is good, and that we need only continue the efforts hitherto used, to set ourselves flee!" It is generally allowed that the present Corn-law cannot stand; but what is to be substituted?—

" Are we to have another Corn-law? (Loud cries of " NO, nor) Are we to have a sliding-scale or a fixed dnty ? (" No, no! ") Only think of the number of Corn-laws we have had during the last few years ! The present has been in ope- ration four years, and now we are talking of getting rid of it. Why is it so? Because just now there is a probability of scarcity: we want food, and it stands in the way of our obtaining it- It is a law at once unnatural, impolitic, and inexpe- dient, and meant only to snit the pockets of those who are interested in its contin

mince. There will be attempts made to cheat us out of the demand we make; and there is every probabilility that those attempts will succeed, unless we as Free-traders stand fast to the principle we have espoused, by showing to our opponents that we aid neither to be used nor abused by the acceptance of either a sliding-scale or a fixed duty."

Towards the close of his speech, Mr. Cobden did make some positive statements- " We have done something already by resorting to the weapons of war which have been already referred to—the forty-shilling freeholders. We called upon the West Riding people this time twelve months, and we asked them to qualify 2,000 people, to rescue that county from the grasp of monopoly: they have nobly re- sponded to that call. They have put 2,300 upon the register. They have con- verted the majority that formerly existed in favour of monopoly of 1,100 into a majority of 1,600 for free trade. Now, I ask them not to rest satisfied there. I ask them to go on again, and by the same process qualify 2,000 more by the 31st of next January; for if they do that they will save themselves much trouble and expense at the next election. An election must come in twelve months, or a little MOM A contest for the West Riding of Yorkshire will cost each party 10,0001.; and by the expenditure of 1,0001. between now and the 31st of January, our friends may induce as many more to buy freeholds as will render a contest hopeless, and thus save themselves the expense. I ask them to put themselves in the same position as South Lancashire. We have a majority ot 3,000 in South Lancashire. Mark the extraordinary change that we have witnessed. In 1841, at the dissolu- tion of the Liberal Government, the Whig Committee of that time took the regis- tration-books in hand, and looked at them with the view of contesting the county: they found, if they had contested it they would have been in a minority of 2,000. Four years have elapsed; the League took the registration in hand—South Lanca- shire was wholly abandoned by the so-called Whig party—the League took the registration in hand, and in four years the minority of 2,000 has been converted into a majority of 3,000. You will have no contest in South Lancashire. We have ha Cmaheiohriitety, in uththe Mastaffncohrd.esterutopo, Nffinorgu-dist Llicout alommone.larTghtue enisouguohtthoincoevberutthae Monopolist majority in all the districts where they have one. We made an appeal to North Cheshire. We asked them to qualify, to put themselves into a majority; and they have done so. We will bear the particulars when the time comes. * * * Middlesex we have won; South Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, basis. This is only the basis of our operations to begin with. Having done what we can down here, we must now appeal to the country at large to follow our example. Wherever there is a man above the rank of an unskilled labourer, whether a shopkeeper, a man of the middle class, or of the skilled working-class, that has not got a county vote, or is not striving to accumulate enough to get one, let us point the finger of scorn at him, and show him that he is not fit to be a freeman. It is an avenue by which we may obtain the recesses of power, and possess ourselves of other constitutional rights which we are entitled to possess. They cry shame upon us for inviting the people to qualify. Why, the Revising Barristers everywhere have not only passed the qualifications that have been made, and have not only admitted them to be strictly legal and right, but they have gone out of their way and said that they considered it honourable for men to purchase property with a view of acquiring the franchise. For myself and friends, I may. say that we consider it our duty to enlist as many of the counties as pos- sible in the cause of Free Trade: we have a list of twenty, and we intend to visit every one of them. We will have them organized on the plan that has been so successful in South Lancashire, under the superintendence of our excellent Chairman. I mention this to account to our friends for the neglect of many visits we may have been expected to pay in various quarters."

Speeches were also delivered by Mr. Ashworth, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Brookes ; and the meeting broke up at ten o'clock, after a sitting of two hours and a half.

At the annual meeting of the Honiton and Ottery Agricultural Ase07 elation, on Tuesday, Mr. Justice Coleridge, who presided, delivered a speech quite in the current fashion,—exhorting farmers to exert themselves if they would prosper; telling them' like the manufacturers, to look for the aid of science; and urging landlords to assist in experiments and improve- ments. As to the Corn-laws, both the harm and the benefit to be expected from repeal have been exaggerated; a common case with public 'measures- " Let us never forget that there are in this country two mighty interests—agricul- ture and manufactures; both are essential to the wellbeing of the state. It has, I regret to find, been but too much the fashion to set the one against the other. It seems to my mind that these should be coexistent, for they have a common interest; the greatest consumer is the friend of both. I must remind you also, that our population is steadily increasing, and it is to the agricultugist that we must chiefly look for food to meet this growing demand. The population is already increasing at the rate of 300,000 per annum- should it continue to advance in the same proportion, we must have additional Produce to feed the additional mouths. Under these circumstances, I feel confident that the British corn-grower will find customers at tolerably remunerative prices."

He urged upon his hearers the importance of improving the moral and social condition of the labouring class-

" Many among them are wretchedly lodged. From my own experience as a judge, the painful conviction has been forced upon my mind that verymuch of the crime which disgraces our country is mainly attributable to the mixture of sexes and of ages in the dwellings of the poor; a practice that debases and de- moralizes the human mind, and which, unless counteracted, must effectually neutralize every effort made towards the elevation or improvement of the people.'

At Birmingham, on Tuesday, Lord Lyttelton was installed as Rector of Queen's College, in the room of Dr. Johnstone, who had resigned on account of age and infirmities. There was a very numerous assemblage of spectators; including the Earl of Dartinonth, the Bishop of Worcester, the Reverend Dr. Bnckland, the High Sheriff of Staffordshire, and several other persons of influence.

At Birmingham, on Thursday, Mr. M. D. Hill, Q. C.. Recorder of the borough, laid the first stone of a prison after the model of that at Penton- ville. The Mayor, several Members of the Town-Council, and a numerous assemblage, were present. Mr. Hill sketched the intended plan of discipline —separate not solitary confinement, withdrawal from vicious associations, instruction, and encouragement of industrious habits— It is now found, he observed, by a long experience, that punishment founded on a vindictive feeling which seeks only to vindicate the offended majesty of society on a issor, weak, miserable creature, by producing misery to his mind and suffering to his Lady, is, after all but a weak and inefficient means of securing society against a repetition of those offences which have been the cause of that misery and suffering. Experience, that slow but sure teacher, has at length convinced us that we must act on the maxim of religion as one of undoubted wisdom—that justice must be administered in mercy. The objects kept in view by those who had the arrangement of that prison might ele summed up in a few words: they designed to erect what might be appropriately called a moral hos 1- pital. They sought to erect a building, and, as far as in them lay, so to condu its arrangements as to cure the unhappy persons who are afflicted with th mental and moral diseases which require the remedies which would be

administered. • ere The Coroner's inquest on the body of Mr. Commissioner Bonder, who was killed on the Midland Railway, began on Friday, at Oulton, near Leeds. The inquiry, however, did not commence then; the Jury having merely viewed the corpse, and forthwith adjourned till Monday.

The first witness examined on that day was John Porter, one of the guards of the mail-train. Ile detailed at great length the causes and consequences of the disaster, much as they had been yreviouily stated. When Mr. Boteler was taken out of the carriage, with both Ins legs mangled and bleeding a great deal, he spoke much about his luggage, and desired the people to take care of it. "It was," said Mr. Porter, "a fine morning, with a strong wind, which retarded our progress. It was a strong side-wind, and blew on our left side. The wind has great power on railway-trains. Cannot speak for certain whether the moon was shining. Cannot say whether it was twilight or not. It did not rain at the time of the accident. We had three lights in a triangular form on the last carriage, which were in good order at the Barnsley station. They were red lights, and burning in good condition. Those three lights were the signal-lights for any- thing following. We had no permanent lights besides those three." Without lights, he could have seen a train a huudred yards distant. He thought that the driver of an engine coming after the traiy might have seen the red lights for a mile. Mr. Palfreyman, who appeared for Wheatley, the driver of the assistant-engine, here read one of the Railway Company's rules—" When an engine is stopped from any cause upon the main line, (except at stations,) the guard, or in his absence the fireman or some other competent person, shall immediately proceed half a mile back with a red signal, to stop any coming train." The witness admitted that they did not send any one back according to that rule : they had sent word for the engine to come cautiously. The whistle was not sounded after the train passed Barnsley. Positive directions had been left at that station for the engine- 'ver to be cautious. Mr. Hey, a surgeon, deposed, that Mr. Boteler died from the injuries he received in the collision. Blackmore, the second guard of the train, reiterated the evidence which he gave last week. Before he exhibited his light to warn Wheatley., he looked to see that it was correct; he was sure he had not made a mistake and shown a white light. He did not see either Wheatley or the stoker as the engine approached the train. The wind was so rough, he could not hear the steam beating at a greater distance than forty yards. He thought that Wheatley could see the train as well as lie (the witness) could see the assist- ant-engine; but he admitted that a man with the wind blowing in his face, as the wind was in Wheatley's, could not see as well as if the wind did not meet him in that way. "Our steam would go towards the pilot-engine. The white light was on when I turned on the green. The white was burning when I took the lamp out of the box. I turned the green round as quickly as possible. I could not tell the speed of the pilot-engine. The lamp was burning in the box, with the white to the eld. I do not think he saw the white light. I do not think he saw any light at all." He afterwards agreed that Wheatley might have seen the white light. He waved the lamp about as a more impressive sign; the waving of anything on a railway being an intimation of danger. Mr. Lee, a gentleman residing in Lon- don, who was a passenger by the mail-train, said that after the collision he de- sired a man to get his luggage for him from a carriage—" The man who had got one my luggage came up. He turned out to be the driver of the pilot; and I said to him, You scoundrel do you see what injury you have caused that unfortu- nate old man : you must have seen our lights.' He answered, You had none.' I then went forward to the train; and, while talking with Sir J. II. Lowther, who was a passenger, I saw the driver of the pilot again; and I said, You rascal, there were lights'; and he said, They were very dim.'" Sunter, the driver of the train, said the night was windy and dark, but free from fog: he could have seen a train of carriages half a mile before him. "III had been following a train on a pilot-engine, I could, with caution, have joined the train without a collision. In the present ease it would have been better to wait for the pilot at Barnsley; but we were not certain that it would come. We left word at Barnsley that the pilot-engine was to follow us with caution. I do not think we ought to have stayed at Barns- lay." The engine he drove had been recently repaired. The mail-train to Leeds had been very late for some time, owing to its not starting from Derby at the proper hour. If he were following a train with red lights, though a white light were also exhibited, he should consider it his duty to approach with caution. Walker, the stoker of Wheatley's engine, said that neither he nor the engineer inquired at Barnsley how long the train had been gone. "The watchman told us the train started slowly away. Wheatley let the steam on, and we went away. We went at a middling pace for about half a mile. We ran at a speed of twelve or fourteen miles an hour. I then saw a white light afore us on the line about a mile. It was, perhaps, two minutes before I saw any other light. I saw the white light until we came in contact with the train. When we saw the white light, we went on; and then we saw two red lights, which appeared to be a little distance from each other, as if on each side of a carriage. We knew that was the train. Wheatley told me to put the break on as soon as we saw the two red lights. I did not see a green light, nor any light waved violently about. When I put the break on, we saw we were near the train; and Wheatley reversed the engine. I then jumped off. It was about fifty or sixty yards from the train that Wheatley reversed the engine." "After we had seen the white light, about half a mile from the station, we shut off the steam. We did so because we thought the guard was coming towards us. We afterwards thought the light was going from us, and then we put on the steam again." The break was a bad one, and the witness could never lock the wheels with it. General Pasley had told Min that this was false, for the General could lock the wheels with the break. He saw no light waved, and no green light. Haslan, the watchman at Barnsley. deposed that he saw a white light exhibited on the train shortly after the assistant-engine started; and he continued to see it till he heard the crash. Kirtney, the locomotive superintendent of the Midland Railway Company, stated that the piston in the cylinder of the engine attached to the train had a "latent defect" in it—some dirt had been incorporated in the metal during the forging, which caused it to break; and in breaking it burst the

cylinder-cover. He thought the assistant-engine was going at the rate of twenty miles an hour at the time of the concussion. A green light at a mile distance would look like a white one. A person would not know the difference if a white one was not beside it. A green light will only retain its colour from a quarter to half a mile. On being asked if be had any statement to make, Wheatley said, that after he had left the Barnsley station with the engine, he saw a white light, and proceeded on a bit. He then saw red lights, which were very dim and very deceptive; and the moment he saw the red lights he told his stoker to put on the break. Seeing they were getting very near the train, he reversed his engine. He was just going to get off when he believed it knocked him off. The Coroner pointed out to him, that witnesses had declared he had said he saw no lights: was he so stunned by his fall as to be unconscious of what he uttered? Wheatley answered, that he was stunned, but he had never said he had not seen the lights. The Jury, after consulting for half an hour, returned a verdict of " Man- slaughter " against Thomas Wheatley. Before this decision was announced, Wheatley had decamped.

A frightful accident occurred at the Upper Soundwell colliery, near Bristol, on Saturday night. Five men were drawn up the shaft in a basket, and when about rcid-way the rope broke: they were dashed to the bottom, and four died instantly, while the fifth lived but three-quarters of an hour. A sixth man was getting into the basket when the rope snapped, and he was carried down with the rest of the people: his arm was fractured so that it required amputation, and he lies in S state of danger.

_Three labourers in the employment of the Gravesend and Rochester Rdlway were charged before the Rochester Magistrates, last week, with trespassing on the grounds of the Reverend Mr. Formby, at Frindsbury, and cutting down four sycamore trees. Mr. Formby could not agree with the Company as to the terms on which they were to have some land; and thereupon they appear to have taken possession of it by force. The men pleaded guilty, but said they merely did as they were ordered. They were fined as., and ordered to pay 41, the value of the trees, with 16s. costs.

Mrs. Downes, a woman in her eighty-first year, has been killed at York, by the administration of laudanum instead of a cough-mixture. The drug was bought at the shop of Lunn, a druggist, who supplied it himself: it resembled in appear- ance the medicine which was wanted; and his son had changed the places of the bottles containing the two liquids. A Coroner's Jury have returned a verdict of "Manslaughter" against Lunn.

Several very disastrous fires are reported this week. One occurred at a farm near Gravesend, on Saturday night; and though the farm-house was saved, property to the value of 2,0001. was destroyed. While the engines of the locality were employed at this fire, another broke out, early on Sunday morning, at the Black Horse Tavern, in the High Street, Gravesend ; and as much time elapsed before water could be obtained, the flames gained a great ascendancy and spread from house to house: the public-house, five other houses, four cottages, and some out- buildings were destroyed, while many houses were partially burned. The loss of property is estimated at several thousands. The Black Home was full of lodgers when the fire occurred, it being fair-time. It was feared that one man had perished. Many persons were much hurt in leaping from the windows of the public-house into the street. Three children were burnt to death in a barn at Shipbrooke, near Northwich, on Sunday morning. They are supposed to have been playing with lucifer matches, and thus to have fired some straw. The father, Mr. Farber, was the first to discover the disaster: he could hear his children crying for aid, but from the fierceness of the flames was unable (!) to give it. When the alarm was raised, the congregation of the parish-church, Davenham, were dismissed by the clergy- man to give assistance; but many stood idly looking on, and declined to help in putting out the fire because "they had their best clothes on" ! Four houses have been consumed at Severn Stoke, in Worcestershire: the disaster originated in the kindling of a beam in a chimney.