64t Prouittus.

The British Arehmological Association has been celebrating its eighth anniversary this week, at Derby. Sir Oswald Mosley delivered an hie augural address on Monday. On Tuesday, a party, consisting of Admiral Sir H. Dillon, Sir Fortunatus Dwarris, Mr. Heywood, M.P., Mr. Plancho, and a number of notable antiquaries, went a special excursion to all the castles, churches, and mansions, numerous and rich in antiqui- ties, around Derby. On Wednesday, Chatsworth and Haddon Hall were specially visited; the Duke of Rutland acting the kindly host at the lat- ter place, personally affording every assistance to antiquarian research, and concluding with a feast and a speech on the historic associations in connexion with the old hall which it is his pride to own.

Mr. Sidney Herbert gives a practical evidence of the sincerity of his professions on church-extension and penal enactments : see his letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, accompanying a contribution of 5001. towards the erection of a new church in the parish of Fisherton.

" Wilton, August 12th 1851.

"My dear Lord—You are, I believe, already in possession of a copy of an address which has been presented to her Majesty by the Archbishop of Can- terbury, praying for certain measures in furtherance of church-extension. "This address originated at a meeting held at Lord Harrowby's soon after the publication of the Papal bull creating the Roman Catholic hierarchy, which meeting I attended. The course there decided upon was in entire accordance with my preconceived opinions on the subject. I felt from the first, that the progress of erroneous and unscriptural doctrine must be met by more than mere protests, valuable as they are as an indication of the unabated attachment of the nation to its Reformed faith. Still less was I disposed to trust to penal acts of Parliament as weapons wherewith to fight religious errors. "Feeling bound to give practical effect to my own views as to the mode of resisting the spread of Romanist doctrine and influence, I joined a com- mittee, who invited those who were willing to prove by their acts as well as by their professions their attachment to pure religion and their repudiation of the errors of Rome, to raise a fund for promoting a vast extension of our parochial system, in the hope of spreading through the country the pure doctrines of the Reformed Church, and a knowledge of the Bible on which they are founded. I stipulated that the amount which I am enabled to offer should be applied to meet the spiritual wants of some place within your diocese. "Among the many places requiring assistance, it appeared to me that there are none which, from local circumstances to which I need not hi re advert, have a higher claim to immediate attention than the parish of Fisherton ; and, having received yourlerdship's sanction to the approi na- tion of my contribution to the proposed new church there, I intrust to 3 our hands 5001. towards that object. " I hope that this addition to what is already collected may enable 3 on to authorize the early commencement of the work, and that the deficiency may be supplied by those to whom the needs and the poverty of the population of that parish shall be made known.

" Whatever necessity for exertion there was last autumn appears to me to be rather increased than diminished by subsequent events. There is, I think, reason to fear that the enactments of last session have tended to lull into a false security the members of our own Church, and to give new strength to the Roman Catholic religion by consolidating and cementing together the great body of those who hold its tenets.

"I trust that we may show a like spirit, and that our efforts may be directed to a wise reformation of such abuses as may still be found in our ecclesiastical system, and the wide diffusion of the sound and scriptural doc- trine of our Church. " Believe me, my dear Lord, most faithfully yours,

SIDNEY HERBERT."

The inquest on the bodies of the five men killed in the Bedminster colliery by the breaking of the rope was finished on Friday last week. The addi- tional evidence given was that of experienced persons on the points whether the rope was originally of proper strength, and the subsequent sphcpigs workmanlike ; of miner' who swore that the torn ends shown to the jury were not the identical ends of the parts which broke, but unravelled ends taken from other parts of the rope less defective, and that Mr. Stewart, the manager, had cut off parts of the rope and had them carted away since the accident; of miners who swore that in spite of intimidation, they had re- peatedly complained of the insecurity of the rope to Pillinger the day mana- ger.

Mr. Joseph Fryer had inspected the rope, and was of opinion that it was not strong enough. It was too thick and narrow. [A narrow thick rope too much resembles a round one, which dangerously twists as it hangs. The proper shape is that of a thin fillet or riband formed by placing aide by side • several strands of round ropes. The rope in question was six and a half inches wide, and was formed of four strands of rope one inch and seven- eighths in diameter. Its own weight was more than three tons.] The rope would have done very well for a pit of 120 fathoms, and it would not per- haps have been dangerous with a pit of 150 or 160 fathoms; but even then it would require a good deal of watching. As soon as the rope showed any symptoms of wearing, it ought to be constantly examined, and it was the manager's place to do this. These examinations ought to be frequently made—daily, if not hourly : but he must say that when the rope got as bad as this one, it ought to be repaired. The usual plan of repairing ropes in this county was by splicing them, in the same manner as was apparent with the ropes which had been produced. For this pit of 240 fathoms the rope should have been nine inches in width, on account of the very great weight which it would necessarily have to bear.

Mr. Thomas Lyons was of opinion that no dependence could have been placed on such a rope as the one used. "It should have been at least eight inches wide, and made of eight strands." The evidence as to the identity of the rope-ends was very positive in tone ; but it was contradicted by trustworthy persons, and the other witnesses might have been mistaken though honest. On the point of intimidation, William Binding declared, that after one of his complaints, a twelvemonth since, Newman, then the bailiff; said—" Thee :shan't go in again ; thee bast too much mouth ",• and discharged him at once. He had since been taken on again, and had felt afraid to complain again. James Parsons stated, that he turned himself out of work on account of his considering the rope to be unsafe : he was afraid to go up and down the shaft, and he remained out of work fourteen weeks solely on that account : he could not gain work elsewhere, and he was compelled to return.

In summing up, the Coroner confessed that "for some time he had a sus- picion in his mind that the pieces of rope which had been produced were not the pieces which they ought to have had : but this suspicion had been en- tirely done away and eradicated from his mind; subsequent evidence told him it was unfounded." Who then was responsible? The owners had confided the management to Mr. Stewart; and that person had the most perfect freedom, authority, and power, to do what he deemed needful. During the absence of Mr. Stewart, the persons next in command were Pillinger by day and Phillips by night. It was their duty to have an eye on the machinery, ropes, &c. They, in fact, were looked to as the responsible parties. The men had suspected the rope, but had not com- plained to any one but Pillinger ; they had feared being discharged. "It was clear there must have been a sort of intimidation, which he had hoped was not to be found in Bristol; and he was very much grieved to find it was so largely occasioned by parties who ought to have known better." "While Mr. Stewart was there, he, beyond all doubt, was the responsible party : but it was not a manager's place generally to be on the premises the whole of the day, his duty being merely to inspect the works; and if it could be shown that he had not neglected that duty, no blame could be attached to him. In his absence, as before stated, Pillinger was looked upon as the re- sponsible party ; and if the evidence of the witnesses could be relied upon," Pillinger's attention had been drawn to the defective state of the rope just before it broke. "As the men were descending, they spoke of the rope being bad, and Pillinger sent a man named Britten to look at it. But when did he do this ?—why, when the bucket was descending. A place in the rope, too, was pointed out to Pillinger as being faulty, and he said he would have it spliced. But when ?—after the men had gone down. Surely he should have stopped the men, and not have let them go down until he had ascertained that the rope was perfectly safe. The rope ought to have been well looked after ; and it was for the Jury to decide on whom the re- sponsibility rested of not having discharged the duty."

Mr. Stewart, the manager, stated on oath, that he attended the pit daily, and that all appeared quite safe the day before. Pillinger had always been very cautious, and extremely attentive to his duties.

Mr. Pillinger stated, without being sworn, that he was "forbidden to act above ground" ; and that the various assertions to his prejudice were false- " I declare that I had no suspicion that the rope was dangerous, and no one informed me of it."

The Jury retired half an hour, and then delivered a verdict of "Man- slaughter, against Moses Gilderoy Stewart, the manager of the works, and Henry Pillinger, the bailiff." They were at once committed for trial.

Seven men have perished by an explosion in Ubberley coal-mines, near Hanky, in the Potteries. They entered a working in the morning, six with unprotected candles, and one with a lamp ; an explosion immediately en- sued. In an endeavour to rescue the sufferers if yet alive, four other col- hers nearlyperished ; they were taken out insensible. A Coroner's inquest was held on Wednesday. The verdict was that the men came by their death " accidentally."

A more terrible catastrophe of the same sort has occurred at the Washing- ton colliery, about two miles from the Washington station of the York, New- castle, and Berwick Railway. Sixty men were in the various workings of the colliery on Monday afternoon, when an explosion took place, which has caused the loss of thirty-four or thirty-five lives. The owner of the mine is Mr. Christopher Craddace : he was in London on the day of the accident, and is his absence the management and responsibility rested with James Bell and William Hall. Bell was not in the pit at the time of the accident ; he was drinking in a public-house, and "the worse for liquor"; but he says that "it was not his shift "—his turn of superintendence—but that of William Hull, who was in the pit. William Hall is one of those who perished. .An inquest was commenced on Wednesday, by Mr. Favell. Several of the miners testified that the pit was in a bad state. James Bird, a hewer, said le le t the workings on Monday before he had done work, because he was afraid.

"He was working near a hewer named Thomas Urwin. When witness first went to work, he spoke to William Hall, the overseer, about the condition of the pit.

Hall asked him what he was frightened of; and he replied, he did not like the ap pearance of his candle. He told Hall he was afraid to work. Hall, after examining the flame, said she [the pit] was making gas somewhere; but he said she was not so bad as she was on Friday night. Hall persuaded him to stop. Witness, before he left the workings, asked Urwin to leave with him, but he would not. He told Urwin to look at his candle ; which he did, and replied, ' She is bad, however.", He started to get out of the pit, and had got about twenty yards up the old waggon_ way when the pit tired. His leg was hurt and his face was cut. Urwin was killed with the other men.

Michael Finnegan, Robert Todd, and Robert the son of the latter, had similarly retreated from the pit but a little while before the explosion. Todd the younger "told William Hall how bad the air was" : he and his father "told Hall as they were going out." Todd left two of his sons in the pit, as there was less danger in the part where they were working. These two sons were killed. His son Robert "persuaded him to leave" because there was no brattice in Robert's cross-cut, and the air was so bad there ; and be- cause his own board was "not the thing," and his candles were "carrying such a top." However, Todd declared, that " there was not a more careful man in the colliery than William Hall" : "if William Hall had known there had been danger, he would not have allowed them to work."

At Liverpool Assizes, last week, Thomas Williamson and Thomas Egerton were tried for the manslaughter of nine persons at Manchester. Williamson was proprietor of a circular saw-mill ; -Egerton had charge of the steam- engine and boiler. In March last, the boiler burst, and nine persons were killed. The evidence adduced showed that the disaster was the result of neglect and mismanagement : the water was permitted to get too low in the boiler, and there was a great pressure on the safety-valve ; a large fire was continued under the boiler while the engine was not at work; part of the boiler became red-hot, steam at a vast pressure was engendered, and the boiler was torn asunder. The boiler was a sufficient ono if it had been pro- perly treated. Mr. Williamson had been dissatisfied with the engineer, and purposed superseding him. Ray, the man who was to succeed him, exa- mined the boiler on the day of the explosion, and told Egerton the boiler was nearly empty of water : Egerton retorted, that Ray had nothing to do with it; Ray thereupon left the premises, and in five minutes the explosion occurred. At the conclusion of the evidence, Mr. Baron Platt expressed an opinion that there was nothing to prove criminality on the part of William- son; and he was acquitted. Egerton's counsel contended, that the defective state of the boiler, not the man's negligence, caused the accident. The Jury

quickly returned a verdict of " ' Sentence was deferred till next day. The Judge then stated, that in all cases of negligence on the part of persons having charge of engines and machinery, where fatal results ensued, the Courts were determined to pass very severe sentences in future. But in this ease, the punishment was six months' imprisonment, without hard labour.

At Chester, on Saturday, Jonathan Barcroft was tried for the murder of his daughter, and of Ellen Mills, another little girl. Both children died from arsenic. Barcroft got arsenic and sugar of lead on a pretence that he wanted to put them round trees ; it was alleged that he wilfully administered the poison to his child ; he got 21. 10s. from a burial-club on the day of her death, on the strength of a certificate obtained on a false pretence ; he also said he could not afford to pay for a grave, and asked the sexton for one free. Ellen Mills and another child swallowed poison at this man's house while they were playing there ; Mills died, but the other child recovered : very probably they took the poison accidentally. Lee, a fellow prisoner with Barcroft, detailed conversations he had had with him : if this man could be believed, Barcroft hoped to get witnesses to clear him of the suspicious possession of arsenic ; and then to manage that arsenic should be put in the pocket of the father of Ellen Mills, and the Police be sent to him, to discover on him that evidence that he had poisoned his daughter. But the Jury returned a ver- dict of "Not guilty."

Halliday, the hawker of Stroud who killed his wife by brutal ill-treatment during a quarrel, the woman having been near her confinement, was tried on a charge of murder at Gloucester Assizes. After the evidence had been heard, the Judge intimated that there was no ground fora charge of murder. The Jury found the prisoner guilty of manslaughter ; calling the Judge's attention "to the prisoner's very rough usage of his wife in her delicate con- dition." Sentence, transportation for life.

Maria Cage, condemned for poisoning her husband at Stonham Aspal, was to have been hanged at Ipswich on Saturday ; but as Calcraft was engaged at Norwich, the High Sheriff on his own responsibility postponed the execu- tion till Tuesday. The criminal suffered on that morning. It is not stated whether she made any confession during her imprisonment. She has left several children, with whom she had a last interview on Thursday. She presented each with a Bible, Prayer-book, or Hymn-book, in which was written "The gift of your affectionate mother."

Henry Groom, the murderer of the foreman of the Earl of Leicester's brick-yard, was hanged at Norwich on Saturday. He had confessed his guilt.

Ann ITnwin, a married woman of Hasland, has been committed for trial by the Chesterfield Magistrates, on a charge of cutting and wounding John Barber, with intent to murder him. Barber is a small farmer of Shirland ; Unwin's husband is a labourer. Ann and Barber had known each other for some years. She left her cottage after the farmer had called at her desire ; they met, roamed about the country, passed the night in a stack-yard, wan- dered away in the morning, and lay down on a bank. Barber was roused by a wound inflicted on his throat ; and putting up his hand to his throat, a second gash was diverted to his chin, his fingers suffering. The woman de- clared that a man had wounded her paramour; and had then fled into a plantation. Subsequently, she went into a garden, and pretended to be much interested in a thick bushy plant : some children afterwards found a razor hidden in it. One of Unwm`r3 razors was missing, and the one found corresponded with the razor still in his cottage. There were spots of blood on the woman's dress.

The Jury which sat on the body of James Wailing, the old sailor of Ips- wich who tried to murder Martha ldloyse, and then killed himself by cutting his own throat, have returned a verdict of "Temporary insanity," to tho surprise of those present ; the evidence not having shown that Wailing 'ex- hibited any signs of a deranged mind. The old sailor had offered to marry Martha Mope, but she refused. The girl is so far recovered that she gave a full description to the Jury of the deliberate attempt to murder her.

Ruth Jones, a girl of eighteen, servant to Mr. Jones, a farmer of Bitten- cwm in Carmarthenabire, has been found dead under circumstances that point to murder. The body was found at the edge of a shallow pond, the face in the water, and one of the hands clutched fast and full of mud. Se- veral wounds were found on the back of the head; marks of blood were dis- covered on an adjacent hedge; a stick placed across a gap in the hedge giving access to the pond was in its proper place ; there was a lbotprint of a man near the edge of the pond. It is known that some person had been re- cently courting the girl, and that of late she had appeared melancholy.

A daring robbery has occurred at Redland, near Bristol. While Mr. Godwin, an aged and infirm gentleman, was walking up the public carriage-road. which runs through the grounds of Redland Court, a powerful ruffian came suddenly behind him, and, placing both his hands so as to cover Mr. God- win's eyes and mouth, kicked the back of his legs, threw him violently on the ground, and robbed him of his gold watch. The old gentleman having raised a feeble cry for help, the robber kicked him till he reduced him to a state of insensibility, and got clear off with the booty. Mr. Godwin had no opportunity of recognizing the ruffian; but a young man had seen him the same morning, had taken particular notice of his suspicious-looking counte- nance, and came in sight of him again just as he was kicking his victim. A description was given to the Police. An officer at Bristol went to a place to search for a man who had passed bad money ; as he entered the house, a man, not the one he was looking for, slunk away ; the officer suspected guilt, and gave chase through backyards and over sheds; and eventually captured the fugitive in a house into which he bad fled, and discovered him to be the assailant and robber of Mr. Godwin.

Three gentlemen having entered the sea to bathe at Trimingham Beacon, on the Norfolk coast, during a spring-tide, the water flowed so fast that two were carried away and drowned ; the third managed to reach the shore, ex- hausted.

A shocking accident happened in the belfry of St. Mary's Church, Mon- mouth, on Friday afternoon last week. The bells had been ringing in hon- our of the Judges opening the Commission. "The ringing was suspended at intervals, and at half-past six o'clock the ringers were about recommen- cing a peal. One of their number, named Jones, raised his bell, and after a few pulls he found that something obstructed the machinery. He went up to ascertain the cause ; when he was horrified to discover the mangled body of his younger brother under the bell. The upper portion of the face and skull was completely, shattered in, and the back part of the head was cloven in two, and the brains bespattered the roof. The dreadful calamity which befel the poor little fellow was the consequence of his dangerous curiosity. He must have introduced his head into the bell, which he was doubtless viewingjust at the moment his brother raised it, and his death immedi- ately followed."

Richmond suffered from an extensive fire early last Saturday morning. It broke out at a baker's, and consumed the premises, with the workshops of a cabinet maker and those of a carver and gilder, and the Vineyard Independ- ent Chapel: the latter was insured.