Zbt lirobintes.
The election of a new Member for the Southern division of South Lan- cashire, in the room of Mr. Charles Villiers, took place on Monday, at New- ton-in-the-Willows. There was no opposition, and Mr. Alexander Henry was declared to be duly elected.
The chief interest in the proceedings lay in the speech of Mr. Cobden; who nominated Mr. Henry, and explained his own speech at Stockport.
On the subject of free trade, Mr. Cobden said, be wanted the Legislature to be alive to the great moral revolution which free trade implied. The Free-traders proposed to abolish or greatly to modify the Navigation-laws, so as to give free access to our ports to the ships of other countries. What did that imply, but a growing sympathy between the people of this country and the people of the whole civilized world? Must it not conduct us to a spirit of friendship and peace throughout the world? If so, what was the use of increasing our armaments or our fortifications? On this subject he had been misrepresented. It had been assumed that' he had said he would save the country seventeen millions; being the whole expense of the Army, Navy, and Ordnance. " Gentlemen—I did not propose anything so good as that; but what I said was this, that if we are right in our Free-trade principles, we must be very wrong if a year after we have adopted them we begin putting up fortifications. I said that the great item in expenditure in this country, upon which we could make a diminution of our ex , was that horrible item of seventeen millions a year for our Army, Navy, and Ordnance; and I said then, as now, that if we could not make a reduction in that item, I did not think we could make any reduction in our taxes which would be sensibly felt in the pockets of the people. I said that the reduction could only be made by a change in public opinion in this country—by having free trade not only in our ledgers and our counting-houses, but having it in our hearts, and having faith in our principles. Now, since I was in this room, a gen tleman has put into my hand a paper on the subject of the Tea-duties. I have not read it; but I can guess what it is. They want a reduction—to have a shil- ling a pound duty upon tea, instead of two shillings. Well, it is a necessary and proper change. Then comes the question, how will you supply its place— how make up the revenue? Now, I perfectly concur with the gentlemen that it would be to the advantage of the people of this country to make that change; nay more, I go further, and say, that if you could make a reduction of a shilling a pound on tea, it would do you more good in extending your trade in China than by sending out two or three line-of-battle ships, or taking possession of territory in the Indian Archipelago to serve as a sort of half-way house. Reduce your tea- duties, and you will have an augmentation of your trade with China without an- other line-of-battle ship or another regiment being sent there. But, gentlemen, you want the money, you want the means, to reduce this taxation; and I see no one who comes forward to reduce the expenditure who meets this difficulty. They have different plans of shifting the expenditure; but shift it as you will, gentle- men, you will find the load will gall your shoulders, place it as you may. Now, I am one who believe that this country has nothing to fear from any country so long as you advance in the present principles of free commercial intercourse with all the world. The great jealousy, rivalry, and hatred which the world entertains towards us, has arisen from the monopoly of this country—from the grasping ambition which has led us to seize upon territory, to have its exclusive possession; but the moment you proclaim to the civilized world, not only that your ports are open and your colonies open, for the latter claim it now)—the moment you aban- don the privileges of the Navigation-laws, that moment you change the feelings of the civilized world, now against you; and they will be as ready to enter into peaceful relations with you, to maintain an amicable understanding, as they have on former occasions to display a spirit of antagonism, occasioned by your monopolies, and the spirit of war and aggression which this country has manifested daring the last century. I do not speak here as an Uto- pian. The views I express here now are the views which first made me ac- quainted with the people of Lancashire, out of my own business—I mean as the author of certain pamphlets twelve years ago. These were the views I had then. Free trade has only been a labour of love with me that I might carry out those views; and I believe we are fast tending towards the time that the whole com- munity will be brought to the conviction, that it is not by warfare, not by arma- ments, not by brute force, that the interests of the country can be advanced. I want to hold out, not the nettle, the sting which diplomatists have held out to foreign powers, but the olive branch in sincerity. And if we do so, our moral in- fluence will be such, you may depend n ..n it, that the rest of the world will be glad to follow your example." W. C en went on to say, that there is not a country on the globe that is not groaning under the cost of its war establishment. It is not a popular expenditure. "I have a high mission for England and English statesmen. I want England to take the lead in a partial disarming of the great European powers. Instead of sending diplomatists to contest, to quarrel with them about the marriage of boys or girls, or squabbling over an invitation to din- ner, I want us to send our diplomatists to those countries, and say we have been pursuing a wrong and foolish course. ' We have been building more ships of war; you have been doing the same in France: France has increased her army; Prus- sia, Russia, and Austria have done the same: you would all have been on the same level if none had taken this step. Now, instead of increasing our armies, let us agree to a pro rata reduction of them.' Was there aught Utopian in this? it was common sense."
A new Member for Tamworth, in the room of Mr. William Yates Peel, was elected on Saturday last. Captain Townshend was returned without opposition. In his speech to the electors, he declared his adhesion to the principles of Charles James Fox: he also expressed his admiration of Sir Robert Peel's conduct during the present election.
The candidates for the representation of Sunderland were nominated on Monday: they were Sir Hedworth Williamson and Mr. W. A. Wilkinson. The show of hands was in favour of Mr. Wilkinson; but at the poll, on Tuesday, the numbers were—for Williamson, 725; Wilkinson, 595; ma- jority for Williamson, 130.
At York Assizes, on Monday, Patrick Reid and Michael M'Cabe were put on their trial for the murder of Caroline Ellis. This was one of the Mirfield murders which have produced so much sensation. Ellis was the servant of Mr. and Mrs. Wraith, who were found butchered in May last. In Jnly, Reid was tried for the murder of Mr. Wraith, and M'Cabe was admitted as a witness; but the evidence did not warrant a conviction. Since that, more testimony has come to light, im- plicating both prisoners: at the time when the crimes must have been committed, several persons saw both the men near the house; and a girl saw them coming away from it a few minutes before the discovery of the murders. The trial con- tinued throughout Tuesday, and terminated, on Wednesday, in a verdict of " Guilty " against both the prisoners; and the Judge pronounced the capital sen- tence on them. It was reported that immediately after Reid left the dock he made a confession to a priest, acknowledging his own guilt, but exculpating M'Cabe altogether.
At the same Assizes, last week, Killick, a railway navigator, was tried for a brutal attempt at robbery: he had gone to the abode of Mrs. Holmes, a very aged lady who lived in a lone house near Spalding, and after asking for a drink of water, he struck her down with a hammer. A servant gave the alarm, and he made off, but was captured. The sentence was transportation for fifteen years.
At Liverpool Assizes, on Saturday, Ann Mather, a young woman, was tried for poisoning her husband. The man died suddenly, and was quickly buried; but suspicion arising, the body was exhumed, and chemical examination detected arsenic in the organs of digestion. The woman had bought arsenic on the pre- tence of killing bugs. The couple lived on bad terms. The evidence, though strong, did not quite convince the Jury; for, after a long consultation, their ver- dict was " Not guilty."
James Dealtry, a young man, was convicted of feloniously disobeying a sum- mons to surrender himself as a bankrupt at the Manchester Bankruptcy C ourt: sentence, seven years' transportation.
Mr. Charles Copeman, a farmer of Blyborough, in the neighbourhood of Boston, has been robbed and murdered, in a lane, while on his way home at night. His body was found early on Sunday morning; his faithful dog, a bull-terrier, watching it. Around were the marks of a fierce struggle; Mr. Copeman having been an athletic, young, and resolute man: the throat was severed from ear to ear, and the face cut and bruised; the deceased's pockets had been turned inside out, and silver was found on the road.. The poor dog had evidently fought desperately with his master's assailants. The foot-prints in the soil showed that the mur- derers wore " spiked" boots, such as navigators use; and it is conjectured that they were three in number. Three men are in custody on suspicion. Mr. Cope- man had been to Kirton fair on the Saturday.
There has also been a murder at Castletown, near Heywood in Lancashire. James Duckworth, a labourer, was assailed at night on the carriage-drive of Mr. Kay's mansion, and was so beaten with a cart-leg, (the thick piece of wood which is used to support the shaft,) that be died next morning. A groom who came up heard the blows, and the noise made by the closing of a gate through which the murderers fled. Three working men are in custody on very strong suspicion. The motive for the crime is not evident.
A Mr. Houghton, travelling in a cab with four ladies on Monday evening, was stopped near Liverpool by a party of navigators, and robbed. The arrival of the Derby coach interrupted the robbers in the midst of their plundering, and they ran off.
Much damage and inconvenience have been caused in the valley of the Towy by floods of far greater magnitude than South Wales is usually visited with at this season. The roads and fields have been covered, the lower parts of houses in- undated, and traffic stopped except by means of boats.
Exeter and its neighbourhood were also flooded on Saturday last by the over- flowing of the Exe; with great loss of property. At Sunderland, on Sunday, a flood in the Wear proved exceedingly disastrous. Such a quantity of water rushed down that below a certain point nearly every vessel was driven from its moorings: five sank, and many of the others were greatly damaged by coming in collision with each other. The loss is estimated by tens of thousands. Three or four persons perished.
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