21Gbe 113TObillEES.

The Royal Agricultural Society have held their annual meeting this week, at Southampton : they had a show of agricultural implements and a cattle-show, a dinner of the Council, and a general dinner. The ex- hibition of farm-implements was opened on Tuesday ; so numerous and ingenious as to baffie description ; and prizes were awarded for the best. Then there was a trial of ploaghs, at Swashling Farm, a few miles from Southampton. On Wednesday, the Council dinner took place, at the Victoria Rooms. The diners were nearly three hundred in number ; Earl Spencer, the President of the Society, in the chair ; supported by a strong muster of noblemen and gentlemen connected with agriculture. Lord Ashburton proposed the toast of " The Professors of Science " ; to which Dr. Backland responded ; taking the opportunity of making some timely remarks respecting the guano manure— Great additional facilities to cultivation were now afforded by the use of guano ; though some disappointment had been felt in its working. The dry season had proved unfavourable to experiments in guano ; and he entreated. those who might have tried it to wait till next year. There were now six hun- dred vessels in that trade, and you would get it cheaper now than ever. But he would recommend them never to use guano in dry weather—it should be used in damp weather. They should also be aware of adulteration. He would re- mind them also, that as the volatility of the elements of guano constituted its efficacy, they must not expect it to act as a manure for more than one year. The Duke of Cambridge arrived on Wednesday morning, by a special train ; breakfasted with the Mayor, Colonel Henderson ; in- spected the implements ; and was permitted by Earl Spencer to see the cattle, though that privilege was forbidden to any but officials until Thursday. His Royal Highness returned to town in the afternoon.

Thursday was the grand day. The cattle-show was opened in the morning, and the great dinner took place in the evening. Crowds of visitors arrived ; train after train coming in crammed with people, and steamer after steamer—some even from the coast of France. The exhibition of cattle was considered a very good one; and many prizes were awarded to the producers of the best specimens. At the dinner, the speaking was of a less purely agricultural and of a more generalizing character than usual. Praise of such societies, and of the Society in particular, were favourite materials for speech ; Lord Palmerston talked of " the infancy of states "; and Chevalier Bunsen, inter alia, praised country life, as the cradle of virtue and the abode of happiness. The Chevalier contributed an anecdote of the King of Prussia while on his late visit to England— When visiting the splendid establishment of Eton, and gazing from one of the old Gothic windows upon the magnificent scene around him—the ancient structure in which he stood, the fields and woods smiling around it, and the happy faces of the boys gazing up to his—looking at this happy union of old and new, he exclaimed, " Blessed is the country where the old is ever new, and where the new is ever entwined with the old."

Debateable subjects were mostly eschewed. Lord Portman, how- ever, proposing " Practice and Science," exhorted every farmer to " try to improve his stock, his method of cultivation, and the tenure of his land,"—which was much cheered. The Duke of Richmond deprecated such discussions there, and Parliamentary interference : " Let them have no legislative enactment about the matter, but let them all consider the interest of the landlord and tenant as one and the same." The party broke up at nine o'clock.

The proceedings closed yesterday, with a general meeting of the So- ciety, to transact routine business—the distribution of thanks and so forth.

A meeting of delegates from the principal towns of Lancashire was held at Manchester on Sunday, to devise measures for promoting a system of Ten-hours labour. The object of the meeting was to ascertain how far the working-classes were prepared to abridge their time of labour without the aid of Parliament. The Lancashire Central Short- time Committee informed the delegates, that they had suggested the propriety of the operatives making a respectful application to their em- ployers as a first step, requesting them to adopt " the declared opinion of the House of Commons," namely, that the factory-day should com- mence at six o'clock in the morning and close at six o'clock in the even- ing. They had consulted with their friends, and, among others, with Lord Ashley ; who had given some good advice— "I would counsel you to begin by an address to your employers ; by an appeal from the workpeople of each mill to the proprietor of it, and earnestly, though respectfully, to entreat their sympathy and cooperation towards the abatement of your excessive labour. It is a matter of the highest importance that this great end should be attained, if possible, in unison with the feelings of your employers, and not in despite of them."

The Ten-hours leader took occasion to fortify his own position, with a glance at his reverses in Parliament-

" I am deeply thankful for the success of the Factory Bill, which has just become law. My great difficulty was to combine the safety of that measure with the constant assertion of our ten-hours principle. 1 was sure, even on the night of the first majority, that eventual success was beyond our reach in the present session. I bent, therefore, all my efforts to secure this enactment, and yet lose no proper opportunity of demanding more. We were in constant peril; but, by God's blessing, we saved the bill ; and I venture to anticipate from it very great and lasting benefits."

Resolutions authorizing immediate steps to carry out the objects of the meeting were carried unanimously.

A correspondence has taken place between the Marquis of London- derry and Mr. Richardson, on the part of the Committee of Miners of Northumberland and Durham. Mr. Richardson asks the Marquis to use his influence to bring about a meeting between the real coal- owners and their workmen, to obtain a settlement of their differences. The Marquis replies, that he will have nothing to do with the Commit- tee, but will treat with his own miners ; who, he says, whatever causes of complaint their brethren in other collieries may have, are well treated : they have admitted that they are so, and that they have struck only because forced by the other colliers. If his miners refuse to work, he will people his collieries from other quarters.

The Marquis has also issued a notice to the shopkeepers of " his own town " of Seabam, forbidding them to give credit to the colliers who have struck, on pain of being made to suffer hereafter for thus encou- raging the " infatuated workmen " in their " insane strike."

The Newcastle Journal announces that new hands are continually obtained to work the mines : a great many Welsh pitmen arrived last week, and altogether 3,300 men are now employed, who but for the " turn-out" would never have been engaged in the collieries. The condition of the men on strike is described as wretched ; and yet they persist in refusing to work. The recklessness of character which is fostered by their hazardous occupation, and still more the ignorance that prevails among these gnomes of the nineteenth century, may account for their self-destructive obstinacy.

Another meeting, consisting principally of labourers and mechanics, has been held in Wiltshire, at Brinkworth, to consider the state of the la- bouring population. Three labourers spoke, describing their miserable state ; and asserting that many must have starved but for the possession of allotments of land from the Marquis of Lansdowne.

The Great Western Advertiser of Saturday last reports a meeting held in Bristol on that day week, to consider the means of erecting a monu- ment to the memory of Robert Southey. Mr. W. L. Clarke, the Mayor, presided ; and though the wetness of the day contributed to prevent the meeting from being numerous, the attendance was most respectable. That the monument should be erected, was resolved without hesitation ; and a committee was appointed to manage the affair, including the Mayor, the Dean, Mr. Walter Savage Landor, and others. A design by Mr. Baily the sculptor was produced, consisting of a medallion with profile of the poet and allegorical figures of Poetry and History. Sensible objections were taken to the " classical " nature of a design intended for a Gothic cathedral, and to its resemblance to one by the same artist erected in the cathedral to the memory of the late Bishop ; and, while it was determined that Mr. Baily should be the artist, the design was rejected. A subscription was opened, with the contribution of 150/. on the spot.

The trials for incendiarism in Suffolk, commenced at Ipswich, on Wednesday. Ann Manning was found guilty of setting fire to a cot- tage in which she lived. Her husband was then in prison for an offence against the game-laws ; while she and the family were in the greatest want, a distress being in the cottage for rent. She was recommended to mercy. David Clow was indicted for setting fire to a shop at Farn- ham, but acquitted ; .as the fire seemed the result of tipsy carelessness.

At Cambridge, on Monday, Fanny Rutherford, a girl of fifteen, was convicted of setting fire to an out-house, which caused the destruction of five cottages. She was sentenced to be transported for fifteen years.

A very extensive incendiary fire took place on Wednesday morning, at the homestead of Mr. W. D. Green, of Greenstead Hall, Colchester. Many of the populace present exhibited little concern at the destruc- tion going on ; and not a few turned marauders, stealing plate and other articles, and wine and beer from the dwelling-house. The da- mage is estimated at 2,0001.

Mr. Augustus Newton, the barrister, was tried for perjury, at Wor- cester Assizes, on Tuesday. He had made an affidavit that certain officers, in arresting him for debt, had broken into his house; which was not the fact, as they had merely run in by a back-door which was opened. One of the Constables, however, admitted that he had said to Mr. Newton that he had broken in, on his pertinaciously asserting that be had, as he feared a rescue from the crowd : and to the case broke down, and Mr. Newton was acquitted. At Maidstone, on Tuesday, Mr. Bernardi brought an action against the Honourable Captain Grimstone, to recover 165/, the amount of a. bill accepted by the Captain, and drawn by George Cullen, nephew an& gardener to Mrs. Edmonds, whose name obtained so much notoriety in its connexion with Lord Huntingtower's financial affairs. It was as-• serted on the part of the defendant, that be accepted the bill for 654 only, and that the 1001. was a forgery. In the course of the trial, Mr.. Richard Kirkman Lane, one of the witnesses, confessed that he was very susceptible to female influence ; which had cost him 1,8004 lost through bills that Mrs. Edmonds had induced him to discount. The- Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff; to the full amount claimed.

At Lincoln, on Monday, Eliza Joyce was convicted, on her own con- fession, of murdering two children, one her own infant the other a step- child. She was sentenced to be hanged.

A riot took place among the military at Manchester, on the evening of Friday week. The Fifty-third Regiment was stationed in Man- chester under orders for India. Directions had been issued to double its strength before leaving Englaud ; and a great number of soldiers from various other regiments, who had been allowed to volunteer into the Fifty-third, had arrived in Manchester. Quarrels had arisen among these soldiers, who had exhibited too much devotion for the beer-shops ; and on Friday some of the men from the Eighty-eighth, or Connaught Rangers, and a party of volunteers from other regiments, amounting altogether to a hundred in number, had a regular battle with sticks. The affray was becoming serious when a large body of Police inter- fered, and succeeded in dispersing the combatants ; arresting several of them.

A man digging turf in a lonely part of Longton Moss, near Preston, a short time back, discovered a skull, covered with long tresses, and a quantity of the larger bones of a woman. It is supposed that these are the remains of a woman who was murdered twenty-two years since. At that time, one Sunday night, shrieks were heard : a few days after a shawl was found ; it was recognized as having been worn by a female who had been seen on the Moss, over-night, walking with a man ; and some one remarked an appearance on the ground as though the sods had been removed. A slight inquiry was made by the constable,. but the place was not opened ; nor was further notice taken of it until years after, when the grass had grown so luxuriantly over it, and itwas so singularly formed, as to acquire the name of " the grave"; and sods were frequently cut from it on account of their being better than any near it.

A murder committed more than eighteen months ago, at Binton Bridge, near Stratford-on-Avon, has been discovered by the voluntary confession of Thomas Knight, one of the murderers. He, with three men, Thomas Careless, Badenham, and " Sam," had been drinking at a public-house, when a Jew pedlar was present. On the Jew's leaving the house, they followed him to the bridge, knocked him down, and took away his box. He cried out, and offered them Si. to spare his life ; but they beat him until he was insensible ; and then, having torn away a large stone from the bridge, they tied it with a pitch rope round his body, and threw him into deep water.