gbe Vrobiacts.

A. great county meeting, to consider the question of Malt-tax repeal, was held at Lewes on Tuesday. A meeting on the subject was held at Battle on the 13th February, under the presidency of Mr. John Villiers Shelley; and it was resolved to request the Sheriff to call for a decided demonstration of the county. The requisition to the Sheriff was signed by Mr. Shelley and 236 other persons, owners and occupiers of land, bankers, merchants, and traders, of Sussex; "the greater portion of whom," says the Morning Post, "were Radicals and Free-traders." The Protectionists resolved to muster strong, and carry amendments to the resolutions proposed by Mr. Shelley and his party. The High Sheriff opened the meeting at noon, in the Corn and Hop Exchange room, but soon adjourned it to the open air, on account of the extent of the assemblage.

Major Cartels denounced protection; and sarcastically lashed the farmers for following in a mad career after leaders who had never shown signs of competency, and who had so often deceived them. He insisted with earnestness on the se- verity of agricultural distress in the rapes of Hastings and Pevensey; unless something were immediately done for their relief, one half of them must fall: that distress, however, was not due to bad management, or to free trade, but to the badness of the seasons. His firm and decided opinion was, that protection was gone never to return. (Great uproar: cries of" No, no!"" Yes, yes!") Many wanted a fixed duty for purposes of revenue. (Voices—" That's Just it.") He Was bound to tell those persons, that if a fixed duty were imposed for such a purpose, it would be so small as not to increase materially the price of wheat in favour of the English grower. Mr. Disraeli's amendment was but a "tub to the whale." Major Carteis moved a resolution to the effect that the Malt-tax is un- just in principle and operation, is heaviest in its burden on industry, and is oppressive to the farmer both in lessening his market and in increasing his cost of production.

Mr. Henry Selmes, "the great breeder, of Romney Marsh," as the Times am- biguously styles him, "seconded the resolution in a Free-trade speech."

Mr. John Ellman said, if the resolutions moved at Battle bad only contemplated the removal of the Malt-tax, he would have supported them; but they went fur- ther, and the speakers who supported them assailed the Protection Society: he therefore felt it was necessary to show, by the way in which they now acted, that they "by no means despaired of protection." (Great cheering.) He therefore moved an amendment, or rather an addition, to this effect—" If, however, foreign barley is to be still imported at a shilling duty, the repeal would principally bene- fit the foreign grower." Mr. Ellman supported this resolution with stout Protec- tionist doctrine. The Free-trade mania had subsided very much. (" No, no!" Cheers of assent.) The people saw that it had rained the West Indies, and brought Canada to the verge of rebellion; and now the only thing left was the Navigation-laws. With Cobbett, he thanked God there's a House of Lords; for he felt that the Navigation-laws are perfectly safe in their keeping. (Cheers and hostile laughter.) The farmers would die game; but if they did submit to sacri- fice their property without a straggle, of this be was assured, "that the millions of agricultural labourers would never suffer themselves to be sacrificed to the visionary theory of free trade." (A loud burst of cheering.) Mr. Edward Wyatt endorsed these senthrienta, amidst a contesting uproar of cheers and groans. Mr. John Villiers Shelley supported the resolution with a Free-trade speech ; claiming for the tenant, not protection abroad, but the protection at home of secure tenure, that he might reap the equitable fruit of his improvements. The Earl of March applied Mr. Cobden's simile to the policy of his own party: it was himself who was "leading a drag "; but his device would fail: Lord Stanley and Mr. Disraeli are not at all on the wrong scent, but on the right one; "they are on a scent which will conduct them at last to a most victorious kill." (Great enthusiasm among the farmers.) Mr. Prime only saw two drawbacks to success in gaining the repeal: one, that there mast be a substitute for the tax repealed; the other, that they would not be able to ask the Minister for any other measure of alleviation for a long time.

Mr. Fuller, M.P., advocated a national rate on personal as well as real property, in lien of the present local taxation. The Earl of Chichester advised the farmers, instead of looking to protection, to look for a fair adjustment between landlord and tenant, a gradual diminution of burdens on the land, and a restoration not of high but of remunerative prices for produce.

The High Sheriff put the amendment to vote by show of hands, and de- clared it carried. This was contested by Mr. Shelley and others, amidst great uproar. The original motion was put, and passed, according to the Post," by a large majority." Thereupon "a violent altercation ensued on the hustings "; in the midst of which the Sheriff pronounced the meeting dissolved.

The magnitude of county expenditure, and the question of magisterial irresponsibility in local financial matters has roused so much public feel- ing in Lancashire, that a deputation chosen by a meeting held at Newton came to London at the end of last month with the object of canvassing Parliamentary leaders upon proposals to legislate on the subject. The deputation consisted of Mr. R. T. Parker of Cnerdon Hall, Mr. Newell of Littleborough, and Mr. John Livesey of Preston, with Mr. Roberts of Roch- dale, as their solicitor and secretary. Three of the County Members—Mr. William Brown, Mr. Henry, and Mr. J. Heywood—joined the deputation in their principles and plans; bat Mr. Wilson Patten only agreed that an evil existed, and differed from them as to remedies. The deputation remained in town nearly a fortnight, and saw Sir George Grey; who received them with gratifying courtesy, concurred in their general views and objects, and stated that the subject had already attracted the attention of Ministers, but he would not pledge the Government to a course. The deputation also saw Sir Robert Peel and Sir James Graham jointly; who admitted that it strong case for control of magisterial expenditure had been made out, and they offered valuable suggestions. Then they went to Lord Stanley; who offered suggestions for better securing the attention of Parliament. Fi- nally, they waited on Lord John Russell; who saw in the plans proposed the same plan to the principle of which he had given his sanction twelve years ago; but he said that he now had his hands so full that he could give no promise to introduce a measure. Mr. Hume, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Agli- onby, and scores of other gentlemen, were also canvassed; and their fa- vourable attention was gained for the subject. On the 8th of this month, a conference of Members was held, under the presidency of Lord Eddisbnry; when it was agreed to request Mr. flume to bring in a bill. Mr. Hume agreed; and a bill has since been drawn, which will shortly be printed for distribution. The Manchester Examiner states that on the whole the depu- tation met with a gratifying reception, and the Members feel that their measure will meet with speedy success.

The trial of James Blomfield Rush, at the Norwich Assizes, for the murder of Mr. Jenny, commenced on Thursday. As few new facts appeared in the evidence, the features of interest are solely connected with the incidents which marked the conduct of the trial. The local gentry attended in great numbers; the Earl of Leicester, Earl Cadogan the Bishop of Norwich, and several Members of Parlia- ment, were present. dr. Baron Rolfe was the Judge: Mr. Sergeant Bytes, Mr. Prendergast, and Mr. Evans, appeared for the Crown: the defence was conductet by the prisoner himself, without professional assistance; so Mr. Baron Rolfe acted on the old maxim that the Judge is counsel for the undefended prisoner.

The opening speech of Mr. Byles supplies a fair statement of the connected case, supported by the Crown evidence. The prisoner was debtor to Mr. Jenny in 5,0001., secured by a mortgage of Potash farm, uuder which Mr. Jermy might take possession of that farm on the 30th October 1848 if the money were not paid. In addition, Rash was tenant of two farms of Mr. Jermy, called Stanfield farm and Felmingham farm. Rush lived on the Stanfield farm-house, at about a mile from Mr. Jenny's house of Stanfield Hall. It seems that Rush got into arrears of his rent and mortgage interest, and had been sued at law and ejected from one of the farms. The title to the two farms held of Mr. Jenny has been litigated between Mr. Jermy and some other descendants of a common ancestor; and some of the representatives of Mr. Jermy's opponents had visited at Rash's house. He espoused their cause, and published a pamphlet in which he spoke of Mr. Jenny as a man svithout common honesty and a villain; saying—" He has no right to the Stanfield Hall property—he knows it, and he knows I know it as well." "If there is truth in the Bible, such villany is sure to be overtaken, and that when it is least expected." On the 3d October, two claimants of the pro- perty, named Jenny and Lerner, met him in London by appointment, at the room of Miss Emily Sandford, whom he represented as a lady of property that would help them to regain their inheritance; and he made an agreement with the two men, under which he engaged to help them to recover the Felmingham farm, and they in return granted him a lease of it at a beneficial rent from the 11th October 1848. These two persons went down to Felmingham to take possession, but re- turned next day.

The mode in which Rush obliged Miss Sandford to sign some simulated deeds, his habits of going out at night after poachers, and the circumstances under which he left his house on the 28th of November a short time be- fore the murders, as well as the facts of the murder, were stated as they had already been narrated.

The witnesses examined on the first day were Mr. Cann, a solicitor; Eliza Chestney, the house-maid; Watson, the butler ; and Reid, the cook. Eliza Chest- ney was still suffering severely. "She was introduced lying upon a neatly- constructed litter, which was borne into court upon the shoulders of four men; and in order to afford sufficient accommodation, the witness-box was removed and the space near it cleared. The side of the bed was an placed that the face of the unfortunate girl was tamed towards the prisoner, and, by means of pillows, ob- liquely towards the judge. She was attended by Mr. Nicholls, the surgeon; who sat by her during the whole examination. She answered all the questions with great firmness and confidence." Her voice is described as singularly musical; and it is observed that Chief Baron Pollock, who stood among the spectators, "was affected to tears the moment he heard her speak."

The prisoner cross-examined the witnesses, with the object of showing ma- terial discrepancies between their present testimony and their depositions before the Coroner and Magistrates ; but he did not make out any points of importance. Mr. Cann, a solicitor, was especially questioned at great length, with the object of showing that he had prejudiced the defence by using, as Clerk of the Magistrates, knowledge which Rush confided to him as his private solicitor. This imputation was not made out with any distinctness; and the Judge at last mildly put an end to it with the remark, "Granted that you are ill-treated, whet then? It may prove that you were wrongfully committed, but you are now on trial for the fact.' He next endeavoured to bring out facts in extenuation of his violence before the Magistrates. Baron Rolfe again interposed—" We should have known nothing of your being violent, if you had not brought it out yourself; and I must tell you, that if you had been a person in a humble rank in life, and more ignorant, I should have endeavoured to prevent you from committing yourself as much as you have done ; but as it is, you must take your own course. In the mean time, I do not see that this has anything to do with the case."

Prisoner—" Oh, my Lord, but you will see it afterwards. I have nothing to rest on but my innocence, and I hope the Jury will see their importance afterwards." The Judge—" Well, it will go to the Jury; and it is for them to determine." The case was adjourned at seven o'clock till Friday.

The reporters of the morning papers give sketches of Rush's aspect and car- riage. his is from the Times— Without any attompt at minute description, it may be said that Rush is a powerfully-made man, with strong but rather coarsely-moulded limbs, and below rather than above the middle height. His shoulders, which are slightly inclined forwards, support a short bull neck, on which a large and massive [globular head, which a craniologist would declare indicative of the possession of strong animal passions and considerable intellectual power, is firmly set in each a way as to render it rather difficult for its owner to look straight before him. His month, and the general formation of his jaw and of the lower part of his face, betray great determination and an unflinching will!' Another says—" He may be called a well-looking man; his countenance present- ing no disagreeable feature, rather the reverse. He is of a ruddy complexion, and wears full whiskers, which pass under the chin and encircle the face. His hair is inclining to grey; but his whole appearance may be said to indicate a man even younger than he is described to be." Again—" He has undergone little change from his long confinement. His hand trembled very much occasionally, and his body now and then was slightly agitated; but Ins voice and bearing were perfectly firm, and tempered by an air of submissiveness very like what might be expected in an injured man. He looked confidently around him, but not with any expression of bravado; for he seemed to feel perfectly the danger of his position; and it was a most remarkable spectacle to see the resolution with which he went through long cross-examinations of the witnesses produced—ask- ing the most minute questions, and yet never appearing to give way to any flip- pancy of manner. Little incidents during the trial appeared to affect him much. The Judge complained of the noise in the court, as very injurious to the fair hearing of the prisoner's cause; and instantly his voice became broken and his frame agitated by the strength of his emotions. The description of the murders

by Serg.ant Bytes seemed to affect him; and his voice lost its firmness, and his whole manner its resolute tone, at the most telling parts of Eliza Chestney's evidence."

At Shrewsbury Assizes, yesterday week, Mercy Catherine Newton was put on trial for the murder of her mother Ann Newton at Bridgenorth, on the 5th of December last. Most of the facts have already been related by us: the charge submitted for trial was, that the prisoner had made her motber drunk, had then set her on fire after saturating her clothes with oil, and at last strangled her and thrown her corpse into a court-yard ; the motive for such a series of crimes being simply the hope of obtaining a sole interest in a sum of about 4001., which she could only share with her mother so long as the mother lived. It was proved that the prisoner did make her mother tipsy on the night of her death, as she often bad before; that her mother was heard to cry. "Don't, Kitty, don't ! " and to shriek, about an hour after they had been left together by a witness who had retired to bed before them; that the furniture in the room where they were left was found saturated with oil, half burnt, and looking as if quenched by water; and that the clothes on the body of Mrs. Newton were found similarly burnt and wet with oil and water. The corpse bore marks of strangulation. The prisoner was found in an out-house near her mother's body, her clothes wet like her mother's: she was seemingly intoxicated, but stated that she put the fire out. On the night of the 5th, she was seen with a bowl full of dripping in her hand ; it was proved that she knew that a bottle full of oil was in the pantry : both the bottle and the bowl were empty on the hob of the ire-place next morning. The following evidence of the prisoner's habitual cruelty to her mother was given by Mary Corfield, her fellow ser- vant in the house of M. Dyer, where the mother came by her end—" I have seen prisoner go down on her knees and beg the old woman to make away with herself; and if she would, she would give her the things to do it. I have heard her say, when her mother was dead she would drive a stake through her heart. When there had been a tempest, the prisoner, who had been lying on the bed, came down stairs, and I said, 'Kitty, there has a thunderbolt fell somewhere.' She said, 'Yes, and I have been 'raying, as I lay down, that it had fell on that old woman and killed her.' She has often said she wished her mother was cut in four quarters and broiled on a gridiron. I have seen her push her mother into a big chair, kneel on her, and push a handkerchief into her mouth. I have gone to the old woman's assistance, and have found the roof of her mouth torn, and flesh and blood on it ; there was also blood coming ont of the ears. This was some months before. I came down stairs on one occasion, about eight months before, and at that moment found her pushing her mother out of the parlour, covered with blood. I said, 'Kitty, she will die.' She said, 'Let her die.' She then pushed her into the back-yard, and threw cold water over her. The first impression was that the deceased had set herself on fire and been suffocated by the flames; but surgical examination threw this supposition into complete doubt. It was found that the face of the deceased bad been crushed nearly flat before death; her nose had been pressed down and had never risen again during life; and the burnings on the body did not show any blister or dis- tinctive sign of having occurred to a living body. The surgeons believed it scarcely possible that she should have been burnt to death without raising alarm, even if tipsy. All these things were against the idea that the deceased bad set herself on fire and run out to the spot where she was found dead. On the other band, there was one singular fact that would not harmonize with any other sup- position. A week after the death, when the floor of the room where it occurred was washed, there appeared the track of footsteps distinctly marked in oil from the sofa where the deceased was left asleep to the spot where she was found dead; the oiled vestigia rejecting the scouring-water and preserving the shape of the naked foot quite clearly. It was urged that these footsteps were undoubtedly made by the deceased in flying to a tub of water in the out-house.

The Jury could not agree on a verdict, and were locked up all Friday night. On Saturday morning, Mr. Justice Coleridge opened the court at the early hour of eight, to receive their verdict. They appeared fatigued and ill: the foreman said it was impossible they could agree—they were equally divided. They were accordingly discharged; and the prisoner was remitted to prison, to be again put on trial at the next Assizes.

At Lewes Assizes, last week, John Pearson, a young groom, was tried for the murder of Mary Ann Newman, at Hastings. This was the case where a female servant was found murdered in her master's house, which had been robbed. The evidence against Pearson was entirely circumstantial. He came from London to the neighbourhood of Hastings on the day of the murder; was seen near the house just before the inmates went to church; and was seen again just after its committal, journeying in much agitation towards London: it was noted that on his way he asked for and drank extraordinary quantities of water, as if feverish With a weight on his mind; and the circumstances that he declared he had lost his handkerchief.and that he borrowed another one of his mother, tallied with the discovery that a hoard of the things plundered at the time of the murder was buried in a copse wrapped in a handkerchief exactly similar in pattern to the one lost. The footsteps observed near the hoard corresponded with the prisoner's. The verdict, however, was "Not guilty."

On Friday, Hannah Sandles,.a widow, was convicted of the murder of an illegi- timate child, by throwing it into a well. The crime was committed while the woman was travelling with the infant and two other children to London. She had expressed great shame at the birth of the child, and wished its death. The Jury recommended her to mercy on account of her former affectionate conduct to her children ; but Mr. Baron Parke, in passing the capital sentence, told the wretched woman to place no reliance on that recommendation.

Landick and Mills were arraigned for murdering Grace Holman, at Taphouse, in December last. Robbers broke into Mrs. llolman's house at night, carried away some articles, and left the woman dead. The chief witness was an approver, Henry Wood. He declared that the prisoners and himself went to rob the house; Landick got in at a window, and then let in his accomplices. They went into Mrs. Holman's bedroom; she awoke ; Landick drew the bedclothes over her head, and Mills held her down; but afterwards Landick threw a box and a chair upon her to keep her down. Testimony was adduced that corroborated some of Wood's statement. The Jury acquitted Mills; and gave a verdict of " Guilty " against Landick, but recommended him to mercy, because they thought the death of the poor woman was not premeditated by him. He was sentenced to be hanged.

At Hereford Assizes, on Saturday, Thomas Whitford was tried for the murder of his wife at Brilley. He dashed her skull to pieces ; but it was apparent that he WAS not in a responsible state at the time; and he was acquitted on the ground of insanity.

Pulley, the man recently convicted of the murder of a young girl near Pershore, was hanged at Worcester on Monday. He made a confession of his guilt to the chaplain of the gaol.

A brutal murder has been committed at Liverpool. Moans heard in a house in Leveson Street led to the bursting of the door by a policeman: he discovered two women and a child lifeless on the bloody floor of one room, and another child site dead in a dark cellar: a poker and a broken pair of tongs, covered with blood, lay near the three bodies. The bodies were those of Mrs. Henricksen, the wife of a master mariner, her two children, and servant. Mrs. Henricksen is not dead, but can scarcely live ; her second child has died: the servant has recovered enough to state some facts. On Wednesday, a stranger, who gave the name of Wilson and stated he was a carpenter, took lodgings ot Mrs. Henricksen. While he was gone to market, he struck her eldest child; the servant interfered; on which the man caught up the poker in great excitement, and knocked her down. He attacked the child, beat its skull in, and beat the servant again till she fell insensible. It is supposed that he then pursued the younger child and killed it; and afterwards awaited Mrs. Henrickson's return from market, and attempted to kill her too, that all evidence against him should be destroyed. A man has been since arrested in Liverpool, and has been identified by the servant as the mur- derer.

Two young labourers of Leeds, brothers, having quarrelled while they were dressing in the morning, the elder, William Proctor, struck his brother Thomas; the latter was greatly irritated; and, taking out his pocket-knife, he wounded William in the neck, so that he died next day. The fratricide was taken into custody.

In the house of Mrs. Eaton, at Easton, on the Lincolnshire border of North- amptonshire, the remains of an infant were lately discovered in a dark garret, by the gardener, who was moving furniture. The remains were dried to the aspect of a mummy, and were wrapped in a household cloth which seemed rotten with age. No one among Mrs. Eaton's servants had for years been suspected of any- thing that would throw light on the circumstance; but Mrs. Eaton discovered, on careful search, the date of 1840 in the wrapper; and on referring to her in- ventories she found that two wrappers of the peculiar texture of the one dis- covered were put down among things lost on the leaving of a man-servant named Thomas, in the spring ef 1846. This circumstance brought to mind that Thomas eloped with Mary Wakefield, the lady's maid; and it was recollected that the woman had been ill for several days at Christmas of 1840, with an ail- ment that was not then understood. A Coroner's Jury sat on the remains; heard the evidence of surgeons, and the above facts; and returned a verdict of death. by means unknown.

Hannah Rose, a woman living at Smethwick, has cut her throat, from remorse at poisoning an illegitimate child of one of her daughters. A surgical exami- nation of the infant's body detected the presence of poison.

The Magistrates of Windsor were engaged on Monday in examining the case of John Wardle, a man who has on several occasions threatened the life of the- Queen. He is twenty-three years old, of rather idiotic appearance. He was em- ployed some time back in a colliery at West Bromwich. In January 1848, he wrote a letter to the Queen, declaring that she should die by his hands unless he had his "rights." An inquiry by the Staffordshire Magistrates elicited what these " rights " were: the man alleged that his grandfather had married a ser- vant who had been seduced by the Duke of Kent; that the Duke allowed them a pension, and that he had left the family 10,0001., which was unjustly kept from them. In default of bail to keep the peace, he was sent to gaol for three months. He subsequently came to London, but was sent back by the authorities and placed under the surveillance of the police. In December last, he sent letters to persons repeating the threats against her Majesty. Six weeks since, he left West Bromwich; and on the 8th of this month he appeared at Windsor. At the Dean of Windsor's house, where the butler had relieved his wants, he uttered threats against the Queen; and this led to his arrest. Surgeons having examined him, they gave a positive opinion that he was insane—a dangerous lunatic. The Windsor Magistrates ordered that he should be confined in the County Lunatic. Asylum, unless his friends could give security for his safe custody.

At Exeter Assizes, on Friday and Saturday last, Poole and Nightingale were tried for robbing the Railway Post-office van between Bristol and Bridgewater, on the night of the 1st January. The evidence was precisely the same as that which was narrated before the Magistrates. The counsel for the defence urged that the case was not fatly made out: others might have stolen the letters and secreted them in the carriage ; the robbery might have been effected at the station; and so on. The Jury deliberated for an hour, and then gave a yerdict of " Guilty." The sentence was transportation for fifteen years.

At Carmarthen Assizes, last week, Anne Matthews, the daughter of the post- master of Carmarthen, was tried for stealing a letter containing money: there were five other indictments, and many more charges could have been preferred. Miss Matthews was in the Poet-office service, under her father, and received 40t a year. When suspicion was excited, a search was made, and numbers of letter, envelopes of newspapers, purses, and trinkets, were found in her possession. The prisoner's counsel attempted to make it appear that the thefts were the result of a disordered mind: there was no reasonable motive for the robberies, and the letters, &e. were preserved in a way that evidenced a total want of the cunning of a criminal. Testimony was called to show that Miss Matthews's conduct gene- rally was very strange. Mr. Justice Erle held that the plea of insanity quite- failed. The jury deliberated for a long time, but eventually gave a verdict of "Guilty," with a recommendation to mercy. The sentence was tranaportation

for ten years. The culprit behaved with great composure during the trial. .