Cht pronturto.

The electoral contest to which candidates have been looking forward in South Nottinghamshire will come to a speedier issue than was ex- pected. Mr. Bromley, the Member whose illness and intended resigna- tion opened the prospect of a vacancy at the beginning of next session, became mortally ill on Friday last week, and died on Sunday evening.

The provincial demonstrations against the "Papal usurpation" have almost all been made. Huntingdon pronounced on Saturday ; and Ox- fordshire on Thursday, with apologies from Mr. Henley, M.P., for the lateness of the manifestation. The two other Members, Mr. Harcourt and Lord Norreys, were both absent and unapologized for. Mr. Black- stone, the acute M.P. for Wallingford, moved an amendment meant for a rebuke to the Traetarian party in the clergy:of the diocese—the =Ls- sion of the words "and laity' from a censure in the address to the Crown ; and it was unanimously backed by the meeting.

Mr. Cobden has been sojourning in Manchester, and while there has been assisting by his counsel and advice two of the public institutions of the town—the School of Design and the Athenasum. In the early part of last week he attended a public meeting of the friends and supporters of the School of Design, and made a speech containing some observa- tion.s of general interest on our relation to other countries as a manufac- turing and mercantile people.

Referring to an observation by Mr. Brotherton, that he could never under- stand how it is we should not be equal to other countries in the taste of our productions as well as in their quality and their prise, Mr. Cobden observed, i "Nature has done so much for us, that we have, n an age when steam- power is the great element of productiveness, not felt the necessity of tempt- ing our customers by superior taste. We had only to set our steam-engines, or shuttles, and looms, and four or five-coloured printing. machines at work ; and, if the taste of the article was not so good as it should be, the price would be so low that we should be able to sell pretty nearly all we could produce to almost all the people in the known world. But we must improve if we are to retain our customers. If ever we are to be made second-best in the world's race, it will be by our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic, who have coal and iron in a hundred times greater abundance than we have, —a little remote, indeed, from the sea-coast, and not so easily got at. But we must not despise the competition of the French, as manufacturers. They are very deficient in coal and iron, and they have not our sea-ports ; but as manufacturers they are equal to any other people on the earth. If they had our natural advantages as manufacturers, the French would have done all that we have done. Take them in the weaving of silk, and look at their Jacquard loom. Take them as calico-printers—we derive al- most all we know of calico-printing from them; we have scarcely a colour which is not of French invention—scarcely any combination of drugs to produce a new effect, but we have borrowed it from the French. In taste we borrow implicitly from the French. We do not know what we should have to print, or what the ladies would wear, till we first find out what the French are preparing for the next spring. But the French cannot rival us as merchants. They have not the faith the English have. A Frenchman cannot send a cargo of goods to the West coast of South America, or China, consigned to a person he has never seen, and then go calmly to his country- house and wait there in perfect confidence that those goods will be disposed of profitably, and accounted for to him, and the ship return with another cargo, suitable for some different market. The French as merchants are narrow-minded and ignorant, but as manufacturers we cannot despise them. Now, by steam and quick communication, the world is rapidly advancing to that state in w ieh, to find a consumption for our pro- ducts, we shall require something else besides cheapness—superior taste." Comparing the kind of cottons now printed for and used by domestic servants and labourers' wives, with those used by the same class twenty years ago—comparing the combination of colours in these with the "common navy blues" of those—he declared, "the same process is going on all over the world, and in a few years we may expect to have the taste of almost the whole civilised world assimilated to that of France. Even the remote East, which has been stagnant in its mind for a thousand years, even the tribes of Central Asia, are now giving up the patterns they have used from time immemorial, and learning to adopt the superior taste of French fabrics.

If it were asked why the taste of Manchester had not improved, the reason would be seen in the absence of such an institution as this. Mr. Cobden re- ferred to his personal acquaintance with the valuable effects on French de- sign of the schools of design at Lyons and elsewhere. "It is well known among manufacturers generally, that it is the taste in ribands from which primarily all other tastes [respecting matters of dress] originate." He him- self had been sufficiently acquainted with this matter, when engaged in the business himself, always to know that when he saw the ribands of the season he could get some idea of what the garments in fashion would be afterwards. In the dusty and smoky region of St. Etienne great attention is paid to taste in the production of ribands ; and there is a school of design there. In Man- chester there has been nothing of the sort ; but now such an institution is rising up here,—an encouraging proof that the necessity of improving the taste of articles is felt.

With regard to the Athenteum, local writers state that the imposing yearly meetings of the past have been more productive of éclat than of substantial benefit to the institution ; it has therefore been resolved to hold "soirees on a more limited and economical scale spread over the year at periods of about three months apart." Mr. Cobden presided at one of these on Friday last week ; and in the course of a speech sketch- ing the history of the institution and indicating the most practical mea- sures for enlarging its sphere of usefulness, he pointed out a quarter in which they might claim a saving of outgoings at the expense of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer.

The yearly outgoings of the Athenseum are about 19001.. "Now I find that in the course of the year this institution purchases paper in the form of books or newspapers, or paper for printing, to the extent of three tons weight : and I find that the duty on that paper amounts to somewhere about 44/." Even upon the "copy-books that are used in the schools of the Mechanics Institution or Lyceum, when they are summed up by the hundred- weight, the tax is a considerable sum. Then upon the newspapers in their news-room they pay between 70/. and 80/. for the newspaper-stamp; but out of that they get a consideration, the free postage of the newspaper. "But that does not apply to one-half of the papers you buy ; for all your London papers and all your Manchester papers are brought to you without the in- tervention of the post-office at all ; and therefore for one-half, at least, of the stamps you pay for upon newspapers, you get no consideration what- ' ever in the shape of postage ; and therefore, if the stamp were not im- posed to that extent this society would be relieved from an annual charge." "If I take one-half the amount you pay for your paper, and if I add to that the increased charge which there is both on books and newspapers in conse- quence of that impediment which we all know is offered by the maintenance of any tax or duty of the kind, I cannot put down the charge which you pay annually for these taxes at less than 100/. ; and I believe I am very much under the mark when I say you pay an income-tax of at least 100/. for the taxes upon your paper and newpapers. Well, now, I see no reason whatever why the institutions generally—I mean Athenreums, and Mechanics' Insti- tutions, and Lyeemns—should not make an effort to relieve themselves of this charge. For, bear in mind, if you could but get this abatement of tax- ation, one of two things would arise—either you would be able to have a much larger amount laid out in newspapers and books for the convenience and enjoyment of your members, or you would have a saving of 1001., which i you might lay out n diminishing your mortgage-debt, or in any other way, relieving the pressure of your engagement upon this institution." Antici- pating objection to any political bearing of his suggestion, he observed—" You are men of all political parties here, having one object, which is written in large characters over the front of your building, The Advancement and Dif- fusion of Knowledge '; therefore if you pray for the removal of taxes which work to impede that advancement and diffusion of knowledge, as you are met here for that object and no other—if you join in petitioning for the removal of those taxes for your sole object, I say it cannot be alleged you are doing so for political interest."

At the Manchester Borough Sessions, after the acquittal of a prisoner who had been charged with a larceny, Mr. Pollock his counsel made a statement against the Reverend P. J. O'Leary, Chaplain of the Gaol, founded on the prisoner's deposition.

"The Chaplain came into my cell and said—' Now I want you to answer a question I am going to put to you, and to answer the truth. Let me tell you that your case is a very serious one, and I know all about it. You were employed by Mr. Hilton ? ' I answered, Yes.' He then said 'Ah, you see I know all about it.' He then said that he came to me as a friend, to advise me to confess all I knew, and wheie the property had been placed, as that was my only chance of obtaining mercy, because my case was a very serious one—robbery, for which the heaviest of punishment was inflicted, if found guilty, after pleading not guilty. He said There were four trans- ported last sessions for the first offence : I do not say you will be transported, but mind, I do not say that you will not.' I said, I had never had any of the property. He replied, 'Oh, if that is the case I will bid you good morn- ing. I asked him if he knew when the Sessions were ? He replied, Yes; but as you refuse my advice and have taken your own, I may not answer any questions.' " Mr. Pollock sincerely trusted that the report might turn out to be in- correct ; but he must mention that this was not the first time, nor the second, nor the third time, that a statement of the same nature had been made. Mr. Armstrong the Recorder and Mr. Maude the Stipendiary Magistrate declared that full inquiry should be made.

At the Warwickshire Sessions, on Thursday, Holloway, a turnkey in the County Gaol at Coventry was found guilty of procuring a key to be made which would fit ninety of the locks in the gaol, with the object of facilitating the escape of Thompson, a prisoner awaiting trial for forging Bank-of-Eng- land notes. Thompson had promised Holloway 100/. if he should escape. The treacherous turnkey is sentenced to transportation for fourteen years.

The Norfolk Chronicle describes proceedings before Mr. Gay, a Magistrate at Reephara, against Wesleyans, for riotous proceedings in the chapel of Mr. Henry Gayford, the local Wesleyan preacher of the North Walsh= district, who is a supporter of the Conference against the "expelled ministers," and against the Reform movement which the " expulsions " have set on foot. The Wesleyans of Great Witchingham are stated to have asserted their right to choose their own preachers; and it is added, "on several occasions when the appointed minister arrived be has found the service commenced and the pulpit occupied by the Reform preacher.'" On Sunday the 24th Novem- ber, Mr. Povah, the superintendent of the district, went to officiate himself; and, arriving in good time, he got possession of the pulpit ; but members of the Reform party collected in a mob round the building, smashed the win- dows with stones, and .put the small congregation who had courage to remain in fear of personal injury. It appeared, however, that from the first mo- ment of commencing the services, the doors of the chapel were not so fully open to the public as that "all who chose might enter" : by directions of Mr. Povah, the doors were only partially opened, and the riotously-disposed were excluded. From this cause the specific charge under the 524 George

c. 155, see. 12, of disturbing religious worship in a chapel, could not be supported ; and the Magistrate dismissed the persons accused,—expressing his regret that their disgraceful proceedings should thus escape summary punishment.

Daring burglaries are still a feature of the Provincial news. Two men are in custody on suspicion of having been engaged in nocturnal depredations on the borders of Essex and Hertford. Nottingham has been much excited by the presence of a gang of burglars, supposed to have come from London or Liverpool, who have attempted divers robberies, and have succeeded in effecting one. Mr. Lamb, a jeweller and pawnbroker, was in the habit of leaving his premises at night only guarded by a dog ; the burglars climbed over some roofs, and managed by a daring leap to descend on the top of Mr. Lamb's house; they broke through the tiles, and effected an entry. Next morning, the dog was found with his throat cut, and the place had been plundered of watches and other valuables.

An inquiry has been commenced by the Coroner of the Selby district, into the causes of the death of the three men, Yarley, Garrick, and Tindale, who were killed when nine waggons ran down an incline on the North Midland Railway, and dashed into a passenger-train which was starting from the Old Milford Junction station. It has been proved that Edward Grimstone, the guard, had the control of the management of the train for securing its safety. The whole train consisted of nearly thirty carriages ; at the Old Milford Junction it was divided into halves, for the engine to take it up a steep ac- clivity to Garforth. It is a regulation that the guard should bring up the rear of each train with his break-van; and on going up to Garforth with the first half of the train, Grimatone did attach his break-van, and take his place in it; but on coming back from Garforth, he did not take the trouble to de- tach and bring back his break-van. It so happened that th , two last

A son has accidentally killed his father on the Bath road, near BristoL. Mr. Wooles, an innkeeper, had sonic words with his wife, and struck her; the son remonstrated ; the father seized a stick to strike the young man:, the latter caught hold of a gun to defend himself, it exploded, and Mr. Wooles was mortally wounded. The son was not aware that the gun was loaded, and the Coroner's Jury were convinced that the homicide was quite accidental. Before his death, the innkeeper made a will, leaving his pro- perty between the son who killed him and another son.

An old lady has been killed at Leeds by incautiously "tasting" essential' oil of almonds. Her neice had bought twopennyworth for confectionery ;- she tasted it, and the aunt followed her example ; but unfortunately she swallowed about fifteen drops, and in a few moments she was dead.

A little chirauey-sweeper has perished at Manchester in the due of a ma- nufactory. It appeared at the inquest that there was a great want of cau- tion in the engineer and the master sweeper : the flue had not been suffi- ciently cooled and ventilated, and the poor boy was suffocated by the heated' gases as well as burnt by falling on the hot soot. The Coroner's Jury di- rected that a copy of the depositions be sent to the Watch Committee, with a request that the parties concerned should be prosecuted for using climbing.. boys contrary to law.