be Vrobincts.

The Honourable Mr. Smythe, son of Lord Strangford, is now an- nounced as the Conservative candidate for Canterbury ; Mr. Gipps having withdrawn.

The Kentish Gazette, a Tory paper, speaks in a confident tone of Mr. Smythe's success. He has been actively canvassing the electors. Mr. Henniker Wilson, the Liberal candidate, as also canvassing, but he began a day later than Mr. Smythe.

A meeting of the Reformers of Canterbury was held on Wednesday evening, at which Mr. Wilson explained his political views. He de- clared himself an advocate for an extension of the Suffrage, vote by Ballot, Triennial or Quadrennial Parliaments, and for a modification of the Poor-laws. He said he was determined to fight the battle to the last.

We hear that the health of Mr. Williams is now greatly renovated, and we sincerely trust he may long live in health and vigour to execute the functions reposed in him. This retirement, whenever it may take place, will be deeply regretted; but sure we are, that a Liberal candi- date, agreeable to the great majority of the electors, will be found to supply his place. Two honourable baronets have been named as pro- bable candidates in case of a vacancy ; but we have very good autho- rity for stating that neither of those gentlemen have been invited to stand. We feel much pleasure in announcing that W. A. Williams, Esq., one of the Members of this county, is convalescent. —Monmouth Merlin.

The Leicester Chronicle contradicts the rumour that Mr. Easthope has taken an office under the Government which will vacate his seat. There is stated to be "not the slightest foundation for this report."

It is understood that C. Bowyer Adderley, Esq., of Hams Hall, Warwickshire, will offer himself for North Staffordshire' in conjunc- tion with David Watts Russell, Esq., in the event of adissolution.— Staffordshire Advertiser.

The increase in the number of registered velers for the two divisions of the county of Worcester, at the recent Revision Court for the county, is 2,637; being the greatest number ever added to the constituency in one year.— Worcester Herald.

The annual dinner of the Wolverhampton Conservative Association took place on Monday, at the Star and Garter Hotel in that town. About three hundred gentlemen sat down to dinner ; amongst the more distinguished of whom were the Earl of Dartmouth, the Earl of Brad- ford, Mr. J. N. Gladstone, the Conservative candidate for Walsall, Mr. G. B. Thorneycroft, Mr. Hill, Mr. Wiodle. Mr. Gladstone, in return- ing thanks when his health was drunk, alluded in a tone of triumph to his election for Walsall ; which would, he said, drive another nail into the coffin of the present Administration. He boasted of having the support of the Wesleyan Methodists and other Dissenters.

The annual general meeting of the South Derbyshire Conservative Association was held on Monday, at Derby. The chair was taken by Mr. F. Hurt, M.P. A favourable report was made of the position of the Conservative party in that division of the county.

The following Members of Parliament and other leading Reformers have already announced their intention of being ,present at the great Reform demonstration in Leeds—Mr. O'Connell, Sir W. Molesworth, Honourable C. Langdale, Mr. Thomas Duncombe, Mr. Thomas Gis- borne, Mr. John O'Connell, Mr. J. A. Roebuck, -Mr. Joseph Hume, Mr. J. T. Leader, Colonel T. P. Thompson, Mr. Sharman Crawford, Dr. Bow ring, Mr. Henry Warburton, and Mr. Thomas Wakley.

The Chartists in South Wales have again occasioned alarm. Several meetings have been held in the neighbourhood of Merthyr Tydvil and Newport, to petition for the liberation of Frost and his associates : a large meeting was held at the former place on Christmas Day, and a meeting was called at Newport for New Year's Day. Great exertions were made to prevent the attendance of the avorkpeople at the last meeting : those who were out of work were paid money to leave the neighbourhood; more than one of the ironmasters roasted oxen, to feast their men at the time appointed for the meeting ; and the Magistrates issued a placard, cautioning the townsfolk to abstain from attending. About a thousand persons assembled, however, and listened to some violent harangues on the usual topics.

On Friday evening, a meeting of Chartists was held in the chapel they occuay at Middleton ; when a memorial to her Majesty was agreed Upon, praying for the liberation of the three Welsh insurgents, Frost, Williams, and Jones. The meeting was thinly attended, and with respect to numbers was a complete failure. On Saturday evening, a number of young men from Ashton-under-Lyne gave a kind of recita- tion of the trial of Robert Emmett. The charge of admission was three- pence each, for defraying the expenses of the reeiters. About two hundred persons gave their money, and the collectors retired well satisfied with their night's earnings.—Manchester Chronicle. The Bath Chartists made preparations on Monday for holding an out-door meeting at night, in favour of Frost and his fellow-convicts ; but in consequence of the prompt and vigorous proceedings of the Ma- gistrates, they were compelled to adjourn to one of their own-oeeting- houses. The speaking was confined to abuse of the "treacherous Whigs," and threats of determination to obtain the liberation of the "kidnapped patriots" and the People's Charter.

At Norwich, the Chartists paraded the city, about five hundred in number, many of them in mourning. On arriving at the market-place, the procession halted ; and speeches in favour of the liberation of the "martyr victims," Frost, Williams, &c. were made.

A church, called the New Jerusalem Chartist Church, has been opened at New Hall Street, Birmingham; to which Mr. O'Neil of Glasgow is appointed chaplain.

Mr. John Thorogood, the church-rate "martyr," has, since his liberation from prison, received money subscribed for him amount- ing to 900/.

Sarah Young, a widow, who has been confined in Monmouth Gaol for several months for a trifling demand for tithes, was on New-Year's Day liberated unconditionally. This was another "martyr" case. The widow appears to have been harshly dealt with ; as proceedings were taken against her in the Ecclesiastical Court, contrary to the spirit of Captain Pechell's Act for the recovery of small amounts for tithe, and the costs were by this means run up exorbitantly.

The Great North of England Railway was opened on Monday for the conveyance of coals and goods. By this means, the city of York and all towns on the line will be supplied with coal from the Durham coal-pits.

An accident occurred on the Midland Counties Railway, between Leicester and Derby, yesterday morning, by which an engineman and a stoker were killed. A luggage-train from Rugby was stopped on the line by the freezing of the engine-pipes, and was run against by the mail-train from London. The engine of the mail-train was thrown off the rails, and the engine-driver and stoker were both killed on the spot. It is stated that a signal of danger was fixed to the luggage-train; and the night was clear and bright at the time.

A fatal accident happened on the London and Brighton Railway, on Friday last. At Hayward's Heath, about twelve miles from Brighton, the railroad is carried, by means of a deep cutting, through a hill : this cutting is not yet completed ; but in order to expedite the work, a tem- porary tunnel has been formed through the hill, the upper part being secured by means of props of timber, and rails have been laid, on which a locomotive engine has for some time been working. On Friday after- noon, just as the engine was entering this tunnel, or temporary "head- ing," the chimney, which had not -been sufficiently lowered, touched a portion of rock which had been loosened by the thaw, and it felk The engine, with the tender, was thrown off the rails, and ran against one of the props of the heading. The consequence was, a displacing of a portion of the horizontal planks at the top, and the fall of a mass of earth on the engines ; by which the driver and stoker were killed on the spot A number of workmen hastened to the place, but the steam that was hissing with great force from the half-buried engine rendered their efforts of no avail, and one of the party was unfortunately suf- focated.

A correspondent of the Times relates, that as he was travelling from London to Liverpool on the night of the 30th, he was alarmed by a violent jerking of the carriage, which threw him against its ceiling with considerable force. The train stopped for a moment at Blisworth, and he called to a porter ; who found out what was the matter just as the train started again, but was unable to make the attendants hear, that they might stop it. The jerking motion resumed, and was conti- nued for fifteen miles, until they reached Weedon : it was then found that the break, a heavy instrument for stopping the train, lay across the rail, and had been dragged along in that most dangerous position. The carriagt was shattered to a degree that rendered it useless for further travelling.

The Honourable Captain Plunkett pleaded guilty at Lancaster Ses- sions to a violent assault on one of the monitors in Lancaster Castle, where he was confined for some " Waterford frolics." He had been in prison nine months, when the assault on the monitor occurred; which originated in some quarrel regarding prison discipline. After his re- lease from prison on the former charge, he was held to bail for this assault, and had in the mean time joined his regiment. He recently sat as a judge in a Court-martial. The Magistrates sentenced him to be imprisoned in Kirkdale House of Correction for two months.

A schoolmaster at Carlisle, named Flather, has been apprehended on a charge of defrauding Mr. Morris Davis, a Pole, who has a furrier's shop in that city, whilst acting as his amanuensis in a love-affair. Flather had been employed by Davis to teach him writing and ac- Counts; and as the Pole could not write English, he employed Flather • to write for him to a Miss Moore, to declare his tender passion. Two letters so sent were returned. At this the lover was for a time discon- solate ; but his spirits were shortly afterwards revived by receiving a letter purporting to come from the young lady, in which it was re- quested that the correspondence might be renewed. Mr. Flather's ser- vices were again put in requisition, not only to write to the lady but to read the answers that purported to come from her. These letters ex- pressed great affection, and also contained requests for sums of money: - Mr. Davis, being led to suppose that the lady's father disapproved of their intended marriage, did not go to her house, but kept up. this cor- respondence until he had sent the lady 87/. At length, he accideutally heard that Miss Moore, to whom he had sent a purse and a remittance the preceding week by Flather, had been for some time past in Liver- . pool. This induced him to make inquiries of her father ; which lea to " the apprehension of the agent in the supposed love-affair. The pri- soner had previously been considered a man of respectability: Davis, ' his dupe, had made preparations for their marriage, and had bought a quantity of furniture and clothes for the occasion.

A man named Robarts, who was on Saturday convicted at Hull Sessions of obtaining money under false poreteaces, is suspected of being concerned in the murder and robbery of Mr. Westwood., watchmaker, of Prince's Street, Soho. A woman with whom he lived, who calls her- , self Mary Carey, is suspected of some guilty knowledge of the murder , N- ef Eliza Grimwood, in the Waterloo Bridge Road : the ground

for this latter suspicion, however, does not appear. A number of watches, some plate and jewellery, were found in the possession of Robarts, and the police are prosecuting inquiries into the circumstances. During his residence at Hull, be passed himself off as a "barrister-at- law, and an agent of the Court of Chancery." Through a false account of an estate in Scotland recovered for a poor person at Beverley, the credulity of others entitled or fancying themselves entitled to property was excited, and on their visiting the great lawyer a few pounds were easily extorted from them. He was tried and convicted for one of these frauds, and sentenced to be transported for seven years. The woman with whom he lived had a sum of money at Jones Loyd and Co.'s. : about three months ago she preferred a charge of forgery against him, to the effect that he had drawn 150/. of her money from the bank by means of altering checks she had signed for 5/. each, to larger sums. This story is believed, but the woman failed to appear in support of it.

At the weekly meeting of the Board of Guardians, held at the Union Workhouse at Eton on Tuesday, an order was read by the clerk, which had been received from the Poor law Commissioners, authorizing the dismissal of John Howe, the Master, who had been convicted by the Magistrates in a penalty of 10/. on the previous Saturday for cruelly ill- treating a female pauper.

An investigation into the conduct of James Miles, Master of the Hoo Union, Kent, is now pending. He is charged with cruelty to the pauper children in the Workhouse.

A daring attack was made on the Earl of Dartmouth's carriage on Monday evening a little before ten o'clock, on the return of his Lordship from the Operative Conservative Association at Wolverhampton. As the carriage—which is a phaeton, with a barouche-box in front—was passing through the New Town, Bilston, his Lordship observed a knife through the side of the leather-head of the back seat, on which he was sitting; and instantly stopped the horses, and gave an alarm to the coachman and footman, who were sitting on the box. The rascal im- mediately got down, and ran up Engine Bank, leading to the factory of Mr. John Dean, japanner, followed by the noble Earl and his servants. Fortunately the gate, at the top were closed, and a capture was made by his Lordship, who was first in the chase. The prisoner was taken to the crib, kept by Fellows, the constable ; and on being examined, the check-straps for the back of the carriage were found in his possession ; and the knife with which it is supposed he committed the offence has since been found, having been thrown away by him in his flight. The prisoner turns out to be a young man of the name of Hammond, em- ployed as a moulder at the Pot-house Bridge Foundry, occupied by Mr. Wright, where his father, a very respectable man, is foreman.— Staffordshire Gazette.

A serious accident occurred to the Honourable Miss Petre, at Thorndon Hall, Essex, on Sunday night ; her muslin dress having caught fire by being blown against the flame of a candle she was car- rying. Lady Petre, with great presence of mind, rolled the young lady on the floor, and wrapped the hearth-rug round her ; which extin- guished the flames, but not until she was severely burnt.

John, only son of Mr. John Lambeth, was found dead upon Thornton Fell, near KendaL Deceased on Wednesday morning took his gun and dog to shoot upon Thornton Fell ; and the day coming on very rough, snow falling very fast, and the wind high, it is supposed that he had wandered upon the hills until he had become quite perplexed as to the road home, and had sat down through exhaustion and fallen asleep. He was found about four miles above Thornton on Thursday morning, near the sheep-folds, near New House, in Kingsdale.—Kendal Mercury.