1830.] Worcestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, <$T. 



247 



I3th century. It will accommodate 1,250 persons 

 453 will be free sittings. 



WORCESTERSHIRE. Stoke Prior, where 

 the rocks of salt have recently been discovered, is 

 situated on the banks of the Worcester and Bir- 

 mingham Canal, near to Bromsgrove ; and it is 

 already ascertained, that the rocks will produce 

 upwards of 200,000 tons of salt per acre. Glou- 

 cester Journal, July 17. 



NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. At these assizes 

 four prisoners received sentence of death, and two 

 of transportation, and a few others were ordered 

 to be imprisoned. 



BERKS. There were 21 prisoners for trial at 

 these assizes, 10 of whom were recorded for death. 

 At the last audited account of the Reading Sa- 

 vings' Bank the sum amounted to .81,01 2. 19s. 2d. 



OXFORDSHIRE. Sir J. A. Park, in the 

 course of his charge to the Grand Jury at these 

 assizes, referred to the late prize-fights which bad 

 disturbed the county, not, indeed, by their having 

 taken place within its limits, but by the training 

 and other preparations that took place at Chip- 

 ping Norton and that neighbourhood, where great 

 neglect had been shewn on the part of the magis- 

 trates and peace officers. That for himself he 

 entertained the same opinions respecting the un- 

 lawfulness of prize-fighting which had been enter- 

 tained by the distinguished Judge Ashhurst, the 

 father of the present chairman of the county. 

 That learned judge declared, that in the event of 

 death occasioned by fighting, under such circum- 

 stances, he should consider it as Murder, and 

 that for himself, in all cases of indictment brought 

 before him, whether against the principals, or 

 their aiders and abettors, under whatever name, 

 of backers, seconds, bottleholders, &c., he should 

 take care that the law should be enforced to the 

 utmost extent of its severity 1!! Five prisoners 

 were recorded for death, and five transported, and 

 a very few imprisoned. 



WARWICKSHIRE. At a meeting of the Po- 

 litical Council of the town of Birmingham, held 

 July 13, T. Attwood, esq., in the chair, it was 

 resolved unanimously, " That, in the opinion of 

 this council, it is expedient in all cases wherein a 

 member of the present Parliament presents him- 

 self to his constituents for re-election, that a 

 strict account should be demanded from him on 

 the hustings, of what he has done for his country ? 

 He should be asked, upon bis honour as a gentle- 

 man, whether he does not believe that the state- 

 ment is correct which has been made in Parlia- 

 ment, purporting that 154 individuals return a 

 majority of the members of the House of Com- 

 mons ;* and if so, he should be required to explain 



* Picture of the last patriotic House of Com- 

 mons, by one of its own members." The mode 

 of conducting business ' within doors' is quite 

 worthy of the work when done. Night is turned 

 into day for many excellent reasons. First, be- 

 cause actual sleep, or the clamours of those who 

 want it, are sure to silence much opposition. 

 Second, the arguments (if listened to) are sure not 

 to be reported to the public after 12 o'clock, any 

 more than if they were delivered on a Wednesday, 

 when few members, and no reporters, will work 

 at all ; and why should they, when the slavery of 

 the other four days in every week is enough to 

 kill all but the strongest constitutions, which are 

 not always accompanied by the strongest heads. 

 The place, enter it when you will, looks more like 

 a coffee-house than a council-house, Every man 

 gossips with his.neighbour,and often (as the most 



why he ha* not supported the measures which are 

 necessary for correcting such a corrupt, odious, 

 and destructive state of the representation of the 

 people. He should be required to explain why he 

 has not brought forward or supported measures 

 in Parliament for reducing the taxes, and ex. 

 penses of the Government, and the rents of land, 

 and the burdens of industry generally, in the 

 same degree as they have been fraudulently and 

 destructively increased by the surreptitious 

 change which has been effected in the value of 

 money. He should also be required to explain 

 every vote that he has given against the interest 

 of the people ; and, above all things, he should be 

 required to explain why he has remained silent 

 find inactive while the reward of industry ha 

 been destroyed, while the cries of an impoverished 

 and oppressed people have resounded on every 

 side, and calamities the most afflicting, and dan- 

 gers the most appalling, have been accumulating 

 upon the nation, and threatening the foundations 

 of society." 



HANTS. At the Midsummer sessions, the 

 reports of the visiting justices of the several 

 county prisons were read, and proved highly satis.- 

 factory in every respect, with only one exception, 

 as to the County Bridewell, which appears to have 

 been for sometime in a very unhealthy state. In 

 consequence of some alteration in the quality of 

 the prisoners' diet, or from some other latent 

 cause (for the fact could not be positively ac- 

 counted for), the Scurvy had made its appearance 

 in the prison to a dangerous extent. No death 

 ensued in any instance, within the walls ; but one 

 individual survived his discharge but one day, and 

 two others were sent away in a distressing con- 

 dition. Immediate attention was paid to the 

 malady, and proper remedies and regimen resort- 

 ed to, with the most successful result. The prison 

 hospital contains at present but three inmates, 

 and every precaution has been taken to prevent a 

 return of the disease. The calamity has excited 

 the more attention, being the first instance of such 

 a visitation in this prison or county for upwards 

 of 30 years. As a proof of the generally healthy 

 state of the prison, we have authority to say, that 

 only 11 deaths have occurred there during the last 

 five years and a quarter, out of nearly 3,000 in- 

 dividuals who have been confined there during 

 that period, and of those 11, several died of dis- 

 eases with which they were afflicted when sent 

 there. The highest testimonials were adduced as 

 to the healthy state of the prison, and the good 

 conduct of its superintendants. 



Upon hearing the treasurer's report as to the 

 finances, a county rate was ordered of one penny 

 in the pound. 



In accordance with the feelings of the public, 

 the Admiralty have abandoned the intention of 



eloquent man in the house recently complained) 

 louder than the person addressing it, while those 

 whose duty it is to preserve order, neither enforce 

 it by precept or example, being probably aware 

 how much more their personal convenience and 

 speedy emancipation is consulted by the. habitual 

 breach of decorum, than by the rigid observance 

 of it. Besides, how could yon induce your ' men 

 of straw,' and ' your things of silk,' to remain 

 and vote, if you deny them the right common to 

 all the rest of the brute creation, of expressing 

 their impatience under restraint? In brief, it is 

 a place where the little good that can be effected 

 is not adequate to the toil ; where the triumphs of 

 truth and justice bear no proportion to their dis- 

 comfiture, and where a minister, if unhappily so 

 disposed, might be as arbitrary as he pleased ; 

 for whatever the Government may be, the House 

 is ten times worse 1!!" E. D. DAVENPORT. 



