120 



Provincial Occurrences : Dorsetshire, Kent, fyc. 



[JAN. 



DORSETSHIRE. The inhabitants 

 of the island of Portland have returned 

 thanks to his Majesty for his donation 

 of 25. per annum, granted from his 

 private purse, towards supporting a 

 surgeon on the island so long as he re- 

 sides there, and the Dispensary remains 

 on its present footing. 



KENT Three convicts tried by the 

 Commission, have suffered the last pe- 

 nalty of the law at Maidstone for burn- 

 ing agricultural property. 



SUSSEX. Several prisoners have 

 been convicted at the winter assizes, 

 held at Lewes, for setting fire to barns, 

 ricks, &c. One miserable object con- 

 fessed having set fire to five different 

 places out of eight that happened near 

 Battle. 



SURREY. A meeting has been held 

 at Croydon of the freeholders of the 

 county, when resolutions were unani- 

 mously voted for a reform of Parliament, 

 and for the disfranchisement of the four 

 rotten boroughs of Haselmere, Reigate, 

 Gatton, and Bletchingley, and for trans- 

 ferring the elective franchise to eight of 

 the most largely populated and unre- 

 presented towns and hundreds in the 

 county, also for a reduction of taxation. 



CHESHIRE. The Spinners work- 

 ing in the 52 mills at Ashton-under- 

 Line all left their employment on Sa- 

 turday, and the mills are at a stand. The 

 men who have thus turned out for ad- 

 vance of wages, with the women, chil- 

 dren, and others dependent upon them, 

 amount to about 20,000 persons. The 

 distress in which the district will be 

 plunged by this event will consequently 

 be exceedingly severe, particularly at 

 this inclement season. Macclesjield 'Cou- 

 rier, Dec. 18. 



The Stockport paper says, " The men 

 parade every day with music and flags ; 

 and there is no doubt that many hun- 

 dreds of fire-arms and other weapons are 

 in their possession, as they are occasion- 

 ally partially displayed. Some of 

 the flags are tri-coloured, and bear the 

 following inscriptions: 'He that lead- 

 eth into captivity shall be led into cap- 

 tivity.' ' He that killeth b}' the sword 

 shall also be killed by the sword.' ' A 

 living for our labour, or no labour at all.' 

 ' The labour of a nation is the wealth 

 of a nation.' 4 Free Trade.' ' Liberty 

 or the Sword,' &c. &c." 



WALES Dec. 13 A meeting of 



the county of Montgomery, the High 

 Sheriff in the chair, was held at Welsh 

 Pool, when several resolutions were en- 

 tered into for Reform in the Parliamen- 

 tary Representation, for Rigid Economy 

 in Public Expenditure, and for Abolition 

 of Improper Pensions, and Useless 



Places. ' It is only by the adoption of 

 such measures," says one of the resolu- 

 tions, u that the loyalty of the people 

 can be retained, the durability of the 

 constitution ensured, and the peace 

 and happiness of the kingdom pre- 

 served." Petitions to Parliament were 

 passed ; that to House of Lords to be 

 presented by Lord Chancellor, and that 

 to House of Commons by Chancellor of 

 Exchequer. Shrewsbury Chronicle. 



SCOTLAND. The inhabits of Edin- 

 burgh have unanimously voted, in an 

 assembly held recently in the Assembly 

 Rooms, petitions to Parliament for Le- 

 gislative Reform, " praying for such an 

 extension as may include a fair propor- 

 tion of the Property and Intelligence of 

 Scotland !" The Merchant Company 

 have also passed resolutions to the same 

 effect, as have also the inhabitants of 

 Leith while theTown Council of Edin- 

 burgh have voted the following resolu- 

 tions, carried by 21 voices against 10 

 " That while it appears to the Town 

 Council of Edinburgh that the Constitu- 

 tion under which we live has been the 

 most perfect that any country has ever 

 been blessed with, yet there can be no 

 doubt that, from the length of its endur- 

 ance, abuses may have crept in, and al- 

 terations unsuitable to the present time 

 may have been made on it ; but as his 

 Majesty's Ministers have pledged them- 

 selves to amend and renovate such parts 

 of the Constitution and Representation 

 as may stand in need of it, Resolved, 

 that under such circumstances, and until 

 they are made acquainted with the de- 

 tails of the reform to be brought forward 

 in Parliament, it behoves the Town 

 Council to delay taking any further steps 

 on this difficult and important question." 



IRELAND. An extraordinary case 

 was lately brought before the Court of 

 King's Bench, Dublin. Counsel applied 

 on the part of a female, named Jane Dar- 

 ley, for the renewal of an order which 

 had been granted by the Court for her 

 discharge from the custody of the City 

 Marshal, in which prison she had been 

 confined for the extraordinary period of 

 thirty four years, for a debt of no more 

 than eleven pounds!!! Her creditor and 

 his attorney, and all parties interested 

 in the debt, had been dead for a consi- 

 derable period. The Court inquired why 

 its former order had not been acted on. 

 Counsel replied, that the Marshal had 

 refused to liberate her until she dis- 

 charged certain claims for fees and rents 

 he had on her. The Court said, if the 

 officer of the prison had a right to detain 

 her, they should not interfere. Counsel 

 agreed to receive a conditional order to 

 be served on the Marshal, who might 

 then shew cause. She has since been 

 liberated. Dublin Morning Register. 



