1830.] [ 605 ] 



MONTHLY PROVINCIAL OCCURRENCES. 



DURHAM. An extraordinary carriage, which 

 travels at the rate of 12 miles an hour without horses 

 or steam, has been exhibited at Durham. 



No less than 90 vessels were laid on for coal car- 

 goes at Stockton between the 1st and 20th of 

 March. 



A ewe, the property of Mr. Joseph Barker, of 

 Bearpark Lodge, near Durham, on the 28th of 

 March yeaned the unusual number of 4 strong 

 lambs. 



The condition of the agricultural interest of the 

 county of Durham is at present most appalling. En- 

 tire districts of farmers and graziers are in a state of 

 ruin; bankruptcies, sales, ordistraints.are of almost 

 daily occurrence, spreading consternation and dis- 

 tress around. 



YORKSHIRE Several families, amounting to 

 between 50 and 60 persons, from the Yorkshire 

 Wolds, passed through this city, this morning, on 

 their route to embark for America York Courant, 

 April 20. 



The rage for emigration, especially in the district 

 within 20 or 30 miles of this town, seems to be on 

 the increase. We understand that not less than 15 

 ships have been laid on, in this port, to take out 

 passengers, principally to Quebec, and that the pro- 

 prietors of every one calculate on a full cargo. We 

 heard it asserted, the other day, by a gentleman on 

 whose knowledge of these matters we can rely, that 

 already 4,400 applications for a passage across the 

 Atlantic had been made in Hull. Some of the ap- 

 plicants, we believe, have gone to Liverpool. Hull 



The Leeds petition for Retrenchment and Parlia- 

 mentary Reform has been signed by 13. 850 signal 

 tures. 



A numerous Meeting was held, April 12, at Al- 

 mondbury Bank, for the purpose of taking into con- 

 sideration the propriety of forming a Political 

 Union, to correspond with that lately formed in 

 Birmingham, having for its object the Ideally ob- 

 taining a real Reform in the Commons' House of 

 Parliament. A declaration passed unanimously 

 (it described their sufferings, and is very distressing 

 even to peruse) and several resolutions were entered 

 into, and a plan for Reform, elicited by Mr. Wood* 

 was unanimously agreed to. 



The assizes terminated April 10, after three 

 weeks unremitting attention and hard labour on 

 the part of the judges, juries, and counsel, 46 

 prisoners were recorded for death; 23 transported, 

 and several imprisoned. One trial in the Nisi Prius 

 Court took up 77 hours time, and gave great dis- 

 satisfaction, as it was an importation from Lancas- 

 ter, in the midst of the assizes, for the accommoda- 

 tion of his high mightiness the attorney-general. 

 Leeds Intelligencer. 



There were no less than 1 64 prisoners tried in the 

 criminal court at the Yorkshire assizes. 



* " If they wanted Reform," said Mr. Wood, " in 

 his oninion they must not state any particular plan. 

 If they thought nothing less than Annual Parlia- 

 ments "and Universal Suffrage would do, they must 

 be content to go by themselves, as the majority of 

 the community would not go so far as that. He 

 contended that this county was not fully and fairly 

 represented, although it did semi 4 members to par- 

 liament, as 2 of them were what he might term 

 blanks, and the remaining 2 opposite blanks, and 

 they all knew that when 2 were taken from 2 there 

 remained nothing ! ! ! He would, therefore, advise 

 thorn to pass a resolution that they would support 

 a Union for an effectual Reform in Parliament, with- 

 out giving it any particular name." 



The phenomenon of the aurora borealis was ob- 

 served at York on the loth April. 



NORFOLK. A meeting has been held at Yar- 

 mouth in the New-hall, for the purpose of petition- 

 ing Parliament for a further Reduction of Taxation, 

 and a Retrenchment in the Public Expenditure, 

 when a petition was unanimously agreed to*. 



CAMBRIDGESHIRE. At Ely assizes 6 prison- 

 ers received sentence of death ; one of them was a 

 boy only TEN years of age! ! ! He was found guilty 

 of breaking into a dwelling-house f. 



The learned judge (Mr. Justice Storks), in his 

 charge to the grand jury, said he was happy to see 

 the amelioration of the criminal code proceeding 

 rapidly. We boasted of our ancestors, but when 

 the present race were mouldering in the dust poste- 

 rity would bless us for our labours and improve- 

 ments!!! It was exceedingly to be regretted that 

 crime was on the increase there were many causes 

 for this state of things education, unquestionably, 

 was a great blessing, but it was useless if not con- 

 nected with morality. The poor-box was formerly 

 approached with shame and reluctance; this feeling 

 was now completely altered, he feared never to be 

 restored ! ! ! All should endeavour to restore the 

 poor man to his former station in society ! ! ! 



At the Cambridge assizes, Mr. Hatfield, the pub- 

 lisher of the Huntingdon Gazette, was tried on a 

 criminal information for an alleged libel on Mr. G. 

 F. Maule, solicitor and town-clerk of Huntingdon. 

 Mr. Pryme made an able defence for Mr. Hatfield ; 

 and the jury, after retiring for a quarter -of an hour, 

 brought in a verdict of not guilty ; which was fol- 

 lowed by loud and long-continued cheering ! ! ! 



* The petition states " That as Merchants, Ship- 

 owners, Ship-builders, Fish-curers, and Tradesmen, 

 your Petitioners are labouring under heavy and un- 

 exampled difficulties, from which their best exer- 

 tions and greatest industry seem incapable of reliev- 

 ing them. The property of your petitioners is de- 

 teriorating with fearful rapidity, and bankruptcies, 

 insolvencies, and more private arrangements with 

 their debtors are sweeping away those very capitals 

 on which, as traders, they depend; whilst those of 

 your petitioners who are Seamen. Artisans, and Me- 

 chanics, in consequence of the great want of em- 

 ployment, are compelled to submit to privations and 

 expedients as distressing as they are humiliating. 

 Taxation in all its pervading influence, its harassing 

 enactments, its absorbing effects, and the means, it 

 affords of overwhelming patronage, accompanied by 

 the monopolies and restrictions which it encourages 

 and supports, your petitioners believe to be the 

 great cause of their distresses. Taxation is the price 

 which society pays for government, and that go- 

 vernment must be the best which preserves the so- 

 cial order, protects the common weal, and provides 

 for the equitable payment of the public creditor at 

 the least possible price. Your Petitioners therefore 

 humbly, but most decidedly and firmly pray, and 

 fully and confidently expect that your Honourable 

 House will forthwith reduce to its lowest practica- 

 ble expence every department of Government from 

 the highest to the lowest, "abolish all Monopolies 

 and Exclusive Privileges, and, as the intended 

 result, effect such a Reduction of Taxation as 

 shall be commensurate to the great need, the just 

 expectations, and the undoubted right of your peti- 

 tioners. 



t The boy was in tears during the trial, and it 

 was understood that he has been several times in 

 want of food and the common necessaries of life, 

 from the inattention of his family. The learned 

 judge stronely condemned the brutal and inhuman 

 treatment the boy had experienced from his father, 

 and said he should be happy to forward any com- 

 munication so as to place him out of the reach of 

 such an unnatural monster. At present the only 

 course was to record sentence of death, the boy 

 having committed a capital crime. 



