"The humble Petition of the undersigned (except the tenants of the clergyman) almost Freeholders, Yeomen, and Inhabitants all other considerable occupiers of land 92001 of Almondsbury, in the county of Gloucester, downofansiteto 2004 4 SHOWETH That your Petitioners humbly tax approach your Honourable House, to invoke objects for which this tax was originally instiproperty; and believing that the ite attention to a subject of deep eventual im tuted, viz.-religious instruction and the reportauce the present System of Tithes. lief of the poor-are not only not how pro"That your Petitioners conceive that the moted by it, but, on the contrary, injured; vast changes made in the numerical state of they consider that to enforce its payment is the population and agricultural produce, oppressive, unjust, and essentially opposed to since this impost was laid on, 1,000 years ago, that civil and religious render the wages and work of the clergyman is entitled under the Christian dispenliberty, to which every inordinately disproportionate, and that the decimation now exacted contributes in a great degree to the unparalleled distress which prerails in the agricultural districts.

with the foregoing sentiments be addressed,
Resolved, That petitions in acco
in accordance
by this Parish, to both Houses of Parliament,
praying them to repeal the tithe-laws.

"That the present mode of exaction is a fertile and detestable source of wrangling and 2dly. Resolved, That Mr. Thomas Lawlitigation, ruinously opposed to the hallowed rence and Mr. Phillip Debell Tuckett be apspirit and interests of religion, and deplorably pointed to prepare the petitions for signainjurious to the character and influence of its ture, in accordance with the foregoing ResoMinisters; and therefore an adequate pro-lution; and that they request Lord King to vision should be made from some less oppro present and support the petition to the House brious and oppressive source. House of Commons. of Lords, and Joseph Hume, Esq. that to the

"That the lands being now burdened with Church and Poor-rates, for the object of which tithes were originally appropriated, their uses are now nearly subverted; and, therefore, that this gross and growing evil should no longer be perpetuated.

"That your petitioners consider the time is fully come for rescinding Statutes extorted from superstition by Popish ecclesiastics, and earnestly implore your honourable House promptly to adopt such measures as may best remove the intolerable burden under which your petitioners, in cominon with others, have two long been groaning.'

this meeting be advertised once in The Far3rdly. Resolved, that the proceedings of mer's Journal, and once in each of the Bristol, Bath, and Gloucester Newspapers; and that of the same, on account of the Parish, as also the Parish Officers be directed to pay the cost that of the petitions.

"4thly. Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be presented to Mr. Thomas Lawrence, for bis able conduct in the Chair.

"(Signed, in and on behalf of the Meeting, by)

"THOMAS LAWRENCE."

ANOTHER!

In the parish of Iron-Acton, containing a population of 1,200, almost exclusivey agricultural, Christmas Eve was ushered in with the following unanimous expression of the parish opinion:

This petition positively expresses the feeling of the great body of agriculturists all over the kingdom; who are now experiencing that severe pressure on the land which cannot be borne much longer; and, therefore, they seem determined to throw the tithes overboard, to the very great dismay of the Reverends throughout the country, who (by the way) were, during the whole of the sanguinary war "At a numerous and highly respectable of the French Revolution, which entailed this Meeting of the inhabitants of the parish of "pressure," the loudest and bitterest sup-Iron-Acton, in the county of Gloucester, conporters of every outrage against the people,vened by the churchwardens, for the purpose albeit at the same time professing themselves of petitioning parliament relative to the subMinisters of Peace. "Verily, they shall have their reward."-Leeds Patriot.

ANOTHER!

Parish of Winterbourne, County of Gloucester.-At a General Vestry Meeting, held at the Workhouse, on the 22nd of December, 1830, called by the Churchwarden, by a notice read in the Parish Church, on Sunday, the 19th of December, to consider the propriety of petitioning Parlia ment to abolish or alter the tithe-laws, the following Resolutions were unanimously agreed to; Mr. Thomas Lawrence, Churchwarden, in the Chair; Present forty persons, comprising all the largest farmers of the parish, and

ject of Tithes, and held at the White Hart
Ian, on the 22d Dec., 1830, the following
resolutions were passed unanimously, and a
signed by every person present:-
petition, of which the following is a copy, was

Ist. It is the opinion of this Meeting that tithes are a direct and most oppressive tax on the community, and especially on the agricul tural interest, and the cause of much of the distress now so severely felt. It is also the opinion that the cause of religion, instead of being promoted, is thereby much injured, through the endless animosity inseparable from the collision of the interests of the Ministers and parishioners. We therefore agree that a petition, embodying these senti

ments, be prepared for presentation to both Houses of parliament,

"2d. That the following petition having been the agreed upon, George Gibbs, Alfred Tuckett, and Thomas Williams, are requested to give every facility for procuring signatures

efficiency of the church that receives them. Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray your Lordships to take the tithe-system into your serious consideration, with the hope, that as the poor are now otherwise provided for, and the clergy may be so by their respective congregations, your Lordships may, in your wis3d. That Lord King be requested to pre- dom, devise a method for its total abolition. sent the petition to the House of Lords, and And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will Joseph Hume, Esq., to the House of Com-ever pray"ostuma

to the same.

mons.

4th. That the proceedings of this Meeting, with a copy of the petition, be published in two of the Bristol papers, The Gloucester Journal and The Bath and Cheltenham Ga

zette.

"To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in

parliament assembled.

ANOTHER!!

Welshmen are not behind their English neighbours in sensitiveness to this biting evil. The annual value of the real property of land in the county of Glamorgan, in 1815, was 334,1027. The total annual charge of Highway, County, Church, and Poor Rates, in 1827, was 49,8104.; or Three Shillings in the Ponnd, exclusive of Tithe! The hundred of Cowbridge, in that county, contains a popnlation, by the last census, of 5,894 persons. Of this gross number, 619 families were employed in agriculture; 220 in trade, manufactures, and other handicraft. Can it be a matter of surprise that The Cambrian newspaper of Newyear's day thus reports a Public Meeting in this tax and tithe-ridden hundred ?→→→

"The humble petition of the undersigned inhabitants of the parish of Iron-Acton, in the county of Gloucester, agreed upon at a Meeting convened by the churchwardens, and held there on the 224 December, 1830, "SHOWETH-That reason convinces your petitioners, that to give a tenth of the produce of a parish, containing, perhaps, several square miles, to one man, though he have a family, and to leave but the remaining nine- "COWBRIDGE, Dec. 24, 1830-At a Meettenths for the support of all the rest of the ing of the Land-owners, Farmers, and Tithepopulation, though consisting of many thou- payers of the Hundred of Cowbridge, convened sands, is to make an unfair and unreasonable by public advertisement, held at the Mason's distribution of the fruits of the earth. That Arms this day, Mr. WILLIAM SPENCER in the your petitioners find, from undoubted history, Chair, the following Petition and Resolutions that such a distribution was not intended in were unanimously agreed to the first institution of tithes, but on the "To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual contrary, that they were given in this country and Temporal in Parliament assembled, to the clergy, in trust, for the support of the The humble Petition of the Land-owners, poor, and for the building and repairing Farmers, and Tithe payers of the Hundred places of worship, and on conditions, that they of Cowbridge, in the County of Glamorgan, should instruct the people in the Catholic "SHOWETH That your Petitiioners view, religion, perform masses, and say prayers for with deep concern, the unhappy and alarming the souls of the donors and their ancestors, state of the Country, and lament that, after and hospitably entertain strangers and tra- the continuance of peace for fifteen years, vellers; and that for the performance of these instead of that prosperity which should accomtrusts and conditions, they were allowed out pany it, every interest in the community is of the tithes a maintenance, food, and rai-suffering great distress; that your Petitioners ment, but were not allowed to marry, or to bequeath or accumulate private property Your petitioners also find, that in process of time another set of men gained possession of the tithes, who performed none of the trusts and conditions for the performance of which they were originally given, but who, on the contrary, married wives, begot children, accumulated private property, bequeathed it to whom they would, ceased to use hospitality, and left the poor destitute. In consequence of this, the poor have been, since that time, maintained by a tax levied for the purpose, on bouses and lands, the churches repaired by another tax, and new ones built by grants out: of the taxes, raised by the Government, to the great impoverishment of your petitioners and their fellow-countrymen. That experience has fully established your petitioners in the belief that tithes are injurious to agriculture, and prejudicial to the reputation, zeal, and

consider the enormous and unequal proportion of the wealth of the country engrossed by the Church Establishment to be the chief cause of such distress; and that while this burden oppresses most grievously the Agriculturist, it also seriously affects the Manufacturing inte rest;-that your Petitioners conscientiously believe, that the Tithe System is as prejudicial to the best interest of the Church of England, as a Christian Church, as to the temporal wellbeing of the community, as it tends to produce dissent, and promote uncharitable and unchristian feelings between the Ministers of Religion and the souls committed to their care.

"That, your Petitioners are utterly at a loss to comprehend why this burden should fall almost exclusively on them, when the many more wealthy interests of the country comparatively pay nothing towards the support of a Ministry for religions instruction, and from which they derive equal advantage.s

"That your petitioners are prepared to prove which gives an account of the close of

to your honourable House that, in conse

quence of the vast increase of capital and land engaged in tillage within the last forty years, the value of tithe property has increased appeared in a barouche, drawn by four hand in a fourfold degreee, while the employment some greys; the postillions were in dressess of capital in agricultural pursuits was never of crimson silk, with banners preceding more precarious and unproductive to the him. Mr. Hunt and Mr. Mitchell were in farmer than at the present time. the carriage. On their arrival in Stamforde street, Mr. Hunt then alighted, amidst the shouts of the crowd, and took his station at the dining-room window of his house."

"That a deputation do wait on the Member for the county, to request he will present and support the prayer of the petition in the House of Commons, composed of the following per-addressed to his assembled friends in Isling Sons:-Mr. John Spencer, Mr. Christopher Wilkins, Mr. Samuel Howells, Mr. W. Spencer, Mr. David Richards, and Mr. Richard Richards.

181

15TH JANUARY, 1831.

proceedings under the Special Commissions,
when so many of the poor working classes
were sentenced to be hanged and tran-
one gentleman, Mr.
sported. There was
Benett, of Wiltshire, one of the great in-
stigators of the Corn Laws, who had signalised
himself upon the occasion in question-a mau
who had screwed up the rents of his estate to
the highest possible pitch of elevation, and
the wages of the labourers to the lowest pos-
sible point of depression; and that man stood
upon these trials as the committing magis-
trate-as the Foreman of the Grand Jury,
before whom the bills were preferred. He
was a witness against the prisoners, and he
was a prosecutor himself in those very cases.
(Shame!)

of the rich. One of his first objects would be to Hunt, forthe purpose of escorting him through move for a repeal of that villauous Coru the town; they advised all rational people to Law, which was enacted solely for the purpose stay at home, and recommended all timid of impoverishing the poor to eurich the aris- people not to run the risk of being crushed to tocracy. It was one of the most atrocious death. It recommended all careful shoplaws that ever was inflicted upon any people keepers to close their shops to protect their by any Government, however tyrannical; he, property from Hunt's blackguards. It as-, therefore, should at once demand their total sumed that all decent people would stay at repl; and if he found any one to second home, and no persons of sense or character him in the House, they might rely upon his would join" Hunt's blackguards." Now if pushing the motion to a division. [A voice in they should catch the editor of The Standard, the crowd, "O'Connell will second you."] and be disposed to drag im along the kennel, He did not expect that any Englishman would they would show him some mercy for his (Mr. be found to support him. O'Connell, he did H.'s) sake. It would, perhaps, be said, that he hope, would second him; but he did not look was attacking the press, and that it was most for support elsewhere. He next called their imprudent in him to do so at present-be was attention to the conduct of the newspapers merely stating the attacks made by the press during the past week. They had been quite upon him. He then went over the principal Bute about the Preston election; not a word topics of which his speech at Islington was in them respecting the great struggle that composed (for which see former part of the was going on in the North, though the Pres-report), and went on to speak of the recent ton papers were publishing second and third editions. What was the London press afraid of? They could not, it would seem, take a single portion of the intelligence from any of the Preston papers; they must, forsooth, travel over to Leeds for the fat lie that Baines It was published there in his lying paper. called The Leeds Mercury-it would be equally well to call it the The Lying Mercury. From that source did the London journals take their intelligence; that was the way in which the people of England were humbugged; that was the way in which the worthy proprietor of The Observer thought proper to describe public proceedings. Yes; Mr. William Clement, as well of The Observer as of The Morning Chronicle, thought proper to adopt to prefer The Lying Mercury of Leeds to the respectable papers of Preston, though he would not raise his voice against the expenditure of eight or ten thousand pounds of the money of the poor to be spent in the city for the purpose of giving the king and the Duke of Welling. ten a gorge. These immaculate papers said there was at least one good that would result from his election for Preston. What did they DERBYSHIRE.-The distress which prethink that was? It was this-that as he was now a Member of Parliament, there would, it vails amongst the miners and weavers of this was to be hoped, be no more chalking of the mountainous and cold district is almost beyond walls. That was in one of Mr. Clement's description. We were present at a numerous papers; in the true spirit of trade, he wished and respectable Meeting of the inhabitants of him (Mr. Hunt) to advertise no more by the village of Bradwell, held on Wednesday means of the walls, but, instead, of paying last, for the purpose of considering the best him (Mr. C.) 304. a year for advertisements, means of administering relief to the suffering to pay him 601. "Ah! Billy Clement, you families in the neighbourhood, especially those are a trader, and you want me to pay you a who are in indigent circumstances, in conselarger annual sum for advertisments than Iquence of the very low rates of wages afforded do, and to leave off chalking the walls." They talked (he continued) of his chalking the walls why Warren chalked twice as much as he did. He then proceeded to censure paragraphs in The Age newspaper and in The Standard, upon the same subject, saying, that The Standard had expressed a hope that the people would not lose their time by form ing a procession that day in honour of Mr.

He concluded by thanking the sawyers for their attendance on the occasion. Thanks were voted to the men of Preston, and, after nine cheers for them and three for Mr. Hunt, the assemblage broke up at about a quarter to five.

THE

MISERY AND THE FIRES.

to those employed in the above trades, who it is well known, cannot, by the most diligent exertion, earn more than from three to four shillings per week! It is impossible to conceive the vast depth of misery which_exists. It ap peared from the statements of some of the speakers, that many of these poor sufferer had their children in bed when visited, whos bed-clothes had not a vestige of either linen o

flannel about them, but was composed of wrap- ! that he was mistaken for some other person, pers and old clothes-others had not a tittle of are!-Herald, 7th Jan.

FIRE OF A FARM.-On Monday night last, about half-past seven o'clock, the extensive barn, cow-hovels, outhouses, &c., forming one range of building, in the occupation of Mr. Mason, of Broad Holme, near Belper, on to be on fire in several different places. The the Matlock road, Derbyshire, was discovered alarm soon spread, and hundreds of individuals rushed to the spot, auxious to arrest the progress of the devouring element, if possible; such, however, was the fury of the flames, that although Mr. Strutt's engine, of Belper, was actively used and supplied with water, in addition to every other means, all efforts to save the baru and out-buildings proved abortive; and it is with pain we add, that five fine cows, in calves, the property of Mr. Mason, were burnt to death, without the chance of rescue. A bull, fastened up in the hovel, was more resolute and fortunate; he tore up the stake to which he was affixed, and ran out, bellowing most hideously, whilst the moaning sounds which proceeded from the cows were truly piteous. In addition to this heavy loss, the barn contained the produce of one stack of wheat, which was entirely consumed, together with the whole range of building. Seven or eight other stacks of wheat and oats shared a similar fate; and trifling indeed is the portion of farming stock saved. The wind fortunately blew the contrary way, or the dwelling-house must have fallen a sacrifice. A stack of oats, and two or three of hay, are all of this immense stock that may be considered saved. There is not the slightest doubt in the mind of any one, but that this diabolical act has been the work of some fiendish incendiary or incendiaries, as the buildings, as hefore stated, were on fire in several places at one and the same time.

as the mills of all the Ashtons are in fuli employ, and at the regular prices.

SUSSEX.-MORE INCENDIARISM.-It is lowing letter from Eastbourne:" Another with sincere regret that we publish the folfire has taken place in this parish. On Sunsituate close to the road leading to the seaday evening, between nine and ten o'clock, the stacks of Mr. J. Fielder, of Susans-farm, side, were discovered to be on fire; two of them, a tare and bean stack, were totally consumed, and another bean stack was much made by the inhabitants saved the fourth, a injured. Fortunately, the great exertions large barley stack. That this fire was not accidental, but the work of a diabolical incendiary, no one can for a moment doubt; and exists to justify the apprehension of any parup to the present hour, no sufficient suspicion ties. We are at a loss to conceive why Mr. Fielder should have been selected as a victim. Among all classes of the poor he is spoken well of for his humanity. It is within our own knowledge that he has recently given beef, &c., to many aged and infirm persons." Brighton Gazelle.

KENT.-Between twelve and one o'clock yesterday morning, the town of Greenwich and neighbourhood was thrown into alarm, in consequence of the Theatre, which is situate in London-street, having taken fire in the centre of the building, and the flames spreading with much fury. The policeman who discovered the fire instantly gave the alarm. The engine from Greenwich Hospital, and also the parish one, were shortly on the spot; but no water could be obtained for nearly an hour. A large party of marines from the dockyard at Deptford, upon the fire-bell tolling, hastened to the scene, and exerted themselves in assisting the police in keeping order, and rescuing a great number of horses, and removing many coaches and other property on the extensive premises of Messrs. Wheatley's adjoining, as also the property of the surrounding inhabitants. The flames shortly extended throughout the whole of the theatre, and enguphed the scenery, dresses, and every other description of property, in one common ruin. A plentiful supply of water having been obtained and several engines from town arriving, the adjoining premises were preserved from destruction, but the theatre was totally destroyed. There had been a performance ia the evening, and the house closed at a quarter to eleven. It has been ascertained that the fire originated in the ladies' dressing rooms, under the stage, but from what cause is not known. Mr. Savile Faucit, the lessee, is insured in the Phoenix for 6007.; and it will be remembered that the Ramsgate Theatre, of which he was also the proprietor, was destroyed by fire about

LANCASHIRE.-On Monday night last, as Mr. Thomas (Ashton, son of Mr. Samuel Ashton, of Gee-cross, near Ashton-under-Lynewhere the recent alarming turn-out of the cotton-spinners has taken place, was returning to the Apethorpe factory, he was shot at by some base assassin, and killed on the spot. The deadly weapon; was loaded with slugsone of which, it appears, pierced his heart, and the other went through the back bone. He was just returning from taking his tea, to the factory, and had to pass through a dark narrow lane, where the dreadful crime was committed. The report brought several people to the spot, and the unfortunate young man was conveyed back to his own house a corpse in ten minutes after he had left it. The sensations of the family, which is very numerous hereabouts, may be better felt than described. They are the largest spinners in this part of the country, and bear an excellent and honourable character. The deceased was only twenty-three years since. two years of age, and was beloved by all the On the morning of the fire Mr. Wheatley, working classes. No cause can possibly bejun., who is one of the Overseers of the Poor, assigned for this inhuman transaction, unless attended a meeting at the church, when be