tht alttrufulis.

Mr. Edward Leigh Pemberton, Solicitor to the Board of Inland Re- venue, gave evidence before the City Commission respecting the claim of the Corporation to the bed and shores of the Thames. He said that in 1837 the Solicitor to the Admiralty called his attention to the Greenwich Pier Act, passed in 1836, containing a clause, inserted without the know- ledge of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, or the consent of the Treasury or the Admiralty, (Erecting the payment of a fine to the Cor- poration of London for the liberty of digging foundations in the shore and bed of the river at Greenwich. After consultations, a clause was intro- duced into the Greenwich Pier Extension Act, then before Parliament, repealing the clause of the year before, and saving the rights of the Crown in respect to property in the soil, and of the Corporation in respect of their office of conservators of the river. That led Mr. Pemberton .to look into the matter ; and having obtained from the City Solicitor copies of a ']icence granted to Mr. Cubitt to embank the Thames in the Isle of Dogs, and other evidence of acts of ownership, he submitted them to the Law- officers of the Crown ; and under their advice an information was filed by the Attorney-General, in the Court of Chancery, in 1844, against the Corporation, Mr. Cubitt, and others, declaring that the Crown was seised of the bed and shores of the river,, that the Corporation, as conservators, had lately assumed to exercise acts of ownership over the ground and soil of the bed and shores of the river ; requiring the Corporation to set forth under what charter, letters-patent, or other grant, it claimed to be entitled to the son; and praying the Court to ascertain and declare the rights of the Crown and Corporation respectively. To this information the Corporation put in a demurrer, but the Master of the Rolls overruled it : an appeal was made to the House of Lords and the judgment of the lower Court was confirmed. Subsequently, the Corporation put in four answers, deemed insufficient; but the last made it expedient to amend the information. An order was obtained to amend; the Corporation moved to discharge the order, but the motion was refused. The City rests its claim on immemorial possession. As yet the Corporation has put in no evidence at all. The analysis of the documentary evidence in sup- port of the Crown extends to 420 brief sheets. "It is impossible for any one to say" when the cause will be decided. At present the Corporation go on granting licences ; but in fact the right is in abeyance.

Mr. William Edmund Hickson completed his evidence, by a statement of the remedial measures he would apply to the City. The first practical measure should be the application of the 14th clause of the Municipal Reform Act to the City. This would abolish all existing charters, stop a great amount of litigation, meet the case of the fellowship porters, watermen, town carmen, meters, and others, end deprive the City of the consersapipsif the Thames. Next, he would amalgamate the City with

the ETA • he would abolish the coal-tax; he would give th ,fioard of Guardians to the Municipal Council ; ed "the system of voting suggested by Mr. South Australia, which recognizes to a due "ty to a share in the representation."

seed a letter to the Times upon the evidence City Commission, chiefly to show that the 4ess efficient, while it is more independent of Go- ettopolitan Stipendiaries; and. to answer at the same b4óJaJeçaee, that the present members of the Corporatiemare of moderate commercial standing and greatly inferior to those of feriae, days, drawn from the statement of three Directors of the Bank of England thst the "higher clam of merchants" decline corporate office. proof that the eaciency of the Alder men is equal to that of the Stipendiar* men like Baring, Hutt, or some other of the very few remaining merchant. The roll of Aldermen for the last fifty years will show that, in point of comparison with those of former days. If by the term merchant' is meant he puts in a tab's of commitments aud their results, which he considerara. rupt Directors for every bankrupt Alderman during the last twenty years wealth and commercial standing, the Court of the present day need not fear vourable to his hiethren. His reply to the Bank Directors is a " tu quoque establishment for every banksupt Lord Mayor they can quote, and two bank. "I am pestered," he writes," to name two bankrupt Governors of that princes of former days, then there have not been ten 'merchants' in the Corporation for the last hundred years. Then, as now, they were, or becaee bankers, wholesale dealers, exporters and importers, brokers, professional men, manufacturers, and traders, who, having made their fortunes, had both time and inclination for public business ; and I take leave to say, advisedly, that an examination of the present list of Aldermen and Common Council show as large an amount of wealth and commercial importance as at any period during the last half-century." Formerly, the "merchant" resided in the Citr, but it is not so now. His existence is almost unknown except to the taxgatherir. "Mr. Hubbard has never resided in the City.' Mr. Thomson Mulkey qua rooms in the City, where he occasionally sleeps.' Mr. W. Cotton 'has had a counting-house in the City.' " Having referred to "the caletdar of prison. between January and October last, I find that of the prisoners committed for trial at the Central Criminal Court by Mr. Cotton, as an Essex Magistrate, the very unusual proportion of more than 40 per cent was acquitted. If the Aldermen of London discharged their duties after this fashion, I should readily admit the necessity of a remedy." Sir Peter tells an anecdote to show that the Stipendiary Magistrates are not independent. Some years ago a Member of Parliament was fined by a Stipendiary Magistrate for riding furiously in Rotten Row ; the Member went straight to the Home Secretary, and the Magistrate was ordered to return the fine. "Now, if such an order had been sent to any City Magistrate, I feel confident that it would have been read in the House of Commons the same evening, and the Secretary of State called upon for his answer."

At a meeting of the Court of Aldermen, on Tuesday, a letter was read from Lord Palmerston enclosing "the copy of a complaint of mounted Policemen riding at a mob with naked swords." The complaint was anonymous, and was signed "Observer." The official reply forwarded to Lord Palmerston was also read. It stated, on the authority of the Superintendent of Police, that on the last Lord Mayor's Day, mounted Policemen were employed, and that it was customary for the mounted Police to ride with drawn swords when clearing the way, and for the foot Police to carry their truncheons. There was no violence, and the people fell back in 'a ready and most good-humoured manner."

At the same meeting, the Lord Mayor took the somewhat unusual course of refusing to sign an item in the accounts. It was an entry in the book of "3581. 4s. to Mr. Morland, engineer, for fitting up a tread- mill in the new prison." The Lord Mayor said he knew nothing of such an item, and he thought the Court ought to sanction it before he signed it. Mr. Alderman Wire said, it was usual when two Aldermen had vouched for the accounts that the Lord Mayor should sign them. To this the Lord Mayor retorted, that he did not intend to do anything as a "matter of course" during his tenure of office. He further said, that the Gaol Committee had agreed to the removal of the tread-mill, but that did not of necessity imply its reerection. Mr. Alderman Wilson and Mr. Alderman Humphery showed that the Lord Mayor had been present when it was agreed to remove the tread-mill, and that as Alderman Sidney he voted with the minority. The Lord Mayor said, he would never privately sanction an expense which he thought hurtful to morality. On the mo- tion of Mr. Alderman Wire, it was resolved that items allowed by two Aldermen in the bill-book be paid. This secured the cash without the Lord Mayor's signature. Sir Peter Laurie counted out the Court on a motion for referring the report of the Police Sub-Committee on the remuneration of the force.

The Court of Common Council met on Thursday ; and the sitting was characterized by another squabble arising out of the evidence given be- fore the Royal Commission. The Freedom Committee presented a report, recommending the repeal of the act prohibiting the employment of non- freemen; but, exceeding their instructicais, they added a paragraph re- commending the repeal of another act prohibiting non-freemen from trad- ing in the City. For this they were censured. In the course of a speech on the subject, Mr. H. L Taylor charged witnesses before the Commis- sion with descending to gross and deliberate falsehood. Mr. Elliott asked whether his evidence was meant ? Mr. Taylor replied, that he did not know his friend Elliott was in the Court, and that he had not him in his thought. This did not satisfy Mr. Filiott ; but the Court seemed to think he ought to be satisfied. Then Mr. Bennet& observed that Mr. Taylor looked at him—was he included in the accusation ? a question put amid laughter and confusion, and recommendations to Mr. Taylor not to answer. The Lord Mayor thought the question ought to be answered. Mr. Taylor only said that what he had stated he could prove. The scene ended by a vote that only the first paragraph of the report should be received.

A deputation from the Irish Church Missions Society, headed by Mr. Kinnaird M.P.., waited on Lord Palmerston on Wednesday, to present a memorial praying for an inquiry into the case of William Smith, the dis- tributor of Protestant handbills in Dublin. The Reverend Mr. Bicker- steth stated the facts of the case as set forth in the memorial, and already familiar to our readers. In a conversation that ensued, Viscount Lifford, one of the deputation, said that as a magistrate he knew that offensive placards were often circulated in England, respecting church-rates, Social- ist meetings, and the like. Mr Kinnaird observed that the act of Smith was similar to what happens every day in London streets.

Viscount Lifford—" You never can tell what is put into your hands until afterwards."

Viscount Palmerston—" Yes, but in London the handbills offer you cheap goods, instead of a creed." Mr. Kianaird—" But the principle brought forward by Lord Lifford, as to the church-rate, is perfectly analogous."

Viscount Palmerston—" Yes."

Reverend R. Biokersteth—"I should mention also, that the Roman Ca- tholics are in the habit of doing the same thing in Dubrin, and Protestants make no complaint" viscount Palmerston—"I think it is absurd to say that a man distributing things of that sort is committing or likely to commit a breach of the peace. The breachof the peace is committed by those who may be made angry by it, and who keep their temper." Viscount Lifford—" Without driving things to extremity, it would be a wog thing to have such an expresaion of opinion as would deter magistrates taking such an arbitrary line as we are deterred from taking in Eng- land: I think it would be a great thing to have something of that sort, to give security to the Protestants." At the tenclusion iof the interview, Lord Palmerston was understood to say that he would inquire into the matter. A deputation from the parish of St. Mary Lambeth, introduced by the Borough Members Mr. Williams and Mr. Wilkinson, waited on Lord Pal- merston on Wednesday, to call his attention to the defective drainage of the pariah, and. to pray that the ratepayers might be represented in the Sewers Commission. The report in the daily papers states that Lord Palmerston said he would introduce the representative system.

At a meeting of the Society fur the Amendment of the Law, on Mon- day, the following resolutions were carried, but by no great majority, on the motion of Mr. Frederick Hill.

"1. That in the aame way as, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, the law, at the termination of a tenancy, gives a landlord a claim on his tenant for any diminution in the value of the farm caused by the tenant's neglect or bad husbandry, so it is just that, in the absence of any special agreement, the tenant should have a legal claim on his landlord for any increase in the value of the farm as a farm, caused by the tenant's in- dustry, skill, or expenditure of capital. "2. That for the purpose of ascertaining and adjusting claims by land- lords and tenants so arising, (in cases where the parties themselves cannot agree,) it is expedient that a special tribunal should be appointed, with general powers to make such decision in each case as, on a review of all the circumstances, it may deem equitable.

"3. That to the same tribunal power should be given to assess and deter- mine the value of all existing claims to tenant-right founded not en written agreements but on custom. 4. That, after a certain fixed period, no claim to tenant-right, unless previously adjusted and settled by written agreement,. or assessed and de- termined by the special tribunal, or unless arising under the provisions of the act suggested in the first resolution, ought to be recognized as valid.

"5. That when the period referred to shall have passed, and the special tribunal shall have been a sufficient time in action for its decisiona to afford data on which to form rides for determining, in all ordinary cases, the fair claim of a landlord or tenant, its jurisdiction may probably be advantageously transferred to the ordinary courts of law.

"6. That every person possessing a limited interest in land ought to be enabled to enter into covenants, binding on his successors, to secure to his tenants compensation for improvements, provided that, within a certain time after the date of the agreement, such covenants receive the sanction of the special tribunal, or (after the dissolution of that tribunal) of one of the ordi- nary law courts, as being calculated to promote the permanent benefit of the estate.

"7. That landlords, tenants, and the public at large, would all be benefited by the fair adjustment of the claims in question, and by the provision of adequate means for their enforcement ; the landlord, by being enabled to give real effect to the claim which the law gives him in case of dilapidationa or negligent culture, and by the increased value of his land which would follow from its occupation being placed on such a footing as would probably induce a larger number of men of a superior class to become farmers—men of skill, energy, and capital—such as are to be found in considerable numbers in every branch of manufacture and commerce ; the tenant., by having secured to him the fruits of his awn exertions and expenditure ; and the public at large, by the greater productiveness of the land, and the consequent cheapen- ing of food."

At the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society, on Monday,—Pre- sident Lord Reese in the chair,—the Copley medal was placed in the hands of Colonel Sabine to be forwarded to Professor Dove of Berlin, for his essay on "the Distribution of Heat over the surface of the earth" ; and one of the Royal medals was awarded to Mr. Charles Darwin, for his works on natural history. Lord Bosse was reelected President for the ensuing year ; and in the evening the Society dined at the Freemasons' Tavern.

Baron Marochetti's statue of Richard Cosur de Lion is about to be erected in Palace Yard, Westminster.

The annual Christmas show in Baker Street, of fat cattle, sheep, and Pigs, has taken place this week. The reporters renew their annual re- mark, that there is a great improvement in the exhibition of better sym- metry and in the decline of over-fed boasts; no prize being given this year to specimens of mere fattening. There is one tall and big ox, the property of Sir Harry Verney, and one big pig, a "Berkshire hog" of vast dimensions. On the whole, the show has been good, but not striking. In Devons, Lord Leicester carries off the first-class prize ; in Herefords, Lord Radnor ; in short-horns, Mr. Richard Stratton ; the Duke of Rich- mond wins three prizes out five for short-woolled sheep ;. Mr. G. S. Fol- jambe of Worksop, winning the chief prizes for long-woolledaheep. In pigs, Mr. John Coate, of Hammon, carries away the first-class prize from Prince Albert ; the Prince getting the second first, and the first of the second class for the same animals. A splendid show of " roots " from , Dublin is noticed • and plenty of agricultural implements. The attend- I ance has been unusually full and distinguished.

The customary dinner of the Club took place on Wednesday ; the Duke of Richmond in the chair. The Chairman, Lord Berners, Lord Portman, and Mr. Philip Pusey, made' speeches, on topics purely and technically agricultural:

On an application of.theolleitor-General, the Master of the Rolls has or- dered Mr. George Hudson to pay into Court the sum of 54,5901., which is alleged to be due to the York and North Midland Railway Company : 20,0001. to be paid in by the first day of Hilary term, and the remainder by the first day of Easter term.

An action for damages arising out of the seduction of a wife, tried in the Court of Queen's Bench, was remarkable for the cool conduct imputed to the defendant in the evidence. The parties were Mr. Beare, a journeyman tailor, the aggrieved husband, and Mr. Raise, "a professor of medical electricity and 2,Irs ilea re and husband us pt house for ; and, in consequence of reports on his wife's behaviour, Lre departed, taking his

. r her

wife. But shortly afterwards the wife disappeared, and was discovered A. long investigation has been held by Coroner Wakle 3, respecting the living with Rake at Hornsey. Beare, taking a witness, watched the house; death of Thomas Walsh, an infant two months old. The parents were and having satisfied himself that his wife was there, he ran" the bell. She came out and acknowledged that she lived with Heise. There was a good deal of noise at the gate. Halm came out, and said, "If I have your wife don't kick up a row ; if I have your wife, you have your remedy ; if she is your wife, do not make any disturbance here—you have your remedy at law." The evidence at the trial was slight, but the witnesses were respect- able ; and the Jury gave 251. damages.

The trial of Smith versus the Australian Royal Mail Company was con- cluded on Saturday, and the parties were allowed to settle the other actions by agreement. The case for the plaintiff Smith was further made out by the journal of one of the second-class passengers, a German, fully corrobo- rating the oral evidence. On the part of the Company, Mr. James Simpson Hutton, the captain of the ship, swore to the sufficiency of the aecommoda- ten and food for the passengers. Complaints were made about the food after they had got some way out. The pork was said to be under-cooked : he looked at it, and gave directions that it should not occur again. A cask of pork was complained of: he substituted another for it. As to the bis- cuits, a large,quantity was rebaked ; "we used them because the passengers were fond of them" : the first time he heard of bad biscuits was in that court. He had seen that the water-closets were cleaned. The sleeping- apartments were holystoned once a week by the direction of the surgeon. The tea and coffee were good ; the soup was good ; there were no complaints of the tripe. Mr. John Alger, purser, made similar statements. " Nothing fell short before our arrival at the Cape, except milk, sugar, mustard, an cheese." "No greater inconvenience was experienced than is usual in such a voyage." Mr. Honeywood, the Burgeon, deposed to this healthiness of the second-class passengers. They enjoyed "perfect health" ; they were "un- usually healthy." Mr. Gilmour, surveyor tinder the Passengers Act, and Captain Reeves, surveyor to the Emigration Commissioners, deposed that the passengers had more than double the space required by the Passengers Act, and that the accommodation was the usual accommodation. The Lord Chief Justice directed the attention of the Jury to the points at issue. The first issue was, whether the contract was made, in substance, to provide a proper second-class berth, and provisions according to a scale exhibited, and with proper cuddy arrangement : he thought, in substance, the contract was made. Then, had there been a breach of the contract ? and that considera- tion divided itself into several points. The plaintiff said he was not provided with a proper second-clam cabin and berth, nor with proper requisites; that the defendants did not supply proper nor sufficient provisions ; and that the cabin was kept in a filthy and improper condition. The Jury found for the plaintiff; damages 70/. Some discussion then ensued between the Court and the counsel about amalgamating the other actions; and ultimately it was agreed, at the sug- gestion of the Lord Chief Justice, that a verdict should be taken in all the cases with 50/. damages in each, except in the eases of the two married couples, in which the damages should be 70/. each.

For some time past the gullible portion of the public have been invited by circulars and advertisements to take shares in the "Leman Estate Fund," whereby they would make a most extraordinary good investment—if they got what was promised them. The Home Office thought that there was roguery in the business : Sergeant Wycher of the Detectives and other per- sons were set to work ; summonses were obtained against the "trustees," ' and on Saturday last some of them appeared before the Bow Street Magis- trate. Those present were Thome William Parkes, formerly a solicitor ; Robert Waters, the " secretary " ; William Richardson, mineral surveyor ; Thomas Bond Loader ; and John Nicholles. Two others did not appear : James Williams is in Whitecross Street Prison, for debt; Captain Archibald Douglas is abroad, and he had advertised his withdrawal from the trustee- ship. The legal offence charged was that of " charnperty and maintenance" —the bargaining with the plaintiff or defendant in a cause before the courts to get possession of and to share the money or property in dispute.

Sarah Morgan, housekeeper to Mr. Selle, a grocer in High Street, While- chapel, and Louisa Foote, her niece, have been committed for trial for a wholesale plunder of the shop. They were detected by a shopman, who had concealed himself at night, and who saw them enter by removing part of a wainscot, and then they loaded themselves' with all sorts of geoeeries. From the statement of Mr. Bodkin, who appeared for the Crown, and frora the evidence adduced, it appears that the accused had handsome offices in Bridge Street, Westminster. They advertised that there were great estates and 500,000/. in money in the hands of the Accountant-General coming to "Sir Edward Leman," a poor man living at Nottingham. In consideration of the company finding funds to obtain the Leman estate, Sir Edward agreed to divide with the shareholders whatever was obtained by course of law. The "trustees" held out that a person purchasing a ten-shilling share would receive 15/. when the estate was finally divided. It seems probable that a large amount of money has been paid to the "trustees" on the strength of this vague promise, supported by equally valueless papers and statements. In the prospectuses high-sounding addresses were attached to the names of the officers • but Sergeant Wycher could not find the gentlemen at those places, though he traced them to humbler domiciles. When a law-writer was sent to make inquiries, Waters told hint the 500,000/. had accumulated in the case of " Cassamajor and Strode." Waters said there would be a first "distribution" at Christmas ; he told another person it would be in February. Nicholles told Wycher that shares had been sold "to the amount of some thousands of pounds." When asked who was the banker to the scheme, Nicholles replied, "Oh, that is private." Loader said the account had been at the British Bank ; he had quarrelled with the other trustees, and he " didn't know now" where it was kept. Parkes was spoken of as the "manager" of the scheme; he hired the offices ready furnished. Evi- dence was produced to show that the Leman estate case was finally adjudi- cated in the Court of Chancery in 1810, when the cause of " Cassamajor and Strode" was settled. There was then 400,0001. or 500,000/. to divide ; it was divided into six portions, three of which had not yet been paid, because they were trusts for children not yet performed. All the parties have re- ceived the dividends; there is no money accumulating; the decree of 1810 has never been disputed. Mr. Parry, who appeared for the accused, said he would reserve the de- fence. The defendants did not believe they had acted illegally, but if it turned out so they were ready to abandon the scheme at once. The claims they had set up were not fabulous. As to the offence of " champerty," great estates had been constantly recovered by it—there was scarcely an attorney who had not committed it. Mr. Henry held the defendants to bail to appear at the Central Criminal Court, themselves in 80/. each, and two sureties of 401. All produced suffi- cient sureties except Waters.

Mr. Bodkin withdrew the charge against Douglas for the present.

More evidence has been produced against Lewis Myers, who offered for sale some of the plunder obtained by the burglary at Leighton Buzzard : additional articles have been traced to him, either found at his house or pawned by him. He has been again remanded. inmates of Marylebone Workhouse in the early part of the year ; they left it at their own request. Walsh is a marble-polisher ; but he is paralyzed, and cannot follow his trade, so that he has latterly had a hard struggle for an existence of the lowest kind. His wife appears almost imbecile. She was confined on the 26th September. The Welshes were then in great distress ; they received out-door relief, but quite inadequate for their support. After- wards they became houseless. They applied to be admitted into the Work- house ; but were not, though the out-door relief was continued. One night they were on the Workhouse-steps for hours ; but the porter did not admit them, or inform the master that they were there. On another occasion, they walked the streets nearly all night. At five o'clock in the evening of the 22d November, the infant died in the mother's arms, in the street, near St. Giles's Church. She had covered it up as warmly as she could with ragged garments, and hugged it close to her body to shield it further from the wea- ther—indeed, she seems to have been fatally over-careful of the child. Mr. Joseph, a surgeon, had seen the child some days before ; it was then plump and healthy: from a post-mortem examination, be thought that death had been caused by congestion of the lungs from breathing impure air ; he pre- sumed the poor mother had caused this suffocation in endeavpuring to keep the child warm while wandering in the streets. Of course, if the parents had been in the Workhouse the infant would not have been exposed to this fate. The Coroner remarked, that this was an important case ; for if the Poor-law were carried out generally as it had been in this instance, it would be a curse rather than a blessing to the poor, as no man could know his fate if he became utterly destitute : the Poor-law Commissioners had decided that even a casual pauper who is houseless is entitled to admission ; in this case the Welshes had a settlement, and had actually been in the house six months before. The Jury found this verdict—" That James Walsh died on the 22d day of November 1853, from congestion and inflammation, caused by cold and exposure to the night-air ; and the Jury are unanimously of opinion that great culpability attaches to Messrs. Poland and Russell, Directors of the Poor, and to Mr. Messer, Assistant-Overseer, for not admitting the child and parents into the Workhouse when application had been made by the parents of the deceased, stating that they were utterly destitute."

There was an extensive fire in Upper Thames Street on Saturday night. A pile of warehouses, between eighty and ninety feet high and fifty feet square, containing seven floors, was occupied by Messrs. Price and Gosnell, perfumers, Messrs. Selby and Johns, iron and brass tube manufacturers, and Messrs. Saunders, paper-box makers. Nearly the whole of the floors were burnt out, and some adjacent buildings were damaged. While the fire VMS raging, a very thick fog prevailed, so that the glare was imperceptible at a short distance ; and when the floating-engine was ordered from the moor- ings at Blackfriars Bridge, the crew had much difficulty in discovering the precise locality. The cause of the fire is not distinctly known, but it is sur- mised to have been the overheating of a stove.