Int 31Irtrupolis.
The Queen, accompaniedby Prince Albert, honoured the Corporation of London with her presence at an entertainment in the Guildhall, on Wed- nesday evening, to celebrate the success of the Great Exhibition of In- dustry. At first it was to have been a ball in the great hall, and a sup- per in the crypt under the ball, whose merits have lately been pointed out to the citizens ; but the crowd of guests was so great that the ball was little more than a " reception," and the supper was the principal feature. For this reason, any description of the event comes to be a sketch of the sumptuous decorative preparations made by the Corporation for their Royal guests, and of the profuse illuminative display with which the citizens greeted the Queen in her progress to and from the Guildhall.
The Guildhall itself was fitted up according to the designs of Mr. Bun- ning. Among the descriptions supplied by the reporters of the daily press, the Morning Post's is the most rapturous. " Below, the bases of the clustering pillars, which divide the sides of the hall into equal architectural compartments on each side, were covered, up to about nine feet in height, with crimson velvet; just at the centre, and a few inches from the top of each crimson investiture, was placed a fair gar- land of white roses. Above the centre shaft of each buttress shot up towards the roof a silver palm-tree, glittering and sparkling in the brilliant light so profusely shed around. On touching the roof, these spread forth and ended in long branches of bright clustering broad leaves of green and gold, from which hung pendant rich bunches of crimson ruby-sparkling fruit. Between each silver palm-tree's golden top projected in a bower-like form elegant balconies, whose delicate pink and white was ornamented by the arms of the City at advapeed points. Down to these, and over them, came festoons and garlands of roses. In front of each was the name and emblem of a different nation and its flag, high floating in the air, to give that life and gay effect which banners and standards always confer on a festive scene. The roof above was painted in deep blue, divided by beams of white. Two glorious chandeliers, showering down a second sunlight through painted glass, repre- senting the Royal arms and initials, finished the effect above." The compartments beneath the balconies were filled by pictorial re- presentations—" and very good paintings too," says the Morning Chronicle critic—of the most notable works of each nation which are seen at the Exhibition : in America, the Greek slave ; in China,junks and pagodas ; in Prussia, the Amazon group ; in Russia, the malachite gates ; in Italy —" here generously named by the artist"—the "veiled statue," silent, and without a name or glory, the type of her own nationality under Austrian rule. The monuments of Alderman Beckford, Lord Chatham, and William Pitt, might have appeared a difficulty in a ballroom, but " Mr. Bunning got over the embarrassing feature with great success "- though we are not told how. Gag and Magog, bereft of their weapons, and intrusted with branches of holly, were newly bedizened for the occa- sion ; and at the opposite end, two gigantic griffins, the heraldic " sup- porters" of the Corporation, formed with the rolling bulk of their scaly tails an avenue which directed the eye to the throne ; over which waved the gigantic plume of Prince of Wales feathers in spun glass, nine feet high, which has been displayed at former festivals. The chambers of the Court of Aldermen and Common Councilmen were embellished with paintings and sculpture ; among the specimens of sculpture being some of the finest works of Bailey, Marshall, and Lough, which proprietors had lent for the night. The crypt is a grained cham- ber, of much architectural interest : it was fitted up as an old baronial ball ; figures in medimval armour being scattered about, as the bearers of the lights which illuminated the chamber : anachronisms appear to have been disregarded—so the lights were " gas," and the aides of the wall were "acres of mirror."
The state procession left Buckingham Palace at five minutes past nine ; passed through Pall Mall, up the Strand, and through the City streets, at an easy pace, for the immense crowd of spectators to see it well. Cer- tainly the concourse was beyond all precedent : the number of country faces and of foreigners was of course great, in some places they seemed preponderant ; and, for the first time on such an occasion, we noticed comparatively few women. In fact, the crush was unsafe fur any person not very vigorous. The old ceremony of receiving the keys of the City at Temple Bar was dispensed with, at the request of her Majesty. Every window and roof was crowded ; the collateral streets had stands of benches receding upwards to a great height ; the churchyards in the Strand, and St. Paul's Churchyard, were similarly fitted ; and we were told that of one church the windows themselves were densely occupied by the curious parishioners. The illuminations were such as they always are—not very tasteful, but very profuse; the occasion being more spe- cial, and gas being cheaper by some shillings per thousand, than in former years. The Queen arrived at Guildhall about the time expected—half-past nine, and was received by the Lord Mayor and his lady : the first ma- gistrate "bearing the City sword, and exhibiting on his benevolent face the pride he naturally felt on the occasion." The Queen repaired to her retiring-rooms, but shortly reappeared, and occupied the throne. The citizens manifested their loyalty with excessive heartiness. For the rest of this part of the entertainment the reader must use his fancy. " It would be in vain," says the reporter of the Times, "to say what fol- lowed."
" The various orchestral bodies struck up ; but dancing, except mentally, was in most cases quite impossible. A steady current set in towards the dais. Some presentations took place; and a genuine City mob, who now and then broke into little displays of very bad temper, besieged the throne. The Duke of Cambridge, Lady Clementana Villiers, the 3Iarehioness of Dou- glas, and some other ladies and gentlemen, danced in the confined space be- fore the Court ; and in the immediate vicinity of the dance were Earl Grey, Sir Francis Baring, the Marchioness of Ailesbury, the Marquis of Douglas,
The Scottish fete in Holland Park was planned this year—with an eye Mr. Phillip Walmsley, a gentleman with a long beard and moustache, to the cosmopolitan array of spectators from the Exhibition—on a scale was indicted for stealing twenty-three spoons and seven forks from Mr. La- of greater magnificence than before; but the commencement, on Thurs- yins. The prosecution was abandoned, -on the-ground that the evidence was day, was marred by the wet weather. There was more company than not likely to make out the charge of felony. It appeared from the state- could have been expected, but for a good part of the time it was " stand- ment of the prisoner's counsel, that he had been an officer in the Indian lug up" in the tents. The military band could scarcely sustain a brave Army, and had received many decorations for his brave conduct. In oonse- tone under the heavy rain; the bagpipes failed of their usual inspiration ; quence of haying imprudently become security for a brother officer, he had and even the children of the Caledonian Asylum, "drawn up in a hollow been compelled to leave India and return to this country ; he had made ap-
curve," failed to impart that dash of reckless gayety which would have plication to the East India Company for assistance, which had been refused, disregarded weather. A strathspey on the slippery platform, and leap- in this situation, he had called at the house of the prosecutor, who was a fug on the more slippery grass, attested the fearlessness as much as the very old and intimate friend; and, seeing some plate lying -about, he in a agility of the Highlanders, and caused some amusement at their tuns- moment of excitement took away a portion of the plate, and pawned -it to bles. At intervals the sports were urged with much spirit—Indian supply his temporary necessities. Ile was in the receipt of money almost clubs, played by Mr. Harrison ; a French version of quarterstaff, by immediately afterwards ; and there was no doubt that he intended to have M. Le Boucher and M. Tether; foot races ; tossing the caber—much redeemed the plate and restore it to its owner. A verdict of "Not guilty" admired by the foreigners ; Cumberland wrestling—also very impressive was taken.
on the foreign Commissioners ; broad-sword exercise—very skilful ; and Lewis John Jones, aged twenty-one, pleaded guilty to embezzling the a sack race, "wen by a short active little Shetland pony of a High- monies of his employer, Mr. Huddleetone the barrister. The case was a lender." Nothing, however, was "kept up" with such vigour and ef- very painful one. Mr. Iladdlestone had kept the accused in his service from feet as the rain : so that in one of the tents was noticed the scene of an boyhood, and behaved to him more like a father than a master. The young old blind piper playing " Tullochgorum" to the fast and furious reel of man became addicted to betting and the company of loose women, and hence
"'three kilted Highlandmen and a Policeman." his ruin. He appeared to feel his degradation keenly. The Law Amendment Society wound up business for the season by its yearly dinner, at the Crown and Sceptre, Greenwich, on Saturday last. Lord Brougham, as chairman, summed up the labours of the past year in a speech apparently quite unpremeditated, but comprehensive in scope and full of matter. With congratulations on the past he combined good hopes of still further and further victories by Law Reformers.
The distribution of prizes to students in the faculty of Arts at the Lon- don University took place on Saturday last. Sir James Graham pre- sided, and made a speech to the students in which practical advice was graced by quotations from the Latin and English classics. The three Andrews scholarships were gained by Mr. John rower Hicks, (1001. a year,) Mr. William Lewis, and Mr. James Savage, (501. a year each.) The Harveian oration of this year, at the College of Physicians, was delivered on Saturday last, by Dr. Spurgin. The Archbishop of Dublin, the Bishop of Lichfield, Justice Coleridge, and Sir Robert Inglis, were among the audience. Amens Hill, Admitsd Dundee, and Sir k Mentesquieu Bellew." At last the Queen was conducted to the crypt for supper. We read in the Timm, that "the tables for the Royal supper were laid out in a splendid and really tasteful manner "; and that among the wines brought from the civic depositaries was sherry a hundred and five years old, which had been "bottled for the Emperor Napoleon." Supper being over, the Queen retired, amidst "marks of enthusiasm even greater than those displayed on her coming." All the company stood up to do her honour, and left the various alleys in which they had been buried in pursuit of the plea- sures of the table, to give a parting cheer to their Sovereign. Shortly before one o'clock the trumpets sounded a royal flourish at the gates of Crulldhvll ; and, through a dense mass of people, cheering incessantly, her Majesty returned to Buckingham Palace.
The Lord Mayor received from Lord John Russell, on Thursday even- ing, a cominunication cohveying to him the Queen's "most gracious ap- proval of all the arrangements " at the banquet on Wednesday ; and an- nouncing her intention to make him a baronet.
In the Court of Queen's -Bench, on Thursday, two actions for damages against the Eastern Counties Railway were tried. The plaintiffs were Mr. Head, the brewer, and his wife. They were hurt in a collision at Stratford, in December last, during a fog : many other persons suffered on the occasion, as then narrated. The trains did not start at the proper times, but it was alleged that the usual interval between each was preserved. It was con- tended by the counsel for the Company that the accident arose from the fog, and that no blame attached to the railway people. In summing up, Lord Campbell said, there did not seem to be any misconduct on the part of the servants of the Company ; but the Jury must say whether the general arrangements for the starting of the trains were prudent or negligent. The Company ought to make an arrangement suitable for all weathers, and not imperil the lives and limbs of her Majesty's subjects on the occurrence of a sodden fog. The trains- did not, on this occasion, keep their relative times; and minutes became most important when an express-train was following in the wake of a stopping-tram, The Jury awarded 5001. damages to Mr. Head, and the same amount to his wife.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Monday, James Smith was tried for forging and uttering a cheek for 781. Some account has already been given of this case. The prisoner is the eon of the Perpetual Curate of Barton St.
The number of visitors to the Exhibition on Saturday last was 11,747 ; and the 'receipts, at the five-shilling fee, were 15651. 15s. On the first four days of this week the numbers were 61,670, 6.5,962, 58,055, and 61,492 ; the receipts on those days, at the shilling fee, were 28521, 3169/. 5.1., 27701. 68., and 29581. Yesterday, the number was 25,167 ; and the receipts, at the half-crown fee, were 31631. 48. 6d.
The Queen continues her morning visits. On Saturday many of the "'smaller exhibitors" had notice that she would examine their works. One man, who showed a small cradle made of canvass, set a tea-kettle inside, on the approach of the Royal party, and rooked it gently with all the solicitude of a parent expressed on his face. Another had an invalid rocking-chair and footstool to show off, and for that purpose laid himself out in it as a confirmed valetudinarian.
For some weeks past the Exhibition reports of the morningjournals have indicated a current of vexation and jealousy on behalf of the Eng- ligli exhibitors in reference to the award of prizes ; and there have not been wanting assertions that the foreign jurors were asserting, and were likely to carry, their national claims to supremacy, in some departments where strict fairness would have given them only secondary rank. Some change of decision has been made, -or some new principle of award adopted ; for the Timm, in whose reports these indications of jealousy had been strongest, on Thursday announced that there was " every prospect at last of a satisfactory escape from those broils and contentions in which but a few days ago the conduct of some foreign jurors threatened to involve us." The awards are not, it is announced, to be made till after the close of the Exhibition.
In his address for the prisoner, Mr. Ballantine made full use of the cha- racter of Lewis, the" swindler and robber of the very worst description," who had seduced the boy from the path of rectitude and-and-honour for his own base purposes, and now nought to destroy him. The Reverend Ebenezer Smith, father of the accused, stated that before his son went to Oxford his conduct had been so good that he was a source of habitual comfort to him. In summing up, thelieoorder said that the Jury, no doubt, would not have con- victed on the unsupported testimony of " so infamous a person " as Lewis; but they must remember the young tames own admissions. The Jury de- liberated for a short time, and returned a verdict of "Guilty " ; with a strong recommendation of the prisoner to the merciful consideration of the Court. They expressed their indignation at the conduct of the witness Lewis—" one of the greatest villains that ever same into a court of justice."
and he was reduced to a position of great temporary embarrassment. While Thomas Erskine Louper, lately secretary to the l'haines Plate Glees Com- pany, pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzling the property of his employers. His defalcations amount to more than 30001. The prisoner was in the first instance his own accuser, being unable to bear the reproaches of conscience. Part of the money will be recovered from the Guarmitee Society, and the company have some life-policies effected by Louper. It was stated that he got into difficulties by obtaining a loan of 15001. from one of the director's when he went into the situation, the 'repayment of which swallowed up nearly all his salary ; he speculated in railway shares to get money; and failed.
On Thursday, Cauty and Tyler, the men who stole 'a tash-box from the London and Westminster Bank in St. James's Square, pleaded guilty to the charge. It was stated that the directors, after inquiry, believed that 'ne person In their service had beau in collusion with the prisoners : in the usual bustle on Saturday afternoon, the prisoners had taken the -cash-box from a counter where it had been accidentally placed.
An Irish riot in Shoe Lane has ended fatally. During Saturday night, the colony of Irish in Plumtree Court quarrelled and fought ; and the row became so great, that a large body of Police were marched to the spot. The Irish were greatly exasperated at this, and resisted the Police. The latter used their etaves ; and during the mable John Hogan was killed by blows of a Policeman's staff-on his head. At the inquest, witnesses declared that the deceased was not offending when the constable beat him; and he died very shortly after. The Jury found it impossible to fix upon the constable who had been the assailant. They returned a verdict tantamount to " Man- slaughter against a Policeman unknown." The Jury then handed the following memorial to the Coroner, with a request that it might be forwarded to the proper authorities-
" And this Jury are of opinion, that the neighbourhood in which the deceaseil died is in a most disgraceful state. In 'the house in which the deceased lies, the drainage, or some other cause, made effluvia so great, that the Jury were compelled to leave the place as quickly as possible; and should an epidemic again visit the City, from the dreadful state of these courts they think they would be a nursery- for:pestilence and disease. They also sugpst the propriety of an addi- tional light in these courts, more especially at the Holborn -cud."
The inquest on the fires at. Alderman Humphery's premises was concluded on Tuesday. Mr. Wigan bad offered a reward and tried all means of pith- Deity to obtain information as to the origin of the second fire, in vain. A man had been heard to exclaim while the fire was raging, "Ali!' that fire ought to have happened on Saturday " • but the Police could not trace hips. The landlord of a public-house in Tooley Street deposed, that on the night of the fire a mall in his house said he wished the Alderman was burnt in the flames, as he paid his men only twopence-halfpenny an hour. Alderman ilumphery warmly denied the truth Of this.; he had always paid his la- bourers threepence an hour, or 3s. 6d. a day : a search in the books 'for fifty years back showedthat never less than that was.paid. The calumny had been of long standing : when r. Humpler.y was made Lord Mayor, a Mr. Willis had circulated the tale,; as the Alderman was proceeding in a steam- boat to the fire, several persons exclaimed, " Twopence-halfpenny an hour!"
After a brief consultation, the Jury gave this verdict-
" That, in the judgment of this 3nry, the evidence brought before it is insufficient to-warrant any decided opinion as to the origin of the fire in warehouse A, but that there appears to he the greatest probability that the fire in warehouse J3, cow- measing as it did. at' the extreme corner, and directly against the wind, was not the result of accident."
Two clerks having quarrelled about a young lady, they agreed to settle their differences by a duel at Highgate, on Saturday evening. One did not appear in the field- and his second was so exasperated by the jeers of the outer party that lie demanded "satisfaction." Accordingly, he and the ori- ginal mancipal," who was present, exchanged shots; the irate second was grazed on the cheek, while his bullet passed through his opponents hat. They then shook hands, and resolved to kick the recreant clerk whenever they caught-him.