Ste jilletropelis.

A special Court of the Common Connell was held on Wednesday, for the purpose of considering several motions relating to Smithfield Market. The petition of the salesmen, graziers, butchers, and others, mentioned last week, was taken into consideration. A ,number of the petitioners were ex- amined, and gave evidence of the most startling kind: they said that cattle are damaged by railway trains as much as by being driven up to Smithfield; that there is nothing in the Paris system of abattoirs worth imitation; that gross immoralities in the market are unheard of; that the market does not promote police offences; and that it has no bad influence on the public health; but that more room for stallage, &c. is required, for the convenience of the salesmen and the public. After lengthened debate, was referred to a special Ward Committee to inquire and re- port what is the area of the several market-places within the City,— namely, Smithfield, Newgate, and Leadenhall Markets; what addition of space or other increased accommodation is required in either of the mar- kets; what will be the cost of such additions and alterations; and whether Parliament should be applied to for powers to raise the necessary fund by tolls &c.

The Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, issued at the commencement of the present year, has been determined by writ of supersedeas ; and a new Commission has been directed to the following persons—

Viscount Ebringron, Major-General Sir John Burgoyne, K.C.B. Sir Henry De Is Beebe, F.R.S., r:Robert Stephenson, M.P., Mr. S. M. Pato, M.P., Lieutenant- Colonel Alderson, R.Ly Mr. Philip Hardwick, Captain Vetch, R.E., Mr. J. M. Bendel, Captain Harness;11.E., Mr. Thomas Hawes, Captain R. K. Dawson, R.E., and Mr. Edward Lewes, barrister-at-law.

It is not intended to fill up the vacancy in the Metropolitan Police Magistracy, caused a few weeks ago by the death of Mr. Cottingbam. We understand it is in contemplaticYn to-eami stall/nether the reduction .44 this department of the Mablie-iti-vitie, and that no new appointment will be made until the number of Metropolitan Police Magistrates shall have been diminished, either by death or resignation, below twenty.—Times.

Several meetings have been held in the Metropolis on the subject of the new Post-office regulations—all of them in strenuous opposition to the principle of Sunday labour. The Bishop of London presided at meetings of the parishioners of St. James's Westminster, and of the inhabitants of Westminster and Marylebone, both held on Monday; Lord Ashley, Sir John Heron Maxwell, Mr. John Dean Paul, have been among the speakers. A meeting of the inhabitants of Southwark assembled on Tuesday; the High Bailiff in the chair. At all the meetings there has been a numerous attendance of Dissenting ministers; Dr. Leifchild, Mr. Binney, Mr. Howard Hinton, and Mr. Sherman, have joined with reverend members of the Es- tablished Church in giving a religious character to the movement. At the Marylebone meeting, a Mr. Garrett opposed the resolutions moved, and gave some information on the authority of Mr. Hill, after a personal con- sultation with him and an intimation that his statements Would be made public.

Mr. Hill said,• the number of clerks required would certainly not exceed twenty- five. He stated, as a man and a gentleman, that thousands in the conntry would be relieved by the partial employment of twenty-five in London before nine in the morning and after five in the afternoon. Again, the second -deliveries in the country would be discontinued ; and this cannot be done if present arrangements be adhered to. It had been stated that all the clerks would have to take turns: now that was not the fact—they would be invited to take turns,, but none would be required who had religious scruples; and if all had scruples, other clerks would be obtained for the special purpose.

A minute written by Mr. Rowland Hill in February last, at the desire of the Postmaster-General, was published in the daily papers on Thursday. We have mentioned the effect of it in a previous page; and the animus of the whole is stamped on the very opening of the document-

' TO THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL. "1. In obedience to your Lordship's instructions, I beg to submit my views as to further measures for redwing the Sunday duties of the Post-office, and as to other improvements connected therewith."

On Thursday, a numerous deputation had an interview 'with Lord John Russell at the' Treasury. The list of the deputation comprises the names of the Lord Mayor, the Bishop of London, several clergymen and church- wardens, Mr. Masterman, Mr. R. C. L. Bevan, Mr. Powles, Mr. J. Dean Paul, and other commercial gentlemen. With Lord John Russell were Sir Charles Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Marquis of Clan- ricarde, Postmaster-GeneraL The Lord Mayor, the Bishop of London, and other leading members a the deputation, successively set forth the arguments against the measure at great length, without any interruption. They represented, that the new regulation of the Post-office would ulti- mately lead to delivery of letters in London on Sunday, since London traders would not consent to remain at a disadvantage if posting facilities were increased in the country. The Reverend Mr. Baylee stated that he had made several inquiries in various plates, and he found that the amount of actual relief to the country postmasters would be very small; the diminu- tion of time ranging from firs out of ten or fifteen to nothing. Memorials had been sent from the chief mercantile towns in the king- dom—Liverpool, Manchester, York, Bath, &c., praying for the total cessation of labour in the Post-office throughout the country on Sun- days; a view supported by Mr. Masterman. Mr. Powlea, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Bevan, expressed the unanimous feeling of commercial men in the City against the proposed increase of labour in the head Post-office on Sunday. Lord John Russell, in reply, showed that the objections which had been made at public meetings and in correspondence were directed against a wholly imaginary measure, differing essentially from the plan adopted. If Post-office labour violates the Sabbath, it does so in the country as well as in London; and as the new arrangement greatly diminishes the amount of Sun- day labour in the department as a whole, it proportionately tends to a bet- ter observance of the Sabbath. The post is not used only by commercial people, but by all classes, including the poor, with reference to domestic relations and domestic affections; and to arrest the transmission of letters for two days in the week, would inflict great injury on those classes. It might, for instance, debar the private soldier at Portsmouth, suddenly or- dered abroad, from communicating with his family. Many cases of that kind are constantly occurring. The Marquis of Clanricarde, who enforced these arguments, admitted that they were no answer to those who de- manded a thorough stoppage of the Post-office on Sundays; but that could not be effected without the intervention of Parliament, because an act of Parliament makes it imperative on the Post-office to forward letters with- out delay. He believed that in the accounts quoted by Mr. Baylee the relief to the country postmasters was much understated. Lord John Russell had scarcely begun his reply before he was inter- rupted; and at more than one point of the interview the conversation was broken by very rapid interchange of remarks and rejoinders. Towards the close, the deputation pleaded for a little delay,—at least, Sir James Duke cunningly suggested, till the measure should be better understood by the dissentients. Lord John Russell said, the measure would be best under- stood in its actual working: he would consult with his colleagues as to the propriety of conceding a short delay; bat be could hold out no hope that Ministers would give up the measure, because he believed it woulcd> lead on the whole to a diminution of Sunday labour.

The promoters of the Parliamentary and Financial Reform movement prosecute their endeavours to raise an agitation in the Metropolis, Meet- ings have been held in \Vest Marylebone, Paddington, and St. George's-in- the-East; at which Lord Dudley Stuart, Mr. John Williams, and Mr. George Thompson, have been the chief speakers, and the assenting audi- ences are described as numerous and respectable.

Mr. Cobden's meeting to protest against the war-loan was held at the London Tavern on Monday, and is described in the Daily News as " one of the most crowded and important ever held in the city of London." The specific object was, " to elicit public opinion as to the loan of 7,000,0001. advertised for by the Government of Austria in the London papers." Mr.. G. W. Alexander, the banker of Lombard Street, presided; he was sup- ported by Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr. John Williams, M.P., Lord Dudley Stuart, Mr. Gilpin, Mr. Leaf, Mr. Scoble, and the Reverend John Burnet.

The Chairman regretted that his friend Samuel Gurney was not present .0_state_his principles in reference to the impoliey and folly. in nations of -horiowine money fir the purpoie of maintainiievast military establish- ments and carrying on expensive wars. However, it was an encouraging fact, that up to the present moment a very small portion of the Austrian loan bad been taken. Some weeks since, a correspondent of the Times said all the loan had been taken in Vienna, at 2k premium; later informa- tion, from that journal's "own correspondent," states that only

have been taken. Most likely, the latter statement was no truer than the former.

Mr. Cobden read the following resolution; which he moved and sup- ported-

"That the Government of Austria having proposed to raise a loan in foreign countries, capitalists and men of business are thereby invited to investigate the financial position of the said Government, and the probability of its repaying the loan thus proposed to be contracted ; and that it is the opinion of this meeting, that no valid security is tendered, or can be offered in the present state of the Austrian Government, which would justify prudent men in taking any part of the said loan."

After citing the authority of Adam Smith and other political economists against war-loans, Mr. Cobden appealed to every man who thought of lend- ing money to the Austrian Government, to pause, because he was going to intrust his means to a power which has thrice committed an act of bank- ruptcy. "I take in my hand a work of standard reputation—a work written in 1840, called Austria and its Future, and well known to be from the pen of Baron Andrien, who was last year accredited as Ambassador to this country from the Central German States. The writer, after giving a most de- tailed statement of all the various shnffiings, inancetiverings, borrowings, leans, lotteries—every possible device by which the Austrian Government had been. en- deavouring to maintain its finances for twenty-five years—that is, from 1815- to 1840—to sum up, says, From 1815 down to 1840, a period of twenty-five years- of profound peace, Austria or the Austrian Government has doubled its debt in nominal value, but quadrupled it in its real amount, and increased the interest for which it is liable tenfold.' This book was printed in 1840, but since that another volume has been added; and there the author says, ' There has been no one word to disprove my statements respecting Austrian finance, but since they were writ- ten eight millions has heen added to the national debt.' Therefore we come to this conclusion, thatfrom 1815 to 1847 the Austrian Government, during a period of profound peace, no foreign war during the whole time on its hands, had gone on every year spending more than its income, and was constantly adding to the national debt. Then, in 1848, with an army of three or filar hundred thousand men under arms, came on that revolutionary epidemic which swept over Europe; and the Austrian Government fell like a house of cards, notwithstanding all its bayonets ; and from that time to the present, the empire has been in a state of complete anarchy and confusion. Every one of its capitals, Pestb, Vienna, Milan, Venice—all, except Inuspruck—have been bombarded by their own Government. The bank at Vienna has suspended cash payment; while the Government has prohibited the exportation of the precious metals, to prevent the foreign creditor being honestly paid. And during all this anarchy and confusion, the Austrian Government has expended fully double the amount of its previous income. I should be afraid to name the amount of floating debt which people ofgood author- ity say is now standing over; but I am quite within the mark when I say that at least twenty millions are held over as the result of the last eighteen months social, financial, and political anarchy." He did not state these facts for the information of Messrs. Hope, or the other great firms of Amsterdam and London, but of those invited to subscribe even 101. I entreat their attention to the last line in this advertisement, in which it is stated that any subscriber to the amount of 2,5001., or any person who shall collect sub-

eceptions above that amount, shall receive a commission of a quarter per cent on the amount of payments made. Now I ask you this: If any shopkeeper in Lon- don, if any huckster in London put an advertisement outside of his window, toy- ing, Anybody that brings a customer to my shop, and enables me to sell him five shillings worth of potatoes or vegetables, I will allow him twopence profit for bringing the customer'—I ask you if you saw such a placard as that outside of a huckster's shop in this great city, would you not pass on the other side of the way, and take especial care not to deal at that shop? You would say internally as you passed on the other side, If that man sold a good article—if he were as good as his word—if he never had cheated any one—if he had not committed a foul act of bankruptcy—he would not resort to such means as these to obtain custom.' This is what I ask every man to do who thinks of putting down his 101. in this speculation." "I knew myself very well, when I was in the City, a man who was working as a porter on weekly wages, having no other earthly dependence, and that man had in his pocket Spanish bonds which had cost him upwards of 2,000/, but which were not worth more than waste paper. But I never heard that the great banking or agency house which contracted the loan in that case were rained by it. No ; the scrip passed ont of their possession, from hand to hand, until at last it came into the hands of persons like that poor man, who had had no expe- rience hi such matters; and it is to guard such men, whether here or elsewhere, against "—(The remainder of this sentence was lost in a burst of cheering.) Denouncing the humiliating, the disgusting fact, that the leading organs of the press are giving their influence, not to throw a guard over the unwary and in- nocent, but to serve the purposes of the cunning and those best able to protect themselves, Mr. Cobden declared that he saw the evidence of success for this movement iu the resort to innuendoes and indirect means to traduce the cha- racter of those who tell truth. " There is not one government in Europe which is not frowning at this meeting." He did not believe our own Government liked it ; because those organs of the press which are peculiarly under the influence of the Government and one in particular, which was par excellence established to advocate the sound principles of political economy enunciated by Adam Smith, are forward to condemn and to assail this movement. But he considered the meeting to be the germ of a great movement that will lay bare the pretensions of every government which comes before the world for a loan, and will expose the bankrupt state, if it be bankrupt, of that government's exchequer.

Declaring that lie considered this to be a Russian loan quite as much as an Austrian one, Mr. Cobden recurred to former expressions of his, on the subject of Russian finance; and repeated some of his statements with increased emphasis. "I say, what I said before, that the Russian Government is, in matters of finance, no- thing more nor less than a gigantic imposture. You have seen an account in the papers that the Emperor ofRussia or the Government of Russia—fur you cannot se- parate them—has taken two millions of the Austrian loan; that he was going tosub- scribe to the Pope's loan; that he is going to lend the Archduke of Tuscany a loan. Now, gentlemen, this is done systematically. Paragraphs are put into the papers by men employed by the Russian Government, to throw dust in the eyes of the people; and they succeed to a large extent. I say that the Russian Government spent last year more than its income, and that this year its deficit will be an enormous one. More than that, I say that it has not paid the expenses of its Hungarian campaign; that it levied forced contributions, gave treasury receipts, took the taxes in anticipation in the countries through which its troops moved; and that at this moment it has no alternative but either to issue its paper money again and to repeat its act of depreciation, or to come to Western Europe fur a loan. Well, I say, when it comes, let it be well understood that we shall be here." (Laughter and applause.)

/dr. Cobden wound up his speech with a reference to the moral aspect of the question. " I wish that it may be borne in mind by capitalists everywhere, that these are times when it behoves them to remember that property has its duties as well as its rights. (Loud cheers.) I exhort the friends of peace and the friends of disarmament throughout the civilized World, to exert themselves to spread a sounder morality on this question of war-loans, and to teach the capital- ists of the world, that they who forget their duties are running the risk of en- dangering their rights." (Much applause.) Lord Dudley Stuart seconded the motion, in a speech which gave cha- racteristic prominence to sentiment; setting off against Red Republics the Red Monarchies that employ such instruments as Haynau—that bloody monster who shot prisoners in cold blood. He declared that the Austrian Government had no legal right to contract this loan, as it had not the sanction of the Diet.

Mr. Gilpin, Mr. John Burnet, Mr. Leaf, and Mr. Scoble, baying ad- dressed the meeting, a vote of thanks to the Chairman was proposed. Mr. Cobden seconded it; and took the opportunity to venture upon another branch of the subject; first complimenting the Chairman for his moral • courage in coming there. The unexpected news of the Hungarian victory, he said, had turned the Czar's brain.

" I saw it stated in one of the papers lately, that the Emperor danced in his shirt when be found that his army had been successful in Hungary. What is this Hungary, the conquest of which is deemed such a triumph? I stated before, that if the Emperor of Russia had to sustain another campaign in Hungary, he would have to come to Western Europe for a loan. I am told that he is now nibbling at the Hopes of Amsterdam. But what has been done? Two Emperors, with a hundred millions of population, have managed to subdue a province of Austria,

or rather six millions of the population of that province, the Magyars; of whom, until their late gallant conduct, not one man in twenty had over heard in this country. And it is because two great Emperors, a hundred millions to six, have succeeded in putting down this gallant race, that the Emperor of All the Russias danced in his shirt !" We see the state of things between Russia and Turkey respecting the refugees. " There again is the cowardly principle carried out. Bern and the other refugees were in England two years ago. Do you think that the Czar would have sent an autograph letter to our Queen demanding that Bern should be given up to be hanged ? No, he would as soon have thought of hanging himself But some people account for his conduct in another way than by attributing it to cowardice. They say he is eccentric. Well, but that has run in his family, and is also common to all despots that have claimed the power of ruling over fifty or sixty millions of yeople. Nebuchadnezzar was ec- centric when he issued his proclamation." ' The Czar is incapable of under- standing anything but a physical force argument; and I do not consider that I depart from peace principles if, in arguing with a wild bull, I admonish him that there is something harder than his own skull which he may chance to run against. Therefore, when I spoke of hermetically sealing his ports, I asked Greeks, Dutchmen, every man acquainted with naval affairs, whether there could be any fighting between the two powers; and they said, No,'—looking at the relative forces by sea, and they could not meet by land. Look at the small force that would be necessary to blockade Riga, Odessa, and Petersburg for six months, and

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the frost would do it for the other six months. I will tell you what would be the result of a blockade of six months. The Russian proprietors, who could not sell their hemp, flax, or tallow, which they have all mortgaged beforehand, like some landlords nearer home, before you had blockaded these ports six months, would do with the Czar as they have done with others before—they would very soon dispose of his eccentricity, in order that they might be able to sell their flax, hemp, and tallow." " If any one tells me that I run the risk of these grants . coming here to attack, I'll answer, that I am prepared to take the risk. But do not let us alarm ourselves. There will be no war here. The Emperor cannot come here at the head of his Cossacks: he can only come by sea, and a less force than we keep up in time of peace would be sufficient to blockade all his ports." The resolution was passed by acclamation; Mr. Alexander returned thanks; and the meeting separated..

• A very full meeting of the British Homoeopathic Association was held on Wednesday evening, at the great room of the Society of Arts, to re. ceive the report of the committee regarding their preliminary steps for founding a London Homoeopathic Hospital. Letters were read by Mr. Sampson, the chairman, from the Duke of Beaufort., the Marquis of An. glesey, and the Earl of Essex, expressing their earnestness in the cause. The meeting was then addressed by Dr. Quin and other gentlemen; and a first list of donations and subscriptions was presented, amounting to between 6001. and 7001.

The parochial authorities of St. James's Westminster have opened a pub. lic library of 1,600 volumes in Marshall Street, Golden Square, for the ea. elusive use of working people. This step has been taken on the ream. mendation of the Bishop of London, and will be generally adopted in all parishes within the diocese.

At Bow Street Police-office, on Saturday, Edmund Conroy, the keeper of two lodging-houses in Church Street, St. Giles's, was summoned by the parish-officers, under the Building Act, for letting an underground cellar as a sleeping-

The beadle found eight men sleeping in four beds in a small cellar. The trate fined Conroy 20s. and costs: the fine would be repeated for every day the defendant continued to let the cellar.

At Clerkenwell Police-office, on Saturday, George Barker alias Barber, a sim- ple-looking fellow of twenty, was examined on the charge of stealing twenty-two parcels from a porter of the Great Western Railway. This was the ingenious rob- bery detailed last week. Davey, the porter, related how he left the bundle with the housekeeper of Messrs. Faulkner and Co., and how it had teen changed in his absence. On the morning of the robbery, he saw the prisoner in Bedford Row; he was dressed something like a railway porter; Davey spoke to him, and the man said he belonged to the "Northern line," and asked the address of Messrs. Parka and Co. Sarah Coombe, the housekeeper, identified the accused. When he came to her and changed the bundles, he gave her a parcel addressed for Messrs. Par- ker and Co., and a delivery-book, saying that Davey was to deliver the packet as soon as possible. Two clerks to law firms at Bristol described the contents of to parcels. The prisoner offered no defence; and he was committed for trial on these charges. On Thursday, William Barton, the father of the prisoner George, and Beery Hanbury, were charged with having been concerned in the robbery. The chief witness against them was an accomplice, Thomas Saunders, at present an inmate of St. Pancras Workhouse. He had assisted in making up "dummy" parcels. The accused were remanded for a week.

M'Donald, his wife, and Mary Fox, the people charged with robbing Thomas M'Guire, were again brought before the Westminster Magistrate, on Monday. Since the last examination, every effort has been made to trace M'Guire--hos- pitals and workhouses searched, a canal and sewer at Chelsea dragged; but in vain. When last seen, he had only a few shillings in his possession, but property from France was lying for him at the Customhouse: there has been no application for it. Nearly all the seventy sovereigns stolen were traced to the prisoners. The Magistrate again remanded them.

William Mew, the young man charged with attempting to poison Helen Ealing, was reexamined by the Southwark Magistrate on 1 aesday. Helen Ealing ap- peared; she was very weak, and looked pale and sickly. Mr. Seeker examined her at great length, and she related the circumstances which have been already mentioned, but with an important addition: she awoke on the Wednesday night, and knocked on the wall; then she teL asleep again. She locked her door before she lay down on the bed. The prisoner drank from the same glass as she did. She had been ill two or three weeks before. Mr. Vardy, a surgeon, was questioned by the Magistrate. He said, a narcotic poison could not have acted in the way described by the witness—if she had awakened twelve hours after taking it, she would not again have fallen into a lethargy. He had known half a pint of porter produce coma, and the stomach-pump alone had prevented apoplexy. Mr. Secker informed the prisoner, that after hearing the evidence of the last witness, he should not call upon him for any defence. An inquest has been held in the Hampstead Road on the body of Richard Daniel Pearce, a pianoforte-manufacturer, who was said to have been starved to death by homceopatlic treatment. Re was attacked by diarrhoea; Mr. Harris, a surgeon, attended him, and he made favourable progress; but then Pearce's brother, Charles Pearce, secretary to the Homeopathic Dispensary at Camden Town, took the case from Mr. Harris, and treated it according to the homoeopathic system. Food or nourishment of any kind was denied to him. Mr. Davis, a surgeon who was called in.at the last moment, said he believed that the man'had died through ex- haustion arising from the want of food: the body was much attenuated; the vis- cera were in a healthy state, but the stomach was quite empty. Pearce com- plained that he was starved; but his brother only allowed him copious draughts of ice-water and a little thin gruel. The Jury deliberated for two hours, and then returned a verdict of "Manslaughter against Charles Pearce." A very destructive fire occurred on Saturday night at London Wall. It broke out soon after ten o'clock, in the warehouse of Messrs. Gooch and Cousins, wool- brokers. These premises are of great extent; the body of the building bdng some 300 feet long, with two wings of nearly a hundred feet, and of three lofty stories. In the various floors were bales of wool, in number between 3,500 and 4,000; the value of which is estimated as high as 80,0001. From the nature of the stock, when the flames had once got a bold they travelled rapidly ; and the large structure and its contents were soon one roaring mass of fire. When the flames broke through the roof, they impinged on the roofs of several houses in Sadler's Place—a spot crowded with people—and these buildings took fire; but the firemen prevented the destruction of the houses, confining the damage to the roofs. Carpenters' Hall, adjoining the wool-warehouses, was in great peril: the flames entered by the windows, and the staircase and other portions of the an- cient structure were damaged ; but the firemen saved the main building. They could do nothing to rescue Messrs. Gooch and Cousins's premises—the whole were burnt down. The buildings were insured, but the contents belonged to divers persons, and some portion at least seems to have been uninsured. The salvage is likely to be of considerable value. A great wool-sale was to have taken place on Monday, and many dealers arrived from the country to purchase.