t4t Alttrufnlio. •

The Lord Mayor resolved to give a banquet in honour of Mr. Bu- chanan, the American Minister; and he fixed on Wednesday evening for the purpose. The company invited to meet Mr. Buchanan included merchants engaged in American and Canadian trade, and Members for large constituencies. The day arrived, and the company assembled, but the Ambassador came not !—he had been invited to dine with the Queen on that very day, and the convivial solemnifies at the Mansionhouse were forced to go on without him. There were present among the guests, the Earl of Elgin, Admiral Walcott, Mr. Mowbray Morris, Mr. Richard Cobden, Mr. Muntz, Mr. Ewart, Mr. H. Berkeley, and Sir William Clay. The chief speeches, as indicating the tone of the corn-

It •

on the American question, were those of the Lord Mayor and Mr. Men. Both expressed the friendliest feelings towards the United States, and deprecated in the strongest terms a parricidal warfare be- tween England and that country. Mr. Cobden, who "appeared" for Mr. Bright and Mr. Gibson, unavoidably absent, said that Manchester is almost as much an American city as an English one. Its industry and that of the neighbourhood depend on the weekly supply of 25,000 bales of American cotton. The United States, on the other hand, lie under almost an equal obligation to the producers of this country.

The introduction of Mr. Milner Gibson's bill to abolish the Abjuration Oath has revived the City agitation in behalf of the Jewish claims. The

London Liberal Registration Association held a meeting on Tuesday, at the London Tavern, to consider what course they should pursue. Mr. H. J. Prescott occupied the chair. A long report was read, reciting the history of the attempts made in Parliament since 1830 to remove the Jewish disabilities ; and recommending the electors of London to Con- tinue the course they have hitherto pursued, and to present an address to the nation justifying their conduct. The motion that the report be re- ceived was carried with one dissentient—Mr. Bateman, a Dissenter, who thought the question would be better promoted by the return of a Mem- ber for the City who could sit and vote in Parliament. A Committee was appointed to watch the progress of Mr. Gibson's bill, and prepare an address to the nation on the basis of the report. The meeting formally resolved that the Liberal electors of London would not relax their efforts, to which they are pledged by the return of Baron Rothschild, until the full and final accomplishment of Jewish Emancipation.

At a Court of Aldermen, on Tuesday, a report on Newgate Gaol was presented. The present arrangement of that prison prevents classification and separation of prisoners. Proper supervision is impossible, and the chances of escape are considerable. An attempt to break out by pulling down brickwork was made within the last month. The remedies sug- gested are—reconstruction of the interior, so as to provide cells; or the entire demolition and rebuilding of the courts and the gaol, so that the gaol might serve to hold prisoners about to be tried, while the bulk of the prisoners are lodged at Holloway. The Committee think the first plan might be carried out while the Court considers the larger plans. It was resolved to receive the report, and refer it back to the Committee with instructions that they should act therein as they think fit.

At a meeting of the Court of Common Council, on Thursday, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Dakin, seconded by Alderman Kennedy, "that the freedom of the City, in a gold box of the value of 100 guineas, be presented to Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, in testimony of its admira- tion of his distinguished services."

At a meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Works, yesterday week, Mr. Wright proposed that a committee of fifteen members should be ap- pointed, to be called a Committee of Works, for the purpose of consider- ing and reporting upon schemes and plans for the improvement of the Metropolis. The propriety of appointing committees was questioned by Mr. Hews, Mr. Hawkes, and others. It was argued, that by appointing committees the Board would be shirking its duties. To this it was re- plied, that the committees would have no power to do anything without the Board: they would only obtain certain detailed information. The general opinion was, that the Board could not get through its business without the assistance of committees; and Mr. Wright's motion was car- ried.

The annual general meeting of the Law Amendment Society was held on Saturday, at the rooms in Waterloo Place, and was very fully at- tended. Besides the members, other gentlemen who have talon a die- ifieit' part in some cliatinm- amendment of the law were invited to attend; and besides those who have more trameiitiy tai.ou

proceedings, we observed Lord Stanley, Sir John Pakingto; Sir Stafford bfortheete, Sir Erskine Perry, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, Lord Denman, and the Lord Mayor. The meeting was held at the commencement of the Session instead of at the end, in order that the bettor encourage- ment, aid, and concentration of purpose, might be imparted to the labours of the session. The subjects set down for particular attention were—the appointment of a Minister of Justice ; amend- ment of the Criminal Law and appointment of a Public Prosecu- tor; consolidation of the Statute Law; reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts ; assimilation of the Commercial Law of England, Ireland, and Scotland; amendment of the laws relating to Women ; amendment of the laws relating to Criminal Breaches of Trust ; improvement of Legal Education; establishment of a system of Legal Statistics. • Lord Stanley introduced all these subjects in a general survey. Sir Erskine Perry urged the appointment of a Minister of Justice as auxiliary to the con- solidation of the law, and illustrated the laws relating to women with Indian:experiences. A Minister of Justice to guide amendments, and im- proved legal education, were urged by Mr. Napier as the key to all reform. Sir John Pakington reported the progress of the Reformatory movement; insisting that it ought no longer to be treated as experimental and left by the State to private benevolence in fragmentary efforts; and he urged union of parties to procure reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts. Sir Fitz- roy Kelly minutely explained his plan for consolidating the Statutes; earnestly bespeaking the countenance and support of the Law Amend- ment Society. Viscount Ebrington explained the want of Legal Stalls- tics, which prevents the means of comparing results derived from various forms of law procedure at home and abroad. Sir Stafford Northcote fol- lowed up Sir Erskine Perry with English instances of legal injustice in- flicted on women by spendthrift husbands ; and wished more ventilation of the subject of Reformatories before pronouncing it to have passed the experimental stage. On the same subject, Mr. Adderley showed diffi- culties in hastening to general legislation. Lord Brougham, as chair- man, closed the discussion by observing that the difference with regard to Reformatories was more apparent than real; private benevolence and Government aid being capable of combination, as they had been combined in promoting education. Most of the reforms proposed by Sir Samuel Hominy have now been carried ; but how much time and exertion would have been spared if the efforts of Roniffiy, of Denman, and others, had been directed by a Minister of Justice ! •

At the Middlesex Sessions, on Saturday, Ellen Lynch and Mary Ann Sullivan, two "unfortunate girls," were tried for robbing a man in the street. Lynch was saved by a gentleman at the expense of a public avowal of his own immorality—he was in her company at a coffeehouse, where they were supposed to be man and wife, during the night of the robbery ; he knew her to be innocent, and he came forward to save her. His evidence, and that of people at the coffeehouse, clearly showed that the prosecutor had made a mistake ; and Ellen Lynch was acquitted. Mary Ann Sullivan was found guilty, and sentenced to four months' imprisonment.

On Monday, the Court quashed a conviction by Mr. Bingham, the Marl- borough Street Magistrate, arising out the Hyde Park riots. Bradley, a bookseller, was fined for "inciting" a riotous mob to resist the police: what he really did was to distribute a number of handbills respecting a cheap newspaper; he omitted some confusion by doing this, and the police

arrested him : the Ceurt held that Bradley did not " incite " the mob to re- sist the police.

Many crimes of violence have been reported this week. Frederick Quen- nell, whose cousin was hanged some years since for murdering a brother, appears to have aspired to die like his relative, on the scaffold. He is a scene-painter at the Surrey. Theatre ; he had quarrelledwith William Hur- cum, scene-shifter • the other night, during the performances he attacked Hareem, in a dressing-room on the stage, with a thick iron bar, and struck him on the head, rendering him senseless ; persons interfered, or Quennell e;:lit have been "hung for Hurcum, the same as his cousin was," as the rue; an exclaimed when he began the assault. The murderous outrage seems to have been known to the audience in the theatre, and there was much excitement. Taken before the Southwark Magistrate, Quennell "had nothing to say" to the charge of attempting to murder.

Cases are reported almost daily of street-robberies of watches and chains from the person : the present fashion of carrying watches in the waistcoat- pocket with the chain exposed. doubtless gives greater facility for such of- fences than the old mode • and thieves at night, either with or without the " garotte " process easily rid of his watch and chain any imprudent per-

son who has been process, victim almost invariably selected.

Two ladies were riding in a Kennington omnibus—" Mrs. G. and Mrs. H." as designated by the reporters. Mrs. G. lost her watch, and instantly accused Mrs. H. of stealing it. Mrs. H. protested her innocence ; but Mrs. G., in great heat, insisted on giving her in charge. The whole of the per- sons in the omnibus accompanied the ladies to the stationhouse. Here the Inspector on duty urgently requested Mrs. G. to search her clothes ; but she indignantly declined, suggesting that perhaps the officer wanted to "search her himself." The charge was taken ; Mrs. H. was in a short time liberated on bail ; Mrs. G. went home. So passionate was her excitement that she did not think of going to bed until two in the morning. On taking off her gown she found the watch ! All the parties attended at the Lambeth Police Court on Wednesday. Mrs. G. proffered an ample apology. Mr. Vlliott the Magistrate hoped the matter would not go further. But the lawyerwho attended for Mrs. H. said he should take time to consider.

The inquest on the body of Mr. Sadleir was resumed on Monday., and again adjourned. The witnesses examined were chiefly questioned with the view of eliciting evidence respecting the state of Mr. Sadleir's mind at the time of the suicide. They were—Mr. Norris, the solicitor, Mr. Robert Keating, Member for Waterford, and Mr. josiah Wilkinson, of the firm of Wilkinson, Gurney, and Stevens. Several letters were produced. They were first privately perused by the Coroner; and in one of them a letter to Mr. Norris, names of persons injured by Mr. Sadleir were omitte41 when the letters were publicly read, because the persons injured would only receive greater injury from the publication of their names. The letter read by Mr. Norris was the following.

Saturday Night.

"I cannot live—I have ruined too many—I could not live and see their agony. I have committed diabolical crimes unknown to any human being. They will now appear, bringing my family and others to distress—causing to all shame and grief that they should have ever known me.

"I blame no one, but attribute all to my own infamous villany.

—, and hundreds of others ruined by my "Many. I could go through any torture as a punishment for my crimes. No torture could be too much for such crimes ; but I cannot live to see the tortures I inflict upon others.

" J. Santarft. "Telegraph to —, and otherwise when you read this."

Mr: Keating said it would be painful to him to produce the letters written to him by Mr. Sadleir on Saturday night ; as he considered them "private and confidential." But the Coroner ruled that they must be read. The principal letter Mr. Keating then read was as follows. "11 Gloster Terrace, 16 February 1836. "Dear Robert—To what infamy have I come step by step ! heaping crime upon crime ! and now I find myself the author of numberless crimes of a diabolical charac- ter, and the cause of ruin and-misery and disgrace to thousands—aye to tens of thousands.

"Oh, how I feel for those on whom all this ruin must fall! I could bear all punishments, but I could never bear to witness the sufferings of those on whom I have brought such ruin—It must be betterthat I should not live.

"No one has been privy to my crimes—they sprung from my own cursed brain alone—I have swindled and deceived without the knowledge of any one. Stevens and Norris are both innocent, and have no knowledge of the fabrication of deeds and forgeries by me, and by which 1 have sought to go on in the horrid hope of retrieving. .Ikwas a sad day for all when I came to London.

I can give but little aid to unravel accounts and transactions.

"There are serious questions as to my interest in the Grand Junction and other undertakings. • "Much will be lost to the creditors if these cases are not fairly treated.

. "The Grand Junction, the East Kent, and the Swiss Railways, the Rome line, the Coal Co. are all liable to be entirely lost now, so far as my assetts are concerned. "I authorize you to take possession of all my letters, papers, property, &c. 8cc. in this house, and at Wilkinson's, and 18 Cannon Street.

"Return my brother his letters to me, and all other papers. The prayers of one so wicked could not avail, or I would seek to pray for those I leave after me, and who will have to suffer such agony, and all owing to my criminal acts. "Oh, that I had never quitted Ireland ! Oh that I had resisted the first attempts to launch me into speculations ! "If 1 had had less talents of a worthless kind and more firmness, I might have remained, as I once was, honest and truthful ; and I would have lived to see my dear father and mother in their old age. I weep and weep now, but what can that avail ? J. Samsun. "Robert Keating, Esq., M.P., Shamroque Lodge, Clapham."

(The reading of this letter produced a great sensation in court. The witness himself was much affected, and when he came to the touching re- ference by the deceased to his aged father and mother, his emotion became so great that he was obliged to pause till it had subsided.]

Next, at the request of the Coroner, Mr. Keating read the letter ad- dressed by Mr. Sadleir to Mrs. James Sadleir, his sister-in-law. "Dublin, Feb. 23, 1858. " Dear Mr. Keating—I only received your letter on Wednesday the 20th instant here, this morning. I now enclose you the letter I received from poor unfortunate John Sadleir. It may throw some light on the state of his mind at the time he wrote it. As you will perceive, he neither addresses me in his usual manner nor even adds his signature.

Please be careful of the enclosed letter, and return it to me.

Believe me yours sincerely, ENNA SADLICIR. " Robert Keating, Esq., M.P., 21, Lombard Street, London."

The enclosure, which witness said Was in the handwriting of the deceased, was as follows.

James is not to blame—I alone have caused all this dreadful ruin.

" J ames was to me too fond a brother ; but he is not to blame for being deceived and led astray by my diabolical acts.

"Be to him at this moment all the support you can. Oh, what would I not suffer with gladness to save those whom I have ruined. "My end will prove at least that I was not callous to their agony."

[The other documents related to the difficulties of the Tipperary Bank, and are of no interest new.]

Mr. Wilkinson described an interview he had wifh.Mr. Sadleir on the Sa- turday morning preceding his death. Mr. Sadleir wanted Mr. Wilkinson to assist in raising funds to avert the failure of the Tipperary hint-Stock Bank. Mr. Sadleir was very excited, and, when Mr. Wilkinson declined to help him, putting his hand to his head, he said, " Good God ! if the Tip-

perary Bank should fail, the fault will ho entirely mine, and I shall have been the ruin of hundreds and thousands." "He walked about the office in a very excited state, and urged me to try and help him, because, he said, he could not live to see the pain and ruin inflicted on others by the cessation of the bank." As Mr. Sadleir owed considerable sums to Mr. Wilkinson, the- latter determined to send a deed he held as security to be registered in Dublin : Mr. Sadleir knew that he had so resolved ; and Mr. Wilkinson' attributed the suicide to excitement about the Tipperary Bank, and to the knowledge that Mr. Sadleir had that the deed would be registered. When Mr. Stevens, Mr. Wilkinson's partner, arrived in Dublin, he found that the deed was forged. "The security he lodged with me purported to be a deed given on the purchase of an estate in the Encumbered Estates Court. It was signed by two of the Commissioners of that Court, and by two attesting witnesses in two different parts of the deed ; and not a single signature was genuine. It had a genuine seal of the Encumbered Estates Court attached to it, and the Commissioners themselves admit the seal to be genuine. That seal might have been transferred from some other genuine deed to the spurious one, because the seal of the Court is not impressed on the document or in wax, but on a large wafer, and attached to it." That was the only forged deed of which Mr. Wilkinson knew. Not a, single person was in Mr. Sadleir's confidence. "He was a most reserved man." Mr. Wilkinson knew much of his affairs, and he believed there in much in the letters written by Mr. Sadleir on Saturday that is not correct. The Coroner said, that if it could be shown that the crimes he imputed to himself were delusions, the Jury could have scarcely any hesitation in con- cluding that he was a man of unsound mind. The question of property was an exceedingly important one in this case, because if Mr. Sadleir had de- stroyed himself while of sound mind he had committed self-murder, and his- property, whatever it might be, would be forfeited to the Crown. The de-. ceased said he had been guilty of numberless crimes of a diabolical character, and the cause of ruin, misery, and distress to thousands and tens of thou- sands of persons. After looking at the evidence with the greatest possible care and attention, the Coroner confessed he could see, up to this point, no signs of insanity whatever in the deceased ; but if it should be ultimately proved that the letters which had been put in were written under the debt.' sion that he had committed offences which in reality he had not committed, that would be conclusive evidence that he was a man of unsound mind. The Crown, with regard to property in such cases, unites the powers of the Court of Chancery and the Courts of Common Law. There is hardly, in fact, any power more potent or more pungent than that which the Crown possesses in the case of persona who have committed the crime of felo de se. Under these circumstances, he thought it due to the deceased and his family, and to the interests of society at large, that an opportunity should be given for further inquiry.

In the course of the investigation, Mr. Norris stated that Mr. Gurney had told him that he gave Mr. Sadleir 13,000/. in bank-notes before he left the City on Saturday afternoon before his death. [No trace of this sum hat since been discovered.] M. Keating said that Mr. Gurney had told hint there was a 10001.-note among Mr. Sadleir's money, but that had not been found.

The inquest stands adjourned until Tuesday the 11th March.

The Poor-law Board recently directed Dr. Bence Jones to investigate the state of St. Pancras Workhouse. Dr. Jones has completed his task ; and the Board has communicated copies of his report to the parish directors of the per. The state of the workhouse, it would appear, is very shocking. Not only are the inmates crowded into unwholesome rooms—sometimes eighty women sleeping in the casual ward—but they are forced to sleep in a cellar, "lit for a coal-hole, but not for human beings to sleep in." On one occasion, ten men and two women, patients, were sleeping on the floor of the infirmary. In the men's casual ward, the surgeon reported that ton men had the night lying naked as closely as possible. In the infant nursery, r. Jones found twenty-five mothers and thirty children. The out-door relief is shamefully administered. As many as 900 are relieved in a day, and on one day 150 remained unrelieved at half-past five in the even- ing. They had bad no food all day. Dr. Jones cannot strongly enough express the opinion he has formed of the evils which the po3r endure from "cold, wet, foul air, and fasting," while waiting for relief. At the meeting of the Vestry, on Tuesday, the report was referred to a Committee.