Ottrtpulio.

A deputation of gentlemen connected with Australia waited on Lord Colchester, on Wednesday, to remonstrate against the proposed duplica- tion of the postage on newspapers to Australia. Mr. Donaldson, Mr. Foster, and Mr. Stephens, represented that it would be a great hardship upon the poor. Lord -Colchester's only reason for the change was that it was desirable, and that India as well as Australia would have to pay the double rate. He promised to reconsider the question.

The Peace Society held its forty-third meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Pease in the chair. • Among the notables present were Mr. Bowley of Gloucester, Mr. Richards, and Mr. George Thompson. They had to re- gret two evils, the death of Mr. Sturge and the breaking out of war in Europe. On the latter subject the meeting adopted a resolution expres-

sing its peculiar views. - - . •

• " That this meeting cannot fail to recognize in the deplorable events by which Europe is now distracted a solemn and instructive illustration and confirmation of the views always held and promulgated by the Peace So- ciety, as to the inipolicy and danger of great standing armaments, the maintenance of which has grown into a system of ctuOnie rivalry between the professedly Christian Powers of Europe: This meeting is of opinion that the' peace of Europe has-been sacrificed, and the nations exposedto all the horrors of a desolating and sanguinary war —not because of political difficulties incapable of pacific solution, but because of the existence of these vast armaments, continually thrust forward by rival dynasties to threaten and coerce each other ; to obstruct and counteract diplomacy ; and to claim ultimately for the umpirage of brute force a result which could only be satisfactorily obtained under the guidance of reason, forbearance, and coneience."

The Association for. Promoting the Welfare of the Blind-held a meet- ing at St. James's Hall on Saturday. Not only was that large room full but hundreds were excluded. The Bishop of London occupied the chair. Among the speakers were the chairnian, the Bishop of. Chichester, the Bishop of Oxford, Mr. Roundell Palmer, and Dr. Telf. The association was founded by Miss Gilbert, daughter of the Bishop of Chichestisr, who in youth was deprived of sight. Its object is to find means. ofemploy- ment for poor bhnd -persons, and enable them to gain their living, and enjoy the blessing of labour. The association is fixed in the. Elston Road where the public can inspect the various products 'of-the blind ar- tisans. About silty-seven are employed. They receive the: entire sel- ling ' price of their work, so that purchasers directly benefit the workers. The material is obtained out of the proceeds • of the endow- ment fund mom given by Miss Gilbert) and from aubtteriptions and donations. 'There is a library, a boarding-house, and there is to be a museum. There are, however, ninety applicants for admission, and to admit them funds are required. Any one who will be of the pains to inquire will find 'this' association based and managed- on principles de- serving of support; and experience will show the excellence of the goods which the blind are.abli to produce.

The first annual meeting of the Christian Vernacular Education Society for India was held on Tuesday, Mr. Arthur Kinnaird in the chair. The chairman said that Lord Stanley had declared his intention of pursuing a policy of neutrality in India. Now he hoped the country would dis- tinctly proclaim that such a policy shCuld not have its sanction. The Bishop of Cashel speaking of the society said- -" Its main object is not merely to civilize or ameliorate, but to Christian- ize the 180,000,000 of our fellow count en and fellow subjects in India— to bring to them the comforting and Christianizing influences of the. Divine truth of the Bible. Its next object is to do this through the vernacular language of India, or the mother tongue of the natives. Thai mode of teaching bas been -attended with success in Ireland. Alluding to Lord Stanley's despatch, he said it was an insult to God himself to put a ban upon his Word, but when the people of this country were more disposed to

act on principle and less upon expediency, as he hoped they would be soon, they would insist upon the use of the Bible in the schools of India. Lord Shaftesbury advocated the extensive employment of Native agency in " the great work of Indian evangelization." He was very indignant at the exclusion of the Bible from the schools. "To say that the Bible is a dangerous book, that it will bring hazard to the institutions of the country, anclimpair the rights and liberties of the na- tives, is a gross outrage on common sense, and almost amounts to blas- phemy. Let them, as Christians, declare that they will never rest until that prohibition had been effaced from the decrees of the Government." (Cheers.)

The Reverend Baptist Noel said that the young men educated in the Government schools in India, where the Bible is excluded, no doubt sup- ported us during the insurrection, because they knew if they did not they would run the risk of having their throats cut, but they were the most turbulent, most revolutionary, and most atheistical amongst the natives ; and if the present system triumphed, and he hoped the feeling and principles of this country would never let it do so, it will end in our shameful expulsion froth India.

The Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy is now 205 years old. Its anniversary was kept on Wednesday after the good old fashion a re- ligious service at St. Paul's in the morning attended by the greatest dig- nitaries in the church, and a dinner in Merchant Taylor's Hall, in the evening. During the last year the society has relieved 400 widows, aided 400 maiden daughters, and assisted 200 sons of deceased clergymen.

At the annual dinner of the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, Mr. Hanbury in the chair, on Wednesday, the sum collected for this useful charity was nearly 14001.

The large range of buildings adjoining Colonel Colt's, small arms manufactory, Thames Bank, near Vanvhall Bridge, Pimlico, and lately occupied by Mr. Jay the contractor, in the preparation of the interior fittings for the Houses of Parliament, has been recently converted into Government stores for arms, &c. We may mention further, that the extensive premises of the late Thomas Cubit, in the immediate neighbour- hood, has also been obtained for a manufactory and storage of soldier's wearing apparel. The conversion from a peace aspect to that of war, is complete ; large chain shot being fixed on the posterns of the gates.

The building trades are pursuing their agitation, known as the nine hours' movement. On Wednesday, they held a meeting at Exeter Hall, Mr. Osborne, plasterer, in the 'chair. It was intended as a counter- demonstration to one recently held by the masters, who say that the men do not join the agitation for diminished working hours. The meeting reaffirmed the resolutions in favour of the proposed reduction of time.

. The Court of Probate tried the validity of a will on Saturday made under singular circumstances, by a Mrs. Nicholl of the county. of Carmarthen. Large landed property was settled on this lady at her marriage in 1838. In 1843 she separated from her husband, but in 1852 they were reconciled to each other and lived together until she died at Tenby in 1868. During her illness she showed some signs of a desire to make a will giving all her pro- perty to her husband and revoking a will made in 1838, under which she be- queathed to him 1001. a year and 10001. She wrote, in a barely legible hand, certain directions to that effect, and an attorney drew up a will in accord- dance with the terms of her writing as explained to the dying woman. But when drawn up she refused to sign the will in the presence of the at- torney, and he retired. She afterwards yielded to the persuasions of those about her, especially to the pleading of a dissenting minister, irreverently termed " old Roberts," and too weak to sign without help Roberts guided her hand ;- and a Dr. Sutton affixed a seal to it, although he was not pre- sent when it was witnessed. Roberts afterwards tried to invalidate the will by producing what purported to be a codicil, but he admitted he wrote it himself. There was some evidence that Mrs. Nicholl did not intend to de- vise her land to her husband. The ease was compromised, but the court ex- pressed an opinion adverse to the validity of a will so executed.

Miss Lydia Clapperton, aged forty-two, daughter of a Salisbury book- seller, has .recovered in the Court of Queen's Bench 1001. from Samuel Charleswarth, aged sixty-eight, secretary to the Moorfield's Savings Bank, for breach of a promise to marry the lady.

Sentences against the cheek forgers was delivered on Saturday. Wag- ner, an old ticket-of-leave man, was sentenced to penal servitude for life ; Bateman, twice convicted of felony, to penal servitude for life - Humphreys, penal servitude for twenty years ; Foster and Bramwell, penal servitude for ten years. Mr. Justice Crowder, in passing sentence, hoped that one good effect would arise from the detection of this gang, namely, that bankers would invent some mode of protecting themselves from the devices of those who follow this nefarious trade.

Mr. Commissioner Fonblanque refused on Wednesday to grant certificates to Charles and Edward Schlesinger, two bankrupts, whose conduct in trade went to the verge of crime. They induced Mr. Parfitt, a young man, to enter partnership by false representations, and obtained from his father 50001. The bankrupts now owed 79001. They had wasted Mr. Charles Parfitt's capital, and their property had realized. 1000/., the balance in the hands of the bankers at the time of the bankruptcy being Si. 68. 8d. The partnership drawings were 24001., and the losses by trading, bad debts, and realization 47001. So early as the end of 1856 and the beginning of 1867 the bankrupts were pledging stack; they were defending actions for the mere sake of gaining time ; and from that time they went on from bad to worse, until at length, in November 1857, they failed in their disastrous and, he must add, disreputable career. The Commissioner, asked to give the men protection for three weeks said—" It is a dangerous practice. I do not know how it has crept in. The example in the next court of the case of Hall and Hall, of Boswell Court, who availed themselves of their twenty-one days' protection for the purpose of absconding, is sufficient to warn me of the extreme danger of allowing an hours' protection after an ab- solute refusal."

• " John Brown," lawyer, of Hare Court, Temple, is in custody for striking down two inoffensive and unoftencling persons, a man and woman, with a erieket-bat,. and seriously endangering the life of the woman. The Worship Street Magistrate remanded John Brown and refused bail offered " to any amount.'

William Parker, servant, carried part of a table-spoon to a pawnbroker's and offered it for sale : the pawnbroker expressing a desire to have the other part, Parker set out to fetch it, while the pawnbroker called in a po- liceman. The remaining portion of the spoon bore the crest of the Dowager- Countess of Norbury, and evidence was given tending allow that Parker must have carried off the silver while visiting the Countess's butler. Parker was remanded.

Some inhabitants of Hackney have, through Mr. D'Eyncourt, presented 2/. to constable Jeffries, as a token of their admiration of his gallant conduct in rescuing a whole family from a burning house.

From time to time we have stated the facts.in this case ; but the dull,- • tion of the Wagner gang is an event in the police history of the year, and. the reader may like to see a sketch Of the system invented by the genius who was at its head.. We quote from a clever resum4 in the Times. "There lived an aged man bent with years and infirmities, who had passed his long life in the laborious acquisition of a facility in imitating other men's signatures. The talent had not fructified in his possession ; for we find him living in a miserable lodging and in a single room, always engaged in writing, and by no means in possession of those advantages which so abso- lute a power over the signatures of all the bankers and all the money- dealers of the City of London would appear likely to confer. The talent of Old Kerp was the raw material of Wagner's machinery. There is a sect among the Chinese who make it a religious duty to search for scraps of writing and to consume them by fire, Perhaps the Chinese, who invented everything, have had Wagners among. them, and founded the sect in order to keep down the Wagners, just as mice may be said to be the propagators of the race of cats. But Wagner, at any rate, was industrious in the col- lection of autographs. Wagner was more careful in preserving the letter of his lightest acquaintance than the Countess of Ossory was in laying up a note from Horace Walpole. When Mr. Fellowes, a solicitor, entered into a correspondence with Robert Humphreys as to the terms of a projected leaser Wagner carefully put the letter by ; and when Dr. Jones wrote a note about some equally common subject 'Wagner remarked that it would come in nicely by and by.' These precious signatures and scraps of writing were taken to Kelp, and that industrious old man laboured at them as models until he had acquired the power of perfect imitation. The next and obvious step was to utilize this power by writing a false order for the passbook of the person whose signature was intended to be falsified, for the purpose of knowing for what balance they might safely draw. Then came the engraving of the check, and, as it would not be quite safe to send the blank to Somerset House to be stamped, and as it was as well to avoid even the slight sugges- tion of a suspicion which might possibly arise from the affixing of an adhe- sive stamp, a die of the check stamp was perfected after many trials, end, the instrument being filled up by Kerp, and the signature neatly forged, the fraudulent instrument might be supposed to be complete. A meaner mind would have been satisfied, but not so Wagner. We must suppose that Kerp, although the master penman, and therefore necessary to the work of giving , the true style to the handwriting of the body of the check, had his scholars among Wagner's friends. Why should Wagner throw away any part of the booty upon this old man ? His pupils, Bateman and Chandler, could copy the forgery with sufficient skill, and when the copies had been made Xerp's original forgery was taken back to him with' no effects' written upon it. Thus was the old forger cheated out of all share in the produce of his origi- nal work. The next point, and the most difficult of all, was the realization of the amount. The presentation of the cheek is to the forger what the mo- ment of projection is to the alchymist. It often passed easily and pros- perously; but there are operations which do not become more facile from repetition, and it was necessary not only to provide for the honest division of the proceeds in case of success, but also for the escape of the agent in the the eventuality of failure. When, for instance, the confederates had just obtained 4401. tor a check originally forged by poor Kerp, but copied and presented by Chandler, it was probable that the face of the gentleman who arranged that transaction at the counter would be likely to dwell upon the memory of the cashier. It was easier to produce checks than to find fresh agents to cash them ; and this was the weak point • in Wagner's system. Wagner addressed himself to this difficulty with his accustomed ingenuity. The agent was always provided with proof that he was himself the trusting and innocent victim of some untraceable scoundrel. The preparation' for this purpose was highly artistical. First the intended agent inserted'an advertisement in a newspaper for occupation. - To this advertisement hile- ceived an answer, with an appointment to meet the intended employer a coffee house, or at some suddenly-taken lodging. The agent kept -the ap- pointment, and there was met by the disguised confederate who was to bear the onus of the possible discovery. The meeting was made as publicly as possible, and the endeavour was that the landlord and waiters should be able to swear distinctly to the identity of the agent, but should know no- thing of the disguised confederate. Thus, if the dreaded catastrophe should happen—if the agent should be stopped at the bank, his innocence was evi- dent. He advertised for employment, a sharper answered his advertisement, met him at a coffee-house, and sent him to change the check. The letters, the advertisement, and the perfectly true evidence of the waiters, bear out this tale, the agent goes scot free, and the only result of the failure is the loss of the forged check. Other precautions were of course taken upon the quiz custodiet custodes principle. The agent was to be watched lest he should run off with all the money ; and, as it was better that he should be watched by persons whom he could not identify, he was placed at the corner of a street while those who were to watch him passed among the crowd and made themselves acquainted with his features. This is the Wagner sys- tem as it has just been developed during three days of investigation at the Central Criminal Court. Its theory was perfect, but it slightly failed in practice. The forgeries ought to be as much above suspicion as Cwar's wife ; but the ingenious deception put upon Old Kerp had probably render- ed the imitation less perfect than those his cunning hand prepared. The theory requires that the confederate who acts the swindler at the coffee- house should be untraceable; but Wagner played the part himself, and was traced; and, lastly, the working of all machinery requires coherency of ac- tion and proper test of materials; but Wagner was entrapped by a journey- man baker, whom he had tempted and trusted without sufficient test, and he was denounced by an accomplice. This ingenious man had been work- ing in full security of being in utter darkness, ' when he was all the time living and moving under the bull's-eye of a deteffive policeman. Wagner and Bateman, the two principal authors of this great assault upon all com- mercial confidence, are now sentenced to penal servitude for:life. May 'we promise the bankers and merchants of London that the career of these cri- minals is closed ? It is very difficult to say what the event may be. Both

these men were once before convicted of crimes as grave,as those for which they are now under sentence ; and if their punishment had been carried out the losses they have now occasioned would not have occurred. They were, however, both let out. The usual story was told upon the trial. They re- ceived tickets-of-leave, and armed with the recommendation of the chaplain of the gaol and Colonel Jebb, the Prison Inspector, they were, after a com- paratively short imprisonment, let loose again to seek their prey."

The Coroner's Jury appointed to inquire into the cause of the explosion at the Hounslow powder mills has returned the following vertlict—'9Ve find that the deceased Thomas Albone was killed by injuries indicted in and upon his body by the explosion of a certain large quantity of gunpowder,_at the mills belonging to Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, but by what means the explosion took place there was no sufficient evidence to prove. In return- ing this verdict the jury feel it to be an imperative duty to express their opinion that the works of Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, where the explosion took place have been conducted in an exceedingly loose and dangerous man- ner, and that the safety of the workmen engaged in such establishment and of the public generally requires the immediate enactment of a law for sub- jecting all gunpowder manufacturers to the stringent supervision of Govern- ment inspection and control, with a view to the invariable adoption of the precautions and recommendations similar to those contained in Dr. Thomp son's report. The jury think it right to notice that of late years the works in question have been greatly and, as they believe, unlawfully inereased, and that gunpowder has been kept in such vast quantities as to be attended with danger to the workpeople employed therein as well as to the inhabi- tants of the surrounding neighbourhood."

On Tuesday night, another explosion took place at these powder-mills. Four mills used for grinding the elements of gunpowder blew up, and one man was seriously injured.

The preliminary proceedings of the Coroner with a view to an inquiry into the cause of the fatal accident at the Westminster Palace Hotel, which resulted in the death of five men, and the injuring of many more, began on Saturday, but did not proceed further than the identification of the bodies of the slain.