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The Bishop of Llandaff has given importance by his notice to a small complaint made by a correspondent of the Times, who signed himself "Presbyter." The statement was this- " A few weeks ago, (and the scene, it is believed, is almost every Sunday repeated,) a person Who had been .present at prayers, seeing the table spread for the holy communion, remained, in the hope of partaking of that holiest ordi- nance of our religion. The clergy, however, headed by the Dean, retired; and while he was waiting, under the impression that they would speedily return to commence the service, the Verger came to him, and civilly suggested that he should retire, as otherwise, he said, some clergyman would be under the neces- sity of returning to perform the sacred office. Not, indeed, that the Bishop or any of the superior clergy would have troubled themselves in the matter; but some ill-paid and bard-working Minor Canon must have reluctantly remained. Under these circumstances, our clergyman went sorrowing away." This statement, the Bishop, as Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, posi- tively denies ; and he calls upon the Times to give up its authority. He also cites the testimony of the Warden of the College of Minor Canons, who, in a letter to the Dean, says he feels it his duty to assure his Lord- ship, " that the order of Chapter, requiring the Minor Canon in waiting to remain in the choir on Sunday mornings after divine service, till it is ascertained whether a sufficient number of communicants remain for the administration of the sacrament, is and has been strictly complied with ; and to repudiate in the strongest terms, on the part of the body to which I belong, the insinuation that our duties in the Cathedral are reluctantly performed." Four Vergers also aver, in a letter to the Bishop, that no such declaration as that contained in Presbyter's letter was ever made by them to any individual, on any occasion whatever. The Times polite out the limitation in the Warden's statement, that the Minor Canon always waits to see if there are a sufficient number of communi- cants—" We have only to suppose that, upon the occasion to which our correspondent refers, the sufficient number was not present ; and it would then seem, that the verger was only acting upon ' the order of Chapter' in requesting him to withdraw." The Times only wished to draw the attention of the Dean to an apparent abuse. There is a second batch of correspondence in the Times. The Bishop now flatly contradicts the allegation of " Presbyter," which he says is " utterly groundless "; and he calls for the accuser's name. " Pres- byter ' declines to give it, because malicious motives are imputed to him ; but he sticks to his tale.
There was a meeting of the Voluntary Church Association on Wed- nesday, at the Congregational Library, Bloomfield Street, Moorfields; Sir Culling Eardlj Smith in the chair. Dr. Liefchild stated, that the principal object of the meeting was to take leave of Sir Culling, on his departure for an extensive tour, especially in Syria and Jerusalem, to obtain information on the moral and ecclesiastical condition of those parts of the world; the mission being undertaken mainly in reference to the cause of Voluntary churches. Sir Culling alluded to the sending of Bishops to the West Indies, Australia, and the Mediterranean, as evidence of an increased movement among the advocates of doctrines and ceremonies, the result of desperation ; and to Noaintrusion in Scotland, efforts to throw off the yoke of Popery in Spain, and discussion of separating Church and State in Geneva, as proving the progress of opinion respecting Voluntary churches. He recommended a union of all classes of Christians as a means of overthrowing every false eccle- siastical system. Thanks were voted to the Chairman for his services in the Voluntary Church cause ; he returned thanks ; and the meeting broke up.
At a meeting of Middlesex Magistrates, on Thursday, application was made for a music and dancing licence for the Hall of the National Associati in, in High Holborn ; the petition being preferred by William Lovett, Richard Moore, Henry Hetherington, and Benjamin Huggett junior. The petition was resisted, mainly on two grounds,—the fact that the four applicants had no control over the use of the hall ; and their well-known political opinions : and ultimately the petition waere- fend. In a previous discussion on another petition, Mr. Sergeant Adams strongly urged the necessity of satisfying the growing demand among the working-classes for intellectual amusements ; and he pointed to the establishment of a place such as Wornum's Music Hall, apart from public. houses, as a useful thing.
A strange inquiry closed at the Female Charity School-house of St. Pancras on Tuesday, after four days' investigation. It was instituted by Mr. Tremenheere and Mr. Twisselton, under instructions from the Poor-law Commissioners, ostensibly to ascertain the mode of education and religious instruction afforded to the pauper children in the parish ; but virtually it was an inquiry into certain allegations against Mr. Wil- liams, a Vestryman, better known as the " Publicola ' of the Weekly Dispatch. Those allegations were set forth in the evidence of the Reverend Mr. Austin, of Kentish Town, who had been invited to conduct an examination of the children on the 11th of August ; and of the Master of the school. On their showing, Mr. Williams in- terfered in the examination in such a way as to throw discredit on religion and the teachers. For example, be exclaimed, " I think we have bad (or have heard) quite enough of Christ and humility, and such humbug! " He desired that the 26th verse of the 14th chapter of St. Luke should be read—" If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my- disciple; "—and then pointed out to the children that it inculcated the doctrine of hatred. He told them to " suppose a father were ordered to put his child to death." He made them read contradictory texts,—such as, "The Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron " ; and "With God all things are possible." He asked the children to explain the terms "latitude " and " longitude "; and when Dr. Stebbing suggested that they should be provided with John- son's Dictionary, he ridiculed the teaching of geography from Johnson. When he left the room, he said, " I do thank God that religions in. struction, at least in this parish, is at its minimnn." Dr. Stebbing, however, who acts gratuitously as Chaplain to the School, materially qualified the account of Mr. Williams's proceedings, and exculpated him from the charge of bringing religion into ridicule : he seemed over- critical and severe in his examination, and his manner appeared that of a sectarian or separatist. Mr. Williams himself not only denied the intention imputed, but the utterance of the more offensive expressions ; and he justified some parts of the examination : for example, when he examined the children as to latitude and longitude, he had been told that sometimes the boys were put to sea. Incidentally, evidence was offered as to the efficiency of the school, which its defenders de- clared to be of the average rate in such institutions. The children read in Mrs. Trimmer's abridgment of the Bible, and they learn writing and the simpler rules of arithmetic. The punishment is mo- derate, corporal punishment being seldom used ; and the conduct of the children is generally good.
Messrs. Tremenheere and Twisselton went to the school on Wed- nesday morning, and examined the children themselves. Upon the whole, the examination seems to have been rather creditable to the humble pretensions of the school. The most interesting point was the remark by Mr. Twisselton, that out of the number of persons who had made application to the Poor-law Commissioners for situations as mas- ters of pauper schools, there had been fifteen who knew less than some of the boys that day under examination.
A meeting of female Chartists was held on Monday, at the National Charter Association Hall in the Old Bailey, to form a female Chartist Association to cooperate with the original Society. On the motion of Miss Susanna Inge, seconded by Mrs. Wyatt, Mr. Carey was called to the chair. A Mr. Cohen created some dissatisfaction by speaking against the interposition of women in political affairs : he "put it to the mothers present, whether they did not find themselves more happy in the peacefulness and usefulness of the domestic hearth, than in coming forth in public and aspiring after political rights ?" Miss Inge asked Mr. Cohen, did he not consider women qualified to fill public offices ? it did not require much " physical force " to vote I Mr. Cohen replied with an argumentum adfarninam- He would, with all humility and respect, ask the young lady, what sort of office she would aspire to fill? (" Order, order ! ") If she would fill one, she would fill all ? He was not going to treat the question with ridicule. ("Hear, hear! ") But he would ask her to suppose herself in the House of Commons as Member for a Parliamentary borough, and that a young gentleman, a lover in that House, were to try to influence her vote through his sway over her affection : bow would sbe act ? whether, in other words, she could resist, and might not lose sight of the public interests? (" Order, order! ") He wished to be in order. He was for maintaining the social rights of women : political rights, such as he understood that meeting to aspire to, she could never, in his opinion, attain.
This drew forth an energetic speech from Miss Mary Anne Walker: she "repudiated, with indignation, the insinuation, that if women were in Parliament, any man, be he husband or be he lover, would dare be so base a scoundrel as to attempt to sway her from the strict line of duty." Miss Walker was much applauded ; and after the business of the even- ing she received the thanks of the meeting.
At Marylebone Police-office, on Saturday, Alice Lowe was finally examined on a charge of stealing jewellery at the house of Lord Frank- fort, in Southwick Crescent, Hyde Park. It was observed that Lord Frankfort did not sit on the bench, as he did at the previous examina- tions, but stood behind the Magistrate, as if desirous to avoid the gaze of the bystanders. The prisoner declared that the whole of the things were given to her by Lord Frankfort, in order to induce her to live with him. On the application of her attorney, a gold watch, some jewellery, and some cash were given up to her, no opposition being made on the part of the prosecution. She was committed for trial at the next sitting of the Central Criminal Court.
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