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The Common Council unanimously resolved, with acclamations, on Thursday, to " petition Parliament to remove the disabilities of the Jews from sitting in the House of Commons."
At a meeting of the Committee of Health appointed by the City Com- mission of Sewers, on Wednesday, a report was read by Mr. Simon, the Public Health Officer, stating that within the last fortnight he has found many reasons for believing that an extensive outbreak of cholerais impend_ Mg. " The steps of its approach are uncertain, depending probably on atmospheric variations which it is impossible to foresee; but there is no reason within my knowledge for indulging a hope that the City will coo_ tinue to be exempt from an epidemic prevalence of the disease." He re- commended that a special staff should be organized at once, with the duty of going from house to house in all the poor courts and alleys in the City, to examine and report on the existence of nuisances. The necessary works of cleaning might thus be effected within the limit of a fortnight, and the most favourable condition that is practicable be secured to meet the dis- ease. After communication with Mr. Daniel Whittle Harvey, the Com- mittee unanimously agreed to employ the Sergeants of Police to collect the necessary information for the ensuing three months; and the Commissioner undertook that the most accurate returns should be made as often as Mr. Simon should consider to be necessary.
Since the opening of the public baths and washhonses in George Street, Euston Square, in 1846, there have been 315,355 bathings, and 537,460 washings of clothes.
A few May meetings have strayed into the month of June: among them, the anniversaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and the first anniversary of the Institution established in July 1848 for training Nurses and Sisters of Charity.
The celebration of the Sisters of Charity Institution took place yesterday week, at 79 Pall Mall, under the presidency of the Bishop of London; some other bish- ops and many clergymen attending. The report of the institution is clearly abridged by the Morning Post, which alone notices the interesting proceedings in any detail. " The plan of the institution is as follows. The governing body consists of a Council of twenty-four members, being donors of thirty guineas, or annual sub- scribers of three guineas, appointed by a general meeting, and acting under the presidency of the diocesan. The immediate direction and personal superintend- ence of the establishment are committed to the Master, (who must be a clew- man of the Church of England, and a marriedman or a widower,) and-to a Lidy Superintendent, assisted by other ladies, her Associates or Sisters, and to two physicians; all of whom must be approved by the President. The Master per- forms the duty of chaplain to the institution, and conducts or directs the religious instruction of the inmates; not being at liberty to undertake any other duties. The Lady Superintendent, with the sanction and support of the Master, regulates all the domestic arrangements and other details of the establishment, including the control of the inmates, and the appointment to their respective-duties. The other members of the institution consist of three classes,—viz. 1. The Sisters are either resident in the establishment, contributing a moderate sum, sufficient to cover their stare of the current expenses, or they live with their friends, or in some private family approved by the Master. In either case, their office is to assist the Master and Lady Superintendent in creating and maintaining a deep though unostentatious spirit of religious responsibility throughout the common family of the establishment as the groundwork of all their proceedings. The ladies will be examples to the two other classes; and, under the direction of the Master, and the parochial ministers, will visit the sick in their homes, or at the hospitals, as may be arranged with the Lady Superintendent, and will take mt in the instruction and training of the probationers. No lady, not being a widow, can be received as a Sister under the age of thirty years, unless with the consent of her parents. The ladies already admitted have entered the establishment without seeking to derive any benefit from it beyond the opportunity which it may afford of satisfying their desire to make themselves useful upon the princi- ples of Christian charity. It is not, however, intended that the absence of inde- pendent pecuniary means should be a bar to the admission of ladies qualified by education and habits to adorn and influence such a society, and to advance the interests of the institution, although not blessed with worldly wealth ; and if any such should be desirous of admission, it is proposed that they should be received when the funds of the institution enable the Council so to extend it. 2. The probationers are young women of the age of eighteen or upwards, to be trained in the institution and in the public hospitals, as opportunity may be afforded, _tin- der the direction of the Lady Superintendent, for two years; at the close of which, if approved, they may become nurses. They are to assist in the work of the house, and to contribute a very moderate sum towards the current expenses; and are to receive board, lodging, and washing in the house, and certain articles of clothing. In special cases they may be admitted without being required to make any payment. 3. The nurses may be admitted after having been probationers, or otherwise, if duly qualified; their duty being to nurse the sick in hospitals and private houses, and when at home to assist in instructing the probationers, as may be required by the Lady Superintendent. They will have their home in the esta- blishment, including board, lodging, and washing, and some clothing, and also a proper allowance of money, which will be increased when they are sent from home on duty. Their engagement is determinable at a month's notice on either side; but they will be expected to continue members of the institution for five years at least, if the Council is willing to retain them so long; and at the expiration of that period they will receive from the Council a certificate of competency and re- spectability, if they are found to deserve it. A site for this institution having been found in a commodious house near the Regent's Park, (No. 36 Fitzroy Senate! in the district of St. John the Evangelist, Pancras,) which has been suite* fitted and furnished, the Council have pleasure in announcing that the establish- ment is now opened, and that the following members have been admitted, viz. one Lady Superintendent, three Sisters, two probationers, and seven nurses. There is room for the admission of another Sister and four more probationers. The nurses already admitted having been selected with great care, four of them are out on duty, and others will be admitted until the full number of twenty is completed. The Council having proceeded thus far in carrying out the views of the subscribers, entertain a confident hope that the funds of the institution will be increased so as to enable them to complete the same effectively. They ex- pect that the income contributed by the resident members, and the fees to be received for the nurses' services, when the proposed number shall be complete, will defray the whole of their current expenses except rent and taxes and the Master's salary ; but these last-mentioned items, together witb incidental charges, will amount to about 4001., to be provides from the annual subscriptions, which as yet are far from reaching that sum."
On the day following the annual general meeting of the National Society held on the 7th instant, a meeting, which was attended by a large number of distinguished persons interested in the cause of Church education, was convened. The Reverend Dr. Spry, of Marylebone, presided; and this re- solution was passed- " That a Committee be appointed to consider the course of any correspondence which may hereafter take place between the Committee of Privy Council on Edu- cation and that of the National Society, and to deliberate upon each measures as may seem desirable to be adopted in consequence, and to take steps to call a pub- lic meeting on the subject if necessary." The following gentlemen, among others, consented to at on the Committee— Earl Nelson, Viscount Camden, Viscount Fielding, M.P., Mr. Haggitt, M.P., Mr.
A. J. B. Hope, Captain Moorsom, Sergeant Mereweather, the Venerable Archdeacon Thorp, the Reverend G. A. Denison, the Reverend J. ICeble, Mr. G. Frere, Mr. Henry Hoare, and Mr. J. R. Kenyon. The Reverend William Scott, KA., incumbent of Christ Church, Heaton, consented to act as honorary secretary.
The charitable rem of national games by the Scottish Society of Lon- don, in Lord Holland's park at Kensington, was given on Wednesday and Thursday, with great success. The Dutchess of Montrose, the Countess of Jersey, and many of the young beauties of the female nobility, gave brilliancy to the assemblage. The Marquis of Breadalbane, the Marquis of Abercorn, the Marquis of Huntley, Earl Verulam, Lord Exmouth, Lord Castlereagh, and Lord Chelsea, Mr. Fox Mettle, the Chisholm, Cluny Macpherson, Macalister of Macalister, and Mr. Mackay of Airsaig, were among the gentlemen. A concourse of some thousand middle-class spec- tators was found to take enough interest to pay for entrance into the grounds. The games wore those of archery, throwing the hammer, put- ting the stone, and running races, broadsword, sword dances, &c.
The proceedings obtained a sudden and unexpected eclat on Thursday by a visit from the Queen, Prince Albert, and three of their children, and by the attendance of the Dake of Wellington. The races and feats of hammer-throwing and atone-putting were won by the Highlanders, of course; but in the competition of sword play and archery the Southrons of the Guards and of the English archery companies were the victors. The Queen staid two hours; and Prince Albert subscribed 501.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Saturday, William Jackson, a man with half-a-dozen aliases, was tried for a burglary at St. Pancras Workhouse, and stealing 201 in gold and 1551. in silver. The prisoner was supported on crutches. Jackson is the man who was found within the railings of the workhouse, with his -leg broken: a person passing helped him over the railings, and put him into a cab: Jackson then felt bulky and heavy. After he was placed in the cab, he went to several places, and saw people before he was conveyed to the hospital: if he stole the money, he must have passed it to these people, as it was not found upon him. He had been in the hospital for some time before suspicion accident- ally fell upon him, in consequence of his connexion with a woman who attempted to steal a banker's parcel from the Cross Keys in St. John's Street. His counsel contended that the case against Jackson was merely one of suspicion. The Jury thought otherwise, and convicted him. Sentence, ten years' transportation.
On Monday last, James Winch was convicted of publishing a libel on the Re- verend Robert Liddell, the Vicar of Barking. Winch kept a shop at Barking ; there be sold a publication called " Sam Sly, or the Town," in which Mr. Liddell was accused of an improper intimacy with his cook; and even after being warned not to continue the sale of the periodical, Winch persisted. In the course of the trial, Mr. Liddell himself was examined: he stated that he had been married thirteen years, had four children, and had been Vicar of Barking for many years; he utterly denied the story about the cook. The prisoner urged in defence, that he sold the -publication to get a living, and knew nothing of its contents. The prosecutor recommended him to mercy on this ground. The Recorder observed, that a highwayman might make the same excuse; and he sentenced the culprit to be imprisoned for six months.
Caffyn, a publisher in the Commercial Road, Tredgold, and Smith, were then tried for publishing the same libel. They pleaded" Guilty." Their counsel said, Caffyn had certainly published the libel, but as soon as he was aware that there was anything wrong in the periodical he ceased to sell it: the counsel believed that the result of this prosecution had been the entire suppression of the paper. Smith was a shopman, and Tredgold an apprentice. When the Recorder re- marked that it was most desirable that the law should reach the real authors of such atrocious calumnies, and that Caffyn made no attempt at reparation by giving up the name of the anther, that defendant said he could not, as the com- munications to " Sam Sly " were all anonymous. Then, said the Recorder, if a man assisted others to stab people in the dark, he must take the consequences on himself. Mr. Watkins, the parish-clerk of Barking, said his daughter's character bad been grossly attacked in the paper; when .one Nash had desisted from selling it at Barking, Smith opened a shop for the purpose. Caffyn was sentenced to pay a fine of 101., to be imprisoned for six months, and then to enter into his own recog- nizances to keep the peace for three years; Smith's punishment was the same minus the fine; and Tredgold was discharged on his own recognizances. Mr. Bingham, the Marlborough Street Magistrate, dealt out "even-handed justice" to three culprits on Tuesday. A gentleman, said to be a colonel of militia, a cabman, and a labourer, were successively brought before the Magistrate, on different charges of assaulting the Police: the gentleman was penitent, and pleaded " too much wine." Each offender was sent to prison for seven days. The gentleman's friends afterwards applied for the substitution of a fine for the im- prisonment; but in vain: Mr. Bingham said he had sent two poor men to prison, and the gentleman must be treated in the same way.
At Southwark Police-office, last week, Sarah Potter, a poor woman in her seventieth year, was twice examined on a charge of attempting to drown herself. She descended some steps at Southwark Bridge, and plunged into the river; the mate of a collier saw this, and he put off in a boat and saved her. The poor woman pleaded, before the Magistrate, that she bad been impelled by distress: the relieving-officers of both St. George's and St.. Saviour's had latterly refused to give her any aid, though she had been born in St. Saviour's, and had lived in the other parish, and had even been an inmate of its workhouse: the officers had bandied her from one parish to the other, on the ground of the discrepancy be- tween her place of birth and that where she had been relieved. The officers ad- mitted to the Magistrate that this was true. Mr. Cottingham indignantly com- mented on the cruelty with which the woman had been treated. He directed that she should be taken care of till the parish-officers received her.
The premises of Messrs. Gordon and Godfrey, ship joiners and carpenters, near High Street, Wapping, were burnt down on Saturday night. On Monday, Jona- than Clark and Walter his son were charged, at the Thames Police-office, with having wilfully caused the fire. The Clarks occupied the lower part of the build- ing as biscuit-bakers; in consequence, the fire-offices refused to insure Messrs. Gordon and Godfrey's property ; the latter attempted to get rid of the Clarks, but they world not go; an appeal to a Magistrate had been unsuccessful, and proceedings had been commenced in the County Court. A few weeks ago there was a fire in the bakehouse. When the alarm was given on Saturday night, Mr. Gordon broke open the bakehouse-door, and saw what be took to be signs that the fire had been wilfully produced. Mr. Gordon and his partner had been rained by the fire. The elder Clark had been heard to say that he knew who set the place on fire. The Magistrate thought the evidence was slight, but held the accused to bail to appear again. On Tuesday, the additional evidence did not strengthen the case, but the suspected persons were still held to bail.
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