gbe IfIttropolis.

The Lord Mayor gave a grand entertainment, in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansionhouse, on Monday, to about three hundred guests; among Whom were Lord Stanley, Mr. Goulburn, the Earl of Lincoln, the Bishop of Llandaff, the Bishop of Peterborough, Mr. Baron Rolfe, Sir Henry Pot- tinger, and the Chevalier Bunsen, the Prussian Minister. There was little to notice in the speeches. Returning thanks on behalf of "the Foreign Ministers resident in this country," the Chevalier Bunsen expatiated on the blessings of peace; remarking, that while England maintained her pre- sent firm position in opposition to hostile movements, it was impossible for any nation in Europe to disturb the present amicable state of affairs. Lord Stanley expressed his concurrence in these sentiments—

Considering the matter in this light, her Majesty's Government had felt it their drity, whenever a difference of opinion arose with a foreign power, not weakly to yield to the demands of that power, but to ask for those explanations which by the nature of the case could be given; and it had not oecurred in any of those cases that they had occasion to desire to seek other means of obtaining what was their due. Having alluded to the fiscal reforms effected by Ministers, and to the equalization of revenue and expenditure, Lord Stanley added, that Ministers, after the success which had attended them in this matter, felt with pleasure, that if at any period, however near, they should be superseded in their official position, they Ind laid. the foundation for a permanent peace, which no country in Europe would heedlessly dare to interrupt. Referring to the absence of some of the Ministers, Lord Stanley said that the Duke of Wellington had been obliged, by the in- firmities which age brought upon him, to go into the country during the vacation: but he was happy to say, and he thanked God for being able to say it, that the infirmities of the body were not accompanied by any diminution of the mental factatias• A numerous body of delegates from the various trades met together on Monday afternoon, at the Parthenium Club-rooms, St. Martin's Lane, to form an Association for their mutual protection. Mr. Thomas Duncombe, M.P., was called to the chair, and opened the proceedings by reading an address.

He approved of the determination to exclude political topics; but expressed his conviction that the day would arrive when the English mind should see that "a fair day's wages for a fair day's work" could only be achieved through a fair re- presentation in Parliament of those seeking their just rights. He understood that to be a national body; and he must therefore presume that one of their main objects would be the establishment of some permanent machinery for the regula-

tion of trades matters and trades strikes • that that body should be legally con- stituted, with power vested in its members to hear all matters connected with

trades business; and in all cases where the rights of any one trade were threat- ened or invaded, that that trade, if a strike should be sanctioned by the governing body, should be sustained, upheld, and supported during the struggle, however long it might continue; the terms to be submitted to and agreed upon by a ma- jority of the governing body. He thought that such a plan would divest a strike of that local and personal feeling which was in general attributed to prime movers,

and would give protection to those who, if struggling alone must necessarily be subject to all those disadvantages which unprotected poverty experienced in its struggle with protected wealth. On the conclusion of the Chairman's address, Mr. Barrett, the Secretary, read the report of a Committee, which declared such an organization to be

necessary, in order to resist oppression from any legislative enactment, and also to promote that good understanding between employers and employed which was the main object of the conference. The Association was for- mally constituted; a Committee and Sub-Committee being elected to make further arrangements.

A numerous meeting of Spitalfields broad silk hand-loom weavers was held at the Crown and Anchor, Waterloo Town Bethnal Green, on Saturday, to receive the report of a deputation who had waited on the Earl of Dalhousie, President of the Board of Trade, on the previous Wednesday. The deputation comprised delegates from Macclesfield, Leigh, Carlisle, Wigan, and other places; and they were accompanied by Mr. Brocklehurst, M.P., and Mr. Aglionby, M.P. Mr. Sherrard, the Secretary to the Union of the Broad Silk Hand-loom Weavers, set forth the grievances of his clients. The weavers labour under greatly-depressed wages, made worse by ine- quality,—showing a variation of 25 or 40 per cent in the payments of different masters,—and by the practice of " abatements " for faults in work and the like, which have been known to cause a deduction of 451. from 2601. wages. Lord Dalhousie having said that he had heard of great want of trade in Lancashire, Mr. Brocklehurst replied, that the true reason of the distress was the importation of foreign-wrought silks. The sum of 280,0001. was paid upon silks coming through the Customhouse. The Earl of Dalhousie said he was afraid that more came into the country in another way. Mr. Brocklehurst replied, that he thought not. If smug- gling was carried on to any extent, they would be hearing of some great seizures, as in the case of tobacco and brandy. It was his opinion that if there were some responsible Minister at the head of the Customs, similar to the appointment of Lord Lonsdale at the Post-office, smuggling would be put an end to. The delegates urged upon Government the propriety of establish- ing local Boards of Trade, for the regulation of the scale of wages; which, they observed, would altogether do away with strikes; and that was con- sidered most desirable. Lord Dalhousie assured the deputation their case should receive the serious consideration of the Government. Government had in contemplation some alteration in the Arbitration-law; but they had been waiting for the report of the Commission on Framework-knitters, whose distressed condition was nearly similar to that of the hand-loom weavers. That report had been received, and was now under the consideration of the Government. He wished it to be distinctly understood, that neither he nor the Government pledged themselves to any specific plan; but if any practical remedy could be applied to amend their distressed condition, he was sure the Government would most gladly adopt it.

The Times reports a meeting of domestic servants, which was held at Hampstead on the 1st instant, to take steps for obtaining a provision for aged servants. The Reverend Thomas Ainger, the Incumbent, occupied the chair. Mr. J. J. Beanham, a servant, proposed a petition to Parlia- ment, stating the impracticability of forming an effective association among the servants themselves, and suggesting a compulsory means of obtaining contributions—masters to deduct 6d. in the pound from the yearly wages of servants, and to pay the amount to Government, with the Assessed Taxes; the proceeds to be expended in erecting asylums throughout the kingdom, supporting schools, and relieving aged or disabled members of the body, under divers restrictions. According to the petition in one or more of the German States such institutions exist, and have succeeded. However, a Committee of gentlemen was appointed to consider ulterior measures.

A meeting of the medical practitioners of the Metropolis was held in the large concert-room of the Princess's Theatre, on Wednesday, to consider the course adopted by the National Association of General Practitioners, in opposing Sir James Graham's Medical Reform BilL Mr. H. B. Hillier, of Finsbury, was called to the chair. The Association comprises 4,000 mem- bers, audit has a Committee of 71 members: the Association was charged with excluding Mr. Wakley from the Committee, and the Committee was charged with declaring itself permanent: resolutions were moved condemn- ing such conduct. Mr. Brett and Mr. Hiles defended the Association, and accused those who had promoted the present meeting of attempting to sow dissension; Mr. Brett moving an amendment to adjourn the meeting sine die. Mr. Wakley was present, and active in opposing the Association; but, to show that he was not personally interested, as some might imagine, he declared that he never would take office in any new college of general practitioners for which a charter might be obtained. The original resolu- tion was adopted, and a deputation was appointed to wait upon the Com- mittee of the Association at the next meeting.

The cold weather ceased just in time for the Easter holyday-making; but the disagreeable incidents of a thaw seem to have somewhat abridged the mere pleasure-excursions out of town, especially on Sunday, when there was a good deal of rain. Tlie set enterprises, however, attracted many adventurers. Stepney fair, which occupied two large fields' and fully sup- ported its newly-restored fame, was visited by no fewer than 200,000 per- sons on Monday. One feature of the fair was the great "Crown and Anchor" booth, in which two hundred couples danced the Polka. Some gambling-tables made their appearance, but were seized and broken up by the Police. The damp kept promenaders out of Greenwich Park; but some 12,000 persons went down to the fair by the railway, 30,000 by the Watermen's steamers, and as many by other boats. The fancy-fair was continued in the Thames TunneL Cheap excursion-trains conveyed 8,000 passengers to Dover and Brighton.

The British Museum, the National Gallery, and other exhibitions in Lon- don, had their share of visiters.

Two bad accidents happened at Stepney fair. While a man was attending a circular swing, on Monday night, the handle of a large fly-wheel suddenly re- volved and struck him, throwing lihn from the platform on which he stood, which was twenty feet high, to the ground: he fell on his head, and was killed almost instantly. Another man was injured by a similar accident on the following day. He is in a dangerous state. The last disaster is said to have been caused by the misconduct of another workman, who is in custody.

The contest in the parish of St. Stephen's Walbrook continues. A Vestry-meeting :having been called by the elected Churchwardens' Mr. Michael Gibbs (the Lord Mayor) and Mr.Thomas Whittaker, the " perpetual "Churchwardens, issued a notice calling another meeting for Tuesday. Dr. Croly, the Rector, put forth a protest against this second notice, as having been issued without his sanction, which is necessary to give it legal validity. Notwithstanding this protest, Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Wluttaker presented themselves in the Vestry-room on Tuesday morning. The Rector also attended, and once more declared that the meeting was held without his consent, and was therefore illegal. Mr. Gibbs, without adverting to this protest, demanded that all persons not members of the Select Vestry should retire; which the parishioners present declined to do. Mr. Thomas Whit- taker then said, "I move that the Select Vestry do adjourn to the Lord Mayor's

• ate residence, 33, Walbrook": Mr. Eddison seconded the motion; Mr. Gibbs declared the motion carried; and they left the Vestry-room. Mr. Whittaker re- turned to" invite the Rector to follow them." To which the Rector replied, "I invite you, Sir, to stay here and do your duty." Thus ended the meeting.

The meeting authenticated by the consent of the Rector was held on Thursday; when Messrs. Flight and Rock were reelected Churchwardens. Mr. Rock was ab- sent; but Mr. Flight reported the result of some further scrutiny of Mr. Church- warden Gibbs's accounts: for instance, under his administration, the payment for the poor increased at so great a rate, that in 1828 it was 8601., m a pansh of • houses; and Mr. Gibbs was charged with letting a house belonging to the paris at 381. a year, to Mr. Field, one of his supporters, then:h the house was worth 901. ale,ar. Divers delays in the legal proceedings were also reported; and the Vestry adjourned to the 9th May.

The Diocesan inquiry into the charges of immoral conduct, against the Honour- able and Reverend Frederick Smith Monckton, Perpetual Curate of St. Peter's Church, West Hackney, was resumed on Thursday; when the evidence in sup- port of the accusation closed. It was of the same termer as that previously given; but rather modified by the cross-examination of some of the witnesses. Miss S. S. Tennent, a lady who lives opposite to the parsonage, bad heard the reports against Mr. Monckton, and thought that the servant-girls "dressed too fine," but never observed anything improper. Mrs. Williams, the School-matron, (a principal witness against the Curate,) appeared to be a scandalous. gossip, and the witness would place no reliance upon her. Mr. Patient, the minister's Churchwarden admitted that Mr. Monckton was unguarded and frolicsome, but never saw anything approaching to indelicacy in his conduct. Williams, the master of the School had been belundhand in rendering accounts of some money that he had received, and Mr. Monckton supported a motion that he should be required to give security. Williams's conduct to Mr. Monckton was generally impertinent and offensive; he appeared to entertain a malignant feeling towards the Curate; and the witness considered him so utterly untrustworthy that he would not be- lieve him—not even upon oath. The case for the defence Was opened yesterday, with a speech by Mr. Warren, counsel for the Curate; who entirely denied all the charges against his client, treating them as fabrications got up by Williams and his wife. He showed that Mr. Monckton had courted inquiry; which would have been madness had he not been conscious of innocence. It was admitted that sometimes Mr. Monckton re- mined in the kitchen, when his shoes were dirty with gardening; but he did not dine with the servants. He ha:Tlylleguip a local custom which he learned in Northumberland, of giving me a to his servants on Christmas and New Year's days. He smoked, but only for a phthisical tendency, to which his family were subject. Evidence in exculpation was adduced. Viscount Galway, the Curate's brother, deposed to the general decorum of the reverend gentleman's behaviour. Mr. James Edward Mathew, a surgeon and the medical attendant in Mr. Monckton's family, entered into several particulars respecting his attendance on Sarah Huggins. The general effect of his evidence was, that Mr. Monckton was not unduly familiar with his servants; that he was not aware of Sarah's pregnancy, until it was discovered and mentioned to him by Mr. Mathew, when he seemed perfectly astonished; that he would have sent her away at once, had not the surgeon dwiard that removal would be injurious to her; and that he took her back after her confinement from purely kind and charitable motives. Sarah tHuggins was herself sworn and examined. She altogether contra- dicted the evidence given by Mrs. Williams and her husband as to Mr. Monckton's indecorous behaviour to his servants; totally denying all im- proper familiarity whatever on her master's part. She accused Mrs. Williams herself of singing indecent songs, while Mr. Monckton was away. Fanny Fronde was dirty and dishonest, and had been discharged on the witness's complaint Sarah admitted that she had had twins; but she emphatically declared that Mr. Monckton was not the father: she was bound by an oath not to divulge the real father's name. When Mr. Monckton visited her at Gravesend it was at her repeated and urgent request; he came as a clergyman, and his conversation was entirely spiritual. She never called him her brother. The inquiry was again adjourned.

At Kingston Assizes, on Thursday, the Times appeared, by its publisher, Mr. Lawson, as defendant in an action for libel, brought y Mr. Solomon, a merchant of St. Helena. Mr. Solomon is the owner of a sloop which is fitted up as a tank, and used to convey water on board vessels that stop at the island; an employ- ment in which it has returned some 16,0001. a -year to its owner. In August 1844, the Moffatt East Indiaman called at St. Helena, on the homeward voyage, and took in water. Captain Gilbert, the commander, and some other persons be- longing to the ship, were subsequently indisposed, but not seriously: greater sick- ness, however, appeared among the passengers, officers from Scinde, whose symp- toms were pronounced by Mr. Green, the acting surgeon, to be those of persons who had taken some metallic poison. A letter imputing the malady to poisoned water appeared in the Times; that journal refused to disclose the author of the letter to Mr. Solomon's commercial friends, and the charges were even repeated. It now appeared, that the first letter was written by a Mr. Howell, two of whose friends had suffered from illness on board. Mr. Howell had been a bankrupt, and could not stand the expense of an action. Counsel for the plaintiff elicited ample evi deuce, that the sloop was fitted with wooden tanks destitute of any copper or other poisonous metal; that the officers had suffered from fever in Scinde ; that one of them had been on board a vessel containing Negro apprentices, ceased by the Moffatt on the voyage after leaving St. Helena, (which might have been the means of imparting some infection); that calomel had been freely administered to the patients; and Mr. Green himself admitted that the symptoms resembled such as might be produced by over-doses of that drug. The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—damages 5001.

Elizabeth Palmer, the widow who stole a piece of beef from a shop at Horton was convicted of that offence, at the Middlesex Sessions, on Tuesday. It appears, that so far from being a "lady-thief;" the culprit is m very distressed circum- stances; and it is averred that she was prompted by her poverty. Until the present time she had borne a good character. Her sentence was deferred, in order that inquiries might be made regarding her situation; and on Thursday she was ordered to be imprisoned for three months. In passing sentence, Mr. Sergeant Adams, the Assistant-Judge, said he had learnt she was dependent on a son, a mechanic, for support; and he condemned the practice of "dressing up" Police reports, as in this ease.

Mrs. Catherine Perry, a respectable-1 doing young W0111$111 was charged at Worship Street Police-office, on Monday, with stealing a pair of boots from a shop at Whitechapel. The boots were missed after she left the shop, and when stopped in the street they were found suspended over her arm, beneath her shawl. Mrs. Perry declared she was " unconscious " of having them; and Mr. Hobler made a defence for her to the same purport—it was a mistake or an accident. She was committed for trial, but bail was taken for her appearance—two sureties of forty pounds each.

George May, the shopman to the late Mr. Montague of Camberwell, who was charged with embezzling monies belonging to his master, has been discharged from custody by the Magistrate at Lambeth Police-office; as he did not consider the evidence sufficiently strong to warrant a commitment A bill of indictment has been found at the Middlesex Sessions against a num- ber of persons connected with the Spafields grave-yard, for malpractices carried di there.

The exposure of the abominations of the Spafields burial-ground has not been without its effect, the number of interments having greatly decreased: on the four last Sundays they were respectively four, five, two, and four; while the former average of Sunday burials was twenty, and on February 23d no fewer than twenty-seven bodies were interred.

James Tapping, the young man who shot Emma Whiter at Bethnal Green, was hanged on Monday morning, in front of Newgate. That day being a holyday, a vast concourse of people was expected; but the crowd, on the contrary, was smaller than usual. Before ascending the scaffold, the prisoner made no con- fession, though he repeatedly exclaimed, "I hope God will forgive me!" At the execution be behaved with great firmness- and on the scaffold he bowed three times to the people, who cheered and clapped their hands. He then said to the Chaplain, "I acknowledge the justice of my sentence." He died without a strug- gle. Mr. Davis, the Chaplain, has declared his belief that Tapping was a humane and well-disposed man, but the victim of violent passions. Anonymous letters had been written to him and to Whiter, which produced an ill-feeling.

Two pickpockets were committed, from Guildhall Police-office, for pursuing their vocation at the foot of the gallows.

The Coroner's inquest on four more of the men killed by the explosion at Messrs. Samuda's factory has resulted in a verdict similar to that which they gave with regard to Wright—namely, "Manslaughter," against Lowe. They also handed this declaration to the Coroner—" The Jury cannot close this investigation without expressing their opinion, that the application of low-pressure boilers to high-pres- sure purposes is highly dangerous, and ought to be prohibited by law. And they are further of opinion, that the important facts elicited in this inquiry should be laid before her Majesty's Government, in the hope that some legislative enactment may be adopted, Whereby, if possible, to prevent that fearful destruction of human life which arises under the present imperfect system."

The inquest on the body of an apprentice to a Barking smack owner, after long adjournments, concluded this week; when a verdict was returned, "That the de- ceased, Joseph Morgan died in consequence of having been most inhumanly ex-

posed to wet and cold, Morgan, want of proper care and attention; and also froth the want of the proper necessaries of life, While on board the Gem fishing-smack, sailing to the coast of Holland." Smith, the owner of the smack, and Howe, the master, were lectured by the Coroner on the shameful manner in which they had treated the deceased and other boys.

Hannah Levy, a_eoung woman in her twenty-second year, living in Weymouth Street, New Kent Road, has been accidentally poisoned by swallowing prussic acid. Two bottles of medicine were sent to her by a druggist; the labels of the two were misplaced; and the girl poisoned herself by drinking in wrong quantities a medi clue containing the acid. A verdict of" Accidental death" has been returned by a Coroner's Jury.

A young man and a girl thirteen years old were burnt to death, on Saturday afternoon, by a fire which occurred at Messrs. Robson and Higham's signal-light manufactory, in Commercial Road, Limehouse. By some means really unknown, though conjectured to be an accidental fall while the deceased girl was handling it, a blue light ignited, and in a few moments the whole place' a long shed, was blazing fiercely; loud explosions accompanying the flames, for there were several gross of rockets and red and blue lights on the premises. Six people were at work at the time; the two who perished, and four others, who had great difficult's, in escaping. A Coroner's Jury have returned a verdict of "Accidental death."

A pauper who died lately in St Martin's Workhouse left considerable property, and bequeathed 2001. to the parish-officers. The Guardians have applied the money to the relief of the poor.

The fountains in Trafalgar Square have been set to work experimentally. When all the arrangements are completed, they are to play for ten hours each day; such being the contract with the engineers of the works. The cistern from which they are supplied, at the top of the engine-house in Orange Street, bolds 37,000 gallons of water' and the higher main at the top of the tower, for the sup- ply of the Govermaent offices, about 20,000 gallons.

The opening of the weather has given an impulse to the operations for making Victoria Park; and a great many additional hands have been put on, to com- mence laying out the plantations.