3ittruppli».

A deputation from the Metropolitan Sanitary Association had an inter- view with Lord John Russell, at the Treasury, on Monday, to present a memorial calling his Lordship's attention to the continuance of intra- mural burial, notwithstanding the existence for more than fifteen months of a law, passed by unusual majorities, empowering the Government to put a stop to the practice and its attendant evils. The Bishop of London headed the deputation ; and on their being introduced to Lord John Russell, they found that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would assist in the reception. The Bishop of London was chief spokesman. A bill had been prepared by the General Board of Health, with, it was understood, the concurrence of the Government, and that bill received the sanction of Parliament in the session before last; but though it has been in force as a statute for about fifteen months nothing whatever has re- sulted from it. It appears that the Board of Health has not the powers requisite to carry out the purposes for which it was constituted. The Board has pro- ceeded so far as to enter into a preliminary agreement, with the sanction of the Lords of the Treasury, with two of the existing cemetery:companies, for the purchase of their cemeteries; but it is believed the matter has not gone farther; no actual purchase has taken place. This has thrown great doubt and difficulty over the whole question: parishes do not know what to do; several of the burial-grounds have been closed, and others ought to be, but no parish can venture at present to purchase any additional burial-grounds, because they expect all such grounds to be closed by 'authority. To mention a case. In Kensington the existing burial-ground is so full, that after the lapse of a few months it will be absolutely impossible to inter more bodies. The parish would be ready to purchase more ground ; but it is felt to be im- prudent to do so in the face of the decision of Parliament that interment within the Metropolis shall be discontinued. Yet the act which contem- plated a place of sepulture beyond the precincts of the town remains unexe- cuted ; and the consequence will be, that the parishioners will soon have no place of burial, unless they deal with the trading companies. The case of Lambeth is similar, or still more serious. To be thus driven to the cemetery companies, might not, in the case of the rich, be so much to be complained of, but it is extremely hard upon the poor, to whom the expense of the decent interment of their dead is a very serious matter; and one great ad- vantage of the plan proposed by the Board of Health, and, as has been sup- posed, sanctioned by the Government and by Parliament, was, that the poor would be able to bury their relatives decently and with proper solemnity at an expense not much exceeding one-third of what was now paid for that burial which could not be called duly solemn or even decent. The difficulties now felt arose very late in the day ; and the obstacles interposed have come from a quarter whence encouragement and support might have been ex- pected. It would appear that towards the conclusion of last session the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer threw a certain amount of discouragement—to use a popular phrase, " threw cold water "—upon the plan, and led the Board of Health to fear that they should not be able to carry it out ; and it was inti- mated that another measure will be brought forward, more in accordance with the views of those who have always opposed this great sanitary mea- sure. But the Bishop expressed a hope that it is not the intention of Go- vernment, as rumoured, to constitute a new board for effecting extramural interments and controlling the sewerage and water-supply. Surely these are matters which ought to be kept distinct and separate from one another. It is difficult to conceive anything more calculated to offend the people—he was going to say to disgust them—to wound some of their best feelings, than placing under one body the interment of the dead and the sweeping of the streets and cleansing the sewers, to say nothing of the subject of water-sup- ply. He hoped the rumour was not true ; and that the interment of the dead —probably in itself nearly if not quite sufficient to occupy the whole at- tention of a board—will be placed under men who would deal with it with the seriousness and consideration which its importance requires. For himself he must say, too, he should be grieved to see the conduct of it taken out of the hands of gentlemen so highly qualified to manage it as the members of the Board of Health. But at all events, he thought the question could never be effectually dealt with except by the Government ; a 'board not act- ing with the authority of the Government, and not responsible to the Government, could never carry out the complicate and delicate mea- sures necessary. It should not be forgotten that there had been a new company in process of formation—he does not know what has become of it—for the purpose of establishing a very large cemetery forty miles from London, beyond the operation and authority of the General Board of Health. If new burial-grounds are not immediately found, the people of London must have recourse to such a cemetery, and must coney the corpses of their friends to Woking or some such place, where -there will be no control, and the regulations necessary for. the doccut interment of

dead cannot be enforced. The Government should decide the question promptly, and settle it permanently, one way or another. Mr. George Godwin reminded the Ministers, that it is not to be sup- posed, that because we have not cholera the graveyards in London are not doing their work. Low fever and typhus fever are steadily aggra- vating the mortality ; and a serious responsibility rests on those who have the powers to remove such evils and do not use those powers. Lord John Russell said, he would make some remarks on the general question, and then request Sir Charles Wood to state the way in which the matter stands at present.

Lord John first replied to the Bishop of London's objections against giving the business of interment to the same body which manages the water-supply and the sewers. The original recommendation made to the Government was that a special board should be appointed for this matter of interments; and it was only with a view to save expense and not-necessary patronage, that this duty was placed in the hands of the Board of Health. The Board of Health is a board constituted exactly in the way which the Bishop of London objects to ; for the main business of the Board of Health, for which it was instituted, is to procure an arrangement for the supply of water and sweeping of streets, and matters rebating to sewerage and cleansing in the various towns of the country ; the subject of intramural interment is only an additional duty placed upon that board, which did not properly belong to it, but which it was thought it might execute with a saving of expense. The difficulties on the general question are chiefly difficulties of detail ; questions of this sort, where all agree on the principle, depend very much on the details. The Bishop of London had said, and it might seem very desirable, that the Government should take this question upon itself : but then, there occurred matters which one cannot look at as belonging to a Government without considerable apprehension. A Government that takes upon itself a question of this kind is between two difficulties : it incurs a great loss, and is obliged to come to Parliament to supply means for extramural interment for the Metropolis; to which the country might very well reply, "Why London is the richest part of the whole kingdom, and it is very odd that all the rest of the country is to be taxed for London inter- ments." But it may be said that this might be entirely avoided by making the regulations the Board of Health thinks necessary. They went into great detail, and it was said their scheme was a very good one. But when they tried to follow it out, so as to make it practically work, they could come to no other conclusion than that the body intrusted with interment should entirely take it upon itself; and in so doing they would restrict persons going beyond a certain limit, and having a cemetery near Woking Common, for instance : they would prohibit that, or would make the charge for the right of interment so high that it should not be able to be done ; they would impose fines or fees upon allpersons removing bodies out of the district; they would interfere with those feelings which the Bishop of London so properly spoke of as sacred with regard to the respect which families wish to pay to the dead body of a relation ; they would interfere with the liberty of action in that respect. Now, either of those things—either coming to Parliament to pro- vide by a tax upon the whole country for extramural interment for London, or proposing that the Government should have in its hands the power of interfering with every family in this metropolis, and that no burial should take place without an officer of the Government restricting or directing the mode in which it should be done—would, in the first place, rouse great pub- lic feeling against it; and if a Government should do it, there would be no week in which the Home Secretary, or whoever is at the head of it, would not be called upon to account for such a person's body being left too long, or why another had been removed in an unbecoming way, and so on. Govern- ment has a great deal to do, and undertaking to be answerable for the removal and burial of every dead body in a population of two millions is really a serious matter. With regard to the cemeteries, those which they have en- gaged to buy, in order to meet any great calamity or pestilence that may befall us, are calculated to inter about six thousand in a year ; it is stated that the whole mortality of London amounts to fifty-eight or sixty thousand, and therefore they will evidently not supply the means of burial for the whole, and it will be necessary to go much further and buy all the cemeteries. It is asked, why is not something immediately done ? He would say, the Go- vernment has not the power to do it. The Board of Health supposed they should be able to procure money immediately to purchase the whole of the cemeteries : they found themselves mistaken in that, and that it can only be done by applying to the credit of the Government. No power has been taken to purchase more than the two cemeteries, and it will require an act of Parliament to enable more to be procured.

Sir Charles Wood would now explain how the matter at present stands. The Chancellor of the Exchequer took up the saying that he had "thrown cold water" on the scheme.

The subject came to him new, and he had been obliged last session (in con- sequence of Sir George Grey's absence) to attend to it, not having attended to it when the act passed in the previous session. In the beginning of the year, the Board of Health sent in a proposal to the Treasury, whose consent was necessary, to buy all the existing cemeteries, and an estimate which seemed to be very small ; he made some inquiries through the Woods and Forests, and satisfied himself that the sum required would be three or four times as much as this estimate. It was, however, stated substantially that no good could be done unless the whole were bought. Then came the ques- tion, how the money was to be provided. The whole matter having gone upon the principle that the Government was not to advance sixpence—there being no power in the act to do so—the question was how the Board could borrow. They said they could borrow from assurance companies. They had proceeded all along with the full knowledge that the act contained no power for the Government to make advances; that that was not the principle of the act; and that they were not to have Exchequer bills, but to get the money from other sources. Well, why could they not borrow ? Because they had no power of insuring the payment of a fee ; and they came to this con- clusion, "Unless we have the management of all the burials in London and within fifty miles round it, with a power of charging a fee upon every death, whether the corpse is buried by us or not, we cannot borrow money." Now, that is a very serious power. It was near the end of the session, and he thought it was a power which it was not reasonable at the end of July or be- ginning of August to ask Parliament to give. Unless they had that, the Board said they were not sure of a sufficent income to enable them to bor- row the money. However, power was applied for, to warrant an advance of money to buy two cemeteries for which the Board had engaged in nego- tiation ; and either or both might be taken. He might remark, that in Edinburgh no one is buried within the city, but the whole is managed by cemetery companies; therefore it does not seem so absolutely impossible to be done by private parties. The Bishop of London observed, that if we are merely to authorize companies to establish cemeteries, it will be very hard to prevent parishes from purchasing grounds. However, the matter must be left in the hands of the Government. But, if the objections of Lord John Russell hold good in their full extent, there is an end of the whole question of extramural interment ; and under such cir- cumstances, he thought the Government should not have allowed the bill to pass.

Lord John Russell did not think that. But the Board had foiled that their original plan could not be carried into effect, and they had come to thel3d• vernment for these fresh powers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer—" These very strong powers." Mr. Walsh suggested that there was a difficulty in -borrowing for want of permanence in the Board of Health. The Chancellor of the Exchequer observed that that might be cured. As the deputation were dispersing, they extracted from Lord John Russell the observations, that when Government meets the Parliament, they will be " prepared to state their views " ; that they " feel the im- portance of the subject, but the manner of carrying it out is a matter for consideration."

At a meeting of the Vestry of St. Pancras, on Wednesday, "it was an- nounced that the proposed measure for extramural interments has been abandoned by the Government." The news was received with pleasure ; and it was resolved to memorialize the Government at once for power to take ground for the purpose of parochial extramural interment.

The journals of the week have noted movements for cultivating physi- cal science, in Metropolitan quarters not expressly connected with scien- tific or artistic pursuits,—among the clerks of the Bank of England, and among the bankers and banking-clerks of the Metropolis generally. The announced course of lectures at the Society of Arts was commenced by Dr. Whewell on Wednesday, at the rooms of the Society in John Street, Adelphi, with Mr. Henry Hope M.P. in the chair, and a crowded audience.

The members of the Institution of British Engineers had a very in- teresting paper read to them on Tuesday, by the famed Colonel Cult of the United States, "on the application of machinery to the manufacture of rotating-chambered-breech fire-arms, [revolvers,] and the peculiarities of those anus." Mr. Colt has bunted up all the 'antiquity of the question; and he showed revolvers, on almost every conceivable plan, of all epochs from the time of Charles the Second down to these days of his own latest improvements. He explained, that he makes his fire-Usms almost wholly by machinery.

The clerks of the Bank of England have formed a Literary Associa- tion • and Mr. Alfred Smee gave them, on Tuesday, a lecture on electro- metallurgy.

The bankers and bankers clerks of the Metropolis, who lately formed themselves into a Banking Institute, held their first monthly meeting on Tuesday, under Mr. J. W. Gilbert ; and heard a paper by Mr. Dalton on the question, " How far is the security of bankers' locks affected by the recent scientific and ingenious experiments on patent locks ? " Mr. Hobbs, of the United States, Mr. Chubb, and a gentleman from Messrs. Bramah's attended, and gave personal explanations of their locks, after the paper was read. The meeting seemed to agree that the successes of Mr. Hobbs were due to his marvellous personal tact, and to the special opportunities given by the jury of arbitrators in the case of Messrs. Bra- , mah's lock ; and that the practical security of good locks is not impeached by Mr. Hobbs's special triumphs.

The third yearly " conference of the members and friends of the Free- hold Land Societies" was held on Monday morning, at the King's Arms Hotel in Palace Yard. Mr. Seholefield M.P., as President of the Freehold Union, was placed in the chair; and Mr. Cobden M.1'., Mr. Locke King M.P., Mr. Sadleir M.P., and some other Radical Members of Parliament, with Mr. Rogers, Queen's counsel, and Mr. Pease of Dur- ham, took part in the proceedings. All the important freehold societies were represented by their officers. The report of the Council of the Freehold Societies Union was read by the secretary, Mr. James Taylor of Birmingham, the originator of the movement. It stated that there are now upwards of a hundred societies in England and Wales; whose members are 45,000, with subscriptions for 6.5,000 shares. The sum of 400,0001. has been actually received, and- the amount of the subscriptions is more than 2,000,000/. ; the estates already purchased are 150, and the shares already allotted 12,000. In the past year, the new so- cieties have been 20, the new members 15,000, and the actual receipts 230,0001.

The report was unanimously adopted. Discussions then ensued on points of practical management. One of the matters debated was, whether the system of allotment by rotation, which was used in the earlier societies and is still preserved by some of them, should be persevered in, or the system of the ballot, which has been adopted in the later societies, and which proves more satisfactory in drawing subscribers, be generally resorted to. Mr. James Taylor was formerly for the rotation plan, but he is now converted to the ballot plan. Mr. Cobden, Mr. Sadleir, and other influential speakers, sided with Mr. Taylor; but Mr. Cobden and his co-directors of the National Society would not vote on the question, as their society is very prosperous, and it might seem that their votes would be influenced by a desire to spread that society at the expense of local societies. Ultimately, without their voices, the ballot plan was carried by 42 votes against 35. Another subject was mooted by Mr. Sadleir—the amendment of the laws of real property to facilitate and cheapen its transfer. After a prac- tical discussion exposing the evils of the present state of things, a com- mittee, including Mr. Sadleir and Mr. Rogers the Queen's counsel, was appointed, to inquire into and report upon the alterations of the real pro- perty law.

A meeting of a more popular character, but gathered under the same i influences, was held in St. Martin's Hall in the evening of the same day. Mr. Scholefield M.P. was again in the chair, and speeches were made by Mr. Sadleir M.P., Mr. Cobden M.P., Mr. Locke King M.P., Mr. George Thompson M.P., Mr. Rogers Q C., Mr. Lattimore the Free-trade tenant- farmer, and others. Mr. Sadleir effectively enlarged on that subject which he brought forward in the morning—the slowness and costliness of the transfer of land ; and he most emphatically declared, as a practical man experienced in the law expenses of landowners, that free trade in land would be more to the landowners than an eight-shilling duty on im- ported wheat. Mr. Sadleir complimented the company among which he now found himself, by avowing that he had found great advantage, "as an Irishman," from the opportunities he had enjoyed in the last seven or eight years, of mixing with the English middle classes. " Ireland needs especially a familiarity with the commercial spirit of England; and Ire- land would derive an immense advantage from having a practical course of dealing with the land question shown to her by these societies." Mr. Lattimore having made a smart speech against protection, Mr. Rogers gently protested, that he had attended the meeting "on the understanding that the platform was not to be the arena for any sort of political discus- sion." Mr. Cobden endorsed the objection to political topics, and pro- mised not to violate the rule of neutrality: but the most telling parte. of the speech which he proceeded to make were those in which he described how "more than one division of a county in the vicinity of Birmingham is already safe from the clutches of old parties who have ruled there "- through the creation of Freehold Society voters.

The voters now created, Mr. Cobden observed, will be at liberty to say at least to contending parties, in the approaching political crisis, " Don't de- ceive yourselves by supposing that you can reckon us, the Freehold Land Society's members, in esse or in posse, as being of your party, unless you will adopt the ballot." Mr. Cobden acknowledged the compliments to Englishmen by Mr. Sadleir, and returned them to Mr. Sadleir personally, with interest : he added the information, that "those gentlemen who have studied the con- dition of that unhappy people the Irish, think that by adopting a principle i similar to that which we have applied to the purchase of land in England, they might contrive to distribute among the people of Ireland a portion of that land which is now being sold under the Eucunibered Estates Act ; and by that means may retain in Ireland some of those people who are now flying to other countries, chiefly urged by the incentive that there they may pos- sess themselves of some land." In winding up the proceedings, Mr. James Taylor stated that the rami- fications of the movement are daily extending. " In Wales much is doing ; Ireland and Scotland have not been forgotten ; and in British America and Australia societies are being founded on principles analogous to those of the original Birmingham Freehold Land Society."

From the proceedings of a very full meeting at the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion-house on Monday, in aid of the Irish Church Missions, it would appear that a remarkable progress has been made in the actual Pro- testantizing of parts of Romanist Ireland. The meeting was called "in consequence of a requisition to the lord Mayor signed by several iuflu- ential gentlemen " ; the Mayor himself presided over it ; and both inci- dents were excused by the civic functionary on the ground that the object of the meeting was "simply the promotion of the best interests of our fellow subjects in Ireland—an object interesting to every Christian mind." Among the leading persons present were the Duke of Manchester, Presi- dent of the Society, Admiral Harcourt, Admiral Hope, Captain Trotter, Sir John Paul, Mr. It. C. Bevan, Mr. J. Hoare, Mr. R. T. Durant, Mr. George Hitchcock, and Alderman Wire.

The Reverend A. R. C. Dallas, one of the most active of the mission- aries employed, stated that the society was first set on foot in 1844, by the munificence of Mr. Durant, and some other gentlemen who learned the peculiar feeling of dissatisfaction which was growing up between the Irish and their priesthood ; and it was finally organized as the Church Mission Society in 1848.

Their success outran the most sanguine expectation of any of the promo- ters of it. There was an extensive call in Dublin and the missions in the West. In the latter, in 1819, the Bishop of Tuam confirmed 401 converts. In the last September 743 were confirmed, of whom 31 were original Pro- testants and 712 converts. The total number, exclusive of the Protestants, ought to have been 973, but numbers were prevented from coming from In- verin, Casio, Lettermore, Castle Kirk, and other places. The movement in the East of Ireland was even greater than in the West. The character of the people has changed in the localities where they established their opera- tions. In one, where there were 5000 converts and 3700 children at the schools, not one has been brought before a magistrate, whereas in former days there used to be 30 or 40 cases. Since their wonderful success has be- come known, they have been continually charged with bribery ; but the charges are flatly contradicted. Archbishop Whitely writes, that he will not assert that no single case of bribery has ever occurred, but he has made the most rigid inquiry and not one case has ever come to his knowledge. It is proposed to raise 10,0001. in the next three months, to prosecute the work vigorously. They would not fund their money, or buy shares, or any such speculations ; but they would spend it in engaging agents who are now training in Dublin, and send them to all those places they could not now assist. Mr. Dallas would not say in such a case what might be done, for fear of being thought too enthusiastic for the times; but they would make full use of the opportunity offered by a crisis when a peculiar feeling is run- ning through all Ireland,—a feeling which is acknowledged by the priests themselves; and the fruits of those efforts, if they are anything proportionate to those already secured, will be immense.

The Reverend R. Bickersteth added some further facts and explana- tions.

The originators of the society thought that iu seven years they might ex- pect to make a decided impression on the people of Ireland. What had been the result ? la less than three years 20,000 to 30,000 converts have been made through the operation of this society. In the West of Galway, in Con- nemara, there were only 500 Protestants when they began ; now there are from 5000 to 0000. A tract of country fifty miles in length and thirty in breadth in that district is now characteristically Protestant ; before, it was Romanist. The Bishop of Tuam has issued an appeal in order to build twelve new churches in Galway for the spiritual necessities of the converts. At Sellerna, where one is to be built, the number of sittings stated by the mis- sionary as requisite is 900. All these have been brought out of Popery through the instrumentality- of the preached gospel. Their grand principle is, to make no concealment and to use no reserve ; they tell the Irish at nee that Popery is Antichrist, and a lie ; and they prove everything by the Gospel. Mr. Bickersteth concluded his enumeration of the society's suc- cesses, by stating facts to show that Protestantism is spreading among the higher as well as among the lower classes.

It was further explained, that an offer of 5001. has been made to begin the subscription of 10,000/., if the whole sum is raised in three months. The whole of the statements were deemed most inspiriting ; and 714/. was subscribed on the spot.

At a meeting of the Lambeth Association for the Propagation of the Gospel, held on Tuesday evening, the Reverend T. F. Stooks gave a lecture on the Borneo Mission ; and Sir James Brook-c, Rajah of Sarawak, was present and made a short speech. In reference to the mission he said-

" If Christianity is to be introduced at all, it must be introduced in a Christian spirit, or we want it not at all. If any particular church is intro- duced into Sarawak—and the Church of England is the Church iu which I have been bred—we claim nothing for it. If we claim toleration, that is as much as we have a right to expect amongst a heathen people. We ask only that toleration which we give to others ; we only hope to teach them by persuasion and by kind means. If we fail, we cannot help it. If we ask a bishop, surely, in the Church of England, that is the very simplest matter of discipline. You might as well talk „of a regiment without a colonel as clergy without a bishop. These are but the very simplest views of the

question. These are the views which I have always held; they are the views which I will always recommend and act upon. And if to- day, in Sarawak, the Christian religion becomes a religion of division and uncharitableness, I hope it may leave the country. It is a sub- ject always deeply to be considered, very deeply to be borne in mind by all Christian people, how they approach a Mahomedan or a Bin- doo population. It is not zeal for our own religion that will convince, for an undue zeal may beget an undue zeal in opposition to it. There is but one way, and that way is the Christian way ; it is mild persuasion, and mild persuasion alone, that will convince this people. It is in the hands of God whether it shall be tomorrow or a thousand years hence—that is not the business either of this assembly or of a Christian people. I will say, too —for I am deeply and personally interested in this question—that we must watch the Christian community ; for the lessons of history teach us that Christians in a distant land do not always preserve that unity and that Chris- tian spirit which they ought to do. And should these things raise difficulties in our path, remember that I have mentioned them, and remember that we need support from home to help us through them."

A second meeting has been held to hear speeches and pass resolutions in favour of an occasional Sabbath rest for people employed upon omnibuses. It took place on Monday, at the Parochial Schools, Liverpool Road, Hol- loway ; the Reverend Daniel Wilson in the chair. About seven hundred persons attended, principally ladies. The speakers were the Honourable Arthur Kinnaird, the Reverend Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Wyld M.P., the Reverend Mr. Kingsmill, Sir James Maxwell, Mr. Joseph Payne, and the Reverend Mr. Bally.

The omnibuses running between Kennington and Islington have been converted into reading-rooms : three morning papers are placed in a rack, with a request that any passenger reading them will place a penny in a box provided for the purpose.

A special meeting of the shareholders of the Blackwell Railway has au- thorized the directors to raise 60,000/. on debentures for enlarging the station at Fenchurch Street, chiefly with a view to accommodate the Eastern Counties Railway Company, who have engaged to bring most of their residential passengers to Fenchurch Street, instead of to Shoreditch ; and has authorized the directors to join with the Eastern Counties Rail- way Company in applying to Parliament for power to make, by a new com- pany, a railway from Ilford to Tilbury opposite Gravesend, with a ferry across the Thames to meet the trains to and from London.

The Exchequer Chamber gave judgment last Saturday on poiuts of law reserved in several cases.

In Regina versus Chefor, William Chefor had been convicted at the Not- tingham Quarter-Sessions of stealing tame pigeons from an ordinary dove- cot. The dovecot was on a stable, with which it communicated through a trap-door which was locked ; and the holes for the pigeons were left open to the air so that the birds were under no restraint. Because the pigeons were not imprisoned, but were left to act wholly on their tamed habits, the counsel argued that they were "not reclaimed," and could not—as fern na- ture cannot—be the subject of larceny. The Chairman succumbed to the ar- gument, and directed the Jury to acquit : but the Jury would convict. Lord Campbell now declared for the Court, that the Jury took a better view of the law than the Judge. The pigeon must, from his nature, have egress to the air; but the tamed pigeon from his habit is quite reclaimed—as much as geese, and ducks, and farm-yard fowls. So the conviction was right, and must be affirmed.

In Regina versus Vann, a pauper had been indicted at the Leicestershire Sessions, for not burying his child, and for leaving it in a court till it be- came putrid and a nuisance. IIe had applied to the parish for the means to bury it, but they had made him the offer of the means under conditions which he would not submit to. They offered him the 7s. 6d. necessary, if he would sign a document to repay the sum on demand : he refused to sign; and he removed the corpse into a court-yard, where it became a.public nui- sance. The Chairman of Sessions ruled that the prisoner was bound to ac- cept the relief; and that his refusal of it because it was offered under con- ditions did not excuse him from his liability to bury his child. The pauper had been convicted. Lord Campbell, for the Court, said that the Chairman of Sessions was wrong. The man had not the means to bury his child, and he was not bound to accept a loan by rendering himself liable to be pro- ceeded against, and to lose his liberty and the means of maintaining his family. It is no indictable offence to refuse to incur a debt. Suppose the only offer of the loan had been by a Jew, at fifty per cent interest ; would he be bound to accept the loan on those terms r The conviction must be quashed.

There have been sonic more committals of plaintiffs or defendants for per- jury in their own causes, by the Superior Judges at Westminster. The Judges are understood also to be at variance in their interpretation of the Evidence Act on the .question whether the wife of a defendant may be made a witness when she is not herself a party, with her husband, in the cause. Some decisions have affirmed that she is competent ; but the majority of Judges is understood to be against these decisions, even if the opposite party waive any objection.

At the opening of the November session of the Criminal Court on Monday, Mr. Recorder Stuart Wortley gave the Grand Jury some instructions in re- ference to the cares of committal for perjury which the Judges of the Courts at Westminster had sent to the Central Criminal Court. Those cases arose out of the new law enabling the parties to causes to give evidence on oath in those causes, like other witnesses. This alteration of the law is believed by many, and he confessed he is one of them, to be a change which will be attended with a very good effect in the result ; although, as might naturally be expected with regard to such a matter, it might in the outset be attended by some inconvenience. In the present instance, it would appear that two persons were examined as witnesses in actions to which they were pities ; and the learned Judges before whom they were examined, being of opinion that they had wilfully stated that which they knew to be false committed them to take their trials for perjury. These committals have been urged by some persons as a proof of the inexpediency of the law : but with this point the Grand Jury had nothing, whatever to do; all they had to consider was, whether a prima facie case was established against the accused parsers, and in that case their duty u-as to return true bills. In his opinion, tvcse who '

consider these proceedings as a proof of the inexpediency of the lass save

come to an entirely false i conclusion ; because, although it is true that under the old system persons were not permitted to give evidence, and had no op- portunity consequently to make false statements upon oath, yet it was too much the practice for persons to make defences and put false pleas in answer to claims that were made upon them, and they were thus equally guilty of the offence of perjury in the eye of God as though they had ac- tually given false testimony. He believed that the effect of the new law will be to put an end altogether to false claims and false defences in civil courts.

Mr. John Simpson, a person of gentlemanly appearance, was indicted for the misdemeanour of making a false statutory declaration. Mr. Simpson possessed a houseful of valuable furniture, and applied to a solicitor to nego- tiate an advance of 3501. When the money was ready, Mr. Simpson made a solemn declaration before a magistrate, under a statute of the session 5 and 6 William IV, that the property was his own, and that he had not encum- bered it. The loan was then made. But not long after, Messrs. Bullock sold the property by auction to satisfy a bill of sale which Simpson had him- self given them over it, to secure 64W. ; and the produce of the sale was but 6141.; so that the second advance of 350/. was totally lost by the person who made it. The prisoner stated, what was understood to be true, that the fur- niture was of first-rate quality, and had cost 3000/. not very long before it was mortgaged; and it being so valuable, he thought he might declare that it was not encumbered. The sale was most unfortunate ; wet weather kept away all buyers but those who bought only to sell again. The Recorder directed the Jury, that the real value of the furniture, or the misfortune of the sale, had nothing to do with the question ; which was solely whether or not a false declaration had been made. The Jury found a verdict of " Guilty." Some doubt being entertained whether the declaration in question be the very sort of declaration contemplated by the act on which the indictment was founded, sentence was deferred till Tuesday. The Recorder then stated that it was evident Simpson had been " living by his wits," supporting a position of apparent wealth by means of fraud and deception. The sen- tence was imprisonment for twelve months.

The girl Angelina Adams, otherwise Mary Anne Burke, was tried for her perjury before Mr. Paynter, the Hammersmith Magistrate, respecting the Roman Catholic institution at Hammersmith called the Good Shepherd Asy- lum. The whole of the girl's statements were shown to be false; but it was also shown that she was liable to hysteria, and delusions. The Jury ac- quitted her, thinking that she had sworn falsely under one of these delu- sions, produced by excitement at her dismissal from the institution. The footpads William Harris and Henry Round, who had the desperate conflict with Policemen Earthy and Bayley at Acton, and who wounded Earthy by a pistol-shot, were found guilty of shooting with intent to mur- der. Sentence of death was recorded, and they will be transported for life.

Lord Campbell has ordered 15/. to be given to Sergeant Earthy, and 51. to Constable Bailey, for their meritorious conduct in the encounter.

Good, the Milbank Penitentiary prisoner who stabbed a warder, was sen- tenced to be imprisoned for two years, with hard labour.

A Roman Catholic mission has been formed lately in the School-house in Leopard's Court, Baldwin's Gardens, Gray's Inn Lane, for the Italians resi- dent in that neighbourhood ; and two Capuchin friars arrived from Rome a fortnight since, and have officiated in the school every day in full canonicals. Last Tuesday, M. Ferrati, an Italian clergyman who has assisted the friars, was attacked as he left the chapel late at night, by three men, supposed from their garb to be Italians, and was sorely wounded. He was stabbed by one man with a long stiletto ; and others were beating him mercilessly, when the opening of a window put the assailants to flight. M. Ferrati was wounded hideously in the jaw ; but the weapon seemed to have missed a more fatal aim at the neck, and, glancing off the jaw-bone, to have leaped to the shoulder, which it penetrated backwards to the blade-bone. Surgical aid was obtained, and the wounds, though severe, are not thought dangerous. It seems that the Reverend Dr. Fee, the Italian clergyman who first engaged the lodgings used by the friars, in Dove Court, Fetter Lane, was attacked some days ago, after calling on them, by three men, who knocked him down and beat him. And some days before that, one of two Sisters of Mercy, who teach at the Leopard's Court School, was treated with such violence that she burst a blood-vessel, and now lies in a precarious state. Some rancours, re- ligious or national, arising out of the school-teaching, are supposed to have prompted these outrages.

Thomas Bare has been again brought up at the Marylebone Office, on the charge of murdering his wife. Mrs. Selina Beckett, wife of a printer who lodges in the house where the murder was committed, was now sufficiently recovered from the shock she sustained, to give evidence. She witnessed the murder : that is to say, she saw the first blows struck, saw the poor woman fall down, saw her struck by the prisoner re- peatedly after she was down, and saw after he was gone that she was dead. Witness cried out to the prisoner, but he did not once hold his hand ; and when he had done the fatal work, he " passed by witness, walked out of the room, and went down stairs into the street." Bare cross-examined Mrs. Beckett, and elicited from her that a man used to come almost every even- ing to see the deceased, at about half-past eight o'clock : " he sometimes left at ten, but never later than twelve." A woman named Hands, who lived with the deceased, and who is now too ill to be examined, was almost always present when the man was present. Mr. Broughton—" Did you ever see any- thing irregular in the conduct of the deceased ?" Witness—" Never, Sir ; quite the contrary." Inspector Jackson stated that the deceased has been a hard-working industrious woman ; but the prisoner has been jealous of her for some years past. Bare was once more remanded. On Monday he will be committed for trial at the next session of the Central Criminal Court, which begins on the 15th December.

At the Worship Street Office, on Saturday, Mr. D'Eyncourt had brought before him a lady understood to be the wife of one of the chief clerks in the Bank of England, charged with more than one petty felony at the shop of Mr. Charles Carden, oil and colourman, of Cross Street, lloxton. The prisoner seemed to be of middle age, and very genteel. The painful circum- stances of her appearance in the dock are thus set forth by a reporter. "The prisoner had just got up from her confinement, and appeared to be in very delicate health ; she was accompanied by a nurse, carrying a baby in long clothes, only five weeks old. She seemed completely crushed by her degrad- ing position, buried her face in her hands and bosom beneath a thick veil, and sobbed and shuddered convulsively ; the only time she turned her head being to obtain a sight of her infant. Her husband, a very gentlemanly- looking man, was incessantly pacing the court in a state of pitiable grief and excitenn nt : before his wife was placed at the bar he repeatedly adjured her to tell him why she had so disgraced herself; but her stifled utterances were inaudible." The charge was simply, that the prisoner had stolen pieces of soap from Mr. Carden's counter, on two occasions. William Garrett, the shop-boy, stated, that at noon on Saturday the lady came to buy two ounces of blue : he showed her some blue ; but she said it must be better than that shown; and he turned round to get some other blue from a drawer behind : as he turned back to her, he saw her thrusting into her pocket a piece of cut soap, which she had taken from a heap of similar pieces, spread out on a wooden tray : he said nothing, but went instantly to his master in the next shop, and told him. The lady had been in the shop on the Saturday before, and lac had then seen her take a pound of the same soap; but his master could not believe him, on account of the respectable appearance of the lady. When Mr. Carden now returned with him, they found her standing where she had been left, and they observed that in the short interval of the boy's absence four more pieces of the soap had been removed. The boy then spoke out; and Mr. Carden. going round the counter, the lady pulled all five of the pieces from her pocket; and earnestly prayed forgiveness—" Pray, pray, let me go ; I've got a little baby at home." But Mr. Carden felt it due to his shop-boy to call a constable and give her into custody. The whole value of the soap was but one shilling. Constable Alsworth proved that the lady had implored on her knees to be let off and had offered "any recompense" for forgiveness and freedom. Mr. D'Eyneourt asked the prisoner if she had any explanation ; and she was about to ejaculate something, but Mr. Vann, the solicitor retained by her husband, anticipated her, and kept her silent : in the face of such evidence, he " reserved her defence," and applied only for leave to give bail. The prisoner was committed for trial at Middlesex Sessions. Two gentlemen instantly gave surety of 50/. each for her appear- ance, and she was taken from the court by her husband and friends—never having once raised her head, or once ceased sobbing during the whole of the examination.