4t4t 311thogulio.

The usual farewell to the Old and welcome to the New Year was given on Wednesday night; some "watching" the transition with religious observances, the merry-living quaffing their wassail bowl over the event, and the proper officials giving full notice of the moment for exchanging almanacks by peals on the parish-bells.

A public meeting assembled on Wednesday at the London Tavern, under Sir John Musgrove, and resolved on forming a committee to promote the presentation of a testimonial to the acting members of the Executive Council of the Great Exhibition.

At a meeting of the Institute of Actuaries, on Monday, Mr. Charles dellicoe the Vice-President, read a paper "on the inequitable operation of the Property and Income Tax enactments as regards life and other interests, and on the principles by -which direct taxation should be regulated."

The Treasury have determined to abandon Ifr, Peacock's award in re- ference to the purchase of the Brompton and Nunhead Cemeteries ; and by this abandonment the operation of the Metropolitan Interments Act has, for all practical purposes, been suspended.—Daily News.

Public baths and vraahhouses for Blackwell, Poplar, and Limehouse, will be completed and open to the public in a few weeks.

A number of ladies and gentlemen, intending to proceed shortly as colo- nitts to the settlement of Canterbury in New Zealand, assembled at the rooms of the Society in the Adelphi, on Wednesday. Mr. Self stated that the latest advises, extending to the 1st September, show a steady and hopeful progress at the settlement. Lord Lyttelton referred to the near approach of the time when Parliament will again have to legislate on the affairs of New Zealand. The Society will exert itself to secure legisla- tion which shall as much as possible throw the-weight of government upon the local management on the spot. He presumed the Government plans would tend to that end, but he feared they would not go far enough. Despatches were read from Mr. Godley, which communicated that Sir George Grey had expressed willingness to concur in the wish of the Can- terbury colonists, if properly expressed, for erection into a separate go- vernment.

The Reverend Tenison Cuffe, for some years past the minister of Car« lisle Episcopal Chapel in Lower Kennington Lane, has seceded from the English Church, and carried his congregation with him ; being at last convinced "that the Church of England doth authoritatively, but unserip- turally, teach baptismal regeneration as a fundamental principle." Mr. Cuffe and his congregation have joined Lady Huntingdon's connexion, and have licensed their chapel accordingly.

..ighe remains of Mr. Turner, R.A., were interred on Tuesday, in the whit of St. Paul's Cathedral. The funeral procession included eleven carriages and four : a very considerable body of general spectators awaited its arrival at St. Paul's. It was at the request of the Royal Academy that Dean Milman had granted the honour of a mausoleum III the Metro- politan Cathedral, and more than twenty of the most eminent members of the Academy followed the corpse of their departed brother to the tomb. The burial-service was read by Dean Milman, and chanted by the full choir. The aisle was very much crowded; and a conspicuous object of interest was Mrs. Frances Denby, the old housekeeper of the deceased, who, clad in the deepest black, sat close to the coffin and sobbed her re- sponses to the service. She had been in Mr. Turner's service for fifty- two years. According to custom, the service should have been chanted over the grave ; but the numbers of the choir rendering such a mode im- possible, the service was, with the exception of the last verse, performed in the church. The procession was then again formed, to enter the crypt; where the deceased was, according to his living wish, laid close to the grave of Sir Joshua Reynolds and not far from that of Sir Christopher Wren. The Dean read the last verse, and it was solemnly taken up and chanted by a portion of the choir which descended with the procession. The grave was then closed over the great painter, and the procession silently ascended to the church. It is rumoured that Mr. Turner has bequeathed to the Artists' Benevo- lent Fund Society the bulk of his property, amounting, as some allege, to 200,000/. or thereabouts; and that he has presented his collection of pic- tures to the nation, after setting apart a sum to erect a proper receptacle for them, in which artists as well as the public shall have free access to them.

On Tuesday night, there was a crowded meeting of the members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Machinists, he., in the Hall of Com- merce, Threadneedle Street, called by public advertisement " to discuss the present state of the iron-trades, and the position of the Society in re- lation thereto "; or, as was indicated in another handbill, publicly to con- tradict certain assertions put forward by the employers, and set the Society right with the public.

Mr. Musto, Chairman of the Executive Council, presided ; and Mr. Newton explained to the public the position in which the Society stands.

The combination of employers at Manchester has been misled by Messrs. Hibbert and Platt, of Oldham; and it is formed on the ground that the work, men of Messrs. Hibbert and Platt are about to down act of injustice to their employers. It has been represented that the society insists—(l) upon the abolition of systematic " over-time " and (2) the discontinuance of piece- work "; (3) that the masters should at once and without reserve discharge the class of persons engaged in, and long trained to the working of self- acting machines, and employ in their stead mechanics, members of the union : and it is further stated, by " Amiens," in the Times,(4) that the Council are " prepared to advocate an equalization of the rate of wages ; to lend themselves, in fact, to an agitation for a trial of the ingenious doctrines of M. Louis Blanc." The first two propositions are those of the Society ; but the third was never made by them ; and the intention to equalize wages is as foreign from their objects and general opinions as anything can be. They disavow all intention of removing any persons at present in employment. The special disagreement between Messrs. Platt and Hibbert and their workmen is in no way connected with the policy or acts of the Society. Last May, a dispute arose between Messrs. Hibbert and Platt and their workmen. The workmen demanded the abolition of over-time, and asked for the dis- charge of a certain number of men they called illegal men; and Mr. New- ton, at the request of the workmen, went down to mediate in the matter. Mr. Platt agreed to the following terms- e 1. That in future all planing, slotting, shaping, and boring machines, at the workshop of the undersigned, be worked either by mechanics or apprentices, to be taken up by them as they fall vacant.

.• 2. That the labourers at present employed upon those machines be not unduly interfered with before Christmas 1851, when the machines shall fall entirely into the hands of the mechanics ; but if any of the labourers are discharged, or the ma- chines otherwise become vacant, the vacancies shall be filled up by the mechanics as they occur.

3. That Michael Bernard have taken from him all authority over workmen in our employ, and that all illegal hands be discharged : we further say that we disapprove of the practices alleged against Bernard, and pledge ourselves that-they shall not again be repeated."

Systematic over-time was also to be abolished. But Mr. Platt said, that though he was content to agree to these resolutions, he had no guarantee that the men would make the same conditions with other employers ; and he wrote out another article—" That if the majority of legal shops in the same line of business refuse to concede the above requests at the expiration of three years from the date of these resolutions, the question be again open for discussion." So that he actually made an exaction from the men that they should enforce these resolutions upon other employers. This agree- ment was to be fulfilled at Christmas, and the objet of the employers now is to prevent its fulfilment. Mr. Newton wrote to Mr. Platt a fortnight ago, representing that he was not treating his men fairly in identifying himself with the combination at Manchester ; and Mr. Platt answered, that he ap- proved of the document at the time, and should have carried it into effect, but that the workmen had broken it themselves in July last. The men in July made some resistance, on the ground that the condition had not been fulfilled which related to Bernard, who was a sort of middleman, taking a quantity of piece-work and employing his fellow men to do it—what the tailors would call " a sweater" : he was most despotic and tyrannical, and Mr. Platt had said the system should not continue. But the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, &c., had nothing to do with all this, and never took any part in the proceedings ; Mr. Newton attended at Oldham in his individual capacity, to try to prevent a strike which would have brought much misery on the workmen. The Society is resolved not to be dragged into that dispute. They ask that over-tune be abolished—time worked over and above six days per week of ten hours per day, (or, at least 54 hours per week,) which they hold, as a principle, to be the proper time to labour when there is labour to be performed [be paid double] ; for they hold that a man ought be able, by six days' labour, to earn sufficient to keep himself and his family. Mr. Scott Russell has said that the men are not forced to work over-time : but indeed they are forced. If a man declines, he is immediately discharged. Then as to the other point, piece-work. The public think that every man has a right to make the moat he can of his superior ability and expertness : granted; piece-work is not objected to, but only the manner in which it is carried out. Let it be done by contract between employers and employed, as in a contract between them and their customers, and no man will object. But a piece of work is brought into the workshop, and a man is told he must do it for so much; if he say he cannot do it for that, he is told, " You must do it or leave, I shall give you no more." Is that right, that an arbitrary authority should be exercised over labour with regard to the price to be paid ? There is no consultation in the matter; the man is never asked his opinion, and, if he object, is told that the employer " will not be dictated to "—he is to be the sole judge.

The gentlemen of the press were before him ; they knew whether com- positors are thus treated. No ; they have a book price. If the employers will establish a board, and allow the workmen to establish their board, and let the question be settled between them, there will be no objection to piece- work; but, as it is, it gives the men less than their ordinary wages. The men will abide by the decision of independent parties. (" ear, hear ! ") Let persons be appointed whose whole soul is not wrapped up in commercial speculation,—men who have identified themselves not merely with the com- mercial progress, but also with the progress of the industrial classes ; such men as Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Carlisle, Lord Robert Grosvenor, and the Honourable Arthur Kinnaird. By their judgment the men would be willing to be governed. ("Hear, hear ! ") As to the charge of being opposed to the introduction of machinery, there i is no class of men who have more promoted its introduction ; they are con- tinually improving machinery.

Let it not be said that "the Council of Seven are dictating terms." The movement was instituted by the meeting of sixty delegates at Birmingham, in September 1850, who passed resolutions deprecating piece-work and over- time as systematic practices : circulara were sent out to ascertain the opinions of the Society, and out of 12,000 only 16 votes came in for those practices. The men are told they intended to strike on the lst. Nothing was fur- ther from their intention. There was no such thing contemplated in the North. It is only intended that the workman shall exercise his right of leaving when his day's labour is done ; and if the employers say any man may do so, it is all that is required. If any man think proper to work over- time, let him do so. Whether the employers would close their works on the 10th, he could not say ; but, after this explanation, they would incur a very heavy responsibility in throwing so many men upon the poor-rates, or re- fusing them relief at the risk of anarchy and confusion. The men know they are in the right, and are willing to be guided by public opinion. They are ready to submit the matter to any impartial tribunal. Mr. Brandon moved the following resolution ; and it was seconded by Mr. Usher, in a speech dilating on the moral evils of protracted labour.

" That, having heard the statement made upon the part of the Council of the Amal- gamated Society, this meeting is perfectly satisfied that the acts and intenti.ms of the Council have been publicly misrepresented, and that it has never demanded of the employers either discontinuance of the use of machinery of any kind or the dis- charge of the workmen employed at machines."

Mr. Ernest Jones, the Chartist, now endeavoured to address the meet- ing ; but there was a strong disinclination to hear him. Mr. Newton ap- pealed to him to consider the danger that the enemies of the workmen would make a handle of his presence. Mr. Jones replied tartly, and per- sisted ; but the meeting overwhelmed him with groans, and compelled him to retire.

Mr. Collis, a workman for more than twenty years with Messrs. Miller and Ravenhill, stated that the question of systematic over-time between the masters and workmen of London was settled in 1836: the men could not depart from that agreement without breach of faith. He moved an amendment accordingly. He was fully convinced of the evils of systematic over-time, but thought that the existing arrangement of extra payment is a sufficient check on it. As to piece-work and deputations, he had never been forced to take piece- work, and his masters had often received him in deputations and treated him with kindness and the respect due to his position.

Mr. Hoskins seconded the amendment.

There is work which cannot be done except by over-time. Systematic over-time is doubtless an evil ; and nine-tenths of the practice—in fact, the system—might easily be abolished. He could not think the demand for double time [pay] just. The amendment was put, and negatived by a large majority. Mr. Hemm of Manchester witnessed, from personal experience, that Mr. Newton's statements are true.

In Manchester, the men decided to do away with over-time before the Council came to the resolution; and a great portion of the employers agreed with the men, and had done away with it, though there were some few ex- ceptions. There would be no objection to piece-work, if it was carried on honourably ; but a man is not asked whether he can do it at the price named, but told he must do it or leave. If men manage, by excessive labour, to earn more than regular wages by it, they have been offered so much lees the next time for the same job.

The following resolution was unanimously passed-

. That this meeting is fully convinced that neither the Executive Council nor the members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, &c., contemplate a strike on the 1st of January 1852; and that the assertions put forward to that effect are entirely untrue."

Mr. Newton stated, that the Society has obtained the opinion of the Attorney-General, that while they keep within proper bounds, and use no threats or intimidation, their objects are perfectly legal. In so large a body, isolated individuals may conduct themselves improperly, but the Society repudiates them, and will never use any sort of threat or in- timidation. If the employers are willing to settle the question amicably by proper negotiation and with a regard to justice to all parties, the men will meet them honourably, fairly, and moderately.

[An episodical controversy has arisen between Messrs. Hibbert and Platt and Mr. Newton. " Amicus" had said that Mr. Newton signed the demands made by the men of that firm, as they were originally quoted ; Amicus himself having given two versions. Mr. Newton not only denied that statement, but said that the demands in the shape described by his antagonist were abandoned by the men. Milieus challenges Messrs. Hibbert and Platt to testify to his truth. In response, they publish the third version of an agreement between them and their men, signed by Mr. Newton; but nor, he rejoins, the one quoted by Amiens ; and he chal- lenges Mr. John Platt to say whether that gentleman did not himself compose part of the agreement as it now stands.]

The materials of a dark page in the history of the Peerage have been sup- plied in the Police Court of the Guildhall. This day three weeks, Mrs. Phoebe Dawson, or Phoebe Blakeney, described as an elderly-looking lady, possessing house property at Maids Hill, was charged with perjury, by Miss Georgina Elam. The charge was, that in 1833 Mrs. Dawson falsely swore an affidavit in the Prerogative Court of Doctors' Commons, that she was the " only natural and lawful child and daughter" of one Mrs. Elam ; whereby she wrongfully obtained administration to property of the said Mrs. Elam' amounting to about 4000/., which rightfully should have gone to Miss Georgina Elam, the real " only natural and lawful child and daughter" of Mrs. Elam. In proof of the alleged perjury, evidence was given that Mrs. Dawson was of the same age as Mrs. Elam; that Mrs. Dawson had been the mistress of the late Lord Portarlington, and that afterwards Mrs. Elam had been his mistress. Mrs. Robinson, a lady who educated Miss Georgina Elam, and had often seen both Mrs. Dawson and Mrs. Elam in her house at the same time, swore that Mrs. Dawson had told her that she was about the same age as Mrs. Robinson, who is now nearly sixty-five ; that Mrs. Elam was in appearance about a year or two older than Mrs. Dawson. Moreover, it was proved that at the death of Mrs. Elam, in 1833, she was buried as of the age of forty-eight. In collateral proof oethese facts, and also in proof that Miss Georgina Elam was the real only child of Mrs. Elam, evidence was given of the marriage of Mrs. Elam to Lieutenant Elam, in 1827 ; of the birth of Miss Georgina Elam, at Athlone; the quarters of Lieutenant Elam's regiment, in 1828 ; of the death of Lieutenant Elam in 1829 ; of the death of Mrs. Elam ia 1833, and her burial in Bensal Green cemetery. Mrs. Robinson was re- called to prove that she educated the three children of Mrs. Dawson by Lord I Portarlington at her young ladies' school at Ealing ; that in February 1333 Mrs. Dawson introduced Mrs. Elam as the mother of Miss Georgina 1:lam ; and that Mrs. Elam placed Georgina under the care of Mrs. Robinson' for I education. Mrs. Dawson and Mrs. Elam were then just about to set out on a tour with Lord Portarlington ; but in a month or so, Mrs. Elam and Lord Portarlington called again, and stated that Mrs. Elam had died ; and, thence- ! forward Miss Elam was adopted by Mrs. Dawson, adopted her name, called her mamma, and was educated at her expense. It should be gated, that when Mrs. Dawson introduced Mrs. Elam to Mrs. Robinson, she introduced her as her own mother ; but Mrs. Robinson did not, in her own mind, for a moment believe the relation' the age of the two ladies being apparently the same. Mrs. Elam died at Manchester, at the outset of the tour with Lora Portarlington, which both ladies had purposed and begun. At this stage the charge of perjury. was so strongly supported that the Ma- * teate, on ordering a remand, required heavy bail for the reappearance of Mrs. Dawson. But the bail was instantly provided by Mr. Palmer, a highly- respectable solicitor ; and it was intimated that the case would soon be put in a different light.

At the subsequent examinations, a case having the following general fea- tures has been set up, and partly proved. Mr. Palmer himself, the solicitor of Lord Portarlington, stated that the young lady, Miss Georgina Elam, is made an instrument of, by third parties, who wish to use her for the extortion of money. That young lady had no ill intentions herself, but she had lent herself to proceedings which called for painful revelations about her own origin. Miss Georgina Elam had, as was stated, been adopted by Mrs. Dawson after the death of Mrs. Elam, and been educated by her; but in 1848, she wilfully left Mrs. Dawson's roof, for France ; and at that time Mrs. Dawson told her, that "as she was of age, she must make her own bed as she in- tended to lie in it." Miss Elam is neither the daughter of Lieutenant Elam, nor, as might be supposed, of Lord Portarlington, nor even the daughter of Mrs. Elam herself ; she is a foundling ; and Mrs. Dawson is the true

daughter of Mrs. Elam, though Mrs. Elam was, even shortly before her death, to all appearance of the same age as Mrs. Dawson. lire. Elam was

originally Miss Eliza Good ; she married Robert Blakeney, as far back as 1798; Mrs. Dawson was the fruit of that marriage: Mrs. Elam became a widow, and married Lieutenant Elam, but she was soon separated from him ;

she became ' ame acquainted with Lord Portarlington at the time that her daugh-

ter, Mrs. Dawson, was his ostensible wife, and became his paramour even in her daughter's house. She bought an infant of a peasant, and palmed it off on Lord Portarlington as the fruit of that intrigue ; he was imposed on, and left the mother and supposed child legacies. Miss Georgina Elam is the child so palmed off. If these facts were believed by the Magistrate, the charge of perjury against Mrs. Dawson fell to the ground. In proof of this extraor- dinary and revolting romance, Mrs. Eliza Simpson, formerly wife of Mr. Hammond, a nephew of Mrs. Elam, swore that she was intimate with Mrs.

Elam in 1827, '28, and '29 ; that she visited at the house of Mrs. Dawson, in Park Street, Grosvenor Square, and was cognizant of the intrigue between Mrs. Elam and Lord Portarlington • and that Mrs. Elam had confessed the imposition practised on Lord Portarlington about the child, and had often alluded to the trick, and the benefits of its success.

Mr. Palmer stated that other persons cognizant of the whole facts will be compelled to come forward with further proofs, if required. At the last sitting, Sir Peter Laurie said, the aspect of the case had so much changed, that he should liberate Mrs. Dawson on Mr. Palmer's personal engagement that she will appear again.

Maroty and Argenti, Italian seamen, have been remanded by the Thames Police Magistrate on a charge of murdering Peter Getland, on the h*h seas, off Mobile, in April 1850. These men belonged to the Liverpool ship Al- berta. They were first sent to gaol at Mobile, thence taken to Quebec, and produced before the Court of Queen's Bench ; but the Judges stopped the for want of jurisdiction ; and directed the accused to be brought to England.. This week they arrived, in the custody of two Quebec constables, several witnesses of the homicide accompanying them. The case appears very strong : one man struck Getland with an adze, and the other with a knife, without any momentary provocation ; they had expressed an intention to kill him.

A soldier in the Life Guards having been summoned before the Marl- borough Street Magistrate for refusing to support an illegitimate child, one of the clerks intimated a doubt whether the Magistrate had jurisdiction : Mr. Hardwick looked into the acts, and eventually adjourned the case. On Saturday he pronounced his decision. By the Mutiny Act of this year, he found that he had no jurisdiction : a soldier cannot even be summoned be- fore a magistrate for a matter of the kind in question ; he can only be taken out of the service by process on account of any charge of felony, or misde- meanour committed with violence to the person, property, effects, &c. The case was dismissed. The young woman asked if she had no remedy in law ? Mr. Hardwick said, he knew of none. On Monday, an Irish "Cuban patriot" applied to the Marlborough Street 'r

Magistrate on behalf of himself and twenty-eight other mie%mostly Irish- men, who had been engaged in the Cuban buccaneering ex Gen f om the United States. They had been liberated by the Spanish overnment, and sent to England by the British Consul. They are destitute, and they be- sought relief. They wanted to go to America or to Ireland; but the Ame- rican Consul had refused to aid them. Mr. Bingham told the applicant, that if his companions were utterly destitute they must apply to the workhouse for relief. At first the Magistrate was inclined to give a trifle from the poor- box; but on second thoughts he declined, thinking these "sympathizers" had no claim on such a fund.

Mr. Joseph Douglas, a barrister residing in Garden Court, Temple, has lost his life by a singular accident. During the night, a noise was heard in his chambers, as of a person " tumbling about" : next morning, a clerk found Mr. Douglas on the floor, deluged in blood ; the body yet warm, but life extinct. There was a long incised wound on the left temple; the tem- poral artery had been severed ; and Mr. Douglas had bled to death, not having been able to gain the door and raise an alarm. It would seem that in pulling off his boots, he had upset a table, fallen down, and his head struck a key that was in the lower part of a bookcase.