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The Whitsuntide holydays have been well enjoyed by the workers of the great Metropolis. Fine weather tempted to the usual resorts in the suburbs unusual myriads of the labouring and mechanical masses ; and monster trains conveyed many thousands to Brighton and Dover, to have a cheap ventilation and bathing in the winds and waves of the South coast.

An outlying "May meeting" falls to be noted in the beginning of June—that of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Royal Caledonian Asy- lum; at which the Duke of Buceleuch presided. It appears that the sup- port received by this good institution is still declining ; so that if greater efforts be not made by those who ought to support it, there must be a fur- ther diminution of the usefulness of the Asylum. There is room for nearly two hundred boys and girls ; yet only fifty-five boys and fifty- three girls can now be supported, and this number must soon be lessened to a total of eighty. The subscriptions of the evening amounted to 700/ The Vestry meeting in St. Martin's parish to vote a sum for the emigration of poor people having a settlement in the parish, induced a public meeting this week in the district of All Saints, St. John's Wood : it was resolved to form local committees throughout the Metropolis to raise funds for emigration purposes.

Sir William Molesworth faced a public meeting of his constituents in Southwark, called to hear him explain his political views, on Tuesday evening. Mr. Sovell took the chair, ani Mr. Bernal Osborne M.P. was one of Sir William Molesworth's companions on the platform.

Sir William went over the current range of Liberal topics, stating his opinions with his usual ability and frankness. Though the general opinion of the meeting was strongly in his favour, there were manifesta- tions of dissatisfaction occasionally ; but a political philippic with which Sir William closed his speech quite carried the whole meeting with him. Mr. Spooner's motion on the Maynooth grant he described as" a sham, a trick, an attempt to make political capital out of bigotry and intolerance; a

part of that base, sneaking, and miserable policy which eprightand straight- forward Englishmen will see through and despise,—I mean the policy of Lord Derby. And this brings me to the last political question upon which I shall address you, namely, Lord Derby himself. 'Lord Derby' is flown politi- cal question. That name is inscribed upon the banners of certain candidates as the symbol of their political faith, as Free Trade or Reform was formerly inscribed upon our banners. What does it mean ? It does not mean the famous Lord Stanley of the House of rye:mons. He was an eloquent orator, the Rupert of debate, ready to carry the Reform Bill at the expense of a revolution—hot, seams, chivalrous, but without a particle of statesman- ship. For six years he misgoverned the Colonies. There is scarcely a

Colonial grievance of any importance which may not be traced to his mis-

management. He produced a rebellion in Canada : may he not produce another ? He sowed the seeds of our costly ware in South Africa. Ile

caused the hideous demoralization of Van Diemen's Land ; for he was wrong- headed, obstinate, ignorant, rash, reckless, and careless of consequences, but on the whole frank, straightforward, and manly. This Lord Stanley is not the Lord Derby who appears on the hustings of the present day. Who is he ? A Free-trader in the towns, a Protectionist in the counties ; pro-May- nooth in Ireland, anti-Maynooth in England and Scotland ; saying one thing one day, retracting it the next, repeating it the third, equivocating about It the fourth—a political jockey, riding a losing horse, hoping to win by a cross—a thimblerigger, gammoning clowns and chawbacons with the pea of protection, which will never be round under any one of his thimbles—a truckler to the bigotry which he intends to betray—the leader of men who have no convictions, whose only rule of political morality is success, the end

and aim of whose existence are the gratification of personal ambition ; men long eager for power, surprised at obtaining it, unscrupulous as to the moans of retaining it ; recreant Protectionists, dishonest Free-traders, hiding insin- cerity under the mask of intolerance; too pusillanimous to stick by their colours, not courageous enough to take up a new position. In speaking thus of the Derbyites, I do not mean to speak of all who sit on the Ministerial side of the House, or even of all the members of Lord Derby's Government ; for many of them are upright honourable English country gentlemen, who long believed in Protection, now perceive that it cannot be restored, and wish honestly to abandon it : I speak only of the more active chiefs of the party, and of those whom Lord Derby would term ' statesmen ' ; for Lord Derby in one of his speeches likened a statesman to a bark which trims its sails and afters its course with each changing wind and varying breeze. This. is not my notion of a statesman : I liken the true statesman and upright politician tea steam-vessel, which pursues its steady course amid storms and waves, in defiance of adverse gale and opposing tides, and straightforward reaches its destined port."

In the Court of Queen's Bench at Westminster, on Monday, there was argument about a wonderful bill of costs. Mr. Parker the carrier sued the Great Western Railway, for surcharges on paroels during four years; and he was successful. The notice of particulars in the action referred to twenty- ens thousand distinct carrying transactions; it was written on forty-one folio volumes, of which the twenty-first part was exhibited to the Court. and wag charged in the bill of costs at 13001.; it had taken an attorney and mue

clerks three years (6666 hours) to prepare it. Other items were somewhat in proportion to this, but not quite ee amazing. The Master had disollowed f the charge of 13001., and allowed only 2001.-1001, for the draught, 1751. for one copy, and 251. for paper ; and the plaintiff now sought to get a better allowance. The Judges of the Court were all extremely excited at the affair: they thought the Master had allowed too much—the proving of these matters need not have cost more than 201.; and they refused to help the plaintiff.

The Court of Common Pleas adjourned as soon as it met on Thursday, for lack of anything to do.

A Jury in the Sheriff's Court, on Thursday, assessed the damages in a case of breach of promise of marriage. The defendant had suffered judgment to go by default ; the damages were laid at 50001. Mr. Paine, a gentleman of property, forty years of age, after an acquaintance of six years with Miss Harrison, a lady now in her thirty-third year, proposed to marry her ; every preparation was made for the wedding—even a day fixed—when Mr. Paine suddenly changed his mind, and sent a friend to the lady to announce that the match must be broken off. There was not a shadow of an imputation against the character or behaviour of Miss Harrison : the disappointment had injured her health. For the defendant, it was stated that he had changed his intention because he feared the union would not be a happy one. The Jury fixed the damages at 500/.

Mr. Commissioner Goulburn gave judgment on Saturday in the case of David E. Columbine, a solicitor and " money-scrivener " of Carlton Chem- bers. The bankrupt's conduct has been most extraordinary ; and almost every sentence of the Commissioner's judgment was a severe censure. For four years Columbine has been dragging his creditors and the assignees through the Equity and Common-Law courts, in a vain attempt to make out that he should not have been adjudged a bankrupt : one portion of the liti- gation is still in Chancery. The fiat was issued in 1847: from that time the bankrupt fought his assignees inch by inch, availing himself of every means of opposition and procrastination which the forms of the courts per- mit. The case has been before the Vice-Chancellor in Bankruptcy, before the Court of Chancery, before the Courts of Common Pleas, Exchequer, and Queen's Bench. It has been heard before Juries in the Common-Law Courts, and before those Courts sitting in Bunco; all sorts of issues have been tried, and all kinds of exceptions made, argued, and overruled. It is still before the Court of Chancery, and it is not very likely to be brought to a close there for years to come. Lord Denman when Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Lord Truro when Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Mr. Justice Patteson, and many other judges, had pronounced judgment in the case in various forms ; and the most eminent counsel have been engaged in it, the present Attorney-General and the present Chief Justice of the Common Pleas having been Mr. Columbine's advocates. At length it was decided, after years of litigation and thousands of pounds being expended, that Columbine was really a bankrupt, and the petition to annul the fiat was dismissed. There is now nothing in the hands of the official assignee, who is very likely to have only "his labour for his pains." Columbine be- fore the fiat was issued assigned away a large amount of money—really not his own property, but the property of his creditors. In January 1846 he settled 25204 on his mother ; in January 1847 he settled 11,030/. on a woman with whom he had lived, marrying her directly after. In March he was made a bankrupt—he had gone abroad with 1600/. in cash. The cre- ditors allege that the settlements were fraudulent: the Commissioner agrees with them. Only about 100/. has been realized by the assignees for the cre- ditors, whose claims are 29,0001. The bankrupt has rendered four successive accounts—all varying, all "wilfully false," said the Commissioner ; the bankrupt's object being to endeavour to thew- that he was in a position to make the settlements. He showed such "art and contrivance" that Com- missioner Goulburn himself was at first misled—he thought the man had been harshly dealt with. But now, on the ground that he believed the ac- counts to be wilfully untrue, he adjourned the final examination sine die.

A man has narrowly escaped punishment for damaging trees in Hampton Court Gardens. He was produced before the Hammersmith Magistrate ; and it was proved that he broke a large bough from a horse-chestnut tree after he bad been warned not to damage the trees, for he had already broken smaller branches. The official who made the charge had not been instrueted to fix upon any sum as the exact amount of damage d.enei-lo die Magistrate thought himself compelled to liberate the culprit Ramaroni aid Autoni_wetr4ilalian Berra:mu, were produced before the 1-nri -8 Police M-S--gratrate on Monday on a charge of stabbing three Irishmen in a midnight brawl on the streets : it was expected that the charge would become one of murder, as one at least of the wounded men was not expected to survive. The Italians were remanded for a week.

A labourer at Whitechapel has killed himself in attempting to win a foolish wager : he undertook for a gallon of beer to carry a piece of iron weighing four hundredweight ; in the effort he slipped, and though he did not fall, he received a fatal inward hurt.

Edward Tolfree, a youth of eighteen, son of a West-end tradesman, has died in Richmond Workhouse from burns received in a fire. The deceased wandered away from home, in a deranged state of mind ; set fire to a har- ness-room belonging to Mr. Fernie, at Kew ; and when the fire was visible abroad, threw himself into the midst of it. His father stated at the inquest, that his son "had been considered insane for some time " ; yet it does not appear that any attempt was made to restrain him.

At a foot-race in Copenhagen Fields on Monday, Jackson, "the American deer," beat Levett, the "champion," in a distance of ten miles. The con- queror performed the distance in 51 minutes 34 seconds—the quickest run of en miles on record.

At the yacht match of the Royal London Yacht Club, contested in the Thames on Saturday, the winner was the Romp ; a little vessel rigged with Gilbert's sails, which from their cut set as flat as a board, like the sails of the Ameri- can clippers ; and the success of the Romp was attributed wholly to this cut of her Bails. She was slower through the water than another boat, but got to windward of her on every tack.