Ebt itletropolis.

At a Court of Aldermen, held on Monday last, Plough Monday, to receive the presentments from the Ward Inquests, the Common Coun- cilmen of the Tower Ward appeared at the bar without their gowns of office. This "neglect of the necessary forms " was duly noticed by the Lord Mayor; who expressed his regret that the gentlemen of the In- quest shoold have appeared in his presence so unceremoniously. The 3toreman of the Inauest said they considered the money which gowns would cost -.-ss -patter laid out in benefiting the poor of the ward. The Lord Mayor said, he would not refuse to receive the inquest though thus denuded of the insignia of office, but those who came without gowns would be received last.

There is a contest going on in the City for the office of Bridge- master, vacant by the death of Mr. Watson. The candidates are Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Ledger ; and the struggle is a very severe one.

A public meeting of the parishioners of St. Paul, Covent Garden, was held on Thursday, at which resolutions were unanimously passed against the Window-tax, as unjust and opressive ; and it w as agreed to cooperate with the other Metropolitan parishes in memorializing the Government for the repeal a the impost. A preliminary meeting of St. Pancras parish was also held on the same day, for the purpose of calling a general meeting of the parish to petition Parliament against the tax. The recent new surveys, which have charged for daylight in every case where the least glimmer is admitted, have rend ered this tax more obnoxious than ever ; and most of the parishes in London are adopting measures to abolish it A meeting of the inhabitants of Marylebone was held on Wednesday, to adopt means for relieving the distressed condition of the poor in that parish, owing to the inclement weather. Dr. Spry, the Rector of the parish, presided ; and Lords Kenyon, Monteagle, Manvers, Teignmoutb, Sir B. Hall, Mr. Hume, and numbers of influential residents in the parish, were present. It was resolved that a subscription should be im- mediately commenced ; and upwards of 3001. was subscribed in the room.

At the quarterly meeting of the Westminster Savings Bank, on Tues- day, it was stated that the amount of deposits during the last quarter, notwithstanding the severity of the season, had exceeded the sum with- drawn by upwards of 2001. The amount paid in was 2,9511. 13s. 7d., and that withdrawn, 2,712/. 18s.

At the half-yearly meeting of the Royal Humane Society, held on Tuesday, it was reported by the Secretary, that thirty-one persons had during the frost been rescued in the various Parks, one life only having been lost. It also appeared that the current expenses of the year (with the exception of those for the Receiving-house in Hyde Park) had been 1,479/. 10s. 3d., and for the Receiving-house, &c., 5841. 19s. 11d. ; and that during the late frost the wages of the icemen have amounted to nearly 601. per week.

The annual meeting of the Governors of the Royal Jennerian and London Vaccine Institution was held on Thursday. The report of the board of managers congratulated the meeting on the increased number that were during the last year vaccinated at the institution. In 1839. the number of children was 6,538 ; whilst last year it was 7,913, making an increase of 1,375. From a statement of the progress of the society since its formation ie 1806, it appears that there were then vaccinated but 684, whilst the supplies of, virus were but 1,357 ; last year these were upwards of 60,000. From its first formation, there had been 160,015 persons vaccinated at the institution, and the charges of matter distributed were 1,297,775. The report stated that the King of the Belgians, while in this country last year, applied for vaccine to be sent to Belgium for the purpose of vaccinating the royal infant. During the late war in Syria, William Allen, the philanthropist, sent for vaccine matter to be employed in Beyrout and Damascus.

Great changes in the weather have taken place since our last publica- tion. On Saturday morning at five o'clock; the thermometer in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, stood at the zero of Fahrenheit, or 32 degrees below the freezing point A thermometer in St. John's Wood registered 1-1- degrees below zero between Friday night and Saturday morning. In some parts of the country it was still lower ; the ther- mometer being 35 degrees below freezing. On Sunday, the thaw com- menced, with a heavy fall of snow ; and during the week there has been a succession of thaw, frost, and snow, which have made the streets and roads almost impassable. On Thursday evening, there was the heaviest fall of snow that has occurred this winter : in some places it lay on the ground more than a foot deep. In the North of England and in Scotland the cold has not been so intense as in London. There has been a great deal of snow and hail, bat we have not noticed a lower degree of cold recorded in the Scotch papers than 12 degrees above zero.

The deaths caused by cold and want of proper nourishment during the late inclement weather have been greater than we remember to have seen recorded during any previous winter. Even in London there have been many cases of death from these causes.

Notwithstanding the snow-storm of last night, the mail-train with the Northern bags arrived at the Euston station of the London and Bir- mingham Railway only sixty-seven minutes after time; and the mail despatches by the London and Birmingham and Great Western Rail- ways were the first received at the General Post-office. The day mail- train arrived at the Easton station eight minutes before time. Satisfac- tory proofs these of the great superiority of railway over road-travelling in heavy snow.—Courier, Jan. 15.

The Lord Chancellor gave judgment on Wednesday in the long litigated cause of the Attorney-General against the Fishmongers Company, the object of which was to deprive the Company of pro- perty they had had in possession for several centuries. In the first case, the object of the information was to fix a charitable trust on pro- perty given to the Fishmongers' Company by the will of Sir Thomas Kneseworth, in 1513. The testator devised certain lands for the pur- pose of supplying loans to poor members of the Company, and other objects, and also for prayers to be said for his own soul and those of his family. The surplus was tope given towards the repair of premises belong- ing to the Company, and other purposes beneficial to them. His Lord- ship said, the provision for loans was a distinct one ; and when the sur- plus was to be applied to a different object, which failed, the former charity could not on that account be augmented. Therefore, although the prayers for the dead were a superstitious use, and the lands to sup- port it of consequence forfeited to the Crown, the information} failed as to depriving the Fishmongers Company, as the rights of the Crown had been purchased by the Company, and they held the property by letters patent of Edward the First, confirmed by those of James the First. In the second case, the information against the Company was founded on the will of Henry Preston, who in 1429 gave property in aid of poor members. This was also decided in favour of the defendants by the Lord Chancellor ; who observed, that it would prove a dangerous doctrine if the beneficial enjoyment for four hundred years did not con- fer a sufficient title. His Lordship regretted that the Company should

have been put to such expense by these informations, as the relaters must have been aware that there was no ground or pretence whatever fbr them.

The " royal cheese " has got into Chancery ; from which it seems to have had a narrow escape. The parties in whose custody the monstrous

mass of consolidated curds had been placed, finding that it was the in- tention of the person who had taken a cast of the cheese to make an exhibition of it in London, thought it might be as well to gratify the

Londoners with a sight of the cheese itself. It was accordingly brought

up with great care and ceremony. The Lord Steward of the House- hold was consulted, whether the exhibition of the cheese would en- danger its acceptance by the Queen. Lord Errol, we are told, "declined

giving any official opinion on the point." He went to view the cheese, and gave his " private opinion " that its exhibition would not hazard its

acceptance. The owner of the plaster cast, apprehensive that his speculation would be entirely destroyed if the cheese itself were exhi- bited, applied to the Vice-Chancellor for an injunction to restrain the exhibition, on the ground that it was contrary to the wishes of the ma- jority of the contributors, and might prevent her Majesty from receiv- ing their present. The injunction was granted. On Thursday the case was argued by four counsel ; and his Honour gave judgment in due form, stating at length the reasons which induced him to dissolve the injunction with costs. The cheese having been thus let out of Chan- cery, will no doubt shortly be exhibited. It is the produce of 737 cows, is nine feet four inches in circumference, twenty inches in depth, and weighs eleven hundredweight.

An application for a rule for a criminal information against the printer and publisher of the Leeds Times was made in the Bail Court

on Monday, on behalf of an attorney named Rogerson, for a libel,

stating that he had caused a man to he imprisoned for a debt of 1/. 7s., because at the late Town-Council elections he had voted against the

Conservative candidates. The application for the rule was refused by Mr. Justice Williams, on the ground that the accusation was not caten- ated to injure the applicant's professional character, but rather to raise it in the estimation of his political party in the town. His Lordship, alluding to the colours of blue and yellow by which the two parties are dis- tinguished, said he did not exactly know which of the parties in the case was the blue and which the yellow ; but some colour, yellow or blue, so completely overspread the article as effectually to prevent it from dazzling the eyes of the inhabitants of Leeds, to the prejudice of the applicant. He was, moreover, of opinion that neither of the two factions which were spoken of in the affidavit would be likely to think the less of an attorney for his being charged with exhibiting a little irregular energy in the depression of his political antagonists.

In the Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday, the case of the reversal of the process of outlawry against Mr. Robert Steuart, Member for the Haddington Burghs, was finally decided. A supersedeas had been ob- tained, on the ground that as the defendant, who was out of the country, was not liable to arrest, by privilege of Parliament, he could not be outlawed for not doing that from which his privilege exempted him. In last term a rule was obtained to show cause why the supersedeas should not be set aside, and the outlawry confirmed. After counsel had been heard, on Tuesday, the Lord Chief Justice decided in favour of the defendant. He said-

" The question turned upon the construction of the Acts of William III. and George III. limiting and defining the privileges of Members of Parlia-

ment; and it appeared to him that those Acts extended to Members of Parlia-

ment protection from arrest under any writ of capias ; and that consequently, upon the return of non est inventus, process of outlawry could not regularly be issued ; for the effect would be this—if they granted this rule and allowed the outlawry to stand, they would by that act be giving orders to the Sheriffs to arrest a person whom they themselves must immediately discharge from cus-

tody. There was a method by which Members of Parliament might, in his judgment, be made liable to arrest. If an action were brought tinder those old Acts of Parliament which contemplated the arrest of the person until satis- faction of the debt as the end and result of the action, he held that a _ judgment recovered in such an action would subject a Member of Parlia- ment to arrest ; and he knew of no clause either in the Act of William

III. or of George III. which included the process in those old actions within the protection extended to Members. However, the capias ad satisfaciendung in this case clearly came within those acts; and as, consequently, the issuing of that writ was irregular, no process of outlawry could be founded upon it."

In the Court of Exchequer, yesterday, the cause of Don Jose Ma- guire against Lord Sydenham, was brought before the Court, on a mo- tion of the Attorney-General to be permitted to add certain pleas, and to extend the time for returning a commission for the examination of wit- nesses in Spain. It is an action brought against the present Governor

of Canada to recover the amount of a bill of exchange for 3,1471., with

interest, which was accepted in 1823. It appeared from the affidavits and the statements of counsel, that the validity of the bill and the ob- jection of the defendant to pay the amount were undisputed, but that there was good reason to apprehend if the amount was paid to the plaintiff, other persons might put forward legal claims as the representatives of the National Consulate at Cadiz ; which body, it appeared, was extinct, but was succeeded by another body called the Junta of Commerce at Cadiz. The amount of interest was the only question in dispute. The Court suggested an arrangement by which further litigation should be put an end to ; the plaintiff taking a judg- ment for the amount of the bill, with a stay of execution until he should obtain a receipt for the defendant from the Junta of Commerce at Cadiz, and also from General Alava. The Court thought the plaintiff entitled to interest from the time payment of the amount was demanded; but as the date of such demand was in dispute, it might be referred to one of the Masters to determine that fact. The arrangement suggested by the Court was agreed to.

Mr. Ralph Benson, who was formerly Member of Parliament for Stafford, applied to the Insolvent Debtors Court on Tuesday for his discharge. His insolvency was ascribed to the expenses he had in- curred in contested elections, two for Stafford and one for Bridgnorth, to losses in underwriting, and to law expenses. The debts amounted to 76,0321., and there were no credits. His landed estates, he said, had been mortgaged for more than their value, as he bad only a life-interest in them. The sum of 11,0001. was stated to have been expended in one election for Stafford and one for Bridgnorth. The other contest for Stafford cost 5,500/. Mr. Benson had been arrested by one of his female servants, wholiad lived with him for many years, for wages. It was alleged that the arrest was a friendly one. He was ordered to be discharged.

At the Mansiouhouse, on Saturday, Richard Moore, who was appre- hended some days ago on charges of uttering forged notes and post- bills, purporting to be the issue of several country banks, at the gaming- house of Thompson, in Leicester Square, and the billiard-rooms of Cook, in the Strand, was brought up for examination. The prisoner had lost considerably at both houses, and then, insisting upon playing again, he had paid the losses which he again incurred in the forged notes. When he was arrested, three promissory notes were found upon him, enclosed in a letter addressed to "J. Johnson, Esq., 7, Leicester Square," for 5251., the sum he had lost to Mr. Thompson, whose name appeared to have been mistaken, and 61. in money. The letter expressed regret at the offence the writer had committed in playing with fictitious notes, and stated that the enclosed bills should be paid upon a little indulgence. When in the coach with the officer who arrested him, the prisoner said that he had lost a great deal of money in gambling-houses, that he had been ruined by play, and had taken that step to recover his money.

Mr. Bacon, of Fleet Street, an engraver employed to engrave notes for country banks, examined the notes produced, and said that they were taken from the plates in his possession ; which, as was the case with all other plates engraved for country banks, never were out of his care. He had seen several notes in the officer's possession, and found that they were all proof impressions struck off on India paper as specimens. It was the practice of country bankers, when they wished to alter their plates, to send to his house for specimens, and generally from twenty to forty were sent. The paper was such that the ink would run upon it, and it was quite impossible to make a signature upon it in the condition in which it was transmitted to the bankers. A very clever prOcess, he found, had been adopted with respect to all the notes in the hands of the officer : the paper had been fastened very ingeniously with a layer of gum to other paper, so that a firmness was given to it by which means signatures could be written with perfect clearness and precision. These specimens were never sent to any but banking-houses, and always with a request that they might be returned ; and in most instances they were returned ; there were, however, some cases in which from ac- cident or neglect they were not returned. It occurred to him that the prisoner might have been in a country bank to which specimens might have been sent. The prisoner was remanded.

A man and woman named George and Mary Richardson were charged at Queen Square Police-office, on Tuesday, with knowingly possessing 2,988 counterfeit shillings, besides some counterfeit crown- pieces and sovereigns. Both prisoners were remanded till Monday next.

A most extensive system of fraud has lately been detected in the City, by which the public has been victimized to the tune of nearly twenty thousand pounds, by means of forged and fictitious bills and " accommodation" paper. The guilty parties were ostensibly wine- merchants; and, through the instrumentality of their agent at Liverpool, they have contrived to let in several of the banks there for heavy sums. The head of the gang has absconded, to avoid the penalties of the law, and is now residing on the Continent. Another of the confederates has had recourse to the Bankruptcy Court, in hopes of freeing himself from his engagements. His liabilities are 13,0001., and his assets nil; in fact, his creditors will not receive one penny in the pound. The Liverpool agent is also made a bankrupt, but he cuts a much more re- spectable figure than his masters, as he shows assets equal to three shillings in the pound on his debts of twelve to fifteen thousand pounds. We do not mention names at present, as it might defeat the ends of justice.— Globe, Jan. 15.

The Observer contradicts the statement about the man who was con- victed at Hull last week, of obtaining money under false pretences, having any knowledge of the murder of Mr. Westwood, the watch- maker, or of the murder of Eliza Grim wood. The rumour appears to have been an invention to give piquancy to the report of the Hull trial.

An inquest was held on Monday, at the Ring's Arms, Roupel Street, Waterloo Road, on the mutilated remains of an infant, that were found wrapped up in a brown paper parcel, on the ledge outside the parapet of Waterloo Bridge. The surgeon who examined the mutilated members, said the body had been severed into eight parts. The head was sepa- rated from the trunk ; and there were several wounds on the head and other parts, made by a sharp instrument. Some of the lower members of the body were missing. The separation of the members appeared to have been effected after death, which had taken place about three days before the parcel was found. The child had arrived at the full period of gestation, but had never tasted food, nor been washed. The Coro- ner's Jury returned a verdict of " Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown."

Scott, the American diver, has come to an untimely end, in the course of his dangerous exhibitions. On Monday last, preparations were made for him to leap off Waterloo Bridge, and the bridge was thronged with spectators. While his agents were collecting money, Scott used to amuse his audience by exhibiting feats of agility ; and among others, by a mock execution, in which he played the part of the criminal. It is said that the noose by which he hanged himself on these occasions was passed round his chin. On Monday he performed this trick three times ; but the third time the noose slipped too low, and the wretched man was hanged in earnest. A rush was made to cut him down, but the crowding of people to the spot prevented their own purpose ; and when a Police sergeant succeeded in reaching him and cutting him down, he was quite dead. Scott was in his twenty-eighth year ; and is described as a civil, inoffensive man. Although his exhibitions gene- rally collected a multitude of spectators, they do not appear to have been lucrative : it is said that he seldom reaped above a few shillings ; and his largest gains are supposed to have been at the Customhouse, where on two occasions he realized 41. and 3/. The exhibition, however, was very productive to the proprietors of the Southwark and Waterloo bridges, from the toll paid by a great part of the crowd.

On Tuesday an inquest was held on the body. Mr. Godfrey, the pro- prietor of the White Lion public-house, in Drury Lane, whence Scott

went to the scene of exhibition, deposed to his having, at the instance of Scott, sought permission from the Waterloo Bridge Company for him to make use of the bridge. The officers of the bridge twice refused to give any permission, but made no opposition to the erection of the scaffold which Godfrey provided. Scott said that the Southwark Bridge Company had made him a present of money, and perhaps the Waterloo Bridge Company might do the same. The Jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death "; but four of them expressed a strong desire to accompany that verdict with a censure on the Bridge Company for allowing the scaffold to be erected.

On Saturday night, a fire broke out in the range of buildings belong- ing to the General Steam Navigation Company, at Deptford, occupying three or four acres of ground. The tide was out, and water was defi- cient. The fire brigade of the district was speedily in attendance, and the fire was subdued in about six hours ; but not until the older build- ings on the ground were destroyed, with three houses in Pleasant Row, an adjoining street, inhabited by poor persons.

On Saturday morning, a labourer employed in pulling down the re- mains of the Royal Exchange, in Cornhill, was buried beneath the rains of a wall which fell suddenly, and killed him on the spot. At the inquest held on the body, it appeared that the accident resulted from the dead man's own carelessness.

On Thursday morning at four o'clock, an immense mass of earth and brick-work fell in from the effects of the frost, at the excavations for the foundations of the New Royal Exchange, and destroyed a great deal of the scaffolding-erections for laying down tie concrete and foundations.

Mr. Bowles, the cash-taker at the Blackwell terminus of the railway, was knocked down by a train on Tuesday evening, whilst incautiously walking on the line of rails. Mr. Bowles, who is deaf, was not aware of the approach of the train till it was too close upon him to escape. His jawbone was broken, and his neck was so seriously injured that little hope is entertained of his surviving.