t4t 311ttruinlio.

The Corporation Committee appointed to inquire into and report on the most efficient means to arrest the decay of Blackfriars Bridge accom- panied by Mr. J. Watson and Mr. D. Gibbs, the Bridgemasteis, and Mr. T. B. Bunning, Clerk of the City Works, paid an official visit to that structure on Monday last. It is understood that the measures adopt- ed to stay the _sinking of the piers of the fourth arch have had the desired effect, and that the settlement of the foundations has subsided. The Committee inspected and approved of the models for an iron seg- ment to sbrengthen and support the arch. The necessary repairs of the bridge are to be effected without closing the thoroughfare.

At the meeting of the Court of Queen's Bench in Westminster Hall, on Saturday the first day of Hilary Term, Lord Campbell noticed the state of siege under which the neighbourhood of the Courts of Justice groaned-

' Before proceeding to business, he felt it necessary, though with great regret, to observe that there was extreme difficulty in obtaining access to this Court. So great was the difficulty, that it amounted to an obstruction of justice; for neither the judges, the attornies, nor the suitors, could find their way here without incurring the peril of their lives. Fortunately, the Court .lad the remedy in their own hands ; and he now gave notice, that, if the ;obstructions were not removed without delay, the Court would consider it to lie their duty summarily to interfere."

The arrangements for the erection of the marble arch at the Cumber- land-gate entrance to Hyde Park are proceeding rapidly.

The picture-gallery in Bridgewater House is promised to be completed so that the collection may be opened to the public during the Great Ex- hibition.

A meeting to_proniote a revival of Convocation was held on Tuesday, in Freemasons Hall. The reports carefully advise the reader that the meeting was convened by the Metropolitan Church Union, but was open to the Churchmen of the Metropolis generally. At the hour of meeting- noon—the attendance was very thin, but the numbers rapidly increased, and before long the hall had become nearly full. Mr. Henry Hoare pre- sided ; and among those mentioned as immediately round him were recog- nized Dr. Spry, the Reverend G. A. Denison, Prebendary Clarke, and Mr. G. B. Hughes of dui TeMple. The notable feature of the Chairman's speech was an iterative disclaimer is special phrase of ecclesiastical die- loyalty : " We have no feeling buts that of entire loyalty to the Queen ; and se far as the laws of Clirtst allots--quantturiper leges Christi licet- we not merely acknowledge,. but strenuously maintain, her supremacy."

Mr. G. Hughes moved, and the Reverend J. B. Sweet seconded, the following resolution. "That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the recent daring aggression of the Pope is to be attributed, in great measure, to the crippled state of the Church of England, the direct consequence of the long-continued suppression of her synodal functions; that the Church of England can deal with this aggression only in her corporate capacity, that is to say, in her national synod ; which the I39th canon declares tote the true Church of England by representation' ; and that, therefore, the present emergency constitutes an additional plea for urging the revival of her synodal functions upon the basis of the existing provincial Convocations of Canterbury and York."

A formal notice of amendment had been given ; but as it was arranged that the amendment should be moved on the address to the Queen, the fore- going resolution passed unanimously. The address, moved by Mr. Dudley Percival, and seconded by the Reverend Dr. Biber, was thus framed— "To her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith. "May it please your Majesty—We, your Majesty's faithful subjects, clergy and laity of the Church of England, desire to approach your Majesty with the assurance of our sincere loyalty to the throne and devoted attachment to your Majesty's sacred person, more especially at this time, when the aggression of a foreign potentate upon the dignity of your Majesty's crown and upon the independence of your kingdom (committed under colour of a pretended spiritual authority over all Christendom) calls for an express.declaration of our unskaken fidelity to your Majesty and to our ancient constitution in Church and State.

" We desire most humbly to represent to your Majesty, that if the Church of Eng- land bad enjoyed the full and free exercise of the right which, while essentially in- herent in every branch of the church catholic, is also an integral part of the Bntish constitution—the right to deliberate in her own synodal assemblies upon the best means of expanding her action 'commensurately with the wants of the people, and of adapting her system to the altered circumstances of the times—the Church would not have fallen so far short as she unhappily has done of the due performance of her office as the Church of the Nation : the corrupt and idolatrous Church of Rome would not have found equal opportunities of extending her schismatical operations in. this realm. as wr..I1 as in other parts of your Majesty's dominions ; nor would deviations of every kind from the primitive faith and practice of the Church of England have ob- tained so extensive a footing, to the offence of many, and to the grief of her faithful members.

That, for all the evils by which the Church of England is at this time beset both from within and from without, mainly in consequence of the long-continued sup- pression of her synodal action, there is no legal and constitutional remedy, except the revival of her proper authority in Synod or Convocation, by the exercise of the power with which the constitution invests your Majesty to summon synodal assem- blies of the Church, and to issue to them your royal licence to deliberate upon and to do all such things as shall concern the settled continuance of her doctrine and

discipline.

" That the right so to deliberate, and to provide for the good gOvernment and ex- tension of the Church,—a right appertaining to the Church Catholic by virtue of her Divinely-appointed constitution, exercised by the Church in this kingdom from the most ancient times, expressly confirmed to her by Magna Charta, which earth, that ' the Church of England shall he free,' acted upon at the period of the Reformation, and for a long time after,—is even now not taken away, but only suppressed by an arbitrary proceeding of the Civil Government, commenced above a hundred and thirty years ago, and suffered to continue to the present time. " That at your Majesty's coronation a solemn pledge was given, that your Ma- jesty would ' preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of this realm, and to the Church committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall ap- pertain unto them, or any of them '; of which rights and privileges the right to meet in Convocation, and to take measures for promoting the welfare of the Church of England and extending her usefulness, is the most important and the most precious.

" That the efficiency of the Church of England, the Divinely-appointed teacher of this nation, which has ever inculcated principles of loyalty and obedience to your Majestl, as to her who is ordained to rule over these realms by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is one of the beat safeguards of peace and quietness among your Majesty's subjects, and of the stability of your Majesty's throne.

" Upon which considerations, we most humbly pray, that, in the exercise of the power vested in your royal person, and agreeably to the solemn pledge given at your coronation, your Majesty will be graciously pleased to issue your royal licence to the Convocations of Canterbury and York, on their next assembling according to custom at the commencement of the session of Parliament, in order that, upon their advice, and with your Majesty's assent, such steps may be taken as shall be best calculated not only to vindicate the Church of England from the recent aggression of the See of Rome, but to provide for the suppression within the Church of unsound doctrine of every description, by reason of which the Church is grievously divided, as well for the development of her internal resources in such wise as may best en- able her to do her proper work in promoting the salvation of souls, and in dis- pelling the mists of ignorance, error, and superstition, by the bright beams of Christ's holy gospel.

" And we, your Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, will ever pray."

The amendment was moved by the Reverend J. E. Cox, Vicar of St. Helen's I3ishopsgate, and seconded by Mr. J. J. Cummins : it was thus worded- " That it is not essential to the free action of the Church of Ehgland that Synods or Convocation should be permitted to meet periodically to deliberate and decide, as if the right of continual action were inherent in these ecclesiastical bodies by the constitution of the realm.

" That the independent action of Ecclesiastical Synods or Convocation, without control of the Crown and the legislative authority, is not sanctioned by the laws of England. That it is the prerogative of the Crown to convene both Houses of Convocation, and to allow them to deliberate upon such matters as by Royal authority may be committed to them (when occasion may arise); but that it is equally the right of the Crown, for the peace of the Church, the preservation of the truth of Christ's gospel, and the spiritual liberties of the whole body of the Church, that Convocations should not be permitted to become the arena of party discussions, as they have heretofore been, and as they would undoubtedly again become, to the great injury of our holy religion, were such assemblies allowed to meet from time to time and deliberate as an Ecclesiastical Parliament

" That in the present agitated state of the Church, it could not conduce to peace, unity, or concord, were the Houses of Convocation to be permitted to discuss any question of the faith or discipline of the Church of England, as already settled by her articles and formularies."

Dr. Biber, the seconder of the address, maintained that we have gone away from the true principle of the Royal supremacy as settled at the Reformation, which declared that the kingdom and state of England con- sisted of two things, the spiritually and the temporally, and made the Sovereign supreme over both, only on the understanding that he should rule the temporally by the temporally and the spiritually by the spirit- ually. He demanded a revival of right. Mr. Cox, the mover of the amendment, asserted, on the authority of Stephens, who had been the legal adviser of the Bishop of Exeter in the Gorham case, that whatever rights Convocation once possessed are now virtually abolished ; and he deprecated that renewal of religious strife whieh,would be the fruit of resuscitating Convocation. Mr. J. J. Cummins, the seconder of the amendment, denounced all spiritual domination—as much that of Convo- cation as that of the Pope. He argued, that Dr. Biber asked for the creation of a new power, rather than the revival of an existing power. The true repellant to Popery is not addresses to the Crown, but individual

opposition to Romanizing tendencies. The Chairman, in reference to an allusion, stated that the present demand did not originate with the writers of the Tracts for rice Times : he had Dr. Pusey's authority for saying that they had not directed attention to it at all.

A division being taken by rising and sitting, there appeared only thirty- four votes in favour of the amendment. The original address to the Queen was then carried amidst great cheering.

Father Gavazzi, the Italian monk who in the revolutionary period of the past two years has obtained so much celebrity in Italy by his fervid religious and political eloquence against the corruptions of the Popish Church and the tyranny of the Papal government in the Roman States, has been delivering in the Concert-room of the Princess's Theatre, during the intervals of the morning and evening services on Sunday, a series of discourses to his fellow patriots in this country, on the part which they have to play in the great drama in his native land. The Father appears attired in his black serge habit as a Barnabite monk, and wearing on his breast the rude wooden cross of his order. His discourses are of course in Italian. Notes of them, which have appeared in the columns of the Daily Naos, from a pen at once scholarly and graphic, give even through the medium of a translation a very high idea of the orator's eloquence. He has an extraordinary copiousness of imagery, " a grace of delivery quite unknown to our clerical speakers," and is moved by an expansive religious sympathy which comprehends all Christian brotherhoods in its Catholic scope, while his denunciations of Popish " harlotries " have the tremendous scorching energy of rapidly succeeding lightning flashes. He seems to be worthily described as the modern " Savanorola in London."

The Police have captured in Frederick William Routledge, alias Captain Routledge—a person of polite and distinguished address—a man whom they believe to be the head of a rug of bill-swindlers that has for many years past victimized the public with impunity. The titles of "Messrs. Wigram and Co.," " Taylor and Co.," "Hill andeo.," " Green and Co.," " Hankey and Co.," "Gurney and Co.," and lastly "Bruce and Co.," are those under which operations have been conducted. Mr. Richard Johnson, of the flint-glass works, St. Helen's, Lancashire, was induced by the promising circulars of "Messrs. Bruce and Co." to apply for their pecu- niary aid ; and he received in the way of their business a bill of ex- change for 2131. 16s., drawn by them, and accepted and endorsed by other imaginary persons ; for which he paid 101. commission. Mr. Johnson got it discounted, and at the time of its maturity forwarded to "Messrs. Bruce" the funds to redeem it from the London banker at whose place of business it was made payable : but the bill was not taken up, and on inquiry no.parties could be found who answered the description of "Messrs. Bruce" ; so that Mr. Johnson had to pay a second time. The Police traced the swindlers to their retreat in Stoke Newington, and bursting into the house, discovered Mr. Routledge in the midst of all the paraphernalia of his fraudulent occupation. Bills of exchange were found amounting to 36171. ; money to the amount of 1501. in gold and half-notes; a vast number of pawnbroker's tickets for pieces of broad-cloth and other goods ; and more than a truck-load of the tempting circulars by which the Messrs. Brace offered their pecuniary aid on easy and confidential terms. It was stated by the Police, that the address of the swindling firm has been suc- cessively in several of the suburban streets ; that no number was ever given with the address on the circular • and that the address given was never that of the street at the time inhabited, but of one occupied some time before ; and yet that the letters always found their way by regular course of post to the actual place of business of the swindlers. These circumstances had af- forded them great additional means of concealment. The prisoner is re- manded, in expectation that a mass of additional charges will be made against him.

More serious cases of violent assault with intent to rob have occurred in London.

Mr. Henry Francis Seymour, a retired military officer, was walking home- wards to Hackney through Shoreditch late on Friday night, when four men set on him at the corner of a street and tried to overpower him. He was struggling desperately when a Policeman seared them, and they fled ; but Mr. Seymour caught one, and held him fast. When the constable came up this captive audaciously eharged Mr. Seymour with odious conduct; but the constable knew the accuser too well, and took him to prison.

As Mr. P.C. Wigs and his little son, a boy of twelve, were returning home on -Monday night through Walworth Head, Mr. Wigs was attacked from behind, and beaten heavily on the head ; but his assailant presently ran away. A Policeman shortly came up with the offender in custody ; and at the Police station it was found that he was Charles Wood, an omnibus- driver, an associate of thieves, and brother of a " proprietor of omni- busea," who heti just completed a term of imprisonment in Paris for a felony committed there. Close to the spot where the Policeman caught Wood, a whip made of gutta-percha with a heavily leaded butt was picked up,—evi- dently the weapon employed in the assault. Mr. Wigs has been in a dan- gerous condition.

A rough fellow, with so many aliases that the reporters give him no name at all, broke into premises at Islington, and was carrying away some leaden piping, when the owner, Mr. Harsent, came upon him. He attacked Mr.

arsent, threw him down, and was threatening his life, when a Policeman appeared and captured him. At the Clerkenwell Police Court, Mr. Mould, the clerk, recognized him as an old offender; and he replied, "Not so much of your jaw." He was sent to Newgate fortrial.

Some expert burglars effected an entrance into the Lambeth money-order office, in the shop of Messrs. Buck and Wootton, Mount Street, Westminster Bridge Road, on Monday morning. They had packed up a considerable amount of property for removal, when they disturbed the shopmen, and had to decamp with no more than about forty pounds' worth of their booty.

Inquests have been held on the bodies of two persons killed last week by engines on the Eastern Counties Railway, and in one case the Jury passed a grave censure upon the Railway anthorities..

On Wednesday sennight, a special train was engaged by a son of Professor Haviland of Cambridge, to hasten him to the side of his father's deathbed. The train started from Shoreditch at 6.60 0.17t., at such a distance after the Hertford luggage-train as that it would overtake it somewhere about the Ponder's-end station. At 6.55 the electric telegraph was put in motion to clear the line in front of the special train ; and after nine minutes of calling the Tottenham Road station sent its answer of obedience. But ten minutes of similar calling on the Ponder's-end station proved vain ; and at 6.14 the message was passed onwards direct to the Waltham station. It appears that the collision must have occurred in this ten minutes during which the attention of Ponder's-end station was vainly solicited. Vincent Lodwick was the night-inspector at the Ponder's-end station : his duties were " to attend to the telegraph, the gates of the level crossing, the signals; the trains and their shunting." Within the quarter of an hour after six o'clock, three ordinary trains, and the special train, arrived at Ponder's-end. Two of these accomplished " shuntings." While one of the shuntings was going on, the special train ran up, and crushed.Lodwick so that he died in a few hours afterwards. He had not heard the electric bell ; he had no passible time to run 600 yards back on the line and place explosive signals behind the Hert- ford train and before the express-train ; and he had not, as he should have done, sent the guards of the waiting trains to do it. The express-train bed approached at twenty miles an hour, and then " run on easily,"—probably not much under ten miles an hour. The Jury found a verdict of " Man- slaughter" against Ronald Baxter, the driver of the express-train ; and they added this expression of their general opinion- .. The Jury cannot separate without expressing their unanimous opinion, that the duties assigned to the deceased, who was killed during their proper performance, were more multifarious than a person in his station of life and with his emoluments could reasonably be expected to perform, and that greater precautionary measures, by means of the electric telegraph, might have been adopted. They think it right also to add, that the regulations of the Eastern Counties Railway Company appear to require modification, and that punctuality should be more strictly enforced."

In the other case, James Wilson, the driver of a goods-engine, had been killed by his own engine, while it was under the care of his stoker at the Ingatestone station, on Tuesday last week. Wilson had gotten off his en- gine, and his stoker, Henry Hampshire, was with it shunting a truck, when Wilson was crushed ; nobody having seen him approach. The stoker con- sidered himself acting under the orders of the guard of his train ; but the guard asserts that in some respect he did not act on the orders given. The Jury gave a verdict of " .ughter " against Hampshire.

The dangerous state of the road at Newington Causeway has occasioned a fatal accident. Pending a dispute between conterminous parishes as to the course of their boundaries and as to the verge of their road-mending liabili- ties, the road has been worn into ruts and chasms so deep that carriages cannot drive along without danger of overthrow. About three weeks ago, Mr. William Bent, a green-grocer of Newington, was driving his grocery vehicle, drawn by a pony, along this road ; one wheel dropped into a hole, and Mr. Bent was thrown out ; eight of his ribs were broken, he was carried to Guy's Hospital, and in a few days afterwards died of effusion on the chest. Before a Coroner's Jury, empanneled on Monday by Mr. Payne, witnesses proved that many vehicles have been similarly overthrown. The Jury heard evidence on the respectivejurisdiction and liability of the contentious authorities, and then found a verdict of "Manslaughter against Mr. Pocock, chairman, and the five trustees of the South District Board of. St George, Southwark." A fire broke out in the public-house kept by (Jaunt the pugilist, in St. Martin's Lane,just after the inmates had retired to rest at two o'clock in the morning of Wednesday. Caunt was in the country. Mrs, Caunt and a niece slept on the second floor just over the room first on fire; in one of the at- tic rooms slept her children, and Ruth Lowe, a relative ; in separate attics were the bar-man and other servants. Mrs. Gaunt and her niece escaped down stairs ; the fire had laid hold of the staircase when the bar-man dis- covered it, so there was no retreat from the attics except over the roof. He got everybody on to the tiles except Ruth Lowe and two of the three chil- dren with her ; these, as he could not see them through the smoke in their room, he hoped had escaped earlier, or by means of the fire-escape : but when the fire was extinguished, their bodies were found in the room—they had been suffocated by the smoke.