Ebt jilletropolfs.

On Monday, the morrow of St. Matthew, the Lord Mayor, several of the Aldermen, Town Clerk, City Solicitor, and the Treasurer and Go- vernors of the Royal Hospitals, assembled in the Great Hall of Christ's Hospital to " assist" at the delivery of the usual orations. The Princess of Prussia, who had been visiting the Guildhall and Mansionhouse, was pre- sent; wherefore the anthem was sung. The speeches followed, and were vary well delivered. Before the close of the proceedings, the "glove" was sent round, on behalf of the youthful orators going to college, and returned in a satisfactory state of repletion.

A Court of Common Council was held on Wednesday, for the despatch of business. The first subject was the pending dispute between the Lord Mayor and the Governors of Christ's Hospital: the Lord Mayor reported that in the lists of Governors the Chief Magistrate of the City had been placed below the President and the Treasurer; and therefore he had re- fused to sit down to the dinner provided at the Hospital on St. Matthew's Day. A petition from the Scripture Readers' Association, praying for a donation in aid of their funds, was presented by Mr. Wire. The petition was objected to by Mr. Richard Taylor, Mr. Lawrence, Dr. Lynch, and Mr. Anderton; the objects of the Association being sectarian and prose- lytizing. It was supported by Mr. Harrison and Mr. Binnock; and the motion to grant the prayer was carried by 39 to 30. On the motion of Mr. Anderton, it was resolved to petition both Houses of Parliament for an act to prohibit the interment of the dead in churches and churchyards within the City of London or other large towns. Mr. Anderton carried a petition to Parliament for an act to prevent nuisances arising from the smoke of steam-engines and furnaces in buildings in and near London and Westminster.

The Quarterly General Court of Proprietors was held at the Indiahouse on Wednesday. The Chairman, Sir James Weir Hogg, opened the Court at noon. Mr. Sullivan spoke at some length on a motion for the restoration of Scinde to the Ameers. He considered the conquest of Scinde to be the foulest blot on the escutcheon of the Company. Was there, he asked, any evidence of their guilt? The Ameers were charged with writing two treasonable letters; and they had been condemned on the slenderest proof. Mr. Sullivan attacked Sir Charles Napier; who had, he said, invaded Scinde in the teeth of his instructions. " Prize-money to the extent of 50,0001., a govern- ment of 10,0001. a year, a regiment, the insignia of the Bath, the thanks of this Company and of Parliament, and a Peerage in prospect "—were fearful tehiptations. Accordingly, the Ameers were plundered and imprisoned. Scinde had been acquired by systematic frauds.. All we want is a friendly power, and that we could have by restoring the Ameers. Mr. Sullivan referred to the rapidly-increasing debt of India, and an almost sta- tionary revenue; the former being an obstacle to the adoption of the only measures for" improving the condition of India—a reduction of the territorial assessment. The motion was seconded by Colonel Dickin- son. The Chairman having stated that the Directors were anticipating the receipt of information from the Governor-General, in answer to a request Al= the Court to be furnished the full opinion of the Government of India on, the affairs of Scinde, Mr. Sullivan withdrew his motion.

Mr. George Thompson submitted imatio' n condemning the conduct of the Court of Directors in the case of'the Rajah of Setters. Having been seconded by hie Peter Gardom-the motion was pirt, and negatived.

In the Metropolitan Registration Cimrts, the vast majority of cases have been ofthe usual description,. and totally &Wild of interest. A few have, however, deserved some notice. In the City of London, on Monday, the case of John Tubb, a Liberal claimant, was investigated at some length; being the representative of a number of similar cases, it was rigorously pressed by Mr. Wansey, the Liberal agent. It came out that Tubb, who could not write, and who appeared perfectly indifferent about his vote, had been sought out by the agent, and induced to let a claim be preferred on his behalf, with the requisite tender of arrears of rates. He admitted having put his mark to some kind of authority; but on his examination, he appeared so completely a puppet in the hands of others, that Mr. Arnold considered the case amounted to a manufactured vote, and decided against it; at the same time expressing a hope that he should be troubled with no more such cases.

During the proceedings on the St. Botolph list, on Tuesday, Mr. Arnold complained of the blunders made by the 'Overseers; half his time being taken up in rectifying their mistakes. In the case of James Day, the Christian name had been omitted. The Revising Barrister said he would inflict a fine on the Overseers of 20s. unless they paid Mr. Day 10s. for his expenses; which they agreed to do. The Overseers' expenses were refused.

In Marylebone, an objection was taken by the Conservative agent to the vote of Mr. Crickney, because he had not paid his rates; and as the result of this case would affect about fifteen hundred votes, great anxiety was manifested. Mr. Laurent, the present collector, stated that between the death of his predecessor on the 28th of May, and his own appointment on the 10th of July, there had been no person to receive the assessed taxes, although he understood there were many inquiries as to who was to receive them. Within three days of the time of his appointment, he sent letters to all the fifteen hundred persons who were in consequence in imminent danger of disfranchisement, stating that he was ready to receive the taxes. About seven days only remained from the date of those letters until the last day for payment. Mr. Crickney stated that he was compelled to leave town on business of an imperative nature; and on his return his servant handed him Mr. Laurent's letter, upon which he immediately went to pay the taxes; but found he was too late. The Revising Barrister held that a suf- ficient notice had been afforded. It was the duty of the servant to forward the notice to Mr. Crickney. It might seem a hard case thus to deprive him of his franchise, but as the law now stood he was compelled, although reluctantly, to refuse placing his name upon the registry. Objection allowed.

A similar case occurred on Tuesday, in the claim of Mr. Laudet; who was also disfranchised. Mr. Moylan, the barrister, advised Mr. Landet to tender his vote at the next election, and perhaps a Committee of the House of Commons would allow it.

A statement has just been issued by the Committee of the Free Baths and Wash-house Establishment, in Glasshouse Yard, East Smithfield, ex- hibiting the most satisfactory results on the operations of the first twelve months. In the course of the year, 27,622 bathers, 35,480 washers and dryers of clothes, and 4,512 ironers, have made use of the premises. The working expenses have been under lid. a head, although soap is allowed to each bather, and a portion of soap and soda to each washer of clothes. Quiet, orderly, and civil conduct RS- universally prevailed among those frequenting the establishment. Several persons applying to bathe and wash their clothes are so destitute that their entire clothing is that which they have on. Such applicants are provided with gowns whilst they wash, dry; and mend their scanty attire. The -water has been supplied gratuitously by the East London Water-works Company. Upwards of 9,000 came a distance of from two to five miles; and above 1,300 bathed and washed, who, on the preceding night, slept at places from five to twenty-five miles distant. From the financial statement it appears that the amount of sub- scriptions received was 548!. 3s. 6d., of which a balance of 381. 4s. 9d. remains.

The inquiry into the treatment of some of the paupers in the St. Pan cras Workhouse was resumed on Friday the 18th, by the Directors and Guardians of the Poor. The principal witnesses were Mr. Harrison, Mr: Curtis, Mr. Todd, and Mr. Johnson, district-surgeons, and Mr. Erasmus Wilson, consulting-surgeon to the parish; whose evidence was chiefly as to the dietary for refractory paupers, and as to the fitness of the " shed" for habitation. They seemed to consider the reduction in the meat-rations as unobjectionable, provided the other articles were of really good quality. They concurred generally in thinking the rooms of the refractory ward ill- ventilated, and the women's sleeping-room unwholesome from its-damp- ness. The Board adjourned to Tuesday.

At the adjourned meeting a letter was read from the Poor-law Commis- sioners, requesting to be furnished with a copy of the evidence taken by the Directors. The Board then proceeded. Dr. Birmingham stated that he had visited the workhouse on Saturday, and examined the food; he had tasted the soup, with which he was perfectly satisfied. He expressed his belief that the dietary of the St. Pancras Workhouse was better than that of any other establishment in England. Specimens of the rations served to the paupers were placed on the table. The rations consisted of porridge, meat, bread, potatoes, beer, soup, and cheese. Several paupers were ex- amined, being first required to taste the porridge, broth, and beer. The re- sult of their testimony was, that the usual issue of broth, porridge, meat, and potatoes, was not either so abundant or so good as the specimens; but that the specimens of bread, cheese, and beer, were fair samples of the ordinary allowance. The Board then considered their report, which Mr. Howorth described as being unanimously adopted, although a stormy discussion is understood to have taken place in the Committee. The report denies that the refractory ward can properly be called a " shed." It proceeds-

" It is essential to the preservation of decency, order, and good conduct, amongst the paupers generally, that the idle, depraved, and refractory, should be kept sepa- rate from the aged and well-conducted and that those who, but for their dis- honest and vicious propensities, might maintain themselves, should not be kept in a state of idleness, or supplied with a greater quantity of food than eeience shows to be fully sufficient for the preservation of their health, and strength. The refractory pers in St. Pancras Workhouse have the same allowance as the other able-....ed poor with the exception of two ounces of meat three times a week, and one ounce o sugar and one ounce of butter in the case of the females." The report declares that it is necessary for the-Master to have a power

of punishment; he being bound, however, to make periodical reports in wri- ting to the Directors of all punishments inflicted. The Committee con- demn the conduct of Mr. Cooper, the surgeon of the infirmary, for the un- satisfactory reasons assigned by him for not calling the attention of the Board to anything objectionable in the dietary or management of the house. They

. . . . "are fully satisfied that the dietary of the house is, sufficient both in quantity and quality, and that with the odddion ofa portion of peas to the broth, and two pints of milk instead of one to each gallon of the oatmeal-porridge, if will be rendered as nutritire and palatable as can possibly be desired; but that means be taken to enforce the proper preparation and cooking of the whole of the food of the inmates."

The report exonerates the parish authorities from blame in consequence of.the death of Mary Anne Jones; even supposing she committed suicide from fear of being placed in the refractory ward.

The condition of the churchyards in the Metropolis cannot much longer bo overlooked. On Monday, a Vestry-meeting was held in the church of St. Anne, Soho, at which the state of the churchyard was discussed. A resolution was proposed," That a Committee be appointed to inquire into the state of the burial-ground; the number of persons buried therein during the last fifteen years; and whether any, and what, means were necessary to provide for future interments, and what steps could be taken to close in the present churchyard; and that they be called upon to report thereon to a future Vestry of the parishioners." Mr. Rogers, a surgeon, seconded the re- solution. He said that the scenes exhibited in the churchyard were enough to shock the feelings and injure the health of all those residing in the vi- cinity. Dr. Cronin spoke to the same effect. The resolution was unani- mously carried, and the Committee was appointed.

At the Thames Police-office, on Saturday, another " burial-ground" case was heard.

The exposure was the result of a quarrel between two rival undertakers. The facts are these. Samuel Sheen, besides being an undertaker, is the proprietor of a private place of interment called " Sheen's Cemetery." William Jeffryes, a coffin-maker and furnishing-undertaker, in the course of business, conducted the funeral of a child which was to be buried at Sheen's cemetery. The ground had been selected, and the dues paid; but when the funeral-party arrived, on Tuesday last week, the gates of the cemetery were locked. Admission was obtained through Sheen's house; and it was then discovered that no grave had been dug nor other preparations made. Sheen was absent from home. The coffin was therefore deposited in a grave prepared for an adult; and the funeral-service was read by Jeffryes at the request of the mourners. On returning home, Sheen was very angry; he proceeded to Jeffryes' house in Leman Street, and there he uttered much personal abuse, with threats of violence. The defence was, that Jeffryes had brought the coffin to annoy his rival; that Sheen was excited when he went to the other's house; that Jeffiyes then called him a rascal, and threatened to expose his cemetery as a nuisance; and that he thereupon did somewhat forget himself. The defendant was fined 10e. and costs.

The Times of Wednesday contains a letter from "A Churchwarden," narrating a somewhat similar case.

"A short time since," he says, "I attended the funeral of a friend at a burial-ground in the Borough. I was not aware at the time that it was a private one. When the orders for the funeral were given, the man at the ground asked if we would provide a clergyman, or should the one who usually officiated attend? Supposing, of course, that he was a minister of the Established Church, the latter proposition was acceded to; but what was our surprise, on arriving with the corpse, to find the same man (who appeared to be only the sexton) dressed up in a dirty surplice, ready to receive us; and there being then no remedy, he went through the service in his own way. Of course, I know nothing about the particular ground mentioned in your paper, but I believe such is generally the case at most of what are called private grounds. An undertaker takes a piece of land, and advertises it at a low rate for burials. No clergyman will officiate there, because the ground is unconsecrated; and therefore they adopt the above substi- tute, which, if no inquiry is made, passes off very well, and no one is the wiser. Besides, these grounds are for the most part leasehold, and there is no security against the place being applied to other purposes, as several have already been. Graves being thus made a matter of trade, the greater the number which can be crammed into a small piece of ground the better for the owner; and hence those disgusting scenes arise which have been so often made the subject of complaint. Surely Government ought to take the matter up, and stop this nuisance."

A Commission of Lunacy has been engaged for some time past on an inquiry into the mental state of Mrs. Cummings. She lived with her husband, Captain Cummings, at Paddington; and part of the evidence consisted of strange stories respecting her cruel and neglectful treatment of the Captain; who is an invalid, weak in understanding. Opposite evidence was given, showing that Mrs. Cum- mings had on her part endured much through the morbid weaknesses and un- regulated conduct of her husband. The case against her broke down. After many sittings, a conference was agreed on between the Lord Chancellor and the Commissioner, Mr. Barlow; and on Wednesday the terms of an arrangement be- tween the parties were finally settled. The Jury were discharged without a verdict

At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, John Bannister Faulkener was tried for a forgery of scrip of the Buckinghamshire Railway. Bentham Fabian WAS also indicted, but he did not surrender to his bail. The two, who were in partnership as share-brokers, obtained money through Mr. Richards, a dealer in shares, on what purported to be scrip of the railway company; a Mr. Solomons advanced the money. The scrip tamed out to be forged. Phis was the state- ment of the counsel for the prosecution. Mr. Ballantine, for the prisoner, took an objection to the indictment He contended that the scrip was not a receipt, and could not be considered as belonging to any class of documents specified in the act of Parliament. Until the subscribers' agreement and Parlia- mentary contract were signed, the document was worth nothing; and it bore on the face of it that the holder could only be entitled to the shares on his executing those deeds. After a long discussion, Mr. Justice Maule (having consulted with Mr. Baron Platt) said he would take a note of the objection; but he was of opinion that it should be overruled; and the case proceeded. Mr. Edward Richards was then examined. His evidence by no means implicated the prisoner at the bar: it was adverse only to Fabian. He deposed that he raised money on shares of the Buckinghamshire Railway on account of Mr. Fabian; but he had had no conversation with the prisoner on the subject. He had always paid the money to Fabian, in his own countinghouse at the Hall of Commerce, or in the office of Mr. Fabian. Faulkener never appeared to know anything about what they were doing, although he might have been present. He applied to Mr. Solomon to advance money on the Buckinghamshire Railway scrip. Mr. Solo- mons agreed to advance the money if Mr. Fabian went for the scrip. Fabian did so, and returned with the scrip, and got the money. At this point of the case, Mr. Clarkson said that they had no means of showing that the prisoner had any knowledge of the uttering of the forged scrip, except what they expected to ex- tract from the evidence of the witness. The evidence be gave in the box was quite contrary to the statement which he had made to his own solicitor; and as they bad no other means of proving Faulkener's accessorial knowledge, they must

abandon that part of the indictment. There was another charge, that of fraud, Mr. Justice Manle said that the evidence had failed, independently of any distine- tion as to fraud or forgery; since no knowledge of the fraud or forgery was brought home to the prisoner by the evidence of the witness Richards.

Faulkener was then arraigned on the charge of fraud. Mr. Clarkson, however, said that after the equivocal evidence of /Ir. Richards, who was a person of pecu•

liar character, and who, although he did not mean to say he had been a partici- pator in the fraud, was very closely mixed up with it, he would not occupy the time of the Court by proceeding further with the case. The Jury then returned. a verdict of acquittal; and the prisoner was discharged.

On Thursday, the Grand Jury came into Court and presented a number of bills; among them was that against Captain Richardson, charging him with forging a check for 5,0001., which they ignored. Mr. Bodkin applied to the Judge to Inae an order that the prisoner should be detained until the Grand Jury were die. charged, in order that the gentlemen for whom he appeared might have an oppor- tunity of conferring with the shareholders in the undertaking, and deciding. whether another bill in a different form to that which had been ignored by the.

Grand Jury, should be presented to them; or what other steps they might consi- der advisable to be taken under the circumstances. Mr. Clarkson, for the pri- soner, objected to the grounds of the application as novel and unreasonable: Mr.

Bodkin asked that a prisoner be detained until a joint stock company had con- sulted! Baron Platt understood the substantial object of the application wa. that the prisoner might be detained until the Grand Jury were discharged; and looking at the nature of the case, lie did not see how he could resist the applica- tion without running the risk of defeating and frustrating the ends of justice. After some discussion, Captain Richardson was ordered to lie detained in custody- until the discharge of the Grand Jury. Yesterday, however, lie was released; uo fresh bill being contemplated.

The eighteen Irishmen charged with riot at the Camden station of the Bir- mingham Railway, with one exception, pleaded "guilty"; no evidence was offered against the man who pleaded "not guilty," as he could not be clearly identified. Yesterday, they were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, ranging from three to nine mouths, with hard labour.

Yesterday, William Clare, the engine-driver on the Eastern Counties Railway surrendered to take his trial for having caused the death of Mr. William Hind.. The Attorney-General appeared to prosecute on the part of the Eastern Counties Railway Company. He stated that the indictment charged the prisoner with having caused the death of Mr. Hinds at Stratford, by propelling the Firefly ea. gine, which he was driving, into a train in which Mr. Hinde was passenger. Al-.

though warned by the signals, the prisoner drove at so rapid a rate as to render it impossible for the Ipswich train, which had stopped at the Stratford station, to get out of the way. A great many witnesses were examined. William Bush, a. porter at the Stratford station admitted in cross-examination that since Me ac- cident several porters had been put on, and the star at the Stratford station in- creased, as well as an additional signal-master and signal-man appointed. Mr. Benjamin Richardson, the station-master at Stratford, stated that two years ago at his station a reduction took place of a clerk and a porter, and a further re- duction a few weeks before the accident. Mr. Montague Chambers addressed-

the Jury for the prisoner. He complained of the unfair manner in which the At- torney-General had opened the ease on behalf of the Eastern Counties Railway; whom he charged with endeavouring to screen their own mismanagement by crushing one of the meanest of their servants. The prisoner, impaired in his vi- sion, was incompetent to drive an engine. The Company ought to have shown that the signals had been properly managed, and their instructions observed- Mr. Justice Maule having summed up, the Jury, after a brief deliberation, pro- nounced Clare to be "Not guilty."

John Smith, the man who was convicted of murdering Susan Tollidsy, at the. Guildhall Coffeehouse, was finally reprieved on Saturday; when orders were given for his removal to the Milbank Penitentiary.

A boat, in which were four men, was capsized off Battersea on Tuesday, by coming athwart a barge, and the passengers were thrown into the river; the- bargeman succeeded in saving two, but the others perished.

William Harold Levitt, a young man, son of an ironmonger at Rateliff, hie died of injuries received in a fracas on the Barking Road. lie was returning from Barking on the 15th instant in a chaise-cart; on the road he interrupted a run- ning-match, got into an altercation with some parties in a barouche drawn by two horses, and struck at them with his whip. One of the men in the barouche left it, and, after getting into the chaise, beat Mr. Levitt with the butt-end of hie whip about the head, face, and body. The deceased was rendered insensible by the blows; and was conveyed to his father's residence in Retail, where he died nu Monday.

A destructive fire occurred at the Croydon terminus of the Croydon Railway at an early hour on Wednesday morning. It was discovered by a Policeman, who perceived smoke issuing from the lamp-room. He raised an alarm, but before any person had time to come to his assistance, the flames broke through the roof of the carriage-depot, a spacious building, upwards of a hundred feet long„ which was filled with carriages of the first and second class. Contiguous to this building stood another, in which several more carriages were deposited: these were taken out in time. Intelligence was sent to the engine-stations of the town; and forthwith the barrack and parish engines reached the scene of the fire. A large body of the military assisted. The whole of the old locomotive-deli& was soon enveloped in flames, and upwards of a dozen first and second class carriages were blazing. For some time great difficulty was experienced in obtaining a supply of water; meanwhile, the flames progressed with such rapidity, that before four o'clock both the stations of the present atmospheric and the old locomotives pre- sented an immense body of flame,. which roared as it issued from the several win dowe like a number of furnaces in full operation. By leading the lase of the engines through the windows, the military and firemen were enabled to pour a stream of water upon the fire; but it had obtained too firm a hold to be easily ex- tinguished: carriage after carriage fell a prey, and it was not until the whole of the combustible articles in the two buildings were burnt that the flames were at all got under. The conflagration was only cut off just as it was attacking the ticket-station and booking-offices. By five o'clock, danger of further mischief was at an end. Thirteen carriages were consumed.