tEbt liftetropolis. The consecration of Dr. Lee as Bishop of

Manchester, by the Arch bishop of York, took place on Sunday last, in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall. At eleven o'clock a procession of mace-bearers and diocesan officers, preceding the Bishop-elect of Manchester, the Bishops of Chester and Worcester, and the Archbishop of York, entered the chapel. The Archbishop took his seat on the right of the communion-table, and the other Prelates to the left. Morning prayer concluded, the Archbishop commenced the Communion service; the Bishop of Worcester read the EPietle, and the Bishop of Chester the Gospel. The sermon was preached by the Reverend John Garbett, Rural Dean of Birmingham and Honorary Canon of Wor- cester. At the conclusion of the sermon, the new Bishop, vested with his rochet, was presented to the Archbishop by the Bishops of Chester and Worcester; and the Queen's letters-patent having been read with the usual formalities, Dr. Lee took the oath of allegiance, the oath of the Queen's su- premacy, and against the ecclesiastical or spiritual jurisdiction within this realm of any foreign prince or prelate; and also the oath "professing and promising all due reverence and obedience to the Archbishop." The con- secration then proceeded according to the form in the Prayer-book.

A general meeting of the " Standing Committee " of West India planters and merchants was held on Wednesday, at their rooms in the Old Jewry. Reporters not having been admitted, no account of the proceedings appears in the newspapers; but we understand that the attendance was uncom- monly numerous, and that the utmost unanimity of opinion and determi- nation prevailed. One of the things agreed upon was to petition both Houses of Parliament; the petitions to be presented by Lord Ashburton and Mr. Thomas Baring respectively. The "Acting Committee" produced a report, setting forth the actual state of the negotiations with the Govern- ment, and of the West Indian claims. The report, of which we have ob- tained a copy, is a connected, clear, temperate, and businesslike statement; meeting the presumptuous dogmatisms of men in office, and the misleading fallacies of other parties, with plain facts.

The report shows, by comparing the prices of sugar, the cost of production, and the hours of labour, in the Slave Colonies of Spain and in the British Colo- nies, that the latter labour under disadvantages which preclude fair competition. On the other hand, it is shown that India, Mauritius, Java, &c., from various causes, offer no competition which should create apprehension to the West Indies. The report incorporates the memorial to the First Lord of the Treasury, dated the 26th October, which we published at the time. It also incorporates suggestions which have been from time to time submitted to the Government, but for the most part neglected. They are chiefly these—that all captured slaves liberated at Sierra Leone be sent to the West Indies; that three steamers be employed as

transports for the conveyance of emigrants from the West coast of Africa to Gniana,TrItie dad, and Jamaica; that licenses be granted by the Secretary of State to private vessels, suitably itted and prepared, to procure emigrants from the Kroo coast; that a proclamation be issued in the Queen's name, and extensively distributed on the West coast of Africa, explaining the great advantages "the people" will de- rive from emigrating to the West Indies; and that so soon as a proper under- standing can be come to with France and the United States, to insure the exemp- tion of -licensed emigrant-ships from the operation of the Equipment clause, the whole West coast of Africa be thrown open to them.

The reportgoes on to notice the remarkable contrast presented in Earl Grey's despatch of the 80th October, to Sir Charles Grey, between a conviction of the importance of upholding the Colonies and the measures he proposes for the purpose. Those measures are—the education of the Negroes • the introduction of improved methods and implements of culture; and the bruited supply of labour which the Colonies can, under existing arrangements, procure at their own ex- pense from certain parts s of Africa.

" These measures are, in their nature, excellent; but they are altogether in adequate to the present occasion. We might as well expect immediate benefit from the natural Increase of the population which will be progressively mani- fested. It is hardly nto show that any advantage to be derived from educating the rising gtecneesrmigon of Negroes, must of necessity be prospective.

Hitherto, those who have learnt to read and write imagine that they are destined to something much superior to field-labour. Then, it seems to be forgotten that we can have no peculiar privilege in employing improved methods and implements of culture, however desirable. Oar rivals, animated by success, and possessing the means of carrying their views into execution at a definite expense, will be at least equally able to adopt them. Every arrangement by which the free Colo- nies may be rendeted less dependent upon manual labour, will doubtless place theta in a better relative position; and, if confidence were restored, it is probable that agricultural improvement would advance more rapidly in our Colonies than among their competitors. But as in this country, so in most of the Colonies, especially the most extensive, the basis of improved culture mast be good drain- age; which implies a considerable outlay of capital, and at least as much delay as we find to be necessary in Engkird. In like manner, it is possible that even the restricted emigration now to be attempted from some parts of Africa may gradu- ally grow into importance. But in the mean time, while this slow process is in operation, the question remains for solution—how are the Colonies to be enabled to' maintain their agriculture and exports,' which Earl Grey justly proclaims to be pregnant with consequences so momeetons.

" This discrepant exhibition of feeble means for the accomplishment of a great purpose can (rely be explained by supposing that the critical state of the West India Colonies has not niftily elgaged the serious attention of her Majesty's Go- vernment; but that, confiding hi some of the fallacies which have long been pre- valent in the Colonial Office, they repel the disagreeable subject, and remain in- credulous and indifferent.' re Those fallacies have been often refuted; but they seem' nevertheless, to be infused into every Minister who succeeds to the govern- ment of the Colonies. Earl Grey refers now to absenteeism, with all the fresh- ness of a new discovery, and with the greatest confidence, as affording a complete explanation why the Colonies are not profitably cultivated; forgetting that this argument at the best can only apply to the absentees, who constitute but a part of the whole number. In seine of the Colonies, the majority of the proprietors reside; but they ate in no respect more successful than the unfortunate absentees. To account for theit ill success some other reason must be assigned; and it is ac- cordingly insinuated that they are incompetent to manage their estates. Thus, whether absent or present, the proprietors are to be blamed for not accomplishing that which is found to be impracticable. "Another notion is, that great economy might be effected if these obtuse pro- prietors would have a greater regard for their own interest, and separate the cul- ture of the ogee from the manufacture of its juice. Earl Grey, in a speech last year, expounded his views upon sugar cultivation in the following terms. He had no doubt, that in a few years the cultivation of estates would be leased to farmers as in this country; that the farmers would raise the cane in Jamaica as farmers raise corn in England; that they would hand the cane over to manufac- turers, as the farmers handed the corn over to the millers in this country. This comparison of corn with sugar fanning probably sounded very well in the House of Lords, and Earl Grey doubtless regarded the contemplated improvement with sincere satisfaction; but it unfortunately fails altogether when closely examined. There is in fact no similarity. The sugar-cane fanner requires to have the power of grinding his canes under his absolute control. Thejuice must be expressed whenever the canes are cut; and they ought to be cut, of course, as they arrive at maturity. Their bulk is moreover so great that the mill must be near and se- cessible. If the cane-farmer had not the control of the mill, he would be depend- ent upon the miller, and liable to ruinous disappointment or imposition. The circumstances of the corn-farmer are totally different. He may stack his con; and have it thrashed and ground at his convenience. The sugar-farmer has to cart to the mill from twenty to thirty tons of canes per acre. The corn-farmer will seldom have more than a single ton ad grain per acre. The position of the respective millers, too, would be extremely different. As all the canes of any district become ripe at the same time, there mast be as much mill-power to grind them, whether in separate mills as at present, or aggregated in one large establishment. And, as the grinding of canes can only continue during the crop season, the miller and his mill would be idle seven or eight months out of the twelve. The corn-miller, on the contrary, may have his mill at work all the year, without interruption, and even during the night as well as the day. So with re- gard to Earl Greta supposition that sugar estates will be leased to farmers, as corn estates are in England. How can we expect to lease sugar estates, with any confidence that the property will be kept in good condition, and the rent regularly paid, until tenants can have an assurance that they will be able to realize not only the rent, bnt also a profit upon their capital, and fair remuneration for their own services?"

The Committee deny that the existing Sugar-law can be regarded as a delibe- rate act of the Parliament—much less of the coantry. "It was proposed at the clops of the session, when all parties were exhausted by the virulent debates on the Corn-laws, and when five hundred Members of the House of Commons and a great majority of the House of Lords were absent. Every one felt that whatever her Majesty's new Ministers proposed at that peculiar juncture must be adopted. Nothing could prove the influence of this feeling more clearly than the speech of Sir Robert Peel, in which he strongly disapproved of the measure, and yet con- fessed the necessity of voting for it, merely to maintain them in office. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, and other Members of the Government, in proposing and supporting it, all assumed very:confidently that the issue of the experiment to be made would prove successful. Sir Charles Wood expressly called the mea- sure an experiment"; and the Committee show that it has not been successful in Sir Charles's sense. 4 The decline in the price of sugar, instead of 5s. as contem- plated by the Ministers, has been 158. The net Gazette average for British plan- tation sugar, which they predicted would be 31s., varies from 21s. to 248. The slave-trade, which had previously been severely checked by the discouragement of slave-grown sugar, has revived and increased, and is as vigorous as ever. The experiment' has, moreover, proved disastrous to the Colonies. There :can, therefore, be no inconsistency in revising a law which has so signally failed to accomplish the professed purposes of those who proposed it: at all events, it is a

very fit subject ter the consideration of a new Parliament. * • *

It is now evident, that if the policy which was adopted by Parliament, at the instance of Sir Robert Peel, in 1844—to exclude slave-sugar, and to admit the produce of all foreign free countries at a difference of 108.—had been faithfully pursued, the supplies of free-labour sugar would have been most ample at very moderate prices. • • "A differential duty upon slave-sugar would of course raise the price of all sugar to the consumer. But it would not raise it beyond the rate at which free- labour sugar could be produced with a reasonable profit to the grower, because the competition of the free countries with each other would prevent it from exceeding that rate. The extinction, or even a considerable diminution, of the cultivation in these countries, would, however, enhance the price of all sugar much more than such a differential duty as would be sufficient to sustain their production." The " West India Association," a dilettante body totally distinct and different from the Committee of planters and merchants, presented a me- morial to Earl Grey, on Thursday. The memorial contends, that admis- sion of slave-grown sugar is no more an essential of free trade than the reception of stolen goods would be. It prays Lord Grey to adopt measures which may tend effectually to discourage the productions of slave-labour, especially sugar; also to place the productions of the West Indies as nearly as possible on an equal footing with the produce of this country, and to re- lieve those colonies from restrictions on their manufacture and mode of export. The Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers met on Thursday, in the House of Commons Committee-room No. 23. A Sub-Committee reported that the Ordnance survey of the Metropolis has been begun, in the district bounded by Bridge Street Westminster, Great George Street, Birdcage Walk, Constitution Hill, Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, Brompton Road, Fulham Road, Park Place, Milman's Row, and the River line from Milman's Row to Westminster Bridge.

The Board of Guardians of the City of London Union lately presented a memorial to the Poor-law Commissioners, setting forth the necessity for some alteration of the law as it regards " casual poor."

The memorial stated, that all the "casual poor" who come to London--com- prising not only those who from want of work, misfortune, or illness, are com- pelled to seek assistance, but tramps and mendicants—are thrown upon the City Union. The number of this class has progressively increased, from 356 in 1839 to 41,743 in 1847; the cost having also been augmented from 3241. to 4,4171. An act was passed in 1845, (7th and 8th Victoria, cap. 101,) under which six Me- tropolitan districts were formed to maintain asylums for the honseless poor, to be supported at the general cost of the unions ; but, from opposition on the part of some parishes and unions, and want of power in the Poor-law Commission; the law became a dead letter; and the consequence is, that the City of London Union is saddled with all the casual poorproperly belonging to the whole area of the Metropolis. The memorialists therefore pray for the establishment of asylums, as contemplated by the act; and urge the Poor-law Commissioners to press for fur- ther powers to enforce the law against theopposing parishes.

The severity of the weather has led to the opening of the gratuitous Asylums for the Houseless. The establishments in Playhouse Yard and Glasshouse Yard were opened on Sunday night, and received 400 wanderers. The Western Asylum, in Ogle Street, Marylebone, is also to be opened.

The case of the Queen versus the Archbishop of Canterbury came on for hear- ing in the Court of Queen's Bench on Monday, and continued on Tuesday, Wed- nesday, and Thursday; the Attorney-General showing cause against the rule ggrraannted on the 14th Instant why a mandamus should not issue commanding the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Vicar-General to hold a court, at which the Reverend R. W. Huntley, the Reverend J. Jebb, and the Reverend W. F. Powell, might appear to oppose the oonfirmation of Dr. R. D. Hampden to the bishopric of Hereford.

Sir John Jervis commenced his argument by recalling the proceedings con- nected with the election, which are fresh in the memory of our readers. The ob- jection, he observed, was not to the election itself, nor to the person of Dr. Hamp- den, but to two books published by him a long time ago, one of which had been condemned at Oxford. Sir John Jervis maintained, in opposition to Sir Fitzroy Kelly's argument, that the confirmation was purely formal, and that the Arch- bishop acted not judicially but ministerially. But, assuming that he were not a mere ministerial officer, the remedy against a judge in a matter of that sort would lie not by mandamus but by appeal to the Privy Council. The Court of Queen's Bench had no means of investigating the subject of the present charge. If the charge were a proper subject for inquiry, there is the Church Discipline Act, which prescribes a form for such proceedings. Sir John quoted largely from Ayliffe's Parergon, and from Lancelottus, to show the legal history of episcopal election: gathering from the whole, that, .according to the Roman law there is a long discussion as to who may eat and)who may be elected; that objec- tions to the elected may be made at the elerition, and at the confirmation; but that after the confirmation no inquiry can be made, bat the Bishop- elect is invested with the pall. He admitted that the forms of the Roman Catholic Church are preserved. " I can conceive that they may have been pre- served for valid and beneficial purposes, in order that, when we were protesting against the errors of Popery, we might preserve as much as possible of the forms which showed our connexion with a church through which we trace our descent." Sir John read at length the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th articles of the 25th of Henry VIII. chapter 20; contending, that from the statute it appears that the Sovereign is to issue a conga d'dlire to the Dean and Chapter, accompanied with a letter- missive, containing the name of the person whom they are to choose to be their Bishop. " The Dean and Chapter can only choose the person so named; and if they neglect to do so for twelve days after the conga d'611re comes into their hands, the Crown nominates the Bishop, and each Bishop so nominated is to be invested and consecrated by the Archbishop. I contend that all this is a mere matter of form, preserved to keep up the recollection of our connexion with the Church of Rome. The Crown is the head of the Church, and settles whom the Dean and Chapter are to elect. That settles one part of the section in Lance- lottus, as to who shall be elected. There can be no co-electi in this case. There can be no contradictor; for the Crown says this person, and this person only, shall be elected. The Crown is made the sole judge of the fitness of the person; for the Dean and Chapter are to elect him with all speed and celerity, and in due form; and on their failing to do so within twelve days, the Crown is to nominate the Bishop, who is to be presented to the Archbishop, who is to invest and consecrate him without confirmation." The election is absolute. It cannot be set aside till the death of the Bishop, even if the person elected were not qualified by Canon law to be elected. If there is to be a discussion, there can be no Bishop. An inquiry such as that presumed was never contem- plated, or the Legislature would not have required the Bishop-elect to be conse- crated within twenty days. The Legislature has not even dictated the form of confirmation. If they choose to have a form, it can be but a mere form. " There are also legislative decisions that these are mere forms. This appears from the preamble to the 1st of Edward VL c. 2, entitled An Act for the Election of Bishops'—' Forasmuch as the elections of Archbishops and Bishops by the Deans and Chapters within the King's Majesty's realms of England and Ireland, at this present time, be as well to the long delay as to the great costs and charges of such persons as the King's Majesty giveth any Archbishopric or Bishopric unto; (2) and whereas the said elections be in very deed no elections, but only by a writ of conga d'elire have colours, shadows, or pretences of elections, serving, never- theless, to no purpose, and seeming derogatory and prejudicial to, the King's pr.s- rogatiee royal, to whom appertaineth the collation and gift of all Archbishoprics and Bishoprics and Suffragan Bishops within his Highness's said realms of England, Ireland, Wales, and other his dominions and marches,' &c. This act (the statute of Henry VIII.) was repealed by the 2d of Philip and Mary c. 8; but was again revived by the 1st of Elizabeth; and the object is stated in that statute to be to maintain the prerogative of the Crown." By that act, among other things, all Bishoprics in Ireland are declared to be donative by letters-patent. After quoting a variety of other authorities, the Attorney-General referred to the precedents. Montague's case he imputed to the fact that " this Bishop was very obnoxious to the Parliament, who had voted him all sorts of things." And the statement in Burn respecting Dr. Rives rests on no authentic history. Inter alio, Sir John quoted a passage from the manuscript note-book of Sir James Marryatt, King's Advocate in 1764, and afterwards Judge of the Admiralty Court. It is a book of practice and collection of cases, drawn up with the greatest care, and pre- served in Trinity Hall library. It contains extracts from Eden's Practice; and on the title " Confirmation " he says—" The confirmation must be despatched with- in twenty days. There needs be no citation of opposers, nor are they to be heard if they offer themselves. 25 Henry VIII., c. 20, n. 6, Eden's Pract. Observ."

The maintenance of idle forms is not peculiar to the confirmation of Bishops: the same thing occurs at the coronation of the Sovereign, in the challenge of the Champion, and also in the challenge when their Lordships the Judges are ap- pointed.

In respect of the substance of the law, Sir John contended at some length, with citation of authorities, that the Ecclesiastical law, taking its rise in foreign law, is beyond the jurisdiction of the Court of Queen's Bench. F law be- longs to the Court of Admiralty; and as long as the Ecclesiastical Court were acting within its jurisdiction, there was neither the ground nor the machinery fur the Court of Queen's Bench to interpose.

The Attorney-General was supported at considerable length by the Solicitor- General, Mr. M. D. Hill, Dr. Bayford, and Mr. Waddington. Sir David Dundee was very general in his remarks. The forms, he contended, were " mere shows and shams"; and he indicated the danger that would ensue to the Church if dis- cussions raised as these had been were sanctioned by the Court. Mr. Hill rested on the act of Parliament; which he represented as absolutely precluding any ob- struction whatsoever, whether from the see of Rome or any other quarter, under the penalty of preemunire. Dr. Bayford carried hack the history of episcopal election to early Christendom, when the laity took part with the clergy in elec- tion to the episcopal chair. The Sovereign afterwards claimed the right of con- firmation and of granting investiture of the temporalities; a right acknowledged in the year 773 by Pope Hadrian the First and the Council of Lateran. The Court of Rome afterwards excluded the laity; and the effect of the statute of Henry the Eighth was merely to restore the right of nomination to the Crown. All these gentlemen cited an immense number of quotations from the authorities both on the civil and the common law, and also on the history of the subject.

Sir Fitzroy Kelly having been unwell on Tuesday, his colleagues were called upon to proceed in support of the rule; Dr. Addams taking the lead. We have already, in Dr. Addatns's speech at the confirmation and Sir Fitzroy Kelly's on applying for the rule, indicated the nature of the case for that side. Dr. Addams now contended, with an immense citation of authorities and quotations, that the office of each Bishop was not simply ministrative but judicial; and that the con- firmation therefore was not merely a matter of form, but an essential part in the appointment of the Bishop. Dr. Addams was supported by Mr. A. J. Stephens, Mr. Peacock, Mr. Baddeley, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly, to the same effect Towards the end of his speech, Mr. Baddeley made some very effective remarks touching the questionable nature of any claim founded on Prerogative. Lord Coke said that when Prerogative was against Magna Charts, it would not hold; it could not be exerted against the rights of the people: and if the Bishop were unfit, the Archbishop must refuse the election. It was a mistake to suppose that the statute of Henry the Eighth had transferred to the Crown all the powers of the Pope—it had not conferred infallibility on the Crown. It had been contended that the principles of the Reformation wore involved in the present question: if they were, they were identified with the people who came forward at Bow Church to oppose the confirmation of Dr. Hampden. On Thursday, the Attorney-General replied. The Court made some demur to his doing so as a matter of right; but ultimately they waived the objection, on the score that it would be convenient to the Judges to hear his arguments.

Yesterday, Lord Denman intimated that judgment would be delivered on Tuesday next.

In the Vioe-Chancellor's Court, on Tuesday, a motion was made in the case of the Bishop of Hereford versus Griffin, to dissolve an injunction recently granted to restrain the defendant, a publisher in Baker Street, from publishing in a sepa- rate form, an article on Thomas Aquinas, written by Dr. Hampden for the Ency clopedia Ifetropolitana. The application was founded on the terms of the old Copyright Act, which required that where copyright was reserved the names of the author's should be registered: this bad not been done in Dr. Hampden's case. On the other side it was contended, that Dr. Hampden had never parted with more than the right to publish the article in the Encyclopcedia: the old act re- quired a formal assignment of the copyright. The Vice-Chancellor continued the injunction, with costs; on the ground that the copyright was with Dr. Hamp- den, who, having expressly written the paper for the Encyclopedia, had not parted with it for any other purpose.

A question of some interest, respecting the custody of an infant, was decided on Monday, in the Bail Court, by Mr. Justice Wightrnan. The child, Margaret White, aged eight years, (her father's name was Thurston,) was brought up under a writ of habeas corpus. She was illegitimate, and the application was made on behalf of the mother, who alleged that thegirl had been stolen from her. The infant had been originally placed by the father and mother at nurse with a Mr. and Mrs. Browne, with whom she lived seven years; Mrs. Browne being the sister of the child's father. In consequence, however, of a disagreement be- tween Mr. and Mrs. Browne, which led to their separation, little Margaret was removed, and placed under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Buckingham; who, it was alleged, were bringing her up in the Roman Catholic faith, and intended to rear her for the stage. (Mrs. Buckingham belongs to the Haymarket Theatre.) An application was made by Mr. Browne to the Buckinghams to give up the child to him, on the ground that his father and sister believed it to be his, and were disposed on that account to leave it some money. The request was refused by the Buckinghams. In November last, while the little girl was playing in Golden Square, she was taken away by Mrs. Browne, and conveyed to Cambridge: hence the present proceedings. An attempt was made, at the suggestion of the Judge, to arrange the matter out of court; but the parties could not come to terms. The case then proceeded. Its result appeared to turn on a long con- versation which Mr. Justice Wightman held on the bench with the little girl, who displayed remarkable intelligence. After this conference, the Judge ex- pressed his opinion that Margaret White had not been taken away, but bad ac- companied Mrs. Browne willingly. Indeed, it was very evident from her de- meanour in court, that she entertained a strong preference for the Brownes over the Buckinghams. It also appeared that Mr. and Mrs. Browne were again living together. It was therefore ordered that the girl should remain with Mr. and Mrs. Browne, the mother being allowed access at ail reasonable and seasonable times At Marlborough Street Police-office, on Monday, thirty-five persons were brough before the Magistrate, charged with having been found in a common gambling- house. The Police entered a coffeehouse kept by William Stephens, in Castle Street, Leicester Square, and by means of a trap-door got into some lower rooms, and captured the accused. There were found in the place a variety of implements for gaming; and among them a number of " caps,"—coin hollowed out so as to fit over money used in tossing, by which the cheat is enabled by leaving the " cap" on or removing it to produce " head" or " tail" at will. The people captured were principally, of the lower orders. Stephens was sentenced to three months' imprisonment; Cayley, his porter, to six weeks'; and sixteen of the gamblers were fined 50s. each.