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The Court of Common Council met on Thursday. There was a good deal of business on the paper; but none of it was transacted, owing to a violent dispute between the Lord Mayor and some of the members of the Liberal party respecting a point of order. Mr. Pritchard, the Chairman of the Municipal Inquiry Committee, pre- sented a further report from that Committee, and moved that it should be placed on the paper of business intended for Special Courts. The Lord Mayor refused to allow the motion to be put, as no notice of it appeared on the paper of the day. Mr. Richard Taylor seconded the motion of Mr. Pritchard. The Lord Mayor and the Recorder said, that both Mr. Pritchard and Mr. Taylor were out of order. Mr. R. L. Jones argued, without interruption from Lord Winchester, that the motion was irregular, and should not be put. Mr. Richard Taylor claimed his right of reply to Mr. Jones, on the point of order; but the Lord Mayor would not allow him to speak. There was great uproar, shouting, and confusion, the members standing in couples dis- cussing the matter. At length the Lord Mayor left the Hall, and broke up the Court. Several members remained, and it was proposed to put Mr. Pritchard in the chair ; but nothing was done.
After the breaking up of the Court, Mr. Galloway presented a re- quisitiion to the Lord Mayor to call a Court for the purpose of ad- dressing the King on the late change of Ministers; and Tuesday next was appointed.
The Committee of the Three Denominations of Protestant Dis- senters have passed the following resolution, in relation to the South Devonshire election.
•• That, at the present crisis, it is of the greatest importance to the cause of civil and relig:ous freedom that Lord John Russell's reelection for South Devonshire should be secured ; and this Committee therefine earnestly recommend to the l'rotestant His. sebters, in all parts of the kingdom, to render every assistance in their power to effect this desirable object."
A meeting of the Marylebone Reformers was held on Thursday night, at the Yorkshire Stingo, New Road,—Mr. Henry Bulwer in the chair ; when it was resolved to open a subscription to aid in defray- ing the expenses of Lord John Russell's election contest. Several other meetings in different parts of the Metropolis have also been held for the same purpose during the week.
The City Tories intend to give Sir Robert Peel a grand dinner, at Merchant Taylor's Hall, on the 11th instant. A long list of the stewards appears in the newspapers.
There was a hole-and-corner meeting of Tories yesterday, at the Freemason's Tavern. About two hundred gentlemen, summoned by circular, met and agreed to an address to the King, in the usual Tory terms. They then adjourned to Friday next, in order to consider the propriety of addressing Sir R. Peel, and petitioning Parliament in sup- port of the Church. Sir Charles Forbes, Sir Peter Laurie, and Colonel Citheroe, were the principal persons present. In the Marylebone vestry, on Saturday, Dr. Fellowes brought forward the subject of the opening of the Regent's Park to the public. He stated that a portion had been thrown open, but that it was only an in- considerable part of what had been appropriated to the public when Sir John Hobhouse was Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests. Had Sir John continued in that office, justice would have been done to the public. Dr. Fellowes's motion was, "That a communication be made to his Majesty's Commissioners of Woods and 14.orests, to urge the inn. mediate opening of that part of the Regent's Park, a grant of which was made to the public by Sir John CRIII Hobhouse, the grant having pre- viously received the sanction of his Majesty ; and to claim that part of the Regent's Park which has been added to Sir Herbert Taylor's man- sion and to the Toxopholite Society, and also to protest against further appropriation of the park to private purposes." This motion was re- ceived with much cheering, and carried unanimously.
A meeting was held on Tuesday night, at the Mechanics Institution, for the purpose of considering the propriety of petitioning Parliament for the repeal of Taxes upon Knowledge. Mr. Wakley was called to the chair. Among those upon the platform, were Mr. Feargus O'Connor, Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Richard Taylor, and Dr. Wade. The great hall of the institution was crowded in every part, and there must have been 2,000 persons present. The meeting was addressed by the Chairman, Mr. Roebuck, Mr. O'Connor, and other gentlemen, who deprecated in strong terms the inipolicy as well as the injustice of such a tax ; and Mr. Roebuck intimated his intention, if the subject were not taken up by some other Member, to bring it before Parliament him- self, in such a shape that it should be considered a test of the sincerity of the present Ministry to grant effectual reform. Resolutions to that effect were unanimously adopted by the meeting, and a petition founded upon the resolutions agreed to, which Mr. Wakley was requested to present to the House of Commons. The meeting then separated ; many gentlemen expressing a hope that similar meetings should be held in all parts of the country, and that no means should be left untried to procure a free and unshackled press.
We copied from the Times last week an account of the refusal of the Batik of England to honour some drafts on the Paymaster of the Forces. The following explanation of the circumstances has appeared in the daily papers.
" 7'he Paymaster of the Forces—whose duties are still performed by Sir E. Knatchbull—keeps two accounts at the Bank. Owing to some inaccuracy on the part of one of the clerks in the Paymaster's Office, the balance upon one of these accounts was supposed to be larger than it proved to be; and in conse- quence of the mistake, some drafts upon this particular account and one bill of (we believe) 1001. were delayed payment by the Bank on this technical ground. There was, however, a large balance in the hands of the Bank on the other ac- count of the Paymaster. The mistake was inimediately rectified on being made known ; and no inconvenience whatever is likely to occur to the public service from the general state of the supplies voted by Parliament."
A correspondent of the Morniny Chronicle says in relation to this same affair- " The fault, the error, or the blunder, call it by what name you please, is not attributable to the system in operation at the Pay Office—that is simple and safe enough—nor this faction or that, to this Paymaster-General or that, to Sir Edward Knatchhull or to Sir Henry Parnell ; but simply to the fact of one of the Cashiers of the Pay Office having debited himself with a sum of money exceeding in the amount of 20,0001. the sum for which he actually received credit. How he came to do so, he probably can explain—whether satisfacto- rily or not, is for the public to determine. An explanation, however, is certainly due to his colleagues, who must now be suffering in the estimation of the country."
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