gbe Inetropoiis.
A "great aggregate meeting of the Agricultural, Commercial, Manufac- turing, Shipping, and Colonial interests," was held on Tuesday, at the Hall of Commerce in Threadneedle Street. The accounts are discrepant as to numbers: the Morning Chronicle estimates them at some hundreds, the Daily News at 700 or 800, the Times at "not exceeding 900 or 1,000," the Standard at upwards of 2,000, theiforning Post characterized it as "exceed- ingly numerous and influential." The Duke of Richmond presided: among the prominent persons present were the Marquis of Downshire, the Mar- quis of Granby, the Earl of Eglinton, the Earl of Winchelsea, the Earl of Malmesbury, Earl Talbot, Viscount Nelson Lord Sondes, Lord John Man- ners, Mr. Philip Miles, Mr. Newdegate, Colonel Sibthorp, and some other Protectionist Members of Parliament, Mr. Alderman Sidney, Mr. Foskett of Reigate, and Mr. George Frederick Young.
Mr. Foskett alluded to the course of proceeding in the House of Peers on the Navigation-laws-
On Monday next, Lord Stanley in the House of Peers would move the rejec- tion of the Navigation Bill. (Cheers and applause.) He believed he was justi- fied in stating Lord Stanley was ready to take office if it should be required by her Majesty. (Rapturous cheering.) It had been stated that so long as the present House of Commons existed it would be impossible for him to carry on the Government: but he had his remedy—let him ask for the dissolution of the House, and Mr. Foskett pledged himself on behalf of his agricultural friends, that Lord Stanley would find a very different House of Commons on a future occasion.
Some interruption and confusion were caused by a Mr. Beacon ; who wished to open the question of protection or no protection, besought the meeting not to be " humbugged ' by the noble Lords on the bench, and endeavoured to enlighten his hearers on the meaning of protection as they used the word—" protection for themselves and families against your in- terests." The Chairman and Lord Winchelsea tried to obtain Mr. Beacon a hearing; but in vain. The resolutions upholding Protection and the Navigation-laws, and counselling union in their support, passed unani- mously.
Some May meetings and annual festivals have been held this week; among others by the British and Foreign Bible Society, the British Anti- State-Church Association, the General Servants' Domestic Benevolent In- stitution, the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, the Hospital for Consumption at Brompton, and the Irish Society of London. The British and Foreign Bible Society's report stated that the receipts of the last year were 95,9331.; the expenditure, 88,831/. The society is under engage- ments to the extent of 67,694/. The Bibles issued in the year were 1,107,518— in the proportion of about 8 at home to 3 abroad. The year's income of the Anti-State-Church Association exceeded by 5001. that of the preceding year, though special causes had swelled the receipts of the former. The receipts of the Servants' Benevolent Institution had been 1,154/.; the ex- penditure 2341.; and besides a balance in hand of 1281. they now possess a fund of 3,0001. At the Brompton Hospital, the accommodation is now enlarged to 81 beds. The admissions in the last year had been 282, and the deaths 52. The out- patients treated had been 2,805. The annual subscriptions increase. Particular mention was made of Mademoiselle Jenny Lind's donation of 1,700L, the produce of a concert, and of Sir H. Foulis's offer to build a chapel at his own expense.
At the festival of the Brompton Hospital, M. Guizot was one of the guests. He adverted to a feature of English usage, the support of its cha- ritable institutions by voluntary contributions; and contrasted it with the modern foreign and ancient English usage, of founding an institution and providing for it at once permanently.
" Experience—a dearly bought experience—has taught us all this truth now. The voluntary principle has replaced almost everywhere the permanent and per- petual revenue. You confide in the goodwill of men, as your forefathers confided in the stability of things. And now every generation—and I ought almost to say every man—becomes anew every year the founder of all the public institutions of sympathy and charity in England. And that sympathy never fails. The life of this institution has never been shortened and never endangered by so precarious a con- dition. That is the wonderful result of a charity as enlightened as it is fervent; that is one of the most striking and miraculous evidences of the moral and public character of your country. Especially in our day, amidst those terrible storms by which the whole civilized world is now shaken, and which tend everywhere to irritate and rouse the poor against the rich, the suffering part against the pros- pering part of mankind, it is more than ever important to adhere firmly to so ex- cellent a practice. I trust that the voluntary principle—that is, liberty in charity—will continue to display its immense power for doing good under the security given to it by the support of a solid government, in the glorious sym- pathy for all the miseries—for all the moral and material wants of mankind, and in firmness against all the bad passions and all the follies of mankind. These are the two conditions by which you will insure the permanent triumph of civilization over destruction—the triumph of social life over social death. May God, without whose hand we cannot completes anything great and good, be our constant pro- tector in that awful strife!"
In the Court of Queen's Bench, on Thursday, sentence was passed on Captain Charretie, for the offence of which he was lately convicted—that of selling an East Indian cadetship. He was found guilty on two counts. On the first he was sentenced to be imprisoned one year in the Queen's Prison, and on the second count to be imprisoned for the same year; and in addition he is to pay 8001. to the Queen, and be imprisoned so long as he does not pay it. Ile in to be placed among misdemeanants of the first class. Sentence was also passed on Asthill, who has pleaded guilty to an indietmen the some with that preferred against Griffin at Warwick Assizes, by Lord Leigh. Lord Leigh's counsel pleaded for a mitigated sentence; and Asthill was sen- tenced to Warwick Gaol for three months, among the first class of misde- meanants.
At Clerkenwell Police-office, on Monday, William Jackson, the man charged with stealing 1751. in coin from St. Pancras Workhouse, was examined. He came into court on a pair of crutches, assisted by the officers. It appeared from the evidence, that on the night of the robbery lie was found lying within some iron railings by the workhouse, with his leg broken. He told a passenger that a man bad thrown his hat over the railings, and that in getting over to regain it he had fallen and broken the limb. Deceived by this tale, the passenger got him a cab, and he was conveyed to Guy's Hospital. Housebreaking implements were found in the workhouse, and a number of burglar's tools close to where Jackson Was first seen. For a time the robbery was a mystery, and some of the parish-officers were suspected ; but eventually Jackson was traced, and was identified as a re- turned transport. After the examination on Monday, the prisoner was remanded for further examination and evidence.
At Worship Street Police-office, on Tuesday, George Snow, a young man, was charged with a novel robbery. While walking through the hothouses of Messrs. Loddige, at Hackney, Snow slily cut slips from very rare and valuable plant's, placing them in his hat and pockets. He thus stole about a hundred pounds' worth. A gardener detected him in the act.—Remanded. Hay and Alves, the men charged with defrauding the Reverend Cornelius Griffin by pretending to obtain a Queen's chaplaincy on receipt of 6001., were re- examined at Bow Street on Tuesday, and committed for trial.
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