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A COURT of Aldermen was held on Tuesday, chiefly for the purpose of swearing in the new Alderman for Portsoketi..,,,_- Alderman Cope- land presented a petition from certain inhabitantearthe 'Ward, calling

on the Court to swear in Mr. Hughes Hughes. The petitioners argued against the eligibility of Mr. Scales, from the determination of the Court at the former election. A petition from the Common Council- men of the Ward, and also from the majority of the inhabitants, in favour of Mr. Scales, was also presented. Mr. Tyars presented a petition from himself to the same purport. Mr. Bousfield was heard against, and Mr. Death and Mr. Tyars itt litrour of Mr. Scales. That gentleman also addressed the Court on the justice of his claim to be sworn in. He said, if it were not allowed, he would bring the ease to the test of a jury trial. The Court was then cleared, and at a late hour, Mr. Hughes Hughes was called in and sworn Alderman of the Ward.

Mn. Ma RERT.Y.-It WaR announced on Monday eveniog, and inure authoritatively on Tuesday morning, that this gentleman, the member for .Abingdon, had failed. The siun was variously :.tated, but most ac- counts described it as not greater than 100,000/.,-a. very small sum, looking to the numerous and extensivo mercantile transactions in which Mr. Moberly has been engaged. A poragraph appeared ill the 31oin- iny Hciall and other newspapers on Wednesday, from authority, to the following effect.

" The only concern in whit-11 Mr. Maberly is engaged, that has suspended its payment:, is the banking in Scatiand. The how,es in London, Montrwe, and Aberdeen, of great importance in the hum manufdcture, go on with a very large capital, employing some ti I parse Mr. Malierly has neither a concern in any army-intractiog alse win! or in any other business. The Bazaar, to which Mr. Mahe: iy advanced a considerable NUM to provide for an old awl faithful servant (the. late Mr. Young 1, is now carried on by his administrator, who cerMialy has nut, nor will, suspend his payments."

SHOPKEEPER'S AND ..:11.1:RCIIA NT'S BENEFIT S OC LET y.-On Tuesdny, a numerous and most respectable meeting of the linen-drapers, silk- mercers, haberdashers, hosiers, and lace men, was held at the London Coffeehouse, for the purpose of orestniziog a benovolent union of those trades, to encourage the poor and meritorious of their several bodies. Mr. Helps, who was unanimously called to the chair, described the objects of the proposed Society- " A fund would be formed under the control of men or experience, discretion, character, and benevolence, which would lie made available to the relief of those who may be foiled in their mercantile pursuits, and for the encouragement and setting up of those who may wish to engage in t:.a,k•. Let a permanent fund be once raised, let its objects be defined, am I its zulvantages vell understood, anti thousands will thud; to give in their contrite:0ns. How many men now in the decline of business are driven, from a desire of upholding their sinking credit, or supporting a large and helpless family, to purchase goads at a high price front Nvholesale manufacturer, which they are compelled to sell at a ruinously reduced prices ? This system sinks them every day lower and lower, and they have re- course to expedients to bear up againsr the pri:sure of necessity, until at last the man who, perhaps, at first was well-iutentiuned, is plunged into ruin, and loses his character with his fertune."

The meeting was afterwards addressed at considerable length 1 ty Mr. Owen, Mr. Redmetme, of Bond Street, Mr. Johnson, of Watling Street, Mr. Moore, of the firm of Muore and Co., and Mr. Lewis, Regent Street. The resolution for the formation of the Society was adopted unanimously.

ST. SAVIOUICS CIILTItCH.-A Vestry meeting was held on Thurs- day, to determine on the question, whether the building called " Our Lady's Chapel" should not be wholly or partly taken down, for the purpose of opening a roadway to the church from London Bridge.

Mr. Weston, the banker, advocated the propriety of dilapidation- The parishioners should not allow any nonsense of national pride to deter them from merging all other objects in their own advantage. The parishioners who pay rates should not be deluded by antique fame, or by the magnificence of

• masonry. They should look to the present times, and to themselves. The dilapidation of that old appendage, however beautiful., gorgeous, and noble, would still be a pecuniary saving to the householders. Front a calculation, he came to the conclusion that the householders would gain by its demolition. To be sure, the book-reading levers of antiquity would cry " Horrible! " With such men he had nothing to du-with such men he possessed no sympathy of feeling.

Mr. Weston's motion for pulling down the chapel was seconded by a hop-merchant, named Wood.

MT. Saunders, the solicitor, spoke strongly against the dilapidation--

The simple proposition was, should the venerable old chapel attached to the church, the pride and ornament of the city of Londoo, not of the parish alone, be pulled down to gratify the cupidity of a few ; or should it he upheld (for it was still durable and strong) to reflect a glory on the parish, as a monu- ment to which every citizen of the empire would point the notice of a stranger with triumph and delight. This was not a cold question of pounds, shillings, and pence, but was an inspiring question of national glory, and of English dis- interestedness. It was not a question, whether the parish may save a miserable pittance by its dilapidation (and all the laboured arguments and calculations of the counting-house had as yet failed to convince him, as he was sure they had failed to convince every other reflecting man), or whether the rich and vaunt-

ing citizens of one of the most independent parishes in the wealthiest city in the world-the capital of the universe-would sacrifice a little (though he con- tended there would be no sacrifice)? The question was, would they retain, in its antique grandeur, or would they destroy a venerable pile, of which the learned and curious stranger would say, " Well, these islanders are nut ouiy, have been, a mighty people; learned in the arts, as they are great and proud in anus: this style of architecture is their own, not borrowed from arotiortt mo- dels; it is noble in its conception, and lasting in its execution." He would not envy the feelings of the worthy Magistrate who proposed the destruction of this splendid relic of the architectural skill of our fathers. His respect for the feelings, and perhaps prejudices of the parishioners (for predilections are the inseparable accompaniments of our frail nature, let money calculators say what they please)-his respect for the great and virtuous dead, whose ashes are en- tombed beside us, would deter him from laying irreverent hands on the temple where they are enshrined.

It was ultimately agreed to postpone the discussion until more pre- cise information was received.of the intentions and views of the Bndge Committee.

Sun4y Poon-RATES.--At the meeting of Surry Magistrates, on Tuesday, Mr. Henry Drummond brought forward an important mo- tion respecting the present mode of paying labour from the poor-rates. - Mr. Dnunmond- pointed out the consequences of the system- In the first .place, the labourer was deprived of his fair wages; in the second, the householders were defrauded by being made to pay for the culture of land not their own ; in the third, it was the means of fosteting a spirit of mi.! snaky and antipathy between the labourer and his employers, so that by this alone was a system of insubordination induced which made the former so die.. contented as to be ready at any moment to assume a fearful and threatening aspect : and it might be anticipated that if this much longer exereised its in- fluence, that feeling would extend and be aggravated which now showed itself in ineendiarism, and which arose from their not being able to trust to the law for redress, but taking that law in their own hands, and reaping a private vengeance.

The following are the words of Mr. Drummond's motion— That whereas an Illegal practice prevailed in some parishes of Surry, of paying those labourers out of the poor-rates who were not employed exclusively on account of I hose vtrishes to which they belonged, whereby the wages of labour had been put down, improvident habits had been promoted, and householders had been made to Pay for labour on land—the Court recommended to the Magistrates in Petty Session, to exercise their best vigilance over the accounts of overseers, and not to pass any accounts where such illegal proceedings should be detected.

Mr. Drummond, after noticing what could not fail to be the effect of , strictly enforcing this rule,—namely, that although married men would in ninny eases be forced on the parish, single men would refrain from

marrying, and the good old system of boarding farm-servants would be revived,—adverted to an objection which would very probably be urged against .it : On that subject, he said, he would caution gentlemen in limine. The objec- tion was, that the Imposed alteration would cause a greater expense to the land- owner ; and the reason why he gave this caution was because in proportion as . they showed how great that increase would be, in the same proportion would they show to what extent had the labourer been previously defrauded ; for it could not be denied that one element for their consideration was, that the labourer had been unduly depressed, and that the landowner had gained an un- Eiji. advantage. Every writer on the subject agreed that this was a matter of such crying injustice, that if it was rut speedily put a stop to, it must end in a general convulsion. He was not going to make any pathetic appeal to the Bench, but this he would say, that "the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth," and unless the present iniquitous system was altered, they had nothing to anticipate save a frightful, but at the same time, a righteous retribution.

Mr. Denison, M. P. for the county, seconded Mr. Drummond's motion ; which was carried unanimously. Mr. Hohne Sumner said, - though he agreed with Mr. Drummond both as to what was and ought to be law, he must differ from him in his description of the poor. He would aver that for the last fifty years, they had never been in a state of greater comfort. He had never seen more pies in sty than during the last two years. It was a strong proof of their wellbeing, when they could not only buy a pig, but contrive to keep it against a rainy day.

THE MINOR THEATIIES.—The adjourned meeting of the proprietors.

and artistes of the Minor Theatres was held on Tuesday, at Free- - mason's Hall. There was no M. P. in the chair ; but there was a bar- rister, Mr. Sturgeon, which dirt quite as well. Mr. Sturgeon com- pared the attempt Of the Great Theatres to suppress the Minors to that of the buttonmakers, in 1790, to levy a penalty of 51. on every man who wore covered moulds on his coat ; and hoped it would meet the same reward—an immediate alteration of the law under cover of which it was made.

Mr. Serie, of the Coburg Theatre, offered to the Meeting the draft of a petition to the two Houses of Parliament ; which was unanimously approved of. The petition is long and minute, and enters into the whole of the question between the contending parties. Mr. Maciuthy, a performeronoved as an amendment to the petition, that instead of merely praying for such relief as Parliament might. see fit, it should pray for the revoking altogether of the patent rights of the two Great Theatres. This amendment was, however, withdrawn, and the petition was allowed to remain as originally proposed.- Subscrip- tions were subsequently entered into, to defray incidental expenses ; for which purpose, 52/. was received at the meeting. The proprietors of Theatres present also offered each a free night for the same purpose. Some days ago, an unfortunate woman made an earnest representa- tion to the Lord Mayor respecting her husband, who had been for some time confined in Wbitecross Street prison, to the utter ruin of his fa- mily and business. It appeared, that in June last, an elderly scoundrel had acted towards the son of the prisoner in such a manner, that it was

thought necessary to take him into custody. The Magistrate at Hatton Garden committed the man to prison to take his trial, and the witness was bound over to prosecute and give evidence, in the sum of 300/. The young man, who Was sim occasional waiter at a tea-garden, being it minor, his father, the Whitecross Street prisoner, was required to

become surety for him. Before the commencement of the sessions,

the son left his home' induced, it was supposed, by a bribe, to ab- scond : another waiter followed his example. The accused, who turned

out -to be a man of fortune, living in one of the large squares, was in consequence acquitted; and the recognizance for the young man's ap- pearance having become forfeited, the father was arrested for the amount, in October. The case was made known to the committing magistrates, but they could do nothing. It was next mentioned to the Lord Mayor; who being credibly informed, from the circumstances of

the poor man's family, -that no collusion had been practised between him and his son to suppress the evidence of the latter, advised a petition to the Treasury. It was sent ; an investigation was instantly ordered; and a satisfactory answer being received, an order for the poor pri- :miler's liberation was at once expedited.