7 MARCH 1846, Page 7

Zbe jailetropolis.

A Court of Common Council was held on Monday. The only subject of interest disposed of was the proposal of the North Kent Railway Com- pany to carry their line across the Thames at Southwark Bridge. Against this the Improvement Committee reported; and after some discussion, the report was adopted, by a majority of twenty-one.

At a special meeting of the Directors of the East India Company, yesterday, votes of thanks were unanimously passed, to Sir Henry Hardinge Sir Hugh Gough, and the other officers and men of the Army of the Sutlej.

The Earl of Ellenborough presided at the anniversary dinner of the Seamen's Hospital Society, held at the London Tavern on Wednesday. Many naval officers of high rank were present. By the report it appeared that the society had received on board the Dreadnought, during the last year, 2,421 sick and diseased seamen of all nations; of whom 1,349 were discharged cured. Relief had also been given to 1,595 out-patients. In the course of the speaking, Lord Ellenborough referred to his experiences as First Lord of the Admiralty— He had felt much that was gratifying, and a great deal that was most dis- tressing. Day after day he saw officers, and read their memorials, stating ser- vices which it was perfectly impossible adequately to reward, and asking employ. ment which it was impossible to give. This was by far the most painful sites- tion in which he had been placed in the whole course of his life : it was only in thedischarge of a great public obligation that he could consent to fulfil the du- ties of an office in which so much pain was to be endured. All he could say was, that he would look to the services of all officers, be they who they might, with perfect fairness: he cared not one rush about the politics of any one of them. He had a much higher ambition than to maintain any party—the ambition to do justice to the deserving officer, and maintain the honour and efficiency of the British Navy. Lieutenant Waghorn was complimented from the chair; Lord Ellett- borough remarking, that he never met a man of more indefatigable energy; and he believed that but for him the project of the overland route to India would never have been carried out. Of course Mr. Waghorn expressed his acknowledgments; and in return complimented Lord Ellenborough, as the first who suggested the overland route. This occurred seventeen years ago, when Lord Ellenborough was President of the India Board; and the originator of the scheme had been its patron ever since.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Satarday, Thomas Wicks was tried for the murder of his master, Samuel Bostock, in Pitt's Place, Drury Lane, by firing a pistol. The evidence against the prisoner was clear; including his own con- fession. The defence was insanity; but the witnesses only. proved that Wicks had fallen and hurt his head some years since, and that in 1844 he swallowed laudanum while in a passion. A verdict of " Guilty" was returned, and the young man was condemned to be hanged. He behaved with great firmness.

On Monday, John Facey, the man who stabbed Martin in Red Cross Street, was tried for the murder. He was found guilty of the lesser offence, manslaughter, and sentenced to be transported for life.

A case of some peculiarity was investigated on the same day. Frederick Man- ton was charged with cutting his wife a throat. On the morning of the 25th January, a scuffle was heard in the prisoner's room; a person entered, and saw Mrs. Manton lying on the floor with her throat cut, while her husband was stand in by, nearly naked and covered with blood. The woman, by signs, accused Manton: some time after, however, she declared that she had inflicted the wound herself. At the trial, she said—" My husband is innocent of the charge. I cut my throat myself; and my husband came into the room after I had done it, and wrenched the razor from my hand." Some evidence was given to implicate the prisoner; while a surgeon considered from the direction of the wound that it was self-inflicted. The Jury at once pronounced a verdict of acquittal.

A brutal fellow named Bridger has killed his wife in Southwark, at mid-day, by knocking her down in the street and kicking her. A verdict of " Wilful Mar der" has been returned by a Coroner's Jury against the man.

In attempting to move a luggage-waggon at the Camden Town station of the Birmingham Railway, Richard Wilkinson, a porter employed by Messrs. Chaplin and Horne, the railway carriers, has been crushed to death.

The Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week end-' ing on. Saturday last shows the following general results. Number of Winter ennui deaths. average. average,.

Yymotie (or Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious) 'Diseases 159 ... 183 ... Dropsy, Cancer,and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 89 ... 115 ... 104 Diseases of the Brain. Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 16i ... 169 ... 167 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 287 .. 363 ... 294 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels .. 30 ... 21 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 70 .. 69 ... 72 Diseases of the Kidneys, itc

Childbirth, disease, of the Uterus, &c 17 .. 12 ... 10 Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, dic

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, dc.

Old Age Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance Total (including unspecified causes) 916 ... 1,080 ... 96a

The temperature of the thermometer ranged from 67.2° in the sun to 40.9° in the shade ; the mean temperature by day being warmer than the average mean temperature by 11.8°. The mean direction of the wind for the week is South- south-west.

• • •

54 .. 90 ... 67

21 .. 27 ... 26