She _Metropolis.
The Fishmongers Company held their annual dinner, at their hall, on Friday evening. Among the guests was Viscount Melbourne, who had that morning been admitted to the frecdoni of the Company. His health was proposed by the Prime Warden, with some reference to the "liberal and patriotic principles " on which his Government had been conducted, and to "the many wise and beneficial measures " which his Administration had carried. Lord Melbourne returned thanks in these terms. "Mr. Prime Warden and gentlemen—Before I thank this Company for the great honour which they have done me, I must express my re- gret and concern that the infirm state of my health has compelled me so often to decline the invitations with which I have been honoured, and to put off for so long a time the reception of the honour which I have at length received this morning, and which I highly value and esteem. I assure you, gentlemen, that I consider it a very high distinction to be enrolled among the members of a corporation so ancient and respectable, and which has always been distinguished by its steady adherence to the enlightened and constitutional principles of civil and religious liberty. In proposing my health, the Prime Warden has adverted in terms highly flattering and complimentary, and very gratifying to my feelings, to the Adult-. ministration of which I was the leading member. That Administration is now defunct. We are gone as members of it and as a Government But pars melior nostrum is still ad/inc viva at separates: the corporal frame may be said to have expired and to be consigned to the tomb, but the immortal spirit—the ignea ris simmi—is still alive, and not only alive, but active and efficient Our principles and opinions, our views of public affairs, they still survive us. They have been adopted and acted upon by those who replaced us; and they have been produc- tive during the session of Parliament that is just about to terminate of more than one wise and beneficial measure; of measures which I believe to be fit and essen- tial, to be founded upon sound principle, based upon good example, and which, I have the greatest hopes, will confer lasting benefit upon the part of the empire to which they specially apply, and upon the community at large. At the same time, we all well know that these very measures have been productive in one Mouse of Parliament of much difference of opinion; and they have been the cause of much bitter feeling, not to say malignant invective, being levelled against the right honourable Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Government, upon the no- tion of some supposed inconsistency of these measures with his former opinions and conduct. Placed as I have been by circumstances in the position of an anta- gonist and competitor to that right honourable Baronet, it is natural that I should look into and examine his conduct, not with hostile jealousy or any hostile feel- ing, but with care and anxiety,. It is natural that I should be anxious to learn what his conduct has been, what have been his measures, what have been the principles upon which they have been founded, and what the language in which he has urged and enforced those principles. I have made such inquiry and exa- mination; and I think myself bound to state as the result of it, that I know of nothing in the antecedent conduct of the right honourable Baronet which should in point of consistency preclude him from bringing forward either the measures which he has brought forward, or any other measures in the same direction which he may convince his understanding or persuade his conscience would be both ex- pedient and conducive to the benefit and advantage of his country. Thus much I have thought it my duty to say. I had intended to have said it in Parliament; but I have never been able to find an opportunity of doing so. But, indeed, when I look at the assembly which I have the honour of addressing, and consider how it is composed, I do not think that I am likely to find a better opportunity of making this declaration than that which is now presented to me. Gentlemen, I thank you again for the honour which you have conferred upon me. I wish you success in all your undertakings: I know you will undertake nothing which, while it is for your own benefit, is not also for the advantage of your country: and, wishing you, collectively and individually, happiness, prosperity, peace, and every earthly blessing, I respectfully take my leave.' Lord Melbourne was much cheered throughout his speech, and at the close.
The Central Anti-llaynooth Committee have issued an address, dated at Exeter Hall on the 21st July, to those who have already contributed to the ex- penses of the into agitation against the endowment, requesting further contri- butions. The total receipts were 1,747/.; the total expenditure, 2,4801.; leaving a balance against the Committee of 7331.
The Globe of Monday relates a hoax practised upon Alderman Moon and his supporters in Portsoken Ward. "Letters in the worthy Alderman's name, were received, a few days since, by the electors who voted for Mr. Alderman Moon in the recent contest for the Aldemianic gown of the Ward, inviting them to dine at the worthy Alderman's private residence, in Finsbury Square, this day. About seventy returned answers accepting the invitation. As no such invitation as that referred to in the answers had been issued, an intimation to that effect was immediately despatched to the writers. A handbill has been put forth, convening a public meeting of the friends of Mr. Alderman Moon, to be held this evening, To take into consideration the unwarrantable proceeding which has recently disgraced the Ward:" Mr. Green made a night-ascent in Lis balloon from Vauxhall on Monday. He ascended at eleven o'clock, having some fire-works suspended from the car, which were displayed in mid-air. He descended at Enfield about midnight, startling two gentlemen by inquiring while in the air whether he might safely land there.
In the Arches Court, on Tuesday, Sir Herbert Jenner Post gave judgment on a proceeding in the case of the Reverend James Shore. Mr. Shore had licence to preach in the diocese of Exeter; but having preached in a Dissenting chapel, not recognized by the Church as consecrated, be had notice, on the 18th March 1844, that his license would be revoked. He continued ea preach, and proceedings were taken against him; on which be pleaded, that having on the 16th March 1844 taken orders as minister of a Protestant Dissenting chapel, and the oaths prescribed by the Toleration Act, he was no longer within the jurisdiction of the Church. The Judge now pronounced that plea to be inadmissible; as a person cannot throw off his character as a clergyman after regularly taking holy orders. More frauds on the revenue are alleged to have been discovered at the Custom- house. On Thursday, an application was made at the Thames Police-office for warrants to arrest a clerk in the Customs and a merchant, who were charged with defrauding the revenue of 1351.; the clerk having enabled the merchant to get 1,129 pounds of nutmegs delivered, while duty was paid for only 104 pounds. The warrants were not granted, as Mr. Ballantine, the Magistrate, wished to hear more of the case first.
At Worship Street Police-office, on Wednesday, the first conviction under the new Dog-stealing Act took place. One Thompson was committed to the House of Correction for six months, for stealing two sporting-dogs.
A verdict of "Manslaughter" has been returned by a Coroner's Jury against Mr. Hawkins, a surgeon of Hatton Garden, for unskilful treatment of a poor woman whom he delivered of twins, dreadfully injuring her in the second deli- very. He was committed to Newgate.
Major-General Pasley, the Government Inspector-General of Railways, made an investigation into the late accident at Chalk Farm on Saturday. Time papers, however, report nothing new on the matter.
Mr. Dean, the gentleman whose leg was crushed in the late collision, died at University College Hospital on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a Coroner's Jury viewed the body, in order that it might be taken away by the deceased's relatives: but no inquiry was gone into; Mr. Coroner Wakley declaring that a full and rigid one must be obtained, after the Jury had had an opportunity of viewing the spot where the disaster occurred.
A man attempted to commit suicide the other day, by lying across the rails of the Great Western Railway, about half-a-mile from the Paddington terminus an a train was approaching. A Railway Policeman perceived him, and the speed of the engine was slackened, so that the man was only struck by the "guard": he was, however, so much injured on one knee that it was necessary to take him to the hospital. He had been quarrelling with his wife.
Mr. Thomas Everett, late Professor of Chemistry at Middlesex Hospital, who had been suffering from insanity for some months, was accidentally killed last week, at Lady Ellis's Lunatic Asylum, Southhall Park. He had been placed in a warm bath, and was left for a few minutes unattended: a stream of boiling water, admitted by the bad construction of the apparatus, ran into the bath, scalding the patient; who died about a fortnight after. A Coroner's Jury has returned a verdict of "Accidental Death," with an assertion of the defective na- ture of the apparatus.
A dispute about a piece of land at Walworth has ended in manslaughter. Mr. Ratherbee, a musician, let a bit of ground to Mr. Joseph Harvey, of which the term expired last March; but Mr. Harvey refused to give it up. Ratherbee went into the garden on the 8th April, and a dispute ensued; Harvey knocked him down by a blow on the chest, which caused him to vomit blood. He became
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very ill, was removed to Guy's Hospital, and died on the 30th July. A Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of "Manslaughter" against Harvey.
Portman hay-market was almost destroyed by fire on Thursday evening. A number of houses were also damaged.
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