Rittrtifulio.

The Lord Mayor's Easter banquet to her Majesty's Ministers took place on Monday, in accordance with custom. The Lord Mayor is a Tory, and he did not fail to let his official guests see how he sympathized with them—' proceeding not so exactly in accordance with custom. In fact the banquet was more than is usual in such cases political. The Ministers present were the Earl of Derby, Mr. Disraeli, the Marquis of

salis- 'tietry, dile Earl of Hardwicke, Lo lor, Lord Stanley Lord Donoughmore, Lord ii Mowbray. Among

the other guests were Mr. f Cambridge. In returning thanks for the Arint, the of enforced the doc- trine it we should make* Ansi itad N nt.

"Don't let us suppose that it is necessary to be extravagant. Extra". gance is not desirable nor even advantageous ; but the efficiency of its military and naval establishments is an imperative necessity for the safety of any great empire. And as long as England wishes to remain that prowl that glorious country which we now rejoice to think it is, let us neve; forget, even in moments of peace, that the united services of the Army and Navy deserve to be maintained in the satisfactory condition in which, I am happy to say, they now ate." The Duke of Northumberland returned thanks for the Navy. Lord Mayor Carden in proposing the health of Lord Derby, said that it had always been his prayer, as it was now his pride, that when he became the head of the City of London he might have the honour of entertainin the Earl of Derby as Prime Minister of England. He was th

that his prayer had been answered, for he most sincerely believed that the Conservatives would save the country.

Lord Derby amply repaid the compliment, and also elaborately coni. plimented the East India Company. He felt bound to pay that tribute to the East India Company at the present moment when it appears to be on its political deathbed. [A cry of "Nor was raised, and some persons irreverently laughed.] T..ord Derby touched upon the difficulties of the measure to replace the authority of the Company. "That problem is no less than this—how, if the change is to take place, it is possible at the same time to secure the necessary undivided responsi- bility of a Minister of the Crown and to surround him with that knowledge and experience with reference to all the mighty and varied interests of that vast empire which are so necessary to any. Minister dealing with such complicated and diversified affairs. That as the problem which Par- liament has to solve, and I think he would be a bold, not to say a pre- sumptuous Minister, who could hope by himself, or with the aid of his colleagues, with a notice of a few days, or even a few weeks, to strike out a scheme which would not be liable to grave objections, or which in its progress would not require serious modifications. We have been called upon suddenly and unexpectedly, as your Lordship has stated, to undertake the duties of Government, and among others the one to which I have alluded, which is not the least pressing. We have not the presumption to suppose that we can be preeminently successful. We have deemed it our duty to bring forward a measure which, as we believe, may effect some of the objects to which I have referred. We laid that =ARM before the country., purposely and intentionally, previously to the recess, in order that it might be subjected to public investigation and in- quiry. We do not deprecate, but, on the contrary, we court discussion. We court suggestions. We court the cooperation and advice of Parliament and of the country, with the view of rendering the change which we propose as safe and beneficial 88 we earnestly desire that it may prove to be. The one thing which we alone deprecate—and which we deprecate not for the sake of the Government of the day, but on account of the important interests in- volved both in this country and in India—is that a queaLion involving such mighty interests, and of such overwhelming importance, should be made the sport of political parties or the battle-field of rival disputants. We shall approach this great question in no such presumptuous or controversial spirit ; and for the sake both of this country and of India I trust that the measure we have submitted to Parliament will be discussed by those who object to it, and by those who give it their support, not in a spirit of politi- cal controversy, but of fair and dispassionate argument, with the object of rendering the great change which is proposed as safe and efficient as pos- sible."

• Lord Mayor Carden proposed the "House of Lords" ; and Lord Chelms- ford answered for the Peers. It was the first time he had performed that task. In doing so he could not refrain from alluding to the Jewish ques- tion— " I trust that there never will be so fatal a step taken in this country as an attempt to encroach upon their privileges or interfere with their independ- ence of action. If, however, that attempt should unfortunately be made, the House of Lords will be found, in the exercise of the high functions in- trusted to them by the constitution, prepared to act as a bulwark against

which the tide of popular violence break in vain—as the deliberate and watchful guardian of the public interests, and as the safeguard of our most precious and venerable institutions."

The Lord Mayor proposed the health of Mr. Disraeli. The late Go- Term:dent left a "little bill" which the present Government have to satisfy. If for this purpose it is found necessary to propose new taxes the responsibility should not rest on the present Ministry. He hoped Mr. Disraeli would devise a tax which all parties would pay ungrudgingly. Mr. Disraeli accepted this as an offer on the part of the City of London. "With regard to the allusion your Lordship has made to the difficult position which I now occupy, I must thank you for the very encouraging manner in which you have offered, on the part of the citizens of London, to come forward to supply the deficiency which as at present apparent in her Majesty's exchequer. (Laughter.) Certainly that exchequer is not now in an over-brimming state ; but, after such an expression of feeling fres the representative of the wealthiest city in the world, I can assure you that when the budget is introduced to the House of Commons—and it certainly cannot be long delayed—I shall enter upon that difficult and arduous task with much more confidence and courage than I should have felt had I not had the honour of being your Lordship's guest this evening. The announce- ment on behalf of the City of London that they are prepared to pay new taxes is one which I have not a doubt will tomorrow have a very favourable influence upon the public securities of this country."

A number of other toasts were proposed, but no other speech of an)' mark was made.

A special general Court of the East India Company was held on Wednesday. The Directors having resolved to confer a pension of l000d. per annum upon the eldest son of the late Sir Henry Lawrence, with reversion to his brother should he die without heirs, the resolution was submitted to the Court by _Mr. Manglisi, the Chairman, and, after some trifling opposition from Mr. Jones, adopted.

Mr. Mangles then presented. a report from the Court of Directors to the Court of Proprietors on the two India bills now before Parliament ; and it was read by the 'Secretary. The Directors begin by remarking that they have felt bound to draw up this report because, departing from the practice of former occasions, neither the present nor the late Go- vernment officially communicated the substance of the measures to thera_. They point with "feelings of satisfaction" to "the altered tone which. public discussion has assumed with reference to the chill Eater of the Rat

India Company." "So far the stand made by the Company against the calumnies with which they have been assailed may be considered to have been successful." After this they take up the bills and criticize them.

Only the Roman Empire and the East India Company have surmounted the difficulties of governing a people separated by half the globe from the governing race and unlike it in everything. "The means which the bills provide for overcoming these difficulties consist of the unchecked power of a Minister." The Minister is to have a Council ; but despots have councils. By the first bill the whole Council is nominated by the Minister. By the saved one-half of it is nominated by him. The functions to be intrusted to it are left, in both, with some slight exceptions to the Minister's own dis- cretion. The control which Parliament and the nation will exercise over the Minister will not be salutary. They will be, as they have been, in- different and inattentive to Indian affairs. When they do interfere, it will be in exceptional cases, such as when some Indian malcontent interests the public in his favour. The government of dependencies by a Minister lost the United States, and had nearly lost all our colonies of importance. India should be governed by persons who possess a knowledge of India, and feel an interest in its affairs. The check upon the Government should be found within the governing body- itself. Forms of business are another security for good government. "The forms of business are the real con- stitution of India." The Council may consist of persons having a know- ledge of India ; the Minister' except in rare cases, can have little or none. One man cannot be trusted, and good government will depend, upon the influence of the Council. But the Minister will have the deciding voice ; the Council only moral power. Unless they can exercise their judgment and consider all questions in the initiatory stage, they will have no more weight and influence than an equal number of clerks. The first bill does not establish any forms of business, but leaves them to be determined by the Minister and Council, in other words by the Minister. "The second bill, unlike the first, does establish forms of business, but such alone as would effectually prevent the Council from being a reality, and render it a useless pageant."

"The Directors are bound to admit that the first of the bills contains several provisions indicative of a wish to assure to the Council a certain, though email amount of influence. The administration is to be carried on in the mimed' the President in Council, and not, as by the second bill, in that of the Secretary of State alone. The Council as well as the President has a voice in the appointment of the home establishment, while in the se- cond bill all promotions and all appointments to the principal offices under the Council rest with the Secretary of State exclusively; a provision which divests the Council of all control or authority over their own establishment. "Again by section 12 of the first Bill, no grant involving increase of ex- penditure, and no appointment to office or admission to service can be made without the concurrence of half the Council. This as far as iegoes is a real power ; but its value is much diminished by the consideration that those by whom it is to be exercised arathe nominees of the Minister, dependent on him for their continuance in office after a few years. "In some other points the provisions of the second bill seem to have the advantage. Its Council is more numerous to which, however, little im- portance can be attached if the Council as no substantial power. It also recognizes that the whole of the Council ought not to be nominated by the Minister, and that some part of it should be elected by a constituency spe- cially qualified by knowledge of India. But even in these, the best points of the bill, it is in the opinion of the Directors, very far from unexception- able. The nomination of even half the Council by the Minister takes away all security for an independent majority. It may, indeed, be doubted whether there is any sufficient reason for the Minister's nominating any portion except the supposed reluctance of some eligible persons to encounter a canvass. The proportion of one-third, whom the Minister now nominates to the Court of Directors, seems the largest which, consistently with full se- curity for independence, can be Bo appointed." The Directors object to the proposal that the Crown should select members as representatives of some branch of service in India, because it would pre- clude the nomination of the most distinguished man, if the seat he could fill were not vacant. They regard the proposal to give five members to five great towns "with feelings of amazement." They object to the plan of allowing the Governor-General and the Governors of Presidencies to nomi- nate their own Councils. They " cannot believe" that the project of send- ing a Commission to India will be persisted in, as it would undermine the authority of the local Government.

As to the course which the Directors will pursue : they will oppose both bills. " But that if one or the other should be determined on for the pur- pose of transferring the administration, in name, from the East India Company to the Crowns every exertion should be used in its passage through Committee to divest it of the mischievous features by which both bills are now deformed, and to maintain, as at present, a really independ- ent Council, having the initiative of all business. discharging all the du- ties and possessing all the essential powers of the Court of Directors. And it is the Court's conviction that measures might be so framed as to obviate whatever may be well-founded in the complaints made against the present system, retaining the initiative of the Council and that independence of ac- tion on their part which should be regarded as paramount and indispen- sable."

The Chairman moved that the report should be printed and circulated. A debate arose thereon, and it was adjourned.

Mr. Mechi, the well-known tradesman of Leadenhall Street and agri- culturist of Essex, was elected Alderman of the Ward of Lime Street on Wednesday, without opposition. He succeeds to the gown of the late Alderman Farebrother.

The foundation-stone of the Roman Catholic schools about to be erected at Woolwich was laid with due ceremony on Wednesday. There was a mass, a sermon from the "Bishop of Troy," a procession headed by "a cross-bearer and two boys with lighted torches," and the blessing of the stone by the Bishop of Troy.

Easter Monday was decorously kept by the multitudes who throng abroad on that day. . The national and private exhibitions in the Metro- pills and in the country were visited by Londoners in search of amuse- in2nt and fresh air during the day, and in the evening there were the theatres and concert-halls. The weather' however, was not propitious. A strong keen North-East wind blew fiercely all day, and deprived the streets of an approach even to British gayety.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, William Greenfield was convicted of assisting a prisoner to escape from Holloway GaoL Green- field had been committed for twenty-one days, and a man named Wilkes for three months; for a reward, Greenfield consented to serve for Wilkes ; they changed names when received at the prison, the officers were deceived, and Wilkes was liberated at the end of three weeks. Greenfield was sen- tenced to be imprisoned for three months.

William Horatio Chadwick pleaded ,guilty to a charge of robbing his em- ployers, Messrs. Smith and Elder, the booksellers. He had been in their service upwards of two years; he was well treated ; yet he robbed them largely of books' and appropriated postage-stamps. When arrested he ad- mitted his guilt, and pointed out some of the property which he had stolen. Sentence, two years' imprisonment.

On Thursday, the trial of Giovanni Lani, a Sardinian for the murder of Heloise Thaubin, a Frenchwoman, in a court in the Haymarket, was com- menced. The reporters again observed that the accused us "a remarkably mild„ gentlemanly-looking young man." He is twenty-one years of age. He did not exhibit any of the levity he indulged in when before the Magis- trate, but paid deep attention to the evidence. The testimony adduced was of precisely the same character as that already reported, no new fact coining out. Even the cross-examination of the women and the man who lived in the house where Thaubin lodged elicited nothing new ; for it only went to make more apparent the degraded character of the lives they led. Nothing came out in favour of the prisoner. The case for the prosecution occupied seven hours ; and the defence was postponed till the next day.

On Friday, the Jury found a verdict of " Guilty " ; and the convict was sentenced to be hanged.

At the Middlesex Sessions, on Monday, the bill preferred against Mr. Aitchison, clerk in the Union Bank, and Mrs. Hill, wife of an architect, for robbing a woman in the street, was ignored. The origin of the pre- posterous charge seems to have been that the person who was robbed made a gross mistake as to identity.

On Wednesday, Thomas Jones was convicted of stealing a watch from Mr. Stk. This was the notable case of robbery in a carriage on the North London Railway. While the train was going at full speed, Jones snatched Mr. Bile's watch, leapt from the carriage, and got off, though much hurt by felling when he sprang from the carriage. Jones is an old offender. He was sentenced to penal servitude for five years.

As usual, our latest legislation proves to be grossly defective. It was hoped that one of the provisions of the Matrimonial Causes and Divorce Act would effectually protect the earnings of married women who have been deserted by their husbands. But the experience of some cases that have conic before the Police Magistrates shows that, though a remedy is afforded to the wife, whose property is seized and sold after the granting of the magisterial protecting order by the husband who has ill-used and deserted her and her children, "or any creditor of, or other person claiming under the husband," who shall restore the specific ploperty, and also pay a sum equal to double the value of such property, yet that, instead of a summary power being vested in the wife of giving the husband or person acting under his directions into the custody of a constable, to be punished summarily by a magistrate for what is virtually little other than a robbery upon a help- less woman, she must, to get what compensation is here awarded here "institute a suit (which she is hereby empowered to bring)" against such persona; and this constitutes rather a hopeless remedy for a penniless woman against a husband who cannot be found, and who haa not been seen by her either before or after he has so deprived her of what little property she may have acquired by her own exertions.

The Lambeth Magistrate has fined three gentlemen cadets of Addiscombe, one for assaulting Superintendent Lund in the Crystal Palace, and the others for attempting to rescue him. The fracas occurred on Monday, when some 18,000 people were in the Palace. It would seem that a party of cadets tried to make persons remove their hats while the National Anthem was sung ; there was some not ill-natured scuffling ; the police interfered, and both sides grew angry and got in the wrong. But there was no doubt that the cadets had legally committed themselves. The same Magistrate has fined Policeman Thomas for violently as- saulting Mrs. Reynolds, because she remonstrated with him for his brutality towards a woman who was in liquor. Thomas was drunk. He will be dis- missed from the police force.

The Brighton Railway Company have had a man fined this week for en- dangering his life by leaving a tram while it was in motion. The fact that passengers are not unfrequently maimed or killed by the act, will not deter people from the silly practice, but perhaps fines may be more potent.

Mr. Turner, a cowkeeper in Regent Street, Lambeth Walk, has lost his life through a momentary act of rashness. While driving a chaise-cart up Whitehall, he attempted, with that temerity customary with the whips of London, to push forward between a mud-cart and an omnibus ; he caught the fore-wheel of the omnibus, his cart was overturned, he was pitched out, his head fell beneath the advancing wheel of the heavy mud-cart—in a moment his skull was crushed, and his brains bespattered the road. No other person than himself seems to have been in fault.

William Fallow, a youth in the service of Lord Dufferin, at Highgate, has been choked by an oyster, which got into the windpipe and completely stopped respiration.