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The animal meeting of the National Society seemed, beforehand, likely to be one of strenuous combat between Archdeacon Denison and his op- ponents. Both parties had given notice of motions. One of Mr. Deni- son's resolutions assumed as true the common report that the Church Catechism had been suppressed in some of the schools from respect to the feelings of Dissenters ; and it pronounced such suppression to be a viola- tion of the charter of the Society, and of the compact between the founders of the school and the Committee of the Society. Another of his resolutions concerned the management-clauses; and set forth, that "in the abeyance of Convocation," the Committee of the National Society ought to be accepted by the Committee of Privy Council on Education as "a competent authority within the Church" on those clauses. The resolutions of the opposite party were of an an- tagonistic kind. But the authorities had made concessions which dis- armed both combatants. In the first place, the Committee of the Society had resolved that they would request the Bishops of the dioceses to ascertain in point of fact the practice of the schools in each diocese, as to teaching the Liturgy and the Catechism. In the second place, the pre- sent Government had resolved on modifications of the rule of the Com- mittee of Council on Education with regard to the management-clauses. Information of these steps had been conveyed to Archdeacon Denison, and he deemed them so satisfactory that he withdrew his resolutions, and made a speech of peace, in which he expressed his hope that he should never have to move resolutions at their yearly meetings again. Upon this the antagonist resolutions were withdrawn ; other peaceful speeches followed ; andthe yearly meeting broke up amicably.
In the Court of Chancery, on Thursday, Sir dames Parker made absolute and perpetual the injunction sought by Mr. Soltau against Father de Held, to restrain the bells of the Clapham Convent. Father de Held has re- tired to Belgium, to evade the jurisdiction; and the decree was granted with costs.
In the Court of Arches, on Thursday, Sir John Dodson gave judgment against the Reverend J. E. Gladstone in the suit promoted by the Bishop of London to interdict him from preaching in his proprietary chapel without the Bishop's licence. Mr. Gladstone has given notice of appeal.
A "most horrible piece of London romance" came under the Lord Mayor's notice on Saturday. Mehemet Abraham, a jet black blind beggar- man, who is usually led through the streets by a brown dog, and Eliza—, aged twenty-three, the daughter of a gentleman who resideain London, were brought up in custody by Henry Major, an officer of the Mendicity Society. The male prisoner was a peculiarly revolting object, his head being covered with long matted hair, and the covering upon his limbs being tattered and filthy in an extreme degree. His companion was a small-sized, pretty-freed girl, presenting a remarkable contrast to the wretched creature by her side. The officer charged them with begging; the young woman had led the Black to Bishopsgate Street, stationed him there in an attitude of supplication, fastened a petition to his bread, and then withdrawn a little distance : the blind man had soon received a penny, and the officer then arrested him and the girl. The Lord Mayor could hardly believe that the ill-matched couple had lived together ; but there was no doubt of the fact. The young woman's father was present at the Mansionhouse, and a letter from him to the Secre- tary of the Mendicity Society was read. It seems that for some years past Eliza has pursued an abandoned course, and had persisted after repeated instances of forgiveness and attempts at reclamation by her parents.
"On her coming of age," said the father in the letter," she threw off all restraint; and having a small house property in Devonshire, subject to her parents' interest, but which was waived in her favour, she left us ; nor did we know of her where- abouts until, about ten months since, I met her in the streets of Whiteehapel, in the last stage of destitution, filth, and rags, singing ballads. My humanity once again led me to speak with her and to remonstrate ; the result of which was that we took her home, cleansed, clothed, and eared for her. This lasted but a short time; and her recurrence to her former habits again precluded all knowledge respecting her, until a few days since, we received a letter from our solicitor saying he had heard Irons our daughter as the wire of a Mr. Abra'm a, desiring the sale of her property, and requesting him to take the necessary — one of these and the preliminary step being our signature and consent My fir4 impulse was to visit the locality
specified in the solicitor's letter, ' 7 Little H Street, Whitechapel '; and there in one miserable room, cohabiting with a bleak blind beggar, who perambulates the street with a brown dog., this wretched girl is to be found. The parties who live in the same house say that she has been cohabiting with this monstrous loathsome being for two months, and that they live most luxuriously. Her mother, who has had an interview with her, states that she boasts of this man's bringing her home from the West-end frequently 15s. per day, and ou an average 7s. or 8s. per diem. She stated herself to have been married to him seven months since, at Whitechapel Church; which, on careful inquiry, I find to be false, having examined the church- books, and seen the officials on the subject. These latter circumstances induce me to think that the humanity end exertions of your Society may be made available for the suppression of so much vice, and the salvation of this unfortunate child."
When this statement had been made to the Lord Mayor, he asked the young woman, was it possible that she could have any respect or affection for the miserable creature at her aide ?
The female prisoner—" Yes, I have both respect and affection for him. I have no Idea of leaving him. We can do very well together," (and she laid hold of the tat- terderaallion's greasy black paw.) The Mendicity Officer—" The man has been begging about for several years, and I have no doubt is well able to keep a woman in great luxury. I am convinced that the girl has been attracted by the excellent living with which he indulges her. They have been in the habit of getting the best; and she does not deny it."
The female prisoner—" Well, I can't go home, and I won't go home."
The Black said he had been dog-led through the streets of London for eight years, and there could be no mistake about his blindness; and if any one knew how a blind man was to support himself except upon the kind- ness of those who were not blind, he would be much obliged to be informed in what way. The Lord Mayor communicated privately with the father of the girl, and both prisoners were remanded.
On Wednesday the prisoners were ree'samined. The young girl spoke with carelessness, but without levity : she said she was quite ready to be sent abroad by her relatives.
The jealousy with which all " strangers " are excluded from the Stock Exchange favoured the escape of a criminal on Saturday. Storey, a City Detective, was on the look-out for a man accused of robbery ; he saw him run into the Stack Exchange, and attempted to follow ; but the doorkeeper, who probably mistook the fugitive for a broker's clerk, stopped the officer, though he showed his warrant-card. Storey could not get admission till he had ap- plied to the Secretary ; and then the criminal was not to be found, as there are several places of exit from the Exchange.
When the two Italian seamen who stabbed two Irishmen at Upper East Smithfield appeared on remand at the Thames Police Office, on Monday, the charge had become one of murder ; for one of the wounded men, Thomas Murley, had died : the other sufferer was pronounced out of danger. The prisoners were committed for trial on the capital charge. A Coroner's Jury had previously returned a verdict of "Manslaughter" against them.
The great printing establishment of Messrs. Clowea, in Duke Street, Stam- ford Street, suffered severely by a fire on Thursday. A little before two o'clock, while most of the workmen were at dinner, it was discovered that the warehouse called the "chapel "—a building formerly used by an Uni- tarian congregation—was in flames. Engines were soon obtained ; and every effort was madeto stay the progress of the fire ; but from the inflam- mable nature of the stock the fire spread to another warehouse, the two upper floors of which, with the whole of the "chapel," were destroyed. The loss of property is very great. Some two hundred tons of type have been melted ; some twenty thousand reams of paper, and a vast quantity of printed books, consumed. Among the books consumed, was the whole edi- tion of the new octavo Illustrated Great Exhibition Catalogue, Catalogues in other sizes, Knight's Illustrated Shakspere, and many other completed works. Fortunately, Messrs. Clowes were largely insured in several offices. The origin of the fire is a mystery, as no lights or fires were allowed in the " chapel " : probably, some one had carelessly thrown down a match after lighting a pipe or cigar.
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