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The East India Directors have chosen Mr. John Shepherd as their Chairman, and Sir James Weir Hogg as Deputy Chairman, for the en- suing year.
The Oriental Club gave a banquet to Lord Gough on Tuesday, at their mansion in Hanover Square. Major-General Sir James Law Lushiag- ton presided : Lord Hardinge and Major Edwardes were among the guests, about a hundred in number.
Homeopathy, and the birthday of Hahnemann its founder, were com- inemorated on Wednesday, by a festival at the London Tavern, and by opening a hospital to be called the Hahnemann Hospital, in Golden Square. Lord Robert Grosvenor presided at the feast; and nearly two hundred gentlemen were present, including Mr. Langston, M.P., Professor Hall of King's College, and Admiral Mainwaring. The 'Earl of Essex presided at the dinner given after opening the hospital ; and Viscount Malden, Lord Gordon, Lord Alfred and Lord George Paget, and Mr. Culling C. Smith, were among the guests. The Hahnemann Hospital boasts a royal pa- troness, the Dutehess of Cambridge.
The Governors of the Fistula Infirmary, have decided against accepting Mr. Bond Cabliell's offer of a plot of ground for a building-site ; holding that they cannot properly assent to the conditions which he thinks proper to annex to the offer—conditions regarding the rapid building of the In- firmary, and the change of its name.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Monday, Richard Child Willis, a clergy- man of the Church of England, was tried for passing fictitious checks upon tradesmen. In the first case, he obtained 2/. from a wine-merehant, a friend of hip, for a check ; though he had never had an account at the banker's designated. The proceedings seemed to be taken contrary to the prosecutor's wishes : he thought so well of him that he would have lent him the money had he asked for the loan. Verdict, "Not guilty." Willis. was then indicted in succession for passing two worthless checks at hotelsi in payment of bills, and receiving sterling money in change. In both these cases the verdict was "Guilty." The prosecuting counsel said there were twelve other charges of the same kind. When the prisoner was brought up for judgment, next day, it was stated for him, that he had formerly possessed a large estate, now mortgaged; and that only of late had he resorted to irregular practices. The corder Sentenced him to a year's imprisonment with hard labour • remarking, that his having filled ahigh position in so- ciety aggravated his crime.
On Wednesday, Alexander Levey, a gunsmith, was tried for the murder of his wife : another indictment charged him with manslaughter. The couple often quarrelled and scuffled : one day the wife had been out; on her return, Levey said they would have a treat; a sweetbread and some wine were pro- cured • Covey was cooking the sweetbread, having a knife in his hand; he asked his wife where she had been ; she replied, to a magistrate for a war- rant against him ; and with an exclamation, he stabbed her in the throat. She rim out of the house ; and he proceeded to eat with the lmife he had just used to stab her —expressing, however, a hope that she was not much hurt. She died of inflammation arising from the wound. The counsel for the pri- soner urged that he acted in sudden and thoughtless passion ; and the Jury oonvicted for manslaughter only. Sentence, transportation for fifteen years.
On Thursday, George Lyon, who had pleaded " Guilty " to two indict- ments for forgery, was brought up for judgment. The particulars of his
offences have been recently mentioned : having formerly been a clerk in the London Joint Stock Bank, he took advantage of his position to imitate the signatures of cusitemers ; and thus obtained money on forged bills of ex- change. Sentenceta, transportation for twenty years.
James Ragan was tried for arson. He was suspected to have caused many fires at the East-end of London, for the purpose of obtaining rewards for giving the first alarm at the engine-stations. There were two indictments against him ; he was convicted on the first, and the other was not pressed.
Mrs. Sanderson, the unfortunate woman who killed her infant and at- tempted to strangle herself, was brought up in the care of her husband to plead to a charge of murder. The surgeon of the prison and two other medical men proved that she is insane and unable to plead. She was ordered to be detained "during her Majesty's pleasure."
Peckham, the general-postman who delivers the letters in the Leadenhall "walk," was robbed on Monday morning. According to his statement, he was standing in a shop with an assistant dividing a bundle of letters for de- livery, and placed a bag of letters on the floor near the shop-door; in an in- stant, three men darted in at the door, caught up the bag, and got clear off with it. It seems that Peckham was known to be in the habit of meeting the assistant postman at the shop to deliver to him certain bundles of letters. Proceedings at the Mansionhouse, on Thursday, put this matter in a new light. James Brown a tattered miserable-looking old man, has confessed the robbery. He did not with confederates "dart upon" the spoil, but alone and under pressure of want, "picked it up," and carried it off. On Wednes- day evening he surrendered himself to Inspector Fosberry in Bishopsgate Street. At the stationhouse he stated, that he saw an old blue bag on the sill outside the door of Messrs. Maine and Reid's ; he thought it might con- tain old boots and shoes ; he 'passed it several times, and at length, seeing no one to whom it appeared to belong, he took it up and walked away with it. In a court in Finsbury he opened the bag, and found letters in it. There was also some beef and mustard in a saucer, and he devoured the food. He opened some of the letters ; several contained halves of notes, postage-stamps, &c. : he cannot read, but knew enough to be alarmed at what he saw he had stolen, and he wandered about all day with the bag : at dusk, he put a stone into the bag, went to London Bridge, and tossed it into the river. When arrested, he had but twopence in money. Questioned by Alderman, Gibbs, he said he was a Spitalfields weaver's son, in starving want ; and added "I think I may as well perish in one way as in another." He was remanded for a week. Applications had been made at the Post-office for halves of- bank-notes •' and it is stated that the postman really placed meat and mus- tard in the bag for his dinner.
At Marlborough Street 'Yolk° Office, on Monday, Mr. Bingham gave judg- ment in the case of the man and woman calling themselves Stanley, for fraudulently obtaining money from the Duke of Wellington. It is now stated that the Duke was plundered of 3001. by these people. John Bennington was called to prove that the couple were not man and wife : the male prisoner- Stone—was married to the witness's sister some years since ; this woman is still living. Mr. Bingham reviewed the circumstances of the ease, and de- cided that the charge of fraudulently obtaining money had been established : he ordered each culprit to be imprisoned for three months ; but as they had been in prison for three weeks, and no other charge than the Duke's had been brought against them, their sentence would date from the period of their apprehension.
A Mr. J. C. Chalmers, of "5 New Quebec Street, Portman Square," is sending letters into the country to ministers of religion offering to lend them money on their personal security. A clergyman of the Church of England wrote to the Times enclosing the insidious epistle ; and a Wesleytui minister of Bradford has since forwarded another of Mr. Chalmers's letters to the Lord Mayor. In the latter case, he pretended that he was a Methodist, and that he had been instructed to invest a large sum of money, some upon the per- sonal security of "our ministers" ; and he said that it would be a peculiar pleasure to him to serve the preachers of the Wesleyan connexion.
On Tuesday evening, screams were heard from a house in Park Street, Southwark, and flames burst though a bedroom-window ; an engine was soon on the spot, and the fire was put out. It was found that the occupant of the room, Mrs. Carpenter, had been burnt to death in her bed.
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