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The gathering of ladies and gentlemen at Stafford House on Saturday, to welcome Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, was very large. It included the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury, Lord John Russell, Viscount Palmer- ston, Mr. Gladstone, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Archbishop of Dub- lin with Mrs. and Miss Whately, the Bishop of Oxford, Mr. Hallam, Lord Glenelg, Mr. Arthur Kinnaird and Mrs. Kinnaiffi, the Chevalier Bunsen, Mr. Tom Taylor, the Earl of Harrowhy, Mrs. Mary Howitt, Mr. Macaulay M.P., Sir Robert Inglis M.P., Mr. Labouehere M.P., and Mr. John Macgregor M.P. The Duke of Sutherland presented Mrs. Stowe to the company, and the Earl of Shaftesbury read to her an address of welcome and praise ; expressing at the close a desire to "cultivate the most friendly and affectionate relations between the two countries," and a belief that the understanding would be promoted by avowing deep admiration for an American lady possessed of such "vast genius and intellectual power" as Mrs. Stowe. Her brother, the Reverend Mr. Beecher, thanked the assembly in her name, and read a long letter signed "C. M. Clay," expressing the Anti-Slavery sentiments of the writer, and his

sympathy with Mrs. Stowe. This ceremony being over, refreshments were served ; and then the ladies assembled in one of the saloons of Staf- ford House ; Mrs. Stowe sitting between the Duchess of Sutherland and the Duchess of Argyll. The following among other notes of her conversa- tion have been sent to the newspapers. She said that the ladies of England were not at all aware of the real state of feeling of the ladies of America on the subject of slavery. It must not be judged of by the answers sent to the address, nor by the statements in the

American newspapers. The ladies of England seeninot to be at all aware of the deep feeling of sympathy with which " Uncle Tom's Cabin" was re- ceived in America long before it was known in England. The press in America had invariably spoken highly of " Uncle Tom's Cabin." The first word that ever appeared in print against " Uncle Tom's Cabin" was the article in the limes—this was reprinted and re6choed in our papers, and widely circulated in the form of a tract. The bitterness and anger math-

fested against the ladies' address showed how much its force had enraged the advocates of slavery. You in England are happily ignorant of slavery, yet that address has shown your sympathy, and sympathy is very sweet. There is no bitter feeling really between the ladies of the two countries; but the ladies of America cannot, because of their husbands' personal and political feelings, stand forth and say what they feel on the subject. Some had said that " Uncle Tom's Cabin " was now forgotten ; but it should be mentioned that 60,000 copies of the " Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin" were sold in three days. The practical question was, what can be done to forward this great work ? She looked first to God, but man also could do something. Sympathy must continue to be expressed ; British subjects in Canada must be educated ; the use of free-grown cotton must be encouraged : such are the ways in which this great work may be aided by the people of England ; remembering that, after all, the issue is in the hands of Him who ordereth all things.

At the forty-eighth annual meeting of the British and Foreign School Society, on Monday, Lord John Russell occupied the chair ; supported by the Bishop of Manchester, Viscount Ebrington, Sir James Kaye Shuttlewortb, Mr. Hindley M.P., Mr. Duff, the Reverend Mr. Binney, and the Reverend Francis Close. Mrs. Beecher Stowe was also present on the platform ; introduced to the meeting by Mr. Binney as " the mother of Uncle Tom."

The report stated, that the boys' model school had admitted 842 children, and the girls' school 430; 27 pupil-teachers had been apprenticed by the

Committee of Council; 160 students had been admitted into the normal school for young men, and 143 young women into the Female Training Establishment ; 60 had been examined for certificates of merit, and 140 teachers had been appointed to schools. During the year, 51 new schools had been established, affording accommodation for 7000 children ; 295 towns had been visited by agents for school-inspection ; 97 public meetings had been held, and 24 lectures delivered in different parts of the country ; 124 grants in money or school materials had been made. The sale of school- materials at reduced prices had increased. The receipts during the past

year (including a subscription of 100/. from her Majesty) amounted to 19,338/. 16s. 1001., and the expenditure to 18,771/. lie. 3d. ; leaving a ba- lance in hand of 5671. 5s. 7d.

Lord John Russell briefly addressed the meeting, in acknowledging the customary vote of thanks to the chairman. Ile thus alluded to the pre- sent position of the education question—

"Some question has been made today with respect to the promotion of education, as we have always endeavoured to promote it, in connexion with religion. That was from the commencement the principle of this institu-

tion, and I trust it will ever continue to be. At the same time, as many reflections have been thrown out against those who promote secular educa- tion, I may perhaps say, without at all being the advocate of opinions from

which I differ or a scheme from which I entirely dissent, that in some in- stances the mode in which religious education has been given has afforded some advantage to the arguments and some plausibility to the schemes of those who promote secular education. If all those who wish to unite reli- gion with education would say, as Mr. Close said in his very able and elo- quent speech, that we must consider in the child his body, his mind, and his soul—if all would act according to that precept—there is no doubt that a union of secular and religious education would be the sole education fitted to bring up men and women for this Christian community. But when part of that lesson is forgotten—when the body and the mind are very much ne- glected, and that which is taught of religion is conducted into the paths of theological differences and of particular opinions which divide the Christian sects from one another—then the man who is for secular education steps in and says, These children are entirely occupied with religious differences, and with niceties which they cannot comprehend ; we had better put aside the religious part of the education, to be given at a different time and by different persons.' I think we who belong to the British and Foreign School Society have always done our best to avoid that error ; and I believe that in the future education of this country it will be much more avoided than it has hitherto been."

The annual festival of the Sons of the Clergy was celebrated on Wed- nesday with the customary usages. The sermon at St. Paul's Cathedral was preached by Archdeacon Sinclair. A banquet at the Merchant Tai- lors' Hall followed the religious service ; the Lord Mayor in the chair. Among the company, were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, St. Asaph, Bangor, Winchester, Ripon, Norwich, Carlisle, St. David's, Hereford, and Llandaff. The society has now existed for one hundred and ninety-nine years.

The sixty-fourth anniversary of the Royal Literary Fund was cele- brated on Wednesday by the customary dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern. Mr. Disraeli performed the office of Chairman with characteristic elabora- tion of "the situation." Among the distinguished company, were the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord John Manners, l'rofessor Aytoun, Dr. Dau- bony, Dr. Latham, Sir Henry Ellis, Mr. Monckton Millies, the Chevalier d'Azeglio, Mr. Justice Halliburton, the Bishop of Ohio, Professor Fen- ton, Mr. B. King, and Mr. George Peabody. In the performance of his rhetorical and courtly duties, Mr. Disraeli put forth all his verbal re- sources. He had delicate applause for "the Queen, the patroness of the institution" ; for "Prince Albert"—" no mechanical Mrecenas, but a complete master of all the subjects which engage their attention" ; and for "the Church "—and at the same time for the United States—repre- sented by the "Bishop of Ohio." But he reserved his climax for the

toast of the evening—" Prosperity to the Royal Literary Fund, and the

health of the Marquis of Lansdowne." In a long oration Mr. Disraeli described the origin of the institution,—which Dr. Franklin, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Burke, had thought too beautiful to be realized ; he commented on the change which has brought authors a reading public ; he dwelt on the evil contingencies—such as sickness, temporary failure, and unavoidable debt—which overwhelm the literary man ; and he showed how the institution, founded on the true principle that the literary man must not be the victim of exigencies, steps in under these circum- stances to relieve and encourage.

The meeting of the Indian Reform Society-, on Saturday, was attended by eight Members of Parliament—Mr. Bright, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Bell, Mr. Blackett, Mr. Crook, Mr. Phillimore, Mr. Danby Seymour, and Viscount Goderieh. Several letters from native gentlemen of Bombay and Madras were read, and the receipt of considerable funds from India was an- nounced.

At a special Court of Common Council on Saturday, held to con- sider an invitation addressed to the Corporation from the Committee of the Dublin Industrial Exhibition, it was agreed, after much debate, that the Council considered the invitation a compliment but had not power to accept it. Subsequently, in a Court of Aldermen, on its being moved that the invitation be accepted, the "previous question" was carried. The general feeling seemed to be that the Corporation had not been very successful lately in its deputations.

By the invitation of the Lady Mayoress, a meeting was held at the Mansionhouse, on Saturday, to aid dressmakers and milliners in shortening their hours of labour, providing better ventilation for work-rooms, and encouraging provident habits. Among those present were the Countess of Wilton, Viscountess Canning, Miss Burdett Coutts, and the Reverend Dr. Mortimer.

A new church has been erected at Highgate Rise, at the sole expense of Miss Barnett, a lady residing in the neighbourhood : the cost has been 70001. The Bishop of London consecrated it on Tuesday. The patronage is vested in the Bishop of the diocese.

The parishioners of St. George's' Botolph Lane, have elected a Jew for Churchwarden—Mr. Henry Levy Keeling.

Alter a hearing which occupied two days, the Judges sitting in Error gave their decision on Thursday, confirming the judgment of the Exchequer Court in the case of Miller versus Salomons, by which the penalties were enforced upon Mr. Salomons for voting in Parliament without having taken the abju- ration oath.

An action has recently been brought in the Court of Queen's Bench by the Crown against the Reverend Frederick Temple, principal Master of the Normal School, at Midler Hall, Isleworth. The school was founded by the Educational Committee of Council, as a trust, for the training of masters for the education of pauper and criminal children ; and the question to be de- cided was, whether Mr. Temple was liable to be rated to the poor for the parish of Isleworth. The defence was that Kneller Hall is devoted to charitable purposes. Lord Campbell decided that the school is liaole to the rates, for although the institution is devoted to charitable purposes, yet there is a beneficial occupation ; and where that is the case the law holds that rates must be paid.

Mr. Gladstone has been the object of one of the shameful attempts to ex- tort money, not altogether rare in London. He left the House of Commons after the division on the Nunneries Bill on Tuesday evening, and drove to the Italian Opera at Covent Garden. On reaching the theatre, he sent away his brougham, and at the close he set out to walk home, by Long Acre, the nearest route. On his way he was accosted by a young woman ; and while he was listening to her story, a man came up, and calling him by name, threatened to " expose " him if he did not "make it right" with him, or promise him a Government appointment. Mr. Gladstone, after some diffi- culty, found a policeman, in Sackville Street, and left his assailant at the stabonhouse. On Wednesday he attended the Marlborough Police Court, to state the case to the Magistrate. The assailant, who said his name was William Wilson, of 24 Belvedere 'toad, Lambeth, was then charged with following and annoying Mr. Gladstone, and also with attempting to extort money. Mr. Gladstone deposed as follows. "Sir, the defendant, seeing use in conversation with a young woman who was walking by my side, just below Coventry Street and °tendon Street, last night, about twenty minutes before twelve o'clock, came up, and began to use words which I could not well understand ; upon which the girl expressed alarm, took hold of my left arm; and I told her she need not be afraid, as nothing would occur to her. The girl told me where she lived, and I advised her to go home. I walked by her side towards her house ; and the prisoner then addressed me by name, and said he would expose me. I proceeded onward,—he following, the young woman still expressing great alarm,—until we came to a door which the young woman said was the door of her house. I believe this was in Ring Street, Soho. The young woman then ran in, and I desired the prisoner to leave me ; which he refused to do. I walked on, and turned first one way and then another, to get free of him : but he kept close to me, and went on talking ; stating that he admired my public character much, had long observed me, but that he must now expose me ; and he would do this in the Horning Herald of this day, and thus annoy the whole of the Conserva- tive party. With thew threats he mingled statements that he did not wish to do me any harm ; that if I would make it right with him, or give him a Government appointment, in Somerset House or elsewhere, his lips should be closed. In answer to this—being, I fear, angry—I charged him with being a liar ; and I used, more than once, the expression that he should not have from me either a sixpence or a situation, and that if he did not leave me I must appeal to the Police for protection. He stated that he would not leave me' and that he would give me in charge to the Police. He then said he would be contented if I would allow him to write me a letter. To which I answered, Sir, do exactly as you please ' ; repeating my former words, that I would neither give him a sixpence nor a situation. All this, with more of similar matter, was repeated again and again for some time, while I was walking on in the hope of seeing a police-constable. I saw no con- stable, until, having tried Regent Street, I came into Sackville Street ; where I saw Police-constable C 187; to whom I stated my desire to be rid of the prisoner. The constable advised me to go to the station with the prisoner. I adopted the advice.; and on my way to the station the prisoner said I had better accede to what he had offered, for my own sake. I told him that any act of mine I had no wish to conceal, and that he was not justified in im- puting to me the intention on which he had founded his claim' an intention which, if you will allow me to state, being upon my oath, I solemnly deny." Wilson having no questions to ask, Inspector Parke put in a statement of the prisoner in writing. In this document Wilson stated, that, about half- past twelve on Tuesday night, he saw Mr. Gladstone address a lady of his acquaintance, walk with her down Panton Street, and across Coventry Street into Princes Street, There he reproved Mr. Gladstone, and told him that he did not wish to expose the character of one he so much admired. "I fur- ther said, if Mr. Gladstone would procure me a situation, I would not ex- pme him; and if not, I would communicate his conduct to the Horning .Serald newspaper. I also charged Mr. Gladstone with being with the lady in question arm-in-arm: upon which Mr. Gladstone retorted, and called me a liar. Ultimately Mr. Gladstone granted me permission to write him a letter respecting a situation." Wilson added, that he should not mind though

the result were transportation, if his name were associated with that of Mr. Gladstone, one of the greatest men of the day.

It was found that Wilson was not known to the Police ; and in court he said, "I was very much excited at the time, and am very sorry I should have been so rash., ' Remanded till Friday, in order that inquiries into his character may be made.

Yesterday, Wilson was remanded until Thursday week. Mr. Gladstone appeared, and signed the depositions. He said that personally he had no wish to punish "Mr. Wilson" ; but he left it in the hands of the proper authorities, lie also handed in a very penitential letter written by Wilson to himself.

"J. S." has contributed to the Times an anecdote highly creditable to Mr. Gladstone, and an appropriate pendant to this incident. In May last year, two young women were molested in the Haymarket by an elderly man; Mr. Gladstone, who was passing, interfered, and the threat of the Police sent the man away. Entering into conversation with one of the girl', Mr. Gladstone was interested by her story; and, to enable her to leave the Haymarket, he gave her a sum of money, without which she durst not appear "at home," and sent her away in a cab. The girl's story was very simple, and strict in- quiry proved its correctness. Her father keeps an inn on the coast of Sussex ; when she was fourteen years of age, a widowed lady engaged her as maid and companion to herself, and brought her to London. In this situation she remained four years. Then, while she was with her mistress on a visit to a clergyman, his nephew, a Lieutenant in the Navy, came home from sea, seduced the girl, and left her again to go to sea. What could she do ?—her mother was dead ; her father had married again. There was only one resource left. Mr. Gladstone has been unremitting in his efforts to reclaim her ; but hitherto he has failed. The poor girl "dreads the world's opinion, and, when he has offered to place her in some way of obtaining a respectable livelihood, she has always objected, on the ground of the scorn and reproaches to which she would be certain to be subjected ; and it is to be feared that there is much sad truth in this."

At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, the person who refused to give his name, to save his family from disgrace, was convicted of forging and uttering two bills of exchange' which were sent to Messrs. Gurney and Co. to be discounted, purporting to come from Adamson and Sons, of Brad- ford. He was sentenced to be transported for fifteen years.

On Thursday, Lallemont, the Frenchman who shot a young woman in the Borough, was tried and acquitted : it appeared most probable that the pistol went off accidentally, the accused having been somewhat tipsy at the time, and annoyed by a troop of blackguard boys.

Robert Rees Renton pleaded guilty to forging and uttering a check for 13001. He was clerk to Messrs. Whitcomb and Barton, metal-merchants ; he got hold of a blank check signed by his employers, filled it up for 13004 and obtained the money. Sentence, transportation for fifteen years.

Pierre Brostin, a Frenchman, was convicted of forging and uttering a bill - for 5000 francs, on which he obtained an advance from M. Bower, a money- changer of Leadenhall Street

Mr. Jardine, the Bow Street Magistrate, has sent Policeman Earl to prison for a month for illegally arresting Mr. Thompson, a tradesman, and has fined Inspector Hardy 101, for illegally keeping him in custody for some hours. A Mrs. Burroughs accused Mr. Thompson of stealing a picture, which she had really intrusted him to sell, with a view of settling some pecuniary transactions with him ; Policeman Earl went to Mr. Thompson's made in- quiries, declared the affair was a business transaction," and refused to ar- rest the' tradesman. Subsequently, Mrs. Burroughs importuned and threatened Earl : the officer seems to have feared that he had erred in not arresting Mr. Thompson, and he went with Mrs. Burroughs to the Police- station. There she made her accusation, and Earl falsely stated that Thomp- son had been in his custody, but had escaped : Policemen were sent to watch Thompson's house, and in the middle of the night they got admission, and roughly captured Mr. Thompson. At the station, the accused explained the affair to Inspector Hardy, and even placed the picture in his hands, to be held by him till the matter should be judicially settled. Under these dream-. stances, Hardy ought to have liberated the accused ; but from some error of judgment—some fear of incurring responsibility—he did not act according to- the printed instructions by which he should have been guided : for this the, Magistrate inflicted the mitigated fine. Notice of appeal was given for Mr. Hardy ; Earl went to prison.

Gabriel Sans Garrett, a foreigner, was charged before the Lord Mayor, on Saturday, with having committed a forgery, by adding figures to a letter of credit. In November last, the Union Bank of London received advices from New York that Messrs. Duncan and Co. of that city had granted a letter of credit, No. 41, to Garrett, for the sum of 2101. In December, a person sup- posed to be Garrett applied at the Union Bank for advances on the letter, and received on two occasions 60/. and 20/. on account ; those sums being written off on the letter. The charge against the prisoner is, that he altered the figures on the letter of credit, and converted "2101." to " 5210/." ; then he went to Berlin and St. Petersburg, and raised money in each place on the forged document What renders the case peculiar is that Crarratt retained possession of the paper, as he did not draw the whole amount for which it purported to have been issued, so that the prosecution could not produce the forged instrument against him. Mr. Edward Wilson, of the firm of Wilson and Co. of London and St. Petersburg, produced two bills drawn by Garrett on the Union Bank, one for 2500/. and the other for 601.; they purported to be drawn in pursuance of Duncan and Co.'s letter of credit No. 41; and the firm of Wilson and Co. of St. Petersburg had discounted these bills. The amount was paid in Russian half-imperials, a gold coin. Mr. Wilson said he understood that Garrett had got 5001. from Shickler and Co. of Berlin. Mr. Baum, a money-changer in Regent Circus, deposed that he had paid Garrett 680/. in bank-notes for Russian half-imperials. The prisoner, in an almost unintelligible jargon, protested that he had committed no offence, as he really had received the letter for 52101. He was remanded for a week.

Henry James Lawrence, a well-dressed young man who calla himself" a carpenter," is in custody for endeavouring to obtain 10/. from Mr. Burchett by false and fraudulent pretences. Ile seems to have been engaged in other schemes of the kind. Mr. Burchett is a jeweller in Oxford Street ; a fort- night ago his premises were entered by thieves, who carried off a very large booty. Mr. Burchett received a letter by post, stating that the writer had. been concerned in the job, but offering to betray his accomplices for 101. If Mr. Burchett assented to the terms, he was to put the word " yes " in his window: this was done. Then another letter arrived, desiring the jeweller to place the money under a particular stone in St. James's Park, at nine o'clock at night : a letter was deposited, and a Policeman was put on the watch; at five o'clock next morning Lawrence took the note from under the stone, and he.waa arrested. He pretended to know nothing about the burglary. Twenty-five pawn tickets and twenty-three horse-racing tickets were found upon him. The Marlborough Street Magistrate, before whom he was pro- duced on Saturday, remanded him.

Nearly the whole of the extensive saw-mills of Mr. Hitchcock, in London Street, London Road, Southwark, were destroyed by fire on Saturday night.