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The annual meeting of the National Society for promoting the educa- tion of the poor was held on Wednesday, in the Central School-room, Westminster. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided.

The report stated that grants from the Queen's Letter Fund, voted in pre- vious years, had been paid for aid in building 190 schools, providing accommo- dation for 23,799 children, together with 76 teachers' residences. No fewer than 189 schools had been received into direct union with the Society during the past year ; making the total number of schools, now in union, 10,020. The last paragraph of the report speaks of the disputed question respecting the use of the Church Catechism. "During the past year applications have bceu made to the Committee from several quarters to sanction particular in- terpretations of their terms of union. The Committee have declined to do so ; considering that the language of those terms is sufficiently clear and in- telligible, and that the principle embodied cannot be mistaken. With re- spect to the management of schools, the Committee, having no power to interfere, cannot undertake either to enforce the observance of the terms of union or to relax the obligation incurred by accepting them. These ques- tions are left to the good faith of the managers of schools and the due over- sight of the Bishops of the Church ; and the Committee have full confidence that the managers of schools in union will so act up to the conditions upon which they have received aid from the Society as may beat, under God's bless- ing, promote the object for which it was incorporated—'the education of the poor in the principles of the Established Church.' "

Lord Redeadale moved, and Mr. Beresford Hope seconded, a motion for the adjournment of the meeting ; not to stifle discussion, but to-avoid exciting displays. Mr. Archdeacon Denison opposed the motion. Re- ferring to the Catechism dispute, he expressed a hope that the meeting , would not lie under the stigma of having raised a great question, and yet refused to decide upon it. He demanded a specific declaration, did they or did they not approve the grants made to schools where the children of Nonconformists are instructed? Is instruction in the Catechism to be made a sine qua non ? The Reverend Downes Willis supported Mr. Denison ; but he was opposed by the Reverend Mr. Keble, the Reverend Canon Trevor, the Reverend Prebendary Oxenham, and the Bishop of London. Mr. Keble stated that he had presented a memorial to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Committee respecting the mode of teaching the Liturgy and Catechism in the schools in union with the So- ciety, and suggesting inquiry. That inquiry had been made, and the Committee reported that the terms of the union had, with very few ex- ceptions, been faithfully observed. He was satisfied with that report. They were about to submit the documents on which that report was founded, and he thought that time ought to be given to the Society to examine them. This was the general argument on that side. The Bishop of London pointed out that it is not competent to the annual meeting or to the body of the Society to direct the Committee. He de- precated these discussions. It was finally resolved, by about twenty to one, to adjourn the meeting ; and so the proceedings ended. Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Thomas Dyke Arland, and Sir Henry Phillips, retiring members, were reelected ; and the Reverend Sir Henry Thomp- son was elected in the room of Mr. Colquhoun, resigned.

The hundred and fifty-second anniversary of the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel was celebrated at St. Paul's Cathedral on Thursday, in the presence of the highest dignitaries of the Church. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Manchester. In the evening, the Arch- bishop of Canterbury and a great company of bishops and clergymen were entertained at a banquet by the Lord Mayor.

The annual examination and election of scholars and exhibitioners to St. John's College, Oxford, and Pembroke College, Cambridge, from the Merchant Taylors' School, took place on Saturday ; and was followed by a banquet in the evening. Among the guests, were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Duke of Cleveland, Lord Hard- inge, and it George Pollock.

The Duke of Northumberland has given the sum of 20001. towards building a new church in the populous parish of Isleworth. He has also offered a site in a most eligible situation. The endowment will be pro- vided out of the vicarial rent-charge of the living; the present incum- bent, the Reverend Henry Glossop, having liberally volunteered to give 150/. a year during his incumbency, and the Dean and Canons of Wind- sor, as patrons, having agreed to set apart 1001. a year for the purpose, on and after the next presentation.

A new church is to be erected near Portman Square. Lord Portman has granted a site in Calmell Buildings for 40001.—less than half the estimated value of the ground. At a preliminary meeting of residents between 10001. and 20001. was subscribed.

The annual meeting of the Society for the Amendment of the Law was held on Wednesday; Lord Brougham in the chair.

The report for the past year stated that a conference had been held in London, in November, on the assimilation of the mercantile law • and a committee had been appointed to consider the whole subject 'having especial reference to the law of partnership. The committee on tribunals of commerce had reported against them ; admitting, at the same time, the necessity of providing for the settlement of commercial disputes. Resolu- tions condemnatory of the present system of Ecclesiastical Courts had been agreed to, but the subject was not disposed of. With respect to the law of landlord and tenant, the committee recommended, that as the landlord, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, was entitled to compensation from his tenant for any injury done to his farm, so the tenant should be compensated for any improvements he might make : there ought also to be a special tribunal to adjudicate on these claims until some simple rules could be laid down in reference to them. Of new members, 50, including eight Members of Parliament, had joined the Society's ranks during the past year the total number at present is 346. The receipts for the year were 6641. and the expenses 6041.

After the reading of the report, several votes of gratulation and thanks were passed. Lord Wharncliffe moved a resolution, that it is desirable the Legislature should inquire into the present condition of the Inns of Court, " with a view to their restoration to the purposes for which they were originally designed." But this was held to cast a censure pre- maturely on an honourable body ; and Mr. Webster carried an amend. ment, simply expressing an opinion that the Legislature " should direct an inquiry into the conduct and revenue of the Inns of Court, and the purposes for which they were originally founded." In acknowledging a vote of thanks to himself, Lord Brougham made some interesting remarks.

He was the servant of the Soeiety—Mr. James Stewart was the founder. The fact that law amendment is now popular, is no reason why the So- ciety should desist from its labours; on the contrary, there is much to do. Mr. Collier had said there were courts of law, and courts of equity, and other courts in which both law and equity were comprised and administered together. The honourable and learned gentleman referred, no doubt, to the Parliamentary Committees ; and he spoke without fear of committing a breach of privilege (to the penalties of which he and his honourable and learned friend were equally exposed) when he said, that in those courts there was administered both law and equity, and he must add, and some- thing which was neither law nor equity, nor had the least resemblance to law or equity, or any connexion with either the one or the other. He could not conceive one object that more called for deliberate attention, and searching inquiry, and fearless exposure, and their deliberate and no less fearless resolution to condemn, than the constitution of proceedings in the two Houses of Parliament with respect to private bills ; to which he would take leave to add—although the ground was more slippery to tread, and there was the more risk of falling, and that fall might be dangerous— Election Committees. He entered no further upon that, except to say that in their hands had been placed not only much of the character of Parliament but much also of the morals of the community ; and that he had no hoe of seeing the corruption complained of exterminated by any proceedings w ieh set all principles, all law, all equity, and all common justice at defiance— which go to punish a man for that which he has not only not committed, but which he is, by the sentence of the judge, stated to be absolutely igno- rant of. That is not the way in which bribery and corruption could be pre- vented ; but it would onlyibe done by duly visiting with a severe and de- grading punishment those who are guilty of the offence—the candidate him- self, if he be guilty directly or indirectly—either by employing an agent to bribe and corrupt,.or by shutting his eyes to bribery and corruption, whilst he is furnishing the funds out of which that grave offence is to be perpetra- ted. But if the candidate himself has not been so guilty, then punish the guilty.agent ; and such punishment the agents, although they would run the risk of pecuniary punishment, would not readily expose them- selves to Now that law amendment ran no risk, it was their duty to watch it more closely. For, as the French proverb hath it, " When the weather is fair you ought to take your cloak, but when it is foul you may do as you please." (Laughter.)

A vote of thanks to Mr. Stewart appropriately terminated the pro- ceedings.

The Gazette of Tuesday last announces, that by several orders in Council of the same date, and in pursuance of the powers given by the 15th and 16th of Victoria, her Majesty has been pleased to order, that from and after the dates respectively set out therein burials in the grounds' attached to the churches hereafter named shall be discontinued.

St. Clement Danes; St. Edmund the King with St. Nicholas Aeons ; Allhallows the Great; Allhallows the Less ; St. Lawrence Jewry ; St. Mary Magdalen ; that part of the churchyard of St. Mary, Haggerstone, in the parish of St. Leonard, Shore- ditch ; St. Margaret, Lothbury ; St. Christopher-le-Stocks ; St. Bartholomew, Ex- change; St. Matthew, Bethnal Green ; the Roman Catholic burial-ground of St. John the Evangelist, in the parish of St. Mary, Islington; St. Dionis, Backchurch; Allhallows, Barking ; St. Catherine, Colman; St. Catherine Cree; St. Helen's, Bish- opsgate ; St. Martin, Ludgate; St. Botolph, Bishopsgate; St. Antholin, with St. John-the-Baptist ; Allhallows, Staining; St. Mary Aldermary, and St. Thomas the Apostle; Allhallows, Lombard Street; St. Ethelburga, Bishopsg,ate ; Allhallows, Bread Street, and St. John the Evangelist ; St. Dunstan's-in-tbe-West; St. Paul, Covent Garden; St. Clement, Eastcheap, and St. Martin, Orgar ; St. Botolph-With- out, Aldersgate ; St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, and St. Anne, Blackfriars ; St. Michael, Cornhill, and in the Chapel and burying-ground of the Baptist Church Meeting in Mazepond, Southwark ; St. George-the-Martyr (subject to certain qualifications therein set forth) ; St. Mildred, Bread Street ; St. Margaret, Moses ; St. Benet, Paul's Wharf ; St. Peter, Paul's Wharf ; St. Benet, Gracechurch Street ; St. Leonard's, Eastcheap ; the vault of Trinity Chapel, St. Giles's ; St. James, Duke Place; St. Olave, Jewry, and St. Martin, Pome- roy; St. Anne and St. Agnes, with St. John Zachary; St. Alphage, St. Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Woolchurch, St. Stephen, Coleman Street ; St. Andrew Undershaft, St. Mary Somerset, St. Mary Mounthaw, St. Mary-le-Bow, St. Pancras, Soper Lane; St. Stephen, Walbrook, and St. Benet, Sherehog ; Christchurch, South- wark; St. Peter upon Comhill, St. Mary, Abchurch ; St. Lawrence, Pountney; St. Vedast, Foster Lane; St. Michael, Querne; St. Anne, Soho; St. Mary-at-Hill; St. Andrew, Hubbard ; St. Margaret, Westminster; Christ Church burial-ground, Broadway ; St. Dunstan-in-the-East ; St. James, Garlick-hythe; St. Alban, Wood Street ; St. Olave, Silver Street; St. Michael, Wood Street; St. Mary, Staining; St. James, Westminster; St. Michael, Paternoster Royal ; St. Martin, Vintry; St. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street; St. Gregory-by-St. Paul; St. Andrew, Holborn ; St. Mary, Whitechapel; St. Mary-le-Strand ; St. Gabriel, Fenchurch Street ; St. Mar- garet, Fattens. In the churchyard of the parish of Trinity, Minories ; St. Mary, Newington; St. Peter, Wahvorth ; St. Sepulchre ; St. John-the-Baptist, Horton ; St. Leonarde, Shoreditch; St. Martin-in-the-Fields ; St. Thomas, Southwark ; St. Magnus-the-Martyr; St. Margaret, New Fish Street; St. Michael, Crooked Lane; St. George's-in-the-East; St. Mary, Aldermanbury ; St. Olave, Hart Street ; St. Mary and St. John, Paddington ; and St. Michael, Queenhithe.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Monday, Henry Taylor, a respectable- looking young man, pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzling the monies of his employers, Messrs. Bishop and Co., distillers. The counsel for the pro- secution recommended him to mercy : up to a recent period his conduct had been irreproachable : he had been ruined by the betting-offices : at first he ventured a small sum, and lost ; he laid heavier bets, and lost again ; then he took his employers' money in the hope of retrieving his losses. Sentence, twelve months imprisonment.

The trial of John Richards, a young man, for feloniously entering the house of Mr. Crossley, a tradesman in Bentinck Street, was notable for a specimen of the licence of the bar in defending a client. Richards was found in a bedroom of the house, before he had time to purloin anything ; he said he expected to meet a gentleman, but his real object was quite apparent. The bedroom was in the occupation of a lady, the widow of a military officer. Mr. Sleigh, in defence of the accused, insinuated that the young man had an appointment with the lady, and called on the Jury to acquit him. The Re- corder condemned this attack on the character of an absent lady, made with- out the'slightest proof. The verdict was " Guilty." A certificate was then produced to prove a former conviction for felony. Mr. Sleigh intimated that if he had been aware of the existence of a previous conviction, he should not have suggested the defence he did. The prisoner said it was not suggested in his brief. Mr. Sleigh admitted that the defence was not sug- gested to him in his brief, but said that it occurred to him as a legitimate one to offer to the Jury upon the facts of the case. The Jury, however, joined in condemning the defence ; and the Recorder more than once re- iterated his strongest reprobation. The sentence on Richards was trans- portation for ten years.

On Tuesday, there were no fewer than three cases—one of horse-stealing and two of cutting and wounding—in which the accused were pronounced unfit to plead from insanity.

On Wednesday, William Wilson, the young man who attempted to extort money or a Government situation from Hr. Gladstone, pleaded guilty to the Charge. His counsel, Mr. Robinson, stated that this plea was of the prison- er's own motion, not his lawyer's act. Mr. Robinson urged that the offender had given way to a sudden morbid desire for notoriety by connecting his name with that of a man so distinguished as Mr. Gladstone. Ho had since exhibited contrition, and he threw himself on the mercy of the prosecutor. Mr. Bodkin, for the prosecution, stated that inquiries led to the belief that there was no collusion between the woman and Wilson. Mr. Gladstone had no personal feeling in the matter, and left the case entirely in the hands of the Court.

Witnesses were called to character. Wilson is a Scotchman, and has but recently been residing in London ; the witnesses spoke only of his London life. The Chief Baron said it was important that the Court, in a case like this, should know something of the early career of the accused. Mr. Robin- son remarked, that the prisoner could not bring witnesses from Scotland, on account of the expense. The Chief Baron said, Wilson might make an affi- davit in mitigation of punishment. His counsel said it should be done. On Thursday, the Chief Baron, after remarking that the prisoner's offence did not seem to be premeditated—that he did not systematically attempt by such means to gain a livelihood—passed the mitigated sentence of twelve months' imprisonment, with hard labour.

Edwin Henry Powell, a young in , o as tried for forgery, and also for "harbouring" Joseph Farrell, the B c'erk who managed to get 23001. from the Bank of England by forging a eel tleman's name to a number of warrants for dividends. All that was made out against Powell was, that he was in the company of Farrell after the forgery, and that he had sent a man to the Bank to get a 5001. note changed, the note being part of those paid to Farrell. In cross-examination, it came out that so soon as the forgery was advertised Powell went to Forrester the officer, and told him truly all that he knew about Farrell. That man was not caught, but Forrester got so closely upon his track as to seize more than a hundred sovereigns which he d Teft at an inn in his hurried flight. Mr. Ballantine, the prisoner's complained that the Bank authorities had not stated these facts , instead of leaving them to be found out in cross-examining wit-

nesses. The Chief Baron, while commending the generally liberal spirit of the Bank, agreed in the counsel's censure. Mr. Clarkson, the counsel for the prosecution, interposed, and said that the statement was not in his brief, and he was quite ignorant of it. He was, however, informed that it was made to the officer under circumstances likely to be prejudicial to the prisoner, and on that account alone was not given in evidence. The Chief Baron said, he did not see any excuse for not offering the evidence. They had been engaged all day in examining a multitude of witnesses, proving circumstances with the greatest possible minuteness, the whole of which were admitted by the mouth of the prisoner himself; and he was afraid the statement had been kept back by a desire so strongly entertained by detective officers, to earn a character for zeal, activity, and success, which in reality they did not deserve. The Jury returned a verdict of " Not guilty."

William Nash pleaded guilty to uttering a forged check for 8501. upon Messrs. Barnett and Co. Sentence, transportation for fifteen years.

The prosecution against Mr. Hale for manufacturing war-rockets at Ro- therhithe has been abandoned. His solicitor has received a letter from Mr. Waddington, the Under-Secretary of State, announcing the fact, and that Government is willing that Mr. Hale should select one of four officers named to make a reasonable yet liberal valuation of the property seized. Mr. Hale has fixed on Colonel Chalmer, Inspector of Artillery at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and now awaits his decision. It is surmised that if the case had been called at the Surrey Sessions it would have failed, as it is supposed that the two principal witnesses have left this country for the Continent. The prosecution really appears to have been withdrawn at the solicitation of Mr. Hale himself. On the 1st instant, he addressed a letter to Lord Pal- merston, stating that he was advised to plead guilty ; that he never had the slightest idea that making rockets was a breach of the law, as he now knows it is ; and praying that as the law was now sufficiently vindicated, the pending proceedings against him might be abandoned. On the 3d, Lord Palmerston, through Mr. Waddington, informed Mr. Hale that instructions should be given to the Crown counsel not to call him up for judgment.