grtrupullo.

Alarmed by the symptoms of hostility to the repeal of the Paper Duty exhibited in the House of Lords, the leaders of the repeal movement called a meeting in St. Martin's Hall on Tuesday. Mr. Sergeant Parry took the chair. There were seven Members of Parliament present, Mr. Bright, Mr. Pease, Mr. Ingram, Mr. Lawson, Mr. Padmore, Mr. Coning- ham, and Mr. Hadfield. The object of the meeting was "to protest against the usurpation proposed by Lord Derby to the House of Lords in the retention of the tax upon paper, independent of the House of Com- mons and the Crown."

This sentence is a key to much of the speaking. Sergeant Parry de- scribed the House of Lords as an anomaly in the constitution of a free people. In a resolution, moved by Mr. Beal, the retention of the duties by the House of Lords was denounced as an usurpation, and the rejection of the repeal bill declared to be equivalent to the imposition of the duties by that House alone. Mr. Bright, supporting the resolution, dwelt upon the good effects of the repeal of the advertisement-duty and stamp-duty on newspapers ; and then went on to describe the paper-duty as a condemned tax, especially recalling to recollection the fact that the motion of Sir William Miles on the 12th of March, declaring the repeal of the duty to be inexpedient, had been negatived by 245 to 192. On the third reading, when no opposi- tion was expected, the bill was only carried by a majority of ten. Then he argued that the House of Commons has provided a substitute—the income-tax, which falls on the owners of property. Why is the great paper trade now to be put on the rack and submitted to Governmental torture?

"I know that in anticipation of the passing of the bill one manufacturer who hail built a mill—others who were prepared to supply paper at 14/. per ton less in price on the 16th of August, the day after the act was to come in force—I know that other mills which have been abandoned for years are be- ginning to put on all the appearance of renewed industry ; and when I see all this—when I see that there will be better wages for the people—when I see that education, morality, and religion—that everything which the people should possess is in store for them—when I see publishers bringing out works in the full belief that a practice which has existed for 200 years would not be departed from, and that this question was virtually settled— then I ask, why should the House of Peers, which has never meddled before, step in and dash the cup from the lips of a people anxious to satiate their thirst ? (Loud cheers.) . . . . Now, I have been very much abused for having said that the constitution of the people of England was difficult to find and difficult to get hold of ; that it was not like persons' creeds, and was not set down in books like the constitutions of other nations. But this we do know, which all Fogliahmen moat acknowledge to be the principle of the constitution, that you are not to be taxed except by or through you

presentatives in Parliament. (Cheers.) Whatever may be now or king r- after the state of your representation, the constitution—and you must Asses

it as you find it—says you shall not be taxed except by your In

presentatives. All bills relating to taxation, however small, wheth nn they refer to tolls or taxes, must begin in the House of Commons. Whethe, , a bill relates to property or customs tax, it must first make its appearance in: the House of Commons ; and when the Crown, through its responsible ad- visers, asks for supplies for the year, the House of Commons considers the whole subject, and is supposed to agree and give such a sum as is necessary for the service of the Crown to be raised from the industry of the people. At the beginning, of the session you read the Queen's Speech, and many of you learn less than they expect from its perusal. But you will at least learn this, that the Queen says, 'The estimates which will be laid before them have been prepared '—although I fear that is not always true—' with the greatest regard to economy.' All this is said to the House of Commons, whose right and whose sole right it is to vote your money for the service of the Crown Well, two bills, as I have said, were sent up to the House of Lords—the one for repealing the Paper- duties, and the other on the Income-tax, which was the substitute. The House of Lords had no objection to the Income-tax—and every one of you who has a hundred a year will find some of these days that it hm some re- ference to your particular case—but then with regard to the hill for repeal- ing the Paper-duties, the Lords said, 'We will agree to put on the 10d. in- stead of the 9/1. Income-tax, but we will not agree to take off the Paper-tax, although the substitute has been specially provided for.' This looks very like what some people call a takein '—a fraud upon the people, and very much like sharp practice on the House of Commons. (Laughter and cheers.) I consider it a most unjust and insolent proposition, that when the House of Lords had passed a substitute for the tax it should refuse to repeal the tax itself. (Cheers.) . . . . What would liberty be in England, if an ir- responsible and. hereditary House of Lords were permitted to rifle the pockets of a great and free nation. (Prolonged cheering.) I agree with what has been already said, that the constitution of this country—provided each branch has a due regard to the performance of its own functions—may afford to England a permanent freedom, and that we may be of all countries the longest free from turbulent and violent revolutions. What is it the House of Commons asks the House of Lords to do ? To reject the bill for the repeal of Church-rates—to reject the bill for the repeal of the Paper- duties—to reject the bill for giving a very moderate extension of the fran- chise. I have said some things severe about the aristocracy, but I never laid upon them such labours as they are asked to perform at the bidding of a baffled minority in the House of Commons." (Loud cheers.) He did not, however, believe that the Government would trifle with this question, or tamely surrender the great interests committed to its care. Ent if they did so, then the Government was irretrievably lost—not by the ordinary fiat of a majority before which the Government can retire with a hoc of some time returning to power, but with an amount of odium—he m ht almost say of execration, or at least of contempt and pity—which would render it impossible for those statesmen over again to possess the confidence of the people. What would happen then ? The old thing over again, he sup- posed. Lord Derby in one House, Mr. Disraeli in the other ; men in power who had no principle. (Hisses and chews.) Wherever they seemed to be travelling, if they studied with minutest investigation the pages of their political Bradshaw, they would find that every line converged to one point, and that was Downing Street. (Cheers and hisses.) With such men in office, Parliamentary Reform would inevitably be postponed, and our foreign relations would, he feared, run great risk of embroilment. There could, be no doubt that over Europe, if Lord Derby were to come into office now, there would pass a shudder of apprehension ; and, instead of the growing tranquillity for which they all hoped, and he trusted at times they all prayed, there would be an increase of excitement gathering to terror, and he did not believe the peace of Europe would be worth twelve months' pm., chase.

A special general meeting of the Rost India Company was held on Wednesday, Colonel Sykes in the chair. The object was to consider correspondence which has passed between the chairman and Sir Charles Wood, relative to the future management of the affairs of the Company. According to the statements of Colonel Sykes and Mr. Crawshay, the Secretary of State for India was going to bring in a bill to remove the last vestige of power out of the hands of the Company, and to wipe out its very name, leaving it nothing but a nominal existence under the charter. Mr. Crawahay had been informed that the Government did not like to see them meet, any more than they would the holders of the Three per Cents. Let the Government give them the same security as the holders of the Three per Cents, and they would not trouble them with their meetings. But so long as it remained the law of the land that they should be dependent solely upon the revenue of India, common sense taught them that they must keep themselves an organized body. A number of resolutions were passed hostile to the alleged intentions of the Government.

The letter-carriers of the General Post Office held a meeting in St. Martin's Hall on Monday, to set their grievances before the public. They complain of being overworked, badly worked, and underpaid ; that a memorial sent in by the men to the commission inquiring into the working of the Post Office has been unnoticed, even unacknowledged ; that promotion does not go by merit; and that the clothing supplied is bad. They condemn a practice of" trap letters and detectives,' which they allege against the system, and complain of tyranny in conducting business. They will go to the House of Commons if this appeal to the public fails.

Westminster School is supposed to be in a bad way. It is smitten with decline. The vigour of its life is destroyed by Thames odours and circumjacent disadvantages of a moral kind. "Old Westminsters " grieve to see so famous a school dying away. On Wednesday, a consi- derable number, Dean Trench presiding, held a meeting in the Jerusalem Chamber, to consider the question. The remedies proposed were re- moval by many speakers, and the conversion of the school into a middle- class day-school by Lord Ebury. The latter remedy was fairly scouted by the meeting. In favour of removal were Lord Charles Russell, Lord Llanover, Mr. Marsh, M.P., the Dean of Christchurch, Dean Trench, the Head Master, and the Bishop of St. Aaaph's. Dr. Liddell, the Dean of Christ Church, said that, with regard to the removal of the school, he had a strong opinion :- He theught, considering the bad position of many of our public schools, Eton notoriously unhealthy, Winchester in a swamp, Harrow and Rugby without water, that it would be possible to find a position which should combine everiadvantage for the new St. Peter's College of Westminster, when transplanted to fresh soil ; but of one thing he was convinced, that if office el from Heaven were to come down and undertake the charge of School, he would find it impossible to revive it on its present cond, G0jir James Graham, Sir David Dundas, the Duke of Richmond, and prd Broughton pleaded hard for the religio loci, and the advantages M' the present site ; and it was agreed that the debate should be ad- journed in order that more distinguished old Westminsters should be consulted.

The Royal Literary Fund is seventy-one years old. At its annual festival famous men are sure to gather, and help with their eloquence and position a good cause, This year the annual dinner was held on Wednesday. The Bishop of St. David's presided, Lord Stratford de Rad- cliffe, Captain Sherrard Osborn, Mr. Joseph Napier, Mr. Monckton Milnes, and Mr. Motley were among the speakers. Dr. Thirlwall gave expression to an encouraging view of literature while pleading the cause of the Fund :—

"He saw no sign of degeneracy or decay in our modern literature. We have no reason to be ashamed of the manner in which we are transmitting to our posterity the glorious intellectual heritage we had received from our forefathers. He was still more confident with regard to our language itself that it had not lost either in compass or in force through the hands which now used it. For that conviction he could quote an able and dispassionate authority. A few years ago in the Royal Academy of Berlin a moat illus- trious German philologer recorded it as his deliberate opinion that the lan- guage of Shalispeare was destined to become universal, and bear. sway, like the English race itself, in distant parts of the globe—that its copiousness, its compactness, and its good sense fitted it for that purpose in a higher degree than any other living tongue that of his own German fatherland not ex- cepted. Our language has tongue, in great part, realized that prediction. It is now diffused over vast continents, and among communities who, at no remote period, would form flourishing States and mighty empires."

Mr. Motley again spoke up for an intimate union between the 'United States and England. He firmly believed that ere long an international copyright law between England and America would render the common- wealth of literature one and indivisible. The feeling in favour of legis- lative action on that subject was rapidly spreading among his country- men. Something over 7001. were subscribed at the table.

The annual dinner in aid of the Artists Benevolent Fund took place on Saturday, Lord Stanley in the chair. About 600/. were subscribed during the evening.

The annual dinner in aid of the funds of the Hospital for Consumption took place on Wednesday, Sir John Pakington in the chair. The insti- tution has been carrying on its beneficent work ; but it will be seen that it needs help. During the year preceding the past, 667 patients had been received into the hospital, while during the past year 972 had been admitted and many discharged in both years with favourable symptoms, if the disease in its insidious nature had not been entirely removed. The out-door patients in the year 1858 were 3,971. During the past year, they amounted to 4,647. The income derived from annual subscriptions had increased from about 30001. in the preceding year to 38321. during the past year, being an increase of fully 20 per cent. The donations had, however2 fallen off in the sum of 16591., making a deficit of 900/. in the total income. Upwards of 1722/. were subscribed during the evening.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has awarded a gold medal, value twenty guineas' to Mr. Rarey, for conduct in lecturing on the treatment of horses to the London cabmen.

At the annual dinner in aid of the treasury of St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, Mr. Byng in the chair, upwards of 1100/. were collected. The friends of the Workhouse Visiting held a eonversazione at Rooms on Tuesday. Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Lyttelton, the Bishop of London, Mr. Lake of Balliol College, Oxford, the Reverend J. Kemp, and other clergymen, took part in the proceedings. It appears that the society has sent 140 visitors to the metropolitan workhouses, and has worked successfully in Bradford and Liverpool.

On Sunday last, the Reverend James Bonwell was served, in the vestry of the church, with a prohibition from the Bishop of London, ordering him not to continue to minister to the congregation of St Philips's, Stepney, during the proceedings now pending against him concerning the birth of a child in the school-room of the schools belonging to that church. The articles de- livered to him call upon him to appear and answer certain charges before Dr. Luahington, in the Ecclesiastical Court, at the instance of the Bishop ef London.

After a trial of nearly five days at the Central Criminal Court, the "Hatch Case" terminated on Monday. Our readers will remember that Mary Eugenia Plummer was charged with wilful and corrupt perjury ; her statements being the foundation of the criminal charges upon which the Reverend Mr. Hatch was arrested, tried, and convicted. On Monday, Baron Channel! very impartially summed up. It was impossible to conceive a more important or extraordinary inquiry—there was contradiction upon contradiction, and he confessed that he felt utterly incapable of presenting to them any theory as to the probability of truth being on one side or the other. On the one hand, there was positive evidence of the guilt of Mr. Hatch, coming from young minds apparently without any motive. There was the evidence of the parents, who also certainly did not appear to have any motive for making a false accusation ; and on the other hand, the charge involved improbabilities of the most extraordinary character. They were asked to believe that a clergyman—a gentleman who appeared to have all his life borne a most irreproachable character,—had on the very first night a young girl was placed under his charge, committed an act of gross indecency towards her, and that on the following night he committed a still more atrocious act. Anything more startling or improbable could hardly be con- ceived; but these facts had been positively spoken to. Still, however im- probable they might appear, such acts had undoubtedly been committed ; and the annals of courts of justice showed that men of high position and bearing an irreproachable character, acting under the influence of a diseased mind, had been guilty of such offences, and it was not therefore because the stony was improbable alone that the jury should come to the conclusion that it was not true. He did not wish them to give too much effect to this obser- vation, his object merely was that they should not too hastily come to a conclusion, and allow their minds to be carried away by the mere improbability and extravagance of the charge, and the circumstances connected with it.

It was certainly in Mr. Hatch's favour that he had an opportunity of a-

doubtedly said she did not like the Hatches, and that she told this tale to her mother in order that she might take her away, and this was a matter certainly for them to take into their serious consideration. It was rather a remarkable fact, that there did not appear to be any suggestion that Mr. Hatch had made any threats or promises to either of the children to induce them to be silent. The younger child, Stephanie Plummer, swore distinctly that her mother used to take her to church every Sunday, whereas Mrs. Plummer said that she did not do so, and she gave a reason for not going with her children to church; and he pointed out other contradictions in their testimony. In reference to Mrs. Plummer, he said that she appeared to have suffered a great deal of anxiety on account of her children ; and although her conduct in the witness-box was certainly very extraordinary, he thought the jury ought not to allow this to operate too much to her prejudice, and. that they should weigh her evidence fairly and dispassionately, and allow it to have its due weight in influencing their decision. The Jury retired at a quarter to six, and returned a verdict at eight o'clock of "guilty." The foreman of the jury at the same time handed to the learned judge a written paper, which his lordship directed to be read. It was in the following terms :—" We find the prisoner Mary Eugenia Plum- mer Guilty; and while we recommend her to the utmost extent of mercy, we

venture at the same time to express a hope that your lordship, if you have the.power to do so, will direct that any imprisonment to which she may be subjected may be accompanied by a proper course of training and education, of which she has hitherto been deprived, and probably would still be de- prived at home."

In passing sentence, the Judge said the Court was desirous of dealing as leniently as possible with the prisoner, because her position as a perjurer was in a great measure to be attributed to her want of moral and religious education. He sentenced her to be imprisoned for three weeks, and to be sent for two years to a reformatory school.

Pullinger came up to receive his sentence on Tuesday. Mr. Scrimgeonr, manager of the bank, appeared to give the Court further information. He only stated what every one knew, that the defalcations of the prisoner amounted in the gross to 263,0001., that the first defalcation took place in January 1855, and that Pullinger had been chief cashier five years. Before sentence was passed, the convict made this curious statement. "I wish to make a statement to the court to inform them what my conduct has been since the discovery of these frauds. The moment the directors mentioned the suspicion that was entertained, I at once confessed that I was culpable, and gave them every information as to the extent of the frauds, and gave all the assistance in my power to realize securities for the benefit of the bank. Myself and my wife have also assigned everything we possessed in the world with the same object, and in order that as much restitution as pos- sible might be made. If it had not been for the bad faith of a broker who failed last year, I should have restored a much larger amount. From the first, it has been my determination to plead guilty ; and, although my friends have endeavoured to dissuade me from doing so, I persisted in that determination. It has gone forth to the world that I had made up a purse for my wife, but it is only due to her to say that from the first she has always urged me to make full restitution, and expressed her readiness to give up everything and retire to another land, upon a small pittance allowed her by her own friends, and there hide her grief. The prisoner here appeared to be a good deal affected.] If what I have just stated should be considered by your Lordship to afford any ground for mitigating the horrors of my imprisonment, I shall be deeply grateful ; but if your Lordship, like the bank, should feel that you can show me no mercy, I shall still bow cheerfully to your decision." Baron Channell sentenced the convict to fourteen years' penal servitude on the first charge to which he had pleaded guilty, and six on the second, in all twenty years' penal servitude. The Judge added—" I have listened to the observations you have made to the Court, but I find nothing in them that ought to influence me ; but if there is any matter that admits of verifi- cation, and which you consider entitles you to ask for any remission of your sentence, you must apply to the Secretary of State for that purpose."

Pullinger appeared to be quite overwhelmed at the sentence.

The Southwark Magistrate has remanded William John Dent and Mary Shaw, his niece, a girl nineteen years of age, and a mother, on a charge 91 being concerned in a robbery with Ann Dent, the man's wife. This womaki stole a cash-box from her mistress. She obtained the situation on t e understanding that she was a single woman. She has not yet been app hended. But Mary Shaw, who lived with Dent as his wife, has been fonn in possession of property for which she cannot account. Dent said he did not " live" with his niece, but he was the father of her child. Mr. Combo said he was "a disgraceful fellow and not fit for the society of any human being."

One Redden, a pipe-maker, is accused of murdering a woman with whom he lived, at Philip Street, Kingsland Road. There is reason to believe that

the woman was killed while she was asleep. Haddon has disappeared. , The body of Redden has been found in the Regent's Canal. The 1110,* had tied his bands together before he leaped into the water.

Elizabeth Jenkins, late housekeeper to Admiral Sir Charles Napier, has been committed for trial on a charge of embezzling moneys given to her by the Admiral to pay the bills of tradesmen.

A curious accident occurred on the North London Railway on Wednesday. The engine drawing a train from Camden Town suddenly left the rails on the incline leading up to the Blackwell line, and rolled over. The carriages were dragged off the line and shattered ; but no one, not even the driver stoker and guard, all in great danger, was severely hurt.

There was no service at St. George's-in-the-East on Sunday. The church was crowded. Some persons, unprovided with seats, sat down Within the railings of the altar, where the choristers sit. As they would not retire, and as the choristers would not accept the seats used by the churchwardens, the service was not performed.