gbe liftEtropolis.
A splendid entertainment was given to the Judges and other distin• guished persons, by the Lord Mayor, in the Egyptian Hall at the Man- sionhouse, on Saturday. The number of guests at this annual dinner has seldom exceeded fifty ; but on Saturday the number was a hundred and seventy or eighty, including Lord Denman, Sir Nicholas Tindal, Sir Frederick Pollock, and many of the Judges, many eminent lawyers, Mr. Masterman, M.P., Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, M.P., Sir John Easthope, M.P., Sir H. Dymoke the Champion of England, General Gardiner, Sir Felix Booth, Mr. 'Law the Recorder of London, Sir Claudius Hunter, and many gentlemen of the Corporation. The compliments exchanged in the after-dinner speeches were of the usual kind.
The usual weekly meeting of the Anti-Corn-law League was held at Covent Garden Theatre, on Wednesday ; and in spite of the unfavour- able weather, the house was crammed: one man was carried out in a fainting-fit, brought on by the pressure. The Earl of Ducie was Chair- man. He predicted that repeal of the Corn-laws would be carried in a few years ; the only question that remained being, by which party it should be carried: it could not he by Young England; for, in a poem lately emanating from one of that party, the writer says- " Let crowded cities and extensive towns
Sink into hamlets and oupeopled downs ; Let trade and commerce, law and learniug, die- Itut give us still "—
What ?—
—" Oar old nobility " I
Lord Ducie went on to meet the objection that light lands would be thrown out of cultivation by repeal. He had obtained returns from several farmers, from which he read extracts, to show that even in the light soils of the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, and on similar lands in Lincolnshire, the cultivation of wheat even at 44s. ltl. the quarter would, after the deduction of all expenses even to the wear and tear of agricultural machinery, leave a profit of 27 per cent on the outlay.. Mr. E. Holland, a landowner, was among the speakers ; and he declared that Anti-Corn-law principles had made great progress in Worcester- shire. Colonel Thompson, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright, all discussed the result of the South Lancashire election ; contending that, viewed properly, it was a triumph of Free-trade principles. Mr. Cobden com- pared it with results of previous elections ; showing how Mr. B; own, the defeated Free-trade candidate, had polled four hundred votes more than the highest of the unsuccessful candidates in 1837 ; and how the Free-traders had against them the interest of all the landowners except the Earl of Sefton. Let a couple of registrations take place, and two Free.traders would be returned for South Lancashire.
A numerous meeting of members of the Established Church, Presby- terians, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, Baptists, and other " ortho- dox Dissenters," took place at Exeter H:11, on Wednesday, to oppose the Dissenters' Chapels Bill. The Honourable Captain Harcourt was called to the chair ; and on the platform were Colonel Verner, Sir Wal- ter Farquhar. Sir George Rose, Mr. Henry Pownall, Dr. Cooke of Belfast, Mr. Fox Maule, and a number of clergymen, ministers, and gentlemen noted for the interest which they take in ecclesiastical affairs. Mr. Fox Maule spoke at some length, describing the bill as opposed universally by Churchmen and Dissenters ; one small section alone [the Unitarians] being an exception ; for whose benefit the whole equanimity of the religious trusts of this country was to be put in peril and sub- verted 1 The bill went to apply the principle of prescriptive tenure to property left in the hands of trustees, and it was to be retrospective. Its professed object was to prevent litigation ; but such would not be its effect, though it might solder up some inconvenient suits for a time ; and it would perpetrate a gross injustice on the Presbyterians of Ire- land. The Reverend Edward Bickersteth called upon " those who held the head" to show a decided front to the measure; the more important. when they considered the destructive character of that dreadful heresy Unitarianism. The Reverend James Hamilton, minister of the Scotch Church in Regent Square, declared that the bill was a virtual endow- ment of Unitarianism by the State ; and there was this peculiar cruelty in it, that it made such sainted worthies as Lady Hewley and Dr. Wil- liams the State's cats-paws for handing over that endowment to the Socinians. Mr. R. Mathews said that, at the lowest computation, the bill would affect property in 10.000 places, amounting to millions ster- ling, and concerning millions of persons. Resolutions setting forth ob- jections, and pledging the meeting to oppose the measure, were carried unanimously.
Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson is again attempting encroachment OH Hampstead ; having a fourth hill before Parliament, not to enclose, but to sell certain portions of the Heath. The inhabitants, however, are on the alert ; and on Friday they held a meeting, at which Mr. Hoare the banker presided, to organize an opposition to the bill. The meoting was unanimous in denouncing the me:sure ; a petition to Parliament was adopted ; and a committee was appointed to oppose the bill in every stage.
Although colder than it has been for years, Whitsuntide has been celebrated by the usual festivities and excursions. Immense numbers visited the suburban fairs at Greenwich, Stepney, and Wandsworth. The Lord Mayor had issued a proclamation to forbid the overcrowding of steamers ; but the prohibition was evaded by taking on board pas- sengers at the Adelphi, Hungerford, and other places without his Lord- ship's jurisdiction. The number that landed at the two Greenwich piers is estimated at 40,000 ; and 30,000 persons were conveyed by the Greenwich Railway. Stepney fair preserved its preeminence in good order and magnificence : but indeed the entertainments at all the fairs seem to have been attractive. Great numbers took more extensive trips; many of the railway-companies issuing tickets, on Sunday and . the subsequent days, for passengers to go and return at half-fares; the passenger in some lines being allowed to return on a different day : the Brighton, Dover, Eastern Counties, and South-western Railway Com- panies found the plan very profitable; one train on the Brighton carried two thousand passengers ; one from Dover brought up six hundred, and another is described as being a quarter of a mile in length: each Dover train was drawn by four engines. The towns on these several lines also reaped considerable profits from the influx of visiters in the spending mood. The fares to Gravesend, by railway and steamer, were lowered to 8d., and the numbers of passengers were very large. The sights iu town were not neglected. The most numerous crowds appear to have visited the National Gallery and the British Museum—respectively, 18,350 and about 22,000 ; and the paid exhibi- tions of a private kind were also well attended ; but the imposition of charges on public exhibitions, such as the monuments in Westminster Abbey, was, as usual, observed to exclude all but the few.
At Bow Street, yesterday, Ellen and Elizabeth Lindsay, charged with stealing from Buckingham Palace, and James Lindsay with re- ceiving, linen and blankets, and other property belonging to the Queen, were reexamined and committed for trial.
At Marlborough Street Police Office, on Monday, a well-dressed young man, described to resemble the Royal Family in feature, applied for a warrant against the Duke of Wellington and the Marquis of Clanricarde, for assault. Mr. Maltby, the Magistrate, asked the young
an what was his name, and what kind of assault it was ? He an- swered—" I am called Thomas Faye ; but my real name is George Guelph. I am the son of George the Fourth, and the brother of the Princess Charlotte. The assault I complain of against his Grace is for disarranging the internal state of my body by refusing to listen to my claims to be recognized as a son of George the Fourth. I have come from Dublin to prosecute my claims; but neither his Grace nor the Premier will attend to them." In answer to further questions, he said that he lodged at a public-house in Drummond Street, St. Pancras; and that he was known to Miss Faye, who lived at Mrs. Farren's in Thayer Street, Manchester Square: she was not his sister—he believed she was an aunt ; and he did not know whether she was a servant, or what she was ; but whether servant or not, he had always directed his letters to her at that place, from Dublin. Mr. Maltby sent an officer with Mr. Faye to the public-house in Drummond Street ; and the landlord, describing some eccentric exaltation of mind -which Faye had exhibited, undertook to make inquiries about him, and to consult with the parish-authorities as to what had best be done.
William Crouch, condemned to death for the murder of his wife, was executed at eight o'clock on Monday morning, in front of Newgate prison. Some traits remarked in his behaviour are less singular than curious. He had not hesitated to acknowledge the justice of his sen- tence, but never betrayed any outward sign of remorse. He said that he was instigated to the crime by a woman named Cousins, who per- suaded him that his wife was unfaithful. On Saturday, he took leave of his sister, who was convulsed with grief, while he appeared to be unmoved ; he was unmoved during divine service on Sunday ; on Sun- day night he slept well, only turning once or twice ; and in the morn- ing, be ate a hearty breakfast. He had all along expressed a belief that firmness would forsake him on reaching the scaffold ; but it did not. The first and only outward sign of inward pain was a contraction of the features when he looked out upon the crowd. He died in a few seconds ; and the body was buried in the gaol.
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