he itletropolis.
A Court of Aldermen was held on Tuesday, for the despatch of busi- ness. The presentments of the Ward-inquests were delivered, and were ordered to be referred to a Committee of the whole Court. The consideration of Mr. Wells's petition against the return of four mem- bers for Farringdon Ward Without ,u as postponed for a month. The Court affirmed a resolution to add 400/. to the salary of Commissioner Bullock.
A Court of Common Council was held on Thursday ; when the time was chiefly occupied in appointing the standing Committees for the ensuing year. Mr. R. L. Jones brought up a report from the London Bridge Approaches Committee, requiring the sum of 50,000/. to com- plete improvements; which was agreed to. Mr. Wells's petition against the return for Farringdon Without was presented, and laid on the table.
The accounts of Alderman Gibbs, as Churchwarden of St. Stephen's Walbrook, have been published. They begin in 1825-6, and end in 1842-3. The auditors declare them to be correct, and find a balance to be due to the Churchwarden of 1,8021, to Easter 1843; which they authorize to be paid over to him. The celerity with which the auditors completed their voluminous inspection (?) of vouchers, &c. has been noted as one of the marvels of the time.
A meeting was held at the Mansionhouse, on Monday, as a prelimi- nary to one of a more public kind, to establish a society for the benefit of the distressed needlewomen of London. The Lord Mayor presi- ded. Among those present were the Lady Mayoress and two Misses Magnay, Lady and Miss Key, Miss Farebrother, and other ladies; who were placed upon the Committee. The nature of the intended charity was thus explained by the Lord Mayor- . The object was to find work for as many of the unemployed as possible, and to insure to them a fair remuneration for their labour. The work was to consist of children's clothes and females' under-garments, manufactured ex- pressly for distribution to the deserving poor. To be supported by subscrip- tions; and all subscribers to receive goods to the amount of their subscriptions, for their own distribution ; each article to be marked with the name of the establishment. The amount of each person's earnings not to exceed nine shillings per week. No middle-women nor job-masters to be employed; so that the actual labour may not exceed twelve hours per diem. The Society thus to serve two parties at the same time, the needlewomen so employed, and the destitute poor."
A meeting, principally of Dissenters, was held on Thursday, at the King's Arms in the Poultry, to make arrangements for erecting a mo- nument to the memory of Dr. Isaac Watts. It was resolved to open a subscription.
The Master of the Rolls gave judgment, on Saturday, in the case of the Duke of Brunswick versus the King of Hanover ; in which the Duke had sought to set aside the instrument executed by the agnati of his family, appointing the King as curator of his estates. The King of Hanover had filed a demurrer to the bill, denying the jurisdiction of the Court. Lord Langdale thought that it must be considered, on the whole, that a foreign prince is exempt from the jurisdiction of the country in which he may reside ; but the immunity of the King of Hanover is considerably modified by his duty to the Queen of England: so far from renouncing his allegiance, the King has renewed his oath and taken his seat again as an English Peer. Still, the defendant was exempt from being sued here in respect for acts done by him as King of Hanover, although liable for acts done as a British subject. The demurrer therefore was allowed.
A commission of lunacy was opened on Monday, before Mr. Com- missioner Barlow, at the Canonbury Tavern in Islington, to inquire into the mental condition of the Princess Catherine Louisa Maria Frances Bariatinski, daughter of the late Prince Bariatinski, a Russian noble- man. Her mother, the Honourable Frances Neville Dutton, sister of the present Lord Sherborne, died at Altona, in 1807, in giving birth to the Princess Catherine. The Commission was opposed by the present Prince Bariatinski, half-brother to the Princess : it was watched by Lord Sherborne, under whose care she has principally resided, and by Lord Ducie and the Earl of Carnarvon, who are related to her. Several wit- nesses, the medical advisers and chief personal attendants of the Prin- cess, were examined. Her conduct first attracted notice in 1829, and since that her mind has undergone a gradual decay. Her language was frivolous and incoherent ; she destroyed valuable clothes and other property ; some letters were read in which she spoke with a childish levity about wishing to be married ; she would pull up her clothes in streets and shops to tie her garters, make faces at people in church, smile at gentlemen in the theatre ; and altogether her behaviour was so improper that her governess was obliged to keep her apart from other ladies. The Commissioner and the Jury visited the Princess at her residence in Highbury Grove. They found her crouched down before a fire, which was guarded by a fire-screen ; and her idle answers fully be- trayed the state of her mind. In person she is tall, and of rather pre- possessing appearance. The Jury pronounced her mind to have been unsound since August 1830.
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