Ett jirittropolis.

A Court of Aldermen sat for despatch of business on Tuesday, but no matter of public interest was discussed.

A Court of Common Council was held on Thursday, for the despatch of beakless. Mr. Alderman Gibbs acted for the Mayor, who has been called from London for a few days by the death of his mother.

The Town-Clerk read a letter from the Clerk of the Metropolitan Coin- mission of Sewers, requesting that the Court would "with all convenient peed" select four members of the Corporation to be members of the Com- mission. Some opposition to this course was shown. Mr. H. L. Taylor moved that the question be considered that day six months; but Alderman Gibbs refused to put that motion, as the act is compulsory. A motion to consider the question next Court-day was carried by a large majority.

The annual report of the City Commissioner of Police was read. Among its suggestions, one was to subject private watchmen to police-regulations, and another to register the sweepers of street-crossings and license only honest characters.

Mr. Charles Pearson has been usefully stirring the question of prison discipline. He delivered two lectures on the subject on Monday and Tues- day, preparatory to a set public "discussion," to be held next Monday and Tuesday, at the Aldersgate Street Literary Institution. The lectures were attended by large audiences; Mr. M. D. Hill, Q.C., presiding as chairman: lb. discussions are also expected to be largely attended. Mr. Field, Chap- lain of Reading Gaol, is expected to attend and maintain the merits of the silent and separate system there praetiee.1, against Mr. Pearson, who advo- cates a system of self-supporting industrial punishment The London Chartists held a public meeting on Monday evening, at the lAiterary Institution ixt John Street, Tottenham Court Road, for the pur- pose of originating a new organization in support of the Charter. Mr. Henry Ross presided; Mr. Feargas O'Connor, M.P., and several other

leaders, were . e . - "lengthy and warm speeches." Mr. , 1 e . having, by their own neglect, and by

joi....lves, failed in getting the Charter

...s .-.. , d the other speakers declared that

,.•,..,,> new reform agitation, though they

.uld still prosecute their own. aims. ate prosecutions, and pledging the ()Connor ch not being t made the they wo had bat Resolutio

OIVI

working classes never to cease agitation until the Charter should be the law of the land, were carried amidst cheers for the Charter, the People, and "the 'Victims of Whig persecution."

At a meeting of the Spitalfields weavers last Saturday night, one of their speakers announced diet during the ;set few days nothing but re- ductions in wages were to be heard of: this was the case even with most influential houses that hitherto had held out for the workmen. "From all he could learn, the manufacturers were of opinion that it was chiefly from home, and not so much from foreign competition, that the masses were suffering." A manufacturer had suggested that the case of the weavers should be laid before Mr. Cobdeu; and had offered to obtain an interview with him and present their case. The speaker was about to furnish this kind manufacturer, on Monday next, with the true state of the case, in order to its being furthered, and to induce Mr. Cobden and the Govern- ment to pause, and give hope for the future. " They must act at once, or they might lie down and die of destitution." Other speakers opposed the plan of representations to Messrs. Cobden and Bright: they should collect facts, and trust only to their own strong and consistent exertions.

Judgment in the case of Prince Albert versus Strange was given in the Court of Chancery on Tuesday, by Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce. the judgment took more than two hours in dehvery; it was a lengthened review (gall the facts of the case, and a most elaborate view of the whole field of copyright law. The con- cluding portion of it gives in a popular and characteristic style the gist of the facts, the law, and the adjudication— Addressing my attention specifically to the particular instance before the Court, I cannot but see that the etchings, being executed by the plaintiff mid his consort for their private use, being the produce of their private labour, and belonging to themselves, they were entitled to retain them in a state of privacy and to withhold them from publication. That right, I think it equally clear, was not lost by the limited communication which they appear to have made; nor was it confined to the printing or taking impressions without or beyond their consent from the plates, which were their undoubted pro- perty. It extends, I conceive, also to the prevention of persons unduly oh. taming a knowledge of the subjects of the plates from publishing, at least by printing or writing a description of them, whether more or less limited, a sum- mary or catalogue, whether professional or otherwise. But I am satisfied, I repeat, that the means of composing and forming the catalogue hi question muse, upon the materials now before the Court, be taken to have been obtained unduly; that is, without the consent of the plaintiff and without that of his consort, and without any right to do so, moral, equitable, or legal. Can I, then, deny it to be an interference with another's property? I think not. The defendant appears to me to have been seeking to make use, for his own pur pose, of what does not belong to him. That the object of printing and publishing the catalogue was money to be gained, no man, of course, can doubt; and that it would be very saleable, and that, if copies were to be multiplied, edition after edi- tion would find ready purchasers with or without the superfluity of the autograph, is highly probable, for reasons sufficiently obvious; I do not say on account of the general or graceful indirectness of the compliments, or the sort of history or me- moir prefixed—these are meoe garnish—but on account of the solid and substan- tial part of the publication. What, however, can be the defendant's right, or that of any person but the owners of the plates, to display them? It is for them to use, or bestow, or withhold absolutely, impressions; nor can a stranger be allowed to say that they shall not. They alone are entitled to decide when and how, and for whose advantage, their property is to he made use of. I think, therefore, not only that the defendant herein unlawfully invading the plaintire right, but also that the invasion is of such a kind, as it affects this property, as to entitle the plaintiff to the present remedy of injunction; and if not the more, yet certainly not the less, because it is an intrusion—an unbecoming and unseemly intrusion, an intrusion not alone in breach of conventional manners, but offensive to that innate sense of propriety which is national and individual, if the word intrusion can fitly describe that which is a sordid spying into the privacy of domestic life, into the home—a word hitherto sacred amongst us—into the home of a family, of a family whose private life forms not their only unquestionable title to the most marked respect. To relax the restraint that has been imposed upon the defendant, is consequently what I am not now at least disposed to do." Mr. Strange is therefore still to he restrained from publishing the descriptive catalogue which he printed. It is stated that he intends to appeal to the Lord Chancellor against the judgment.

The inquest on the bodies of the children who died at Tooting, commenced by Mr. Wakley at the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Road, on the 12th instant, was resumed on Tuesday, at the Globe Tavern in Derby Street. Mr. Drouet was present; Mr. Ballantine the barrister appeared on his behalf, and desired the Coroner's permission to assist in the investigation. Mr. Wakley said that he should persist in the nob e he always acted on, to allow no gentleman to appear as counsel in his court. The matter was of such public importance, however, and he was so anxious that Mr. Drouet should have every opportunity to meet pre- judicial statements, that he desired Mr. Ballantine to remain in the room and render Mr. Drouet every assistance, so long as he should satisfy himself with a merely suggestive interference. Mr. Eglantine bowed to the rake of the Court, and took a seat behind Mr. Wakley; whence he suggested questions which the latter put to the witnesses.

Mr. Wakley stated the plan of his intended inquiries. First, evidence to be taken on the nature of the contract between the Guardians of the Holborn Union and Mr. Dronet, and how far it had been kept; then the legal powers of the Poor-law Commissioners would be examined; and lastly, the actual elate of the Surrey Hall establishment would be elucidated.

Mr. William Roberts James, Vestry Clerk of the Holborn Union, stated, that in September 1847, the desire of the Holborn Guardians to place out some'of their too numerous pauper children was communicated to Mr. Hall, then an Assistant Poor-law Commissioner; and a letter was received in reply, recommending them to adopt "a suggestion offered by Mr. Hall, as to the placing of the boys in some other establishment" than the workhouse. A committee was appointed to visit Drouet's eatablishment; and, that Committee having expressed entire satisfaction with the whole of the arrangements, eighty-one boys were sent to Tooting on the 10th of November. The dietary table of Mr. Drouet's establish- ment had been previously submitted to the medical officers of the Holborn Union, and approved of by them. The only contract made was that embodied in the correspondence and conversation on the subject. On the 16th October, Mr. Drouet wrote.— "lily establishment Is for children only, and I have spared no expense to make it second to none. There are five schools, conducted by competent teachers, and a chaplain. Various trades, &o., are taught by well-conducted masters. a * I can take the numbers you propose to place out at the charge of 4s. 64. per head per week. This includes every charge, as also conveying them to and from the establishment." These terms were to include clothing, bat "no particular description of cloth- ing was mentioned." In December commenced a system of monthly visitations by selected Guardiaas, who went down to Tooting,, inspected the children and all arrangenneits relating to them, and reported to the General Board. The reports were satisfactory,' through the winter of 1847 and spring of 1848. Some com- plaints were made by children and their parents, which on examination were deemed groundless. On the children, May 1848, however, the report of the three visiters NM as follows- " We were there at the time of dinner being supplied ; and, in our opinion, the meat provided was good, but the potatoes were bad. We visited the school-rooms, dormito- ries, and workshops. Everything appeared clean and comfortable ; yet we are of opi- nion that the new sleeping.rooras for infants on the ground-floor have a very unhealthy smell. The girls belonging to the Union looked very well. The boys appeared sickly; which induced us to question them as to whether they had any cause of complahit as to supply of food or otherwise. About forty of them held up their hands to intimate their dissatisfaction ; upon which Mr. Drouet's conduct became violent. He called the boys liars; described some that had held up their hands as the worst boys in the school ; and said that If he had done them justice he would have followed out the suggestion of Mr. James, and well thrashed them. We then began to question the boys Individually; And some of them complained of not having suMeleht bread to their breakfasts. Whilst pressing the inquiry, Mr. Drouet's conduct became more violent. He said we to be satisfied of his cha-

racter acting unfairly in the mode of inquiry; that we ought.

without such proceedings, that we had no right to pursue the inquiry in the way we were doing ; and that he would be glad to get rid of the children. To avoid fUrther altercation, we left, not having fully completed the object of our visit." The Board appointed a Committee of eight. Guardians to accompany the three visiters on a revisit to the Tooting establishment. Matters were made more satis- factory to this larger deputation; and in consideration of the improved state of things, and of Mr. Dronet's apologizing for his previous warmth, the past was forgotten, and a report "in terms of commendation and satisfaction" was made to the Board. Subsequent reports were perfectly satisfactory, down to the 9th De- cember, when the children were declared in "a favourable state." But "on the 2d of January," said Mr. James, "1 was informed that a man belonging to the workhouse, named Kelly, had been to Tooting, and that a good many of the chil- dren were ill. I immediately sent a messenger to Tooting; and on Wednesday morning I received from Mr. Drouet a verbal message that it was too true the cholera was raging in the establishment, and that he would make an official report as soon as he could. He afterwards wrote a note to me on the subject, but did not explain why we had not received earlier information." The board met next day, and sent Mr. Whitfield, their surgeon, to report immediately. After his re- port, "all the children who were in a fit state-154 of them—were removed, on the 5th instant, to the Royal Hospital, where they now are. Seven of the Hol- born children had then died; thirty were too ill to be removed; nine of those thirty died after the 5th. On Monday last there were bat fifteen of the Holborn children alive at Tooting. Mr. Winch, one of the three Guardians whose report of the 9th May is quoted, stated more details of what occurred on their visit. He found upwards of a hun- dred of the potatoes, which he cut open on the dinner-table, to be black and dis- eased. He told Mr. Drouet, that other vegetables should be given to the children; but got no reply. Mr. Mayes observing to Mr. Drouet, that it was a pity when he was building he had not made the rooms higher, Mr. Drouet said, he would have enough to do if he paid attention to everybody. Some of the sleeping-rooms ap- peared very clean. The girls looked well; bat the boys, who were mustered in the school-room, appeared very sickly and unhealthy. Then occurred the scene with the boys, when forty of them held up their hands in complaint: one of them said he had not enough bread either at breakfast or supper; "and on comparing Mr. Dronet's dietary with ours," says Mr. Winch, "I think such was the case." Going into the pantry, he found that the bread was not weighed out, as is always done in union houses. He saw no supply of salt in the dinner-room; but saw boys with salt in bags, bartering it for potatoes. He considered that, as a Guardian, he had no control over the diet. The cost of each child in the Union would be 3s. id. each; and in one year it had been as low as 2s. 60.: 48. 6d. a week was excellent pay. The cost of such clothing as the boys at Tooting wore would be 10s. or 128. a year; the clothes being made by the boys, under the direction of a tailor on the premises. Mr. Dronet said, if the Union paid more the children could be better fed. He had said, when the contract was entered into, that when provisions became cheaper he would reduce his charge to 4a. 3d. each. Mr. Winch thinks Mr. Drouet told him he received 5s. a week for each child from the perish of St. George's-in-the-East. The children were always sent from the work- house well clad.

Mr. Richard Hall, an Assistant Poor-law Commissioner under the late law, and now Poor-law Inspector of the Metropolitan district, explained, that the rela- tion of such establishments as that at Tooting to the Poor-law Commission had always been deemed, by the heads of the Commission, most uncertain and un- satisfsetory. The Commission had devoted much alteration to the point, and consi- dered themselves unable to force any rules on such establishments. The late Mr. Charles Buller had concurred in this opinion. In this state of things, he had re- commended to his superiors that Mr. Drouet should be put on the same footing that Mr. Aubyn had held for some years—that Government assistance should be given to him in the shape of an educational grant. Mr. Hall, and Mr. Tufnell, one of the Queen's Inspectors of Schools, jointly recommended in November last, "that two additional teachers should be appointed for the boys, two for the girls, and one for the infant schools; while towards the increased expense Mr. Drouet was to pay 60/, and the Government were to pay the rest, including 451. part of the head master's salary—altogether, probably, about 250/. a year. We did not make any recommendation as to the ventilation of the rooms. We recommended

that not more than 400 boys should be taught at the same time in the present boys school-room, not more than 160 girls in the senior girls' school, not more

than 120 in the junior girls' school, nor more than 250 children in the infants' schooL" It was hard to say whether these were recommendations or orders, or to say what they were. They were made with a consciousness that they could not be enforced. The grant would make them somewhat the more heeded, however. In conclusion, Mr. Hall said to Mr. Wakley—" I may observe that the connexion which the Poor-law Board holds with establishments of this kind is as perplexing to them as it is likely to be to you."

Some tradesmen were examined as to terms on which they contract to supply different sorts of food for Mr. Dronet's establishment; and the inquest was ad- journed till yesterday.

At the resumption of the inquest, yesterday, Mr. Kite, the resident surgeon, was examined. He had the entire charge of the establishment. In December-

there were about 200 more persons than when he came to the establishment in November. Mr. Kite was not consulted as to the admission of the increased num- ber of children. "I have no written engagement with Mr. Drouet. I engaged, at a fixed salary, as medical attendant; but I had nothing whatever to do with the diet, or clothing of the children, nor with the regulations of the establishment; nor did I pay any attention to these things, nor to the size of the rooms, nor the drain-

age. On entering the establishment, I found children under ophthalmia of all

sorts; I also found scrofula and itch prevalent, and four or five with dysentery. A few were lame, but their lameness was either congenital or of long standing. One variety of the ophthalmia was contagious. The children so affected were imme- diately separated from the rest." There was no separate ward for the itch, no Power to exclude fresh children with that disease ; and therefore to eradicate it

was impossible; though itch is easily cured. The cholera broke out on the 29th of December, and there have been 150 deaths: some of these were complicated with other diseases. They could not be said to have all died of cholera.

Mr. Kite recommended a better diet before the other medical men went to Toot- jag, and it was immediately adopted: an additional meat-day was given, and rice was substituted for arrow-root No change „in the course of the disease was made by this change of diet. Mr. late could not find an immediate or exciting cause for the outbreak. "I cannot say what was the proximate cause. It may have been the atmosphere acting on constitutions predisposed for illness; and if I were to attribute a proximate cause, I should certainly say the overcrowding Was it. I do not refer any part of the cause to the diet; for this reason, that the diet has been the same for a long time—at least I can answer for the two months I was there before the cholera broke out. Other persons were attacked besides the children, and died—a nurse, a housemaid, and an attendant."

Mr. W. Home Popham, a surgeon sent by St. Pancras parish to attend their children at Tooting, did not consider the ;children that had not been attacked as being in a bad state of health, though they were not robust: they were not starved—and he saw many stripped; some were very healthy. Mr. Popham somewhat discredited the assertions made on his authority that premonitory symptoms had existed. He thought the disease neither contagious nor infectious. Mr. George Gordon Bailey, another medical gentleman sent by St. Pancras parish, attributed the disease, not to the diet or clothing, but to atmospheric causes concentrated by overcrowding. A joint report by these medical men and Mr. Kite's assistant, declared that the conduct of Mr. Drouet since their attendance was admirable for kindness hn- manity, and liberality; that the surgery was efficient " both as regards medicines and plainness "; that, there was no deficiency in the drainage of the establishment and that the disease was rapidly disappearing. Several children were examined. They all concurred in complaining that they never had enough food; some said they had been cruelly beaten by the masters, and by Mr. Drouet, for complaining.

The inquest is adjourned till Tuesday.

Other inquests have been held on the bodies of children who have died of &o- bra since their removal from the Tooting establishment: on a child in St. Pancras Workhouse, on one in the Kensington Workhouse, on four children in Hackney Workhouse, and on five children in Chelsea Workhouse.

At the St. Pancras inquest, Mr. ll,rGahey, the Clerk of the Union, deposed that in August last, in consequence of ill reports, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Johnson, surgeons, were sent to inquire; and they reported that 58 children were suffering from bad and insufficient diet: the children had large abdomens and emaciated limbs, and were very weak. Mr. Drouet promised that these things should not again occur, and said it should not be his fault if the boys did not in./Ware look plump. The Jury found a verdict that the child " died of virulent cholers,—a disease occurring to him at a time when he was suffering from the effects of in- sufficient diet, defective warmth of clothing, and impure air, at Surrey House, Tooting "; that the board of Guardians were to blame for the looseness of their contract with Mr. Drouet ; and that the system of farming children is to be em- phatically condemned.

The Kensington inquest terminated in a verdict ascribing the death to cholera, and the cholera at Tooting to " insufficiency of food and warm clothing and want of ventilation in Mr. Drouet's establishment."

A shocking case of destitution has been disclosed in the family of Mr. Edward Williams, an artist, by the death of the father, near Queen Square, Westminster, from want of the necessaries of life. Mr. Williams and his family lived in an attic, scraped a few pence together by selling knitted articles, and dragged on ex- istence for a time in a state of half-starvation; but the poor artist would not make his case known to the parish-officers, nor would he allow his family to make any application for relief. The extent of their sufferings was concealed even from the landlord of the house. At length Mr. Williams died from inanition, re- fusing to eat of the little bread that could be got for his family. As soon as the case became known at the Westminster Police-office, contributions were quickly sent in by the charitable to relieve the survivors. An inquest was held on Thurs- day. It was proved that the parish-officers knew nothing of the matter till after the man's death. The Jury returned this verdict—" Died from the want of the common necessaries, the wants of the family having been concealed from the parish." Opportune supplies of cash have been sent by the charitable through the Police Magistrate: in one day the sums amounted to 351.

At the Mansionhouse, on Saturday, Mr. Joseph Ady was summoned by the Post-office authorities for the sum of 10/. 128. 4d. postage of returned letters which he refused to pay. The summons was issued under the provisions of an act lately passed on purpose to meet the practices of Mr. Ady, and called Joseph Ady's Act: by it nnstamped letters which are refused by the persons they are addressed to, and letters whose addresses fail as a guide to their delivery, are on their "return" to the person who wrote them chargeable with doable postage, and the writer is compelled to take them back. A clerk produced 1,274 letters Sent by Mr. Ady; 676 of which had been refused, and 598 of which were ad- dressed to persons who could not be found. In the course of his duty the clerk had read the whole 1,274! Mr. Ady appeared by counsel, and took sundry ob- jections; but he failed in all his defences, and was ordered to pay in five days. Ady pleaded for time; but Mr. Peacock, the Post-office Solicitor, said, " the au- thorities could not place the slightest reliance upon his word; and they were not disposed to extend to him any further indulgence. He had asserted that one of the judges, through his correspondence, obtained the sum of 10,0001.; but upon inquiry, it was found there was not a shadow of truth in the statement." Mr. Ady" retired without appearing the least discomposed."

At the Southwark Police-office, last Saturday, Robert Duncan and Mary his wife were accused of conspiring (together with one (YBrien not in custody) to obtain money from the North-western Railway Company as compensation for a supposititious injury received on their railway in September last. A collision oc- curred upon the line on the 5th of September; about a month later the prisoners and O'Brien claimed 601. each for alleged injuries which had kept them to their beds and caused them medical expenses. The Company sent Mr. Porter, a surgeon of Easton Square, to inquire; and on the 28th October he found Mrs. Duncan in bed as if still suffering, and it was stated that she had miscarried on account of the hurts she received. Suspicious circumstances caused further inquiries ; which elicited from a lodger, a servant, and a shopkeeper, that Mr. and Mrs. Duncan were at home all day of the 5th and 6th September, and were quite well then and afterwards. On the receipt of this and some other evidence, Mr. Cot- tingham remanded the prisoners till the prisoner O'Brien should be discovered and arrested.

At Clerkenwell Police-office, on Saturday, a cab-driver was charged by his master with being drunk during "driving-time," and with damaging the cab he drove. Mr. Combe was about to fine the driver heavily, when the master de- manded his imprisonment instead. "A fine would have no effect," said he; "for in every instance of a fine being inflicted it was immediately paid by the body of cab-drivers. Nothing would prevent the blackguard and reckless conduct of the drivers towards the public and the proprietors of cabriolets, Sec., but the infliction of imprisonment without a pecuniary penalty: until Magistrates adopted that course, the public would not be properly protected, and proprietors would be obliged to give up the trade altogether." Mr. Combs inquired farther into the case; and,

ing with the master that fines had become inadequately preventive, he sent

e driver to the House of Correction for a month's hard labour. The driver bore himself cheerfully till his master spoke of imprisonment, and he was quite aghast when the sentence was changed. A fire almost as disastrous as that which eleven years since destroyed Paper Buildings in the Inner Temple, occurred on Sunday morning, before daybreak, in New Square, Lincoln's Inn. The whole of the chambers branching from the en- trance No. 2 on the East side of the square were destroyed; and a wore of bar- risters and eminent solicitors have been burnt out, with the loss of nearly all the documents in their professional custody. The fire was discovered by Mr. Kettle, barrister; who was awakened by the crackling of the flames in the passages whick bounded his rooms. On opening one door, he was nearly struck down by the rushing flames; at another door, he was stopped by volumes of suffocating smoke. He ran to his window, but found that if he leaped from it he was still shut by a lofty wall into an area already lighted up with the flames that were destroying the windows beneath him. So he sat on his window-sill and shouted this help and ladders: before long, a ladder was brought, and he escaped: The houses on

the East of New Square were built just after the great fire of 1666, and are full of large beams and of wainscot panneling; thus the fire spread rapidly, and gained uncontrollable power before many engines arrived. It is stated that the custo- dians of the inn-gates would not grant ready access to the engines as they ar- rived; and that the supply of water was insufficient. Every room between the great North and South party-walls of the range was wholly destroyed, and a large part of the solid brick carcase was dragged down with the roof and floors as they fell. The ruins continued to burn through nearly all Sunday, and the fire was not quite extinguished till Monday morning. A considerable number of fire-proof safes have since been got out of the smouldering rains, with their contents in a good state of preservation: still, however, an immense mass of title muniments and papers in suits and actions have been destroyed. The actual property destroyed is reckoned at near 20,0001.—mostly insured.

Three other great fires occurred in London on Saturday night. One in Spital- fields, by which the extensive cabinet-manufactory of Messrs. Mahoney was wholly destroyed with a stock of timber, and Jireh Chapel and two dwelling- houses were much damaged. Another at Deptford, which destroyed the large range of premises belonging to Messrs. Watts, drapers and mercers, and much damaged adjacent property. A third totally destroyed the Hampstead Water- works, which have lately been erected to pump water from a depth of 350 feet. The loss by this last fire is reckoned at 8,000L; the amount of destruction was as great in the other two cases, but the owners were insured.

An inquiry before the City Coroner, into the origin of a fire in Bermondsey Street, in a house occupied by William and John Scotland, brothers, has resulted in a verdict that "the premises were wilfully set on fire" by the oceupiers.