t4t 33ittropo1io.

Lord Mayor Carden gave a banquet on Wednesday evening in honour of her Majesty's Ministers. But it was shorn of its glory. Indisposition kept away, not only that idol of the Lord Mayor, the Premier, but also Mr. Disraeli. The Ministers present were the Marquis of Salisbury-, the Earl of Malmesbury, Lord Chelmsford, Sir John Pakington, Mr. Wel, pole, Mr. Henley, Sir John Pakington, and Lord John Manners. There was also a great gathering of the minor lights of the Tory party, a sprinkling of lawyers and soldiers, and a host of civic worthies. The speeches made on the occasion were not remarkable. Sir John Pairing- ton promised an efficient navy ; and Lord Chelmsford repeated in sub- stance, but not in point or language, the great Bragg entertainment at Slough, even to the "dissolving view" which terminated the Cardwell debate. The diplomatic body mustered strongly. Its spokesmen were the Turkish and French ambassadors. M. Musurus was full of compli- ments. The Duke of Malakoff made acknowledgments for the high privilege accorded him of meeting at the same festive board, not only the Ministers of the august Sovereign of England and the representatives of so many Continental states, but the venerable conqueror of the Punjab, [Lord Gough,] and the heroic victor of Delhi, [Sir Archdale Wilson.] He cordially responded, on his part, to the generous aspirations of the Lord Chancellor, that peace and friendship might for ever subsist between England and France. As he had stated on a former occasion, it afforded him the sincerest pride and gratification that he had been deputed to the Court of Great Britain by his illustrious Sovereign RS a messenger of concord and peace. It had not been his good fortune to live so long in England as M. Muslims, and yet he thought he might humbly put forward one claim to naturalization which such an assembly of_Englishmen as he had the honour of addressing would not be slow to acknowledge. Ile alluded to the frater- nity in arms which had been cemented on the plains of the Crimea between the troops under his command and those of her Britannic Majesty. (Loud cheers.) The blood shed in the same cause by the soldiers of the two armies had nobly consecrated that alliance between England and France which ought eternally to endure.

Mr. Walpole made a point which drew down "the house." He as- sured the Lord Mayor that it was very refreshing for him, as a Member of the lower branch of the Legislature, to escape, even for a short time, from the insalubrious atmosphere of Westminster, and simultaneously to inhale tle purer air and partake of the splendid hospitality of the City of Landon.

At a Special Court of the Proprietors of the East India Company held on Wednesday, 20001. a year were voted to Sir Colin Campbell, and 1000/. a year to Sir James Outram. There was an ineffectual opposi- tion from Mr. Crawshay, Mr. Lewin, and Mr. Jones, who were of opinion, that, in the case of Sir Colin Campbell, all military operations in Oude subsequent to the capture of Luclmow' have been unjust and unnecessary; and that in the case of Sir James Outram, his conduct in reference to the annexation of Oude was most reprehensible ! The Court then took into consideration the India Bill No. 3, upon which Mr. Mackenzie passed severe strictures. He objected to the re- dundant number of the Council, to the exclusion of all but civil and mi- litary Indian servants, to the sham elections. The Council would tend to become a military power since the military in India outnumber the civilians. He also denounced the attempt to Westernize India as a sure mode of revolutionizing that country. The debate was adjourned ; but before this was done, General Briggs raised a new question. When the governing powers of the Company, are taken away .will not its tra- ding rights revive ? Sir Frederick Currie, the chairman was of opinion that the bill does not touch any of the rights of the &vans,.

The annual conference of the representatives of institutions in union with the Society of Arts was held at the Society's rooms in the Adelphi on Thursday, Mr. Dilke presiding. The most interesting statement in the report related to the working of the Society's examinations. The candidates for certificates are first simultaneously examined by local boards, and then finally examined by the Society's examiners. Out of 1107 examined by the local boards, 501 were declared eligible for a final examination. But only 288 came up, and of these 89 were unsuc- cessful.

In the evening the Earl of Carlisle presided in St. James's Hall over the 104th anniversary dinner of the Society.

At a meeting of laymen and communicants of 'St. Barnabas, held on the 17th, resolutions were passed declaring that the charges made against Mr. Poole are false and scandalous, and expressing continued confidence in him. One resolution "distinctly denies that it is the practice of the clergy to require confession as a preparation necessary to the reception of the Holy Communion ; but it asserts, on the part of the clergy and of the laity, the right of the latter to the practice of confession and the benefit of absolution, as set forth in the service for Ordering of Priests,' in the Exhortation in the office of Holy Communion,' and the Order for the Visitation of the Sick,' in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England."

A deputation of shareholders in the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company, consisting of Mr. Abel, of the Temple, Deputy Godson, Messrs. Penny, Atkins, &e., attended at the Mansion-house on Friday, before the Lord Mayor to make certain representations touching the proceedings of this Company, with the view of their being brought to the notice of her Majesty's Government, in order that inquiries analogous to those pursued in the case of the Royal British Bank might be instituted. His Lordship intimated that the application might be heard in private.

The Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, Mr. Justice Wightman dissenting, have decided that it has no power to dismiss Dr. Lane from the suit of Robinson versus Robinson and Lane, in order to render him a competent witness. Dr. Phillimore, in summing up the evidence for Mrs. Robinson, read several additional passages from the diary of Mrs. Robinson, to show that the diary was addressed to an imaginary reader, and was in fact a sort of romance of which Mrs. Robinson was the heroine. Here are some speci- mens— ., He (Dr. Lane) smoked a cigar, and we talked of man's destiny in the future and the pre-Adamite world ; of our differences of opinion and agreement in many things. There was romance in the circumstances in which we walked ; but none in his manner : never had he been colder. He forgot times and places in which I had been with him. He talked coldly, jestingly, almost selfishly : and the evening, that might have almost crazed me by its sweetness, that might have made me dream on for months on one image, was fated to chill at once and. I believe, for ever, every lingering thought of my having in the least power to interest him. I walked on by his side, tired and crushed in spirit, but he knew it not."

."Mr. Lane still silent—did not even reply to my query, would he like to hear *aim me Felt indignant and surprised. . . . . He (Dr. Lane) was looking stout, healthy, and cheerful, I, then, was nearly forgotten. Yet why should I not berm I I value his beauty and prize his accomplishments. Yet, having none of these gifts myself, I must be content to be disregarded—overlooked, if not disliked. I Should do the same in the case of a plain or unattractive person who might be even fond of me. 'Tis only human nature to do so. Yet the night in happy dreams

united me to my soul's . . . Had he (Mr. Thom) poisoned or returned a tithe of my real interest in him, he had not so lightly set at nought my invitation. I was crushed, humbled, as I had often been on other occasions, and really cursed the exciteable nervousness and clinging emptiness of my heart. . . . . Reader, you see my inmost soul. You must despise and hate me. Do you also pause to pity ? No; for when you read these pages all will be over with one who was too flexible for virtue ; too virtuous to make a proud, successful villain. Good night. May you be more happy l"

Mr. Chambers contended that the diary is a record of real events. There was no proof that it was written under hallucination. The Court took time to deliver its judgment.

The "political trials" have ended in smoke. On Tuesday, Edward Truelove, a bookseller in the Strand, was indicted in the Court of Queen's Bench for publishing a libel on the Emperor of the French, and attempting to justify the crime of assassination. In his address to the Jury, the Attor- ney-General announced that the charge would not be pressed. "Gentle- men, I learnt with great satisfaction from my learned friend Mr. James, counsel for the defendant, that his client, who is an Englishman, and, as I am informed, a respectable English tradesman and the father of a large fa- mily, is ready to deny, in terms unqualified and without reserve, that he ever intended or desired, directly or indirectly, to countenance or encourage the crime of assassination, and that he is ready to express his regret that such a construction can have been put on any publication to which he has been a party. Gentlemen, I think this course does honour and credit to the defendant as an Englishman, and I accept that which I have no doubt will be fairly and frankly stated, on behalf of his client, by my learned friend Mr. James. I understand my learned friend is ready to offer to you and to my Lord and to the country the assurance of what I have stated, and the assurance likewise that the publication of this pamphlet has ceased, and will no longer be sold by him. On that assurance it only remains for me to perform the duty, which I perform willingly and freely, on the part of the Crown—viz, to consent that you now pronounce a verdict of acquittal." Mr. Edwin James having made the declaration sketched by the Attorney-

General, Lord 'Campbell directed the Jury to return a verdict of "Not guilty." fitanisbius Tchorzewski, a Pole carrying on a bookselling business in Ru- pert Street, was then put on his 4rial. The pamphlet he published was in French, and signed by three French exiles. The Attorney-General also withdrew from this prosecution ; after making a speech and receiving from Ms. James a declaration similar to those made and received in the case of Truelove.

The Dinorben libel case ended on Saturday in a verdict for Mr. Hughes. The trial occupied three days. A number of witnesses from the higher ranks of society were examined, including Lady Dinorben herself. The object of the anonymous letters containing the libel was to induce the Ravensworth family to discard Mr. Hughes, whose character, position, fortune, and even physique, were maligned. His mother, said these letters, wishes "to get him off her hands, as she cannot support him in his extravagant ways.' "He is in the hands of the Jews, and is hard up." "He is fond of dress and show, and is named Bandbox Iughes.' " " Reis full of king's evil," and "is illegitimate." Several other anonymous letters were also put in evidence, some of them received since Mr. Hughes's marriage to Miss Liddell. One was addressed to Colonel "Williams, as "Dear Tom," stating that Mr. Hughes was "not acting as a gentleman should to Lady Dinorben," since he had actually "named au early day for her to quit Kinmael," the house in which she resided, although "Lady Dinorben had behaved most liberal to him." Another of the anonymous letters was addressed to a young. lady on her death-bed—a Miss Wallis, a niece of Lady Dinorben's—.enjoining her to leave her fortune to Miss Smyth, another niece of Lady Dinorben's. The accused swore that she did not write the letters. But the Jury regarded the evidence against her as conclusive. Mr. James, on behalf of Mr. Hughes, said he did not wish for heavy damages. Forty shillings would satisfy his client. The Jury, therefore, assessed the damages at forty shillings.

Stephen Parker, late chapel clerk and schoolmaster of Nesvgate' has recovered from the Gaol Committee 451., one half-year's salary. He filled the office for nine years, most efficiently. In 1856, the present Governor ordered him to do duty as turnkey and clean out the cells, in addition to his ether and multifarious duties. Parker declined, and was suspended from office. He sent in a petition to the Court of Aldermen fairly stating his grievances, but likening the Governor to Haman, Nicholas of Russia, and sing Bombe. He was required to withdraw this and apologize. Willing to withdraw, he refused to apologize, and he was dismissed. The Jury found for Parker and desired to give damages exceeding 45/. Lord Camp- bell said he could not too severely condemn the attempt to impose such duties on a schoolmaster, a class of persons entitled to the highest respect in this country.

Mr. Gough, the famous temperance orator, has gained an action in the Court of Exchequer, brought against Dr. Lees, another temperance orator. The action was for libel. Dr. Lees had described Mr. Gough as having been "narcotically and helplessly intoxicated," "drunk with drugs," and "in the habit of eating drugs." The libel was uttered in answer to a statement made by Mr. Gough that the Maine Liquor Law had been a dead failure. The libels were retracted, and a verdict was found for the plaintiff by consent. Damages five guineas.

In the Court of Bankruptcy on Thursday, in the case of Messrs, Calvert end Co., brewers, Mr. Commissioner Evans declined to certify that six- sevenths of the unsecured creditors, in number and value, had duly executed a proper deed of inspectorship. It is consequently open to any dissentient ereditor to institute proceedings in bankruptcy.

A very remarkable assault ease came before the Lord Mayor on Saturday. John Francis Grossmith, a publican in Jewry Street, was charged with fe- loniously assailing the Reverend Edward J. Vey, head-master of the Brew- ers' Company School, Trinity Square. It will be recollected that mine months since Mr. May was charged with cruelly caning one of the pupils in the school, a little boy, son of Grossmith ; the Lord Mayor sent the case for trial, but the grand jury ignored the bill, thinking that the chastisement had not been excessive, and that it was merited by the boy. The trustees of the school thoroughly supported the master, and the boy was expelled. According to the father's statement, as urged by counsel, the boy, is very ill; the father believes that his child's days are numbered ; he believes, it would appear, rightly or wrongly, that the beating inflicted by Mr. May has affected the boy's health. Just before midnight on the 7th instant, Groesamith went to Mr. May's, armed with a knotty walking-stick, rather heavy ; he knocked, and after some demur Mr. May—his housekeeper Baring gone to bed—admitted the then unknown visitor. Grossmith spoke of his boy's illness, and the caning he had endured ; and then he threatened Mr. May. The schoolmaster endeavoured to get the publican out of",:the house by fair words; but Grossmith used violent and foul language, Mid - then beat Mr. May on the head with the stick. The candle was extin- guished. Mr. May struggled in the dark and shouted for help. Grossmith .threatened to " murder " him, forced him down on the stairs, knelt °whiz ehest, seized his throat with one hand, and struck at him with the other. Mr. May got up and struggled towards the street-door ; then his assailant ran off, leaving the stick and his hat behind. Cross-examined, Mr. May admitted that recently he had been summoned for beating another pupil, the son of the Reverend Mr. Roberts ; but the summons was withdrawn, and the boy was dismissed from the school. A surgeon proved that Mr. May's head had sustained wounds, which divided the scalp, but did not in- jure the bones; there were also wounds on the arms.

Mr. Sleigh pleaded in mitigation of the defendant's conduct his belief that Mr. May had shortened his child's days by cruelly beating him. Under -all the circumstances, he asked for a summary treatment of the ease; and appealed to Mr. May, as a Christian minister, not to throw obstacles in the way of an immediate settlement of the matter. Mr. Atkinson, for Mr. May, said he could not assent to this. The Lord Mayor said the matter was out of Mr. May's hands, and he must commit the defendant. Bail was permitted.

On the following da • the Reverend Mr. Roberts attended before the Lord Mayor to put his son a character in a proper light by reading a letter of apology which Mr. May had signed. The Lord Mayor said he could not Interfere' but advised that the letter should be given to the reporters. It was as follows-

" 9, Trinity Square, Tower Hill, Feb. 18, 1858.

"Lisa with unfeigned sorrow that I reflect upon the want of discretion and judg- xamit which was so painfully evinced by me in the severe chastisement which I in- flicted upon my former pupil, Horace W. L. Roberts, at the Brewers' Company &boo', on Friday the 12th instant, and for which I was justly summoned before the Lord Mayor of London. I acknowledge with gratitude the lenient course which, at my earnest entreaty, the father of the child in question, the Reverend Horace Roberts, has adopted, in consenting to withdraw from a public prosecution against me for the offence, and I sincerely appreciate the forgiving spirit of his son in sanctioning such a course. As a recompense to the son I have fulfilled with plea- sure the conditions imposed upon me by my kind advocate and Mend the Reverend John Poole, and as an acknowledgment of the father's forbearance, I respond cheer- fully to kis desire by making this sincere and unreserved avowal of regret for allthat has occurred in reference hereto, and which, I trust, will satisfy the public, as it will the parents' sense of duty and responsibility." Alexander Borromeo, otherwise known as "Dr. Tucker," "Marco de St. Hilaire," and by other names, has been produced by .habeae empue before the Bow Street Magistrate on a charge of bigamy. This is the Irish-Italian rogue who cheated the newspapers with a report of an imaginary "Italj Conference." One ease of bigamy was made out by witnesses—one woman he married at Chelsea, deserted her, and es.ponsed another at Gretna Green. Tucker, with his usual effrontery, said it was a case of mistaken identity—he was not the "St. Hilaire" who married the women. He was committed for trial. It was stated that this is only one out of several instances of bigamy of which the Accused has been guilty.

Judges, counsel, and jurors engaged in the Courts at Westminster have made bitter complaints this week of the abominable effluvia diffused through the oourts from the neighbouring sewer called the Thames.

Persons who attempt suicide by drowning have a double danger to enders go if they make the effort in the Thames—they may be poisoned before any- one can rescue them. The tither day, a foolish girl, in a passion, plunged into the river at Blackfriars Bridge; she was pulled out directly, yet she was nearly dead, she having swallowed a quantity of the filthy liquid.

An inquest has been held near the St. Katherine Dock on Richard Bus lingsly, a waterman, who died from Asiatic cholera, which the deceased himself had ascribed to inhaling the poisonous fumes of the Thames. This view was supported by a surgeon who had attenned the waterman. The Jury pronounced a verdict of death by cholera, "hbught on by inhaling the noxious vapour of the Thames." In the course of the inquiry, the nay made loud complaints of the state of the river, and especially of the filthy accumulations in the docks.

Two very extensive fires have taken place in London.

The first occurred at Limehouse on Saturday night. From the nature of the premises and stock consumed the blaze was tremendous, lighting up the sky to such an extent that the reflection of the glare was distinctly seen twelve miles or more from London. The -fire originated in the life-beat manufactory of Forrest and Co., and the buildings and contents were de- stroyed. The flames spread rapidly around. The stock of timber in the yard of Messrs. Dixon,—immense stacks of oak timber,—was consumed. The wood in the yard of Dation and Co., mast-makers, was burnt up. Six arches of the Blackwell Railway were greatly damaged, the fire having blazed on both sides and beneath them ; while several business premises and private dwellings were more or less damaged by fire and water. The second fire broke outs little before eight o'clock on Monday morning, in a part of the immense and lofty piles of warehouses constituting "Fresh Wharf," belonging to Knell and Co., in Lower Thames Street, near London Bridge. Labourers observed volumes of smoke pouring from the -third floor of a warehouse ; prompt steps were taken to combat the fire, but the ware- house was burnt from the third to the sixth, or top floor. Some time after this fire had been got under, another broke out in a contiguous warehouse, and more property was destroyed. The value of the goods stored at Fresh Wharf is estimated at a million sterling, and the portions burnt or damaged by water, are said to be worth 100,0001.' they were partially insured. The fire must have been much more serious but from the immense volumes of— sewage cast from the Thames by the floating-engines: this substitute for water, however, when it had saturated the burning masses produced a great stench.