'be .ffletropolis. The Convocation of the Clergy of the Province

of Cauterbury was held in St. Paul's Chapterhouse on Friday, and by adjournment at the Jerusa- lem Chamber on Wednesday. The attendance was very numerous. An address to the Queen was adopted, intimating a wish that the Convocation might be permitted to meet for the consideration of the great interests of the Church; thanking the Sovereign for assenting to the statute which continues separate the sees of St. Asaph and Bangor; and praying that the order of Bishops might be made adequate to the wants of the Church. A motion was made to petition the Queen for a delay of the conga d'elire to the Dean and Chapter of Hereford until Dr. Hampden's works should have been examined by competent authorities; but many members of the Convocation doubted whether the subject came within the sphere of their body, and the motion was negatived.

A public meeting was held on Monday, at the Hanover Square Rooms, in aid of the Borneo Church Mission. The chair was taken, in the absence of the Bishop of London, by the Bishop of Winchester. The room was crowded to excess; the lion of the day being Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak. The Chairman explained the object of the Mission; which was, to found a Christian church and school at Sarawak; and he passed a high eulogium upon Mr. Brooke, for whom he said it had been reserved to carry out the enlightened views of Sir Stamford Reifies. The enterprise was to be under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Bishop of Norwich, in an eulogistic speech, moved a resolution congratulating Mr. Brooke on the happy results of his past exertions in Borneo. Mr. Brooke returned thanks in a speech characterized by good taste and modesty. He promised his protection to the Mission, and would do his best to smooth the inevitable difficulties attendant on their first endeavours- " I do not apprehend any danger as likely to arise to the members of the Mis- sion from the lawless tribes which inhabit some parts of Sarawak. In the coun- try itself they will find a quiet, peaceful community, with whom they may hold unreserved intercourse; and I venture to predict, that the most timid lady at- tached to the Mission will in a short time enjoy a sense of security she could hardly enjoy in some parts of her own country. In his description of the Dyaks, Sir Stamford Raffles has fallen short of the truth. " They are indeed a very sim- ple, amiable people; and those habits which appear detestable to the community In this country are almost entirely destroyed in Sarawak—I mean the taking the beads of their enemies. They do not now war one tribe with another; and a Eu- ropean may go from village to village, many days' journey, entirely unarmed, and confident of safety and protection. I hope and trust that we may go to that country on a mission of charity and peace. If we proceed gradually—if the members of the Mission, while they show a Christian example, while they strive in every way to gain the love and confidence of those around them—if they edu- cate the young, if they alleviate suffering, if they attend the sick, if they gra- dually and imperceptibly raise new feelings in the native mind—then their success will be very great; if they proceed by peace by charity, and goodwill. How short and insignificant appear to me the lapse by a few generations, when we con- sider the end to be attained ! We shall have passed away, but we shall pass away with the firm conviction that our successors will pluck the fruit of the tree we have planted."

The resolutions embodying the object of the meeting passed unani- mously.

A public meeting of merchants, bankers, and traders, was held on Mon- day, at the London Tavern, to receive the fourth report from the Metropo- litan Committee appointed to promote the Amendment of the Law of Bankruptcy and Insolvency. Mr. Masterman, M.P., was called to the chair. The report was read by the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Curtis. The principle upon which the Committee are proceeding is, to procure a code of laws which, while it will effectually shield from undeserved suffering every un- fortunate man, will give the utmost security to commercial property against fraud. Some progress has been made since the first appointment of the Committee, is 1842. In that year, a bill for the amendment of the Law of Bankruptcy was in- troduced by Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst; of which the chief object was to esta- blish District Courts throughout the country; and the chief innovation, the

racafrom the creditors the, power of .grsnting or withholding the.bankilupt's te, and vesting it in the Commissioner. To this great opposition was raised; but the Committee was successful in overcoming it. The Committee was then disbanded.

The result of Lord Brougham's Act abolishing imprisonment for debt under 201. led to the reappointment of the Committee; and in 1845, and again in 1846, the Committee introduced a bill into the House of Commons. The Committee could only, however, obtain an alteration in the Small Debts Act restoring a penal imprisonment for debts under 201. contracted in fraud or improvidence. The principle thus admitted and legalized was invaluable. The County Courts Act is another step in the right direction. The carrying out of a recommendation of the Committee for the removal of Insolvency cases from the Court of Bankruptcy, by an act of last session only just in operation, is another advance towards sound legislation.

The only reform attempted by the Government last session was the introduction of a bill in the Lord Chancellor's name, for consolidating the existing laws, abo- lishing the Court of Review and transferring its jurisdiction to the Court of Chancery. The alteration was valuable as far as it went, but inadequate to the wants of the country. Strong representations had been made by the Committee to the Government: they had had an interview with Mr. Vizard and Mr. Ayrton, the Lord Chancellor's Secretary and Registrar, which was unsatisfactory, because the Committee could not convince those gentlemen of the truth of the right principles, nor of the immediate practical necessity of adopting them: but Lord Ashburton and the Honourable Mr. Bouverie have been gained over; • the former has pro- wised his support in the House of Lords, and the latter has undertaken the charge of the Committee's bill in the House of Commons. The time is ripe for the sub- ject. Great questions of controversy are settled, and the recent gigantic losses by insolvency render the present a time very favourable for Bankruptcy reform. A liberal expenditure will be necessary to keep the subject fully before the public. Various letters were read from individuals, and from the Chambers of Commerce of Manchester, Greenock, Hull, Norwich, and Bristol, concur- ring in the objects of the meeting. Among others was one from Mr. Com- missioner Fane, who had been unable to attend personally— He considered the present laws to be based on erroneous principles. They are Cruel to the honest debtor, and though nominally severe against the dishonest debtor, are practically inoperative. Great changes are requisite. The power of the individual creditor to seize and pay himself ought to be abolished; any seizure should be for the benefit of all. All property possessed or enjoyed by the debtor, although alleged to belong to others, should be liable to the law of reputed ownership, and seizable. An honest debtor should have the opportunity of call- ing his creditors together under the sanction of the Court, and of laying before them the state of his affairs, without rendering himself liable to seizure of his Property or interruption of his business. The Court should then superintend the choice of Inspectors, and bankruptcy should not be resorted to until found to be absolutely necessary. Arrest for debt ought to be restored, with this modifica- tion, that no writ for arrest should issue except under the order of &Commissioner of Bankruptcy.

Several speeches were made in proposing resolutions; all the speakers strenuously supporting the Qouimittee. Mr. Forster, ItLP., tibestirad that an objection had been raised to Legislative interference on the ground that tradesmen should take care of themselves by not giving credit: but trade

could not be carried on without confidence or credit—it might as well be said that the Bank should not discount a bill, because it was a species of credit, as lay down the doctrine that a tradesman should give no trust. Mr. Amory concurred in most of Commissioner Farm's recommendations; but there was one thing more necessary than all the rest, namely, a power of allowing a formal and legal settlement by parties out of court when there had been a certain sanction given to it by the Court of Bankruptcy. That such a power is wanted, was proved by the fact that in none of the recent failures had recourse been had to the Gazette; a tacit admission that the law did not provide for the requirements of such oases. Mr. Mitchell, M.P., thought that punishment ought to be provided for a man who lived. beyond what the profits of his business would warrant; and the onus of proof should be on the debtor and not on the creditor. Baron Roths- child, M.P., advocated some measure that would prevent the honest trader and merchant from being taken in: laws should be framed for enforcing a speedy settlement of the accounts of insolvents. Mr. Johnson, one of the Official Assignees of the Court of Bankruptcy, illustrated the necessity of a reform—

It appeared to him, that np to this hour the merchants of London were ignorant of many of the things that happened in bankruptcies. Perhaps they were not

prepared for the assertion that one family, since the death of the person granting them the privilege, had filched from the dividends of bankrupt estates no less a sum than 2,000,0001. sterling. He would give the name, as he had no wish to conceal anything. He referred to Lord Thurlow, who was Lord Chancellor, and who died in 1791. He took good care of his children, and the Reverend Mr. Thus •

low was a pensioner off dividends to the amount of 7,7001. a year. And yet the merchants sat quietly down, under such a state of things. Up to this time there had been dragged by Official Assignees and others from the pockets of merchants no less an amount than 3,000',000/.; and there had been no less than 1,500,0001. of merchants' money frittered away in pensions and sinecures. The following resolutions were voted unanimously- " That the evils under which the country is now suffering from the vicious and disgraceful state of the law of debtor and creditor imperatively demand that no

further delay should be allowed in its revision, in order to protect the mercantile and trading classes from the systematic fraud and reckless trading which are now permitted to be practised against them, almost with impunity. That this meet- mg, therefore, receives and adopts the principles embodied in the report of the Committee.

"That this meeting recognizes the important advantages to be derived from the administration of the Court of Bankruptcy, and is therefore desirous that greater facilities should be afforded for bringing within its jurisdiction at the earliest possible period the persons and estates of insolvents. That the principle established by the County Court Act, of punishment by imprisonment for fraud, wilful extravagance, and dishonesty, ought to be extended, and the law of arrest for debt upon mesne process restored, but accompanied with ample precautions against abase. " That the Committee be instructed to press upon the Government the necessity of attempting immediate measures for carrying these principles into effect. " That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Right Hon. Lord Ashburton • the Hon. Edward P. Bouverie, M.P., and to Mr. Commissioner Fane, for the valuable assistance which they have afforded in forwarding the views of the Com-

mittee, and also to the several Members of Parliament who have attended this day..

In the Court of Queen's Bench, on Saturday, the proceedings on the writ of error upon an indictment in the case of the Queen versus Chadwick were brought to a close by the delivery of judgment. The defendant Chadwick had married one Harriet-Fisher, who died: he then married her sister, Anne Fisher; but, being told that this second marriage was unlawful, Chadwick acted as if it had never taken place, and married Elizabeth Barton. He was indicted for bigamy at the Liverpool Assizes; the defence was rested on the ground that the marriage with Anne Fisher being void in law, he bad no wife alive at the time of marrying Elizabeth Barton. He was convicted an the facts, but brought an appeal on the point of law. The real question at issue, therefore, is the validity, of the marriage of a widower with the sister of his deceased wife. In giving judgment, Lord Denman said that the question depended upon the construction of the first and second sections of the 5th and 6th William IV. c. 64; and it would be necessary to consider what were those marriages within the prohibited degrees which it was the object of that act to prevent. " The prohibited degrees " are set forth in two acts, one passed in the 25th and the other in the 28th year of the reign of Henry the Eighth; and among them is expressly enumerated the "wife's sister." Many matters of curious learning had been pressed into the argument; but to decide on them, would be to do what the statute was expressly meant to prevent when it took upon itself to declare what was " the law of God." Whether right or not in a moral or critical point of view, the provisions of the law are binding on the Courts. In the present case, the second marriage, being within the , prohibited degrees, was void ; therefore no guilt was incurred in contracting the last marriage; and the judgment of the Court below was perfectly right, The other Judges having concurred, judgment was given for the defendant in error. In the same Court, on Monday, judgment was delivered in the case of the Quint versus Archibald Douglass. The defendant had been tried and convicted upon an information charging him with having corruptly received presents from the Rajah of Tanjore, at whose Court he was English Rmsident, in contravention of the 834. of George III. Counsel having been heard both in mitigation and aggravation, Mr. Justice Coleridge passed judgment on the nine counts of the information upon which the verdict had been taken. After pointing out the nature of the crime, (which, from the difficulty of detection, renders the severest punishment necessary,) and examining the nature of the pleas offered in extenuation, he declared the sentence of the Court to be—a fine to the Queen of 1,0001. upon each of the nine counts; a _year's imprisonment; the forfeit to the Queen of 3,5451. 16s. 8d., being the vela° of the presents; and farther imprisonment until both fine and forfeit be paid. On Wednesday, cause was shown on the role granted last week for a criminal information against Gutteridge, for libellous imputations on the new Bishop of Manchester. Mr. Gutteridge appeared in person, and avuwed the authorship of the pamphlets containing the libels. He had made no affidavit, but he undertook to show from the affidavits on the other side that the rale ought be discharged. These affidavits admitted a " peculiarity" of manner in Mr. Lee; which, he con- tended, would support the conclusion that Mr. Lee was labouring under Intoxica- tion. Mr. Gatteridge gloried in having done his duty to his country " and to the church to which it was his chief happiness to belong." Lord Chief Justice Denman proceeded to deliver judgment, without hearing the reply of counsel for the prosecution. He said, that as to the charge of malignity, Mr. Lee bud an- swered it in the only way that was possible; and that answer was perfectly satis- factory. So was his answer to the charge of falsehood. As to Mr. Lee appear- ance in church, the charge was contradicted, by himself, by the Churchwarden, and by other parties; and the contradiction was perfectly full and clear. As to the other charge of drunkenness, it had been fully proved that there was not the slightest pretence for making that charge. Mr. Gutteridge had made no affidavit. He had insinuated the truth of those charges; but did that man venture to swear that hebslie ved one of thew charges to be true? The miserable protases !dusk be bad made as an excuse was, that then there would have been only affidavit against affidavit. Now, however, there was nothing but libel against affidavit. The defendant well knew that the Court expected an affidavit; and the total omission on his part to state that he believed those charges to be true, convinced Lord Denman that they were utterly false. Such charges uttered against any man, the dirt thrown by the meanest hand, must have been a source of torment to his heart. No man could be insensible to IL " I feel it to be my duty," said Lord Denman, " to tell the reverend gentleman, that, so far as my opinion can give him protection, he has it in the fullest degree; and that, so far from being tarnished, his character only shines the brighter for the charges which have been made against him." The rule against Mr. Gutteridge was made absolute.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Tuesday, John Woods was tried for stealing a cash-box containing 38/. The interest of the case centred in the conduct of two Police witnesses. The cash-box was stolen from a public-house in Upper Thames Street; Woods left the place in a hurried manner, and was soon after captured by two officers. Policeman Fitch now deposed that he stopped the pri- soner, who fell down; he afterwards picked up the cash-box in a door-way near the spot. At the Mansionhouse this man had sworn that he saw the box in the possession of Woods, and also saw him place it in the door-way. Fitch could not explain these discrepancies. Policeman Gorman stated that be did not see Woods drop anything; but afterwards admitted that he saw him drop a handkerchief containing skeleton keys. The result of such evidence was a verdict of acquittal. The behaviour of the Policemen was ordered to be reported to the Commissioner; the Recorder observing, that it was a question whether Fitch ought not to be in- dicted for perjury.

Mary Anne Turford, a young woman, was recently convicted at the Central Criminal Court for stealing a watch, and sentenced to be imprisoned for six months: it now appears that she was totally innocent. The watch belonged to Joseph Wenman, and he had left it with his daughter, Harriett Ward, a married woman living at Walworth: one evening it was missed, and as Turford had just left the house, she was suspected; her arrest and conviction speedily followed. It has now been proved at the Lambeth Police-office, that the real culprit was James William Ward, the son of Mrs. Ward. After Turford's conviction, the boy admitted his guilt: he had stolen the watch to spite his grandfather; an uncle sold it for him, and young Ward spent the money in "a good spree." This story was corroborated by the uncle; whose nephew told him he was the thief, the very day the girl was tried. On Tuesday, the depraved boy, being arraigned at the Central Criminal Court, pleaded guilty to the charge of theft, and made a speech to the Court: his grandfather pretended to be a phrenologist, and had foretold that he would be a thief, and he only committed the offence to make out what lie said to be true—his grandfather always treated him like a thief, and while he bought silk dresses, and brooches for other members of the family, gave nothing to him, and would not even speak to him. The hardened wretch then abused his mother and other members of his family. The Recorder, after commenting on the vile conduct of the prisoner throughout, sentenced him to be transported for seven years. " Thank you!" exclaimed the impudent culprit, " that is just what I wanted."

A letter was received by Mr. Norton on Wednesday, from the Home Office' stating that Sir George Grey had recommended a free pardon in the case of the young woman.

On Thursday, George Morday was tried for the manslaughter of his brother and another lad, who were killed by an explosion of fireworks in a room where the accused was manufacturing them. But there was no evidence to prove that it WAS by his negligence or act that the explosion took place; and he was acquitted, Yesterday, Henry Robert Ileasman, engineer of the Cricket steamer, was tried for the manslaughter of Thomas Shed, one of the passengers on board at the time of the explosion. He was found guilty; but at the same time the Jury recommended the prisoner to the merciful consideration of the Court, because the company to whom the boat belonged had not given him proper instructions, nor employed properly qualified persons to act as engineers. Lord Denman passed the lenient sentence of two months' imprisonment, with hard labour.

At the Mansionhonse, on Saturday, four men who are charged with forging Russian bank-notes were brought up for reexamination. It had been expected that the case would then close; but the Russian authorities, instead of sending some person who could prove the forgery, had only forwarded some authentic notes. Mr. Ballantine now applied for a further remand, that time might be allowed to produce a witness who had been sent for. The accused were accord- ingly remanded to the 11th of December, A fourth man—John Lloyd—has been arrested on a charge of complicity in the robbery and murder of Mr. Bellchambers; examined at the Westminster Po- lice Court, and remanded.

The four men were brought up on Thursday. The most important point in the proceedings was the production of a confession by M'Coy, which he had written in prison, entirely without solicitation. According to this confession, Sale, Lloyd, and M'Coy followed Mr. Bellchambers; M'Coy snatched Mr. Bellchambers's watch and ran off; afterwards he heard a blow and a fall, the other two having knocked Mr. Bellchambers down. All the persons were again remanded. Sale denies this story.

The Coroner's inquest on Mrs. Frances Sheridan, of Hackney, was brought to a lose_ yesterday: the Jury returned a verdict of " Wilful murder" against the son, "William Stewart Sheridan," for having poisoned his mother with arsenic.