.64t Varnpritio.

At a Court of Aldermen, on Tuesday, Mr. Carter was sworn in as Alder- man of Cornhill Ward, in room of the late Sir John Pirie.

The Court passed resolutions of condolence with Lady Pirie, which ex- pressed a high estimation of the deceased, for the unbounded charity of his disposition, and the exemplary performance of his public duties during a long civic career.

In a Court of the Sewers Commission, on the same day, Mr. Daw stated that London Bridge is about to be repaired ; and it will be dosed to traffic, for the purpose, after Monday the 31st.

Deputy Harrison has given notice that on Tuesday he will present a petition praying the approval of the Court for the amalgamation of the new Gas Consumers Company with the City of London Gaslight Company.

The Lord Mayor has presented to the Court of Common Council a re- port by the Court of Aldermen, recommending that 110 constables be added to the Police force of the City during the six months commencing with the 1st of April. It has been for some time the opinion of the Court that an augmentation is required.—Motion referred to the Police Committee.

Sir Benjamin Hall has published a correspondence between himself and the Bishop of London, arising out of the Bishop's delay in correct- ing the " histrionic " celebration of public worship by the Reverend J. Murray, in the church of St. Andrew, Wells Street. Sir Benjamin wrote on the 19th instant, stating that "a deputation of a portion of his constituents residing in the ecclesiastical district of St. Andrew Wells Street " had requested him to call the attention of his Lordship to the subject, as "towards the erection of that church many of them had sub- scribed, but under existing circumstances they cannot conscientiously at- tend." In December last, "more than one-third of the inhabitant house- holders " memorialized the Bishop on the case ; and received his answer on the 1st of January, stating—"I have long ago remonstrated with the Re- verend James Murray, but without success. The memorialists may be as- sured that I will pay due attention to the subject, and that I will do all in my power to make their parish church answer the purposes for which it was built." But as no change took place, another letter was addressed to the Bishop. He replied, on the 6th of February, that he was not surprised ,to meet "some degree of impatience "; "but as the measures I propose to adopt will be general, and not with reference to that church only, and as several questions of difficulty are involvedin them, some time must necessarily elapse before they can be carried into effect." After this " very unsatisfactory communication," sSir Benjamin put a question to Lord John.Russell in the House of Commons on the subject. In the course of the discussion, If.r. iteresford Hope retid.s letter which had been addressed to Mr. Murray on the 16th February, in these terma- " Sir—I have been too much occupied since I received your last letter to pay pro- per attention to it ; -but there are some points in it on which I consider you to be in the wrong; but I will write to you as soon as I have a little leisure. " • I am, my dear Sir, your faithful servant, C. J. Loxnoa." Mr. Hope added the extraordinary fact, that "Mr. Murray had been wait- ing in vain for a communioation" from the Bishop "exactly one year." The question put by Sir Benjamin Hall to Lord John Russell was this—" Are the Archbishops and Bishops of our Church about to take any steps for the pur- pose of suppressing those practices against which they say they have preached for ten years ? " Lord John Russell stated, that the Bishops had taken the best advice they could. " The Archbishop of Canterbury did not think, in the present state of affairs, that any interposition on the part of the Legisla- ture was necessary " ; but "if he should find that the uncertainty of the law was such that, in the general opinion of the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England, the performance of Protestant worship could not be main- tained without some alteration in the law, an application would be made to the Crown on the subject." Sir Benjamin Hall suggested to the Bishop of London—" If your Lordship feels unequal to undertake or engage in the struggle which is now necessary to suppress the practices which you have so long publicly denounced, but which the Archbishop of Canterbury says the law will reach, it would be very desirable for the sake of our Church, if your Lordship would resign the high office you now fill," and enable her Ma- jesty's Government to appoint a successor who would act energetically. In a postscript he refers to an answer given by the Archbishop of Canter- bury to the address of 239,860 lay members of the Established Church, stating that " the practices which are justly condemned have been intro- -duccd with no approval on our part; though in many instances, through the -uncertainty of rubrics and the intricacies of the ecclesiastical law, power has been wanting to prevent or prohibit them." Sir Benjamin observes- " No attempt has been made by the Episcopal body to amend the ecclesi- astical laws": " surely ten years have been more than sufficient for the con- sideration of the subject " : he begs for his constituents a prompt answer such as he may forward to them.

The Bishop replied, on the 21st instant—" Sir B. Hall having thought proper in the last session of Parliament, publicly to call in question the Bishop of London's veracity, will not be surprised if the Bishop declines making any communication to him on the subject of his letter."

Sir Benjamin desired the Bishop without delay to "inform him when and upon what subject" he called in question the Bishop's veracity ; and was told that he had done it in the debates of the House of Commons on the 8th ;and 15th July 1&50. Speaking of the Bishop's return of his income, be had then said, " How is it possible to suppose the Bishop's statement to be cor- rect ?" and when a letter from the Bishop reasserted that the return was correct, " instead of retracting the imputation he had cast on the Bishop," he had assigned a fresh reason for considering the return to be " fallacious."

Sir Benjamin Hall closed the correspondence last Saturday, with a note -explaining that these imputations had not been made by him, but by Mr. Murray, the Secretary of the Ecclesiastical Commission. The Bishop of Lon- don's return gave his net income for 1837 as 14,5101., and his net income for 1843 as only 12,4811. ; although the parochial assessment of his Paddington estate had increased from 112,3681. in 1837 to 191,1541. in 1843, and is now 343,066/. In Mr. Murray's answers to questions 585-6 of the Select Com- mittee on the Ecclesiastical Commission in 1848, he said generally of the re- turn—"This is a very fallacious return as the foundation of any inferences respecting the actual incomes of the Bishops. it is a return made by the Bishops themselves. The net is struck from the gross by themselves." Sir Benjamin concludes—" It was not Sir Benjamin Hall, therefore, but Mr. Murray, the Secretary of the F.e.elesiastical Commissioners, who impugned the veracity of the Bishops, and who not only said that the return was falla- cious, but added, as if to account for its incorrectness, `that it was made by the Bishops themselves.' " Sir Benjamin Hall had only remarked, that it was "quite inscrutable, under the circumstances, how the income of the -Bishop should not have materially increased," instead of decreased by 2029/.

The Lord Chancellor heard on Saturday, in the case of Doyle versus Wright, two petitions for directions concerning the personal custody of Miss Augusta Talbot, a Roman Catholic ward of the Court entitled to a large fortune.

The late Earl of Shrewsbury, who died without issue in 1827, leaving a large personal estate, bequeathed to the issue of his nephew the late Hon- ourable George Henry Talbot, sums of 30,0001. each, with rights of survi- vorship. The issue were John, born in 1830, and Augusta, the young lady whose name is now before the public, born on the 6th June 1831. Mr. George Talbot died on the 11th June 1839;. and his widow married the Honourable Craven Fitzhardinge Berkeley, on the 9th September in the same year. Mrs. Berkeley was a Protestant, and the religious training of the infants became the subject of a protracted litigation : the infants were wards in Chancery, and in compliance with a testamentary direction of Mr. Talbot, Dr. Doyle was declared their testamentary guardian, and they were brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. Mrs. Berkeley had a daughter by Mr. Berkeley—the half-sister of Miss Augusta Talbot : she died in April 1841; and on her death the Court of Chancery intrusted Mies Augusta Talbot to the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury—the present Earl being the paternal uncle of the young lady. By them she was sent to the Roman Catholic convent called " The Lodge," at Taunton ; and there she has been educated. The youth John, Miss Augusta's brother, died in 1843; and by that event Miss Talbot became absolutely entitled to a sum of money pay- able on her coming of age, or on her marriage, which now amounts to about 80,000/. In the course of last year Miss Talbot completed her education, and was brought to town by Lord and Lady Shrewsbury, and introduced to the fashionable world ; where she made, as Bishop Hendren superciliously says, "what is called a sensation." But her experience in these new paths of life was brief. In autumn last, the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury had occa- sion to go " to the South of Europe "—to Rome ; the Court of Chancery seems to have been consulted, and the'

he Lord Chancellor's leave was obtained for the young lady to accompany Lady Shrewsbury abroad : the young lady, however, was not taken abroad ; she was again placed in " The Lodge " at Taunton, and the Earl and Countess went abroad without her. The remis- sion of Miss Talbot to the convent was disapproved by Mr. Craven Berkeley ; and the fact having been brought by that gentleman under the notice of Lord Truro, an intimation was made to Dr. Doyle, Miss Talbot's guardian, that the Court desired the subject to be brought formally under its notice for consideration of the new circumstances, nd new directions as to the future. Dr. Doyle therefore presented his petition for a reference to the Master, to make inquiry as to the facts, and pr. pose a scheme of future resi- dence suitable to the tastes and prospects of the lady. Mr. Craven Berkeley petitioned to be allowed to go m before the Master with his evidence, and with the liberty to influence the Master's scheme due to his near connexion with the young lady as father of her nearest surviving relative, her half- sister, Miss Berkeley. Mr. Rolt opened the case for Dr. Doyle ; Mr. Page Wood for Mr. Berke- ley; Mr. Parker appeared for the Earl of Shrewsbury. Mr. Bolt stated, that he was quite willing to leave everything connected with the happiness and interests of Miss Talbot to be settled on an interview between his Lordship and the young lady herself ; a course which from his Lordship's previous knowledge of her could not fail to be satisfactory. But Mr. Wood doubted whether an examination of the young lady herself would meet all the facts and circumstances of the case.

Statements had been sworn to with respect to an interview between Miss Talbot and Mr. Berkeley, in the presence of the superior of the convent, (for there was no communication with her except in the presence of other persons,) which required explanation, and particularly certain admissions as to the intention of making her a nun, which were made at that interview, and which for the ends of justice it was necessary the Court should thoroughly investigate. It would also be desirable that the Court should be informed where and under what circumstances Miss Tal- bot had been placed by the parties who had been intrusted with her guardianship under the order of this Court, so that it might be seen whether the object and in- tention of that order had been properly carried out. Mr. Wood was instructed that there had been a considerable departure from the spirit of the order of 1843, which it was necessary that the Court should be informed of ; and lie would further ask his Lordship to declare that the petition of Mr. Berkeley was a very proper one, sad that in future that gentleman was entitled to have free access to the presence of the young lady as her next friend, in the absence of all those persons who might have any influence over her.

The Lord Chancellor stated, that in autumn of last year, in a visit to the Earl of Shrewsbury, a conversation had taken place between Miss Talbot and himself, which proved her to be a very intelligent person, and fully compe- tent to exercise her own judgment.

An order had been made, by which she was to be allowed to go with Lord and Lady Shrewsbury to the Continent. He certainly was surprised afterwards to hear that she had, without any order of the Court, betaken herself to a convent. He saw it stated that she had gone there with his consent ; but there was no foundation for that statement. He first heard of her going to the convent from Mr. Berkeley; who applied to him in his private room in the House of Lords for a writ of habeas corpus to bring the young lady before him; which application be at once refused, thinking that an irregular and unnecessary course of proceeding in this young lady's case. Mr. Berkeley then left him, saying that he would present a petition on the subject to the House of Commons. Lord Truro caused a communication to be made to the young lady's guardian, and the parties are now in Court : the only object that any one ought to have in view should be the interests and comfort of the young lady. Ile had received a letter from the young lady herself, expressing her desire to come to town and enter into society. He did not think it right that she should remain in the convent. That must be understood, and sonic arrangement must be speedily made for her comfort during this the last year of her minority. If a reference were made to the Master, he would report at once who was the most proper person to have the care of her, and which was the most eligible place for her residence. That could be done at mice, independently of the other matters in the petition.

Mr. Rolt readily assented ; but he objected to the suggestion of the peti- tion that Mr. Berkeley should have access to the young lady alone, without a previous consultation with her by Lord Truro as to her own feelings OR the point. Lord Truro observed, that in her letter to himself—which he handed to Mr. hull and Mr. Wood for their perusal—she expressed an aver- sion to the course suggested. Mr. Wood replied, that the letter was written in the convent, probably " under influence" ; and he called the attention of the Court to the statement in Mr. Berkeley's petition, that Miss Talbot had reentered the convent as a postulant.

Lord Truro assented, and said, the petition stated that the young lady was a postulant ; but the petition of the young lady stated that she was not, nor did she enter the convent with the view of becoming one. Mr. Wood re- minded his Lordship that the abbess or superior of the convent had admitted that the young lady was a postulant. The Lord Chancellor was at a lees to see how that could be, seeing the young lady. had already expressed her wil- lingness to come to town and enter into society. Mr. Rolt said that it was perfectly true, and all that his client wanted was that arrangements should be immediately made for her entering society in a suitable manner.

Some further contest was waged upon the point whether Mr. Berkeley should be allowed to go before the Master.

Lord Truro thought Mr. Berkeley was entitled to go in with his facts.

It was quite true that his Lordship's attention had been first called to the mat- ter by Mr. Berkeley •, and in consequence of such information inquiries had been made respecting the former orders of the Court upon the matter ; when it was dis- covered that an order had been made granting the custody of the young lady to the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, with a view to her going abroad with them. In- stead, however, of this being done, Miss Talbot had been left in a convent, without the previous leave of the Court having been obtained for that purpose. This did not appear to the Lord Chancellor to be a carrying out of the order of the Court ; and, although the Court never would interfere with the religious priuciples of its wards, it would prevent any undue influence or coercion. In consequence of this departure from the order of the Court, a communication had been made to Dr. Doyle, who had expressed his willingness to act in accordance with the wishes of the Court. Mr. J. Parker said, that the order referred to by his Lordship did not make it im- perative upon the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury to take Miss Talbot abroad. The Lord Chancellor replied, that that might be so ; but when the occasion arose for their going abroad they left her in a convent. This did not appear to him to be compliance with the order of the Court. Mr. Berkeley might be at liberty to go in before the Master and be heard on the subject of the scheme. Ile might, in addition, state that lie had had a conversation with Miss Talbot on the subject of a marriage; which, under all the circumstances, did not appear to be a desirable one, and it had therefore been broken off.

Mr. Rolt had understood that his Lordship concurred in what was proposed. Lord Truro—" Yes, as to breaking it off." Some wishes having been expressed that the opposing parties would ab- stain from public discussion, Mr. Wood said—" If the gentleman calling himself the Bishop of Clifton had ab- stained from publishing any letters in the newspapers, it would be extremely satis- factory. I cannot believe that such an individual has any right to style himself a Christian Bishop of any denomination." The Lord Chancellor—" I must say, there is a great discrepancy between that letter and the one I received from the young lady." Mr. Wood—" He states in his letter most distinctly that she is a postulant." The Lord Chancellor—" And the young lady says she never contemplated becom- ing anything of the kind. I think it is very desirable that while this matter is pend- ing newspaper contests should be avoided." 81r. Itoh—" We have done everything to avoid it; but of course we have no eon- trol over the gentlemen alluded to."

The Lord Chancellor—" Public discussion in the newspapers was not unnatural in the first instance, with the view of caning attention to the case; but it had better be now avoided."

It was ultimately agreed that both petitions should be finally discussed on Thursday next, after lilies Talbot has been brought to town and personally examined by the Lord Chancellor on all the points concerned. It was not said whether the final hearing would be public or private.

The case was resumed on Thursday. After hearing statements by coun- sel, the Lord Chancellor said, that he had looked around him, and inquired of a lady of high rank and unblemished character, whether she would receive Miss Talbot ? That lady very kindly consented to do so, temporarily. He therefore ordered Miss Talbot to be brought up on Monday to the house of the lady, who is known to her, and is no doubt most perfectly agreeable to her ; and there she will remain till the Master has proposed a scheme for her permanent residence and guardianship. The question of guardianship for the future will be postponed till the case is ripe for discussion on that point. Meanwhile, Lord Truro hoped that the bar, and the solicitors of the . ease, would take care that the young lady should be protected from disclui- siens that cannot but violate her feelings. The Globe states that the lady to whom Miss Talbot is intrusted is a Ro- man Catholic Peeress of high rank.

We have reported the case of Evans, a working cooper, whose fellow crafts- men persecute him because he worked in a yard where steam power is used —steam being an innovation which the cooperage handicraft aims tout down. Not long since, the secretary and six members of the trade society were indicted for conspiracy to ruin Evans by leaving every master who ventures to employ him ; and they were convicted, but slight sentences of imprisonment were passed because they expressed contrition : it now seems that their contrition was deceitful, for they continue their persecution of Evans in a manner not less obstinate, and with greater cunning. On Wed- nesday, Evans complained to the Magistrate at the Thames Police Office, that the men now leave all the employers who engage him, singly, so as to evade the law of conspiracy. Equally in town and in country is he de- nounced: "Everywhere the masters are actually afraid to employ me." A master cooper who was present at the Police Office gave Evans a good cha- racter, and said he would employ him if he dared ; but he has a large fo- reign order on hand, which would be stopped altogether if Evans appeared in his yard. It appears that large subscriptions have been raised by the coopers to pay the expenses of defending the men who were imprisoned, and to pay them compensation for their lost time and imprisonment. Mr. Yardley feared that the men have kept within the letter of the law ; though their prin- ciples of conspiracy are detestable. He ordered a gift of ten shillings to Evans ; who has five motherless children, and is in distress. The master cooper added ten shillings more.

Alderman Finnis has fined Mrs. Winder, owner of an Edmonton line of omnibuses, for giving too little seat-room in her vehicles : the cross-seat at the innermost end of the vehicle abridged the space below the sufficient statutable allowance. Alderman Fiunis announced that he means to wage war against the illiberality of the omnibus proprietors in this respect, by having them convicted right and left. Mrs. Winder pleaded guilty ; paid the fine ; and promised prompt alteration. The Alderman threatens to be the more relentless, as he says that since the system of cheap fares many omnibus proprietors have made very large fortunes.

The Commissioners of Police, attending to complaints of accidents caused by the braying of organs in the streets, have issued an order "for the sup- pression of street-organ playing in the public thoroughfares of the Metropolis."

A man named Potts and his wife were burnt to death early on Wednesday morning, in John Street, New Kent Road. They occupied the upper part of a small house, another couple living below ; the latter were aroused in time, and escaped into the street ; a Policeman, who did not know that any one was left in the place, then closed the door and kept it shut, to prevent the increase of the Ere. When eventually the fire was extinguished, it was dis- covered that Potts and his wife had perished : their charred remains were found in the upper bedroom. It seems that they returned home drunk ; and it is probable that they accidentally set fire to their own bed, and became victims to their helpless state.