tht 31).rtrnfolio.

A deputation of Roman Catholics waited on Lord Palmerston on Thurs- day to ask that Roman Catholic chaplains may be appointed in gaols and workhouses. Mr. Langdale was the spokesman, and several Roman Catholic Peers and Commoners supported him. Lord Palmerston said the Government are anxious to secure religious instruction for criminals and fair play with regard to the education of children in workhouses.

He reminded the deputation that when he was at the Home-office provi- sion had been made in the estimates for the salaries of Catholic chaplains in Government gaols ; but that Mr. Spooner and the party who rallied round him succeeded, much to Lord Palmerston's regret and disgust, in throwing it out. Latterly a different view had been taken of Catholic claims by the party with whom Mr. Spooner acted, and for reasons of which they them- selves were the best judges. Her Majesty's Government were not, however, indisposed to receive them as converts—and he assured the deputation that they were not prepared to follow the example of Mr. Spooner and his friends. With regard to the method by which the object which the deputation had in view could be accomplished, it could only be done by a change in the law, and with the sanction of Parliament, and he was not prepared that moment to say whether it would be expediskt to bring in any enactment for the pur- pose.

Sir George Lewis pointed out that county magistrates and boards of guardians who control the appointments to county prisons and work- houses may not be disposed to carry out the law.

At the annual meeting of the Society for the Amendment of the Law last week, Lord Brougham in the chair, Mr. Edgar read a report on the labours of the year. The topics discussed were the proposed concentra- tion of the Law Courts, the Bankruptcy Law, the transfer of land, and the conduct of some of the County Court Judges. It seemed to be gene- rally admitted that the state of public business will prove detrimental to the progress of law reform. Lord Brougham intimated that the pre- sent session must be a short one since it is assumed that there will be an autumn sitting to deal w ith the reform question. Lord Brougham ad- vocated a searching inquiry into the exercise of the powers of commit- ment conferred on County Court Judges. He also expressed his views on the working of the Divorce Court at some length.

"I was one of those who stron,srly urged the adoption of that salutary measure and held it to be absolutely necessary that a tribunal of that kind should be erected to perform judicially what the House of Lords nominally performs legislatorially, or used to perform, but in reality, judicially and unsatisfactorily. I have paid great attention to the result of the change, and to the proceedings of that very important court, and I am sorry to say that the defects in its jurisdiction—at all events the defects in its judicial form—are such that there is a great, almost overwhelming, and certainly increasing, arrear in that court. I take it to be quite clear that the duties cannot be satisfactorily performed without an additional number of judges, and I think it equally clear that some change is requisite in the rules of pro- cedure. I have moved for a return; which will probably be presented today, or

on Monday, specifying the number of cases disposed of under the heads divorce

vinculo (dissolution of marriage), judicial separation, &c. The most import- ant point is the number of sentences of divorcepronouneed by the court. It is known that sentence of divorce can only be pronounced in full court. I have heard—whether the statement be true or not the return will show—that as many as twenty-seven divorces have actually been decreed in one day,which is about as many as the House of Lords passed bills for in five years. I con- fess I shall look upon the return with great dismay if this should turn out to be the fact; because when we transferred to this court the jurisdiction formerly exercised by the House of Lords—at least nominally transferred it, for the House of Lords may still pass divorce bills, but substantially it has been transferred from Parliament to this Court—when we did this, we had well hoped, as the suitors in Chancery say, that something like the same scrupulous caution and care would be exercised by the Court in divorcing parties as had heretofore been exercised by the House of Lords. I need not say that can hardly be possible, if there is any truth in the statements to which I have referred relative to the number of divorces granted in one day. The mode of proceeding. must be such as not to bring before the court all those circumstances giving ground for suspicion, which always come before the House of Lords. I am told that one reason of this is, that they have laid down a rule that the petition shall be framed pretty much like a declaration setting forth the bare fact of the marriage and the adultery, and then claiming from these premises the conclusion, the divorce. If the House of Lords had proceeded in that way we should never have refused any divorce bill; but from the facts and circumstances coming before us our suspicions were occasionally awakened, and as in 99 cases out of 100 these are cases of collusion, no doubt it required us to have our wits about us to gather ground of suspicion, ut the instant we saw this ground of suspicion

to

we examined in it, and then stopped the divorce A petition was pre- sented to the court the other day containing a false history of all the pro- ceedings of the parties, the manner in which they had lived together, the length of time they had been separated, the circumstances of the commence- ment of the acquaintance with the paramour, and a variety of other mat- ters, all of which were struck out, the rule of the court requiring only the marriage and the adultery to be set forth. The judge however, had seen the facts, and had taken a note of them, and when the case came on, his suspicion having been aroused, he caused inquiries to be made, and refused the divorce. Under the common form of proceeding not a shadow of sus- picion would have arisen. In these cases of collusion, when the wife de- sires to be divorced, when the paramour desires her to be divorced in order that he may marry her, and when the husband desires to be divorced, the three parties being in league, nothing is likely to emanate from them vo- luntarily to lead to suspicion. It is necessary that the eyes of the court should be awake to all the circumstances leading to suspicion. I would suggest, as one ground of safety, that the court should refuse to entertain a cause without the presence of the Attorney-General., or some person repre- senting him, as in the case of patents before the judicial committee of coun- cil. If that were the case, any person might go before him, and give evi- dence, which he cannot do before a judge, who can hold no communication with the parties, or the friends or advisers of the parties. In the House of Lords it was otherwise. There was no difficulty in approaching a peer, and over and over again information has been given to noble lords putting them on their guard, and enabling them thoroughly to investigate the case and stop theproceedings."

Dr. Waddilove observed that the large number of cases decided in the Divorce Court in one day, to which the noble and learned chairman had alluded, might be attributed to this fact, that they had already been tried before a judge and jury, and merely awaited the form of passing the de- cree. One of the great complaints against the old system was, the enor- mous length of the libels ; and it had been deemed advisable to render the statements shorter and less expensive. The facts were now brought out in evidence, and every care was taken by the judge to ascertain whether any collusion was practised or not.

A meeting to support the Government in maintaining strict neutrality under all circumstances was held in Exeter Hall on Thursday. Mr. Morley, who presided, intimated that our neutrality was in danger in consequence of the strong German tendencies of the Court. He also set himself against the rifle movement on the ground that it would imbue the people with a martial spirit, the very spirit one would think, required to secure the independence of the country. The doctrine of neutrality under all circumstances was advocated by the speakers, and the resolu- tions went the length of deprecating national armament. Both " despot- isms " engaged in fighting about Italy were denounced ; but Austria came in for the heaviest condemnation. Among the speakers were Dr. Hal- ley, Mr. George Thompson and Mr. Washington Wilk&

Sir Benjamin Hall attended a meeting of his constituents on Saturday and took leave of them. All parties were represented in the vestry sum- moned for the occasion. A very complimentary resolution was adopted, thanking their late member for his zeal, ability, and ready courtesy, during the twenty-two years he has sat for Marylebone.

The National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor held its annual meeting in Willis's Rooms on Tuesday. A large company assembled. In the (their was the Primate, and among those who took an active part in the proceedings were the Duke of Marlborough, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Oxford, Mr. Hubbard, the Bishop of Soder and Man, Mr. Cowper, and Mr. Puller. The report showed that the per cent- age of church scholars, which was 1 in 15 of the population in 1837, had in 1857 risen to 1 in 111. In 1857 an inquiry set on foot by the society showed the total number of church schools to be 24,704, and the number of scholars to be 1,672,445, of whom 1,241,253 were day scholars. At Christmas last the number of schools had in- creased to 24,902, and the number of sholars to 1,697,387. Of these 8000 schools and 700,000 scholars had been added since 1837. The grants which it had already made amounted to 365,380/. of which 35,000/. had been voted to the metropolis and its suburbs. Its income, which in 1837 was only 30001. had amounted last year to 18,8271. 178. In 1837 there were only 266 church schools and 31,875 scholars in the metropolitan county of Middlesex ; but in 1847 the number of scholars was 80,977, and in 1857, 122,695; a rate of increase which, considering the difficulty of obtaining sites for schools and the poverty of many dis- trict; was considered far from unsatisfactory.

The speeches delivered consisted in the main of appeals to the public on behalf of the Society. The Bishop of London claimed for it the credit of having been more instrumental than any other body in spreading over the land the conviction that education to be real must be religious ; and for the Church of England greater Catholicity than any other church. The church is the real religious educator of the country.

The Bishop of Oxford and Mr. Puller regretted very much the discon- tinuance of the Queen's triennial letter, and Lord Lyttelton made an attack upon the principle of Mr. Dillvryn's bill touching endowed schools.

The meeting adopted a resolution setting forth the good deeds of the society; and expressing its "deep concern, that labours fraught with so much good to the church and nation are in danger of being seriously impeded by the withholding of royal letters, from which source the so- ciety derived an income of at least 8000/. per annum ; and, also a hope that at this crisis of its affairs the sympathy and cordial support of all who desire that the church should continue to discharge the trust of imparting a religious education to the people, will be extended to the society."

The Royal Geographical Society held its last meeting this session on Monday ; the Earl of Ripon in the chair. The papers read contained much matter of curious interest respecting the people and products of Dorey in New Guinea, and some further accounts of African travel. One of the brothers Sehlagintweit was present, and explained some draw- ings made in the Himalayas. The meeting adjourned until the 14th of November.

The Society of Arts celebrated its 105th anniversary on Wednesday. Lord Napier presided over the dinner table in St. James's Hall, and delighted his cultivated audience by an address on the extension of the British race and of the products of its industrial genius.

The annual report of the Council of the Society of Arts states at great- length the prospects of success of another great exhibition of the pro- ducts of industry, and the postponement of such exhibition on account of the war on the Continent, which it was feared would seriously interfere with its success. The next great International Exhibition stands, there- fore, postponed until the earliest favourable opportunity.

At a meeting of the Court of Common Council on Thursday the deeds of the agreement whereby the Corporation undertakes to supply a large proportion of the capital for the Metropolitan railway were formally sealed. But not until there had been a sharp debate and a division. The ground of the opposition was that while the Company had failed to. raise the capital promised, they nevertheless asked for the same propor- tionate amount from the Corporation. The objection was overruled.

The Poplar Hospital obtained 700/. in aid of its fund from the sub- scriptions at its third anniversary dinner on Wednesday. Mr. Samuel Gurney M.P., presided. This hospital is of use to seamen, shipwrights, and dockyard labourers, in three years it has succoured 5067 patients.

A similar sum was collected at the dinner of the Royal Caledonian Asylum, given on the same day, under the chairmanship of Lord Elgin. Sincethe Establishment of this asylum 550 boys and 130 girls had been rescued from ignorance and misery, and had received an education which had fitted many of them for highly respectable positions in society.

The fifteenth annual meeting of the Society for Improving the Con- dition of the Labouring Classes was held on Wednesday ; Lord Shaftes- bury in the chair. The report gives a good account of its labours, and points to many signs of success in drinking-fountains, play-grounds, reading-rooms, and in the adoption of the models of the society for houses. But more funds are wanted, and the public is asked to furnish the supplies.

The large sum of 30001. was the fruit of the annual dinner in aid of the funds of King's College Hospital on Wednesday. The hospital well deserves the support it has received ; not only for the invaluable assist- ance it renders to the poor, but because it furnishes large contributions to medical science.

The Ragged School teachers have presented to Lord Shaftesbury a work of art representing a member of the Ragged School Shoe Black Society enjoying a morning meal at his station behind St. Clement's Church in the Strand ; as a testimonial of their sense of his great efforts on behalf of the friendless. It was accompanied by an address signed by very many persons.

The litigation in which Signor Graziani and the rival managers of ;the " Lane " and the " Garden ' have mutually involved themselves, has been steadily complicating itself for seine time past. On Thursday and Friday Vice Chancellor Sir W. Pane Wood was engaged on the ease which is now a full-fledged chancery suit! It came on on Thursday, upon motion for decree, and the cross-examination of Mr. Gye upon his affidavit occupied the greater part of the day. This elicited no facts either very new or very important. Signor Graziani's counsel endeavoured to show that the agree- ment which contained a clause prohibiting him from singing anywhere in Great Britain but in Mr. Gye's theatre was unusual and unfair, and also that Signor Graziani was unable to obtain the money be had earned. Mr. Harris, Mr. Gye's stage-manager, was also cross-examined ; the principal fact brought out being that Graziani said he had been "tricked," when he saw Mr. Harris in Paris. On Friday the case was resumed though not con- cluded, the time being principally occupied by speeches from Signor Gra- ziani's counsel, Mr. Sergeant Ballantine argued that the agreement between Gye and Graziani had been signed by the latter in ignorance of its purport, a fact of which the former was well aware.

The trial of Marshall, Eicke, and Mortimer, on a charge of illegally sell- ing a commission in the army, has occupied the Court of Queen's Bench. The facts of this case were very amply set before our readers at an earlier stage of the proceedings. A Mr. Cunningham desired a commission in the Army without purchase. He wrote to the Horse Guards, stating his claims —he was the son and grandson of officers who had served their country. But his application was informal, and it was refused on the ground that he was too old. A relative, Mr. Bridson, came to London, to see what he could do for the young man. By an army tailor he was introduced to one Pugh, and afterwards to Marshall and Rieke. They undertook that a commission should be forthcoming, providing 400/. were deposited at a bank. This se- cured, they set to work and procured certain testimonials from General Vivian and General Steele, bothof whom had known the elder Cunning- ham. A Colonel Steinbach mixed himself up in the business at the request of Eicke, with whom he had business relations. Steinbach was known at the Horse Guards, but it does not appear that his recommendations had any influence, and it appeared on the trial that he had said he knew the elder Cunningham without being certain of the fact. The certificates of the

Generals were effective. Young Cunningham got a nomination, passed a creditable examination, and was gazetted to the 13th Light Infantry. The persons who had charged so highly for their intervention fell out among themselves about the division of the spoil. Pugh did not obtain the share

he says he stipulated for, and he impeached his comrades. The ease against them was distinctly proved,—indeed Mortimer and Ekke pleaded guilty,— and the Jury returned an immediate verdict of guilty. The sentence of the Court was deferred until the first day of next term.

Joseph Hollings, a private in the Grenadier Guards, was, on Saturday, sent to prison for six months, by the Marylebone Magistrate for robbing a dressmaker of a watch. The man went to the house in company with a friend of the dressmaker, and stole the watch while he was left a short time in the room.

John Renwick, a disorderly person, has been committed for trial on a charge of robbing a house where he had gained admittance by personating a detective policeman !

A very severe thunder storm burst over London on Sunday morning, ac- companied by a heavy fall of rain that did great damage to outstanding crops. Several persons were struck" by lightning, one of whom, named Hutson, the foreman to a gentleman at Clapham Common, was killed. At Merton the tiles on the roof of a house were stripped off by the lightning, and damage of various kinds is also stated to have been done in other places in the neighbourhood.