be SitrtropoIiS.
The Courts of Aldermen and Common Council met on Wednesday, and voted addresses of congratulation to the King on the safe return of the Queen from her Continental tour.
A meeting of merchants interested in the East India trade was held yesterday, at the City of London Tavern ; Mr. Horsley Palmer in the chair. Resolutions, adopted by the Committee of Merchants, were agreed to unanimously by the meeting. They declare the expediency of adhering, as far as is practicable, to the usages of the East India Com- pany's sales. The Committee were also empowered to add to their number, and to negotiate with the Dock Companies with a view to obtain a reduction of the rates charged on merchandise warehoused in their premises.
It was currently stated in the City on Thursday, that a bill of 40,000/., drawn by the Bank of Lisbon upon the Portuguese financial agent in this country, and endorsed by an eminent London firm, has been refused discount at the Bank of England. Of the validity of the bill, and the securities to it, there was, it seems, no question ; but a cause for rejecting it has, it is said, been assigned by the Directors themselves; which is, that the object of the bill was to obtain specie for exportation, in addition to a large amount previously sent to Portu- gal ; and that they would not consent, in a direct way, to afford faci- lities to any such operations. Whether actually assigned by a Bank Director or not, this is no doubt the true reason. We cannot greatly commend its discretion. The bill will be discounted, and bank-notes obtained for it, in other quarters ; so that the protess of procuring sovereigns is only made a little more circuitous, and the fact in the mean time goes out to the monied interest, that the Bank feels some little disquiet respecting their stock of specie.— Times.
Sir John Hobhouse has given directions for an iron railing to be made, of the same pattern as that in front of the new Palace; and when completed, the brick wall between the Green Park and Buckingham Gardens is to be taken down, and the iron railing erected instead. Th:s will be the means of showing the Palace to greater advantage. Several of the leading Jews in the Metropolis have presented Sir Robert Grant with a magnificent piece of silver plate, called a paundan, (a vase used at Indian tables for handing round rose-water), as a token of gratitude for his exertions to procure the abolition of the Jewish disabilities.
A meeting of shopkeepers resident in the Western district of St. Pancras, was Eel! at the London National Labour Exchange on Mon- day, for the purpose of taking into consideration the conduct of the builders of the Metropolis towards their workmen. Mr. Duncombe, the Member, was called to the chair. The meeting was then addressed
by several speakers ; after which, resolutions were carried, to the effect that the meeting viewed with deep regret the conduct of the master, builders, in demanding of their workmen to sign the declaration that they neither are nor intend to be members of the Trades Union ; that its opinion was, that such procedure was a prelude of their intention to reduce the wages of the workmen ; and that yielding to such oppression would be forging chains for their own necks. In conclusion, the meeting pledged itself to assist the workmen through their struggle, by affording them the best assistance and support. A subscription was then entered into, and the meeting adjourned.
The central body of the Trades Union have changed the name to that of " the British and Foreign Consolidated A ssociatiun of Indus- try, Humanity, and Knowledge." They have had delegates sitting in London from the first Monday of this month to Tuesday last, in the Burton Rooms, Burton Crescent. They have resolved among other things, " That the business of the Association shall be diiected under one mind, to insure unity of design and promptness of execution ; but that the: person exercising this high trust, and his iinmediate official assistants, shall be at all times responsible to the Great Metropolitan Council of the Association, and that all secrecy be abandoned."
During the past week, the delegates of the operative beilders have sent out certain itinerant members of their body with subscription. boxes and printed addresses to the public, soliciting contiibutions in support of the "strike." The various public-houses and chandlers' shops in the Metropolis have been visited by these hired mendicants, who, in soliciting the occupiers to exhibit the subseription-boxes and address on their premises, have conducted themselves in a manner which has generally defeated their own object. Instead of behaving like persons who came to ask favours, they have assumed the tone of demand, threatening, even before they waited for a reply, that in case their wish was not complied with, the party would be deprived of the custom of all the unionists and operatives of the locality. [There is reason to believe that many of these fellows are impostors, and have no connexion with the Builders' Union.]
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