ftirtrepori#.
At a Court of Common Council, held on Thursday, Mr. R. L. Jones, the Chairman, presented the Report of the London Bridge Committee. He said that the actual cost of the approaches would be found to be materially less than the estimates of scientific men ; and that the City would consequently be enabled to go on with the con- templated improvement in Moorfields, Princes Street, and the Tower Ward. The next thing to be done, would be the widening of Cole- man Street, where such annoyance and inconvenience was constantly occurring.
Mr. Bodkin, the barrister, is one of the candidates for the vacant office of Common Pleader. A meeting of his friends was held on Thursday, at the Guildhall Coffeehouse, at which Aldermen Harmer, Thorpe, Sir C. Marshall, and others, attended. Resolutions were passed pledging the meeting to use their best exertions in his behalf.
The proprietors of East India Stock held a meeting on Wednesday,, at the East India House. A petition to the House of Lords, praying to be heard by counsel against those parts of the East India Bill relative to the power to be vested in the Governor-General, as well as against. the increased expense of the Episcopal Establishment in India, and the expense of Haileybury College, was agreed to, after some discussion,. in which Mr. R. Jackson, Mr. Pynder, Mr. Leven, Mr. Weeding,. Sir C. Forbes, Mr. Rigby, and other proprietors, took part.
At a meeting of merchants, held on Saturday at the North and South: American Coffeehouse, petitions to both Houses of Parliament were resolved upon, and some very curious facts were elicited, tending to prove that the Post-Office has for some length of time been exposed to great abuses.
The Magistrates, at the Petty Sessions held on Saturday last in the Vestry-room of St. James's Church, decided that the mansion of the Earl of Burlington, formerly rated at 750/. per annum, should in fu- ture be rated at 1,650/. The parish officers wished to have it assessed at 3,270/.
A meeting was held on Saturday, at the City of London Tavern, to consider the best mode of manifesting the public admiration of the skill and gallantry displayed by Captain Napier in the capture of the Miguelite fleet. The Duke Of Sussex was in the chair ; and, spoke at length in eulogy of the Captain's character, and his conduct in the tattle off Cape St." Vincent. He alluded to his suspension from rank in the British Navy, for breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act ; which act the Duke trusted would soon be repealed. Nothing would afford him greater gratification than to see Captain Napier restored to his rank in the Navy. Resolutions werc moved and seconded by Sir F. Burdett, Sir Edward Codrington, Mr. T. Duncombe, Colonel Evans, Mr. Kemyss Tynte, Sir A. Johnstone, Mr. William Smith, and Mr. Thornton,—to the effect that a subscription should be .opened, and a committee formed, in order to procure some solid mark 'of approbation of the bravery of Captain Napier and the sailors under his command. The Duke of Sussex subscribed ten guineas, and many ctlier gentlemen put down their names.
A meeting was held on Thursday, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, to petition the Elouse of Lords to pass into a law Mr. Bulwer's bill for the regulation of dramatic performances. The Duke of Somerset was in the chair; and the resolutions were proposed and seconded by Mr. E. L. Bulwer' Mr. B. Hawes, Colonel Evans, and Messrs. Serle, Jerrold, 'Fhelwa11, Abbot, Warde, Elton, Macarthy, Osbaldeston, and Davidge. Mr. Serle made a long and able speech. Mr. Bulwer observed, If so much injury existed during the opening of the two houses, it must be expected to be still more pernicious when both were under the control of one man ; he might shut up one theatre, and only perform on alternate nights, and act the part of a double-faced Janus. He would inquire what must be expected from such a Janus, and that Janus in the person of Mr. Bunn ? At the large theatres the national drama was entirely excluded, to give place to German opera and French ballet at one house, and spectacle and pantomime at the other.
Considerable excitement prevails among the wholesale stationers, in consequence of the recent appointment of a son of Sir John Key to a responsible situation in the Government Stationery Office. It is said, that this appointment was conferred upon him by Lord Grey, under the impression that he was of age, and that a statement to that effect has been made by the honourable Baronet himself, in a letter to the Trea- surer of the Stationers' Company, upon the subject of his son's taking up his livery. This letter is now shown about, with a certificate of the marriage of Sir John and Lady Key annexed to it, the date of which is in 1814. A is to the House of Commons is in course of signa- ture, which s expected to be presented by Sir Henry Hardinge.— Courier.
Mr. Wilberforce, who died on Sunday last, at the house of Mr. Smith, in Cadogan Place, is to be buried this day, in Westminster Abbey. One hundred and twenty-nine members of both Houses of Parliament, among whom men of all sects and parties are to be found, have requested and obtained the permission of the Reverend H. Wil- berforce to attend the funeral.
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