might be traced to the demoralising and degrading
influences of these places. The following resolution
was adopted: "That the effect of the present beer-shop
system is to deteriorate in the greatest degree the character
and value of the agricultural labourer, tending as it
does to encourage habits of idleness, dissipation, and
dishonesty. That as all other classes necessarily
suffered, it became the duty of every one to use his utmost
exertions to hasten the suppression of these sources of
crime. And that in the opinion of this club the labourer
should have every opportunity given him for brewing
the beer he requires, or for procuring it on fairer or
cheaper terms, and that the retention of the malt-tax
is to him, as a consumer of that which his labour
produces, both a serious oppression and a direct injustice."
In the course of the discussion it was stated that three
out of four fellows concerned in the Uckfield burglaries
and the Frimley murder, had at one time been ploughboys
in Sussex, and that their career in crime had been
traced from the beer-shop.

At a meeting of the managing committee of King's
College Hospital, on the 6th inst., it was stated that the
number of patients who now annually receive relief in
the hospital, or from its medical staff, is between twenty-
five and twenty-eight thousand; but that the receipts
of the institution have fallen so short of its requirements,
the committee had no funds in hand for the
discharge of the last year's liabilities. The statement
embodies a very powerful claim for the assistance of the
affluent, both on the ground of charity to the diseased
poor, and that of sympathy with the success of the
medical school of King's College; much of the high
standing of which is of course dependent on the practical
facilities for studying disease afforded by a large hospital,
with its well-organised staff of surgical and medical
officers.

An Atlantic Packet Station is about to be established
at Galway. Mr. Wagstaff, one of the most extensive
steam-shipowners in New York, has visited Galway,
where he attended a meeting of the Town and Harbour
Commissioners on the 8th inst., when he announced his
intention of commencing operations at once for the
transmission of goods and passengers between America
and Ireland. He stated that the first vessel would sail
on the 15th of December, from New York, and arrive
in Galway on the 23d. The directors of the Dublin
and Galway Railway have determined to construct an
electric telegraph along their railway, so that on the
arrival of Mr. Wagstaff's steamers in Galway, the
American intelligence may be at once transmitted to
Dublin and London, anticipating the news brought by
the New York and Liverpool steam-ships.

A plan for a Central Railway Terminus in the city
of London, originally proposed by Mr. Charles Pearson,
so far back as 1837, has again been brought forward by
him, and has been entertained by the Common Council.
At a meeting on the 12th inst., Mr. Pearson explained
his plan. He proposed to fill up the valley of the Fleet
by a trunk railway of several lines of rail, on the existing
level of the valley; over the railway, upon vaulted
arches, be will build a new street from Farringdon
Street to Clerkenwell, on the margin of which shall be
arranged rows of houses, and markets for meat and
vegetables. The railway will be in immediate connexion
with the Great Western, North-western, Northern,
and North-eastern lines; and will afford the means to
upwards of twenty thousand merchants and clerks living
out of the city to go to and fro between their residences
and the city, at a cost of £3 a year; and it will bring
meat and vegetables direct by the railway-trucks on
which they are loaded in the provinces, to improved
markets close to the hands of the population who require
them. Mr. Pearson stated that he has had detailed
estimates made, and they limit the sum necessary to
carry out the scheme—after allowing lor the value ol
the improved rentals—to £500,000. At another meeting
on the following day, it was resolved by a great majority
that the plan be referred to a ward committee, and that
the committee have power to give the necessary
parliamentary notices for carrying the plan into
effect in case the court shall ultimately decide in its
favour.

The pageant of the Lord Mayor's Day took place on
the 10th inst., the regular day, the 9th, happening to be
Sunday. The new Lord Mayor, Mr. William Hunter,
introduced some novelty into the display. The "man
in armour" was multiplied into twenty or more men
in armour from Astley's theatre. The procession is
thus described by a daily paper:—"Immediately after
the Town-Clerk and Chamberlain, came a troop of the
Twelfth Lancers; six halberdiers followed on foot; and
then rode 'a knight in armour of the reign of Francis
the First,' preceded and followed by two esquires bearing
banners. More Lancers, mounted esquires, and
halberdiers, then preceded 'a knight of the City of London,
in armour of the reign of Henry the Eighth, mounted
on a charger, plumed, with scarlet, white, and gold
trappings, with the city arms emblazoned thereon.'
Then came a group with a mounted knight of the
Sheriff of Middlesex, in armour of the reign of Francis
the First, 'plumed, with white, amber, and gold
trappings, with the Sheriff's arms emblazoned thereon;'
and there was another group with a second knight for
the other Sheriff, 'plumed, with gold and green coloured
trappings.' After the late Lord Mayor's carriage, there
followed 'a mounted knight of the Lord Mayor,' in
armour of the reign of Francis the First, 'plumed, with
rich amber and bright scarlet velvet trappings, with the
arms of the late Lord Mayor emblazoned thereon.'
Then more Lancers, halberdiers, and esquires; and
then 'a troop of twenty knights, three abreast, armed
in armour of the reigns of Henry the Eighth and
Francis the First, plumed, with richly decorated
trappings.' Some more esquires, and some more modern
Lancers, completed the advanced guard of the Lady
Mayoress, whose carriage now followed. Some Life
Guards, and the gentlemen of the Mayor's household,
immediately preceded the carriage of the Lord Mayor
himself, which was drawn by the usual complement of
six bay horses. Other officers, a detachment of Lancers,
and a body of mounted police, formed the rear-guard of
the procession." Some casualties happened, but not of
a serious kind. One of the armed knights, having too
heavy a helmet on, or too much beer, in his head, fell
off his horse, and was carried home, his place being left
vacant. The crowd in the streets was even greater than
usual, and the people cheered and laughed at the steel-
clad champions with groat good humour. A pleasant
incident is told of the Lord Mayor. While he was
waiting for his carriage, after the disembarkation at
Blackfriars Bridge, an urchin in the front of the crowd
asked his companion. "Is that the Lord Mayor?"
"Yes, my little man," said the good-natured dignitary,
"I am the Lord Mayor now, and you may be Lord
Mayor some of these days."

The Submarine Telegraph across the Channel is now
in operation. The wires were carried on from their
termination on the coast at the South Foreland, into
the town of Dover, on the 13th inst.; and direct
communication between Paris and London is only
interrupted now by the half-mile of distance between
the offices of the Telegraph Company and those of the
Railway Company in Dover. A salute to the Duke of
Wellington, at the moment of his departure from
Dover, was fired on the instant by gentlemen at Calais;
and a message with the price of the Funds in London
at the opening of business that day was sent to Paris,
and received on the Bourse in full business hours. The
news of the important division of the French Assembly
on the electoral bill, on the 13th, appeared in the
earliest editions of the London papers on the following
morning, having been received on the evening of the
13th in an hour and a half from Paris.

It is announced that a treaty of International Copyright
has at last been concluded between England and
France, and was signed on the oil test, at Paris by the
Marquis of Normandy on the part of England, and
Count Turgot on, the part of France. Its principal
points are stated to be,—1, an absolute prohibition of
literary piracy in the two countries; 2, the prohibition
in both countries of the importation of piracies of the
works of either from other countries; 3. the same
protection to musical compositions, designs, paintings,
sculpture, and other artistic productions, as to books;
4, protection to translations of original works, published
in either country, when made by or for the author—also