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A report was current the end of the week that Lord Herbert was about to resign the office of Secretary of State for War, the reason given being thatim was so ill. Several papers contained this statement. The Times, on Monday, with great acerbity and emphasis, denied the accuracy of the statement, pointing to Lord Herbert's attendance at the levee on Saturday in good health, and asserting that he had no in- tention of quitting the Ministry. But there was too much " zeal " in the denial of the Times, and we have reason to believe that the Globe was nearer the truth.

It is understood that his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will employ the Midsummer vacation in the practical study of military duties and movements, and will for that purpose visit the camp at the Curragh of Kildare. His Royal Highness will probably be attached to the 1st Brigade, and do duty with the 1st Battalion of Grenadier Guards, in which corps he will go through a course of military in- struction.—Times.

We understand that his Royal Highness the General Commanding- in-Chief has consented, at the request of the Secretary of State for War, to hold a review on Wimbledon-common, during the mouth of July, of such metropolitan volunteer corps as may wish to be present. The ordinary arrangements will be observed with regard to applica- tions from corps desirous of attending on the occasion; but we believe that sanction will not be given for the attendance of any corps which is not previously reported to be sufficiently advanced in battalion drill to take part in the review.—Post.

The probability of any general strike in the building trade is vastly dimini.ffied by the readiness with which the men fall into the hour system of payment, now becoming more widely adopted every day. It appears to be quite true that a deputation waited on Messrs. Lucas, and offered, if they would withdraw the proposal to pay by the hour, to guarantee that firm against a strike for twelve months. This was of course rejected. A sufficient number of men remain in sound mind to enable the great builders to carry on their works.

The Rev. F. Gell has just been appointed Bishop of Madras. Mr. Gell, who has been for some time domestic chaplain to the Bishop of London, was Bell's University Scholar in 1841, and senior optime in 1843. He was also theological examiner at Cambridge from 1855 to 1859, and Whitehall preacher from 1858 to 1860.

It is stated that Mr. Faulkner, the American minister at Paris, and Mr. Dallas, the American minister at London, will return to America towards the end of the present month.

Accounts have been received from the African coast to March 3. Dr. Living- stone and Bishop Mackenzie had gone up. the River Bovooma to endeavour to find a passage by that river into the interior, which would occupy about three months. The others forming the mission remained on the island of Johanna. Her Majesty's ship Wasp had been wrecked near Tongo Bay.

The following is an extract from a private letter to the Daily News: "Flo- rence, May 2.—Yesterday the Florentine gentry had a great day, having met at their club and expelled therefrom the Marquis of Normanby, on the grounds that he bad insulted King Victor Emmanuel, the Italian Army and had permitted himself to be the organ of the enemies of their country in the House of Lords." •

Blondin, of Niagara celebrity, will arrive in England on the 22nd of May, and make his first ascent at the Crystal Palace shortly after that date. A letter from Naples states that Francis IL and his queen bad left Rome for Albano, where they intend to pass the summer.

Queen Christina of Spain was expected at Marseilles two days back, in a Spanish.ftigate from Rome, but a despatch was received announcing that she had been obliged by a storm to put in at Leghorn, where she will wait for finer weather.

Mr. Harrison, captain of the Queen's scholars of Westminster, has been re- ceived into the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Harrison, who distinguished him self last Decembor by his performance in the " Trinummus," was first on the roll for election to either Christ Church, Oxford, or Trinity College, Cambridge, daring the present week. As a matter of course he has been compelled to leave school, and Mr. Hetherington has been appointed captain in his place.

After twelve years of exile, Johannes Rouge, the founder of the Neo-Catholic (anti-Papal) movement, has returned to Breslau, where thousands crowded to- gether to hsten to his sermons. Fresh vigour has been imparted to the com- munity since his arrival in matters of Church and school. It is reported that the Roman Catholic Bishop of Breslau had tried to induce the President of Police to prevent Rouge from publicly speaking; but the chief of the police did not think himself warranted at present so to do. A letter from Naples states that orders have been received from Turin, con- firming Garibaldi's grant to the English residents of a piece of ground for the purpose of building a church.

The Cologne Gazette states that the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, husband of the. Princess Charlotte of Belgium, has had about thirty copies printed, for private circulation, of a work that he has written on the Brazils. The work, which is said to possess much ability and humour, is dedicated "To Charlotte, the companion of my travels and my life." The collection of the Campana Museum at Rome has been purchased for the Emperor of the French by M. Renier, of the Institute, and M. Cornu, the his- torical painter, who have been in Rome for the last six weeks conducting the negotiation of the purchase. The Tuscan Monitore announces that the Emperor of the French has sent the public library of Grosseto, which has just been opened, a copy of his works ele- gantly and richly bound.

A subscription has been set on foot by the students of Paris for thepurpose of giving a banquet, at the Hotel du Louvre, to MM. Jules Fevre, Picard, and the other members of the democratic opposition. The authorization of the Govern- ment has been obtained, and six hundred subscribers have given in their names. A tall spar, a whole tree in fact, one hundred and fifty-nine feet in height, has been erected in Kew Gardens as a flagstaffi It is made of the Douglas pine imported from Vancouver's Island, and presented to the Gardens by Mr. Stamp, a timber merchant. It has been rigged and set up by sailors and riggers from Woolwich.

The Horticultural Society's Gardena at South Kensington will be inaugurated by the Prince Consort and the junior members of the Royal Family on the 5th of June. An immense progress has been made in the work within the last few days.

"E. W.," the founder of that useful body the " Commissionaires," calls public attention to the fact that men dismissed from the corps for drunken and dis- honest habits have assumed a uniform so like that of the true Commissionnaires, as to deceive casual observers. He trusts, and we hope rightly, that the public will protect itself by not employing those who are sailing under false colours. The men belonging to the true corps have a new cap, badge, and the word " Commissionnaire" embroidered on the collars of their tunics, a belt and pouch, also a ticket-book, for the purpose of establishing their "identity" and giving the "tariff."

Agents have arrived from America by the Persia to purchase rifled cannon of the Armstrong, Clay, and Blakely patterns, and also nearly two hundred thou- sand rifles and revolvers for immediate shipment.

The French are congratulating themselves on finding a new market for arms. A letter from Toulon says: "The civil war which seems on the point of breaking out between the disunited States of America is about to open for the French arsenals a market for exportation which certainly was not foreseen. It was stated that American agents have come to France to purchase arms and military equipments, which the storehouses of the State will be only too glad to get rid of."

The Sentinella Bresciana states that a night telegraph, by means of an electric- light apparatus, is being established between Mantua and Verona, to be used in the case of a blockade.

The Ocean of Brest states that, through the intervention of Count de Chasse- loup-Lanbat, a special commission has just been formed in Paris to examine the question of forming ports of refuge along the whole extent of the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

We read in the Dagbladet, that a Whitworth cannon, which was being tested the other day at Copenhagen, snddlenly burst, killing a gunner, and carrying away the arm of a naval officer, besides wounding several persons. The piece was a thirty-pounder, and had been fired sixteen times just before it exploded. It had previously been discharged one hundred and twenty times, so that not the slightest accident was apprehended. The range reached had been more than six thousand yards, and, despite the accident, the projectile in this case was sent about three-quarters of that distance. The explosion was of the most terrific character, bursting the interior and the outer covering, and carrying the fragments through a heavy wooden barrier to a distance of more than one hundred yards.

At the monthly meeting of the Birkenhead Commissioners, held yesterday, it was stated that the income derived from Woodside Ferry—a penny ferry— during the month of April, was 26061. Os. 5d. against 25021. 4s. lcl. in the cor- responding month of 1860. The income for the year ending on the 24th of April last was 30,2791. 15s. 9d. against 30,2621. 2s. 6d. for the same period of the preceding year.

The deaths in London registered in the week that ended last Saturday were more than have been shown in any previous return since the first week of March. They rose to 1261. The average number derived from the returns of correspond- ing weeks in ten previous years 1851-60, and corrected for increase of population, is 1220. The number of persons who died last week therefore exceeds the estimated mortality by 41.—Registrar General's Reheat.