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A deputation of Members of Parliament, representing the Irish landed interest, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Saturday, to request that Ministers would bring into Parliament a mea- sure empowering the Bank of Ireland to make large advances to the landed proprietors of that country on the security of mortgages, after the example of the Directors of the Bank of England in the year 1823. Mr. French and Sir Lucius O'Brien were the chief spokesmen. The latter enforced his reasonings by a personal fact: lately upwards of a thousand acres of his land had been thrown into his own hands, and it was only by the kind assistance of friends that he had been able to purchase the stock and carry on the substantial improvements necessary for keeping that land in cultivation and the population on it employed. Sir Charles Wood could not pledge himself at once to meet the wishes of the deputation; but pro- mised to consider the subject with care proportionate to its great im- portance. The deputation withdrew under the impression that their in- terview was most satisfactory, and would be successful.

A deputation of noblemen and gentlemen interested in the railways of Ireland had an interview with Lord John Russell and the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Saturday, with the object of inducing the Government to consent to the appointment of a Select Committee of the Commons, on the present position of Irish railways; and to report upon the best means of securing the completion of such lines as would be serviceable to the country in the development of her resources. Among other inquiries made by Lord John, was one, "how it happened that the companies were unable to exercise their borrowing powers in the numerous cases in which half their capital had been paid up?" The deputation replied, that the con- dition of the country generally prevented capitalists from advancing loans on Irish security. If the Government would grant this Committee, and thus manifest an interest in the undertakings, the confidence of the public would be restored, and abundance of money might be raised. Lord John Russell said that the request :for the appointment of a Select Committee had somewhat taken him by surprise; so that he was not prepared to state what course the Government might be disposed to adopt; but he admitted the great importance of the subject, and assured the deputation that the request would receive the fullest consideration of Government.

The same party of Members met again on Thursday, to hear from Sir Lucius O'Brien the purport of a letter which be had received from Lord John Russell, in reply to the request for a Select Committee, and of a conversation subsequently held with Lord John on the subject. "The letter was to the effect that Lord John bad communicated the application le the deputation to his colleagues in the Government, at a Cabinet Council held on Saturday; and that they had arrived at the conclusion that it would be in- expedient to grant the Select Committee. The Government were of opinion, that if anything was to be done it should emanate from them, and should be founded on the report of the Railway Commissioners (Sir John Burgoyne and the late Mr. Drummond) made in 1838."

At the subsequent interview, Lord John stated, "that he was in communication with Sir John Burgoyne, and that it was the main trunk-lines the Government felt disposed to encourage. However, they had not yet arranged the details of the project intended to be carried out; the matter was still under consideration; and when their coarse of proceeding was definitively determined on, he would again communicate with Sir L. O'Brien."

These announcements gave considerable satisfaction, as indicative of a disposition on the part of Government to encourage the construction of the principal lines of railway in Ireland.

The Belgian Chamber of Representatives has adopted the main feature of Rowland Hill's postage plan. Two measures were before the Chamber, —one proposed by Ministers, for a uniform rate of 20 centimes on letters whether prepaid or not; and one, emanating from the Opposition, for a uni- form rate of 10 centimes (1d.) on prepaid letters, and of 20 centimes (2d) on unpaid letters: the latter was carried on the 8th instant*

Captain Maconochie has been appointed to the Governorship of the New Gaol at Birmingham. The appointment is not all that he had a right to expect: but the Magistrates of Birmingham are setting an example to the Ministers of the nation—the earnest apostle of a reforming while deterring discipline for criminals will now have some scope for the working of his system.

We are informed, upon authority, that certain steam-vessels are now in course of equipment in this country destined for the service of the in- surgent Government in Sicily : and it is reported that upwards of 1,200 men, fully clothed, armed, and organized, are ready to embark for the pur- pose of taking part in the contest.— Times.

It is stated that an additional Captain is about to be added to each of the Native corps serving in India. The want of British officers has long been considered a drawback upon the efficiency of the Native troops.

Sir Charles Napier having expressed a wish to visit Italy previous to his going to India, the Lords of the Admiralty have given orders for one of her Majesty's steamers to be at Leghorn on the 28th of the present month, to convey the General from Leghorn to Alexandria, to meet the Marseilles mail there. The mail is to be detained at Alexandria until the arrival of Sir Charles.—Globe.

Sir Charles Napier, at the late interview with the Duke of Wellington, is said to have declined going to India. On this the Duke, in his cus- tomary curt style, responded, "Then, Sir, if you don't go, I must"— United Service Gazette.

A correspondent of the Times, signing with the initials "W. N.," [Sir William Napier?] supplies a statement of the touching circumstances at- tending the death of two intrepid soldiers, Brigadier Pennycuick and his self-devoted heroic son, in the recent battle on the Jhelum; introducing it by a rapid sketch of the General's previous services.

Brigadier Pennycuick entered the Army in 1807. His first campaign was in Java, In 1811; and he was wounded severely, having fought so well as to draw forth the public approbation of Sir Samuel Auchmuty and the celebrated Colonel Gillespie. "In 1811, he was at the storming of Djokjo Kerte.

"In 1813, having command of a small detachment, he displayed such skill and courage, defeating an immense body of insurgents, that he obtained the thanks of the Commander-in-chief and the Government of Java, and the public appro- bation of the Governor-General of India, Lord Hastings—no mean judge of mili- tary merit.

"He fought again, with distinction, in 1814, at the assault of Boni, in the Ce- lebes; and during 1825 and 1826 he served against the Burmese. "In 1839, he fought under Sir J. Keane and Brigadier Wiltshire, at the storm- ing of Ghuznee and of Miele, and was the foremost man to enter the last-named fortress.

"In 1841, he marched out of Aden at the head of 600 men, and gave a signal overthrow to the Arabs.

"In 1846, he served under Sir Charles Napier in Scinde, and gained the esteem of that General.

"In 1848, he commanded a brigade in the Panjanb, under Lord Gough; and on the 13th of January 1849, he died in battle, thus closing a career full of ho- nour with a soldier's death; and upon his yet warm by fell his young son, a boy worthy of such a father. Let the moving, the painful, but glorious story, be simply told.

"The Twenty-fourth Regiment marched on the 13th of January against the Sikh army: it was unsupported, exposed to the full sweep of Sikh batteries, and to the deadly play of their destructive musketry. More than one-half the regi- ment went down in ten minutes; the remainder, still stricken by the artillery, as- sailed by thousands of infantry, and menaced by swarms of cavalry, could no longer keep their ground. The elder Pennycuick had fallen and two soldiers at- tempted to carry him off while still breathing; but the fallen, pressed them so closely, that, unable to contend, they dropped their honourable burden and drew back. The gallant boy, the son of the noble dead, only seventeen years old, now first aware of his misfortune, sprang forward, sword in hand, bestrode his fathees body for a moment, and then fell across it, a corpse!"

We hear that Mademoiselle Alboni's departure from Paris was effected under circumstances more creditable to the artistic taste and enthusiasm of our Repub-

lican neighbours than to their zeal for liberty. The Minister of the Interior, with a reluctance which all lovers of art will view with considerable indulgence, hesitated to grant this lady her passport, and she left without one.—Morning Chronicle.

At Fulwood, William Rankin, a private of the Fifty-third, was this week mar- ried to Miss Maclaurin, haws to 15,0001.; who was given away by her father. The bride is twenty-six, the bridegroom thirty years of age.

The Great Britain steam-ship has been sold for 25,0001. The late owners have compromised with the insurers to save law expenses, and are to receive 10,1111. 16s., or about 56 per cent on the men insured.—Bristol Journal.

Mr. Grange, a farmer of Whaddon Chase, in Buckinghamshire, has ploughed up a gold deposit. As he was breaking up soil that had been woodland for cen-

turies, he turned up a number of cubes ot gold, of the value of 3001. or more. They are claimed by the lord of the manor, and a Coroner's jury is to hold an inquest of treasure-trove.

The Norfolk Chronicle reports a wonderful leap by a mare at Holt. A man "went into a turnip-field, with the mare in a tumbril, which he loaded with tur-

nips to give to some stock. When he got into the pen where the stock was, he left the mare to close the hurdle he had removed to pass through, when some- thing frightened her and she started off in a gallop towards the gate next the road, (the field inclining downwards towards the same,) which she cleared, cover- ing a space of twenty-six feet, carrying the cart and turnips over with her. She took the gate rather obliquely; which caused one of the wheels to go on the fence side of the post, and the aaletree of the cart went over it, it being four feet six , inches out of the ground. The velocity with which the cart came over caused it to swerve and upset, and when the mare was taken out she got up without, a scratch."

Last week, a gentleman who was angling at Bakewell saw a large trout hold- ing in his mouth another smaller than himself, which he had seized across the

body, and was holding above the surface of the water. He was so much absorbed by its efforts to secure and swallow his prey, that he did not see) or did not re- gard, the gentleman who stood on the bank near him; who, quietly placing his landing-net beneath him, secured both him and his intended victim. The former measured seventeen inches, and the latter no less than eleven inches in length.—

Derbyshire Courier.

Two young men—Messrs. Robertson and Hairby—students of St. Bartholo- mew's Hospital, were drowned in the river Lea on Saturday. They were in a boat with a young woman, a servant at Robertson's lodgings; Hairby was leaning over to secure the rudder-lines, when the girl, fearing that he would fall in, hastily rose; this caused the boat to capsize, and all three were plunged in the stream. The girl was got out before life was quite extinct, and after a considerable time she was restored to animation; but it was half an hour before the other bodies were found.

A daughter of Major-General Stewart has been kicked to death by a horse at Kenilworth. The young lady was in her fifteenth year; she was fond of eques- trian exercise, and occasionally went into the stable to feed a favourite horse. When convalescent from a severe indisposition, she went one day alone into the stable, and some time after she was found dead, lying between the horse's legs, her head covered with blood. It is supposed that while she was feeding it, the Animal seized hold of her bonnet, and that in her fright she fell down and the horse kicked her.

Mr. Robert Backe% the actuary of the Brighton Savings-bank, has absconded with 8501., the property of the institution.

An ingenious attempt was made on Monday afternoon to steal a banker's parcel, containing 3001. in coin. The parcel had been taken to the Cross Keys' St. John Street, to be forwarded to Luton ; and it was placed in a desk in the bar- parlour. A well dressed portly woman soon after, on pretence of waiting to see a friend off by the coach, got admission to the bar-parlour. Presently, a gentle- man," who had recently called several times at the inn, entered in haste, and, de-. spite the landlady, pushed into the parlour to speak to the lady who was " wait- ing for him." He ordered a glass of wine; while the landlady turned away to get change for a shilling, she saw by the reflection on a glass-door that the man and woman were changing the banker's parcel for another, and she immediately hast- ened back. A struggle ensued; the man ran away; the landlady kept possession of the sham parcel, and the lady dropped the real one from under her shawl. When brought before the Clerkenwell Magistrate, on Tuesday, the woman would not give her real name, and behaved with amusing effrontery. The sham parcel was found to contain sand. The prisoner—" Mary Watt"—was remanded.

A correspondent of the Morning Post reports that some English sailors have been misbehaving at Marseilles, with a sad result. The Ann frigate, English schooner, had been receiving cargo from the Leon, a Spanish brig: the English- men knew there was wine on board the Leon, and declared they would have some. They boarded the vessel while half drunk, and attempted to take some wine; the Spaniards resisted; and as they used their knives, the Englishmen were not only worsted, but four were very badly wounded—one died next day, and two others were not expected to recover. The ringleaders on both sides have been lodged in prison.

The calendar of the prisoners for trial at the Wiltshire Assizes states, that" a young man, named William Nobbs, is charged with embezzling a penny, the pro- perty of her Majesty."