Z ig r alan tung.

The Duke of Cambridge, raised to the rank of "General in the Army," has been appointed to succeed Lord Hardinge, whose state of health has compelled -him to resign the office of Field-Marshal Commanding-in- chief. Lord Hardinge issued the following "general order" on taking

leave of the army. _

" Horse Guards, July 15, 1856. • 46 •

Field-Marshal Viscount Hardinge having been compelled by the state of

his health to tender to the Queen his resignation of the command of the Army, which her Majesty has been graciously pleased to accept, desires to record his deep sense of the conduct of the troops and the obligations he is under to the general and other officers for their uniform support while he has had the honour and happiness to be at their head. "On assuming the command of the Army—succeeding, as he did,. the greatest commander which this country has produced—Viscount Hardmge felt the weight of the duty.which, by her Majesty's favour, was intrusted to him ; but he confidently relied on the zealous exertions of its officers to maintain it in that high state of discipline and efficiency for which it had ever been distinguished.

"A period of war ensued, and it was then seen how fully this confidence was justified. After a long peace, a British army took the field, unsurpassed in any of the qualities required of soldiers. Under a leader whose loss has been deplored by the Sovereign, the Army, and the country,. a aeries of victories was achieved which shed an additional lustre on the British arms.

"The instructions for the conduct of the war, and her Majesty's thanks to the troops during its operations, have been, according to invariable cus- tom, conveyed to the Army in the field by her Majesty's Secretary of State for War. Her Majesty's sentiments have on all these occasions been ex- pressed with great force and truth ; but Lord Harding() cannot on this oc- casion deny himself the satisfaction of recording his conviction, that at no former period of the military history of this country has the devoted con- duct of the troops been surpassed. Their soldierlike qualities stood the test of a siege carried on through a rigorous winter and for eleven months of open trenches.

"The valour and perseverance of that gallant army, and of its brave allies, were at length rewarded by the capture of the enemy's fortress, and the attainment of an honourable peace.

"While the Field-Martial records his admiration of the conduct of the troops who took part in that great achievement, he desires to convey to the army at large his thanks for their zealous obedience and devotion, and to express the regret with which he separates himself from them. Viscount Hardinge can only add the expression of his sincere gratification that the command of the Army is by her Majesty's pleasure, about to be assumed by General his Royal:Highness the Duke of Cambridge, K.O., G.C.B. ; the

illustrious Prince whose name is associated with some of the most splendid triumphs of the war just concluded, and whose devotion to the interests of the service is so well known.

"By command of the Right Honourable Field-Marshal Viscount liar- dingo, Commanding-in-chief.

Commanding-in-chief. "G. A. Wzramtatm, Adjutant-General."

On assuming command, the Duke of Cambridge caused the following "general order" to be issued.

" Horse Guards, July 16.

"In obedience to the gracious order of her Majesty, General his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge assumes the command of the Army, which has been confided to him by her Majesty's favour, on the resignation of Field-Marshal Viscount Hardinge.

"His Royal Highness feels it no easy task to undertake the responsibili- ties of so honourable and arduous a post as the successor of that distinguished General, who has found himself compelled to retire from it by the state of his health, and who again was preceded by that illustrious chief whose name sill ever continue to be the glory of the British Army and the British nation ; but he has the strongest reliance on the support of the General offi- cers with whom he will be associated, and on the Army at large ; and in this reliance he enters confidently on the noble trust which now devolves upon "His Royal Highness has had the advantage, as a general officer in com- mand of a division, under the orders of his lamented and gallant friend the late Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, of becoming to some extent personally acquainted with the heroic deeds of the Army in the recent arduous con- test, now so fortunately brought to a successful end. He knows of what excellent materials the troops are composed both as to officers and men. It will be his anxious endeavour to maintain the Army in the high state of efficiency in which it has been left to him by his distinguished predecessor ; and he doubts not that the Army itself will be mainly instrumental in enabling him to carry out this most anxious wish of his heart.

• "By order of his Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-chief. G.. A. WETHEBALL, Adjutant-General."

• The Queen revie-ied the troops at Aldershot camp on Wednesday, " assisted " (in the French sense) by the Lords and Commons. The Parliamentary reviewers were conveyed by railway from Nine Elms to Farnborough, and thence by omnibus to the camp, under an escort of cavalry. Several rode on horseback, Lord Palmerston conspicuous among them, cantering along at the head of the omnibus train. On reaching the ground, the Members had a luncheon, at the public ex- pense, after having wandered through the camp in search of useful knowledge. At three o'clock the troops got under arms. The Crimean regiments not previously reviewed were drawn up in three lines, cavalry in front, the Ninety-third Highlanders in the rear. The German and English troops with artillery, were posted at Ctesaes Camp. At four o'clock, the Queen, accompanied by the Princess of Prussia, drove on to the ground. She was surrounded by Prince Albert, the Prince of Prussia, the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, and followed by a host of general officers. Having passed slowly along the line, the Queen, and the Parliament men, took post under Ctesar's Camp ; and the whole martial array marched past ; the cavalry leading, chiefly dismounted, the riflemen bringing up the rear. When the line reformed, the Queen stepped from her carriage, and, taking the arm of Prince Albert, walked down the line. After this the troops engaged in a series of sham skirmishes and attacks, which lasted until seven o'clock. [General Enollys is accused by the reporters of keeping them so far away from what was going on that they could "neither see nor hear with dis- tinctness" the mimic fight that raged among the troops.] • PRIVATE ExEct-TioNs. The Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to take into consideration the present mode of carrying into effect capital punishments, and to report thereon to the House, have made their report. The conclusions to which they have arrived, on re- viewing the whole of the evidence, are thus expressed-

" 1. That executions should in future be carried into effect within the precincts of the prison, or in some place securing similar comparative pri- vacy. 2. That a certain number of official witnesses be present at the exe- cution, and sign a deposition to having witnessed it. 3. That such other spectators as the local authorities see St to admit be also allowed to be pre- sent. 4. That the exact time of the execution be made known to those 'without; as, for instance, by the tolling of a bell, which shall cease at the moment of execution, and the hoisting at the same time of a black flag."

The Bishop of Manchester is to administer the affairs of the diocese of Durham until the resignation of the Bishop of that see, which will take ef- fect on the 1st of September, if the bill now before Parliament should pass during the present session.

The Duchess of Wellington gave a magnificent ball at Apsley House on the 11th. The Duchess, Princess Mary, and Duke of Cambridge, were among the guests.

The Duchess and Princess Mary of Cambridge attended a ball given on Tuesday by Madame Musurus, at the Turkish FAbassy.

Lord Brougham is leading a quiet life at Brougham Hall, with much- improved health.

Mr. John Bright, who has been sojourning in Sutherlandshire, has be- some an assiduous and successful angler. The latest bulletins report very favourably of his health : a complete restoration to his former vigour of body and mind is expected.

M. Otto Goldschmidt has forwarded a donation of 100/. to the treasurer of the Royal Medical Benevolent College, accompanied by an expression of Madame Lind Goldschmides deep regret that she had not been able to per- form for the benefit of "this noble institution." On Wednesday, Mr. C. Kemp one of the secretaries of the Patriotic Fund of New South Wales, paid to the Executive Committee of the Patriotic Commission a check for 25,000!.; making a total contribution of 65,0001. from that young colony.

A project has been set on foot for giving a public dinner to the Grenadier Guards in London and dinners to other Crimean corps in the different places where they are stationed.

The Crimean troops who have arrived in Canada have been received with unbounded enthusiasm by the inhabitants : another proof of the good feel- ing of our Colonies for the Mother-country, recently demonstrated in so many ways.

Ensign Roberts, of the Ninety-second Regiment, has been tried by Court- martial at Edinburgh, for having received an insult from Sir It. Clifton without taking steps in his own vindication. Ensign Roberts was fully and honourably acquitted. The Queen's late yacht Victoria and Albert, now named the Osborne, has been commissioned as a state yacht for the Lords of the Admiralty. Mr. Bower, Master R.N., has been appointed to command her.

A Credit Bank is to be established at Milan, with a capital of 1,200,000/., 30 per cent to be paid on the shares during the first year.

The Rome and Frascati Railway was opened on the 7th instant. Num- bers of the high Government Mixers, clerical and lay, attended the cere- mony of inauguration.

From a statement published by the New York underwriters it appears, that in the first half of this year the losses of American shipping amounted to nearly 3,200,000/.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy has published a first annual report of the working of the Indian electric telegraph. It appears that the total number of messages despatched during the year was 9971; one-third of which were sent by na- tives, whose confidence in the telegraph is steadily increasing. The greater part of the messages passed through the Bombay. office, in communication with Calcutta or Madras. The receipts have averaged upwards of 1000/. a month.

The screw steam-ship Royal Charter, from Plymouth, arrived at Mel- bourne on the 16th April, after an unprecedentedly quick passage of fifty- nine days. Her advices were forty days later than any previously received. She was but fourteen days under steam during the pasasge. The greatest distance run in twenty-four hours was 352 nautical miles, during which time she attained the astonishing speed of eighteen knots per hour.

An equestrian statue of Washington was inaugurated at New York on the 4th of July: : it is the first statue of the kind in the city.

Mr. Herbert, the Representative for California in the American Congress, has been committed for trial for murdering a waiter.

The Vigilance Committee of San Francisco have got possession of a ballot- box, used in public elections, which had a false bottom and a false side, with machinery to move them, so that cards could be placed in the re- cesses before the box was sealed up, which could afterwards be mixed with the real voting-cards, and thus the return of any particular candidate in- sured.

A correspondent of the Times states that Mr. Branch, of Sandal, near Doncaster, is now growing a large breadth of wheat for which gas-water has been used as manure, and the result is very satisfactory.

"Beef-eater," writing to the Times, asks for an explanation as to the present price of meat. In 1854 and 1855, beef and mutton wholesale cost 4s. to Si. per atone, and were retailed at 7id. to 8d. per pound ; now the wholesale price is still 4s. to 58., but the butchers charge 9d. and qd. per pound—how comes this discrepancy ?

The transport of coals by rail to London continues to increase largely : for the first six months of this year the arrivals were 594,865 tons ; for the same period last year the total was 494,642 tons.

Captain L. Lort Stokes, R.N. advocates in the Times the colonizing of the North of Australia, at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, by means of convicts. This new receptacle for the scum of the Mother-country is called "The Plains of Promise."

Mr. George Wallis, one of the British Commissioners to the New York Exhibition, corrects a prevalent erroneous impression that workpeople in the United States labour for a shorter period daily than is the custom in England. The hours of workmen in .America are generally longer than here,—in some employments two hours more daily are exacted; while there is only one people's holiday in the year—the 4th of July.

Great amusement and no end of trouble have been caused by a baboon which escaped from a brig in Wapping Dock at Liverpool. For hours he evaded the grasp of the seamen who chased him through the rigging of a number of ships. At length he entered a cabin—dreadfully terrifying a steward, who was not expecting- a visitor—and was there captured in a sack, and handed over to the naturalist who was his purchaser, and who had begun to look upon his lively investment as an utter loss.

Some thirty persons have been killed at Philadelphia by. the falling of a wharf, where a hundred people had congregated in the evening to enjoy the breezes from the Delaware.