eitiscellantous.
The vacant Law offices have been filled up. Late on Saturday evening Sir Frederick Pollock received an official intimation of his appointment to the office of Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer ; Sir William Follett, of his apsoititment to be Attorney-General ; and Mr. Thesiger, to be Solicitor-General. In the Court of Common Pleas, on Monday, Sir Frederick Pollock was sworn in as a Sergeant-at-law ; aud in the Lord Chancellor's room, the oath of his new judicial office was administered to him by the Queen's Remembraneer, with other cus- tomary formalities. The Solicitor-Generalship is bestowed not quite in accordance with the prevalent expectation ; and the Morning Herald gives a minute apology for an appointment which, it says, " occasioned very anxious consideration to the Government "— " While fully recognizing the eminent qualifications of Mr. Fitzroy Kelly for the important office of Solicitor- General, it was found impossible to over- look the seniority, both at the bar and as one of her Majesty's counsel, of Mr.. Thesiger; who Lad, moreover, been already twice passed over, in the elevation of Sir William Follett to the post which he has just quitted, and of Mr. Justice Cresswell to a seat on the bench of the Common Pleas. Mr. Thesiger was called to the bar in the year 1S18, and Mr. Kelly not till the year 1824; and Mr. Thesiger obtained a silk gown so long before Mr. Kelly that no fewer than seventeen gentlemen obtained that distinction between Mr. Thesiger and Mr. Kelly. Under these circumstances, the Government were naturally anxious to avoid so signal a slight upon Mr. Thesiger as would have been inflicted upon him by the appointment of Mr. Kelly. This, we believe, is the consideration which determined the choice of the Government.
" It is not, moreover, difficult to imagine, that, knowing that Mr. Kelly had been retained on behalf of Mr. O'Connell and his fellow- traversers to con- duct the proceedings about to take place in the House of Lords as their lead- ing counsel, Ministers would feel a great delicacy in depriving them of such invaluable assistance as that of Mr. Kelly. This must inevitably have been the case had Mr. Kelly been promoted to the Solicitor-Generalship."
A correspondent calls our attention to a confusion of persons in our last number—in which Mr. John Stuart Wortley, the supporter of Lord Ashley and Member for West Yorkshire, and Mr. James Stuart Wort- ley, the barrister and Member for Bute, are spoken of as one. We frankly plead guilty to having forgotten the distinction. Ever since the days of Hercules and Apollo, there has been a proneness to ascribe the actions of several individuals to any one of the same name.
It is said that the Queen has expressed an intention of giving a series of state balls at Buckingham Palace this season. We are authorized to state that there will be no public dinners at Lambeth Palace this season.— Times.
Sir Robert Peel, on Wednesday, unsolicited, sent ten guineas, through Mr. Masterman, as his subscription to the national testimonial to Mr. Rowland Hill. This liberal recognition of the merit of Mr. Hill, and of the national value of the Penny Postage reform, is creditable to the Premier. We may hope that the example of Sir Robert Peel will be followed by all the other Cabinet Ministers, and by men of all parties throughout the United Kingdom.—Morning Chronicle. According to the Gazette de France, letters from Goritz, of the 2d and 3d instant, state that the Duke d'Angouleme had a fresh attack of his dangerous complaint.
The Times publishes a letter from Major D. K. Fawcett, the uncle of the late Colonel Lynar Fawcett, dated " Ballinlass House, Ballinanion Bridge, 10th April," enclosing another, written at his instance by the Colonel's widow, Mrs. Anne Frances Fawcett, in reply to Lieutenant Muuro's statement respecting the origin of the duel. Mrs. Fawcett was the only person present at the first dispute ; which she agrees with Mr. Munro in ascribing to a difference about the terms obtained from a Mrs. Smith for the purchase of a house. Mrs. Fawcett was making tea— "Colonel Faweett, folding up the papers which were on the table, said, Well, it can't be helped now ; but I must say that Mrs. Smith has bamboozled us both most thoroughly ; though, had I been acting for you, I should most probably have acted as you have done.' To which Lieutenant Munro replied, I tell you what, you have several times insinuated that I mismanaged your affairs; but I-have attended to your interests as I never did to my own, and may-I wilittototand it.' My husband observed, 'No, Munro, I never said or thought that you mismanaged my affairs.' 'I say you did.' 'I did not, Sir.' • You did,' again rejoined Lieutenant Munro. Colonel Fawcett then rose for the first time, and ringing the bell, said, A flat contradiction I will take front no man; and, Sir, I must request you will leave my house.' " Much more passed ; Mr. Munro taunting and sneering, the Colonel being cool and self-possessed. Mrs. Fawcett only spoke once, pointing out to Mr. Munro, Colonel Fawcett's admission that he himself should probably have acted in the same way about the house. Next morning Mr. Grant called- " Mr. Grant remained, I think, about ten minutes; and when he left, my husband returned to me and said,' Why, what do you think it is ?—wity, challenge from Munro!" Nonsense, ' I cried. 'It is, indeed,' he replied. To which I rejoined, But you surely won't go out?' ' I don't know that,' he said. I replied, Why, you could never fire at each other.' 'At any rate,' he observed, 'I must be off to the Club, and get Daubeney's opinion, (a Major in the Fifty-fifth Regiment); and I will come back and tell you as soon as any thing is agreed upon.' But before he left, he requested of me to tell him can- didly, if, in my opinion, he had acted temperately the night before, or not: to which I replied,' Why, in the first instance I think you were a little hot, but in the second I was astonished at your temperance. He then quitted the house, and returning about two o'clock, told me it was not yet settled ; and showed Inc the copy of a letter he bad written for his friend. • Munro,' be said, 'still demands a meeting ; but Cuddy will see Mr. Grant again.' 4 Cuddy !' I exclaimed, ' Oh dear, I am sorry you fixed upon FO young a man." Be is young,' said my husband, • but be is a peacemaker, and is more cool and clear- headed than many an older man : besides, Daubeney is so much engaged in arranging his family affairs, that I did not wish to trouble him, and I like to have one of my own regiment to act for me.' I then remarked, that I thought he might have written a more conciliatory letter, without leaving it in any one's power to say that he submitted tamely to insult : to which he remarked, that I was perhaps right, and that it was not then too late to do so.' He again went to the Club ; and on his return read me a copy of a second letter, in which be said that he never intended to insult Mr. Munro, hut that he turned him out of his house for grossly insulting him. [ I write this also from recollection, as the copies of those letters, the contents of which are already known to the public, are not in my possession.] Ile then remarked, that I looked very dull and low-spirited : to which I replied, • How can I help feeling dull while this business is pending ?" he said, 'as to that business, I con- sider it as settled : my last note must have satisfied them; it must have settled it.' " Mr. Cuddy called in the evening, and said that Mr. Munro still in- sisted on a meeting ; and then went away again to see Mr. Grant once more. On Mrs. Fawcett's observing that she wished the affair were amicably settled, her husband exclaimed, with a sigh, "that he wished to Heaven it was."
" Be did not bear from Lieutenant Cuddy till near midnight ; when he re- ceived s note, a few lines of which I read over his shoulder; and when I saw that their purport was, that Lieutenant Cuddy had failed in his endeavours to effect an arrangement, and that they were to go out, I fell back on my chair, nearly fainting; when my husband said, in a displeased manner, 'Oh, this is just what 1 feared—that you would fail me when I most required your firmness and obedience.' Ile then went to order a carriage to come early the next morning; desiring me to get the servants to bed ; hut observed, that as it was already so late, it would be better for us both to sit up. He soon came back, and lay down on the sofa, whilst I sat by his side. Thus passed the remainder of that sad night. He occasionally dozed; but I saw he watched me strictly, and was uneasy if I attempted to quit him. However, I hod no idea whatever of endeavouring to give information, for I well knew my husband's character: although he never had any concealments from me, and was kind, affectionate, and indulgent in the highest degree, yet he would never have forgiven the slightest interference on my part in a matter of honour and duty. I also never thought that Lieutenant Munro would fire at him ; and as I knew his own resolve not to discharge his pistol, I was assured all would terminate happily ; though 1 had a feeling of terror I could not then account for. • • *
"
Shortly after my husband had dressed and breakfasted, the carriage ar- rived, (I think it was near five o'clock); and he sent me down to unfasten the hall-door, lest the ringing should rouse the servants : which I did. He then said, on taking leave of me, • God bless you, my beloved Annie ! you have shown yourself this night lobe a true and devoted wife ; and remember, what- ever happens, I go out with a clea• conscience ; for they have forced me into this, and I will never fire at your sister's husband.' He then ran down the stain, and let himself out."
Mrs. Fawcett declare s that she had never heard the Colonel mention Mr. Munro's name with the slightest acrimony, and that she herself never said any thing to produce that feeling. Neither she nor her friends can comprehend what Mr. Munro means by Colonel Fawcett's entertaining" suspicions of a most unhappy nature.' The reason why Colonel Fawcett was III1XiORS to go to the Continent was the expected benefit to his wife's health ; her spirits having suffered from the loss of her mother-in-law, who died in the previous April.
Letters from Felanitx, in the Balearic Islands, of the 1st April, de- scribe a fatal accident on the previous day- " On account of the procession which takes place every year on the evening of this day, [March 31st,] an immense crowd of spectators had assembled at the place called the Old Cemetery, (Cimeterio Viejo,) opposite the door of the church of Santa Rosa, in order to hear one of the twelve sermons that are preached near the churchyard. During the preaching, the wall that separates she Old Cemetery from the Calle Mayor fell down upon the assembly who were corgregated in the streets; the whole (more than 300, according to calcu- lation) remained buried under the wall and the adjacent earth. The Alcalde Don F'rancisco Bennasser, and six of the members of the Corporation, who were only installed today, have been buried." It afterwards appeared that 414 persons were killed, 27 hurt with fractures, and 92 bruised.
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