Visallfunnus.

TEE following report of a meeting of the Conservative party at Lord Derby's house, on Monday, is given by the Dublin Evening Mail, a Conservative journal: "The muster considerably exceeded two hundred members of the House of Commons, and was even more important from the fact that letters were received from a large number of habitual supporters of Lord Derby, whose absence from town prevented them attending in person. The ostensible object of the gathering was to consider the course which ought to be pursued with regard to the Church Rates Bill of Sir John Trelawny, but it was well known that the real interest of the proceedings lay in the reference which could not fail to be made to the recent division on the Paper Duty question. The noble earl, at the commencement of his observations, said be could not refrain from expressing his surprise and satisfaction at the numerous attendance of gentlemen who had honoured him by responding to his invitation—regard being had to the lateness of the Session, and to the very short notice which he had been able to give. Passing to the immediate object of the meeting, he stated that the bill, which Mr. S. Estcourt had proposed, in the spirit of conciliation, was put forward on his own responsi- bility; but it showed conclusively that the desire for conciliation was all on the side of the Conservative members. The best way of inspiring respect in an opponent was to beat him with his own weapons; and, consequently, the only way of inducing the opponents of church rates to agree to an amicable settle- ment, was by rejecting triumphantly the abolition scheme of Sir J. Trelawny. Adverting to the position of the present Government, his lordship said it had been supposed by some that a vote of want of confidence ought to be proposed; and, undoubtedly, if such a motion were brought forward, there could be no doubt that it would succeed. But then came tie question, was it desirable to do so? In the present Cabinet two parties were represented—the one Conservative, and the other Radical, if not revolutionary. 1.ord Palmerston, who was the avowed head of the former, maintained his supremacy, not altogether by his own position and influence, but by being able to appeal to the formidable ranks of the Opposition, by relying on whom he could at any time quell his own insubordi- nate following. As long as Lord Palmerston acted in such a spirit and did their work, the best thing which could happen to the country was, that he should remain at the head of affairs, while Conservatism was growing in influence and in strength, and until it was able permanently to assume the direction of affairs. But it, on the other baud, Lord Palmerston were weak enough to give way, or were overpowered in the Cabinet, of necessity the Opposition must be prepared to do their duty, or the ground was cut at once from under their own feet, and those of Lord Palmerston also. He had no wish to say anything which would give offence to any one; but he must point out that a general who at a critical moment could not depend on his own reserves was very awkwardly placed, and combination and mutual confidence were as necessary in Parliamentary as in

military tactics. Under all the circumstances the noble lord expressed his belief that no effort ought to be made to displace the Government this Session. Mr. A. Mills made a speech in vindication of the course which he had pursued on the Paper Duty question; but its hesitating character contrasted unpleasantly with the vigorous address by which it was preceded. The tone of the meeting gene- rally was excellent. The proceedings lasted little over an hour."

The London public were amused on Thursday by the publication of the following correspondence in the morning papers, purporting to have been forwarded by Mr. Hepworth Dixon: " To W. Hepworth Dixon, Esq., Editor of " The Athenaeum." "Sir,—I am aware that you wrote the critique on my book, in last Saturday's Athenceuns, which I consider personally offensive.

"As two-thirds of the London press have already recorded opinions in the highest degree flittering, I could well have afforded to treat with contempt the ill conditioned snarlings of a single ' literary gorilla;' but when a reviewer indulges in flippant impertinences upon the character and feelings' of an author, instead of confining himself to the merits of the work before him, he sometimes lays himself open to unpleasant consequences.

" I therefore give you fair warning, unless you take the opportunity now afforded by the issue of a second edition to make the amende, I shall do myself the pleasure of horsewhipping you the first time that I meet you in public, and then hand you over to the tender mercies of Mr. Alfred Austin, whose attentions are likely to be equally unpleasant.

" I shall consider this note private until the 22nd, and remain, Sir, your most

obedient humble Servant, " THE AUTHOR OF 'PUCK ON PEGASUS.' "Conservative Club, June 18th, 186L"

Mr. Dixon's Reply.

Athenwum Office, June 19th, 1861. " Sir,—I have received your disgraceful letter, to which I shall of course imme- diately give the publicity it deserves.

In tee mean time I have communicated with the police authorities, who will take effectual measures to prevent your committing the outrage threatened. " I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

" W. HEPWORTH DIXON.

"To H. Cholmondeley Pennell, Esq., Conservative Club."

Friday, however, exposed the whole transaction as a hoax, the fol- lowing letter appearing in the Times:

From Mr. Pennell.

" Sir—Having observed with much surprise a paragraph in the Times of this day headed "Amenities of Literature," which purports to be a copy of a letter I have addressed to Mr. Hepworth Dixon, the editor of the Atheneum, and his reply thereto, it seems hardly necessary to state that an unwarrantable liberty has been taken with my name, and that no such letter was written by me. I conclude that an equally unfair use has been made of the name of Mr. Hepworth Dixon, as & have received no communication of any sort from him.—[ am, Sir, your obedient servant. " H. GHoL.1•01IDELEY PENNELL. " Conservative Club, June 20."

"I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

" ALFRED Auarrat.

" 2, Tantield-court, Temple, June 20." From Mr. Dixon.

" Sir—Your readers must have been amused by the correspondence which ap- pears in your impression of this morning, under the pleasant heading " Ameni- ties of Literature." Poets have so entirely forgotten the uses of the horsewhip in their rides up the steep road of Parnassus, and editors, in England at least, have so long enjoyed a freedom of discussion only limited by the good sense and good taste of the public for whom they write, that the threat of actually horsewhipping a live editor has a certain piquancy and surprise, like the revival of a fine old joke that amused one in one's youth. The offence and the menace are, however, in this particular case, quite imaginary. I do not know Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell, and my pretended correspondence with him is as visionary as the fa- mous Mr. Toots's confidential correspondence with the Duke of Wellington. I have never seen Mr. Pennell—never received any letter from him—never, to my knowledge, read a line of his writing in my life. You have been imposed upon by a fah-icator. The letter purporung to be addressed to you by me, dated from this office, and bearing my signature, is a forgery ; and I trust that before many hours are past the offender will be in the hands of the police.

" Yours, very faithfully,

" W. HEPWORTH DIXON. " Atheneum-office, Thursday, 12 o'clock."

From Mr. Austin.

"Sir, --As the use of my name and this intimation of my intentions by Mr. Chohnondeley Pennell, in his correspondence with Mr. Hepworth Dixon, may lead many to suppose that this letter was written with my privity, I feel myself

justified in asking for the indulgence of your columns in order to state that 1 am quite unknown to Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell, save, as it would seem, by repute; and that all the 'attentions' which Mr. Hepworth Dixon need fear from me have been already bestowed. I should never think of using a horsewhip until I was threatened with one; then I should certainly neither write to The Times' nor send for the police.'

Formal notice has been given in the Gazette that her Majesty's birthday will be kept on Wednesday, the 10th of July next.

The Historical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, invited the Prince of Wales to honour the closing meeting of this session with his presence. The Lord Lieu- tenant, in reply to the invitation, stated that the engagements of the Prince during his stay in Ireland would prevent his being able to be present at the meeting. The Queen has appointed Lord Dufferin and Claudeboye to be a Knight Com- mander of the Order of the Bath, Civil Division. The King of the Belgians and the Count of Flanders will close their visit to the Queen on the 1st of next month, when his Majesty departs for Ostende 011 his return to Brussels.

The 11 ational Zeitung says that the Queen of Prussia will leave Berlin on Monday for Coblentz, Weimar, and then for Baden, where she will pass several weeks, and adds that the Crown Prince and Princess are preparing to take their departure for London.

Count Walewski and the Countess as well as the Prince Czartoriski, and the Prince and Princess de Metternich, have been this week on a visit to the Emperor and Empress of the French at Fontainebleau. The last advices from Poland are that Prince Waldemar Czetwertynski has been arrested and sent to the fortress of Medlin. Count Tyszkeiwicz has been sus- pended from his functions of Marshal of the Nobility of Wilna, and the countess, his wife, exiled for having made a collection for the purpose of giving an Easter banquet to the working classes. M. de Montalembert is at Munich, on a visit to his friend the Abbe Dollinger, whose lectures ou the temporal power of the Papacy made some noise a few weeks ago. Mr. George Bishop. the well-known astronomer, died on Friday week, at his residence, South Vida, Regent's-park, having nearly completed his 77th year. Mr. Bishop successively filled the omens of secretary and treasurer of the Royal Astronomical Society, and was elected president of that body in 18.57.

On the departure of the French troops from Syria, General d'Hantpoul addressed them in an ordre du jour containing the following somewhat remark- able passage: " 1 need not tell you how much 1 regret not having had the happy chance of leading you to battle. I know that I might have expected everything of you. May we soon find ourselyea on better ground, on entirely military ground, where no fetter will restrain our free action."

A letter from Gotha states that much public spirit prevails there respecting a grand German rifle association now being organized, and a shooting match which is about to take place. The reigning Duke, the ladies of Gotha, and the autho- rities of the town have given handsome prizes to be contended for, and the Prince Consort of England has sent a silver goblet, and a Whitworth rifle complete in a handsome case.

No less a sum than 1,421,153L has been expended at Aldershot in the purchase of land, erection of barracks and hats, supply of water, and other works. Further works have been approved by the Government, which will cost 91,5631., and a vote for 54,5631. towards that sum will be proposed this session.

The return of births and deaths in London, issued by the Registrar-General, states that the deaths in London registered in the week that ended last Saturday were 1121; they exhibit an increase of no great amount on the returns of the two previous weeks. They are less than the number of births registered in the same period by 822. A fight of a very brutal kind took place on Tuesday on an island in the Medway. One Hurst, a Lancashire giant, of enormous strength, has become possessed of what is called " the belt." lie was challenged by Mace, a man live feet eight inches in height, and ten stone and a half in weight. These men fought for fifty minutes. Mace, without getting a single blow, beat his huge antagonist nearly to death, and so won the belt.

The racer Klarikoff has been burnt to death in a railway train. The horse was on his way from London to the North. Two lads were in the van with him. The train proceeded safely as far as Retford, where the van containing Klarikoff was examined and all found to be safe. A few miles further northwards, and before reaching the Bawt.7 station, one of the lads in the van, and, in fact, the only one who was awake, was alarmed by a smell of fire, and on looking to the upper portion of the front of the van he saw that it was in a blaze. He imme- diately seized the two rings attached to the horse's tether, but the strong breeze with which the flames were fanned in the train's rapid progress along the line almost momentarily caused the whole front of the van to become one mass of fire. The flames enveloped the head of Klarikoff, who kicked violently. The lads made their escape to the front of the truck, out of the way of the flames, and the horse's plunges at length forcing out the side of the van, the whole was at once one mass of fire. Some platelayers were at length alarmed, and they drew the attention of the engine-driver to the fire. The train was stopped a little north of Bewtry, and it was then found that the van was consumed, the animal a mere cinder, and some valuable goods in the van destroyed. The lads escaped comparatively unhurt. Large fires continue to occur in the metropolis. No fewer than nine houses were destroyed at Kensington on Thursday morning. In York street, Lock's- fields, a large building occupied by a floor-cloth manufacturer, was burnt down. A floor-cloth manufactory was consumed in Newington causeway, and the abode of a rag merchant in Rotherhithe.