iftistellantous.

According to established usage, the Marquis of Lansdowne, as Lord President of the Council, gave a grand entertainment on Monday to the leading Whig Peers' including the mover and seconder of the Address. On the same evening, Lord John Russell gave a Parliamentary dinner to a numerous party of Members of the House of Commons.

The leading Protectionists in the House of Lords were entertained by Lord Stanley in St. James's Square. The Duke of Wellington, for the first time during twenty-four years, did not give any political dinner.

The Morning Post and the Dublin Evening Mail jointly snake up a re- port upon an ecclesiastical measure which Government is said to contem- plate. The measure is thus described by the Mail—" to create Manches- ter into a Bishopric, giving to the new dignitary the usual seat in the House of Lords; or, should the heads of the Church prefer it, to create a number of new sees, those appointed not to have the honour of Peerages." The Post adds, that the Prelates of England and Wales have held a very full meeting on the subject, at the Bishop of London's residence; but the result has not transpired.

The Gazette of Tuesday notifies the appointment of the Reverend Alex.; ,ander Thurtell,' the Reverend J. J. Blandford, the Reverend Edward Dou- glas Tinling, and the Reverend Muirhead Mitchell, to be Inspectors of Schools.

The Queen has been pleased to promote Mr. Henry Edward F. Young, a son of the late Sir Aretas Young, who died when Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward's Island, to be Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern Dis- trict of the Cape of Good Hope, vice Major-General Hare. Mr. Young has been connected with the civil service of the West Indian Colonies for nearly twenty years, and filled during the last eleven years the office of Government Secretary in British Guiana; a post in which he had the rare good fortune of uniting the confidence of the Government with the respect 4ina good-will of the colonists.—Times.

We understand that it is the intention of Government to erect forthwith a battery at Penlee Point, so as to command Cawsand Bay. The Admi- ralty are determined to put the whole of the coast in a proper state of de- fence; in consequence of which, the building of the proposed new bridge at Looe is suspended. A battery will be erected at Looe Harbour, so as to -command the anchorage under Looe Island. The whole line of approach from Looe to Plymouth is to be put into a state of defence immediately.— Ea/mouth Packet.

A Queen's letter in aid of the distresses in Ireland and Scotland has been Issued to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, directing its publication is the different dioceses. A collection is to be made at the private dwel- lings of the parishioners in the following week.

The King of Hanover has transmitted to the fund for the relief of dis- tress in Ireland the sum of 1,0001., as the contribution of the Duke of Cum- berland and Chancellor of the University of Dublin.—Morning Post.

It is expected that fifty thousand dollars will shortly be transmitted to starving Ireland from the men of the Great Republic, and that New York State will send a goodly portion of the sum. With a population of only 5,000, Jersey city, N. Y., has collected one thousand dollars.—Dublin Pilot.

The scarcity of food is so great in some of the Roman provinces, that Cardinal Gizzi issued a circular on the 1st of January prohibiting the ex- portation of corn.

Accounts from Brunswick make mention of great distress, want of work, and scarcity of provisions there. Subscriptions bad been commenced, and firing and provisions issued to the destitute.

Extreme misery also prevails in Prussia. Distress has driven the poor to the commission of robberies, in order to gain the shelter of a prison.

The cold has been intense at Brussels; and a committee has been formed in that city for the establishment of public chaufoirs or warming- places for the destitute and homeless.

We learn from Odessa, that fifty vessels were laden with grain and ready to sail, awaiting only a favourable wind. The purchases for Holland and Belgium within a short time had been 200,000 tchetwerts. From Con- stantinople we are advised, that at the close of last month no less than three hundred ships laden with grain were in the Bosphorus, awaiting a favourable wind for the Mediterranean. There was a large stock yet available.—Globe.

Among the petitions presented to the House of Commons on Wednesday, was one for the free use of sugar and molasses in breweries and distilleries, signed by many of the most eminent firms in the City.

The Archduke Joseph Anthony John of Austria, Palatine Governor, and Captain-General of Hungary, whose death has been frequently an- nounced, is understood to have really died_ on the 7th instant, at Ofen, in the seventieth year of his age.

It is reported in St. Petersburg, that the Emperor of Russia has ordered an increase of one half in the land-tax paid by the fiee peasants in every part of Russia.

We hear that the Ministers of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, did not at- tend the opening of Parliament with the rest of the Corps Diplomatique, in consequence of the formal protest contained in her Majesty's Speech against the recent annexation of Cracow. No doubt, this step was taken by their Excellencies as a mark of deference and respect to an opinion so forcibly entertained and expressed by the Sovereign and Parliament of this country with reference to the violation of the treaty of Vienna by their respective Courts.—Times.

M. Guizot has laid before the French Chamber some additional despatches on the Montpensier and Cracow affairs, of which only extracts had been previously given. The first is a despatch from Lord Palmerston to Mr. Bulwer, dated 19th July 1846. Two questions, it states, occupy the at- tention of those who take an interest in the affairs of Spain—the marriage of the Queen, and the political state of the country. On the former of these, Lord Palmerston has nothing for the moment to add to the instruc- tions given by his predecessor. The choice of a husband for the Queen, he says, is evidently an affair in which the governments of other countries have no right to interfere unless there be a probability of the choice falling on a prince belonging to the reigning family of some great foreign power, which might involve the danger of disturbing European equilibrium. But this, he writes is not the case now; the candidates being reduced to three— Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg, and the two sons of Don Francisco de Paula. On the other point, Lord Palmerston expresses his regret at the political condition of the country; and observes—" When the Ministers of the Crown trample under foot the laws which guarantee the security of the people, we must not be astonished if the people cease at length to respect the laws which guarantee the security of the Crown."

The despatch from Lord Aberdeen to the Duke de Sotomayor, alluded to above, is dated the 22d of the previous month. It states, in plain terms, that England had always contested, and would still contest, the right of France to impose on the Spanish nation, as a consort for the Queen, a member of any family whatever. England had indeed pointed out the Infante Don Henry, but solely because he appeared to be the most agree- able to the Spanish people. The despatch'concludes with the assurance, that if any attempt were made, from without, to fetter the wishes and feel- ings of the Queen, Spain might rely on the sympathies not only of Great Britain but of all Europe.

The third despatch is from Prince Metternich to Count D'Appony, and is dated the 4th January 1847. It professes to convey the Emperor's view of his rights with regard to Cracow. In "suffering the treaty of 3d May 1815 [the separate treaty between Austria, Prussia, and Russia] to go in- to the general proceedings of the Congress," the Emperor "did not intend to yield to all the other parties who signed that act a right belonging ex- clusively to the parties contracting that of May 3d." And his duties obliged him to interpose- " Those [duties] which his Imperial Majesty had to fulfil towards the people intrusted by Providence to his care, would not permit. him to reistablish a political body, which after having contravened for a long series of years the conditions on its respect for which its independence was founded, has ended in sacrificing the political existence granted to it to insurrectional projects hostile to all government- al and to social order. The Emperor, while deeply regretting that there should be any difference of opinion between the French Cabinet and the three Courts on the subject of the point of right in this question, flatters himself, nevertheless, that their views will meet in the common resolution of all the Courts to observe and cause to be observed, scrupulously, the treaties in their true and literal sense and in their spirit."

The Marquis of Londonderry wrote to Lord Palmerston to endeavour to stop the publication of Lord Castlereagh's despatches in the Times. Mr. Addington replies, in the name of Lord Palmerston- " His Lordship has ascertained, by a comparison which has been made in this office, of the papers as printed in the Times with the original papers in the records of this office, that the British notes printed in the Times are not copies of the originals, but are translations into English from translations which must have been previously made of the original notes into French. There may be legal doubts as to the exclusive right of property of the British Government in papers addressed to or written by a Foreign Government. "Lord Palmerston has received the report of the Law-officers; who say that they are not aware of any legal measures which can be taken to prevent the pub- lication of any further papers of the same description as those which have appeared in the Times."

Lord Londonderry has sent Mr. Addington's letter for insertion in the Times.

The first electric telegraph in Canada commenced working on the 19th Decem- ber; it extends from Toronto to Hamilton.

The Sphynx, a Government steam-sloop, of 1,056 tons burden and 500 horse power—a beautiful vessel, built only last year—has been wrecked at the back of the Isle of Wight. "About five o'clock on Saturday morning, the weather being very thick, the vessel going between eleven and twelve knots, (she was going thir- teen knots three hours previously, but had been eased,) suddenly struck on a reef of hidden rocks off Compton Bay, near Freshwater. The midshipman of the watch directly called out, 'Stop .the engines ! ' but the Master, imagining the bump to be caused only by a shoal, gave the order, Go on ! she'll clear it' The engines were consequently not stopped; and the sloop continued to clear ledge after ledge' or reef after reef, until the finally rested about six hundred yards from the shore leaving her nearly high and dry when the tide is out, but unapproach- able by boats from the shore on account of the rocky nature of the coast. Soon after striking, the rudder became unshipped, the greater part of the keel was knocked away, and also a large portion of the stern, giving free ingress to the Water from abaft." The crew made every exertion to protect and save the vessel. Guns having been fired, assistance was obtained from the shore. The women were first landed; and eventually, from the dangerous situation of the sloop, all the people. Mrs. Craggs, the wife of the Captain, was much hurt by a piece of wood falling on her while she was lowered into a boat. Assistance was obtained from Portsmouth; but,. from the position of the Sphynx the vessels sent could not get near her; and she 18 expected to become a total wreck.

A sad loss of life occurred on Monday: a cutter from the steam-sloop Scourge, in attempting to gain the wreck, was capsized; Mr. Harris, gunner, and six sea- men, perished; two others were saved by the Master of the Sphynx.

The Sirius a steamer temporarily plying between Dublin and Cork, has been

wrecked at Sirius, near Cork, with a lamentable loss of life. During a fog early in the morning, she struck on a reef of rocks; the master had her backed off, but finding the vessel sinking, he was obliged to run it ashore again, where it was hourly in danger of going to pieces. The life-boat was got out, to begin landing the people: it would hold eight—about twenty deck-passengers crowded into it; it was swamped, and all perished, with the exception of one who caught hold of a rope, and was hauled on board again. After some time, the rest of the peengers and crew were safely got ashore, but with only the clothes on their backs: even the goods washed to land, and some articles got out of the vessel by the crew, were pilfered by the country-people.

It is stated that the Eastern Counties Railway have made handsome money compensation to some of the persons who were hurt by the accident at Stratford in September last. Mrs. Smith, a poor woman of Chigwell, whose legs were broken, and who has just been pronounced convalescent, has been paid 600 guineas. Mr. cotton of the Bank of England, who was severely hurt and has not yet entirely recovered, has withdrawn the action he had commenced against the Company, on their paying a large sum to the Bethnal Green Schools.

. Two farm-labourers of Easenhall, near Rugby, have been suffocated by a coal- fire which they had made in a pan and placed in their bedroom.

Results of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last-

• Number of Winter deaths. average. Zymotie (or Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious) Diseases 169 . 183

Dropsy, Cancer' and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 114 ... 112

Diseases of the Beam, Spinal Marrow. Nerves, and Senses 170 ... 170 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 533 .... 354 Diseases of the Heart and Elood.vesaels 45 .... 32 • Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 85 .... 70

Diseases of the Kidneys, Sc. 13 .... 8

Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, Sc lb 12 Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, Sc.

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, Sc 8 . . 2

Old Age 98 81 Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance Total (including unspecified Mines) 1291 1088

The temperature of the thermometer is given imperfectly, the instruments being out of order: the lowest was 18.1°- the mean temperature by day was colder than the average mean temperature by 3.8°. The mean direction of the wind for the week was calm.