24 FEBRUARY 1855, Page 9

Ziorttlaututto.

There have been three Cabinet Councils this week. On Tuesday, the whole of the then members of the Cabinet, including the Earl of Carlisle, attended the sitting of the Council. On Wednesday, Mr. Gladstone only was absent ; on Thursday, Mr. Gladstone, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Sidney Herbert, were absent.

Lord john Russell set out for Vienna at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning. Ho travelled by express-train to Folkestone, accompanied by Lady John Russell and two of his daughters. Lady John and one of the daughters reurned to town.

Baron von Usedom has arrived in London on a special mission front the King of Prussia. He is accompanied by his wife.

Rear-Admiral Henry Eden has been appointed a member of the Board of Admiralty, vice the Honourable R. S. Dundas, C.B., appointed Com- mander-in-chief of the Baltic fleet.

Rear-Admiral Plumridge has been appointed superintendent of Devon- port Dockyard, vice Seymour, appointed second in command of the Bahia fleet.

Major-General Bentinck will resume his command in the Crimea early next month.

Sir John Forbes has resigned the office of Medical Superintendent of the new Civil Hospital at Smyrna.

It is understood that officers of the East India Company's army now' on furlough in this country, and also those who have retired from that army but are fit for duty, will, on tendering their services at the proper department at the East India House, be recommended to her Majesty's Government for employment abroad during the war with Russia.

Dr. Sutherland has been sent out to superintend the sanitary arrange- ments at Balaklava, and Dr. Gavin those at Scutari. They will be accom- panied by Mr. Robert Rawlinson, civil engineer, long associated with the late Board of Health, and favourably known by his elaborate reports on the sanitary condition of many of our great towns. His duties will be to organize the labour required by the other two Commissioners, and extend over the whole area of our operations. The Commission is gua- ranteed against all interference, and is invested with the fullest powers to carry out whatever it may deem most conducive to the public interests. It is understood that the corporate authorities of Liverpool, on being ap- plied to, have readily consented to place at the disposal of the Commis- sion a large portion of their sanitary staf4 including the officer charged with the removal of nuisances in that town ; so that a brigade of skilled scavengers and the necessary apparatus under his control may soon be expected to be at work wherever needed, whether in the camp, the har- bour, or the vicinage of the hospitals.

At the suggestion of Mr. Grey of St. George's Hospital, a circular has been issued from the War Department appealing to the medical establish- ments of the great Metropolitan Hospitals for aid in the organization of a special Civil Medical Staff to assist the Military Medical Staff of the Army at the seat of war.

Lord Panmure thinks that this could be "beat effected by your selection of two or more medical gentlemen for the posts of physician and surgeon, of four or more other gentlemen of a junior standing, as assistant physicians and surgeons, and of such proportion of advanced medical pupils as you may deem necessary to perform the duty of dressers; but his Lordship considers that such an arrangement will fail to secure the services of the most highly qualified of your officers unless you can at the same time, by an internal and private arrangement of your establishment, protect the gentlemen selected from a permanent professional loss resulting from their humane exertions. . . . . The remuneration which Lord Panmure would propose for these offi- cers would be that already fixed for the civil medical officers at Smyrna ; which are as follow—physicians and surgeons, 21. 2s. per diem ; assistant ditto, ll. Ss. ditto. But his Lordship will be ready to consider any sugges- tions you may desire to make on that head."

Mr. Layard, in a letter to Mr. Drummond M.P., explains two points in his famous letter from " the main top " which have given pain to Admiral Dundee. He admits that he placed a construction on the words of Admi- ral Dundee expressing joy at the sinking of the Russian fleet, which those words will not bear, and regrets that he did so. He distinctly states that he did not intend to reflect on the personal courage or private character of Admiral Dundee, but only on his public character—his "reluctance to meet responsibility " ; and he regrets that his expressions should have caused the Admiral any pain. Admiral Dundee, writing on the 17th in- stant to Mr. Drummond, says—" After the explanation you have received from Mr. Layard, and which you have forwarded to me, I have no desire to think more of the matter between that gentleman and myself."

The gradual disappearance of Mr.'Hume from his familiar place in the public eye, his seat in Parliament and on the platform, followed by recent notices of his declining health, will have warned the public that even his iron frame was about to succumb. Mr. Hume died on Tuesday last, at Burnley Hall, Norfolk, at the ripe age of seventy-eight. On Thursday the Times published a memoir of his life, which we believe to be nearly accurate ; and from that, chiefly, we have compiled this summary. Joseph flume was born in 1777, at Montrose. He was the youngest son of a large family, and was yet a boy when death deprived him of his father. How much of his sterling qualities Mr. Hume owed to his mother is well known; and a single incident of that worthy woman's conduct will serve to impart some idea of her character. Mr. Hume the elder wasmaster of a coasting vessel which traded between Montrose and some other ports ; when he died, his widow took the command of the little ship, ant

by her presence on board directed the navigation in several voyages to and fro.

After her son Joseph had acquired the rudiments of common education current in Montrose among people of his class, he was apprenticed to a sturgeon-apothecary of that place ; with whom he remained three years. His next step in life transferred him to Edinburgh as a medical student, in 1793 ; and in 1796 he was admitted to the Edinburgh College of Sur- geons. In the following year ho travelled Southward, and passed the London College of Surgeons as surgeon of an Indianian. In that ship he voyaged to India and back ; and in 1799 ho was elected full assistant- surgeon, on the nomination of their Chairman, Mr. J. Bosanquct, and reported for the ship Houghton, Presidency of Bengal. On his way out in this ship, the purser died, and Joseph Hume, with characteristic ar- dour, volunteered to fill his place. He performed the duties so well that the captain and passengers gave him a public testimonial on landing at Cal- cutta. The native languages and religions were then little studied by the Company's servants; but Mr. Assistant-Surgeon Hume was made of other metal, and he soon mastered the languages. The result was soon manifest. In 1802 the Mahratta war broke out. It was found that the gunpowder in store was useless from damp; Mr. Hume restored it to efficiency. He was a regimental surgeon ; but Major-General Powell wanted an interpreter, and he selected Mr. Hume. In this war he seems to have performed all kinds of useful services,—filling important posts, not only in the medi- cal department, but in the offices of Paymaster and Postmaster of the forces, in the prize-agencies and the commissariat. "So recently as the late Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Military, Ord- nance, and Commissariat Expenditure, he astonished his colleagues by the intelligence and acuteness of his examination of witnesses. On some expression of surprise in the Committee, he observed, 'You forget that I was once Commissary-General to an army of twelve thousand men in India!' " It was in India that he gathered up the fortune with which he returned to England. But he did not sit still in the fruitless enjoyment of leisure. " In 1809 he made a tour of the 'United Kingdom, visiting all the principal ports and manufacturing towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; and as ' fact-hunting' was his pleasure, he devoted the greater portion of the years 1810 and 1811 to tours on the Continent, extending his travels to Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, the Ionian Isles, Sicily, Malta, Sardinia, &e."

Mr. Hume entered Parliament in 1812, as one of the " Tory " Mem- bers for the borough of Melcombe Regis—a seat which he purchased from the then proprietor ; but a dissolution following closely on the pur- chase, the patrons declined to fulfil the contract which included a second return, and for six years Mr. Hume was excluded from the House of Commons. In the interval he acted on the Central Committee of the Lancastrian School system ; formed an acquaintance with the late Francis Place ; became an East India Director; and married Miss Burnley, the daughter of an East India Director. When he next appeared in Parlia- ment, sitting for the Montrose district of close boroughs, (Aberdeen, Montrose, Arbroath, Breebin, Bervie,) it was no longer as a "Tory," but as a Reformer, first of the public expenditure, and afterwards of the representation. He sat for the Montrose boroughs until 1830 ; then he was elected for Middlesex, unopposed ; in 1837 Colonel Wood defeated him there, and Mr. O'Connell found him a refuge in Kilkenny ; in 1841 he contested Leeds, and was defeated ; in 1842 he was elected for the re- formed boroughs of Montrose, Arbroath, &c., and continued to represent that district until his death.

"How are we to characterize or even note the Herculean labours of this prodigy in representative government? " exclaims the Times. "It is im- possible, within the limits of volumes, to record his innumerable speeches in Parliament, his motions, his returns, his Select Committees, his reports, his personal and party contests in the House of Commons, much less his various agitations out of doors. His speeches alone, during thirty-seven years, oc- cupy volumes of Hansard. In some Mr. Hume's speeches occur in 150 pages, on various political and legislative questions. We cannot attempt even an analysis of the chief subjects of his active and busy discussion. He is the modern Prynne, who defies all reprint, comment, or review. In this age of levelling legislation on social interests he was always on his legs.' He spoke oftener, and frequently made longer epeeches, than any other Member of the Commons since England enjoyed a House of Commons. In the Court of Directors and in Parliament he stood for many years almost alone, contending for the freedom of trade against the East India monopoly. He proposed sweeping and repeated plans of reform of the Army, Navy and Ordnance, and of almost every civil department, of the Established Churches and Ecclesiastical Courts, of the civil and criminal laws, of the system of public accounts, of general taxation, duties, and customs. He early advo- cated the abolition of military flogging, naval impressment, and imprison- ment for debt. Ire carried, almost single-handed; the repeal of the old Com- bination-laws, the prohibition of the export of machinery, and the act pre- venting workmen from going abroad. He led forlorn hopes against Colonial abuses, against town and country municipal self-elect government, election expenses, the licensing systems, the duties on paper, print, 'on tea, tobacco, and snuff.' Ho assaulted and carried by storm Orange Lodges and close Vestries, to say nothing of his aid of Catholic Emancipation, the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and the Reform Act of 1832. He was the unrelenting persecutor of sinecurists, drones, and old men pretending to do the work of the young in the state. Out of doors he was a member of every Liberal and Radical club and association. He occupied for years the throne at the old Crown and Anchor Tavern, in Palace Yard, and iu Covent Garden meetings."

Lord Palmerston gave a grand banquet to the Duke of Cambridge on Saturday. Among the guests were many of the Foreign Ministers and the Marquis of Lansdowne. Later in the evening Lady Palmerston held a re- ception.

The Speaker's second Parliamentary dinner, on Saturday, was attended by Mr. Disraeli and a number of the Derbyite section of the House of Commons.

The Countess Walewski had a grand ball on Tuesday evening. Though it was almost an impromptu entertainment, the invitations having been sent out at a very short notice, there was a full attendance.

The Earl of Cardigan having been elected a member of the Senior United Service Club, about twenty of his fellow members entertained him at dinner oa Tuesday evening.

The Navy Club bad their second dinner of the season, at the Thatched House Tavern, on Thursday ; Admiral Charles Fremantle presided.

General La Marmora, who is to command the Piedmontese army at the seat of war, has been on a visit to Paris this week, to see the Emperor.

The Prince of Prussia was prevented by illness on the _15th instant from setting out for the Rhenish provinces. The obsequies of the Duke of Genoa were performed at Turin on the 14th, with military honours : a vast concourse of the people assembled at the se- pulture of the beloved prince.

Result of the Registrar-Generarelretuni of mortality in the Metropolis fox: the weekending on Saturday last.

Zymotic Diseases Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat , Tubercular Diseases Diseases of the Brain, spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion

Diseases of the Kidneys, Sc.

Childbirth, diseases of the Utprus, fie.

Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, Sc. Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, Sc.

Malformations. Premature Birth Atrophy Age Sudden Violente,Yrivation, Cold, and Intemperance Total (including unspecified causes) 214.8 .... 47.1 .... 180.9 .... 128.9 .... 43.4 .... 225.6 ....

62.0

'12.0 10.3 8.6 1.4 3.2 27.4 21.5 52.. 10.8 29.2

• • •

289 46 216 138

62

395 1,475 1,086.2 The total sum received up to this time by the Commissioners of the Pa- triotic Fund exceeds three-quarters of a million sterling.

In the week ending the 3d instant, the Central Association distributed 21491. in relief to soldiers' wives, widows, and children.

It is said that a portion of the French troops at Guadeloupe are to be withdrawn to France.

It is now stated that Mr. Lindsay's visit to France was not an official one : he went from a desire to gain information on which to found a plan for the benefit of the wounded soldiers, and a regular transport service.

A new screw liner, the Bretagne, has been launched at Brest. She will carry 130 _guns, and her engines will be of 1200 horse-power. She was begun in February 1853.

The Crimea is not the only place where British troops have suffered greatly from disease. A letter from a soldier of the Second European Bengal Fusiliers, stationed at Rangoon, published in the Calcutta _Englishman, gives a lament- able account of the loss of his regiment and other corps by death, the large numbers of sick, and the weakly condition of those " fit for duty." But he states that every necessary and luxury are provided for the suffering soldiers, and he speaks even affectionately of the officers. The climate appears to be the great enemy to the soldier.

From every part of the country come reports of the extraordinary intensity of the frost. In all localities it has been the cause of much suffering to the poor, and in many it has thrown great numbers of workmen idle.

Lake Windermere is frozen from end to end. It is proposed to carry on traffic across it with a cart—a thing unremembered by the " oldest inha- bitant."

A correspondent of the Times, writing from Leicestershire, records that on the night of the 17th his self-registering thermometer, on the South wall of his house, marked 4' below zero-36' of frost.

A skater can now make a journey of Dutch proportions on the ice', in Lin- colnshire—from Lincoln to Boston, thirty-five miles.

The long-continued and severe frost has produced an unusual phenomenon in England—ice on our sea-shores. A good deal has been seen on the South- ern coasts, floating in the sea or stranded on the beach.

This week the Thames has presented a Polar aspect—vast quantities of ice borne up and down by the tides, and at low-water huge hummocks on the shore and shallows. Nearly all navigation above bridge has been stopped.

There has been a cricket-match on Gosfield Lake, near Chelmsford. The cricketers wore skates, and broken noses were plentiful from falls in at- tempting to catch the ball.

The severe weather has caused immense numbers of birds to migrate Southwards, and the coasts of Cornwall have been swarming with water- fowl of many kinds.

The weather seems to be as severe in France as it is here.

The plan adopted some six months ago for the payment of customs-duties at the London Customhouse by means of checks, which have first to be passed at the banks before the order is given for taking out goods, has proved a failure, from trouble and delay. A new scheme is about to be tried. Special checks are to be printed by the Bank of England, to be issued through bankers, which will be received at the Customhouse in payment of

duties—the only purpose to which they can be applied. . Mr. I. T. Hammack calls attention, through the Times, to the proceed. ings of the Mormons, who are striving to supply their harems in America with young women from England ; and they appear to be but too successfuL An " Indian Court " is to be formed at the Crystal Palace, to illustrate Indian manners, art, and manufactures.

There is a report that the city of Catania has been destroyed by an earth+ quake or by an eruption of Etna.

The seven mints of France are busily employed and have been since 185t in making vast quantities of copper coin bearing the effigy of the present Emperor.

The Wanderer of Vienna states that the body of the Duke de Reiehstadt will be conveyed to the French frontier in the course of the present month, as soon as the railways are clear of snow.

It is proposed to extend the electric telegraph from Piedmont along the coasts of the Italian peninsula to Naples, thence across the land to the Adriatic, and by submarine wires to Constantinople. The Director of the Piedmontese Telegraphs has gone to Modena and Florence to further the project.

The Governor-General of India has determined that the heirs of all Na- five Princes shall acquire a knowledge of the English language, at the nearest Government school to their residences.

The Calcutta Railway is completed to the coal-mines of Raneegunge, 120 miles.

Mr. Beardsley, a paper-maker at Albany, in the United States, has dis- covered what promises to be an efficient substitute for rags in making paper. Basswood shavings are reduced to a pulp, which is then manufactured like rag-pulp. It is cheap. The pulp can be supplied in bags and bales ready for the paper-maker's use. The Albany Evening Journal has been printed on this paper, and a New York journal reports favourably of its appearance. Mr. Beardsley says there are other abundant kinds of native wood that can be used instead of basswood in his process.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—Return of admissions for six days ending 23d Febru- ary, including season-ticket-holders, 4697. Ten Weeks Week of 1845...1. of 1855.