SCOTLAND.
The national fast was yesterday observed in Glasgow with all the out- ward symbols of obedience to the very extraordinary commands of her Majesty, her Privy Council, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The shops were closed, the streets half deserted, and some of the steam-boats ceased their daily plying down the river. The railway companies, how- ever, ran their trains as usual; even our theological friends of the Edin- burgh and Glasgow setting the pains and penalties threatened by the Privy Council at defiance. The churches were well attended; and many parties betook themselves to the country, some perhaps to fast, and some most undoubtedly to feast. Mr. Mackenzie, we were glad to learn, fed a more than ordinary number of the destitute at his soup-kitchen; and thereby, we think, did infinitely more service to the cause of Christian charity than her Majesty's proclamation. The Established and Free Churches obeyed the commands of the State. The United Secession Church very properly demurred to the authority of Government in any such matter; " holditig the principle that Jesus Christ is the alone Head of the Church and Lord of the conscience, and that religion is a matter of conviction, not to be en. joined by civil authority, or enforced by pains and penalties." The Society of Friends, and many other Christians, refused for the same reason; while many enlightened Christians refused to hold the fast, not for that reason only, great as it is, but for the equally cogent reason that they did not dare to take the Queen's and the Archbishop's interpretation of the decrees of the Almighty, or to hold the blight of the potato as a curse, when it might in reality be intended as a blessing.—Glasgow Argus, March 25.
We understand that a girl of the name of Maclain, who received a bayonet wound at Invergordon last week, died on Monday.—Ross-shire Advertiser.
Isabella Gunn, an old woman living at Achow, in Caithness-shire, has been found murdered in her bed: a rope was tied round the neck, by which she had been strangled, and there were marks of blows on the face. Au attempt had been re- cently made to break into Gunn's dwelling at night; the motive robbery, it having been thought that the deceased had hoarded money. A young man is in custody charged with the murder.
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