28 MAY 1842, Page 9

iftiscellantous.

Some of the French Princes are about to visit our Court, but which and when is disputed. One account is, that the Prince de Joinville and the Due d'Aumale are coming towards the end of next week ; another that the Prince de Joinville and the Due de Montpensier are coming towards the middle of next month.

Duke Bernard of Saxe Weimar visited the British Museum on Tues- day. He was attended by the Reverend Mr. Wood, Chaplain to the Queen Dowager, and was received by Sir Henry Ellis, the principal

Librarian, and by the Reverend Mr. Forshall, the Secretary. The re- porter who has chronicled his visit for the daily papers says, that "his Highness entered into various inquiries connected with each division of the national establishment with all the ardour and interest of an en- lightened and cultivated mind."

The Dutchess of Sutherland gave a grand bal costume on Tuesday night, to nearly a thousand denizens of the great world. Several of the visiters wore the dresses in which they appeared at the Queen's ball. The Duke and Dutchess, Prince George, and Princess Augusta of Cam- bridge, were present; the Dutchess of Gloucester, Duke Bernard, Dutchess Ida, and Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar.

According to the correspondent of the Morning Post, a new claimant is to appear for the title of Baron Chandos of Sudeley, which has been dormant since 1789. The claimant professes to be heir male to Robert, son of William, the fourth lord, who is supposed to have died without issue male.

Edward Hibbert, a porter in the employ of Messrs. Brarnah, Pres- tage, and Ball, 124, Piccadilly, has been discovered to be heir-at-law to estates in Islewortb, Whitton, Fleet Street, and Devonshire, to the value of 1,200,0001.—Morning Chronicle.

Accounts have been received of the death of Sir Robert Kerr Porter, at St. Petersburg. Sir Robert was an artist, and was in 1804 ap- pointed historical painter to the Emperor of Russia ; a soldier, and shared the perils of Sir John Moore's campaign in the Peninsula, which ended at Corunna ; and a diplomatist, being last employed by his own. Government as Consul-General at Venezuela. His sisters, Anna Maria and Jane, are well known for their works of fiction. He died on the 3d instant, in his sixty-third year. He is survived by the Princess Mary, the daughter of Prince Theodore de Sherbatoff of Russia ; whom he married in 1811.

The cry of distress in France grows louder, and has now reached the Legislature. On Tuesday, in the Chamber of Deputies, M. De Laney, who pleaded for the wine-trade, declared the prospects of the country to be alarming. He complained that while Great Britain is lowering her Tariff, she excludes French produce ; and Holland and the United States lay exorbitant duties on French wines and brandies. The Minister of Commerce said he knew that the linen-trade and the wine- trade were in a state of great distress ; but the distress of the latter he thought was from temporary causes. M. Gauthier de Ronmilly again called attention to the distress among the naanfactnrers, on Wednesday ; and then the Minister of Commerce declared that the position of the linen-manufacturers was worthy of solicitude : the importation of English linen thread amounted last year to 12,000 tons ; and the num- ber of operatives in the French linen-manufacture has fallen from 100,000 to 50,000. The Minister was understood to convey a pledge that in the interval before the next session, an increased duty would be laid on the importation of British linen-thread by Royal ordinance.

The banquet given by the Regent to the Infant Don Francisco de Paula, at Madrid, on the 16th, passed off well : but elsewhere there is less peace. There was rioting at Seville on the 10th, and at Chiclana on the 11th. The Madrid papers of the 18th talk of a vast conspiracy in Portugal against the institutions in Spain ; which Narvacz has just arrived at Lisbon to promote.

Messrs. Abraham Bauer and Co. of Hamburg, transmit to the Morn- ing Chronicle a corrected statement of the buildings destroyed by the fire- 61 streets ; 120 courts ; 1,992 houses, and 1,716 dwelling-floors, (etages, Able); 498 cottages ; 468 dwelling-cellars ; 21,526 inhabitants roofless; 3 churches; 2 synagogues; 3 watermills, with 36 melees; the spinnhaus and. zuchthaus, with their churches, (houses of correction); the Detentions-house; the Senate-house; the Old Exchange. N.B. The New Exchange, only built last year, is saved ; and after a few days repairing, in use again. The Eunbeck- house, containing Court of Commerce, Court of Common Pleas, with offices, the Customhouse offices, the Stamp-offices, the Lottery saloon, the Citizen Guard offices, and other public offices. The Bank. A great many, and all of the largest hotels ; and all the libraries. 3,7813,300 square feet is the superficial extent of the burnt portion of the city.

The Hamburg mail of Tuesday last represents business and credit as reviving rapidly ; and assistance continues to be transmitted from all quarters.= Advices from Constantinople of the 7th state that Riza Pacha, the Grand Marshal of the Palace, was almost hopelessly ill of a pulmonary attack ; and the Grand Vizier was suffering from an old wound in the thigh nearly broken open. Complaints of Turkish tyranny over the Druses of Syria increase.

From the Literary Gazette we copy a paragraph stating that Captain William Allen had left Ascension, to reascend the Niger, summoned by a call for assistance from the colonists at the "model farm," who were pressed upon by the surrounding tribes. From what we under- stand, however, it is not certain that he would proceed straight to the Niger, as he would not leave Cape Coast Castle till May, by which time the despatches from home would reach him. Whether they would turn him from his purpose, under the circumstances, time must. resolve: if they do not, what will be the fate of this supplementary Niger expedi- tion ? if they do, what the fate of the colonists? Captain Allen might think himself bound to attempt their rescue at all risk; and who could

blame him ? It is one thing to encounter danger for the definite pur- pose of saving fellow-creatures and at the risk of the darer's own life, and another to encounter it by proxy, in defiance of authentic warnings, and in pursuit of objects which are pronounced to be futile before the victim of experiment are out of danger.—Colonial Gazette.