Iftistellantous.

Some further changes in the Ministry were announced by the Times early in the week, and last night the Standard published a complete official list of the new Cabinet; which we give, marking the changes. Some are mere shiftings; the names of those who are positively new Ministers are

printed in Italic type—

Sir Robert Peel, First Lord of the Treasury. Sir J. R. G. Graham, Secretary of State for the Home Department. Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor. The Duke of Bueckuch, Lord President of the Council [vice Lord Wharnefiffe„ deceased.] The Duke of Wellington, Commander-in-chief. The Earl of Aberdeen, Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The Earl of Haddington, Lord Privy Seal f vice the Duke of Buceleuch.] The Earl of Ripon, President of the Board'of Control. The Right Honourable H. Goulburn, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lord Granville Somerset, Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster. Earl Lined; First Commissioner of Land Revenues. The Right Honourable Sidney Herbert, Secretary at War. The Earl of Dalhousie, President of the Board of Trade. The Earl of Ellenborough, First Lord of the Admiralty [vice Lord Had-

dinaton:3

The Earl of St. Germans, Postmaster General [vice Lord Lonsdale, resigned.1 The Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone, Secretary for the Colonies [vice Lore Stanley, resigned.] According to the Standard, "it is confidently stated that Lord Lyttelton will succeed Mr. Hope as Under Secretary for the Colonies." The Dublin Evening Mail, a journal rancorously hostile to Sir Robert Peel, gives the following guess at the nature of the forthcoming Corn-law

Proposa l-

' We learn, from private sources of information, that the reconstruction of the Cabinet has been the result of a compromise between the Premier and those who were opposed to his original proposition, which is understood to have been sweep- mg and radical in the extreme. It is now said that the project to be submitted to Parliament by Sir Robert Peel is, that wheat in future should be liable to a fixed duty of twelve shillings a quarter, such duty to be decreased by two shil- lings a quarter in each succeeding year; so that at the end of six years it should be admitted free. This statement we submit to our readersjust as it has reached ourselves; observing that it comes from a source to which we have been fre- quently indebted for early and authentic information."

The Free-trade papers publish the manifesto of Mr. T. B. Macaulay. It was written in reply to a letter from the Secretary to the Edinburgh Cham- ber of Commerce, enclosing a memorial from that body to the Queen in favour of " opening the ports." "London, Dec. 22, 1845.

"Yon will have heard of the termination of our attempt to form a Government. All our plans were frustrated by Lord Grey. I hope that the public interests will not suffer. Sir Robert Peel must now undertake the settlement of the ques- tion. It is certain that he can settle it. It is by no means certain that we could have done so. For we shall to a man support him; and a large proportion of those now in office would have refused to support us. On my own share in these transac- tions I reflect with unmixed satisfaction. From the first, I told Lord John that I stipulated for one thing only—total and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws; that my objections to gradual abolition were insurmountable; but that, if he declared for total and immediate repeal, 1 would be, as to all other matters, absolutely in his hands; that I would take any office or no office, just as suited him best; and that be should never be disturbed by any personal pretensions orjealousies on my

raIf everybody had acted thus, there would now have been a Liberal Ministry. ever, re wer, as I said, perhaps it is best as it is.

"I do not think that, if we had formed a Government, we should have enter- tained the question of paying the Roman Catholic priests of Ireland. I cannot answer for others; but I should have thought it positive insanity to stir the matter.

"I will send your petition to the Secretary of State for the Home Department as soon as it is clear that the Government is settled.

"Ever yours truly, T. B. MACAULAY. "J. F. Macfarlane, Esq., Edinburgh."

Parliament assembled on Tuesday—as represented by three Lords Commissioners and the officers of the Commons—in order to its further prorogation until Thursday the 22d January; then to meet for the des- patch of business. The Queen has appointed the Right Honourable Henry Goulburn to be one of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, in the room of the Right Honourable Sir Herbert Jenner Fust, resigned.

The Income-tax Commissioners have reversed their decision which ex- empted incomes consisting " solely" of voluntary contributions from the operation of the Income-tax. In an official communication, addressed to Mr. Robert Doaie, of Young Street, Edinburgh, dated the 15th December, it is stated that the Commissioners have reconsidered the subject, and are now of opinion that no exemption of the kind can be made. Tuesday's Gazette contained an order in Council, dated the 20th De- cember, extending to French vessels the same privilege of trading with the island of St. Helena as exists in the case of the British possessions in the West Indies and America.

The same Gazette notified to the officers and company of her Majesty's sloop Harlequin, that prize-money for the capture of the Spanish schooner Constanza is now payable.

The Morning Post publishes a strange correspondence carried on by Mr. Thomas Jefferson Hogg, a barrister well-known in some literary circles for his scholarship and wit, with the Premier. The correspondence also ap- pears in the Dublin Evening Mail. Mr. Hogg seems to have appealed to the two most violent of Sir Robert Peel's opponents in the press for leave to make his complaint public. We copy the letters as we find them.

"Temple, 20th July 1844.

" Sir—I shall be sorry to be obliged to make public, because, although it re- lates to public affairs, it is, in its nature, private, my correspondence with your- self, with the Lord President of the Council, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Lord Chancellor. The last having, as he states, obtained the permission of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, continued to write two or three notes to me every session, until a majority of 92 enabled you to turn your back upon your friends, and with many other good Conservatives of great respectability, but inferior note—with so many, indeed, that selection is difficult! "But are the remainder of my reports on municipal corporations, allow me to ask you, to remain unpublished for ever? Are my services in composing these voluminous reports to be always unpaid? Is no remuneration or recompense whatever to be awarded for my.vexations labours, and losses? Am I tamely to submit to slights and indignities which most certainly, I do not deserve, and which no honourable man ought to bear? Be pleased to consider these matters.

"I am, Sir, yours very respectfully, T. JEFFERSON HOGG. "To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel, Bait, &c."

" Whitehall, 25th duly 1844.

"Sir—I have received your letter of the 20th of July. You state that you shall be sorry to be obliged to make public a correspondence with myself and others which, although it relates to public affairs, is in its nature private. You proceed to ask, Is no remuneration or recompense whatever to be awarded for my labours, vexations, and losses?' and you desire me to consider this matter. I beg leave to inform you that I have considered it, and that my opinion is that you have re- ceived the amount of remuneration which is due to you. Your intimation, that you may be obliged to publish correspondence in its nature private, will have very little effect in inducing me to add to that remuneration. It you think fit to pub- lish any correspondence with me, (and I leave you at entire liberty to exercise your own discretion in that respect,) I must desire you will include in that publication your letter of the 20th of July, and this answer to it. "I am, Sir, vow obedient servant, ROBERT PEEL. -" T. J. Hogg, Esq."

" Temple, 27th July 1844.

" Sir—Your letter of the 25th of July pretends to be an answer to mine of the 20th: this it is not; it is merely unhandsome and improper. " I have never been paid one farthing for my reports; neither for those that were printed nor for the remainder which are still unprinted and in my hands. For seven months inquiry I was paid, at the appointed rate, 700 guineas; but for my. reports I have received nothing. Whereas, a Commissioner, who was engaged with me on the inquiry less than four months in all, had 9001.; for his reports, therefore, 5001.; and so with the rest. If this matter were referred, as it ought to be, to some impartial person acquainted with such services,—as one of the learned

Judges, for instance,—I would show him, in a quarter of an Lour, that the asser- tions which you have been instructed to make 'that I have received the amount

of remuneration which is due to me,' is utterl/false. Your informant knows that it is false; and you must suspect that it is, if you will not submit to the arbitii- ment of some respectable person, to be named by yourself, if you will. "But this is the least considerable part of my letter; you do not touch the more important matter. I ask you, first—' Are the remainder of my reports to remain unpublished for ever ? ' You are mute; so I must answer the question

myself, and say—' that I shall be sorry to be obliged to make public a correspond- ence with. yourself and others, which, although it relates to public affairs, is in its

nature private.' Nevertheless, I will, through a sense of duty, publish it at once, rather than permit my reports on Great Yarmouth, Saffron Walden, Sudbury, Colchester, Carnarvon, and other boroughs, on which no report has been made, to

be unlawfully suppressed. I was appointed a Commissioner under a commission issued by the Sovereign, at the requisition and petition of the House of commons; and was commanded to inquire and report I did inquire, and most diligently;

and I made my reports. The like reports have always been printed as of course,. and laid before Parliament There is no precedent for withholding such reports, and I will do my utmost not to furnish one; and it signifies nothing that the Mi- nistry have been changed. "Your Chancellor well knows this; for lie applied to Lord Melbourne, in public. and in private, again and again, for my reports. Parts were published in 1838: as to the remainder, Lord Melbourne did not venture to answer I will withhold them.' The last communication, made not long before his happy resignation, was only' I will consider of it.' You have just as much right, and no more, to suppress my

reports, as I have to enter the House of Commons when you are speaking, and to- order you to sit down and be silent. The Duke of Newcastle, the Earls of Har- rowby, of Winchilsea, and of Falmouth—Lords Wharncliffe, Lyndhurst, Skelmers- dale, and Ashbartou, and the Lord Bishop of Exeter, and very many other Peers, were permitted to ask for my reports, night after night, when the production of them might serve a turn. But now nobody dares to name them, because some turn is to be served by suppressing them. This will do very well when your new allies shall have put down the Queen, the Lords, and the Church, but not before. I also asked you, why I am to submit to slights and indignities which I do not deserve.' Your answer is money ! money !" what are slights and indignities, so• that a man fill his pockets !' Such is the tone of your letter, and the temper of your mind. You can see nothing in my letter but a demand for money. Nor can a worshiper of wealth discern any principle in opposing the rule that an unprin- cipled Administration shall reward their base tools but he who was honest in the worst times shall remain for ever unpaid. Fear not that, in the exercise of my discretion, I will suppress your letter of the 25th July, in which you address me as if I were a robber, because, in stating my determination to do my duty, I also ask for my own. You shall be gratified by the publication of it,if you still desire• it, and of these poor lines.

"I am, Sir, most respectfully your servant, T. JEFFERSON Hoc°. " To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel, Bart., &c."

It was mentioned at the Free-trade meeting held in Islington on Monday, that the Earl of Carlisle, the father of Lord Morpeth, is the only Peer now- living whose name appears appended to the Grenville "protest," which stands on the minutes of the House of Lords against the passing of the Corn-law of 1815.

The Earl of Duoie is said to have disposed of Woodchester Park, the family domain in Gloucestershire, to an opulent merchant, for 160,0001.

The Earl of Portarlington died suddenly on Wednesday, at his lodging in Kennington Road. He wee sixty-five years of age; and had seen much. military service. The late Earl dying without issue, the title devolves- upon his nephew, Mr. Henry John Reuben Dawson Darner.

Foreign adirices announce the death of John Simon Mayer or Mar, the celebrated composer; who expired at Bergamo, on the 2d December.. Mayer, the son of a Bavarian organist, was born in 1763, and was an ac- complished musician at a youthful age. His earlier compositions were for the church; then he wrote for the opera, until the successful rivalry of drove him back to sacred music. Among his operas are Lodoislar and Medea; his most famous pupil is Donizetti.

The Unitarians have lost a distinguished member of their persuasion in Mr. Robert Aspland, preacher at the Hackney Chapel In personal quali- ties and attainments Mr. Aspland was well fitted to obtain that esteem which amounted to more than mere pulpit-popularity, and which he had commanded from all who knew him for nearly half a century of active' public life.

Colonel Gurwood, the editor of the Wellington Dispatches, died by his own hand, on Saturday last. The termination of his great work had been followed by mental reaction; and his friends advised him to repair to Brighton, for change of scene. He accordingly went, as a visiter to Sir Henry Webster; afterwards he took lodgings, and was joined there by his wife and three daughters. Under medical treatment he rallied for a while; but prostration of mind succeeded; and on Saturday afternoon he was. found lifeless, a deep wound in his throat, and a razor firmly grasped in his right hand. The deceased had greatly distinguished himself throughout the Peninsular war; he acted as a staff-officer, and private secretary to the Duke of Wellington, at the battle .of Waterloo; where he was severely wounded. Latterly he held the office of Deputy-Lieutenant of the Tower, an appointment conferred upon him by the Duke of Wellington.

The Reverend Edgar Estoourt, M.A., of Exeter College, Oxford, was re- ceived a few days since into the Roman Catholic Church at Prior Park,, near Bath. Mr. Estcourt is nephew to the Member for Oxford University. —Morning Post.

In the Standard we find some statistics of " deaths among the aristocracy"; which we slightly compress.

The number of Peers who have died in the course of the year 1845 is larger than usual. The number in 1843 was 20; in 1844, 19; this year it has amounted to 28: 4 Marquises—Sligo, Westminster, Downshire, and Ely; 13 Earls—St- Germans, Effingham, Mornington, Romney, Egremont (extinct), Abergavenny, Stamford and Warrington, Dunmore, Grey, Spencer, Verularn, Belmore, and Port- arlington; 1 Viscount—Canterbury; and 10 Barons—Aston (extinct), Wynford, Carbery, Harris, Seaford (inherited by Baron Howard de Walden) Bateman,. Montague (extinct), Hartland (extinct), Stuart de Rothesay (extinct), and Wharncliffe. The ages ranged between 'forty-one years and eighty-two; the average duration of life was sixty-eight. The number of Baronets deceased in 1845 is 21—Sirs J. D. Colt, C. Mackenzie, J. G. Cotterell, T. F. Buxton, H. Oakley, J. Isham, H. J. Tichbome, G. H. W. Beaumont, W. S. Wiseman, A. R. Dillon, J. E. Honywood, F. Freeing, E. Barry, J. Mordsunt, W. W. Pepys (inherited by Lord Cottenham), C. Rowley, M. J. Tierney, W. Foul's, W. Reid, L Jones, and J. Chetwode. In 1844 the number was 29; in 1843 it was 31.

The following Members of the House of Commons have vacated their seats by death during the last year—Honourable Otway Cave, county of Tipperary; Co- lonel Rushbrooke, West Suffolk; Sir William Follett, Exeter; Joseph Somes, Dartmouth; Alexander Murray, Kirkcudbrightshire; Benjamin Wood, South- wark; Colonel Clive, Hereford; Peter Greenall, Wigan ; Sir John Mordaunt, South Warwickshire; John Ramsbottom, Windsor; John Irving, County of Antrim.

Mr. J. Rolls has, by an order from the Lords of the Treasury, been restored to his former situation of landing-waiter in her Majesty's Customs ; all arrears of salary, amounting to nearly 1,0001. are to be paid him; and he is to be promoted on the first vacancy. Mr. Rolls was dismissed nearly three years since by the Commissioners of Customs, for the alleged concealment of an overture made to him to defraud the revenue; but he has established his innocence to the satisfac- tion of the Lords of the Treasury,. and his restoration is the consequence. The Board refused to alter their determination, or, in other words, to do justice to an old and worthy officer, until compelled to do so by a higher and more honourable authority, the Lords of the Treasury.—Globe.

The last overland mail from India, which left Bombay on the 1st December, was received in London early on Tuesday morning, the 30th I The French Go- l vernment had made extraordinary efforts to show that the route by way of Mar- seilles and Paris is the shortest and best; a laudable attempt, that was tainted, according to the account in the Times, by a singular trait of meanness. "A steam-ship of the French navy was specially appointed to wait the arrival of the Indian mail at Alexandria; every means which could prevent delay were em- ployed; and so soon as the despatches had been put on board, the steamer cast off her moorings and steered a course direct for Marseilles. The steam-ship destined by the Admiralty for this service had to wait the arrival of the passengers, and to ship the cumbrous iron boxes in which the Indian mails are conveyed. She then sailed, not direct for Marseilles, but for Malta; and being, as all the English steamers employed on the Mediterranean packet-service, of inferior power and a dull sailer, she, as usual, made a long passage. At Malta she would probably be detained at least twenty-four hours, and would then proceed leisurely on her course for Marseilles. Her swift and unencumbered competitor, in the mean time, steer- ing directly for Marseilles, reached that port probably not much after the English vesser.found herself in Malta harbour; and every preparation having been made beforehand,. the despatches she brought were instantly fumigated by the quaran- tine authbrities, and delivered to the agents for whom they were addressed." It had been contended that the communication with India ought not to be left at the mercy of so'fickle an ally as France. Mr. Waghorn made his successful trip by way of Trieste; and the Times, followed by most of the other journals, expressed satisfaction that another route had been opened. The exceptions to that feeling were the Morning Herald and Standard. To punish us for the expression of this honest English feeling, M. Guizot, a few days since, informed our corres- pondent in Paris, that he was determined to exclude from any participation in the result of his. experiment, not only the Times, but every other journal that had ventured to applaud Mr. Waghorn. Could we have a more pregnant proof that England should not rely upon France alone as her line of communication with the East? Foi the'first time, therefore since October 1840, we have been anticipated in the publication of intelligence frOin India." And the Times borrowed the in- telligence from the Morning Herald.

The Fury, a new steam-frigate, was launched at Sheerness on Wednesday. The vessel is constructed on the design of the Surveyor of the Navy: it was built with unusual rapidity., the keel having been laid not earlier than May last. Her extreme length is 214 feet 6 inches; extreme breadth, (exclusive of paddle- boxes), 36 feet; depth in hold, 27 feet; burden in tons, 1,128 58-94.

An iron steam-frigate, named the Birkenhead, built under contract for the Royal Navy, was launched from the builder's yard, at North Birkenhead, on Tues- day. Her dimensions are spacious: length, 210 feet; extreme breadth, 6O feet; depth of hold, 23 feet; tonnage, 1,400. The engines will be of 560-horse power. Mr. Harrison, farmer, of St. Helen's, near Barnsley, has for some time past had his cows milked, in so mysterious a way that he never could discover the person. On Tuesday last, on going, into the farm-fold, he discovered two of his pigs, which are about sixteen weeks old, standing upon their hind-legs sucking the bag of one of the cows, which seemed to stand as comfortable as if one of the domestics had been performing the operation in a regular way.—Doncaster Chronicle.

A fine dish of white currants was gathered on Christmas-day in the garden of William Ford, Esq., Yeo, near Yealhampton.-- Western Luminary.

Sir Laurence Jones, who fell in an onslaught by brigands when travelling be 'tween Macri and Smyrna, as mentioned lately, was the eldest son of Sir John Thomas Jones, K.C.B., an officer of Engineers, well known for his gallantry.

The Directors of the Midland Railway have made a small provision for the family of Mr. Stubbs, the Police-officer of Leeds who was killed by injuries re- ceived in a late accident: the family are to have 15s. a week until the youngest child shall be ten years of age, and 10s. until the youngest child be fourteen.

The suspension-bridge joining St. Gilles to Croix-de-Vic, (Vendee,) constructed about ten years back, fell down on the 18th December,under the weight of a heavy waggon passing over it.

We regret to learn that the Pepin war-steamer has been lost on the coast of Mogador. Out of a hundred and fifty passengers on board, only seventy-six were .saved.—Galignani's Messenger.

A Dutch Indianian, on her voyage from Batavia to Amsterdam, was wrecked off Pevensey Head, shortly after midnight on Saturday; one more victim to the long-continued stormy weather, in which so many vessels and lives have been lost on the English coasts. Eighteen of the crew got on shore in a boat; but the remainder, the captain, the mate, and some thirteen or fourteen of the men, were 'exposed to the greatest sufferings during the night, and were not rescued till mid day on Sunday: on that day, the Eastbourne life-boat took them all off, except one poor fellow who was lashed to the rigging, and apparently dead.

The British Museum closed on Wednesday, and will not reopen till the 8th in- stant.