7 MARCH 1857, Page 9

ZiortIlautnno.

The Mayor and principal inhabitants of Preston recently presented an address to Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch, in the course of which they stated that they had not yet heard that the Commissioners had received any reward. In acknowledging this address, Sir John M'Neill remarked that the gentlemen did not seem to be aware that the Government had taken steps to mark their recognition of the services of the Commissioners; and he sent them a communication he had received front the Government, with his reply. These documents have been published in the newspapers, and they at once take rank among the curiosities of Crimean

literature.

Lard Pantnure to Sir John AP.11`eiii.

"War Office, Pall Mall, Feb. 20.

" Gentlemen—I have the honour to acquaint you that her Majesty's Government have decided to mark the services rendered by you in the discharge of your ditties in the Crimea by tendering to each of you the sum of 1000/.

"This grant is intended, not as a mere pecuniary equivalent for the results of your inquiries, but to convey, likewise, in a manner which appears to them most proper, the recognition by her Majesty's Government of the zeal and ability with which those inquiries were conducted, to which Lord Palmerston, in his place in Parlitunent, has already borne testimony.

"I have reason to believe that you have felt hurt by the omission made on my rut of the usual official acknowledgment of so important a document is the report laid by you before the Government. I at once admit the ground of this complaint, and express tuy personal regret that it should have existed, but the fact was that, having accepted the report from the hands of one of the Commissioners at a personal interview, without, so far as I can trace, any formal letter accompanying it. and my mind being much occupied by important affairs at the time, I omitted that formal acknowledgment of your services which courteay and my own opinion of their value required.

" With this explanation on my part, and tendering to you the thanks of her Majesty's Government and my own for your services in the discharge of an arduous

and important duty, I have the honour to be, &c. PANMURE. "Sir John 31'Neill and Colonel Tulloch, Ste."

Sir John JrNeill to Lord Pontoon..

"Greaten Ii0lISC, Edinburgh, Feb. 21.

"My Lord—This evening I had the honour to receive your Lordship'a letter of • the 20th instant, and I beg leave to assure you that it affords me great satisfaction Co be put in possession of a document containing an official acknowledgment of the services of that commission which I conducted to the Crimea two years ago. It is a source of still greater gratification to me to receive at the same time the thanks of her Majesty's Government and of your Lordship for the manner in which those services were conducted.

"I can readily conceive how the circumstances alluded to by your Lordship may

have accidentally led to the omission of the usual official acknowledgment of the report of the et ,, llllllllllllll at least until the 18th of April, when official intimation was conveyed by your directions to Colonel Tulloch, for the information of the Board at Chelsea, that there was no document at the War Department approving the report.

"Your Lordship informs me that her Majesty's Government have been pleased to grant me 1000L, and you add, ' thisgrant is intended, not as a mere pecuniary equivalent for the results of your inquiries, but to convey likewise, in the manner which appears to them most proper, the recognition by her Majesty's Government of the zeal and ability with which those inquiries were conducted, to which Lord Palmerston, in his place in Parliament, has already borne testimony.' "If I rightly understand this statement of the :grounds on which the grant is

tendered to me, it means that the sum of 1000/. is intended to be considered not merely as a recognition by her Majesty's Government of the manner in which the duty was performed, but likewise as the pecuniary equivalent of the results of the inquiry—that is, the money value of the advantages which the country has derived from those results.

"This estimate alone is sufficient to lead me, without further consideration, at

once to decline a proposal which, as explained by your 'Lordship, appears to me to involve the admission that the results of my labours have been as ineignificant as to be almost without appreciable value to the public. The thank, which your Lordchip has done me the honour to convey to me would have been far more acceptable if they had been unconnected with such an estimate. " Had it been considered expedient to adopt the course which Lord Palmerston seems to have believed was actually in progresa, I might perhaps have been spared the pain of formally declining what your Lordship has proposed, but the letter which I am now anewering is the first communication which I have received upon the subject. "Your Lordship is well aware that I have never sought to obtain for myself any reward or remuneration. Her Majesty's Government have, till now, apparently considered my services in the commission as gratuitous, and I am quite ready, as I have always been, so to consider theme; I shall be amply rewarded by the consciousness of having freely given them at a time of difficulty and anxiety to the Government and to the public, but I ani not prepared to forego that reward for any CM.. sideration the acceptance of which would be disparaging, or forfeit the good opinion of the country.

The Registrar-General's report of mortality in London shows a slow but constant decrease during the four weeks of February. The number of deaths last week-1216—was 27 below that of the previous week, and 47 below the corrected average.

The Earl of Clarendon entertained several of the Diplomatic Body at dinner on Saturday.

The Speaker's party on Saturday was a " coalition " in regard to the politics of the Members who dined with him. Among them were Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, and Mr. Gladstone.

The Queen of Spain has conferred the order of the Golden Fleece on the eldest son of the Emperor of Russia, and the cordon of Maria Louisa on the Empress of Russia.

The Queen of Naples gave birth to a son on the 28th of last month, at Caserta.

The fashionable journals give roseate accounts of a great Hebrew marriage, which took place on Wednesday at Gunnerebury Park, near Chiswick, the seat of Baron Lionel de Rothschild. The Baron's eldest daughter, Leonora, and Alphonse, the eldest son of Baron James de Rothschild of Paris, were married according to the Jewish rites, by Dr. Adler, the Chief Rabbi. The rooms were decorated with costly taste the bridal presents, gold, silver, china, and precious stones, were piled in heaps on many tables, in quantity sufficient "to stock an Eastern bazaar." Among those present were the Count and Countess de Persipy, the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, the Duke and Duchess of Wellington, Lord and Lady Lyndhurst, Lord and Lady John Russell, Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli, and Mr. Ralph Osborne.

Mr. Sergeant Wilkins sank under his long and painful illness on Tuesday morning.

The Honourable and Very Reverend Charles R. Pakenham, otherwise "Father Paul Mary" of the order of the Passionists, died suddenly on Sunday last, at Dublin. Mr. Pakenham was a son of the late Earl of Longford ; he was formerly an officer of the Guards; he became a Roman Catholic, left the Army, joined the order of the Paisnonists, and was appointed a rector of one of the "retreats" of the order.

Dr. Kane the Arctic aavigator, was considered to be at the point of death when the last advises left Havamiah, on the 13th February.Dr. Rana is only thirty-four years of age : the disease that prostrated him was of a scrofulous kind, arising from scurvy and exposure during his Northern explorations.

The Reverend G. R. Gleig has ceased to be the Inspector and becomes the Director of MilitarySchools : this does not in his moving about the country. The appointment of Inspector is to be conferred on a Colonel in the Army.

The Government have assigned apartments in Great George Street to the British Portrait Gallery Trustees. Mr. W. H. Carpenter has undertaken the duties of secretary pro tem.

Paris is shortly to have two Mohammedan professors' chairs. The Turkish Government is going to send there two of its most distinguished scholars —Hussein Efendi and Suleiman Efendi, who intend to lecture publicly, the first on the Arabian and Persian languages for Mohammedans, and the latter on the Turkish language for Christians. Similar chairs, it is said, will be established by order of the Sultan at London, Vienna, and Brussels.

The Coroner's inquest at New York on the body of Dr. Burdell ended with a verdict of" Wilful murder" against Mrs. Cunningham, the lodger, who, by a false marriage, had arranged to figure as his widow, and Eckel, her parumour; while Snodgrass, another lodger, was declared an accessory after the fact, The marriage of Cunningham with a man who personated Dr. Burden has attracted attention to the lax state of the marriage-law in New York State.

The directors of the Docks Napol6on, and M. Berryer the Government commissioner appointed to cheek the company, were put on their trial at Paris on the 26th February. The matter is still pending. Among the charges against the directors are those of misapplying shares—selling 42,176 on the Bourse, illegally transferring 32,000 to Fox and Henderson—and lending money to each other. The charge against Berryer is that he received an illegal salary of 16,000 francs, instead of the legal salary of 5000.

The publisher of L' Armonia, at Turin, has been convicted of a libel on the personal character of the King of Sardinia, and sentenced to a fine of 2000 lire and three months' imprisonment.