Iftisttllaneous.
A deputation on the subject of Maynooth waited on Sir Robert Peel, on Wed- nesday. It consisted of several clergymen, Dissenting ministers, and laymen. In a letter which appears as an advertisement in the papers, Sir Culling Eardley Smith states the result of this interview, and also of one with Lord John Russell. He avows himself conscious of incapacity; but time presses—the Protestant religion is at stake—and " with all my consciousness of incapacity, aggravated as that is tonight by a wearied body and an aching head, I must at once throw myself npon my countrymen for sympathy." The deputation consisted of clergymen and laymen of various denominations. They that waited on the Premier. " It was by them stated to Sir Robert Peel, that petitions in great numbers are coming up to London against the endowment of Maynooth; and a calculation was submitted to him of their probable minimum amount. The Wesleyan Methodists, with the several less numerous Methodist sections, were
estimated as having 4,700 co ations; the Independents, 2,550; the Baptists, 1,713; the Free Church and 'on Communities in Scotland, about 1,200;
tasking a total of 10163." This calculation does not include the Calvinistic Methodist body in Wale; nor the Presbyterians in Ireland. " Of the above 10,163 congregations we cannot but entertain the hope that nearly all will petition; but we feel persuaded that at all events 50 per cent will be a low calculation. To this amount must be added the parochial and municipal petitions of the Three King- doms, which are coming in by every post in numbers which we have no means of estimating." " Sir R. Peel doggedly adhered to his purpose of proceeding to the second reading; and it was evident to us that his object in so doing was to avoid the influence which the continued expression of public opinion would in- fallibly produce on the House of Commons. We were then shut up to the necessity of waiting on Lord John Russell; who, as the leader of the professing to entertain special respect for the opinions of the people, we ho
whatever his views might be of the measure itself, would not lend ' to stifle the expression of the public mind. But in this we were unhappily disap- ted. The statesman who carried the Reform Bill by popular agitation, we
deplores that the Whig leaders did not adhere to their determination of dividing d prepared totally disregard the expression of public opinion." Sir Culling
the House on Mr. W 's motion. "Now, our only hope, under God, is in an uni- versal agitation." "I am convinced that I may say on behalf of the Committee over which I have the honour to preside, that they will continue to the last to employ all the means which the constitution will permit, not excepting the most urgent personal appeals to our beloved Queen, in order to avert the establishment of that religion which her Majesty declared at her accession to the throne to be ' idolatrous and superstitious.'
There is a rumour that Mr. Fitzroy, the lately appointed Lord of the Admi- ralty, and Captain Meynell, Groom in Waiting to her Majesty, have been dis- missed from their situations for absenting themselves from the division on the Maynooth endowment measure. Sir Robert Peel's majority was 102: 110 Mem- bers of Opposition voted in his majority; so that, without the support of Liberal Members, he would have been left in a minority of 8. It is supposed. that Sir Ro- bert Peel's son-in-law, Lord Villiers, will be Captain Meynell's successor.— ..Morning Chronicle. It will be seen that Sir Robert Peel has contradicted the
rumour."] The Ministerial declaration respecting the Oregon created great activity in the Liverpool cotton-market on Saturdaythunoon; and an advance, of price, from ene.esg„hth of a penny to one farthing a pound, was the result; though before the arrival of the news the market had been quite stagnant.
Since the arrival of the Due De Broglie, a number of English and French naval officers who have had experience on the coast of Africa have been examined several times before his Grace and Dr. Lushington, in Downing Street. Cordial good feeling exists between the French and English officers. Captain Bonet and his friends were entertained at dinner, at Lovegrove's, Blackwell, by Captain Trotter and his brother officers, on Monday.
The Captain-General of Cuba has issued a proclamation ordering all vessels arriving at the ports in that island with slaves on board to be confiscated.
A correspondence has been published between the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Secretaries of the National Association. of Gene- ral Practitioners. The Association pat these queries. " 1. Is the Council of the College prepared to reconsider their charter, and to place those members who were in practice before it was granted on a level with the Fellows 2. Is the Council of the College disposed to admit to its board a fair representation of the members of the College in general practice? 3. Would the Council of the College be willing to cooperate with the National Association in the formation of a Court of Examiners in medicine, surgery, and midwifery ? And as a further duty has now devolved upon the Committee, by a resolution of the general meeting 'to use every practicable means to obtain a charter of incorporation for the general practitioners, they are desirous to ascertain how far, and in what manner, the Council of the. College of Surgeons may be disposed to assist the National Association in the attainment of its object." To the three former questions, the Council replyin the negative. The principle on which they rest their refusal is thus stated—" The great ma- jority.of the members of this College are less engaged in the practice of surgery than in that of medicine, midwifery, and pharmacy; and many of them have arrived at well-deserved eminence in these latter departments of the medical pro- fession. But the Council, keeping in view the objects for which the College was especially established, have felt it their duty, in the nomination of Fellows, to re gard chiefly the qualifications of members as practitioners in surgery, or as im- provers of those sciences which tend to its advancement." " It will scarcely be doubted that the greater number of those who conjoin with the practice of surgery that of medicine, pharmacy, and midwifery, from the multifarious nature of their pursuits, and from the unceasing demand upon their time and attention in their laborious and responsible avocations, will probably want the opportunities and in- ducements which are required for the special cultivation of surgery, and will scarcely be found to possess the qualifications for regulating the, education of surgeons, and for promoting the great public objects for which the College was founded." The several propositions are argued at considerable length. " With regard to the proposed incorporation of the general practitioners as a separate bbooddy or college, the Council have as little the wish as the power to prevent them from obtaining a charter; and would offer no objection to the incorporation of a body for the performance of the functions hitherto executed by the Society. of Apothecaries; but they cannot " hold out any hope of cooperation with the National Association in a plan for instituting a corporation which would super- sede the defined and recognized functions of the existing College of Surgeons."
Tuesday's Gazette stated that the Queen-Dowager has appointed Mr. Sergeant Henry Alworth Merewether to be her Attorney-General; the Honourable James Stuart Wortley to be her Solicitor-General; and the Reverend George Towiishend Hudson to be one of her Domestic Chaplains. At a Court of East India Directors, on Wednesday, the thanks of the Court were voted unanimously to Mr. J. Shepherd, Chairman, and Sir H. Willock, De- puty-Chairman, for their great application and attention to the affairs of the Company during the past year. A ballot was also taken for the election of six Directors in the room of those going out by rotation: the choice fell on Major- General Sir J. L.Lushington Mr. George Lyall, MP., Mr. E. Macnaghten, J. P. Muspratt, Mr. M. T. Smith, and Mr. W. Wigram. Several persons have been named as candidates for the representation of Green- ock—Captain Houston Stewart, Mr. Bruce of Kennet, Mr. Alexander Dunlop, Sir Henry Pottinger, and Mr. Walter Baine; but the last is regarded as the only candidate in the field. He has come forward as a thorough Free-trader. The nomination is to take place on Tuesday next,
Trials have recently been instituted by the Admiralty to test the comparative advantages of the paddle-wheel and screw-propeller for steam-vessels; the con- test lying between the Rattler, fitted with the screw, and the Alecto, with pad- dles. The Rattler uniformly beat, in races both in fair and foul weather ; but the most conclusive proof as to the superiority of the screw was given when, the vessels being fastened to each other with.their heads in opposite directions, the Rattler towed the Alecto, in spite of all tier attempts to ran away astern,, lathe rate of two miles and a half 'an hour.
The recent sale of Mr. Foljambe's hi-hounds by Messrs. Tattersall realized about 8,6001.! One lot of five couples was sold for 390 guineas, and another of four couples and a half 480 guineas.
While riding throughKensington, on Saturday, Prince Albert dropped a bunch of keys, belonging to his jewel-boxes and other cases. A reward of 201. was offered; and it fell to the lot of a poor man with a family, who picked up the keys, and took them to Buckingham Palace.
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