Zionlinurons.

Parliament was formally prorogued on Thursday by commission. Our readers may remember that the day fixed for its meeting is the 24th of January, 1860.

Some important changes in the staff of the army of India are about to be made. Lord Clyde, as is well known, is about to return to England, to enjoy his well-earned repose. Sir Henry Somerset has completed his period of service as Commander-in-Chief of the troops in the Bombay Presidency, and Generals Beresford and Cragief about

resigning their divisional commands in the Madras Presiff for a similar reason. It is already settled that Sir Hugh Rose sue, .s Lord Clyde in the chief command, and that Sir William MansfieN becomes Commander-in-Chief at Bombay, in the room of Sir Henry Somerset, the office of chief of the staff being abolished. It is also probable that Major-General Malcolm, C.B. and Major-General Spencer, C.B., will succeed Major-Generals Beresiord and Cragie in the Madras commands, and that Major-General Cunynghame, C.B., will proceed to t- Bombay command now held by Sir Hugh Rose.—Globe.

The ratifications of the treaty between France and Japan were ex- changed on the 22d of September in the palace of the Tycoon at Jeddo. The French Consul-General, M. de Belleeourt, acted for France ; the Abbe Girard being interpreter. The priest was attired in full canoni- cals, and the French boast that "Providence thus reserved to the glorious reign of the Emperor Napoleon III., and to exclusive French action, the solemn reinstallation on the Japanese soil of that religion of which the ministers apostles, and adherents were hitherto doomed by the laws of the country to certain death."

A letter from Lord St. Leonards on strikes and combination laws was published in the Times of Wednesday. The object of the letter was to set forth a plan of compromise which we have discussed at length in another column.

Sir John S. Trelawny has supplied the Times with a digest of the blue-book on church-rates published in 1861. It is a counter-statement to that of Sir John Coleridge based on facts. The reader will find it in the Times of December 14.

The Spring commencements at Dublin University were held on Thursday, when an honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Captain 'McClintock, R.N., and Mr. James Whiteside, M.P.

Mr. Long, the Police Magistrate, is about to retire. The following transfers will then take place. Mr. Hammill will be transferred from Worship Street to Marylebone Police Court ; Mr. John Smith Mansfield, Stipendiary Magistrate at Liverpool, will succeed Mr. Ilammill.

The vitality of the Volunteer movement is shown in the large space which the Thnes devotes to a record of meetings in towns, villages, hamlets, held to establish corps. The details, however, are pretty nearly the same. Public spirit is general and the exceptions are few, where folly, as at Rochdale, and jealousy, as at Newport, prevent the establish- ment of companies and battalions. Many firms, like Armstrong and Co., Jackson and Co., Hanbury and Co., have determined to arm as well as clothe their men. The great towns are proving that peace party senti- ment has not destroyed their sense of duty, and the metropolis has shown that it will not be beaten in the honourable competition.

In consequence of numerous applications to the War Office for advice as to the proper uniform for volunteer corps, &c. in course of formation, a committee has been appointed, and is about be assembled at the War Office, Pall Mall, to consider the question of rifle volunteer uni- forms, and to report to the Secretary of State for War upon the colour and pattern which shall be recommended for general adoption by those rifle volunteer corps who have not yet selected their uniform.

When decided upon, a sealed pattern of the clothing so reoommended will be deposited with the Volunteer Branch, War Office, Pall Mall, for general guidance in such matters.

In our notice last week of the agricultural implements exhibited in Baker Street, our reporter stated that Baniard's Reaping-Machine was manufactured by Burgess and Key. This is an error. The machine he referred to was McCormick's and not Barnard's.

Mr. Sleigh, the barrister, has given publicity to the following letter which he has received. It enclosed 38. in postage stamps for Mrs. Sarah Dyer, and came from men who did not give their names or addresses. It is a curiosity-

" the 8th of deer 1859.

"Sir,—We hopes u wil hexuse the lebirti of sending to u a days pay for that poor women has u defended tother day Sara Dier i think was her name and wick tuched the judge heart and let her oph we are Berri we cant scribe more but if hour men nue more about it i floe they wood scribe a good deel hoping u wil hescus al mistakes has the pen aint a good on and we describe hour- selves has tru witeshera Joe wants me to write a line and to begin with n i dent floe wet it meens he sais it stands for nue balee, but i nos that is rong has it was the old bales were the case corn oph. Bill Baia we are to drinke yourn and the gudyes golle good helth with a pot of the beet ale has is brood not far from ere called the brighten tiper."

Mrs. Dyer has written the following creditable letter to the Times.

"Sir,—Deeply impressed with gratitude towards those who so kindly and benevolently looked with commiseration and charity upon me and the humiliating position in which I had placed myself by the act I had commit- ted, I think it due to those who were indebted to me, as well as to those who, with Christian charity, interested themselves in my behalf to state that I have received 34/. 17s. M., all the 'moneys due to me; and, therefore I consider it a duty I owe to myself, and to those who may need assistance more than myself, in thanking the good and charitable who have volunteered pecuniary aid, to decline receiving further assistance by way of-money. I feel that I have erred, and my solace will be, by future industry and repentance, to make amends, if possible, for my act of wrong. "It is with pleasure I can state that, with the exception of two, all those who have previously employed me have promised, and will give me .their support in future • some having called, and others written me to that effect. I cannot close without expressing, with heartfelt sincerity, my ever grateful remembrance of the benevolent commiseration of my unfortunate case by the humane judge, the kind charity evinced by Messrs. Shoolbred and Co., as well as the counsel engaged, Mr. Sleigh and Mr. Orridge. To /tr. Trussler and the ten gentlemen who appeared in Court, and were ready to give me a character as to my conduct during eleven years previous to my unfortunate crime, I also tender thanks.

"Trusting that my future conduct may in some degree prove me not un- worthy of the great sympathy which has been evinced towards me by the Court, the jury, the press, the Royal Benevolent Society, and the public generally, "I am, your obliged in humiliation and humbleness,

oc SARAH D1118." On Saturday evening last a public meeting was held in the Mechanics' Institute, Besses-o'-th'-Barn, for an expression of opinion respecting the stoppage of footpaths in the neighbourhood of Unsworth by the agent of the Earl of Derby. Four persons have been served with writs for tres- pass, and it is expected that the cases will be heard at the Liverpool Assizes in March next. Resolutions were carried unanimously, pledging the meeting to support the committee in maintaining the public right of the ancient footpaths in the neighbourhood, and a sub-committee was appointed to collect subscriptions in aid of a defence fund.—Manchester Guardian.

Prince Alfred arrived at Corfu in the Euryalus on the 5th of December. He landed and was received by the Ionian Governor, Commander-in-Chief, and other officials, and warmly cheered by the crowd. At night there was an illumination.

The so-called Grand Duke Ferdinand IV. of Tuscany has passed through Basle, en route to France.

The Chevalier de Jocteau has been named Sardinian Minister at Vienna. Count Pourtales, the Prussian Ambassador in Paris, has left that city for Berlin. He was summoned by a telegram.

The ifoniteur of Wednesday announced that at Rome, on November 26, was celebrated the marriage of Prince Napoleon-Gregoire Bonaparte, son of their Highnesses Prince Charles Bonaparte and Princess Zenaide Bona- with the Princess Christina Ruspoli, daughter of his Excellency Prince Ruspoli, Prince of Cervitri.

The Queen has appointed Mr. George Edward Adams to the office of Rouge Dragon Pursuivant of Arms, vacant by the promotion of Mr. Dendy-.

Sir Henry Singer Keating, the Solicitor-General, has been appointed to the puisne judgeship of the Common Pleas, vacant by the death of Mr. Justice Crowder. Mr. Atherton has been appointed Solicitor-General in the place of Sir Henry Keating.

The Irish papers announce the death of Mr. Terence Dolan Clerk of the Crown for Tyrone which took place suddenly on Monday. The vacant post is said to be wort]; upwards of 700/. per annum.

Mr. David Fitzgerald has been appointed to succeed Mr. Dolan. Mr. Fitzgerald is the brother of the Irish Attorney-General.

The Queen has granted a pension of 150/. a year out of thecivil list pensions to the daughters of Frederick Cort, whose inventions in the manufacture of iron have contributed so much to the prosperity of the trade, while his family have been left in deep distress.

The Queen has also been pleased to grant a pension on the civil list of 1251. a year to the sisters of the late Dr. Dionysius Lardner, whose contri- butions to science are so well known.

When the Queen visited Penrhyn Castle, the members of the Penrhyn Choral Society sang before the royal family. The Queen was so pleased with the efforts of the choristers that she has presented a silver cup to the Society through the Honourable Mr. Pennant, of Penrhyn Castle.

Cardinal Wiseman has gone to Rome, leaving behind him as a delegate and deputy, Dr. Hearn, now Vicar General. It is said that Dr. Wiseman's health requires a prolonged stay in the "sweet south." Perhaps the state of Pio Nono's health has something to do with the decision.

The Perseveranza of Milan says it is authorized to declare that a current story of Garibaldi's marriage, given by the Milan Gazette, is false and al- together without foundation.

M. de Lamartine's paternal estate of Monceaux, near Macon, is adver- tised for sale by auction at the Chamber of Notaries in Paris on February 7. The upset price is fixed at 1,000,000 fr. (40,0001.)

Sir James Macaulay, late Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Upper Canada, died very suddenly on Saturday last. In the morning he attended a meetin., of Convocation in Osgoade Hall, where he was reelected Treasurer of the few Society. During the proceedings he felt unwell, left in a cab, and almost immediately after reaching his residence, expired, the immediate cause of his death being disease of the heart. —Letter from Toronto, November 28.

The Milan Gazette states that the body of the Marquis de Lajatico is to be entombed in the Church of Santa Croce, the Italian Pantheon at Florence.

Details of the great trial at Tours have at length arrived. Vietorine and Angeline Lemoine were charged with the murder of the lattei's new-born child at Chinon. The age of the girl is only sixteen, and she resided with her mother. Madame Lemoine was of good family, but in 1835 she married a man of lower rank than herself, and without fortune, though she herself then, and at the time of the alleged crime, was possessed of a large property. Angeline was the offspring of this union ; but in 1851 Madame Lemoine, who had not lived happily with her husband, obtained a legal separation, and from that time the care of Angeline and of a younger child—a boy— devolved upon her. The young lady was kept at home, but, it would seem, was almost entirely neglected by her mother, who allowed her to go out alone, to visit workshops in the town, and to associate on terms of undue familiarity with the servants. Angeline also displayed a taste for novels of the kind for which modern France is so .justly notorious, Before she had reached the age of fifteen the boldness of her manner had become the sub- ject of remark. The consequences might have been foreseen. She formed a connexion with a young man named Fetis, her mother's coachman, and be- came pregnant. The man seems to have had an eye to his own interest, for when he had seduced this child of fifteen he told his Mends that his for- tune was made, and that Madame Lemoine would be obliged to consent to his marriage with Angeline. He even discontinued taking lessons on the violin, on the ground that a knowledge of music would be unnecessary for a man in his high position. On the 29th of January last Fells acquainted the mother with the fact of her daughter being with child, and demanded the girl's hand. Madame Lemoine hereupon, far from consenting, ,paid him his wages and discharged him, together with Louise, the cook. It is alleged that from that time Madame Lemoine determined to get rid of the child, and that An- geline knew this, and informed the coachman of it. Angeline, who, it seems, stated thus much on her first examination, afterwards qualified it by saying that she understood her mother only to mean that she would take care that the infant should be sent away. However this may be, on the 29th of July the girl was delivered of a child by her mother, without any other attendant, and the body of this child, whether dead or alive, was burnt by Madame Lemoine at a large wood fire in the room. Portions of the skull were found, and the fact admitted by both prisoners ; so that the only ques- tion for the jury as regarded the mother was whether the child had been born alive, and, as regarded the daughter, whether, the child being born alive, she abetted the mother in distroying it. The Gurt found the mother guilty and acquitted the daughter. The criminal, sentenced to hard labour for twenty years, has appealed to the Court of Caseation. •

A lgtter from St. Petersburg of the 3d instant mentions that Count Mourawieff-Amorski, Governor-Geueral of Siberia, has paid a visit to Jeddo, the capital of Japan, with a squadron composed of twelve vessels of the Russian Imperial navy—viz., the frigate Aakold, bearing the Governor's flag ; the corvettes Rinds, Gridene, Waiewada, Nowik, Baiarine ; clippers Plastonne, Djignitte, Opzitchnik ; transports Yaponez, Wostok ; and the steam corvette Amerika. It is added, that so large a foreign fleet was never before seen at the capital of Japan, and that it produced a profound sensa- tion there.

Prince Milosch of Servia has just promulgated a very singular law for the suppression of usury ; it enacts that a debtor who has given an ac- knowledgment for a usurious debt, may appear before an arch-priest in a church, and declare solemnly on oath the sum he really owes ; whereupon, if his statement shall turn out to be true, he shall pay that sum, and no more, but with an interest of twelve per cent

The new Federal law against enlistments for foreign service has just been applied for the first time m the Canton of Berne. The tribunal of the dis- trict has condemned a man named Bichsel, formerly a sergeant In the Nea- politan service, to one month's imprisonment, 100 francs fine, and privation of civic rights during a period of one year, for having recruited men for Naples and Holland. A man named Moser has also been arrested in the district of Menden, on a charge of recruiting for the Neapolitan service. There were found on him 900 francs in gold, and several letters compro- mising officers in the Neapolitan army.

A proposition has been made to build a huge hotel at London Bridge, in imitation of the Paddington establishment, for the recommendation of tra- vellers by the South-Eastern and Brighton railways.

The published returns of the Registrar-General's office enabled us to com- pile for our last month's report a statement of the numbers of the population of Victoria on the 30th of June last. The totals were—males, 330,212; females, 187,154; total, 517,366.—Australian Mail.

The Nile, 90, has met with a great mishap. She was ordered to Halifax, but when she reached the Bank of Newfoundland she was so disabled that her Captain, Wilmot, resolved to put back for repairs. Her rudder was damaged so as to be almost useless. She put into Cork, and her rudder being temporarily secured, she steamed off for Plymouth. "On Wednesday week accordingly she steamed out, but during the night was exposed to the fury of the gale which, amounting almost to a hurricane, then raged. The iron bands which were put to secure the rudder burst, and the vessel could not by any means be got to wear. The storm blew right against her, and she was driven within nine miles of the shore at Bantry, so close that the breakers could be plainly heard lashing the rocks, and at one time, on a oast of the lead being taken, there were only seven feet of water under her keel. Sixteen fires were lighted, all steam was got up, and every effort was made to force the ship against the wind. This was so far successful that she was kept from running ashore, but on account of the disabled state of the rudder, she could not be worked up to her destination, but drifted away into the Atlantic Ocean. After running in this hopeless way until noon on Friday, it was resolved to put the vessel about and make for Cork harbour. This was accordingly carried into effect, but so far had the ship been driven that, notwithstanding steam being used and all sails set, with a fine breeze aft, it was Sunday morning before she made this harbour, and she went into Bal- lycotton Bay before she could be got to wear. From the time the vessel left Cork until her return she did not make thirty miles on her proper course, and for some time on Wednesday night so fearfully did she roll and so much water went down her hatches that it was nearly five feet high on the lower deck. Nothing but the unflinching gallantry of the Captain and steadfast devotion of the crew could have saved the vessel during the night of Wednesday, which was really dreadful. During the whole of this period Captain Wilmot never left the poop, and this may be said of the two former gales the vessel encountered, when he exhibited the same watchfulness over his charge. On those occasions his humanity to the men was as much re- marked as his cool, calm courage. At one time some of the crew were or- dered by one of the officers to go aloft and cut away a torn sail which was flapping about, but the Captain forbade their doing so, it being a meat peril- ous act in that fearful weather, declaring that not a man should be endan- gered if he could prevent it. Many acts of the same thoughtful kind have been narrated by the men, with whom he is evidently a great favourite." Captain Wilmot has been appointed to the Sanspareil 70, and the crew of the Nile will be turned over to her.