iftistellanto US.
The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to be passed under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, granting unto his Royal Highness Adolphus Frederick Duke of Cambridge, K.G., the office of Warden and Keeper of New Forest, in the county of Southampton, in the room of the Right Honourable William Sturges Bourne, deceased.—Londoes Gazette, Feb. 25.
The Queenhas been pleased to constitute and appoint the Right Honourable Sir James Parke, Knight, Sir Edward Hall Alderson, Knight, Sir John Taylor Coleridge, Knight, the Honourable James Stuart Wortley, Fitzroy Kelly, Esq., William Whateley, Esq., John Greenwood, Esq., Sir William Heathcote, Bart., Edmund Denison, Esq., and Thomas Grimstou Bucknall Estcourt, Esq., to be her Majesty's Commissioners for inquiring into the expediency of altering the Circuits of the Judges in England and Wales.—Ident.
Colonel Bowles, first Aide-de-camp to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and Controller of the Household, is about to retire immediately, having received the appointment of Master of her Majesty's Household, in the room of the Honinuable Charles Murray.—Times.
The Honourable Charles Augustus Murray, Secretary of Legation, left town to tanbark for Naples, on Thursday.
The Earl of Mornington's long illness has at length terminated in death : he died on Saturday evening, at his house in Grosvenor Square. The Countess was by his side, with Lord and Lady Fitzroy Somerset. The Duke of Wellington, who had been at his brother's house all the afternoon, had not long returned to Apsley House. The Earl was born in May 1763, being second son of the late Earl of Momington. His family name had undergone some curious transmuta- tions. Originally it was Cowley or Colley; but his grandfather took the name of Wesley; and after the birth of -William, the Earl just deceased, the more ancient form of that name, Wellesley, was adopted. Another branch of the Cowley family had taken the name of Pole; and on the death of Mr. William Pole of Ballyfm, William Wellesley succeeded to his property, and took the name of Pole in addi- tion to his own. In 1784, Mr. Wellesley married Catherine Elizabeth, daughter of Admiral Forbes; who survives. Mr. Wellesley represented Queen's County in Parliament for more than twenty years; and soon after his entrance into public life, he was appointed, in 1802, Clerk of the Ordnance. He was afterwards Sewo- tary for Ireland, and Chancellor of the Exchequer in that country. In 1815, under Lord Liverpool, he was Master of the Mint. In 1821, he was raised to the British Peerage as Baron Maryborough. In 1828, under the Duke of Wellington, he was Master of the I3uckhounds; and under Sir Robert Peel, in 1835, Post- master-General. He never attained any striking success as a politician; and latterly lie took so inactive a part that be had very rarely addressed the House of Lords. In 1848, on the death of his elder brother, the Marquis of Wellesley, imeith irhoir. the Marquisate expired,) Lord Maryborough succeeded to the Earls of Afornington. Be was a Privy Councillor, Costes Rotulorum of Queen's aunty, Constable of Maryborough Castle, and Knight Grand Cross of the Royal
Hanoverian Guelphic Order. He leaves four children. His eldest son, William Pole Wellesley, who succeeds to the Earldom, was born in June 1788. He married in 1812, Catherine, eldest daughter of Sir Janus Tylney Long; assuming those names before his own surname. That lady died in 1825; and in 1828, Mr. Long Wellesley married Helena, widow of Mr. Edward Bligh. By his first mar- riage he had two sons and a daughter; by the second, several daughters. The other children of the late Earl are Lady Mary Charlotte Anne, widow of the late Sir Charles Begot; Lady Emily Harriet, married to Lord Fitzroy Somerset; and Lady Priscilla Anne, married to the Earl of Westmoreland.
Among the aged public men who have just leen carried off by the protracted hard weather, none will be more regretted than the Reverend Sydney Smith; whose wit was somewhat too vivacious for the dull decorum of ecclesiastical etiquettes, though its brilliancy did not conceal sterling worth and benevolence. S dney Smith, scion of a Devonshire family, was born in 1768, at Woodford, in Ile was educated at Winchester School, and in New College, Oxford; where, in 1790, he obtained a fellowship, and, in 1796, the degree at M.A. Having been appointed to the cure of Netheravon, near Amesbury, he became tutor to the son of Mr. Hicks Beach; with whom he resided for some years in Edinburgh. 'While there, he officiated at the Episcopal Chapel: but the most notable result of his sojourn was the Edinburgh Renew, established at his suggestion, and first edited by him. In 1803, he came to London; and married the daughter of Mr. Pybus the banker. His preaching attracted full and fashionable audiences to the Foundling Hospital, the Berkeley and Fitzroy Chapels. The Whig Ministry of 1806 conferred upon him the hying of Frostonin, in Yorkshire; and on the expulsion of his patrons by the "No-Popery." cry appeared his celebrated Letters of Peter Plgmley to his Brother Abraham in the C c tot try,— in-in ort al specimens of sparkling wit and forcible logic. In 1829, Mr. Smith received the rectory of Combo Florey in Somersetshire, valued at 3001.2 year; and in 1831, under the Ministry of Lord Grey, he became one of the Canons Residentiary of St. Paul's Cathedral An interesting writer in the Times gives a masterly review of the career of the Liberal wit. "In everything which be attempted he appears to have been eminently successful. At college, he graduated with honour, and obtained a fel- leveship. He projected and contributed to a review, which has enjoyed the highest degree of prosperity; he attempted an ambitious style of preaching, with a vigour of talent which distanced all rivalry; he became a public lecturer, and the whole world of Mayfair flocked to Albemarle Street to enjoy his humour and become enlightened by his researches; be published political works, which have gone through editions so numerous that as many as twenty thousand copies of some have been sold; he lived long enough to enjoy his reputation, and to attain to a greater age than falls to the lot of ordinary mortals; and yet those who appreciate wit, who can admire learning, and who honour the man that used both for the good of his species, will be disposed to think that, old as Sydney Smith was, he died too soon. When a person of high intellectual power is removed frost this life, the place which he occupied is never again really filled. One public func- tionary may succeed to another, one professional man may discharge the duties which for a long time devolved upon his predecessor; as generation follows gene- ration in the ordinary course of human life, one man fills the place that another had occupied: but, such is the quality of genius—so perfect is its individuality, so peculiar its attributes—that it is 'itself alone,' and the void which its removal occasions must long continue to be perceptible. In no case has this truth been more generally acknowledged than in that of Sydney Smith. • * * The conversational witticisms of Sydney Smith would fill a jest-book; but his character will be estimated by posterity on far higher grounds. When his quips and cranks' are lost and forgotten, it will be remembered that he supported Roman Catholic claims, and that they were conceded; that he strenuously assailed the Game laws, and that they underwent great modification; that he corntelled a large portion of the public to acknowledge the mischief of our penal settlements; that he became the advocate of the wretched chimney-sweepers, and their miseries were alleviated; that he contended against many of the unjust provisions of the Church Reform Bill, and they were amended; that whereas, before his time, a man accused at the bar of a criminal court might be hanged before he had been half heard, now every prisoner has the benefit of a defence by counsel. It will further be freely acknowledged, that no public writer was more successful than he in denouncing a political humbug, or demolishing a literary pretender; that he was on the whole an upright and a benevolent man; and, as the world goes, a disinterested politician; that he had opportunities of improving his fortune which be nobly rejected; and that, having lived with unostentatious respectability,' he died without accumulating wealth."
By a Liverpool paper it appears that the following notice was posted in the Exchange of that town by a respectable mercantile firm on Saturday last- " Downing Street, Slat February. I am directed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to acquaint you, that all gdods In bonded warehouses which have not paid duty will only pay, on delivery from ware- house, such duty as the article may be subject to at the time of delivery.
The reduction of duty, therefore, will have a retrospective effect as to articles now imported and in bond.
The Mauricien reports that the French have taken possession of the island of St. Paul.
At the Paris Academy of Sciences, last week, M. Magendie read the report of a Committee on an artificial arm, invented by M. Van Petersen, a Dutch sculptor, and presented by him to the Academy. The report was highly favourable to the ingemotui and benevolent inventor. The members of the Committee had seen the apparatus tried upon five mutilated persons, and it answered hi every case ad- =ably. One of these persons was an Invalid who in the wars of the Empire lost both arms, retaining only the mere stumps. With the aid of two of these artificial arms, he was able to perform many of the functions which had hitherto been performed for him by others. In presence of the Committee, he raised with one of the artificial hands a fall glass to his mouth, drank its contents without spilling a drop, and then replaced the glass on the table from which he had taken it. Hi also picked up a pin, a sheet of paper, &c. Each arm and hand, with all its articulations, weighs less than a pound. The mode in which the motion is imparted to the articulations of the apparatus is exceedingly ingenious. A sort of corset is fixed round the breast of the person; and from this are cords made of cat-gut, which act upon the articulations, according to the motion given to the natural stump of the arm. The invention fails only when the member that is wanting has been entirely removed from the socket; which is of comparatively rare occurrence. The Committee were sensibly touched when the arms .were removed from the old pensioner; who thus, says the Journal des haat*, =S- tained a second amputation; and it was resolved to raise the money for purchasing a pair of arms. At present the apparatus is expensive. An "affair of honour" came oft in Battersea Fields, on Saturday morning, be tween Mr. Henry Hunt, the son of the late notorious political character of that name, and a gentleman, name unknown. Mr. Hunt wounded his opponent hethe right arm.
Dalmas, the murderer whose life was spared on the ground of insanity, is to be transported. Being considered insane, he was some time since sent to Bethlehem; but the medical officers there have pronounced him of sound mind; so he is to be transported for life. It is now surmised that he had counterfeited insanity, and tricked the doctors who examined him at Horsemonger Lane Gaol.
A very elegant little steam-vessel is about to be built to ply on Lake Winder- mere.
On Saturday night, or early onStonday morning, the tower of Brodiek Castle, near Arran, fell with a terrible crash. The old castle had been injured by the late storms, and several of the lintels had been rent. Workmen were employed in repairing the damage; no fewer than sixteen being working on it on Saturday last. Providentially, the fall was during the time when no one was about it.— Globe.
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