Parliament was formally prorogued on Tuesday, by Commission, un- til

the 3d February ; then to meet for the despatch of 'business. The Convocation of the Province of Canterbury was on Wednesday prorogued by the Vicar-General, Dr. Twiss, under a Commission from the Archbishop, to Wednesday the 4th February, the day after the meet- ing of Parliament.

Earl Granville has been appointed Chancellor of the London Univer- sity, in succession to the Earl of Burlington, resigned. It is stated, and we believe not without foundation, that Major-Gene- rals Sir George Anson and Nicholas Hamilton will have the Colonelcies of the Fifty-fifth and Eighty-second Regiments, vacant by the deaths of Generals Butler and Milman.—Globe.

The Reverend Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Canon of Canterbury Cathe- dral, has been appointed to the office of Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the 'University of Oxford. His predecessor was the late Reverend Robert Hussey. Mr. Monckton /Chu% has addressed a letter to the Tinseo on the ticket- of-leave system and transportation. His object is to point out that the system has not been fairly tried ; that the phrase "ticket-of-leave men" is popularly and incorrectly applied to all discharged convicts; that the complaints of the public really is that the criminals are discharged at all, since sooner or latter they must have been discharged by law, - that it is not the punishment of transportation that is demanded, but a return to "that date of things under which the discharged criminal was converted into the free emigrant, and was enabled to become the active and useful citizen of a new country, instead of remaining an encumbrance on and a disgrace to his old one." That, however, is impossible. It must have been foreseen that the cessation of transportation would necessitate a change of system ; but nothing was done. Ten years ago, the attempt to establish a reformatory system for the young was resisted. We have now to provide for criminals within our own borders.

"The imprisonment for life of criminals repeatedly convicted, or, as Sir

Erle lately expressed it 'the permanent seclusion of the permanent effender,' may be effected, if it is thought necessary, just as well in one of the Hebrides as in a remote island of the Southern Ocean. Humanity and economy will necessarily limit this most severe form of incarceration to cases of obdurate and hopeless villany ; and such a device will be no re- medy- to the present evil unless it be accompanied by increased facilities for the safe restoration to society of minor offenders. Just in proportion as the community refuses to afford honest labour and an honest sub- sistence to the punished and repentant criminal, will the number increase of those who MI back into lawless and dangerous habits of life. The reformatory treatment within our best prisons is now, perhaps, all that -the circumstances permit ; but the moment the unhappy man is discharged, his worst punishment begins, in the struggle between destitution and contempt on one side and the excitement and profitableness of crime on the other. Unless, therefore, our expensive apparatus of prison- reformation is to be altogether nugatory, it appears to be a paramount necessity to establish some refuge' where, for a tune at least, this terrible probation of the liberated convict may be mitigated. For this purpose, a portion of each prison, or some building attached to it, might be appro- priated to the use of persons who had conducted themselves decorously during their punishment, and were now willing to submit to hard work, hard fare, and moderate restrictions, for the sake of an honest livelihood. Mr. Shepherd, the Governor of the House of Correction at Wakefield, whose long practical familiarity with prison-discipline seems but to stimulate him to fresh efforts of philanthropy, has taken the matter into his own hands, and at his own expense has opened a refuge of this nature' where anyone may watch and test the efforts of these poor fellows to win their way back to probity and respectability. But Mr. Shepherds are not to be met with everywhere and every day, and without some assistance from the public purse such institutions cannot become general."

Mr. Baker of Hardwick takes up the same theme in a similar spirit.

"Now, by way of a novel suggestion, might we not try the ticket-of- leave system ? I believe it would answer admirably. Does any one object that it has failed ? I sa.y it has not, for it has never been tried. It is true that before half the expiration of a convict's sentence, if he be a good pri- soner—such as are generally the worst men—he has been let go with a per which tells him that he is only out on leave, and that if he behaves ill, or cannot get work, he will be sent back to convict settlement. This paper he knows to be a lie. He knows that, in fact, he has an unconditional par- don without any assistance in procuring honest employment if he wished it; and naturally despises the shallow lie which he holds in his hand. The system in practice has failed lamentably, but the failure has not been that of the ticket-of-leave' but the ticket-of-lies system. Who says that the tick- et-of-leave system has been tried ? Do you know of any one case in which the ticket has been withdrawn ? I know of one where it was done out of private friendship, but I doubt if another instance can be found. The objection to the real ticket-of-leave system consists in the difficulty of the holder finding employment. The policeman gives notice of his antecedents ; the master would perhaps give him a job, but the working men will not tolerate him. This is a difficulty, because we are afraid of the truth. We endeavour to get the late convict into work surreptitiously as an honest man, and as an honest man's equal. This again is a lie, and like other lies does net answer. The late criminal is not, and ought not to be, the equal of the honest man, or to receive the honest man's wages; but he ought to be and is worth wages sufficient to maintain him honestly, though poorly, or at least he ought to be enabled to get an honest living before he Is let go."

Mr. Baker thinks that if the case were fairly stated to the honest working men, they would not refuse to work with reformed criminals anxious to live by their labour.

The Administrative Reform Association has issued another letter from Mr. Gassiot, who may be called the Minister of the Interior, to Mr. Roe- buck, the Premier of the Reforming Ministry. One aim is to point out, that in many popular constituencies, which are above corruption or in- timidation, a "small clique" really returns the Members ; a second is, to remind these constituencies how unfavourable to their Members is the contrast between their attendance in the House of Commons and that Of the Government placemen ; a third is, to warn the electors, that if they choose the nominees of party clubs in London, instead of selecting men whose antecedents they know and whose private characters are a guarantee of political integrity, they must not be surprised if the Member so elected is lax in his attendance in the House, but by no means lax in the attention he pays to his own interests. Independent constituencies should exact pledges from Members that they will be constant in their attendance in Parliament.

Mr. Cobden has published a third letter on Maritime Law ; addressed, this time, to the Sheffield Foreign Affairs Committee." Ile repeats his assertion, that the 'attitude of the United States, and not a desire to favour Russia, led to "the abandonment of our ancient belligerent rights." The day is for ever gone when any one nation can "rule the waves" with an arbitrary sceptre.

"We should indeed deserve the title of the Chinese of the West if our maxims of state policy could not be made to expand to the dimensions re- quisite to meet these new conditions of the world's progress. Far from agreeing with your Committee that such an altered state of things portends danger to England, I believe that she will find both security and economy in the substitution of just international laws, having the willing assent of all nations, for that transient ascendancy which depends upon the costly display of superior physical force. Be assured that the people of this coun- try have nothing to gam from asserting a supremacy over any other people. The ambition of individuals may, indeed, be gratified by the subjection of other communities to our, ; but it is for the interest of the population of this and every other country that their international relations should be founded on principles of moral right and equal justice to all, totally irre- spective of their material strength; and it is because I see in the American proposal, and in the proceedings which led to it, a tendency in this direc- tion, that they have my approval and support."

Mr. Robert Howe Gould, who has taken a great part in the refutation of Mr. Arrowsmith's Georgian narrative, now supplies from the Savan- nah Bcpublican a letter from a person whose nom de plume is "Jo "—a writer well known to the editors. " Jo's " story is, that a "mail-agent," to whom he had mentioned the affair, stated that he "had amused an idle hour in fabricating the story ; and, getting into conversation with an Englishman who was passing over the route, (on the subject of South- ern atrocities,') read him his effort. The' traveller requested a copy of the story ; which he gave him, without suspicion of the use which would be made of it ; and you may imagine his astonishment as well as amuse- ment when it made its appearance in the Times as that of a true and genuine scene, as witnessed by the acute Mr. Arrowsmith, on his passage from Macon to Augusta, on the 28th of August last." " Jo " thinks the above statement can be verified by affidavit. If true, it certainly ac- counts for the story; but it is awkward for Mr. Arrowsmith.

The number of deaths registered last week was 1243—in the preceding week it was 1318, a decrease of 75. The average in the corresponding weeks of the last ten years was 1289; but to this we must add one-tenth for increased population. The deaths therefore should have been 1418. There is therefore a difference of 176 in favour of the present return. Out of those who died last week, there were 66 above eighty, and nine above ninety years of age.

General Sir James Simpson, General Lord Rokeby, and Colonel the Hon- ourable W. L. Pakenham, have been engaged in investigating the claims for the Victoria Cross or Order of Valour. It is believed that they have completed their labours up to the Thirty-eighth Regiment.

The Glasgow Daily Mail tells an amusing anecdote of Sir Colin Campbell, who recently visited Pembroke Dock. "The veteran General, with the great desire of getting through his business, naturally began the day early ; and with this intention, on Saturday proceeded to the Defensible Barracks a little before nine o'clock, and, to his great surprise, found the offieerof the day calmly ensconced in the arms of Morpheus. His arrival puttingilt on the qui vive, every possible exertion was made to find some officers to receive him ; but, owing to the greater part of them being absent at the hunt ball at Haverfordwest, the General was obliged to wait patiently; but suddenly perceiving a Lieutenant in sight completing his toilet, he _imme- diately signalled him, and gave him a sharp lesson, particularly calling his attention to the benefits of early rising."

Mr. Layard arrived at Constantinople on the 6th, on the Bank business, in which nothing had been settled.

The late Mr. John Kenyon, of Devonshire Place, has bequeathed to the University College Hospital 5000/. free of duty.

Lieutenant-General Sir Stephen Lakeman has gained a good estate and a title of nobility—" boyard" of the first class—by marrying the Princess Marie de Philippesco, at Bucharest.

The ciliary of the new Recorder of Bristol, Mr. Sergeant Kinglake, is to be 100/. less than his predecessor's--500t. instead of 6001.

The Dean of Canterbury, who has suffered from paralysis for three years, lost his power of speech about a fortnight ago, and serious apprehensions ars felt for big life.

The obituary of the week records the death of Mr. R. It. Wien, the artist, on Saturday last, at Hamwtead. He was a distinguished member of the Scottish Royal Academy. The Scotsman says, that the death of Co- lonel Maule and of so many officers of the Seventy-ninth Regiment brought on that depression of spirits which led to his death.

The Viceroy of Egypt has set out on a visit to the Southern provinces, and is expected to have a meeting with Theodore the King of Abyssinia.

It is said M. de Lauture's expedition to explore the White Nile will not for the present proceed beyond Assouan, on account of the advanced period of the season.

Queen Maria Christina arrived at Rome on the 11th, and soon after had an audience of the Pope.

The Emperor, who since he has been at Venice has frequently walked out in plain clothes with one of his aides-de-camp, was a few days ago addressed by a man, who earnestly begged that he might be entirely pardoned. On being asked by the Monarch why he had not applied in the usual way for an audience, the petitioner replied, that he was a person whose politic,a1 re- putation had been so seriously compromised during the revolution that he had no chance of obtaining admittance to the palace. "Come tomorrow" said the Emperor, "and you shall be admitted. But wait a moment. In order that you may meet with no difficulty, here is one of my gloves ; and as soon as I return, orders shall be given that the bearer of it is to be per- mitted to enter." The man went to the Palazzo Reale on the following day, told his story to his Sovereign, and received a promise that a veil should be thrown over the past.—Times Vienna Correspondent. [The peti- tioner turns out to have been M. Tura, formerly a Major hi the Austrian army, who had been dismissed without a pension for misconduct during the revolution.]

Hook-swinging and other barbarous Hincloo practices have been pro- hibited by the British Magistrate at Poona : the abolition bf suttee and fe- male infanticide has shown that abominable customs can with safety be pre- vented by the dominant race in India. The practice at Jeejooree, where a man yearly rims a sword through the fleshy part of his leg, draws it out, and sprinkles the blood on the entrance of the temple, has also been stopped. It was a privilege to perform this feat, accorded to a few individuals, who received large gifts for their endurance : they long ago said they would be glad to give up the practice if their incomes could be assured to them.

It is reported from Turin, that the Sardinian Government has resolved, at its own cost, to make a cutting through Mont Cenis, in order to unite the Victor Emmanuel Railway with the French lines.

It is proposed in future to use the Panama Railway for the transit of whale-oil on its way from the South Sea fisheries to the Atlantic States, saving the long voyage round Cape Horn. A first experiment with six hun- dred barrels proved satisfactory.

Thanks to the Currency Conferences, now sitting, it is expected that one uniform system of gold and silver coins will soon prevail throughout Ger- many. Mr. Newell, of Gateshead, will manufacture half the cable for the Atlan- tic Telegraph Company ; Kuper and Co., of Greenwich, making the other half. There is a great concourse of tourists in Egypt at present, the hotels at Cairo are crammed.

Rome is very full of foreigners.: provisions are becoming dear, and dis- tress is appearing among the poorer classes.

The Roman Government has adopted a plan to "encourage the manu- facture of beer" that must rather stagger our agricultural clamourers for a repeal of the Malt-duty—it has imposed an excise-tax !

It is said that the Paris Committee of Public Assistance have discovered a way of making good bread much cheaper than by the ordinary method.

A great scheme is talked of at Paris for the construction of a new boule- vard, to begin at the back of the Palais Royal and terminate in the Rue St. Lazare, in front of the Havre Railway, station. An English company, with Mr. John Mastennan at its head, is said to have undertaken this work, with- out expecting any pecuniary aid from the Government or the Municipality of Pans. The capital of the company is fixed at 270 millions of francs.

A plan is about to be submitted to the Emperor of Austria for enlarging Vienna by throwing down the ramparts which separate the city from its thirty-two suburbs.

The electric telegraph is to be established between Palermo and Messina, and between. Girgenti and Messina ; the latter city will be connected with the Italian continent by means of an electric cable.

A reform of weights and measures is under consideration by the au- thorities in India, where there has been a multiplicity of standards, causing loss and trouble.

The American Secretary of the Treasury estimates the agricultural and manufacturing productions for the year 184)5 at 2,602,363,924 dollars.

On the 13th June there were 25,565 post-offices in the United States, and the mail-routes measured 235,642 miles.

It is said that when railways in India reach the wheat-growing districts there will be large quantities of grain forwarded to Mark Lane and offered at a very low price.

Experiments of great importance in the cultivation of cotton are to be made in the next twelvemonth in the Southern provinces of Algeria. It is said that in the environs of Batna and Laghouat, in particular, extensive plantations will be made by the Arabs' under the direction of the military authorities. The introduction of this species of cultivation among the na- tives will be highly profitable to them.

It is said that the Austrian officials believe that the Emperor will be well received in Lombardy by the lower classes, coolly by the burghers, and coldly by the nobles.

The authorities of Madeira have made a wonderful concession—they have permitted the body of a native Protestant to be buried in the British cemetery ; and it is thence surmised that in future the corpses of native Protestants will not be pitched into the sea, as they have been hitherto.

In some parts of Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana_, considerable apprehension existed of insurrections among the slaves. In Union county, Arkansas, a man was arrested on suspicion of exciting the slaves to rise upon their masters. He was tried and acquitted ; but he afterwards pro- fessed to know all about the matter ; and this getting to the ears of the citi- zens, they seized him, conveyed him to the woods, and shot him. Another man was hanged, after a trial, on a similar charge.

Two foreigners, Negret and De Mena, engaged in commerce at Boston, have been arrested on suspicion of being engaged in the slave-trade.

According to the uncontradicted reports of the Portuguese press, the Councillor of State Felix Pereira Magalhaens, one of the Ministers in the last Thomar Cabinet, suffered the loss of his carriage and horses, the other day, by confiscation, in consequence of having made them the vehicle for introducing within Lisbon a petty contraband of beans, bacon, and oil from his country-house, in order to evade the city-dues, which barely amounted to 3s.

An immense landslip has occurred in a cutting on the Paris and Marseilles Railway, near the station of Tain. A watchman gave timely notice to a train.

American speculators have more than once regretted the great waste of "water power" at Niagara; and now a Yankee has broached a daring scheme to construct a wheel to use the whole force of the Falls ; and "from this, with prover grading, he would lay down a permanent shaft through the State of N ew York, terminating at Albany. Those in want of power could then 'belt' on, ad libitum, ad infinitum."

A celebrity at some minor places of amusement, Mr. Baron Nathan, dancing-master and " M.C.," died suddenly on the 6th, at his residence at Kennington, from breaking a blood-vessel in the head. He was a popular man in his peculiar line.

Lately, at Blackheath, on Mrs. Pocock, the mother of three generations of livery-stable-keepers in that village reaching her hundredth birth-day, she was carried round the Heath in a chariot drawn by eight white horses, pre- ceded by out-riders and followed by the tradesmen of the village, in car- riages. She afterwards presided at a dinner, and in the evening opened a ball given in her honour.

More encouragement for smokers to believe that tobacco is a very "slow" poison. Mrs. Jane Garbutt died at Wellbury, in the North Riding of York- shire, on the 10th instant, at the extraordinary age of a hundred and ten. She had been twice married ; till within a few days of her death she could walk about her room. According to her own statement, she had smoked tobacco "very nigh a hundred years."