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The Parliament met in skeleton form on Tuesday, in the. House of Lords, for the purpose of being prorogued by commission: the Lord Chan- cellor, Lord Campbell, and Lord Langdale, were the Queen's Commis sioners.

Tuesday's Gazette stated that the Queen had been pleased to appoint John Gregory, Esq., to be Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over the Bahama Islands and their dependencies.

Also, the Reverend William James Kennedy, M.A., the Reverend Harry Longueville Jones, MA., and Thomas William Marshall, Esq., have been appointed to be three of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools.

The Globe of Tuesday stated that Mr. Matthew Talbot Baines, QC., and M.P. for Hull, "will succeed the late lamented Mr. Charles Buller at the head of the Poor-law Board." The Globe adds some laudatory de- scription of Mr. BaMes- " The appointment of the new chief will, we have no doubt, receive general ap- probation. It would be too much to say that Mr. Baines is known so universally as his predecessor, for a combination of qualities rare in public life, as in social intercourse. But he is known in his profession and in Parliament, for qualifica- tions highly appropriate to his office; and those qualifications are backed in no manner by family or aristocratical connexion. Mr. Baines is an independent Member of Parliament, whose general politics were indicated by vigorously oppo- sing that part of the recent act by which spoken words were made a ground of in- dictment for sedition. He stands high in his profession as a good lawyer; and his particular aptitude for his present appointment was sufficiently proved by the ability with which the bill for amending the law of settlement was introduced and carried through the House by him, last session. As regards Mr. Baines's personal character, the appointment is not less unexceptionable."

The long-promised consolidation of the Boards of Excise and Stamps and Taxes into one Board of Internal Revenue has jest been completed; though an act of Parliament will be required to carry out the new arrange- ment. The Commissioners will be reduced from twelve to seven, though for the present, and till a vacancy occurs, there will be eight.—Times. We are happy to add, that Mr. Pressly, so many years distinguished for his zeal and ability as the Secretary to the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes is to have a seat at the Board.—Morning Chronicle. The Post-Ampt Gazette of Frankfort announces that Chevalier Bunsen has been charged, by the Central Provisional Government, to take part in the negotiations relative to the Dutchy of Schleswig-Holstein, about to be opened at London.

Prince Albert was requested to preside at a public meeting intended to be held on the distribution to the successful competitors of the prizes offered for essays on the temporal advantages of the Sabbath to the labour- ing classes. No fewer than 1,054 essays have been forwarded to the ad- judicators. The Prince regretted his inability to attend, but expressed his desire to found ten additional prizes of 51. each for competitors unsuccess- ful in the original trial. He declared that " The Pearl of Days [the prize essay] has interested and pleased both the Queen and myself extremely."

The Lord Chamberlain's attention having been drawn to the circum- stance of an objectionable song having been sung, entirely without his au- thority, by one of the " Serenaders now at the St. James's Theatre, his Lordship's extreme displeasure has been conveyed to the manager of that theatre, and other steps have been taken to prevent such an occurrence at any of the theatres within the Lord-Chamberlain's jurisdiction.—Court Circular. [It was a " Negro melody," making sport of divers Biblioal events and personages.] A " Sufferer" calls the attention of the Times to " the Masters' Office in Chancery "; a " monster evil," in comparison with which the " Pallis Court," recently exposed by "Jacob Omnium," is but a mild inconveni- ence. For example- " A tradesman died about nine years ago, whose personal property was sworn under 10,0001., and his debts amounted to 4,0001. He appointed two executors; and as they took no steps to wind up his affairs, a creditors' bill' was filed against them twelve months after his decease. The object of that bill was simply to ascertain what the testator owed to his butcher, baker, tailor, and other tradesmen, and also the amount of three mortgages; next, to ascertain what his assets were—viz. cash, money in the Funds, furniture, and leasehold houses; and finally, to turn those assets into ready money, and thereont to pay the debts. This is the sum and substance of what had to be done; and I aver, without fear of contradiction, that any accountant might have easily settled the whole matter in a couple of months at the utmost. But what has been the actual progress made? The suit has been in the Masters' Office eight years, and is not yet near a conclusion. Not one creditor has been paid, not one legatee under the will has received a shilling, and 2,0001. or 3,000/. have been expended in law-costs. And this is the ordinary progress which a Master makes in stating a common debtor and creditor account. . . . The Master's re- port ' was made four years ago; the property was actually advertised for sale three years ago; and nothing has been effected in the interim except an accumulation of costs. I have no particular wish to gibbet certain parties, but I could a tale unfold' of rain and desolation which would compel public inquiries into the causes of so much misery."

A Letter from an officer in the Amphitrite, in the Bight of Benin, ex- hibits our slave-trade squadron in a state of great activity, well provided, and making its operations felt. The Amphitritelad just parted company with a prize—a schooner conveying three hundred Negroes; and the letter, written on the 3d of October, pursues the narrative.

"After parting company with the prize, the Amphitrite proceeded to the wind- ward part of the station; and off Quitah fell in with the Cygnet brigantine, Com- mander Kenyon, on the 13th, and completed her with provisions to five months. On the 14th, we found the Star, 8, off Whydah, and gave her provisions to the same amount. On the 15th, we fell in with the Dolphin brigantine, of Lagos, and gave her provisions to complete to five months. On the 17th, about sixty miles off the land, between Palmas and Oady, we sighted a brig at eight a.m.; chased her all day, lost sight of her in the night: we were then about twenty miles to windward of Cape Formosa: during the night we hauled to the wind and stood out. At daylight on the 18th, our friend of the day before was reported three miles to leeward of us, running into the Bight again: we instantly gave chase, and at about twelve min. came up with her ten miles off the river Dock. She proved to be a Brazilian brig from Bahia, fully equipped for the slave-trade; her crew comprised 32 men. On the 19th, the Amphitrite beat up to windward to her station off Whydah. On the 1st of October, she was off Palma, in company with the Firefly steam-vessel, and employed in sending provisions, as in the be- fore-named cases, on board. About a week ago, the Star captured an empty schooner off Whydah. The squadron, generally, is healthy."

The principal part of this activity, it appears, consists in catching empty slave-ships—the loss of which is regularly calculated by slave-merchants —and in distributing provision for ships engaged in similar duties. Im- mense outlay—by the English tax-payer; with very small returns! Some of the outlay appears to be wanton-

" You will see from the foregoing that all the vessels in the Bights are cram- med with provisions; which is much against their efficiency, as well as very de- trimental to the health and comfort of the ship's company. There is not a vessel here but has her lower deck crowded with casks. The main deck of the Amphi- trite was only cleared on the 1st instant. This should not be. More attention to the health and comfort of seamen serving in this ungenial climate ought to be evinced. The Amphitrite proceeds in a few days to Princes for water, and then returns to the Bights again. There is some talk of her being at Ascension in November, to meet the Commodore."

The great and happy results of all this sailing and counter-sailing are illustrated by the last two lines of the letter- " Six hundred slaves were lately murdered by the chiefs at Palma, who were unable to dispose of them." It is for such results that we blockade the coast of Africa and cut off the slave-trade!

The Morning Herald has received a letter by a "gold-finder " in person' from San Blas, in the midst of the new Californian Dorado. He describes the first finding of gold-

" In the spring of this year, some settlers were excavating a mill-race in the neighbourhood of the Sacramento, a river about thirty miles to the North of San Francisco, having its rise in the Californian Mountains, and navigable for boats about one hundred miles. It falls into the sea in the bay of San Pablo; as do also two other rivers, the San Joachim and Jesus Maria. In the course of their work they met with several pieces of heavy yellow-coloured metal, which, being of a sufficiently peculiar na- ture to excite curiosity, were speedily discovered to be gold of great Parity. For some time they preserved the secret, and are supposed to have gathered a very considerable quantity before it transpired. At length an Indian surprised them while occupied in searching; and although they endeavoured to divert his attention, and detained him for some time, he acquainted his tribe, by Whose means it soon became known in the country. Such an unheard-of circum- stance caused great surprise and some curiosity; but a few having tried for them- selves, and having become most satisfactorily convinced of its truth, all other pur- suits were abandoned, and all hands hastened to the diggings '—the expressive but inelegant name given to the gold country." These were the speedy results-

" One man in one day gathered gold to the value of 1801. sterling; and though this is a singular case, yet the common wages offered is 31. 42. per day, with sub- sistence, to any man who will dig for a certainty in preference to working the speculation on his own account; but this is almost universally rejected; for every one is discontented with his day's labour, and removes to another part of his dig- gings, who does not pick up the value of from 61. to 81. a day. One gentleman who employed eight Indians cleared in three days 3201. by gold, and 1801. by merchandise. A blanket that cost 16s. sold for more than 201.; and even now they are selling wholesale in San Francisco for 81. a pair. Bowie knives, worth from 8s. to 12s. each, sold for 121. sterling. Another searcher in four weeks made 1,2001. One man left, after a few days' collecting, with 251b. weight of gold, and another is said to have sent down 1251b."

A paragraph in our last number is thought to have conveyed an impression thatMr. Cobden dissents from the Lancashire Public School Association : such is nofotitht. the case; Mr. Cobden heartily approves of the Association, and is a member The Emperor of Russia has lately presented:to Sir W. Snow Harris, F.R.S. a magnificent ring, richly set in diamonds, and further embellished with the Im- perial cipher, as a mark of his Majesty's high sense of the value of Sir W. Snow Harris's scentific labours.

M. Girard de Bury, the senior advocate of France, is now living at Paris in the fall possession of his faculties though in his hundred-and-third year. By virtue of his longevity and survivorship, for 900 francs placed in the Tontine Lafarge, reduced to 300 francs daring the first Revolution, he is now in the receipt of 30,000 francs a year.

A porter on the Eastern Counties Railway took two barrels from a luggage- van and put them on the line, while he was busy with his way-bill. A train came up and the engine passed over the barrels. The barrels were full of gun- powder, and instantly exploded ! Some carriages were smashed, but no person was seriously hurt. The explosion was heard fourteen miles off.

A policeman and a porter on the railway at Carlow went on to the line at night to read a letter by the light of a lamp; while standing by the side of the plat- form, a number of carriages, which other men were placing ready for a train, moved noiselessly towards theml they were jammed between the platform and the carriages, and were forced along by the carriages some fifty yards. When the sufferers were got oat, one was dead; but the other had escaped wonderfully, with some hurts not of a dangerous nature.

A labouring man who was employed in boring a hole in No. 3 shaft of the Great Southern and Western Railway, 400 feet beneath the surface, had his clothes caught by the hook of the bucket which conveyed the men up from the shaft, when he was raised over 200 feet; and the clothes giving way, he was pre- cipitated to the bottom and killed.—Cork Reporter. Scotland and Ireland were visited with a very violent and destructive gale of wind on Friday last. From Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Paisley, Dublin, and Cork, accounts have arrived of considerable mischief: chimnies, walls, and trees have been blown down; many persons have been hurt, and some killed. At Glasgow, a wall bounding a railway was blown down: three young men who were passing were crushed by it; two were taken out dead, and the third, the brother of one killed, has since died. At Aberdeen, the roof of the retort-house of the new gas-work was forced in, and the ruins fell upon three stokers; one of whom was killed, and two suffered fractures and dislocations of legs and arms: five other stokers narrowly escaped by a portion of the roof remaining attached to the wall. At Cork, to the disasters of the hurricane Was added a flood: the river overflowed its banks, and the lower parts of the city were inundated. Nearly the entire roof was blown from a house on Sullivan's Quay into the road: several persons were passing at the moment, but no one was hurt.

A quarryman of Buttermere perished in the whirlwind; carried away by a vio- lent gust, and precipitated from a mountain, in sight of his two sons: the corpse was found next day, with the bones all crushed.