AlistrIlnianus.

The Iforeing Sloe of Thursday remarked upon the fidelity of the Times to Lord Palmerston, and accounted for it by detecting the in- fluences at work behind the scenes in producing the result.

" On the part of Printing House Square we hare a steady support of the Cabinet, with only so much of criticism at rare intervals as may serve to maintain a show of independence and regard for the public interests. Tim snore glaring the iniquity perpetrated, the more audacious and unblushing is the support which is contracted to be given ; and it is especially under- stood that statesmen in the position of rivals of those in office are to he calumniated, and, if possible, destroyed. On the part of the occupants of Downing Street something is of course granted in return. The run of the public offices in search of early information,. free access to the brilliant salons of Cambridge House, and of the mansions of other members of the Cabinet, and the delight of basking in the smiles, and listening to the com- pliments of ladies who undertake this department of English statesmanship

on behalf of their lords. We fear to shock our readers by these revelations. Can it be possible that the editor of the Times, of whom they hear, for the

first time, that he is a man, mortal like themselves—can it be possible that he who affects to rule the world, who writes such grand articles, who quotes Latin, and sometimes Greek, who directs armies to the Crimea and fleets to the Baltic, and who has a man at this moment teaching military tactics to Sir Colin Campbell at Lucknow, and another to tell Lord Elgin what to do at Canton—Can it be possible, we hear them saying, that this hitherto ' great unknown' goes to parties at Cambridge House, to at homes' in Bruton Street, Grosvenor Crescent, and that not long ago he was as familiar as one of her ladyship's lap dogs in Eaton Place ? And can it he possible

that the fair denizens of these mansions are so captivating that the only earthly representation we have of what is meant by omnipotence lies in chains at their feet ? It is even so ; and if the Times can be, and has been, and is now thus enthralled, we need not wonder that the smaller powers of the Loudon press feel it no dishonour to succumb to the same influences." The editors of the Morning Post and Morning Advertiser are also charged with being parties to the alliance. Then the bitter hostility with which Lord John Russell is assailed is accounted for.

" Lord John Russell has many faults as a statesman ; he is often unsteady of purpose; he fears to trust his own principles ; and he yields at times to weak or evil counsel. But he has sought no aid from the press, except such as an honest writer may give to a Minister whose aims are upright. He has not thrown open the apartments of his modest and moderate dwelling with the view of surrounding himself with partisans attracted by the glare of fashion, and the smiles and flatteries of title and of power. The lady who presides there, eminently intelligent, rationally interested in public affairs, but truly domestic, is not the centre of interminable intrigues, and we dare venture to assert that she is equally unacquainted with each of the great lights of the press to whom we have referred."

James Abercromby, Lord Dunfermline, once so well known as Mr Speaker Abercromby, died at Collington House, on Saturday, in his eighty-second year. He was the third son of Sir Ralph Abercromby, and entered Parliament in 1812 for Caine. He was Judge Advocate in 1827, Master of the Mint in 1834, and Speaker from 1835 to 1839. Since 1839 he has lived in retirement near Edinburgh, and has frequently taken part in public affairs. His son, Sir Ralph Abercromby, now Minister at the Hague, succeeds to his title and estates. Lady Dun- fermline still survives.

Lord Handyside, a conspicuous member of the Scottish Bench, has also just died in Edinburgh, in his sixtieth year.

It is with deep regret that we have to announce in our obituary the decease of Mr. R. S. Rintoul, who for so many years was editor and proprietor of this journal.

Jean Baptiste Cramer, the oldest of contemporary pianists and com- posers for the pianoforte, died at his house in Kensington Terrace on the 16th. He was born at Manheim in 1771. Among his friends were Joseph Haydn and Ferdinand of Prussia. In his day Cramer enjoyed an immense reputation as a musician, but that day has lo ng gone by. His works still remain among the essential requisites in the education of a pianist.

The family of the late Mr. John Henderson, one of the builders of the Crystal Palace of 1851 and its successor at Sydenham, have been left unprovided for. An appeal is now made to the public on their behalf, and a committee has been organized with the view of raising a fund to place Mrs. Henderson and her daughter in a state of comparative com- fort for the remainder of their lives.

The Duchess and Princess Mary of Cambridge dined with the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland on Wednesday : among the guests was the Duke of Malakoff. The Duchess afterwards gave a concert.

The Earl of Derby had a dinner-party on Wednesday ; and the Countess held a reception, at which the Duke of Cambridge was present. Lord Palmerston had a dinner-party on Saturday; and Lady Palmerston afterwards held her usual assembly. The Speaker gave his seventh Parliamentary dinner on Saturday ; and his eighth on Wednesday. The Countess of Malmesbury held an assembly on Monday evening. The Duke of Malakoff was entertained at dinner on Thursday by the members of the United Service Club; the Duke of Cambridge presiding. Mr. M. D. Hill, the Recorder of Birmingham, is staying at Gibraltar for the benefit of his health ; the last accounts state he is making progress towards recovery, though at present very slowly. The Reverend William Thomson. D.D. Provost of Queen's College, Ox- ford, has been elected Preacher at Lincoln's Inn.

Mr. Donald Robertson is the joint winner of the 601. Simpson Mathe- matical prize at King's College, Aberdeen. Mr. Robertson has been in the habit of working during the summer months as a farm-labourer, and thus earning the means to attend a college in the winter.

The Mercer's Company of London having recently elected the Reverend.1. W. Burke, domestic chaplain to the Lady Sparrow, of Brompton Park, to

• the evening lectureship of the parishes of All Saints and St. Mary's Hunt- ingdon, he recently read himself in on a Sunday evening, in the presence of a numerous congregation. There was a novelty in the performance, the young clergyman being blind, and it attracted a considerable number of the inhabitants who were not in the habit of attending the evening services. The Prayers, the lessons, and the Thirty-nine Articles were read out of books

• printed in relief, or embossed characters. And the ease and accuracy with which the task was performed afforded no bad illustration of the practical utility of this important discovery. The devotional part of the services was rend with great fervour and impressiveness—the reverend gentleman's face being turned upwards while he was deciphering with his fingers the peti- tions embodied in our sublime liturgy.

------- The sarcophagus enclosing the remains of the Great Duke in the crypt of St. Paul's was completed on Thursday last week, the final slab having been placed upon it and hermetically sealed. The Duke of Wellington, Lord John Manners, Dr. Mittman, and Mr. Penrose, the architect of the cathedral, were present. The sarcophagus is of porphyry, highly polished.

Our soldiers are reaping benefit from the publicity the press has given to the injurious boiled meat diet to which they have so long been restricted. A bakehouse is already in operation at Chatham, by means of which two bat- talions have their meat baked every alternate day ; and the accommodation is to be extended.

Despatches have been received at the Colonial Office from the Govern- ments of New South Wales and Victoria, giving their final assent to the Aus- traliau mail-steamers calling at Nepean Bay, on the South Australian coast, and instructions will go forward from the Admiralty by the May mail to carry into effect this deviation of the present postal route. By this arrange- ment, and the completion of the intercolonial telegraph, intelligence will be received in London, via'. Malta, with concurrent dates from the different co- lonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania in thirty-five days.—Mining Journal.

A line of steamers is about to run between Mobile and other ports in the Gulf of Mexico and San Juan do Nicaragua, for the purpose of conveying passengers and emigrants to Nicaragua.

Intelligence has reached Lagos of the Niger expedition at Geba. There had been one death among the whites ; all the rest were healthy.

A good way of restoring pence. The last African mail tells that a dis- turbance among the tribes at Bonny had resulted iu the death of one of the chiefs, and peace had been restored.

A Parliamentary return has appeared showing the number of persons now imprisoned in England and Wales for offences against the game-laws- the list fills nearly seventy pages.

In 1857 there were 32,231,455 gallons of proof spirits distilled in the United Kingdom-8,858,186 in England, 13,299,409 in Scotland, and 10,073,860 in Ireland. Duty was paid on 24,150,433 gallons for consump- tion-9,025,8351.

The return of mortality in the tables of the Registrar-General shows that the number of deaths last week (1207) closely approximated to the calcu- lated average, and was nearly the same as that of the preceding week. The Registrar-General also reports that the quality of the water supplied to London is now greatly improved in consequence of the salutary effects of legislation.

In the year 1857, to a population, according to the last census, of 2,888,742, there were 103,628 births in Scotland, 61,925 deaths, and 21,314 marriages. There were fewer marriages in May than in any other month : it is an "un- lucky " month—" to wed in May is to wed poverty " is a proverb recorded by Washington Irving.

Austria punishes fraud in high places with severity. Dr. Zugsehwerdt, formerly a Director of the Credit Bank, has been convicted of fraud and embezzlement, and he has been sentenced to six years' imprisonment in chains.

During a debate in the Senate of the United States, Mr. Chatfield, of New York, became disorderly, mid, on a motion, was forcibly removed by the Sergeant-at-Arms—Cousin Jonathan has become " very particular " all at once.

The capital sentence on William Davies, convicted of murdering an old woman at Much Wenlock—a reputed " witch"—has been commuted to penal servitude for life.

A. paragraph his gone the round of the papers narrating a shooting achievement of Mr. P. Mathews, of Ongar, who has killed a specimen of an unusual visitor in England, the hoopoe. Mr. James S. Walker, of Hitchin, has written to the Times denouncing this and other wanton acts of destruc- tion, which prevent rare and harmless birds from becoming less rare, or tend to extirpate races that are few in numbers. Many species of birds have thus disappeared from our island. "If a specimen of the hoopoe were wanted it could have been procured from France at the price of a few shil- lings. Last year in the Naturalist, a journal devoted to natural history, there appeared a notice of a nightingale in Devonshire. Now, all naturalists are aware that, from some cause which we cannot explain, these sweet song- sters seldom visit that or the adjacent county, of Cornwall. One would have thought that its very unusual appearance there would have been hailed with delight, and so it was, probably, by most of the residents ; but in an un- lucky hour it was discovered by a naturalist, and—with indignation I write it—he barbarously and selfishly took its life. I was fortunate,' writes this cruel philomelicide, to shoot it as it was singing on the topmost sprig of a hawthorn bush.' I protest, as I write, I can hardly restrain my pen within the due bounds of courtesy, and I shall not trust myself to comment upon it."

The brig Fanny Whitier, arrived at New York, reports the loss, by a leak, of the Titan, from Callao to Cork : the crew, forty in all, were four days in the boats, and were then picked up by a French ship, and carried to Pernambuco.