Iflistellantous.

The Supplementary Minute of Council on Education, first mentioned by Lord John Russell at the City meeting on Tuesday, is published this week as a Parliamentary Paper-

" 10th July 1847.—Read the resolution of the Committee of Council on Edu- cation of the 19th of August 1839, as follows= The Committee will require,as an indispensable condition, that an Inspector, acting under their authority, slisli be enabled to visit every school to which any grant shall in future be made. Such Inspector will not be authorized to examine into the religious instruction given in the school; but he will be directed to ask for such information as to the secular instruction and general regulation of the school as may enable the Committee to make a report to her Majesty in Council, to be laid before both Houses of Parliament.'

"Resolved, That it appears to the Committee that there are schools to whichit is desirable that grants should be made, though the managers object on religious grounds to make a report concerning the religious state of such schools, as re- quired by the minutes of August and December 1846. "Resolved, That the principles embodied in the resolution of the 19th of Au- gust 1839 be applied to such cases, and that no certificate of the religious know- ledge of pupils, teachers, or monitors, be required from the managers of such schools."

The Globs reminds the public, "that County elections cannot take place earlier than the tenth nor later than the sixteenth day from the time of the proclamation, which must be made within two days after the receipt of the writ. In Boroughs, four days' notice of the election is required; and the election must not be deferred longer than eight days after the re- ceipt of the precept, which is issued by the Sheriff to the various returning- officers within their respective boroughs."

The Ministerial whitebait dinner took place on Wednesday, at the Tra falgar Tavern in Greenwich. Lord Morpeth filled the chair, and Lord Marcus Hill was vice-president. Lords John Russell and Palmerston were kept away by other engagements.

It is understood that Sir William Somerville will succeed Mr. Labouchere as Secretary for Ireland, and Sir Denis Le Merchant succeed Sir William Somerville as Under-Secretary for the Home Department.

Some of the Paris journals quote from the Union Monarchigue a state- ment about the King of the Belgians having consented, at the earnest en- treaty of the King of the French, to postpone his intention of abdicating for a year, in the hope that in that time he will have recovered his health. As the most extraordinary things have been said as to the illness of King Leopold, and very strange stories been founded on it, we think it right now to declare, on the most positive authority, that he is perfectly well, and that the illness from which he has recovered was never of the nature stated in the French journals. In stating that the King is well, all the stories founded upon his supposed illness fall to the ground.—Globe.

Don Manuel Godoy, Prince of the Peace, has demanded and obtained permission to remain for the present in Paris.

The remains of Mr. O'Connell are probably by this time in Ireland. The Reverend Dr. Miley and Mr. Daniel O'Connell left Genoa with the body on the 12th instant; the funeral cortege reached Paris on Monday, and was expected at Havre on Wednesday night.

Ireland has lost one of her most creditable Representatives, in the O'Conor Don, a Lord of the Treasury. Mr. O'Conor was the chief of hit family; hence the affix to his name, which courtesy recognized even in England. He was born in 1794; in 1824 he married Mary Ann the daughter of Major Blake, whom he survived; he had represented Ros- common since 1831. He was a consistent politician, intelligent, and liberal in the true still more than in the cant sense of the term; he was a Roman Catholic, and was favourable to repeal of the Union.

Sir David Pollock, Chief Justice of Bombay, whose death is announced by the Indian mail, was the eldest brother of Sir Frederick the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Sir George the Indian General, and Mr. J. H. Pollock. He was born in 1780, and was educated at Edinburgh College. He was called to the bar in 1802; attained to considerable practice; was appointed a Commissioner of Insolvents about four years ago, and Chief Justice of Bombay in 1846. He was much esteemed for his personal worth.

The Reverend Dr. Shepherd, who was for many years one of the leaders of the Reform party, expired on Friday morning, at his residence Gate- acre, near Liverpool. He enjoyed the friendship of Lord Brougham, Lord Campbell, Sir Thomas Wilde, and most of the other eminent men wise grace the bench. He was celebrated for his wit, eloquence, and humour.— Globe.

The Commissioners on the Law of Marriage have intimated that they are willing to receive communications relative to marriages within the pro- hibited degrees, and that communications shall be deemed confidential if the parties so wish.

The Secretary to the Admiralty has written to the Secretary of Lloyd's, stating that, in consequence of the recent piracies off Krris Head, an addi- tional war-steamer has been ordered to the coast of Ireland.

The Admiralty have refused to comply with the application made by Commander Newton, late of the Lily, to call for a Court-martial on himself with reference to the proceedings connected with the recent Court-martial on Lieutenant Branch of that sloop.—Hampehire Telegraph.

It is understood that the Government has purchased Mr. Cross's picture of "Richard Cceur de Lion" and Mr. Pickersgill's " Burial of Harold," for 500 guineas each. It has also bought Mr. Watts's "Alfred Repelling the Danes" and Mr. Knell's sea-fight. Mr. Armitage's picture of the "Battle of Meanee " has been purchased by the Queen for her own gallery.

. Jntlie year ending on the 5th of April 1847, 7,392,365 gallons of Irish spirits teen charged with duty for consumption in Ireland: the amount in the preceding year was 7,633,364. The whole of the railway from Warsaw to the frontier of Austria is about to be opened for traffic. It will place Warsaw in communication with the great lines of Prussia and Austria. In a few years travellers will be able to proceed by railway from Moscow and St. Petersburg to the Atlantic and the Mediter- ranean.

A Naval Court-martial was held at Portsmouth on Thursday, to try Dr. John Caldwell, surgeon of the Spiteful steam-sloop, on a charge of drunkenness. The sauce, which took place at Bombay, on the 3d of November last, was folly proved: it was deposed on oath, that the prisoner was quite drunk—in a state which disgusted the other officers. Dr. Caldwell did not deny the charge, but he declared that his intoxication had arisen from the bad state of his health: he was subject to epilepsy, and a medical court held on board the Spiteful, in October, had found him incapable of performing his duties from that cause; being in this state, the wine which he took on the 3d of November, which would not have affected another man, made him drunk. He threw himself on the merciful con- sideration of the Court. Thirty-five certificates to the good character of the ac- cused, from officers with whom he had served, were handed in. The Court found the charge fully proved, and adjudged the prisoner to be dismissed the serviee.

By advices from St Helena tidings have arrived of the burning of the ship Pal- ladium, bound from Nantes to Bourbon. The fire originated in the lower hold, on the 4th of May; and from the cargo's being of a very combustible nature, the efforts of the crew to overcome the flames were unavailing. In a short time it was necessary to enter the boats and leave the ship to her fate. The crew con- sisted of fifteen persons, and there were two lady passengers. Unfortunately, all the provisions that could be got were a small bag of biscuit and a keg of water, with a compass, a chart, and the ship's papers. For ten days the unhappy people were floating about, suffering dreadfully; but at length they fell in with a Liver- pool ship bound to Calcutta; and they were afterwards transferred to a vessel which carried them to St. Helena.

A Bath paper reports a singular case of drowning. "A short time since, Mr. Henry Ralph, yeoman of Bagber, near Sturminster, Dorset, went to bathe in the river adjoining his arm. lie was followed by his favourite dog; and, as Mr. Ralph was swimming in the stream, the animal out of fondness for his master also took the water, and got on his master's back, which obliged him to turn himself over; and when in this position, the dog again got on his bosom and neck, which caused his master to sink, to rise no more alive. A youth, a servant of the de- ceased, witnessed the sad catastrophe without being able to render any assistance.'

A fatal mischance has occurred at Ashton from a very reprehensible "larking" with dangerous machinery. William Bottomley, a worker at Mr. Sidebotham's spinning-mill, threw a strap which was attached to a revolving spindle over the neck of a girl who was standing by; it was done in jest, and both parties laughed; but an instant afterwards the spindle lifted the strap, the girl was drawn up, and despite of Bottomley's efforts to save her, she was whirled round several times: when extricated the girl was dead—the spine haviug been fractured, the spinal cord snapped, the skull lacerated, and blood-vessels raptured. At the inquest, Bottomley declared that he did not intend to harm the deceased. A verdict of " Manslaughter " was returned against him. There has been a frightful loss of life in the Marihaye coal-mine, at Seming, in Belgium. On the 16th instant, a fire broke out in the buildings connected with the works, situated nearly over the mouth of the pit. The fire spread rapidly, destroying the ladders and ropes used for ascending and descending the mine, there being at the time 164 men at work below. The smoke, and the fall of burning materials, proved very fatal: 41 persons were taken out dead, and 81 alive, though not unscathed. Search was in progress for the others.

Results of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last—

Number of deaths

Summer average.

Zymotic (or Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious) Diseases 229 • . • - Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 108

Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses . . 140 ...

157 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 246

Dlaeases of the Heart and. Blood-vessels 82

Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 101

Diseases of the Kidneys, Bre.

e • • • •

Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, &c a

Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, Sc. 8 • • • • 7 Diseases of the lekin,-Cellular Tissue, hic. I • - • 2 -Old Age 40

Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance IA

—

Total (including unspecified causes)

944

540

The temperature of the thermometer ranged from 108.5° in the sun to 46.2° in the shade; the mean temperature by day being warmer than the average mean temperature by 6.8°. The mean direction of the wind for the first two days was West-south-west; the air was principally calm during the three following days; and the direction was East and North on the two remaining days.

The comparison of the deaths registered last week in London with the deaths which would have been registered if the rate of mortality had been the same as in Dorsetshire, shows these totals—London, 944; Dorsetthire, 684; excess, 260.