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THE CRIMEAN INQUIRY was brought to a close last Monday. The last officer heard was Captain Heath : he replied to some statements of Colonel Gordon, imputing to him neglect of due care in dealing with the wounded. The Board has sat twenty-three days.

DEATH OF LORD ADOLPHUS FITZCLAHENCR.—The public wore prepared, by the brief announcement on Saturday morning, for the fatal termination of the paralytic attack which seized Lord Adolph= Fitzelarence at Sir George Wombwell's house on Thursday. Lord Adolphus, however, lingered until half-past ten on Saturday night, when he expired. His relatives, General and Lady Mary Fox, and Lord Frederick Gordon Hallyburton, were present at his death, which took place without pain. Lord Adolphus, as is pretty well known, was the third son of the late Yang and Mrs. Jordan. He was born in 1802, and he entered the Navy in 1818. In 1821 he was made a Lieutenant, in 1823 a Commander, in 1824 Post-Captain. He served on several occasions in the peaceful duty of carrying distinguishtd men from place to place,—the late Lord Dalhousie from Quebec to England, and from England to the East Indies in 1828, whither he went as Com- mander-in-chief; Lord Combermere from India home. When King Wil- liam ascended the throne, Lord Adolphus was appointed Groom of the

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Robes, with the rank of a Marquis's younger son, and Commander of the Royal yacht ; a post he held until 1853, when he obtained flag rank. At his death he was a Rear-Admiral.

The Duke of Cambridge dined with the Earl and Countess of Derby on Saturday.

Ash Pasha, the Turkish Grand Vizier, was present at an assembly at the Prussian Legation on Saturday.

The Turkish Ambassador and Madame Musurus gave a grand dinner to Ash Pasha on Monday. The Ministers of France, Sardinia, Austria, and Prussia, the Earl and Countess of Clareudon, and Sir Edmund Lyons, were among the guests.

According to the Weser Gazette, the health of the Pope is giving way : symptoms of dropsy every day become more evident.

Prince Napoleon is to make a voyage of scientific exploration in the North Sea, as far as Spitsbergen. The steam corvette Reine Hortense has been placed at his disposal for the purpose.

The Countess do Neuilly, the Duke and Duchess de Nemours, and other members of the Orleans family, are on their way from Italy to England.

Lord Palmerston has been burnt in effigy by some foolish Greeks in * suburb of Nauplia, in Argolia. The figure was attired in a long red robe, with the word "Palmerston" on the breast.

The unfortunate Poerio has been so affected by the damp of his dungeon that he can hardly walk, and yet he is loaded with a chain. The other litical captives of the King of the Two Sicilice are in nearly as bad a Scientific diplomacy. A Russian " scientific " expedition is to set out from Helsingfors to Lappmarken and the Varangar Fiord, a part of the ter- ritory of Lapland at present a bone of contention between Sweden and Rus- sia. The funds are said " to be provided by the University of Helsing- fors.

Government has purchased Mr. Roach Smith's antiquarian collection, for 20001. It is in course of removal to the British Museum.

Mr. R. Hanbury junior, of Truman and Co.'s brewery, sends to the Timer the following facts regarding a Saturday half-holiday. " Three years ago we adopted the plan of giving the men in our employ a half-holiday on Sa- turdays ; and although at first we held various opinions on the subject, we are now unanimous in our hearty approval of the movement. This pri- vilege, I may say, is regarded by our men as one of the greatest boons ever presented by master to man ; and, so far as we are enabled to ascertain, they avail themselves of this opportunity for rest and recreation, and may be frequently seen in Epping Forest, enjoying the fresh air. Our cus- tomers, the licensed victuallers, than whom a more independent body does not exist, have from the commencement given their cordial cooperation in carrying out our views; and, in fact, we now complete in five days and a half that which formerly occupied six days to do ; and this is without any in- convenience, and in the long rim I believe we are gainers rather than other- wise by so doing. Our men are decidedly improved ; we get better servants, and the work is done more heartily."

In some of the large towns of Yorkshire open-air preaching has been recommenced for the year by clergymen of the Church of England. The Wesleyans,_ in this case, will follow the lead of the Church. At Lincoln, also, the Wesleyan body have resolved to have open-air preaching in the most benighted parts of the city during the summer, with services in cot- tages and other places in the winter.

The large wrought-iron gun made by Messrs. Helldal, at the Mersey Steel and Iron-works, Liverpool, was finished last week ; and on Saturday it was removed to the North shore, at Formby, to be tried under the super- intendence of Lieutenant-Colonel Wilmott, the head of the Gun-carnage Department, and other scientific men. It is carefully finished and polished e tgaj; weighs 21 tons 17 cwt. 1 qr. 17 lb. ; is 16 feet 3 inches long, 44 inches ex- treme diameter at the breach, and 27 inches diameter at the muzzle ; and is calculated to throw a ball of 300 lb. a distance of five miles. A number of experiments were tried on Wednesday afternoon, on the shore of the estuary of the Mersey, nine miles from Liverpool. 'Various charges of powder were fired with shot and shell ; and the conclusion ar- rived at was that a ball of 300 pounds weight might be fired to a distance of five miles, but on this occasion full charges were not used. It was resolved to make further experiments. A commission exists in Prussia, of which the Prince of Prussia is presi- dent, for experimenting on fire-arms. Among the most recently invented arms are the reallbacheen, or rampart rifles : they are intended for the dis- mounting of heavy ordnance on ramparts, by shooting awav the wood-work of the carriage, end even by the damage they can inflict on -the pieces them- selves.

During last week, but principally on Thursday and Friday, in conse- quence of the change of wind, a finer fleet of merchantmen arrived at Liver- pool, from all parts of the world, than had over before arrived in seven days. The ships were 194 in number, many of them of large tonnage : on Thurs- day and Friday no less than 93941. was received for dock-dues.

The price of meat has again risen in France. The new " assize " seems to have caused an increase of price instead of a diminution; at least, since the new regulation meat has become 3d. a pound dearer. Animal food is now a luxury even to the tradesman.

So numerous are the applications at Et. Petersburg for leave to travel abroad, that it has been necessary to augment the staff of the passport- office.

The Armenia' a Church paper of Turin, has had an impression seized by tie Government for a political double entendre. In describing the fete in honour of the Constitution, it said of the procession that " the flags, the military, the Deputies, the emblems, and the protectors of liberty, were all mud " (fango): it was a wet morning, the streets' were muddy, and no doubt the componentS of the procession did get dirty ; but the Government attached an insulting meaning to the term fango," and seized the paper. The students of the University also sent a protest to the journal : the di- rectors of the Armenia made a eareastic recantation—the weather was very fine, the sunshine brilliant, and there could not have been any "mud" !

The usual disgraceful conflicts between Greeks and Armenians took place in the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem on the occasion of dis- tributing the " sacred fire." A Turkish Pasha and soldiers in vain at- tempted to quell the fray : the Pasha narrowly escaped serious hurt, and some of the soldiers were wounded. The Greeks and Armenians, in their seal for religion, only stopped short of killing each other : great numbers of limbs were broken, people were stabbed, or their eyes were scooped out ! Nearly everything within the building was dashed to pieces in the blind fury of the combatants. The narrative of the whole proceedings of the rival sects is shocking.

The Jews in the Western Governments of Russia are in tribulation : the Emperor is enforcing an ukase of his father ordering Jews to doff their long Oriental garments and wear short coats, and requiring the females to wear ;their own hair instead of artificial top-knots.

Cholera has reappeared at St. Petersburg : there have been twenty-one deaths in a day.

Great damage has been caused in the South and Centre of France by floods. The Rhone, the Saone, the Loire, and many other rivers, have overflowed their banks ; agricultural produce has been damaged, growing crops imperilled, and cattle and timber swept away. At Lyons many of the quays and streets were submerged. The Lyons and Etienne Railway be- came impassable. From Chalon to Lyons the country appeared one immense lake. Great numbers of bridges in different parts have been destroyed. The most fertile part of Touraine has been inundated by the giving way of an embankment of the Loire below Tours.