3}I imitating.

Sir James A. Gordon, the present Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, has been mentioned as the probable successor of the late Governor, Sir Charles Adam.

A Court of Directors was held at the East India House on Wednesday ; when Mr. Frederick James Halliday was appointed a provisional member of the Council of India.

It is understood that the East India Company have consented to give up the performance of the postal service between Men and Bombay ; and that it will be put up to competition, in accordance with the recom- mendation of the Committee on the Contract Packet Service.

Earl Brownlow, seventy-five years old, died at Belton House, near Grantham, on Thursday last week. Lord Brownlow was a prominent member of the High Church party, and a patron of Mr. Bennett, formerly of St. %maims. He is succeeded by his grandson ; who has also ob- tained, in right of his father Lord Alford, the large estates disputed under the will of the Earl of Bridgewater. The late Lord Brownkw was for many years Lord-Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the county of Lin- coln : but he resigned the offices last year.

Another "Vane Londonderry" epistle appears this week. The Mar- quis attacks "the miserable economy of a Whig Government," which would not keep up mail-packets between Portpatrick and Donaghadee. If such a line were now set up, " all.the gentry and Members of Parlia- ment would desert the Dublin and Holyhead line, for the short sea pas- sage of one hour and a half, or two hours, per Belfast." He declares this measure "important, in my solemn convictions, to the counties of Down and Antrim, in both of which I must from possessions take the deepest interest." He finally hints at "a great public meeting," "to sound the general view."

Government has promised to recommend to Parliament a grant of 20001. towards the establishment of the proposed Lawson Observatory near Nottingham. The remaining sum required is 32001, which must be contributed before the 1st of October.

The Poor-law Board have organized a supply of books to workhouse schools at an average reduction of 45 per cent on the public prices of the -volumes. The books include the ordinary course of instruction : those on "vocal music," "political economy," "astronomy," and "mental philosophy," remind us how ambitiously we now profess to teach even the paupers we support.

It is said that the English Government intend to follow the examples of the American and Russian Governments in sending a squadron to Ja- pan. The ships named as likely to form it are the steam-vessels En- counter, Leopard, Stromboli, and Barracouta.

From Malta we learn that Admiral Stuart has lately chartered a vessel to convey 200 or 300 tons of stores to the English fleet at Besika Bay.

A favourite employment at Constantinople now consists in caricaturing English statesmen and English news. They show a print representing the Czar breaking into Buckingham Palace; Prince Albert eager to de- fend his house and family, but held back by Lord Aberdeen, who declares the outrage "not a casus bell." The following bit of London news is seriously believed by the lower orders of the Turks. "Lord Aberdeen received a hogshead of gold as a bribe from the Emperor Nicholas. The Queen discovered it, immediately dismissed the Minister, and appointed Lord Palmerston as his successor. Lord Aberdeen's head has been struck off; and publicly fixed upon a spike, amid the hootings of the populace."

An English lady, Miss Cunyngham, distributed Protestant tracts at Lugliano, a village near Lucca. The peasantry were offended, and pelted her with stones. Although thus warned, and more mildly by her friends, she repeated the distribution next day, at the village of Benabbio. She was arrested by the Police, and is now in prison at Lucca, under a charge of endeavouring to seduce the people from their faith. (The punishment for such an offence is five or ten years' imprisonment, with hard labour.) The Grand Duke has been petitioned in the case, but he declines to in- terfere.

The cholera epidemic has almost ceased in Denmark. In Sweden and Norway it is still widely fatal : in Stockholm, to the 12th instant, there were 2753 attacks and 1288 deaths ; and the accounts from Norway are equally gloomy. In Hamburg, from the 23d July to the 17th instant, there were 412 cases, of which 215 were fatal.

Another death has resulted from the peculiar system of treating prisoners in Birmingham Gaol. Cotterill junior, one of the warders implicated in the charges of cruelty, became excited in apprehension of his examination before the Commissioners, and on Sunday he died from the effects of nervous de- bility and mental anxiety.

An order has been received at Devonport for the discharge of an able sea- man of H.M.S. Leander, who has come into possession of a fortune of some 60,000L-1)eronport Paper.

Alloyed sovereigns, worth only about 14s. t3d. each, have been recently i put into circulation n several towns in Somersetahire. Result of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last.

Ten Weeks "Week of 185342. of 1563.

Zymotic Diseases 3.777 .... 242 Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or vaMable seat 440 .... 37 Tubercular Diseases 1,710 .... 170 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1,100 .... 104 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 276 .... 35 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration..., 819 .... 104 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 654 .... 68 Diseases of the Kidneys &c 98 .... 16 Childbirth , diseases of the Uterus, l4e 106 .... 10

Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, dm SI .... 8

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, Sic 16 .... 1 Malformations 39 .... 2 Premature Birth 229 ••••• 31 Atrophy 279 ,.., 29.

Age 464 .... 28

Sudden 70 .• .. 13 Violence ,PrIvatIon,Cold, and Intemperance 286 .... 42 .--- Total (including unspecified causes) 10,633 049

A letter from Izeta, in the province of Murcia, of September 9, says—" Two days back, at eight in the evening, about forty brigands, well armed at all points, entered this town, and, proceeding to the house of the alcalde, com- pelled him to accompany them to the house of the richest inhabitant of the place. They then breed the alctelde to call out to the owner of the house to open the door ; which was done at once without suspicion. The robbers then rushed in and laid hands on every portable article of value. One of the neighbours, seeing what was going on, went out and rang the alarm-bell, and the inhabitants hurried to the assistance of their townsmen. A party of the robbers, however, were placed as sentinels outside, and they fired at every one that approached, wounding twenty-two, but not killing any. In the end, the whole of the invading party got clear off with a booty esti- mated at 1,500,000 reale (about 15,0001.)" The newly-recovered Hungarian regalia are to be deposited in the Vienna " Treasury "—a kind of museum for curiosities belonging to the state.

Railway accidents are initiated in France. At five o'clock on last Sunday morning, the mail-train from Paris on the Orleans and Bordeaux line en- countered a goods-train between Poitiers and the station of Leguge. The engineer, two firemen, and the guard in charge of the train, were killed. Others suffered more or less seriously. M. Magne, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, was in the train; but he jumped out and escaped.

The Havre regatta came off recently. Being the most important in France, it is always well attended. The English Paris Amateur Rowing Club proved themselves the better men : at starting they soon took the lead, gradually drew away, leaving all their antagonists behind, and won the first prize given by the Emperor.

The Annuaire de la _Legion d'Ilonneur for the present year, which has- just been published, gives the following as the number of persons belonging to the order on the 1st January last. The Emperor and Princes of the Im- perial Family, 3; Grand Crosses, ; Grand Officers 214; Commanders, 997; Officers, 4633; and Knights, 46,805; making a total of 52,709.—Gaii- gnani's Messenger.

It may be recollected that Paganini, the celebrated violinist, died at Nice about fourteen years ago ; and that the Bishop refused .to allow him to be interred in the consecrated ground, on account of his having died without receiving the sacraments. His executors had the body removed to a private place, and commenced legal proceedings. The Court of Nice having decided against them, they appealed to the Archiepiscopal Court of Genoa ; which re- versed the judgment of the lower court, and ordered the remains of Paganini to be interred in the cemetery. The Episcopal Court of Nice appealed against this decision to the Court of Turin ; which has since confirmed it. As three appeals are allowed in ecclesiastical matters, the Court of Nice has appealed in the last resort to a tribunal of judges to be appointed by the Holy See ; and there the matter rests for the present.

A few days since, a baker at Angouleme, in demolishing an old oven, found nearly 200 live snakes. Be also found nearly 400 eggs, about the size of pigeons' eggs, enclosing serpents almost ready to break the shell.

THE GRAIN Mattxist—Notwithstanding the cessation of the French demand, simultaneously with the arrival of large supplies of wheat from the Baltic last week, prices at Mark Lane were considerably higher on Monday. The most important point in the inquiry as to what the future price of wheat will be for the next few months, is to ascertain, as far as possible, what the deficiency of the French harvest actually is. The re- ports differ widely. One calculation makes the quantity required about 6,000,000 uarters, while others affirm that it will not exceed half that amount. .The prevailing statement is that the deficiency is about 15,000,000 hectolitres,—more than 6,000,000 quarters, which is equal to about one-fourth of the average yield of wheat in France. If this es- timate is anything near the truth, we may prepare for fierce competition in the various grain-markets of the world, unless the French be pre- pared to go upon short commons. Taking our deficiency at 10,000,000 quarters, as catimated by Messrs. Sturge, and that of France at only half as much, it will take a good part of the next twelve months to import so enormous a quantity from America, the Black Sea, and the Baltic. As we shall probably be obliged to draw a larger proportion of our supplies from the 'United States this year than we have ever done before, it becomes an interesting question whether so sudden a demand can be met without a much greater ad- vance in prices than has yet taken place. In 1847, the exports of wheat, flour, and Indian corn, from the United States, rose all at once to six times what they had been during the preceding year. In 1846, the total value of wheat, corn, and flour sent abroad, was 8,326,585 dollars ; in 1847 it rose to 50,819,574 dollars. That, however, was under the in- fluence of much higher prices throughout Europe than we have yet wit- nessed. On the other hand, America is said to be much better prepared to assist Europe in her necessity than she was six years ago. The my- riads of emigrants who have lately crowded into the far West have been busily employed in raising the grain which will come so seasonably to eke out our scanty supplies. The wheat harvest is said to be excellent throughout the States, and that of Indian corn still better. They can now send us as much as they please. It will help to balance the account between them and Lancashire, which has been sending so large a quan- tity of goods this year. From Turkey, including Syria and Egypt, our imports of grain have rapidly increased within the last few years ; but it is difficult to say what they are likely to be during the next twelve months, with so many dis- turbing causes at work. In 1851, as we learn from the latest Parlia- mentary returns, showing the countries from which our annual supplies have been obtained, we imported altogether upwards of 2,000,000 quar- ters of grain of every kind from that region ; while the total quan- tity from Russia, including the ports within the Black Sea, was only 1,334,417 quarters. As prices are now 50 per cent above what they were then, we may reasonably calculate upon receiving much larger sup- plies this year, if war do not break out, and if shipping can be procured at moderate rates.