31ligullautens.

At the Council Meeting of the Society of Arts on Thursday, the Gua- rantee Deed for raising a sum of not less than 250,0001., on behalf of the Exhibition of 1862, was approved, and the following named as the trustees of the Fund :—The Earl Granville, K.G., the Lord President of the Council; the Marquis of Chandos, Chairman of the London and North-Western Railway ; Thomas Baring, Esq., M.P., and C. W. Dilke, Req., Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851; and Thomas Fairbairn, Esq., Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition.

Gentlemen interested in the progress of naval architecture are invited to a series of meetings which will be held at the Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday next. Several very_ important subjects are announced for discussion. Mr. Grantham will treat of the strength of iron ships, and analyze the case of the Royal

Charter. Mr. Lenox "the manufacturer of all the chain cables used by the Admiralty" will read a paper on chain cables ; and the celebrated Waveline theory of ship-building will also be described. The address of the Secretary to the Institution is 166, Fleet Street, London.

Election Committees are now sitting to try the petition against the re- turn of Sir James Graham and Mr. Wilfred Lawson for the City of Car- lisle, and Viscount Grey de "Wilton and Mr. Brooks for Weymouth.

More than thirty-four millions of passengers passed over the horse railways of New York and Brooklyn in 1858, with only twelve acci- dents. "Thirty-four millions! More than the population of the United States and Canada, or of Great Britain and Australia—one-fourth the entire number of passengers carried on the railways of the United King- dom the same years; or, to make it more striking, three times the number carried in Scotland ; and four times as many as passed over all the Irish railways, and yet only twelve persons injured by accidents ! " This extract alone, which we take from a pamphlet by Mr. Train, pub- lished by Messrs. Sampson, Low and Co. (" Observations on Horse Railways," addressed to the Right Honourable Milner Gibson, M.P., Pre-

sident of Board of Trade), ought to make it plain, even to the intelli- gence of a Marylebone vestryman, that no apprehension of danger need delay the adoption in London of a system that has been so well tested in the United States, and which has there been productive of such inesti- mable advantages. In a recent visit to his native country Mr. Train found railway cars displacing the old fashioned omnibuses in the crowded streets of all the great cities of the eastern states. Their history in America is that of every practical labour-saving invehtion all the world over. The people at first opposed them and have ended by advocating them; and Americans would miss their railway car as much as the English would their penny postage system." The tramways being fiat offer no obstruction to the ordinary traffic ; on the contrary they facilitate it doubly by expediting the passage of the omnibus cars, and by afford- ing a smooth track on which other vehicles may run more freely than on other parts of the road. They monopolize no space." The greater por- tion of drays, carts, 'buses, private carriages, occupy the rail, turning out only when the passenger car arrives, when they again take the track, as it is so much easier for the horses, and less wear and tear for the teams."

The Birthday of George Washington was celebrated in London by patriotic Americans who dined together ; Mr. Crosskey presiding in the absent* of General Campbell. In Paris the United States Consul gave a banquet on the same occasion.

Sir John Pennefather, who commanded the 22d Regiment at Meeanee„ is to succeed to the Colonelcy vacated by the death of Sir William Napier. This will meet with general approval. It has also been stated that Major- General the Honourable Charles Grey is to succeed Sir John as Colonel of the 46th. The Army and Nary Gazette, while discrediting the report, very properly condemned the proposed appointment. General Grey haslong been "a courtier rather than a soldier." An appointment like that of General Grey would be a kind of death warrant for the Horse Guards. "We are sure so great a blot as the appointment of General Grey will not be allowed to tarnish his Royal Highness's administration of a high office."

We have reason to believe that Lord Palmerston has submitted the name of the Reverend Dr. Vaughan to the Queen as the new Bishop of Rochester. Dr. Vaughan was lately Master of Harrow.—.Dally New& A Sermon will be preached tomorrow at St. Michael's Church, Chester Square, Pimlico, by the Reverend Dr. Vaughan in aid of the funds of "The Discharged Prisoner's Aid Society : " a truly benevolent institution. We hope the eloquent Master of Harrow will be assisted by an overflowing audi- tory, and proportionately handsome contributions.

Sir John Barker Mill, But., a patron of the turf, a liberal in polities' and a most excellent landlord, died from a severe attack of the gout, on Monday morning, at his residence Mottisfont Abbey, near Ramsey, Hants. Sir John leaves a valuable stud of horses, but no issue, and the title be- comes extinct.

Mr. Henry Drummond, M.P., who has represented West Surrey for the last thirteen years, died on Sunday night at Albury, near Guildford, his country seat, at the age of seventy-four. In 1807, Mr. Drummond married Lady Henrietta, eldest daughter of the ninth Earl of Kinnoul, who died in 1864. Those who have been on terms of intimacy with the deceased, have lost a most amiable and kind-hearted friend ; and the House of Commons has lost one of its most eccentric Members. He succumbed to a lingering and painful illness.

A letter from Genoa announces the death of the well-knoAvn painter Raffet. He had gone to Italy to rejoin Prince Demidoff, by whom he was first brought into notice in 1840, as illustrator of the "Voyage dens la Russie Meridionale." He had only attained his fifty-eighth year.—Daily News.

The following inscription has been put up in the vault of St. John's Chapel, Edinburgh :—" In memory of Sir William Hamilton, Baronet, Pro- fessor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh, who died 6th of May, 1856, aged 68 years. His aim was, by a pure ptulosophy, to teach that now we see through a glass darkly, now we know in part. His hope that in the life to come he should see face to face, and know even as also he is known." It is not often (says the Scotsman) that so much humi- lity and truth meet over the grave of so much greatness.

The Viceroy of Egypt has visited the Himalaya at Alexandria' and has been permitted to witness the working of an Armstrong gun. He has him- self had a number of guns rifled under the supervision of Colonel Mini& The Himalaya, with men and guns for China, arrived at Alexandria on the 29th of January.

The Austrian Minister entertained the Duke and Duchess of Aumale at dinner on Saturday. At Lady Palmerston's assembly were the son and grandson of Tippoo Sultan, and a very distinguished circle.

It is stated that the trustees of the British Museum have determined on the removal of the Natural History collection to South Kensington.

M. Adolphe Gamier has been elected a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, in France, in place of the late Alexis de Tocqueville. Count Napoleon Dam was at the same time elected a free member.

M. Alexander Dumas has returned to Paris from Italy, bringing with him copious autobiographical memoirs of Garibaldi, which it is his intention to work up into a history of the general, in three volumes. The work will probably appear in the form of a serial in the feuilleton of the Siècle. At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on Monday the follow- ing papers will be read:—" Africa S.—Discovery of a new River flowing to the East, in lat. 17° 30' S., long. 19° E.," by C. J. Andersson, Esq.; " Pro- posed Expedition u the Cone," by Captain N. B. Bedingfeld, R.N.,

F.R.G.S. ; " • gs of the British North American Exploring Expedi- tion between the Rocky Mountains and Vancouver Island," by Captain Pal- liser, F.R.G.S., communicated by the Duke of Newcastle.

Sir Cursetjee Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy has given orders to a firm-at Bombay to prepare a splendid court rdbe of crimson velvet interlaced with gold', which he intends to present to her Majesty the Queen of England.

By a recent order of the Thames Conservancy Board, a stop has been put to "netting" fish in the Thames.

Count Aldenberg, at present Russian military representative at Berlin, is about to proceed to Jerusalem. He is charged to convey to the Greek church there a large painting representing its patron saint. This work of art is in a black marble frame, set with precious atones, and bearing the Emperor's cipher.

According to the Edinburgh Courant, a "Universal Scientific Congress 'S is to be held in the ensuing year in one of the capitals of the world. The scheme is progressing : Dr. Struthers, who is to act as interim secretary will furnish particulars to the curious.

The late Count Camarisini has bequeathed 3,000,000 scudi (the scudo is (41. 9c.) to the Propaganda of Rome, and in his will he prays the Emperor of Austria to act as his executor, in order to see the sum duly remitted to that institution.

The Irish bar consists of about seventy-six Protestants in every hundred of the practising lawyers. The common law bench shows seven Roman Catholics to five Protestants. Roman Catholics—Chief Justice Monaghan, Judges Ball and Keogh in the Common Pleas ; Chief Baron Pigot and Baron Hughes in the Exchequer Judges O'Brien and J. D. Fitzgerald in the Queen's Bench. Protestants—Chief Justice Lefroy and Judge Hayes in the Queen's Bench, Barons Greene and F. Fitzgerald in the Exchequer, and Judge Christian in the Common Pleas.

The Ondine, a troop ship, has been lost at sea. She came into collision with another vessel, and went down. A few persons got off in a life-boat, but only three were picked up by the Thetis, greatly exhausted. The life- boat started from the ship under water. The waves washed off a "lady passenger " ; a woman and two children were walled overboard ; another child died in its father's arms. Captain Hunt of the Ondine, and many women and children, went down with the ship.

A smack ran on shore in a heavy gale off Yarmouth. The life-boat of the station one provided by the admirable Life-boat Institution, was quickly on the spot. Four men were taken off; the coxswain of the life-boat had leaped on board the smack to rescue a fifth, when the life-boat got adrift ! In spite of a heavy sea, the life-boat again bore up for the wreck and took off the two men.

The American ship Luna, whioh left Havre on Sunday morning for New Orleans, with 124 souls on 'board, was wrecked on the rocks off Barfleur in the evening of the same day. Two only of the crew escaped.

"Poor old Bob," the faithful dog of the Scots Fusilier Guards, who ac- companied them to Alma, Balaklava, and Inkerman, sharing the thickest of the fight, who returned home with them and was decorated for his bravery—was accidentally run over by a cart-wheel on Thursday last and killed. Bob originally belonged to a butcher at Windsor, but he took a fancy to barrack and camp life, catered for himself, and never failed to mount guard with his battalion.

The following table exhibits at a glance the reduction and imposition of taxation between 1843 and 1852—

Year. Taxes Repealed or Reduced. Taxes Imposel.

lm3

£411,821 1844 458,810 — 4,546,306 1845 £53,270

1847 1,844151: 000 888790 2,

1846 1848 585,968 84 1849 388,798 1850 1,310,151

6—, 1185521

1853 2,679,864 00 000 1852 95,928 — 3,247,474 3,356,383 1854 1,284,107 9,954,643 1855 312,960 5,225,907 11885567 2,203,475 — 2 100 000 92 10,753,582 1858 456,780

The large range of the figures in the years 1854, 5, 6, 7, is of course to be attributed to the Crimean war ; but taking the whole period there appears to have been a net reduction of taxation of no less than 12,226,701/. Not- withstanding this very considerable remission the net revenue paid into the Exchequer advanced from 52,682,817/. in 1843 to 61,812,555/. in 1858, so that the revenue-yielding powers of the empire would seem to have in- creased in the sixteen years about forty per cent.

The weather in the North of Scotland still continues very stormy, indeed so severe a season has not been experienced since 1838. On Fnday and Saturday last week the frost gave way to a considerable extent, and in the towns—Aberdeen, for instance, the snow rapidly disappeared, while from the fresh loosing the ice in the rivers, the salmon fishers prepared to begin work in earnest. Sunday morning, however, brought a sudden change to storm again. A large quantity of snow, accompanied by a heavy gale of wind, fell on that day, and since then the frost has continued with much severity.

At New York, on the 10th, a terrific gale of wind prevailed, causing con- siderable damage to the shipping, &c. Both bridges of Jersey City and the ferry were demolished. The Catholic Orphan Asylum, in 6th street, was unroofed, a large factory building in Brooklyn was 'demolished, and hundreds of other buildings in Brooklyn, JerseCity, and Hoboken were unroofed and otherwise injured. The steamers Hendrick Hudson and Isaac Newton were much injured. Fifteen or twenty other vessels were more or less damaged. No loss of life is reported. A French compliment to Mr. Gladstone.—Never in the course of Mr. Gladstone's brilliant career was he so well inspired as on this OeCalliOn. Everybody will be struck by the largeness with which he comprehends and practically applies the principle of commercial liberty adopted by England, as one of the foundations of her home and foreign policy. In presence of a considerable deficit, Mr. Gladstone does not hesitate to propose new reduc- tions of duties for the sake of affording ease and giving activity to national industry, although in so doing he is obliged to increase other taxes, espen- cially the one affecting incomes. The boldness of the financier is not less remarkable than the brilliancy of the Parliamentary orator.—Ifonstsur.

The Tuscan Government has issued a decree suppressiog the satirical journal Viscardello of Florence, for having published a caricature in which the ex-Grand Duke is represented in an abject and disgraceful attitude.