Altistellaneous.

The Gazette announced, on Tuesday, that Sir Robert William Gardiner, C.B., had been appointed to be Governor and Commander-in-chief of Gibral- tar. This appointment is, we believe, the first tribute of the kind to the Artillery—a body distinguished for its military science but not hitherto treated with proportionate consideration. Sir Robe, t Gardiner is an eminent officer in that service, and is a gentleman held in high personal estimation. Whatever credit is due for making sojust and judicious a selection belongs to Lord Grey: there was no family connexion in the case—not even, we are informed, personal acquaintance; the appointment was wholly unsolicited, and was made on solely public grounds.

The Gazette also states that the Queen has conferred on Paul Edmund de Strzelecki, Esq., the appointment of Ordinary Member of the Civil Divi- sion of the Third Class of Companions of the Bath.

It is stated that the Government have instituted a Commission of in- quiry into the Customs department, with a view to economical reductions.

A report prevalent some time since at Paris is now reproduced in the London morning papers—that a Congress will be held at Brussels on the Italian question; the King of the Belgians having offered his intermedia- tion: M. de Tocqueville to represent France, and Lord Minto to represent England.

Brussels, it is said, is filling rapidly with foreigners, who intend to pass the winter in that capital.

Sir John Barrow died suddenly, at his residence in Spring Gardens, on Thursday, after a short walk. Sir John was born in 1764; went to China with Lord Macartney; was made a Secretary to the Admiralty by Lord Melville in 1804; and retired from official life in January 1845. Sir John Barrow's literary activity was remarkable: he supplied nearly two hun- dred articles to the Quarterly Review, many to the Edinburgh. Review, and some professional articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica; and he pub- lished several volumes of voyages, travels, and biography. He was made a Baronet by King William the Fourth, and has left four sons and two daughters.

Mr. Charles Heath, the eminent engraver, died on Saturday last, after an illness of some length.

Alluding, for a purpose of its own, to our paper last week on Colonial -Government, the Standard represents that we 'complained of the infinitely varying forms of government, to be found in the widely dispersed Colonies of the British empire, as if the variety was by itself an evil. This com- plaint," adds the Standard, "is unjust—Nature abhors uniformity." But Nature, we would reply, loves analogy, and harmony, and fitness. On the -last ground, we are sure that our accomplished censor would take any other writer to task for the use of the " was " in the foregoing extract. What we complained of was, not that the forms of government were va- rious, but that with the variety of form there was so little uniformity of success or justice, so little of that fitness to the circumstances of each colony which the Standard desiderates.

Our contemporary supplies a capital instance of the same unfitness, in the subjection of our own off-lying Channel Islands to the Colonial Office; and in the maintenance of the absurd, antiquated, and improper institutions of those detached English counties. The criminal law, with the arbitrary Power exercised by the Courts, and even by the Constable—who can and does transport English subjectsi—is justly accused. A case is mentioned in which a boy guilty of petty larceny received, not a whipping, but a merciless, mutilating flogging at the triangle by the public hangman—the sort of flogging which has been deemed the opprobrium of our military code and which, as applied to robust men, has been abated in the British Army under the pressure of public indignation. With all their variety, the forms of government under the Colonial Office seldom deviate into goodness.

The Royal Society is agitated by a dispute respecting the election of officers in which one party appears to be wronged, and that party makes ita appeal to the Fellows at large, in the subjoined manifesto; which speaks for itself. The subscribers to it only ask that one of the officers of the Society should represent a very important section of that body. Force will be added to their arguments if we prefix one specific statement—Ac- cording to the classification of papers printed in the Transactions down to 1847, and enumerated in Weld's History of the Royal Society, out of 5,336 Papers, the Mathematical and Physical papers amounted to 2,918, the Natural History and Physiological papers to 2,104, the Mice.ellaneous to 314.

" The Committee formed to promote the election of Professor Thomas Bell to the Secretaryship of the Royal Society, about to be resigned by Dr. Beget, beg

leave to submit to the Fellows the following statement of facts and observations thereon.

"At a meeting of the Committee of Zoology and Animal Physiology of the Royal Society, held 4th July 1848, the following resolution was moved by Pro- fessor Owen, seconded by Mr. Gray, and unanimously agreed to- " 'That the Committee, taking into consideration the large proportion of papers com- municated to the Royal Society on subjects of Anatomy, Physiology, and other branches of Natural History, and the loss which the Society is about to sustain by the retirement of a Secretary eminent for his acquaintance with those sciences, beg respectfully to request the attention of the Connell to the advantage and desirable- ness of having one of the Secretaries conversant with those branches of knowledge. "'Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to communicate the above resolution to the Council.'

"This resolution of the Physiological Committee baying been duly communicated to the Council, it was proposed in Council by Sir Charles Lyell, and seconded by Mr. Gassiot—` That Mr. Grove be recommended by the Council to the Society for election as Secretary at the next anniversary': on which an amendment was moved by Mr. Brown, and seconded by Dr. &get= That Mr. Thomas Bell be recommended as Secretary'; which amendment was negatived; the original mo- tion was then put and carried. "The effect of this recommendation is to constitute the executive officers of the Society entirely of cultivators of physical science leaving the natural sciences without an officer capable of abstracting an anatomical, physiological, or natural history paper, or of giving an opinion on its merits. "It cannot, therefore, be matter of surprise that such a deliberate and total neglect of the interests and feelings of the anatomists, physiologists, zoologists, and botanists, who form so large and highly important a portion of the Society, should have stimulated a considerable number of the Fellows to endeavour to se- cure to the Natural Sciences one officer in the executive capable of superintending the publication of their works, either in abstracts in the Proceedings, or in detail in the Transactions. The Committee consider this the more necessary, as it will be seen that in the new Council as proposed by the present one, there is a most unequal apportionment of the members to the respective sciences which are sup- pwed to be represented in that body: there being eight members to represent the Physical Sciences, five Geologists, and two Chemists; while there is but one for Comparative Anatomy, one for Physiology, and one for Zoology, and not one repre- sentative of Botany. Thus, of the whole Council of twenty-one Members, three only represent the Natural Sciences.

"The Committee, therefore, beg to place in your hands the enclosed revised balloting-list, in which the only change is the reversal of the position of the names of Mr. Bell and Mr. Grove; in the hope that by your attendance and use of it on the day of election, instead of that proposed by the present Council, you will aid them in endeavouring to restore to all classes of the Fellows of the Society some share of that just representation and liberal treatment which should at all times characterize the executive of this and every other body of men.

"Mr. Bell has stated that, 'Should the majority think me deserving the hon- our, and if I am elected, I shall consider it my duty to support the principle of a just recognition of the claims of a large and important part of the Society by ac- cepting the trust.'

COMMITTEE.

Henry W. D. Acland, M.D.

John Kidd, M.D.

James M. Arnett, Esq.

Edwin Lankester, M.D.

Benjamin Guy Babiugton, William Lawrence, Esq.

John Joseph Bennett, Esq. Sir John Liddell, M.D. Golding Bird. M.D.

John Bishop, Esq. JooescergphedLoacriEsqLlater, Esq.

James 8. Bowerhank, Esq. Sir John W. Lubbock, Bart.

William Bowman, Esq. R Sir Frederick Madden. Richard Bright, M.D. Thomas Mayo, M.D.

Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, Bart. John Mien, Esq. Sir John Barrow, Bart. B. Fonseca Ontram, M.D.

John George Children, Esq. John Ayrton Paris, M.D.

Sir Charles Clarke, Bart., M.D. James Cowles Prichard, M.D.

Bransby Blake Cooper, Esq. George Owen Rees, M.D. John Elliotson, M.D. George Leith Roupell, M.D.

Edward Forster, Esq. John Simon, Esq.

Alfred Smee, Esq. John Gould, Esq. John Edward Gray, E9q. Rev. J. Pye Smith, D.D.

A. B. Granville, M.D. Samuel Sony, Esq.

SPence, E9q.

Joseph Henry Green, Esq. William

George ward Stanley, E. rge Gulliver, Esq. Esq. Philip Hardwick, Esq. A. F. Sutherland, M.D. Lt.-Col. T. P. Thompson, M.P. John Hilton, Esq.

John Hogg, Esq. Robert Bentley Todd, M.D.

Henry Holland, M.D. Esq. Thomas Tooke, E. Benjamin Travers, Esq. Thomas Horstleid, Robert Hunter, Eel. Erasmus Wilson, Esq.

The Times publishes from a Paris letter some personal traits of the Po- lish General Bern, who led the workmen in the late defence of Vienna, and is now believed to have escaped to Hungary-

" General Bain is the son of a German, but was born in Poland. His reputa- tion as an artillerist stands high: it is however, of his unflinching courage, and perhaps of his relentless disposition ;hat I am about to speak. Some five- and-twenty years since, he had a quarrel with another Polish artillery officer, whom he challenged to fight with pistols. They met. On the ground they tossed for the first shot, and Bern lost. His adversary took aim, fired, and Item fell. The officer, believing him dead, prepared to quit the field; but Beni, who had received the ball in the right hip, turned over on his left side, raised himself on his elbow, and said, `Stop, comrade; it is my turn now. Take your place.' The officer did so, and ins moment fell, shot through the heart. Bern lingered long under the wound. The ball could not be extracted. During twenty years he suffered excruciating torments from its presence, and at last resolved on pro- ceeding to London to consult the faculty there. He was told that the operation, to be successful, must be a very painful one. He at once said that he would sub- mit to it. He was accordingly thrown by ether into a state of stupor, and the operation commenced. The circular saw had indented the bone round the bullet when the intense agony roused the patient. The operator became alarmed; but Beni reassured him, called for his pipe, lighted it, and commenced smoking while the operation was resumed, and was crowned with complete success. The ball was extracted, and Bum perfectly recovered."

The Oxford Journal has also the following-

" Some of our readers may 'probably remember to have seen walking about Oxford upon crutches, about twelve months ago, a gentleman of middle height, light complexion, and of foreign appearance. That gentleman turns out to be no leas a personage than General Bern, who has recently been taking so prominent a partm Vienna as one of the three insurgent Generals. He took up his resi- dence in Oxford last winter, for the double purpose of recruiting his strength, after having undergone an operation in London, and recruiting his purse, by giving lectures upon artificial memory. In the latter' however, he was un- successful, for his imperfect knowledge of the English language rendered his efforts of no avail. He continued to reside in this city until the French Revolu- tion of February; but the events which succeeded induced him to leave for the Con- tinent, and ultimately to billet in the cause which has so signally resented is his defeat."

A remarkable tunnel on the Waterford and. Dublin Railway, at Bray, has advanced so far towards completion that there is a communication throughout. The work runs through Kilkenny Point, and for its whole

distance it passes through the hardest granite. It is said that this is the first tunnel in the United Kingdom entirely through such difficult material.

We have it on the best authority, that the report lately circulated, that the works on the Chester and Holyhead line were stopped, is without foundation: on the contrary, every exertion is being made to finish the stupendous tubular bridge over the Menai Straits by the middle of next summer—Morning Chronicle.

Captain M'Quhae has published a "reply to the animadversions of Pro- fessor Owen on the sea serpent, or animal seen by him and others from the ship Dredalus "-

The Captain reasserts the points of his letter, with explanations intended to meet the criticisms of Professor Owen. "Neither was it a common seal nor a sea elephant; its great length and its totally differing physiognomy precluding the possibility of its being a phoca ' of any species. The head was flat, and not a capacious vaulted cranium; nor had it 'a stiff inflexible trunk.' " The calcu- lation of the animal's length was not "made under a strong preconception of the nature of the beast." "It was not until after the great length was developed by its nearest approach to the ship, and until after that most important point had been duly considered and debated, as well as such could be in the brief space of time allowed for so doing, that it was pronounced to be a serpent by all who saw it; and who are too well accustomed to judge of lengths and breadths of objects in he sea to mistake a real substance and an actual living body, coolly and dis-

,passionately contemplated, at so short a distance too, for the eddy caused by the -action of the deeper immersed fins and tail of a rapidly moving gigantic sal' in quest of its iceberg."

The fact that old Pontoppidan clothed his sea serpent with a mane could not have suggested the similar appendage to the mind of Captain M`Qalle, for the simple reason that he never haw Pontoppidan's account, nor heard of his sea ser- pent until he arrived in London. "Some other solution must therefore be found for the remarkable coincidence" between the Captain and the Bishop.

An experiment to test the power of a new electrical light was made on the Great Western Railway on Saturday night. The light was produced by an ap- paratus the invention of M. Le Mott, a French gentleman' who has.been for save- -ral years employed in electrical experiments in Russia. At half-past six o'clock, ateuck containing a wooden square box, about the size though not the shape of a sentry-box, and having a galvanic battery of some sixty or seventy small cells disposed around it, was attached to the last carriage of the train about to proceed from Paddington. The light was produced inside the box ;and the rays, condensed And heightened by a powerful reflector, were emitted by an aperture contrived for the purpose. When the apparatus was put. in action a dazzling blaze of light filled the spacious station. The train started, and as it went down the line it was followed by a train of light more than a mile in length, and so bright that no.en- gine could possibly approach it from the rear by mistake. The cone of light, as seen from the carriage, was exceedingly beautiful; the borders of it being.decom- posed by refraction into a prismatic circle of rainbow tints, which rested on the steam-clouds left by the engine. It is stated that bridges were visible at a dis- tance of two miles by the light; and that a gentleman read a newspaper by it at a distance of two kindred yards.

A comparative statement of the open deposit accounts of the fdarylebone Sa- vings Bank in November of the seven last years shows a steady increase in each year from the sum of 13,3491. in 1842 to 19,0191. in 1848. The sums invested with the National Debt Commissioners increased from 285,3821. in 1842 to 356,954/. in 1845; from which year they have fallen to 291,386/. in 1848.

We are authorized to contradict the report of Lieutenant Munro's having been appointed to the Seventh Hussars; and are requested to state that the appoint- ment bestowed on him is that of larrackmaster at Sligo.--:Standard.

In the Bail Court, on Tuesday, Mr. Robinson moved that the name of Mon- tague Douglas Scott be struck off the roll of the Court, he having been lately convicted of larceny.—Application granted.

Mr. Jones, the chemist of Romsey who was the unfortunate cause of Mrs. Smyth's death, has been liberated on bail by the Court of :Queen's Bench. The affidavits produced spoke highly of Mr. Jones; and one by Captain Smyth attri- butes the disaster entirely to accident.

The Judge of the Plymouth County Court last week decided:that .a sailor, while at sea, who allowed his wife half-pay at home, was not responsible for her debts.—Cambrian.

A remarkable instance of piracy has lately occurred in the Mediterranean, and been promptly chastised by one of our war-steamers. The English brig Three Sisters, commanded by Mr. J. H. Foster, which arrived at Gibraltar on the 24th of October from Glasgow, cleared on the 30th with a cargo of gunpowder and bale goods for Malta. The vessel was becalmed about twelve miles off Cape Tres Forces, coast of Morocco; and while in that helpless condition, it was attacked by six piratical boats filled with Moors. The master found that he had no hope of defending the ship; so he ordered his crew into the ship's boat, and boldly pat out to open sea: he was picked up next day by the English brig Dawn, which landed him and his men at Gibraltar on the 7th. On the orders of the Governor, Sir Ro- bert Wilson, Captain IPCleverty was ordered out in the Polyphemus war-steamer, to go in search of the vessel and recapture it. Captain M'Cleverty found her where -she had been first attacked, in the possession of about 500 Moors; who were well armed, and had mounted a long gun on their prize. The Moors were attacked by a cutting-out expedition, which advanced under cover of the guns of the Polyphe- mus; but they were not driveu from the ship till after a severe fight, in which Lieutenant Wasey and several men were wounded, some very severely. It was found that the master's cabin and all the after-part of the Three Sisters had been plundered; and that one tier of the bale cargo' a large part of the gunpowder, and all the sail-rigging, had been carried off. The recaptured ship was towed into Gibraltar on the 10th instant: and it was expected there that representations of the affair would be made to the Emperor of Morocco by our Government.

The New Orleans Picayune has the following narrative of murders, reprisals and Lynch law justice among the settlers on the Mississippi frontier of Alabama. "Many months have now elapsed since we gave to our readers a detailed account of a tragedy which occurred in Mississippi, in which Washington and James Ril- hoes were killed. A man named Brown and his son-in-law, Wages, were con- cerned in it. We need not recall the particulars, but Wages for a time disap- peared. A few months back, Wages appeared in the county, and, with a man named M'Grath, got. into a difficulty with young Harvey, upon whom Wages pre- tended to have some claim. Harvey shot them both, as has been reported by the Mobile papers copied by us. Since then, the tragedy has deepened in atrocity, and five more lives have been taken. It appears that the father and mother of the Wages shot by Harvey lived in Alabama, close to the line of Perry County, Mis- sissippi; where they harboured the gang of outlaws with whom their son and M'Grath were associated. They swore vengeance upon Harvey, and hired a man named Lee to kill him, giving him 1,000 dollars for the job. Lee took with him a party of three or four, and proceeded to earn his money. Young Harvey had been cau- tioned not to expose himself; and be had been removed from the house or cabin upon his farm to his father's, but was in the habit, of visiting his farm once or twice daily. This Lee and his party found out by prowling in the vicinity, and took advantage of Harvey'sabaence to enter his cabin. They secured themselves therein, and cut loop- holes through which to watch his corning; and, armed with guns, they patiently awaited his arrival. Harvey discovered the preparations made for his reception and murder. Joined by a young brother, he raised a party of eight or ten men, and all proceeded to his cabin. Harvey very recklessly led to attack them. He rush- ed upon the door and burst it in; but they were prepared, and Lee shot rectly through the shoulder and breast, killing him. His younger brother -im- mediately shot Lee down; and as the party inside rnahed out to escape, he took a flying shot at them, and killed another man named George Joardon. Upon re- ceiving the news of his son's death, old Harvey determined upon exterminating the nucleus of the gang—Wages and his wife. A party volunteered to follow him; who proceeded straightway across the line into Alabama, to the residence of Wages. They found the old folks at home, and seized them at once; and, with ropes taken with them for the purpose, hanged them by the neck to the rafters of the house. Waiting an hour or so, until their victims were dead, they then left the place."

A story is current at the expense of the Thames Street Customhouse officials. In order to prevent the fraudulent importation of goodsatfictiaions valuations to evade the ad valorem ditties, the Customhouse authorities have the legal right to pur- chase all entered goods at the price offered for them by the importer, plus a mar- gin of ten per cent added in his favour. On a late occasion, the Preventive offi- cers, who are generally acute valuers, were thus cheated. "Seven hundred watches, apparently of superior manufacture and in gold cases, were entered as worth 7001. only, while they were valued. at the Customhouse as worth three times the amount. The importers were accordingly informed that the watches would be taken at 7001. by Government; and the amount was duly paid, with the ten per cent addition. They were -brought to sale in due course at the pe- riodical auctions; and-have realized seventy pounds, the works being of very in- ferior manufacture and the eases gilt. The Customhouse is therefore .minus something above 7001., and the imparterslave made aline profit."

The cholera has been less fatal this week, throughout the kingdom. _The deaths have been as follows—in Londonand its vicinity, 35; in the provinces, 17; in Scotland, 46.

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

Number of Autumn Deaths. Average. ZystiotIc Diseases 386 .... 270 Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 49 .... 52 Tubercular Diseases. 155 184 Diseases oi the Main, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses. 1.23 127 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration... 185 .... 222 Diseases of the Stomach. Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 73 • '87

Diseases of the Kidneys, tre 15 .... 12

Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, &c. 8 .... 14 Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, aointsAlic Diseases of she Shin, Cellular 'limns, ite Malformations .

Premature _Birth 37 .... 23 Atrophy 26 .... 19 Age 49 .... 61 Sudden 16 .... 12

Vlolenee,-Priration,4301drand Intemperance 56 -32 Total (Including unspecified muses) 1188 1154 The temperature of the thermometer ranged from 58.8° in the sun to 23.5° in the shade; the mean temperature by day being colder than the mean average .temperature by 1.9°. The mean direction of the wind for the week was North- -north-west. and South-west.