Eby iiirtrapoTiO.

It appears that Government are extremely anxious to check the large purchases of annuities for short periods going on for some time past at the office in the Old Jewry, which have been a favourite investment with some of the public companies and great capitalists, and at the same time, as might be inferred from such selection, any thing but advan- tageous to the country. Lord Althorp, in determining to curtail this branch of the public obligations, rather than do away with them entirely, has been willing, it seems, to make some sacrifice to the public convenience ; and accordingly, an order was transmitted to the National Debt Office at the end of the quarter, that only 500,000/. during the quarter should be allowed to be invested hi such annuities, and that no other fixed annuities should be granted at that office but such as had to run beyond 1860, the period when the Long Annuities fall in. This order was not to be made public, but for a guide to the clerks for their transactions in that way. By some means, however, it became partially known ; and the conse- quence was, that one great banking company appropriated the whole sum early in the morning after the order was issued. To all subsequent applications, the answer of course was, that there had been a limitation of the sum which the Commissioners were permitted to receive in such annuities; that the whole was appropriated ; and that no more could be issued till the next quarter. The monopoly of the whole by one party, which has since transpired, has given great dissatisfaction; and it is very much wished that some inquiry should be made by Lord Althorp in what manner a knowledge was obtained of the Government order. His Lordship could never have anticipated such a result, or it would have answered his purpose better to prohibit Short Annuities

.altogether.—Times. •

A Court of Directors was held at the East India House on Wednes- day; when Mr. Edward Ironside was appointed a member of Council -at Bombay.

The first sales of East India indigo since the abolition of the Com- pany's monopoly have been going on during the week. Some inter- • ruption occurred more than once, owing to the St. Katherine's Dock Company having charged more for sampling packages than the East

India Company were in the habit of asking at their warehouses; but ,the matter was arranged. The sales are to be periodical, under the management of a Committee of East India merchants.

A meeting was held, on Thursday night, at an inn in BethnalGreen, preparatory to calling a general meeting of the inhabitants of the Tower Hamlets, at which Mr. Clay will be requested to preside, to petition

Parliament to abolish flogging in the Army and Navy. Several state- ments of the horrible consequences of flogging were made by the -speakers. Among them, a Mr. Heritage gave an affecting account of the death of his son, a boy on board the North Star, commanded by

Lord William Paget; who was ordered to be flogged for not tying up hie hammock neatly, but who in order to avoid the punishment threw himself overboard, and striking his bead against the fore part of the vessel, was killed. Lord William was tried by a Court-martial when be returned home ; but Mr. Heritage said the verdict might be pre- • sumed from the fact of his having dined with the officers of the Court- martial the day before it was held.

A farewell dinner was given on Thursday to General Mina at the Al- bion, and attended by all the principal Spaniards in London. Don Augustin Arguelles was in the chair. None of the toasts excited greater enthusiasm than " a close and an eternal alliance between Eng- land, Spain, and Portugal." Senor Arguelles introduced the toast in an eloquent speech, calling on Heaven to bless the union, and make it subservient to the promotion and preservation of constitutional liberty in the three countries.

A Lieutenant Gosset of the Navy, has recently been giving the porters and other persons at Kensington Palace a good deal of trouble, by his attempts to gain access to or correspond with the Princess Vic- toria, whom he is desirous of espousing. He was constantly prome- nading in the gardens ; and on one occasion leaped over the prairies into a shrubbery, and left a letter in a laurel brush addressed to the Princess. He also followed her in a cab to Claremont. At length the Police in- terfered, and arrested him in Kensington Gardens, ter Wednesday; when he gave his card, and having promised to abstain in future from such absurd behaviour, was suffered to go at large.

As the new Palace is nearly finished, the applications of the nobility and gentry for tickets to see the interior of it have been lately very numerous. The grand picture-gallery, which according to the original plan, formed two apartments, is now thrown into one large and magnifi- cent room ; and the light is so judiciously let in, that the pictures are advantageously displayed. The alterations which have been made since the removal of the great dome considerably increase the convenience of the Palace ; and a morning may be spent very agreeably in viewing the interior, which will soon be ready for the reception of their Majesties.

—Globe.

The Zoological Society are in treaty with the Duke of Utrekingham for the purchase of his house in Pall Mall, for the purpose of convert- ing the mansion into a museum of natural history.. Their treaty with the Marquis of Anglesey for his splendid residence in Burlington Street, has been broken off.

The Sarah, the first private trader from China, with a cargo estimated to be worth about 400,0001. entered the St. Katharine's Docks on Monday.

The Hungerford wholesale fish-market was opened at five o'clock on Monday morning ; when a very copious supply of all the fish in scasoa was exhibited for sale.

A dispute arose in the Vice-Chancellor's Court on Monday, as to whether Mr. Russell, Attorney-General of the Dutehy of Lancaster, could in virtue of that office lead his seniors at the bar : but Sir Lome- lot Shadwell, with Sir Edward Sugden and most of the Counsel, seemed to treat the claim of Mr. Russell as a mere joke.