31iiortt1autato.

The public will be gratified to learn that all the preliminary arrange- Ments are completed for erecting a building on a site of the Rolls estate sufficiently large to contain the public records and archives. The Rolls Rouse, Rolls Court, and present public buildings on the Rolls estate, are intended to be preserved in the first instance for the transaction of busi- ness. Besides affording ample room for arranging and preserving the re- cords now now in the custody of the Master of the Rolls, the new structure will give room to the public records which may accrue for the next twenty years.—Gkbe. [We thought that these "preliminary arrangements" had been completed Fong ago.] 'The Commissioners of her Majesty's Customs have issued instructions to the officers at the ports of Dover and Folkstone to examine the bag- gage of passengers arriving at any hour of the night from the Continent.

Some admirers of Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons con- ceived, last autumn, the idea of presenting to Lady Palmerston a portrait of her lord, painted by some eminent artist at the joint cost of as large a number of Members as should choose to subscribe. The idea proved so popular that one hundred and thirteen Members united to carry it out ; Mr. Partridge was commissioned to paint the portrait; and on neturday last it was presented to Lady Palmerston, at his Lordship's house. Lord James Stuart, as senior M.P., was the spokesman and on

entering Lady Ptdmerston's room, at the head of eighty-one of testi- fying Members, her Ladyship was observed "seated and contemplating the picture, which occupied a position in the centre of the saloon, oppo- site to a portrait of her Ladyship.' Lord Palmerston having entered end taken a position near his lady, Colonel Loekyer Freestun, as the hono- rary secretary of the Parliamentary fraternity, presented to Lady Pal- merston a brief address signed by the eighty-one Members present ; and also signed, with a foot-note of explanation, by Sir Thomas Dyke Aeland, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Sir Edward FOwell Buxton, and Mr. William Evans, "in grateful acknowledgment of Lord Palmerston's noble and con- stant exertions in suppression of the slave-trade." Lord James Stuart made a brief extemporaneous effusion ; of which the feature is an assurance, that the recognition of Lord Palmerston's "independent policy, abilities, warm- heartedness, and worth," was not confined to those who signed the ad- dress—"it was shared in by the Sovereign, who in him found an able and a conscientious adviser, and by the people, who knew him to be a patriotic Minister, whose leading principle throughout his political life has been to uphold the honour and interests of this great country." The report states that Lady Palmerston "rose," and "promptly and feelingly expressed her appreciation of so flattering a testimonial to her husband's honour and character, and her lively sense of its appropriate adaptation and value to herself." It is added, that she "remarked delicately, but With true feminine point and grace "—and we think, with somewhat of Parliamentary tact and phraseology—" that the time chosen for such a manifestation of confidence and regard on the part of so extensive a based rf friends [ready for the vote] could but heighten to pride and gratitude the gratification she so feebly expressed." Lord Palmerston was deeply roved" during this response ; and of course added a speech of his own. Fifty noblemen and gentlemen, members of the Protectionist party in the House of Commons, entertained Mr. Newdegate at dmner on Wed- nesday at the Carlton Club,—the Marquis of Granby, M.P., in the chair,— in testimony of the high esteem they entertain for his private character, and of the signal services rendered by him to his party during the time he filled the office of whipper-in.—Morning Pest of Thursday.

We learn that the health of Lonis Philippe continues to improve, and that he takes daily out-door exercise at St. Leonard's.—Brighton Gazette.

General Garibaldi has arrived at Liverpool, by the steamer Queen, from Gibraltar. He is accompanied by an aide-de-camp, and appears in "excellent health and excellent spirits." The Liverpool Albion says that he will remain in Liverpool but a short time ; he intends to "visit Ame- rica." It is said that he has written memoirs of the revolutionary events in Italy in which he took an important part.

Sir Launcelot Shadwell, Vice-Chancellor of England, was attacked suddenly and severely on Tuesday, -with inflammation of the liver. Dr. Paris was immediately called in, and his report is said to have been un- favourable. On Wednesday evening, Sir Launcelot was reported to be "a little easier, but by no means out of danger."

A young man who promised to be an ornament to the Peerage has been cut off—Viscount Cantilupe, the eldest son and heir of the Earl and Countess De la Warr. He was attacked by rheumatic fever after at- tending Ascot races and died almost suddenly, when the disease at last involved the brain. Viscount Cantilupe was Member for llelstone from 1837 to 1840; represented Lewes in 1841; and was once a Conservative candidate for Sussex. Refined, accomplished, and benevolent, his loss will cause deep grief to a large circle of Mende.

The Reverend Wink= Maskell was received on Saturday into the Roman Catholic Church, at the chapel in Spanish Place.—Times.

Accounts from the West coast of South America mention that her Ma- jesty's ships Enterprise and Investigator had passed through the Straits of Magellan.-2'ssws.

Mr. Fairbairn, an English engineer, is on his way to Petersburg, invited thither by the Emperor of Russia to erect a tubulsr bridge in his dominions.

Mr. John Bouverie proposes to defend iron vessels of war from cannon- shot, by applying a layer of kamptrilicon to the inside of the vessel. This

substance is so elastie, that when a ball passes through it, it collapses and perfectly closes behind the missile. It would also retain the flying splinters of the ship-ribs, and of the missile itself. Thus the most prominent evils of a jagged hole impossible to plug, and a fatal scattering of fragments, would appear to be remedied.

A mode •of expediting the passage across the Irish sea lies lately been pro- posed, of which the following is an outline. A31 immensely powerful vessel, of at least 1,200 horse power, and from 12,000 to 15,000 tons measurement, drawing only twelve feet of water, is to be constructed. It is calculated that such a vessel would make the voyage at a uniform rate of three hours, pos.. seas accommodation for hundreds of passengers, and go so smoothly through tho water that sea-sickness would be almost unknown. The expenses are calceleted as follows : cost of vessel, 26,600!.; engines, 72,00111.; total, 98,000/. It is proposed to make only one passage each way every day except Sunday. It is considered that the number of passengers which would avail themselves of this mode of communication might safely be calculated at 500 per day ; which, at 2s. 6d. per head or less than id. per mile, would produce 39,1251. yearly.—Liverpool Vlironiek.

John Shaw, a Chartist who was in Newgate, has been liberated before the expiry of his sentence, on putting in bail to keep the peace for five years.

On Tuesday, three Irish boys, who had been found lying in the streets, were brought before the Magistrate at Marlborough Street. Mr. A'Beekett elicited from the most intelligent of the three, that they were part of a troop of twenty-one 'destitute boys shipped from a workhouse in Cork county : they were put on board a ship bound for London as deck-passengers, their passage paid, and they received bread and water as nourishment; they were told that they would find woric as soon as they get to England. The poor boys were miserably deceived, and they had been wandering about the streets quite destitute, sleeping at mght under railway-arches and in thinner plum.

A'Beckett condemned this Irish mode of getting rid of paupers, and di- rected that the boys should be returned to their own country.

The master of an Irish vessel bas been fined 20/. by the Cardiff Magis- trates for bringing to that port from Ireland sixty-eight poor wretches without any accommodation for them. "The vessel was nearly filled with oats; and these poor creatures were obliged to be huddled about the deck or anywhere ; so that if bad weather came on, some of them, at least, must have perished. At the suggestion of the Dock-master, the coal-proprietors bad entered into an engagement (as at Newport) not to supply coal to any vessel In which Irish paupers had been brought over." On Monday, at Cirencester' "a student" was charged with "worrying and baiting to death a cat." The evidence was defective ; but it was proved that a vast number of eats had been stolen, for the purpose of affording sport to the students. On the day before the hearing, a dozen dead cats were raked out of -a pond ; they all were minus their tails, it being the practice of these brutes to cut off those appendages, in order to render the poor cats more fierce in the following conflict with the terriers.-04nrd Journal.

The suspension-bridge of Fumel, over the Lot, fell in a week ago, whilst undergoing repair. The fall took place in consequence of one a the piers giving way. Three men were killed, and two were seriously and it is feared mortally wounded. A young man fell into the water, and was rescued by a person who had hastened to the spot to render assistance; this person was the young man's father.—Galigruinis Messenger.

A little boy, about two years old, fell into a well at Broadwell Wharf; when the mother, almost frantic, ran and precipitated herself into the well after her child. She fortunately succeeded in getting hold of the child, and told him to cling to her neck, which he instantly did; the mother at the same time holding him with her left hand, and her right she thrust into some small crevice in the wall, where she kept herself and her child up until a ladder was procured,. when a man who happened to be sear descended the ladder, and succeeded an rescuing them.—Bucks Chronicle.

The Times has published a letter from a schoolboy of fourteen to a cousin in London, describing the wreck of the Orion and his own adventures. The i narrative s very racy and animated. Master "I)." relates the incidents of the voyage and the wreck mucti as they have been told by others, and then receunte his own perils. Be was only half-dressed when he was obliged to run on deck ; he clung to the binnacle; there he took off his trousers and boots for a swim ; the horrible hissing, bubbling noise" of the steam, made Inn expect "a precious blow-up," so, "committing his life into the hand* of God, he plunged overboard." A number of men jumped into the water at the same time and the boy was dragged under the sea for about a minute ; that he swain tune, hie life. " When I had swam about forty yards, I came

to a chest, on which a man was supporting himself. I made for it, and reached it ; but the seaman was in such an agony of terror that he knew not what he did, and in foolishly endeavouring to get to the top of the chest he turned it round hie a tread-wheel. I could not shift my hands as quickly as he pulled it over, and so I was pushed right under the water for about two minutes. At that awful time, I felt the water coming in my ears and nose, and thought on home and my parents, and felt that I should never see them more, and was giving up; but rust then I felt new vigour in my limbs, mid determined not to relinquish life without a struggle. I dived down fill I got free of the man and chest, and swam to some things which were floating near, and got something hlre a desk under one arm and a kind of wooden grating under the other; with these I kept up a long while : but, looking round, I saw the large chest with the man, who had stopped pulling it over ; I swam to it therefore, and told him not to pull it, scour safety depended on it : he remained quiet ; but by way of precaution I still kept the wooden grating under my other arm." A second man joined them; and they endeavoured to make the shore. Presently, a boat came up, and they were taken on board. "The man in the bow laid hold of me to pull me in, I being too weak to scramble in. As soon as he had laid me on the forecastle I fell right over into the body of the boat; but then I was so cold, I began to jump and cut away into the stem-aheets, and I sat down shivering like half a dozen drowned rats." When he got to land, an old weman threw a shawl round his shivering form, and he was hospitably treated at Captain Hawes's house. When he awoke from a refreshing Bleep, he found his tutor, "Mr. P.," the last person saved from the wreck, sitting at the bedside. The writer then gives a ludicrous description of the figure he presented clothed in all sorts and sizes of raiment collected in the village. In the omnibus when he had reached G—, an old woman tried to force a fourpenny-piece upon him as a charity. "hen I got home, I told mamma that the Orion was aground, not to alarm her; and she was so glad to sea me that she never noticed my dress • but when she went into the dining- room, she told them, laughing, that I looked like a shipwrecked mariner. Papa soon came home and told her, and she was most awfully frightened when she heard the dangers I had escaped." It appears that no means exist of telling accurately the number of per- sons lost in the wreck ; which can only be eventually ascertained by the in- quiries that may be expected from persons who have lost friends, as all the bodies are not likely to be recovered. The unfortunate Captain M'Neill, though he perished bimeelf, was very active in directing the struggling peo- ple: his own strength failed, and he sank before boats arrived. The Glasgow Mail narrates an "astonishing feat of heroic gallantry and noblest self-denial. It was that of a gentleman who was observed struggling and swimming freighted with a lady under each arm and his own child held in his mouth, supporting himself on a board, which he held under his chin. Some less scrupulous swimmer came across him and drew away the plank which enabled him to support his head, and he was forced to let his un- fortunate child, which in consequence met a watery grave ; the ladies, how- ever, he safely brought to Land. Another inatanee was that of a gentleman who having got possession of a mudl piece of floating wood, when a young lady was passing, extended his hand to her, and, saying This may save us

both was enabled to keep himself and her up till they were picked up by a bpat.e

Divers have been busy at the wreck; and have recovered some bodies, a quantity of money, the vessel's silver plate, and much luggage.