IlItistellantous.

Cabinet Councils have been held this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. On the latter day it sat for three hours.

Parliament met on Thursday in its skeleton form, for the purpose of further prorogation to the 16th of December. The fact was duly declared. by Lord Denman, who appeared as first of the three Commissioners, in the room of the Lord Chancellor.

The following address from Lord John Russell dated at Edinburgh, 22d November, appeared exclusively in the Morning Chronicle of Wednesday.

TO TILE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF LONDON.

"Gentlemen—The present state of the country in regard to its simply of food. cannot be viewed without apprehension. Forethought and bold precaution may- avert any serious evils—indecision and procrastination may produce a state of ' suffering which it is frightful to contemplate.

"Three weeks ago, it was generally expected that Parliament would be imme- diately called together. The annonne,ement that Ministers were prepared at that time to advise the Crown to summon Parliament, and to propose on their first meeting a suspension of the import-duties on corn, would have caused orders at once to be sent to various ports of Europe and America for the purchase and transmission of grain for the consumption of the United Kingdom. An Order in Council dispensing with the law was neither necessary nor desirable. No party. in Parliament would have made itself responsible for the obstruction of a measure. so urgent and so beneficial. "The Queen's Ministers have met, and separated, without affording us any- promise of such seasonable relief.

"It becomes us, therefore, the Queen's subjects, to consider how we can best avert, or at all events mitigate, calamities of no ordinary magnitude. "Two evils require your consideration. One of these is the disease in the potatoes, affecting very seriously parts of England and Scotland, and committing, fearful ravages in Ireland.

"The extent of this evil has not yet been ascertained; and every week, indeed,- tends either to reveal unexpected die, or to abate in some districts the alarn. previously entertained. But there is one misfortune peculiar to the failure in this particular crop. The effect of a bad corn harvest is, in the first pleas, to diminish the supply in the market, and to raise the price. Hence diminished consumption, and the privation of incipient scarcity; by which the whole stock is.. more equally distributed over the year, and the ultimate pressure is greatly miti- gated. But the fear of the breaking out of this unknown disease in the potatoes induces the holders to harry into the market; and thus we have at one and the same time rapid consumption and impending deficiency—scarcity of the article and cheapness of price. The ultimate suffering must thereby be rendered far more severe than it otherwise would be. The evil to which I have adverted may be owing to an adverse season, to a mysterious disease in the potato, to want of, science or of care in propagating the plant. In any of these cases Government. is no more subject to blame for the failure of the potato crop than it was entitled to credit for the plentiful corn harvests which we have lately enjoyed. "Another evil, however, under which we are suffering, is the fruit of Ministerial counsel and Parliamentary law. It is the direct consequence of an act of Parlia- ment, passed three years ago, on the recommendation of the present advisers of the Crown. By this law, grain of all kinds has been made subject to very high duties on importation. These duties are so contrived that the worse the quality, of the corn the higher is the duty; so that when good wheat rises to 708. a quarter, the average price of all wheat is 578. or 588., and the duty 15s. or 14s. a. quarter. Thus the corn barometer points to fair, while the ship is bending under. a storm.

"This defect was pointed out many years ago by writers on the Corn-laws' and was urged upon the attention of the House of Commons when the present act was under consideration.

"But I confess that on the general subject my views have in the course of twenty years undergone a great alteration. I used to be of opinion that corn was an exception to the general rules of political economy; but observation and expe- rience have convinced me that we ought to abstain from all interference with the supply of food. Neither a government nor a legislature can ever regulate the corn-market with the beneficial effects which the entire freedom of sale and pr. chase are sue of themselves to produce.

"I have for several years endeavoured to obtain a compromise on this subject. In 1889 I voted for a Committee of the whole House, with the view of supporting the substitutionof a moderate fixed duty for the sliding scale. In 1841,1 announcea the intention of the then. Government of proposing a fixed duty of 88. a quarter. lathe past session I proposed the imposition of some lower duty. These propo- sitions were successively rejected. The present First Lord of the Treasury met them in 1839, 1840, and 1841, by eloquent panegyrics of the existing system—the plenty it had caused, the rural happiness it had diffused. He met the propositions for diminished protection in the same way in which he had met the offer of seen, rides for Protestant interests in 1817 and 1825—in, the same way in which he met the proposal to allow. Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham to send Members to Parliament, In 1830.

"The result of resistance to qualified concessions must be the same in the present instance as in those I have mentioned. It is no longer worth while to contend for a fixed duty. In 1841 the Free-trade party would have agreed tea duty of 8s. a quarter on wheat; and after a lapse of years this duty might ban been further reduced, and ultimately abolished. But the imposition of any duty at present, without a provision for its extinction within a short period, would but a contest already sufficiently fruitful of animosity and discontent The struggle to make bread scarce and dear, when it is clear that part, at least, of the Lai-dons' price goes to increase rent, is a struggle deeply injurious to an aristo- cracy which (this quarrel once removed) is strong in property, strong in the con- struction of our Legislature, strong in opinion, strong in ancient associations and the memory of immortal services.

" Let us, then, unite to put an end to a system which has been proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the source of bitter divisions among classes, the cause of penury, fever, mortality, and crime among the people.

"But if this end is to be achieved, it must be gained by the unequivocal ex- pression of the public voice. It is not to be denied that many elections for cities and towns in 1841, and some in 1845, appear to favour the assertion that free trade is not popular with the great mass of the community. The Government appear to be waiting for some excuse to give up the present Corn-law. Let the people, by petition, by address, by remonstrance, afford them the excuse they seek. Let the Ministry propose such a revision of the taxes as in their opinion may render the public burdens more just and more equal; let them add any other pro- visions which caution and even scrupulous forbearance may suggest; but let the removal of restrictions on the admission of the main articles of food and clothing used by the mass of the people be required, in plain terms, as useful to all great interests, and indispensable to the progress of the nation.

"I have the honour to be, gentlemen, your obedient servant, "J. RUSSELL."

Our active and intelligent agricultural correspondent in Surrey writes to us as follows- " The season has now arrived when the result of the turnip crop (so important to the farmers of the light lands of the kingdom) is fully apparent. Agricul- turists are now fully aware of the benefit of the improved, or four-course system of husbandry; which, upon the well-cultivated soils of the kingdom, generally denominated turnip and barley soils, has for many years been tested and proved to be beyond all question the best. On the result of the crops of Swedes and tur- nips on such soils, in a great measure, everything depends; inasmuch as a good crop of this important root insures generally the means of raising the following crops of barley, clover, and wheat to advantage. The recent wet season was apparently congenial to the growth of green crops; and although in most places murmurs were many and frequent about wheat and other crops, yet by common consent it was acknowledged that there never was such an abundant crop of Swede and other turnips; so much so, that even slovenly farmers consoled them- selves with the opinion that their crops were equal to those of the best cultivators of this difficult and expensive crop. Time, however, so sure and impartial in elucidation of facts, has in its eventual period shown us that the crops of Swedes and turnips are not what they were expected to be: the wet season overcame the fly; the prospect was good—the result, however, very indifferent: there has been a great show of tops, but the weight of root per acre will not turn out so much as an average. The continued rain and the absence of sun have had in some mea- sure the same effect upon this root as upon the potato; and unfortunately, we may rest assured, that ;this particular crop, upon which we prematurely congra- tulated ourselves is in most districts a failure. This conclusion is drawn from long and close observation upon the subject in various counties; more particularly in the South, where we can bear more rain than in the North.

"I am sorry to add, that stacks of grain of various sorts, lately opened and carried to the barn for thrashing, have been found damp, cold, and in parts mil- dewed; rendering the sample of corn greatly deteriorated in quality."

Meetings to petition for opening of the ports have been held in South- wark, Kennington, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Leicester Glasgow, (a meeting of operatives on the Green,) Dunfermline, and several other places, from some of which we have reports in previous columns.

There have been riots at Ancona, to prevent the exportation of grain purchased by English merchants.

The Liverpool Times publishes a statement to show the effect of "open ing the ports" in Belgium, on the 5th of September: a list of vessels laden with grain, and entering the ports with increasing frequency, is given: from the let October to the 17th November the number of ships was 212.

. A. correspondent of the Times gives a chemical analysis of maize or Indian corn as an article of food—

Starch, Gluten Water. Woody Gum, or or Al- Fatty Sallee Parts. Fibre. Sugar. lumen. Matter. Matter.

Wheat contains.... 16 15 55 10 to 15 2 to 4 2.0 100 Indian com contains 14 15 50 12.0 Ste 9 1.5 100

"The average gross produce of wheat per acre is 25 bushels weighing 1,5001b., and that of Indian corn (in this country) 30 bushels weighing 1,8001b. Of the former, there are 301b. to 601b. of fatty matter, and 150 to 220 of gluten; while in the latter would be found 901b. to 170lb. fatty matter, and about 2161b. gluten."

A.communication from the Poor-law Commissioners was laid before the Hert- ford Board of Guardians at their last meeting, authoriz.ng them to employ the poor in the Workhouse in extracting the flour or starch from diseased potatoes, free of expense to any poor person who should send them to the house for that pur- pose.—Chelosford Chronicle.

The Times has a statement which goes to corroborate one that appeared in a provincial paper last week— "A report has been for some days current of an intention on the part of her Majesty's Government, not to rely so fully as it has hitherto done upon the Chelsea Pensioners in case of any occasion for their services, but to call out the Militia for a,short period of training. It is said that the expediency of forming a better school of recruits for the Army will be put forward as the ground for this measure."

The Ipswich Journal too "has authority for stating, that her Majesty's Government have issued orders for 42,000 sets of accoutrements for the Militia, of the English counties the whole to be ready by the 1st of March next. No orders, at present, Lye been given with respect to the Scotch and Irish forces."

The Liverpool Times contributes another of these bellicose reports— "-We can state as a fact, that a naval officer high in command has been privately engaged in taking measurements of the large steamers under mail con- tract service with her Majesty's Government, and with orders to report immediately to the Admiralty on their capabilities for carrying guns of the largest calibre. The large steaniers, forming the fleet of the West India Royal Mail Company, also the vessels of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, together with the Great Britain and Great Western, are said to have been quietly but officiailg inspected. A naval officer, well acquainted with the coast of America, has been summoned to London, to give information to the Admiralty. Such a combined force as these numerous and powerful ships would form, independent of the regular steamers of war, would he one of the strongest ever seen on the ocean. The West India Company's ships alone are twelve in number, and of about 1,200 tons hardens auk."

The Times also mentions the examination of the West India steamers, and adds—" Indeed, the Admiralty have been for some time in possession of sufficient information to be able to arm them, and the General Steam Navigation Companes ancLother large vessels, on the shortest notice."

A Board of Officers, assembled by order of the Commander-in-chief, met on thee. 7th instant to inquire into the conduct of Lieutenant Kirwan, who stabbed. Quartermaster Tarleton in September last. A number of officers were examinee's, and the evidence was to the same effect as in the inquirs before the Magistrates- One fact Was mentioned honourable to Mr. Kirwan: when Mr. Tarleton was in danger, the Lieutenant wished to resign his commission, that he might devote the proceeds of the sale to some provision for Mrs. Tarleton and her family. Mr. Kirwan received an excellent character from all the gentlemen examined. The Board reported the evidence to the Commander-in-chief, and the Duke of Wel.. lington has issued this very characteristic " Geueral Order" respecting thes affair— Home Guards, 20th November 1845.

" The Commander-in-chief having considered it his duty to order a Court of Inquiry to assemble in order to inquire into the transactions which occurred in. the Fourth Dragoons on the 28th September last, desires that the report of the Court may be published in the General Orders of the army. "He entreats the commanding-officers of regiments to draw the attention of the officers under their command, respectively, to the evil consequences resulting from the practice of gymnastic exercises after the mess-dinner.

"The mess-dinner of the officers of a regiment cannot be deemed a private con- vivial meeting, considering the interest which has been manifested by the public:: authorities in promoting its comfort and respectability; and considering that it iss not unusually attended by officers and by private gentlemen of character, and.1 respectable on account of their rank and station (whether professional or social) - or age, it is desirable that conduct or practices should be avoided in which men of that description cannot take part, and that nothing should pass which is other.- wise than usual in the societies of persons of that description; and indeed, that at all times, and under all circumstances, gymnastic exercises, wrestling and.. boxing by officers, and such practices of youths in colleges and schools rather than of men intrusted with the command of soldiers by commission of their Sove- reign, should be discontinued, excepting strictly in private; and that no officer or gentleman should ever think of raising his hand against another. "The Commander-in-chief has been informed that the practice of smoking, by the use of pipes, cigars, or cheroots, has become prevalent among the officers of the Army; which is not only in itself a species of intoxication occasioned by' the fumes of tobacco, but undoubtedly occasions drinking and tippling by those- who acquire the habit; and Ile entreats officers commanding regiments to prevent smoking in the mess-rooms of their several regiments, and in the adjoining apart- ments, and to discourage the practice among the officers of junior rank in their regiments.

Lieutenant Kirwan is released from his arrest, and to return to the perform mice of his duty. "By command of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, Commander-in-chie4,

"Joins MACDoNALD, Adjutant-General."

The Board of Trade, by the direction of the Law-officers of the Crown will receive plans and maps, which by the Standing Orders of Parliament must be deposited at that Board, up to twelve at night on Sunday the 30th instant. Doubts having been entertained on this head, we deem it right to announce the fact.—Sun.

Bradshaw's Railway Gazette publishes a synopsis of all the railway pro- jects for England and Wales, professedly more correct than the statement ' in the Times. It exhibits the following general results; but presumes that not a few of the promoters will decline to proceed further for the present3-4 which would reduce the amount of gross capital— The entire number of Railway Rills from England and Wales for the next M- elon is 63r The number of Railway Bills from established companies for Branches, Ex- tensions, Leasings, Amalgamations, &c., is 258 The New Projects, the capital for which has been ascertained, amount to 280 The New Projects, the capital for which has not been ascertained, amount to 92t ' Making the grand total of —6301 The capital ascertained to be sought by the new projects amounts to £258,009,001)'

The deposits sought lathe first instance by the above amount to 22,365,140,

The deposits, which must be ten per cent on the entire capital, have yet to be increased to 25.8amoe'. Making (in addition to the preliminary expenses) a further call of deposits

necessary to the extent of 3,435,7607

t This deficiency arises in a great measure from the names given in the [London] Gazette being different from those by which the projects had been familiarly known,. or by no name whatever being stated in the notice of application, in which latter cases. the names of the termini have been used to describe the railway.

The Scottish Railway Gazette makes a very consolatory assertion—that "the new railways projected in Scotland," real mistakes excepted, "possess all the characteristics and elements of bona' fide undertakings." The rea- son alleged for this singular immunity from false speculation is, that the, wants, capacities and resources of that part of the country, are much more generally and definitely known than is the case with other portions of the United Kingdom; so that bubble schemes would be at once seen through. [In other words, the people are more intelligent.] A Post-office notice announces, that from the 1st of December next, the foreign rates of postage on letters between the United Kingdom and Swit- zerland, when sent by way of France, will be reduced from 9d. to 6d. on. each single letter. No alteration will take place in the present Britt:Al rates of postage on these letters.

The Grand Duke Constantine of Russia embarked in his ship the Inger manland, in Plymouth Sound, on Wednesday; when Baron Brunow took. leave of the Prince. The Russian ships were to sail on Thursday.

During the stay of the Grand Duke at Plymouth, a dinner MIS given- by the ward-room officers of the Queen, on board, to those of the Russian ships; and the noncommissioned officers of the Fifty-fifth Regiment gave a. dinner in the barracks at Devonport to the Russian noncommissioned" officers; the sergeants of the Fourteenth Regiment also being guests.

The Lord Chancellor's illness has been more serious than it was busk. week supposed to be; but it was not until the appearance of a paragraph in the Times on Tuesday that the full truth was generally known. A pro-- vincial paper published on Saturday, indeed, said that the accounts of the- London journals made far too light of the matter. This assertion raised rather than settled doubts; and accordingly, the managers of the Leading; Journal determined at once to apply in the best quarter for correct in- ' formation—to the gentlemen in attendance on Lord Lyndhurst at his Maar sion in Oxfordshire—

"From their communications it appears that his Lordship felt rather indie- posed on last Friday sennight ; he was, however, on the day following not unable. to travel, and went from town, accompanied by one of his secretaries, to Turville Park, near Henley-upon-Thames; where he still remains. Shortly after his-Lord- ship reached home, his indisposition assumed so serious a character, that Mr. Brooks, a surgeon, who resides at Henley, and who is the ordinary medical at- tendant of the family at Turville Park, was sent for. That gentleman considered. the case to be of so grave a character as to require the advice of a physician, and Dr. Locock was forthwith summoned to his Lordship's bedside. Duni% tlse whole of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, (the 16th, 17th, and 18th of thh,month,),the

malady under which the noble Lord laboured assumed a very alarming character, and a general impression began to spread that there was no chance of his Lord- ship's recovery. It appears that his illness arose principally from obstruction of the bowels, an ailment by which he has on former occasions been assailed. The remedies necessary for repelling an attack of this nature have usually a tendency to debilitate the patient, and, moreover, the effects of the disorder itself lead to great exhaustion; so that their combined operation upon the constitution of one who has reached the advanced age of seventy-three could not fail to have produced most distressing effects. Nevertheless, his Lordship's indisposition yielded to me- dical treatment on Tuesday; and though greatly enfeebled, and able to take very little food, his case manifested symptoms of improvement on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday he was much better; on Saturday last he was able to get out of bed; and since then his Lordship has been gradually advancing towards convalescence. He is himself cheerful and sanguine enough to express a hope that on Thursday sennight, which will be the first seal-day, it possibly may be in his power to take his seat in the Court of Chancery. But the rapidity with which a young patient recovers strength can hardly be expected in the case of a man who has suffered the wear and tear' of professional and political life for nearly half a century, who never appeared to husband his strength or take advantage of the means by which longevity is promoted. His case, however, is now likely to terminate satisfactorily; and it may be hoped that, with a constitution naturally good, with the care and caution which a warning like this is calculated to super- induce, and with a full use of the aids and appliances which a high state of civilization furnishes, the country will for many years continue to enjoy the benefit of his services, and his personal friends the pleasure of witnessing, and, as it were, enjoying the further prolongation of his valuable life."

Dr. Henry Iltid Nicholl has been suddenly carried off by an epidemic, terminating in fever. This premature close of his promising career has occasioned a lively feeling of regret in the profession.

The packet-ship Independence has arrived from New York, which it left on the 7th instant; but the sole item of interest is the following bulletin from Canada, respecting Lord Metcalfe's health- " Nonklands, Nov. 1, 1845.—The malady of his Excellency the Governor- General has for several days past assumed a more favourable appearance. His general health and spirits are improving. He has been able to take an airing in his carriage for some hours daily. " Jamas CRAwBoRD, M.D. ROBERT L. Ill‘DoNNELL, M.D."

Galignanis Messenger mentions the death of the Honourable George Hely Hutchinson, one of the Irish Repeal aristocracy. He was brother to the Earl of Donougbmore; and he married, in 1826, Mademoiselle Eugdnie d'Angell de Kleinfeld, daughter of the Baron d'Angell; who survives. Mr. Hutchinson died on the 17th instant, at Agen, in the South of France.

The Dowager Lady Holland has left her Brixton property, valued at

1,5001. a year, to Lord John Russell. At his death 500/. per annum out of the same property is to be paid to his Lordship's children ; the remainder reverting to the offspring of her daughter, the present Lady Lilford. It is understood that her other children and grandchildren are very slightly re- membered, if at all.

We are sorry to hear that the Earl of Clarendon had a fall from his horse a few days since, from the effects of which he is still suffering.

The Lord Chancellor has filled up the vacant Commissionership in Lunacy, by the appointment of Mr. W. G. Campbell, of the Northern Cir- cuit, one of the late candidates for the Judgeship of the Westminster Court of Requests.

The Church and State Gazette announces more seceders to the Roman Catholic faith: they are—the Reverend F. W. Faber, late Fellow of Uni- versity College, Oxford; the Reverend W. U. Richards, M.A., Exeter Col- lege; Mr. John James Calman, B.A., Worcester College; Mr. E. Earle Welby, M.A., Fellow of Magdalene College; three if not four clergymen of the Church of England, and a young gentleman from Littlemore, whose names are to be given next week; and Mr. T. Hood, a barrister and mem- ber of Mr. Itichards's congregation at Margaret Chapel. The Reverend Mr. Coffin does not yet join the Church of Rome, but remains in lay com- munion; and he is to reside with Dr. Piney at Christ Church. It is ex- pected that Dr. Pusey will in like manner abstain from entering the Ro- mish priesthood, but will become a lay member of it.

At the evening parties of the Marquis of Northampton during the last season, great admiration was excited by Mr. Goadby's beautiful anatomical preparations of the lower classes of animals, prepared in fluids, discovered by him after years of laborious and expensive experiments, and displayed in glass cases, also of his own invention and manufacture, admitting of the full examination of the animal either by the eye or microscope. These preparations on more than one occasion attracted the especial attention of his Royal Highness Prince Albert, whose know- ledge of natural history enabled him to appreciate their value. They were also seen and much admired by Sir Robert Peel; and it is with the utmost satisfaction we are enabled to state, that, with the discriminating patronage of science and its cultivators which distinguishes him, he has recently presented Mr. Goadby with 1501. from the Royal Bounty Fund, as a reward for his labours in this department of natural history.—Morning Post.

According to news received from Iceland to the 12th of October, the eruption of Mount Hecla still continued with the same violence: the lava ran from the South-west crater without intermission, and had already covered a space of three miles, and heaped up a mass in a plain at the foot of the mountain thirty to forty cubits in height.

A curious illustration of the circular theory of storms has been afforded by a circumstance recorded in the log of the Charles Ileddle. For four days, from the 25th to the 28th of February in this year, she scudded round and round in a hurricane circle, during which time she ran upwards of 1,300 miles; and the direct distance made by her, from point to point, was only 354 miles.—Falmouth Packet.

A paragraph relating to a young man who had been stolen from Ireland by a sweep of the name of Flinn appeared in our columns lately. The young man has at length found his relatives, and is now residing with them in Dublin. He was in the employment of Mr. Gilchrist, farmer, Rloch, near Turriff; who greatly interested himself in his behalf. The poor fellow was stolen at three years Of age.—Aberdeen Paper. The Presse relates a strange farce of private life. A young Paris banker was very jealous of a pretty wife; and one morning lately he actually encountered a man stealing out of her bedroom. The banker challenged the stranger on the spot, appointing time and place for the duel, an hour thence. The other appeared to be much alarmed, but promised to be punctual, and disappeared. The banker wrote a few lines, took his pistols, and sallied forth. He met his wife, accompa- nied bylier maid; and burst out on the subject of his wrongs: the lady was amazed at his agitation, declared that she knew nothing of the matter, and explained that she was just returning from a bath. They went home, and the Lothario proved to be a thief; the husband, in his solicitude about his wife's honour, having suffered the man to carry off all her jewels.

A correspondent supplies the &lowing correction of a mistake in our obituary notice of the late Right Honourable Willianl Dundas--" William Dundas was the

third son of Robert Dundas, Esq., of Arniston, President of the Court of Session; grandson of Robert Dundas of Arniston, also President, and brother of Robeit Dundas of Arniston, Lord Chief Baron. William Dundas was in his eighty-fiftb year; having been born in 1761."