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Queen Victoria has consented to inaugurate the first prize-meeting of the National Rifle Association, of which the Prince Consort is the patron, and Mr. Sidney Herbert, Secretary-at-War, the president. Wimbledon Common, where the shooting will commence on Monday, has been pre- pared by the erection of tents and other suitable accommodation fur the reception of the distinguished persons who will meet her Majesty on Monday, and who will attend on the following days to witness the com- petition amongst riflemen. Her Majesty is expected to arrive on the ground at three o'clock on Monday afternoon, when un address will be presented to her, probably by Mr. Sidney Herbert, the president, or by Lord Eleho, and the active business of the meeting will commence as soon as the Queen has fired a rifle from a fixed stand. Her Majesty has offered a prize of 2501. for the best rifle shot amongst volunteers, and it is a sine qui non that all volunteers intending to compete must appear in the uniform of their respective corps. The Prince Consort offers a prize of 100/., open to all corners, and it is expected that a con- siderable number of foreigners will enter the lists as competitors.

The Court newsman publishes a programme of, the proceedings of the Prince of Wales during his visit to North America :—

" His Royal Highness will start from Devonport upon the 10th of July, in H. M. S. Hero, Captain G. II. Seymour, which will be accompanied fiy H. M. S. Ariadue, Captain E. W. Vansittart, and H. M. S. Flying Fiah, Captain C. W. Hope. The Prince will be attended by her Majesty's Secre- tary of State for the Colonies, his Grace the Duke of Newcastle; the Lord Steward of her Majesty's Household, the Earl of St. Germans ; his Royal Highness's Governor, Major-General the Honourable R. Bruce ; and the Equerries in Waiting, Major Teesdale, R.A., and Captain Grey Grenadier Guards ; and Dr. Arland; his Royal Highness's physician. dr. Engle- heart, private secretary to the Duke of Newcastle, will accompany his Grace.

" The Prince of Wales will first land at St. John's, Newfoundland, then visit Nova Scotia, and thence proceed to visit New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island, and will reach Quebec by the route of the St. Lawrence. He may be expected at Montreal about the 23d of August, and the opening of the Victoria Bridge will take place a few days later. His Royal Highness will represent her Majesty upon this important national occasion, and will hold levees and receive addresses in the capitals of the different colonies. It is intended that the Prince should visit the principal towns in both Canadian provinces.

" On his return from the western districts, it is intended that his Royal Highness should drop all royal state, and, assuming the title of Lord Ren- frew, under which he has before travelled upon the continent of 'Europe, his Royal Highness will visit some of the most important and interesting loca- lities of the United States.

" It is understood that the President, Mr. Buchanan, having in an auto= graph letter to the Queen expressed his personal desire to receive the Prince at Washington, his Royal Highness will pay him a visit in that city ; and that his Royal Highness has also accepted an invitation from the city of New York.

" His Royal Highness may be expected] back in ;this country about the middle or end of October."

A comet has suddenly become visible. It has been seen in London, in the country, at sea, and on the continent. At present it appears in a north-west by westerly quarter, low down on the horizon after sunset, and just above the horizon in the early morning.

A ship laden with dross coal from Newcastle was towed up to Bristol on fire. The coal had become inflamed from spontaneous combustion. For forty hours the crew and master exerted themselves to keep it down, by throwing water into the hold. They wore saved by the tug and their own indefatigable energy. The fire-engines ultimately extinguished the fire.

The twenty-ninth anniversary of the accession of the King of the Bel- gians is to be celebrated in the ensuing month with more than ordinary pomp.

A letter from Coburg says that " preparations are in progress for the re- ception of Prince Alfred of Great Britain, who will shortly arrive here, and live alternately at Coburg and at Gotha. The reigning Duke not having any children, Prince Alfred, his nephew, is his presumptive heir."

The Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and the Duke of Baden landed at Dover on Monday. Dining there, they continued their journey, passed the night at Buckingham Palace, and went down to join the Queen at Aldershot on Tuesday.

The New Hanover Gazette states that King George has "vouchsafed to nominate Napoleon III., Emperor of the French, the King of Saxony, and the Hake of Nassau, among the members of the Royal Order of St. George."

The Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, who has been long a visitor at Paris, embarked on the 21st at Calais for St. Petersburg.

The Nord of Brussels says that the Queen of England and Prince Albert will visit Belgium about the middle of August, on their way to Berlin.

Count Dann, one of the very few Hungarians who have ranged them- selves on the side of absolutism, has just shot himself at Viterbo. Be Was there organizing a regiment a cavalry out of Austrian &Alen who had been discharged or sent there.

Another suicide in the Pontifical army is reported. Count Palphy, a member of one of the most distinguished families in Hungary, captain of cavalry in the Pope's service, shot himself, in consequence of having been publicly, reprimanded and placed under arrest by General Gregorio, for not having executed some orders to his satisfaction. General Gregorio has been summoned to Rome by telegraph, and it is said he will be placed on half-pay. '

It is officially stated that strict military inquiries relative to the em- bezzlements of the late General Eynatten bare proved that no charge of dishonesty can be raised against any other functionary in his department.

The ,Dibsits expresses its surprise at the extravagant manner in which the London journals speak of the late review of Volunteers in Hyde Park, at which not more than 20,000 men were present. "All the bells in Eng- land," it says, "are for the same moment pealing forth the same song of exultation."

Many persons present at the Review on Saturday must have noticed the figure of an old white-headed man marching with one of the companies of

volunteers. Coops, commanding the 3d Essex Volunteers, writes to the Times—" It may be interesting to your readers to know that Mr. Tower, of Weald Hall, Essex, who at that time was colonel of a regiment of volun- teers in Hertfordshire, was on this occasion present at his post as a private in.a corps raised mainly by his own exertions, and proved in his 86th year that lapse of time had in no way diminished his loyalty to his Sovereign."

Two very interesting matches came oft' at Chatham Garrison ; the first on Wednesday, June 20, between six sergeants of the Royal Engineers, armed with the Lancaster rifle, and six sergeants of the 3d Depot Battalion, armed with the regulation sergeants' rifle, each sergeant firing five rounds at each of the following distances—viz., 400, 500, 650, and 600 yards (26 class). The sergeants of the 3d Depot Battalion proved themselves the best shots, having made an average of 14.83, the sergeants of the Royal Engineers making 13.83. The second match came off on Saturday, June 23, between two sergeants of the Royal Engineers and two sergeants of the 3d Depot Battalion, each sergeant firing five rounds at each of the following dis- tances—viz., 160, 200, 250, and 300 yards (3d claw); the sergeants of the 3d Depot Battalion were again the winners, making the unprecedented average of 27-00, the sergeants of the Royal Engineers making 20.50.

The appointment of the Reverend Charles Kingsley, M.A., to be Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, in the room of Sir James Stephen, deceased, has been officially announced.

Sir Benjamin Brodie having resigned the office of President of the Gene- ral council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, the Council, on Saturday, elected Mr. Joseph Henry Green, F.R.13., their President in his room.

It is stated that tl a post of Paymaster of Civil Services, Dublin, vacant by the death of Mr. Charles Grey, worth 12001. a year, will not be filled up, the office being doomed to abolition.

The Trustees of Owen's College, Manchester, in connexion with the Uni- versity of London, have resolved to found a a chair of natural philosophy, in which science is to be taught mathematically and experimentally. The salary is 2001. a year with a proportion of the fees. Candidates must apply to the trustees, not to any individual trustee.

Jerome Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoleon the First, died on Sunday morning at Villegenis in his seventy-seventh year. His career was not very brilliant. Educated by Madam Campan, he entered the navy, and in 1801 commanded PEpervier in the San Domingo expedition. While out in the West, he visited New York and Philadelphia, and in 1803 married Miss Patterson, the daughter of a merchant in that city. They had one son. Napoleon would not recognize the marriage. Jerome returned to France, and his wife forbidden to land came to England. The Council of State declared the marriage null and void. Jerome went to sea, captured ROM English merchantmen, but only saved his ship from the English by running her ashore. He was made an admiral, a prince of the Empire, and a Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Napoleon now compelled him to marry a daughter of the King of Wurtemberg, and at once proclaimed Jerome Kin; of Westphalia. Jerome served with the army, but without distinction, in 1812 and 1813, and he commanded on the French left at Waterloo. He lived in Germany after the peace, and returned to France when the Bonapartists once more came into power. He was President of the Senate and Governor of the Invalides. He leaves three children by his second marriage. Jerome Napoleon, Mathilde, and Napoleon.

The Gazette of Tuesday contains an order by her Majesty in Council, dated the 7th of March, 1860, laying down the maritime regulations for carrying on the war with China in the event of hostilities commencing.

A convention, signed at Paris on the 22d of February last, between her Majesty and the Emperor of the French relative to joint captures in China was issued on Wednesday morning.

A decision of some importance, musically speaking, has just been come to in Russia, the Emperor having ordered that the diapason of the French commission shall be adopted in the orchestras of the imperial theatres, from the let of September next. A sum of 45,000 francs has been awarded as an indemnity to the artistes for changing the instruments according to this decision.

The Emperor Napoleon has ordered a painting for the museum of Ver- sailles to represent the interview of the Emperor and Empress of the French with the Empress Mother of Russia.

A good employment of time ! Lady Maclaine, wife of General Sir Archi- bald Maclaine, K.C.B., has presented the Prince Imperial with a handsome cushion, worked by her own hands, and emblazoned with the imperial arms, which has been graciously accepted.

Irish recruits for the Pope go through France now. Above 100 left Paris last week for Marseilles.

A letter in the Opinion Nationale says that a Sergeant Valentino, sent from Naples to assassinate Garibaldi' was fortunately recognized at Palermo, and that he escaped from vengeance by jumping into the sea and swimming to the Neapolitan frigate Parthenope.

A fact without parallel in judicial annals has lately occurred before the Criminal Tribunal of the Loire. Au unmarried woman accused of the murder of her child was acquitted by the jury, although she had confessed her crime in open court. The Judge ordered her discharge in the following terms :—"Fille Guiton, the incredible indulgence of the jury has pro- cured your acquittal, which you do not deserve. Profit by the lesson, and begone."

The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's have issued an announcement that after Sunday next the metropolitan cathedral will be closed for a time, in order that the improvements which are in contemplation may be effectively carried out. The interior of the cathedral will undergo an elaborate and t embellishment, in accordance with the original views of Sirljhr process of mn Christopher