W. O. Bigg, Esq., of Abbot's Leigh. There was a large party at the house, and during the night a "German Tree," about five feet high, with its branches covered with bon-bons and other Christmas presents, and lit with a number of small wax tapers, was introduced into the drawing-room for the younger members of the party. While leaning forward to take some toy from the tree, the light gauze overdress of one young lady, Miss Gordon, took fire, and blazed up in a most alarming manner. One of the lads present, whose quick-name of Dupree, whose town residence is in Portland ness and presence of mind were far superior to his years, with much thought and decision threw down the young lady, and folding her in a rug that was luckily close by, put out the flame before it had done any serious damage beyond scorching her arms severely. An Inquest was held on Tuesday the 8th, at Kempsey, on the body of a newly born male child, whose death was caused the previous day from Exposure to the Cold. The mother, Mary Ann Thompson, had been wandering in company with another mendicant about the country begging. On reaching Kempsey, the pains of labour suddenly came on, and she was delivered of an infant while lying on the snow in the turnpike road. Her companion immediately sought assistance at the Crown, and was told by Mrs. Webb to go to the relieving officer. The woman remained in the road full twenty minutes before she was removed, and from the evidence taken at the inquest, it appeared the poor creature did not receive that timely aid which her perils under the most ordinary circumstances would have met with. The jury returned the following verdict:-" That the child died from exposure to cold and want of proper attention at its birth; and the jury blame Mrs. Webb, the landlady of the Crown, for not giving prompt attention to the application made for assistance on behalf of the mother. On the 11th, at Chatham, Ellen Bright, a girl of seventeen, known as the "Lion Queen," attached to the ménagerie of her uncle Mr. George Wombwell, was Killed by a Tiger. An inquest was held on her body. She had been in the habit of entering the dens several times daily for the last twelve months. On that evening she entered a den in which were a lion and a tiger; she had only been in two or three minutes when, the tiger being in her way, she struck it slightly with a small whip she carried in her hand. The beast growled as if in anger, and, crouching close to the bottom of the den, stretched out its paw as if at her leg or dress, causing the deceased to fall sideways against the cage; the animal at the same moment sprang at her, and, seizing her ferociously by the neck, inserted the teeth of the upper jaw in her chin, and in closing his mouth inflicted frightful injury in the throat with his fangs. He then appeared to change his position, making a second gripe across the throat of his victim. A keeper who was standing on the step of the den, armed with a whip, immediately rushed to her assistance; but the animal did not loose its hold until struck over the nose violently with an iron bar; and whilst the keeper held the animal, the unfortunate girl was removed from the cage, bleeding profusely, and life all but extinct. She was taken into one of the caravans, where she was immediately attended by two medical gentlemen who happened to be present at the time of the occurrence. She died in a few minutes after she was taken from the den, from the wounds and from the shock to the system. The Jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased was killed by a tiger whilst exhibiting in its den; and expressed a strong opinion against the practice of allowing persons to perform in a den with such animals. On Friday the 11th, as Mr. Charles Godwin, mealman, of Somerton-mill, Oxon, was returning from Bicester market, he met with his Death by walking or slipping into one of the locks on the Oxford canal, a very short distance from his house. It seems the deceased borrowed a horse of his brother-in-law to go to Bicester, and called and left it on his return; and the nearest road to Mr. Godwin's mill being along the towing-path, and the night extremely dark, it is supposed he walked into the lock. When found, the next morning, his hat was on his head and his walking-stick in his hand. A gentleman passing through New North Street, City Road, on the morning of the 12th, was observed to Stagger and Fall to the Ground, and being raised up by some bystanders, was conveyed into the house of a respectable tradesman; but appeared then to be dead, having been heard merely to groan two or three times after he fell, Mr. Coulton, a surgeon, resident in Cliftou Street, presently attended, but found life quite extinct. On his person were found cards bearing his name and address, "Rev. Spencer Thornton, Wendover Vicarage," and various documents from which it was ascertained that he was son-in-law of a gentleman of the Place. His coachman identified the body as that of the Rev. gentleman. It appeared that he had just come to London from his father's at Wood-hill, in Hertfordshire, and he was supposed to have been proceeding from the railway to Portland Place when he died in such an awfully sudden manner, the cause of death being conjectured by the medical gentleman to have been disease of the heart, although his friends in London did not. appear to have been aware of his previously suffering from such a disease. A woman named Rachel Riach, who lived in Glen Conglass, had gone to Tomantoul on the afternoon of Saturday the 12th, for meal and other household necessaries. She left Tomantoul in the twilight on her way home, which she never reached. The night was stormy; and the falling snow, and frequent gusts of wind drifting the snow, added to the darkness. The hapless woman soon lost her way, and wandered for hours among the moors and mosses that intervene between Tomantoul and Glen Conglass. About 10 o'clock p. m. her cries for help were heard by two lads, who followed the calls, but could not discover the perishing woman. They gave no alarm, and the poor woman was not missed till Šabbath afternoon, as her family thought, from the badness of the night, she might have remained in Tomantoul. Not returning with those who had gone to attend the places of worship in Tomantoul, alarm for her safety was instantly raised among the neighbours. Search was made in the village, and the body was found frozen and lifeless, only a few hundred yards from a house. The bag with the meal, and a pail containing groceries, were lying near her. On the night of Monday, the 14th, A Fire, attended with Dreadful Loss of Life, took place in Killarney. It broke out in a portion of the building formerly known as the College, but for months past used by the guardians of the poor as a workhouse hospital. The inmates were, with much difficulty, saved from the fire; and the building was reduced to a ruin in two hours. Scarcely had the fire in this portion of the building been suppressed before it broke out in another portion called the Brewery, and used as the dormitory of a multitude of children. The doors and windows were fastened; and the only ready access was by a loft through which the flames were already pouring. The police and multitudes of assistants made extraordinary efforts to drag forth every one of the children, and their nurses; but when they had nearly performed their perilous task, the rafters of the loft gave way; and twenty-eight persons were instantly killed, and as many more frightfully mutilated. A distressing accident, resulting from the Incautious Use of Fire-arms, occurred at Walsall on the 14th. A youth about fifteen or sixteen years of age, son of Mr. Swanwick, relieving officer, was on a visit with a relation, of that place, and in the morning went out with two or three young companions to shoot birds. On their return home, two of them put their unloaded guns in the corner of a room, and shortly afterwards the third put his gun with the others; but unhappily this ore was loaded. The young men were soon after playing with the servant-maid; and Swanwick, laying hold of one of the guns, and under the impression that they were all unloaded, presented it at her, and said he would shoot her. Thinking to frighten her, he pulled the trigger and fired; when, in an instant, the poor girl dropped dead at his feet. On the night of Tuesday, the 15th, Edward Hurley, of Ballinahinch, near Knocklong, in the county of Limerick, was Murdered in his own house; in the presence of his wife and five children. Hurley and his family, after rising from prayers, directed his son to look after the cattle before they retired to rest. The boy proceeded to the door; and upon opening it, observed an armed man outside. The fellow told Hurley's son to go back, and with the muzzle of the gun, forced him to the centre of the dwelling; when his father, mother, brothers, and sisters, promptly assailed the intruder, who was repulsed; but, as Hurley was locking the door, the ruffian fired from without; the ball entering his left eye, carried away the upper part of his skull; and the victim fell dead on the spot. employer of the poor. The labourers, accordingly, exerted themselves to subdue the flames, but without success. The fire arose in the eye of a high wind, and had risen uncontrollably high even before discovered. Eight fine horses, three bullocks, two calves, twelve cows and heifers, twenty-seven pigs, and a large quantity of poultry, were consumed. The cries and moans of the poor animals, which were beyond the reach of human aid, were frightful. The yard-dog succeeded in saving himself by an almost supernatural effort; for he made off with his kennel (a very heavy one) at his heels, and was afterwards found at some distance. The damage done to Mr. Smith's property was about 20007., but he was fully insured. Mrs. Carter, an aged person whose cottage was burnt, has lost the whole of her furniture and clothes. A Dreadful Explosion of Naphtha took place about six o'clock, on the evening of the 17th, on the premises of Mr. Moffett, 61, John Street, Tottenham Court Road, which resulted in the death of a youth named Moore; and the serious injury of a younger brother. They were alone in the shop at the time. It was very dark; and the deceased was going to fill the lamp, which usually burnt naphtha. The deceased held the can which contained the naphtha, and the lamp in the other hand. His brother stood at his side, with a lighted match in his SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL hand, while the deceased was pouring the spirit into the lamp; he drew the lamp close to the light, and the spirit immediately exploded. Mr. Robert Rouse, of Walham Green, surgeon, who had been in practice nearly thirty years, destroyed himself by Swallowing Prussic Acid, on Friday the 25th. Not making his appearance as usual in the morning; he was found dead in his bed, with the empty phial on a table near him. Of late he had suffered severely from illness; and was constantly saying he must come to the workhouse. During the prevalence of the cholera, he had exerted himself very much; and on its subsidence wrote a very intelligent report on the sanitary state of Fulham parish. Mr. Joseph Ivon Winstanly, aged fifty-eight, an outfitter of No. 54, King William Street, London Bridge, committed Suicide on the 29th. The day previous he called at the shop of Mr. Buckle, chemist, in Leadenhall Street and purchased sixpennyworth of the essential oil of almonds, which he said he wanted to scent pomatum with. It was of the greatest strength, and consisted of thirty drops. He was found dead, with the empty bottle in his pocket. Depression of mind, arising from his business not prospering, is supposed to have occasioned the act. A verdict of " temporary insanity" was returned at the inquest. Buchanan house, the seat of the Duke of Montrose on the shores of Loch Lomond, was Totally Destroyed by Fire on the night of the 26th. Much valuable property was lost, but the pictures and the principal family records were preserved. The Tide Rose to a great Height in the Thames on Tuesday the 29th. On Monday the water had been unusually low, so that at some parts it would have been possible to walk across. About three o'clock, p.m., on Tuesday, the stream began to flow higher than ordinary, and eventually it stood two feet one inch higher than in the destructive flood of Oct. 1844. Some damage was done at Woolwich Dockyard, the water getting into the building docks and saw-pits. At Charlton the houses were flooded. Wharfs and streets on the low-lying parts of London were inundated. In Lambeth, Vauxhall, Battersea, Fulham, Bermondsey, and other places, the streets became rivers, cellars and kitchens were filled with water, and the destruction or damage of property was very serious. The Temple gardens were covered with water for a time. It does not appear that any one was drowned, though some children narrowly escaped. An inquest was held on the 31st at the Middlesex Hospital, on the body of Mrs. Elizabeth Mitchell, aged 35 years, the wife of Mr. Mitchell, the proprietor of the Crown public-house, at the corner of Broad-street, Golden-square. The deceased, while labouring under Delirium Tremens, leaped from a second-floor window into the yard, a distance of 30 feet, and sustained some dreadful injuries in the fall. She died on the 29th at the above-mentioned hospital. The jury returned a verdict of "Death from delirium tremens; but whether the deceased jumped from the window with a suicidal intent, or not, there was not sufficient evidence to prove." A Fire of agricultural buildings and produce took place at the homestead of Mr. Smith of Girton, near Cambridge, apparently the work of an incendiary, though Mr. Smith has the character of being a kind and spirited PROGRESS. IN pursuance of directions from the Commissioners of Baths and Wash-houses for the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, several houses in Ann Street and Peter Street were sold by auction, for the purpose of being removed to form the site on which it is intended to erect baths and wash-houses for that district. There are to be 60 baths, and as many washing and ironing departments. There will also be two plunging-baths, each above 40 feet in length, and from about 4 feet to 5 feet 8 inches in depth. The Commissioners have purchased the area for the building, and will be empowered by the Select Vestry to borrow 9500l. to carry the object into effect. The Gazette of the 4th contains the names of the Royal "Commission for the promotion of the Exhibition of the Works of all Nations, to be holden in the year 1851." They are-Prince Albert, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Rosse, Earl Granville, the Earl of Ellesmere, Lord Stanley, Lord John Russell, Sir Robert Peel, Henry Labouchere, William Ewart Gladstone, Sir Archibald Galloway or the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India Company for the time being, Sir Richard Westmacott, Sir Charles Lyell or the President of the Geological Society for the time being, Thomas Baring, Charles Barry, Thomas Bazley, Richard Cobden, William Cubitt, or the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the time being, Charles Lock Eastlake, Thomas Field Gibson, John Gott, Samuel Jones Loyd, Philip Pusey, and William Thompson. Secretary, John Scott Russell. The Commission orders an inquiry as to the best mode for introducing the productions of Colonies and foreign countries, the best site, the general conduct of the exhibition, and the distribution of the prizes. The following gentlemen are appointed an "Executive Committee."-Henry Cole, Charles Wentworth Dilke, jun., George Drew, Francis Fuller, and Robert Stephenson. Secretary, Matthew Digby Wyatt. The College of Preceptors held its half-yearly meeting on the 5th, at the Institution in Bloomsbury Square; Dr. Hodgson of Manchester in the chair. The financial report showed that the receipts and debts for the year make a total of 15657.; the payments and debts due from the College, 9221. Dr. Wilson, the Dean, read the report of the results of the examinations, and certificates were presented to the twenty candidates who had passed. Amongst these were two ladies, who obtained great credit for the manner in which they had gone through an examination in history and the classics. The Corporation then revised some by-laws. The expediency of the adoption, in banking, of the Scotch System of Cash Credits, was discussed at the half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of the London and Westminster Bank, on the 16th. The practice in question is this:-A bank agrees to advance to particular person, a sum within specified limits, to be drawn for as needed; security for repayment being provided by a bond bearing the names of the person for whose use the money is to be advanced, and of two and sometimes three other persons, who join as sureties. Two objections to the adoption of this plan were stated: first, that the bank-note system does not hold in London; and second, that the people of London do not know each other sufficiently well to induce them to join in bonds involving liabilities which might extend over many years. The chairman remarked, that the experiment was now under trial by the Royal British Bank; and that, if it proved successful, there was nothing to prevent the London and Westminster from following the example. A dividend of 6 per cent. was declared; and, as showing the greater certainty which prevails in bill transactions, it was mentioned that the 70,000l. of loss incurred in the disastrous year of 1847 had now been entirely wiped off. A further important step has just been taken at the Post Office, towards the Reduction of Sunday Duties, and this time in the London district. Hitherto, in the suburbs of London, there has always been a delivery on the Sunday morning of letters and newspapers despatched from St. Martin's-le-Grand on the Saturday night; but under the new arrangement these will be delivered at a late hour on Saturday night at all places within six miles of St. Martin's-le-Grand, and the Sunday morning's delivery at such places will be abolished. This plan, which came into operation on the 29th ult., combined with another for abolishing certain cross-posts, has released from Sunday duties 191 men in the London district. and silver;" from Spain and Portugal, 310,000l. Total of the year, 6,788,6551. The Returns of the Board of Trade for the month ending the 5th December, show an increase in the exports of 374,9937. over the corresponding month of 1848; a result the more satisfactory, since the exports of December 1848 were not less than 132,3461. more valuable than those of December 1847. The chief items of increase have been manufactures of cotton, flax, wool, and silk, hardware goods, metals, and leather. The instances of marked decrease are cotton-yarn, machinery, and soap. The entire increase in exports during the first eleven months of the year 1849, as compared with the corresponding months of 1848, is now 9,681,8977.; the totals respectively being 44,407,9127. and 54,089,8097. The import returns show a large increase under the head of grain, provision-meats, cocoa, eggs, (from 4,471,7187. to 5,475,6737.,) and tea; also an increasing consumption of sugar, though the imports somewhat declined. Both the import and the consumption of flour and of coffee had declined. Tobacco imports had largely increased. The plan of a Submarine Electric Telegraph between England and France is about to be proceeded with. The concession signed by Louis Napoleon and the Minister of the Interior, M. Dufaure, granting to Messrs. telegraph line between France and England by a submarine communication across the channel, arrived in town on the 31st ult. The company propose to establish, by means of the electric telegraph, an instant communication between the two countries. The patentee guarantees that this telegraph shall, by the aid of a single wire, and of two persons only (the one stationed in France, and the other in England), be capable of printing, in clear Roman type (on paper) 100 messages, of fifteen words each, including addresses and signatures, all ready for delivery in 100 consecutive minutes. The Summaries of The State of Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom during the past year, given in the leading provincial journals, exhibit satisfactory and promising results. The Manchester Examiner states, that "the activity of the manufactures in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is perhaps without parallel in the history of that thriving district." The Manchester Guardian affirms that, in Lancashire, the transactions have been of great magnitude, and that "the average rise of prices by the end of the year was not less than 10 per cent. on goods, or than 8 per cent. on yarns." The large profits on coarse yarns and goods in 1844, 1845, and 1846, induced an excessive production, which has made that branch the single exception to the prosperity of the past year. The evil is correcting itself; coarse stocks are exhausted, and many makers have turned their spindles and looms to the making of finer yarns and fabrics. A drawback from the prosperity of 1850 was anticipated from the scarcity of raw cotton; but the discovery of an error of nearly 100,000 bales in the estimated stock, one-sixth of the whole, has considerably lightened the weight of this anticipation. In Scotland, says the Dundee Mercantile Gazette, "the linen trade has been as satisfactory, in almost all its branches, as could be desired:""every hand-loom weaver willing to work has been busily employed; "--"our linens can be laid down in Germany as cheap as in Liverpool; "-" foreign merchants in Hamburgh find it for their advantage to buy Dundee linens from the Hamburgh dealers, instead of those of German manufacturers." In the North of Ireland, the Northern Whig of Belfast says-"All the manufacturing classes From the Returns of the Specie and Bullion imported are better off than for many a year; "-" there is full during the last year from the gold countries of South employment to hand-loom weavers' at "wages increased and North America, and the Atlantic and Mediterranean from 10 to 15 per cent.," and to "an immense number ports of Southern Europe and Northern Africa, it appears of women and girls" in the sewed-muslin business, at that the West Indian packets have brought 4,648,2701.," wages advanced 40 or 50 per cent." In the iron trade, the produce of the mines of California, Mexico, Central upon view of the whole operations both in the raw and America, and the Pacific States of South America. Of manufactured material, there has been a great business this amount, it is estimated that about 400,000/. in gold at improved prices. In the ship-building trade, a de A public meeting of persons connected with the Tailor-J. Brett, Toché, and Co., the right to establish an electric ing Trade in the metropolis, was held on the 17th, in the large room at Excter Hall. The object of the meeting, which consisted of upwards of 2,000 persons, was to consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament in reference to the present slop and "middle" system, which, it was stated, injured the fair trader as well as the workingpeople. Several working tailors addressed the meeting, one of whom stated that he had been employed by Moses and Son for several years past as a confidential man at the rate of 1d. per hour, and expressed his regret that with 400,000l. per annum, the Marquis of Westminster dealt with that establishment. Another speaker observed, that it was very well known that the working-men engaged in making clothing for the Government establishments, the Post-office, the Custom-house, and for the soldiers and police, did not get more than 1s., or at most 1s. 6d. a day; and a third speaker declared, that for making a coat for a first-rate master tailor, patronised by the Duke of Wellington and other aristocratic customers, he had only received 5s., out of which sum he had to pay for candlelight and trimmings. Resolutions and a petition to Parliament were agreed to, denouncing the slop and middle-men systems, and praying for the enactment of a law compulsory on employers to have their work done on their own premises. A meeting was held at the Mansion House on the 25th, to raise funds for the next year's Exhibition of 1851. The Lord Mayor presided, and it was attended by a number of leading men in the City; also by Lord John Russell, Mr. Labouchere, and Earl Granville. Mr. W. Cotton expressed a hope that not the opulent only, but the whole people, would come forward according to their means, and make the Exposition what Mr. Jones Loyd designated the great Olympian festival of modern times. Lord John Russell advocated the movement. It was resolved to make arrangements for raising the funds on a scale commensurate with the importance of the occasion. The subscriptions announced amounted to upwards of 10,0007.; and include 1000/. from the Queen, 5007. from Prince Albert, 1007. each from the Premier and six colleagues, and several sums of 5007. from leading members of the great banking and commercial firms. has come from California, direct or via Lima and Valpa- pression visible at the beginning of the year is passing raiso, where much California dust is melted into ingots away: Messrs. Tonge, Curry, and Co., of Liverpool, say, for England. The Peninsular and Oriental steam- in their trade circular-" During the last two months, packets have brought-from Alexandria, 728,8577. "gold more contracts have been made, and more keels laid and silver coin;" from Constantinople, 933,510. "gold down, than we were prepared to expect;" the number present. The poor people manifested respectful gra titude. of vessels-eight vessels, of 2800 tons aggregate burden -now building at Liverpool, is not under the average number." The moderate prices held for some time past On New Year's Eve, the Lord Mayor and Lady by all the articles of food-consumption, have induced an Mayoress gave a Juvenile Entertainment, in the Manincreased consumption throughout the country; and the sion House, to several hundreds of the young children of increase of consumption has in its turn raised to their the citizens. The company entered the Egyptian Hall natural position in the wholesale market some articles at about seven, and the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress which special influences had depressed to panic prices. themselves led off a country-dance with a young partner The Hospital attached to the medical school of King's each. At ten o'clock the amusements were varied by College has been placed in permanent connexion with the introduction of Mr. Love the polyphonist; who, the College itself. At a special meeting of the Governors from a stage erected for him in one corner of the room, of the Hospital, on the 29th ult., it was resolved to abro-delighted and mystified the young people with his cle ver gate the thirty-fifth rule, vesting the funds of the insti- ventriloquisms. At eleven the parents of the children tution in trustees, and further, "that the site of the arrived, and assumed a wise control at the sumptuous Hospital, together with all the property belonging to it, supper-table. After supper, dancing was resumed till shall vest in the corporation of King's College, London, near twelve. When the hour of midnight began t for the purposes of the Hospital." This amalgamation strike, the lights waned simultaneously, in signification has been effected with a view to facilitate the measures of the departing year; when twelve o'clock had struck now in active progress for carrying out the project of a the lights again sprang up, and the hall was in its former new and regularly endowed hospital. The subscription blaze of illumination. The Lord Mayor and Lady towards the fund of 50,0001. for the new building and Mayoress seated themselves at the upper end of the endowments, in the short time since the Council of hall, and shook each young couple by the hand as they the College took the matter in hand, has risen to nearly passed; a courtesy they acknowledged with wishes of a 21,000l. "happy new year." The Financial Returns of the country, to the 5th instant, present very satisfactory results. Notwithstanding the replacement on the 1st of February, 1848, of the last sliding-scale of duties on corn by a nominal duty, and the reduction of the sugar duties on the 5th of July, the decrease on the Customs, as compared with the Customs of the quarter ending January 5, 1849, is little more than 40,000l. On the Excise there is an increase of about 36,0007., and on the Stamps of about 40,000.; both showing resuscitated enterprise, full employment, and wages more than sufficient for the necessaries of life. On the assessed taxes there will be a decrease of about 20,000.; and in the Post-office a trifling increase. In the Excise there is a decrease of about 89,000.. arising wholly from the postponement of the hop duty. The Stamps show an increase of about 257,000.; the assessed taxes, a decrease of 9,000l., and the property tax, an increase of about 65,0002.-a sum which represents additional income to the amount of 2,200,000l. per annum, and, at 5 per cent., an additional capital of 44,000,0007. From the beginning of the financial year to the end of December, including a period of nearly nine months, the expenditure of the United Kingdom fell short of that in the corresponding period of the previous year by no less a sum than 3,340,000l. This is made up out of the following items:-To the reduction on the interest of Exchequer Bills we owe a difference of nearly 150,000.; to the reduced expenditure in the army we owe nearly 540,000.; to the same process in the navy nearly 1,300,000í.; in the ordnance about 740,0007., and in the services provided for by the miscellaneous estimates nearly 300,000l. Since April 5, there has been no fresh grant for Irish distress, whereas in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, there was expended on this account 272,3827. In other items there is an aggregate difference of about 70,0007. in our favour. The Treasury, however, does not yet derive the full benefit of this sum of 3,340,000l.; for, owing to the advances by way of loan under various British and Irish acts, which nearly double the repayment of advances during the last nine months, the actual reduction of expenditure during that period amounts to about two millions and a half. Α Lord Brougham has been passing his time, in his retirement, at Cannes, in philosophical pursuits. letter from that place dated the 19th, says, "Lord Brougham has been making some interesting experiments on light here, which are just terminated. At eleven o'clock at night on the 14th inst., four members of the Royal Society of London gave to our population a ravishing spectacle; at the top of the towers of the Noble Lord the apparatus of the electric light was placed, and at the same instant a luminous point shone from the Ile Sainte Marguerite, and its brilliant rays displayed to all eyes the beauty of that enchanting site. The same rays were afterwards directed on the magnificent scenery of the Cap-Roux, and on the picturesque roadstead of Agai. The coup d'œil at such an hour was so beautiful, that applause suddenly broke forth from all parts. The next day Lord Brougham, in the midst of a numerous and chosen circle, gave a detailed and very interesting account of his experiments on light." At a meeting of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company at York on the 1st instant, the settlement of the company's Claims on Mr. Hudson, their late chairman, came on for discussion. The chairman said that legal proceedings had been commenced, two bills in equity having been filed; but propositions had been made by the friends of Mr. Hudson, and the directors had taken legal opinions which recommended a compromise with Mr. Hudson, on the following terms: Mr. Hudson had undertaken to pay in all to the company the sum of 100,000l., he (Mr. Hudson) having, during the past year, paid to the company no less than 90,0367., and Mr. Hudson would further pay the expenses the company had been put to in the matter. After some sharp discussion the compromise was agreed to. Mr. Hudson has at length come forward to defend himself from the charges made against him in regard to his Railway Transactions. He has published a letter stating the pith of his justifications in the several matters of-1. The Brandling Junction Railway, and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway; 2. The Sunderland Docks; 3. The purchase of his own iron rails for the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Company. On the first head, he says the shares were voted to him in public meeting, for services previously rendered, and then thought valuable. On the second, he says that his Newcastle and Berwick Railway shares were original shares in the company of which he was the originator, and for which he was responsible. The Sunderland THE Queen and Prince Albert, with their children, Dock shares were taken by him with two other directors, personally witnessed the distribution of her Majesty's for the direct benefit of the York, Newcastle, and BerNew Year's Gift of food and raiment to the poor of wick Company. It is not denied that in this he exceeded Windsor. The distribution took place in the Riding- the legal authority reposed in the Directors: parliaschool of the Castle. The presents consisted of a hand-mentary sanction was, no doubt, necessary, as in all some quantity of blankets, flannel, and calico, of meat, former cases, "where the Directors had not shrunk bread, and plum-pudding, and of coals, distributed to all from this description of responsibility, when it was the deserving poor in the parishes of Windsor and important that delay should be avoided.' " "The ComClewer, as indicated in a list by the ladies of the Dis-pany has ratified the purchase of some West Durham trict Visiting Society. A number cí the clergy were Railway shares taken by me in a similar manner, and PERSONAL NARRATIVE. with the same absence of authority; the only difference being, that it has now been thought advantageous for the Company to retain these shares. On the third point, he says he purchased iron largely in October, 1844, when the Company was not in existence, but when iron was low: "like any other man," he was "surely entitled to the enhanced worth of his own iron." The tenders for the iron were open and public; and Messrs. Thompson and Forman, in furnishing iron partly out of their own stock and partly out of that which they held for him, did not in anywise affect the price. "In conclusion," says Mr. Hudson, "I would observe, that I am aware that transactions have occurred which are to be regretted; but in respect to which it is some consolation to me to reflect that the Company have in no instance sustained pecuniary loss. Allow me to ask you to review those transactions with some remembrance of the excited period in which they occurred-of the multiplicity of concerns which I had to superintend and direct-of the brief opportunities I had for reflectionand of the impossibility of my giving sufficient attention to the public duties and private matters which then claimed my attention." Accounts of great interest have arrived from the Pacific, in reference to the expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. From Mazatlan, under date the 24th of November, we learn the arrival at that port on the 13th of Her Majesty's ship Herald, Captain Kellatt, and also that of the British yacht Nancy Dawson, Captain Bill, with intelligence from Her Majesty's ship Plover at Behring's Straits. We learn that the relief ship had previously penetrated as far as 73 deg. 10 min. N. latitude, in search of Sir J. Franklin; and in company with the yacht named, the Plover's boats also penetrated along a vast extent of the coast of North America, extending from Behring's Straits to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, the scene of Sir J. Richardson's exit into the northern seas during the late expedition. It appears that no traces of the missing navigators were discovered; and it is stated that the boats of the Plover consequently determined, in accordance with their instructions, to winter on the spot, attempting to reach one of the nearest traders' stations in the vicinity. The private schooneryacht then returned, her light draught having previously enabled her to explore in company with the boats, and with the Plover re-entered Behring's Straits from the north; there the Plover took up her winter quarters, and subsequently the Herald and Nancy Dawson returned to Mazatlan. The commander of the Plover, it is stated, entertained great hopes of Sir John Franklin's safety, although we are not informed of the grounds upon which that expectation is based. It is to be regretted that the advices received are in a measure indefinite; and it is still more mournful to learn that the owner of the yacht which was so nobly conducted along the Arctic coast from the promptings of a philanthropic spirit, should have subsequently closed his career at Mazatlan. It is stated that he had previously been engaged in a tour round the world, and suddenly altered his course to aid in the search for Franklin's ships. The yacht had been put in charge of a sailing-master from one of Her Majesty's ships at Mazatlan, and will be despatched home by the British Consul. From New York we learn also some details of interest in reference to Sir John Franklin. Letters had been received by in fluential individuals in that city from Lady Franklin, de siring advice and information from the person to whom they were addressed, as to the expediency of her visiting New York to arrange an expedition, at her own expense, for the renewal of the search for her lost husband next spring. Lady Franklin is described as meditating the purchase of two small vessels with that aim. Obituary of Notable Persons. THE HON. MRS. OTWAY CAVE, widow of the late Hon. Robert Otway Cave, and eldest daughter of the late Sir Francis Burdett Bart., died in Dublin on the 30th ult. Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, perpetual honorary secretary of M. QUATREMERE DE QUINCY, member of the Académie des the Académie des Beaux Arts, and senior member of the Institute of France, has lately died in his 95th year. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL IRVINE, C.B., of the East India Company's service, chief director of engineering and architectural works of the Admiralty, died on the 29th ult. at his residence, Highgate. Colonel Irvine's career was an arduous and most which he was severely wounded, and personally led one or two distinguished one. He served in many sieges and storms, in forlorn-hopes. As a military engineer his talents were highly prized in India. THE PRINCESS CAROLINE HENRIETTA, mother of the reigning Prince of Reuss-Schleiz, died on the 24th ult., at the age of 89. SIR DAVID DICKSON, M.D., Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets died on the 9th, at his residence, Durnford Street, Stonehouse, in the 70th year of his age. He was surgeon of the Brakel in the expedition to Egypt in 1801. LIEUTENANT WAGHORN, R.N., the gallant pioneer of the overland route, died at his residence, Golden Terrace, Pentonville, on the 8th, in the 49th year of his age. Mr. Waghorn been residing a short time for the benefit of his health, had returned only on Christmas day from Malta, where he had which had been considerably impaired by anxiety and harass of mind, arising chiefly from pecuniary engagements contracted in his prosecution of the Trieste experiments in 1846, and which liabilities the devotion of all his means and the sacrifice of his entire property were inadequate to liquidate. Independent of enterprise, that has immortalised his name as one of the greatest the main incident of his history in connection with the Indian practical benefactors of the age, his career has been most extraordinary, full of the strangest vicissitudes, and abounding in evidences of character in every way worthy of enduring commemoration. Of the pension lately awarded to him by Government he lived to receive only one quarter's payment. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL SIR JAMES MALCOLM, K.C.B., of the Royal Marines, died on the 3rd, at his seat, Minholm, Dumfriesof Burnfoot, and elder brother of Admiral Sir C. Malcolm. He shire, at the age of 82. entered the Royal Marines at the early age of thirteen. He was second son of Mr. G. Malcolm, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL NICOL, C.B., died at Clifton on the 6th. He served with distinction throughout the Peninsular war, and afterwards in India, in the Nepaul war, when he commanded division of the army under Sir David Ochterlony. a MRS. BARTLEY, formerly Miss Smith, the celebrated tragedian, died on the 14th in her 65th year. MADAME GRASSINI, the once celebrated Italian singer, died lately at Milan, aged 77. She was the aunt of Giulietta Grisi. A COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES. NEW metropolitan association for the reform of Colonial Government challenges unusual attention at the opening of the year, from the fact that it comprises leading men of all parties not absolutely engaged in office. Its object is to obtain for all the colonies the most ample powers of local self-government, to secure them in such rights as the disposal of their own waste lands, and to protect them in framing or altering at pleasure the local constitution of each colony. Such news as meanwhile we receive from the colonics themselves appears to exhibit a somewhat large field for the exertions of the new society. The settlers of the Cape still resist the admission of convicts, and Western Australia has pronounced hardly less unreservedly against the proffered boon of convict labour. The West Indies groan as loudly as usual, the Canadians are clamouring for " an independant union" of all the British North American provinces, and New Zealand insists upon the promised constitution which its new governor has hitherto thought it right to withhold. The news from India is limited to a rumour of disturbances on the frontier of Peshawur, which receives importance from the accompanying statement that a distinguished officer had been ordered with a |