gnattlantoug.

Sir Charles Napier has once more thrust himself on the public by the printing of letters. He has forwarded to thejournals two epistles addressed by himself to Lord Palmerston. The first, dated from Mer- chistoun, December 5, purports to be a reply to a letter from Lord Pal- merston, which refused to Sir Charles an investigation of his conduct in reference to the statements of Sir Robert Peel. Instead of reprinting the Premier's letter, Sir Charles recites passages, interlarded with comment. If we may rely upon the passages recited, Lord Palmerston states that the discussions between Sir Charles and the Board of Admiralty, and the attacks made on the Admiral by Sir James Graham, have caused the Premier great pain ; that he has always been satisfied with Sir Charles's judgment and discretion afloat, and entirely so in respect to his conduct in refraining from an attack upon Cronstadt ; but that he has seen with sincere grief, in the conduct of Sir Charles ashore, things which his best friends could not witness without deep regret.

"How much more poignant then, my Lord," quoth Sir Charles, "must have been your ' grief,' and how much more deep your regret,' to witness the conduct of Sir Robert Peel—a Lord of the Adnuralty, a member of your Government—in attacking an old officer, double his age, who had served his country honourably for upwards of fifty years, had several times received the thanks of Parliament, and had even been highly lauded in Parliament by the honourable Baronet's own father." But Lord Palmerston, he says, does not put the case with sufficient strength. The injurious statements were made at public meetings by a Lord of the Admiralty, and in Parliament by Admiral Berkeley. Sir Robert Peel said that his statement was approved by "the highest authority." "The highest authority' could not have been your Lordship, after what you have written to me. It could not have been her Majesty. Therefore, I think the country has a right to know who this highest authority' is. Sir Robert Peel's opinion, any Lord, on naval matters, is not worth much ; nor, indeed, on any other. His want of judgment is proverbial. But his position gives hiin weight. The course he has pursued reflects little credit on your Lordship's Government: and be assured, my Lord, that he is not the Samson to pull down the pillars of the state and crush the Administration beneath its ruins."

The second epistle to Lord Palmerston encloses two other letters ; one written by Sir Charles to that "frank openhearted sailor" the Archduke Constantine, asking him to testify to the correctness of Sir Charles's nar- ration of what passed at the famous interview between them ; the other, the Archduke Constantine's reply. Here it is—the gem of the whole collection.

"St. Petersburg, 13th (25th) Nov. 1856. " My dear Admiral—In answer to your letter of 'the 29th of October, I willingly affirm that you have quite exactly reported the conversation I had with you concerning Cronstadt.

" With regard to Sir It. Peel's statement, I consider it necessary to say that I spoke with him but once, viz. at his official presentation in Moscow ; and that not a word concerning Cronstadt—uot even the name itself—was mentioned by either of us.

"Yours affectionately, " CONSTANTLNE. "Sir Charles Napier, Vice-Admiral."

Mr. Cobden has published another letter on Maritime Law. It is addressed to Mr. Jenkinson, the Secretary of the Bradford Committee on Foreign Affairs ; and is intended to correct that gentleman's notion that we surrendered our belligerent rights in the late war from feelings of forbearance to Russia. Mr. Cobden says that this was not so- " It was the attitude assumed by the United States which led to the change. Those who were in a position to observe the manifestations of pub- lic opinion in the press of that country, and through the speeches at Washington, on the eve of the Russian war, and still more, they who knew what was passing between the United States Minister in London and our Foreign Office, need not be told that any serious attempt on our part to up- hold the right of search, which, as you truly say, is essential to the mainte- nance of our ancient belligerent rights,. would not have been tolerated by that country. . . . . When it was unmistakeably evident that the American people were determined that their merchant-ships should not be visited and marched by our cruisers, and that any attempt to revive the proceedings which led to the rupture of 1812 would be resisted, would lead to bloodshed, and would in all probability end in a war between the two countries. Our Government therefore, very wisely, yielded the point; and in doing so, met the wishes not merely of America but of every nation of Europe." [Mr. Cobden here confounds two things essentially distinct. The " right of search," that led to the war of 1812, was the right to search United States men-of-war in order to discover and take British subjects ; not the right to search merchantmen for goods. The latter was the right waived in 1854.] Mr. Cobden, at the close of his letter, intimates his opinion that Mr. Marcy's proposal to exempt all property on the high seas from capture will meet with an almost unanimous consent in the House of Commons.

The Board of the Great Northern Railway have published a corre- spondence on the Redpath frauds between Mr. Mowatt, their Secretary, and Mr. Cattley and Mr. Chapman, Auditors. It includes a minute on the discovery of the frauds, and a resolution by the Board to have the books of the registration-office thoroughly sifted and examined by " competent parties entirely independent of the Company." The Auditors waited on the Board, and expressed their readiness to aid in the investigation, " provided that the resolution or order of the Board to be passed for their guidance did not convey or imply that they, as Auditors, had neglected their duty heretofore, by not examining the registration-books, which

they stated they had never conceived it their duty to examine." The Board called upon the Auditors to take the necessary steps to insure the examination required. The Auditors acquiesced ; renewing their ex- ception—

" Permit us to observe, with reference to that portion of the minutes which refers to the part the Auditors took in the conversation with the Board, that Mr. Cattley simply stated, that if the proposed resolution meant to infer that the registration department had ever been within the sphere of the duties of the Auditors, they must decline to act upon the resolution of the Board.' " On the 3d December they sent Mr. Deloitte to perform the search; and he was accepted by the Company.

An increase of deaths is the effect which was generally anticipated of the late sudden changes of the atmosphere. The amount of sickness in a population, at any time, is measured only approximately by the mortal- ity ; and that part of it which is fatal is of various duration, and is re- corded, therefore, not in one week, but a succession of weeks. The deaths in London, which in two preceding weeks were 1261 and 1158, rose in the week that ended last Saturday to 1318. The mean tempera- ture, which fell on the 25th ultimo, and continued below the average during ten days, was on Tuesday last week only 27.7 degrees, which is 14 degrees below the average. On Saturday it rose to 52.2 degrees, which is 11 degrees above the average. In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1846-'55 the average number of deaths was 1291. If for comparison with the present return this average is raised in proportion to increase of population, it becomes 1420. The deaths of last week are therefore less by 102 than the corrected average.—Registrar-Gen rat's Report.

At the beginning of the week, the Marquis of Lansdowne was reported to have quite recovered from an attack of the gout, and as preparing to carry out the festivities of the Christmas season at Bowood ; but Lord Penmen, was only " recovering " from his attack of the same malady.

On Wednesday sennight Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli were among the guests of a dinner-party given by the Emperor of the French. Mr. Disraeli has been a frequent visitor at the house of the Princess de Lieven.

On the following day the Emperor received the Russian Ambassador at dinner.

The Emperor and Empress of the French have attended another charity- ball at the Opera—this time for the benefit of the poor of the Sixth Arron- dissement.

Prince Napoleon Bonaparte is said to contemplate a voyage next year to the Indian and China seas ; accompanied, as on his first voyage, by some distinguished sevens and litterateurs.

The Emperor Napoleon reviewed on Monday in the Place du Carrouse/ some regiments of the Guard, including one of artillery. After the review, a deputation from the Grenadiers of the Guard proceeded to the Tuileries, and presented to the Imperial Prince his livret as enfant de troupe—the " small book " which is given to every private soldier, and in which are re- corded the state of his services, his omissions and commissions. His little Highness received the livret with becoming respect ; and his nurse promised that it should be kept as clean as possible from bad marks.

The King of Prussia was formally invested with the Legion of Honour on the 5th December.

The Reverend Dr. Livingstone, the African traveller, is now in England. This account of him is running the 'round of the journals. " He arrived at Marseilles from Tunis on the 6th instant, and was then in good health. But his left arm is broken and partly useless, from having been torn by a lion_ When he was taken on board her Majesty's ship the Frolic, on the Mozam- bique coast, he had great difficulty in speaking a sentence of English, having disused it so long while travelling in Africa. He had with him a native from the interior of Africa. This man,. when he got to the Mau- ritius, was so excited with the steamers and various wonders of civilization, that he went mad, and jumped into the sea and was drowned. Dr. Living- stone has been absent from England seventeen years. He crossed the great African continent almost in the centre, from West to East ; has been where no civilized being has ever been before ; and has made many notable dis- coveries of great value. He travelled in the twofold character of missionary and physician, having obtained a medical diploma. He is rather a short man, with a pleasing and serious countenance, which betokens the most determined resolution. He continued to wear the cap which he wore while performing his wonderful travels. The injury to his arm was sustained in the desert while travelling with a friendly tribe of Africans. A herd of lions broke into their camp at night, and carried off some of their cattle- The natives, in their alarm, believed that a neighbouring tribe had be- witched them. Livingstone taunted them with suffering their losses through cowardice, and they then turned out to face and hunt down the enemy_ The Doctor shot a lion, which dropped wounded. It afterwards sprang on him, and caught him by the arm ; and, after wounding two natives who drew it off him, it fell down dead. The wounded arm was not set properly, and Dr. Livingstone suffered excruciating agony in consequence." Mrs. Livingstone, who had not seen her husband for four years and a half, and who at one time mourned for him as lost, awaited his arrival and met him at Southampton.

General the Honourable H. E. Butler, Colonel of the Fifty-fifth Foot, died at Paris on Sunday. He entered the Army. in 1800 ; served in the Peninsular war, and was wounded at Busaco. He is, however, better known for the exploits of his sons than for his own, for we have been told to forget our Peninsular heroes. His eldest son, Henry Thomas, Captain Fifty-fifth Foot, born in 1813, was Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-General in the Crimean expedition ; and was killed at Inkerman, on the 5th November 1854, aged forty-one. His second son, Charles George, Captain in the Eighty-sixth Foot, was born in 1823 ; and died in India, December 1854, aged thirty-one.His fourth son, James Armar, Captain in the Ceylon Rifles, was born in 1827 ; he was the hero of Silistria, and died of fatigue and sickness after the Russian retreat, aged twenty--seven.

Lieutenant-General Francis Milman died on Tuesday. He went to Por- tugal in 1808; and, as aide-de-camp to Major-General Catlin Crawfurd, was present at Sir Arthur Wellesley's first two battles in Portugal, Holies, and Vimiera. He afterwards shared in Sir John Moore's campaign and re- treat. In 1809 he joined the Coldstream Guards at Lisbon ; and was pre- sent at the capture of Oporto, and the battle of Talavera. Wounded in this battle, he narrowly escaped death in the conflagration—the dry grass had been set on fire—which swept over part of the field after the combat : being left in hospital at Talavera, he fell into the hands of the French, and was detained in France until 1814. By his death the Colonelcy of the Eighty-second Regiment is vacant. Lieutenant Rivers, one of the Lieutenants of Greenwich Hospital, died last week, at that institution. He was a sailor of the great days of our naval history. A first-class volunteer on board the Victory in 1765, he was pre- sent and wounded in Lord Hotham's second .partial action in the July of that year; and in 1797, under Sir John Jervis, at the battle off Cape St. Vincent. Rejoining the Victory in 1803, he was one of Nelson's heroes at the battle of Trafalgar ; where he was wounded in the face, and his left leg was carried away by a shot. This, however, did not terminate his naval career. He served afterwards as Lieutenant in the Princess of Orange 74, and the Cossack 24; took part in the expedition under Gambier to Copen- hagen ; and brought home the late Marquis of Anglesey, and the despatches announcing the retreat and death of Sir John Moore at Corunna. After all these distinguished services, he died a Lieutenant and a pensioner at Green- wich Hospital.

Mr. David Dyson, a well-known naturalist, and indefatigable collector, died at Rushohne on Wednesday, at the early age of thirty-three. Origi- nally he was a weaver, but a passion for entomology led him at the age of twenty to the United States. There, supporting himself by his industry, he contrived to cross the country from New York to St. Louis ; and he re- turned to England, after an absence of twelve months, with upwards of 18,000 specimens of insects, birds, shells, and plants. He afterwards twice explored Central America, and made another large collection. He acted as curator to the museum of late Earl of Derby, until it was sold by the present Earl. Mr. Dyson has left behind him a private collection of 20,000 ahells, some of them very rare.

Father Mathew, the " Apostli of Temperance," died at Kingstown on Monday.

Mr. John Collett, formerly Member for Athlone, had for some time caused great apprehension among his friends. On the 28th November, he eluded observation, stole into Uie library of his house near Salisbury, and shot him- self. The Coroner's inquest returned a verdict of " Temporary derangement."

Cheering for smokers !—Ann Bourne recently died at Benefield, near Whitehaven, at the age of a hundred and one : she had been an inveterate smoker for seventy years, and three days before her death she was seen drawing consolation from a short dirty pipe. Till within two or three years of her decease Mrs. Bonnie could read without spectacles.

One of the last of the mythical line of " Irish Giants," in the person of Shawn Nabontree, died at Connemara on Friday last. He owed his sobriquet to his unusual stature, being a man of extraordinary athletic symmetry— namely, seven feet in height, and weighing over twenty stone. His family, the Joyces, has been for many years one of the wonders of Connemara. lie died at the age of seventy, and has left four stalwart sons.—Mayo ansti-

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has appointed Mr. Morris Drummond his private secretary, in the room of Sir Alexander Duff Gordon, the new Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

The Lords of the Treasury, at the request of the Manchester Committee of Art Treasures, have granted to Mr. Peter Cunningham six months' leave of absence from his official duties. Mr. Cunningham is to edit the Catalogue of the Art Treasures Exhibition, and to assist the Committee generally in the selection and arrangement of the several works of art.

We understand that a Royal Commission will shortly be issued, appoint- ing Lord Broughton, the Dean of St. Paul's, Mr. R. Ford, Mr. Faraday, Mr. Cockerell R.A., and Mr. George Richmond, to inquire into and deter- mine the site of the new National Gallery, and to report on the desirable- ness of combining with it the Fine Art and Archaeological collections of the British Museum.—Globe, Dec. 8.

No fewer than thirty-one of the French Bishops have signified their appro- bation of a circular recently issued by the Bishop of Chartres to his clergy, warning them against entering into religious disputes : the document is ge- nerally considered to be directed against the course pursued by the Univers. On the other hand, fifteen members of the French episcopal bench have de- clared in favour of that journal.

Mr. Morris Moore has been ordered to quit Berlin without delay, and no doubt he has obeyed. At first he received permission to remain or go as he pleased. Meanwhile, the English newspapers containing his angry letter to Lord Bloomfield, and his insinuations against Prince Albert and Dr. Waagen, had reached Berlin ; and it is not improbable that this may have led to the decisive change in the conduct of the police. Dr. Waagen has indignantly repelled the imputation that he had anything to do with Mr. Moore's arrest ; which, moreover, he thinks was uncalled-for.

The commanding-officers of regiments having expressed a favourable opinion of the Duke of Cambridge's proposal to establish a musical school to provide bandmasters and musicians for the Army, the scheme is to be imme- diately put into operation.

During the war, it is stated, many ticket-of-leave men got into the Ar- tillery corps : in consequence, thefts and other offences have become very prevalent, and flogging a weekly practice.

Messrs. Wilson of Highbury, the omnibus-proprietors,. complain of extra- ordinary proceedings under the Income-tax Act. " It is generally known that in January in this year we sold our omnibus business to the London General Omnibus'

mnibus Company ; and in July last we paid four quarters Income- tax, due 20th March 1856, to the collector of our district, as expressed in a printed form of receipt handed to us at the time of making such payment. The company, in a different district, have also paid a quarter's Income-tax, ending at the same period, upon the whole of their business, including that portion thereof which they had purchased from us. On the 10th November last, we were summoned before the local Commissioners, and, notwithstand- ing the explanation offered by vs, were adjudged to pay for the quarter ending 20th March last; and on the following morning by ten o'clock, one of our private carriages, value 801., was seized to satisfy the above quarter's tax, which the company, as well as ourselves, had previously paid."

The Brighton Railway Directors—representatives of the favourite of the great English lines in the Share-market—have taken the initiative in adopting measures to prevent frauds in the transfer department. They have announced that the Mortgage Bonds will in future be attested by the swature of one Director attached to the seal of the Company ; that the Cer- tificates of Stock will bear the signatures of two Directors; and that days will be fixed for the regular delivery. of Certificates. The Brighton Rail- way Directors not being above " giving such additional security to in- Testers, what other company should refuse it ?

The prices of corn and flour are still slowly falling in the French markets : it is expected that eventually sellers will have to submit to a considerable reduction.

The last advices from Melbourne show a small falling-off in'the arrivals of gold ; but heavy rains had interfered with the transit. Great excitement had been caused by the discovery of new mines at Dunolly, North-west of

Bendigo. Up to the 5th September, the shipments for this year had been 8,184,808/.

It seems that gold-fields have been discovered in Cayenne. A letter dated the 6th November, published in the Journal du Havre, states—" The gold-fever gains on us seriously : we herewith send you home 30,000 francs worth, the produce of a month's labour of thirty-five miners on the banks of the Arataya, not far from the mountain which bears the name of the Em. press Eugenie. Gold is discovered every day and in every direction, but it is the basin of the Approuague which produces the moat brilliant results. Not a single foreign workman has arrived here, and the rich placers are left to the colony, the strength of which was previously insufficient for other purposes. The Governor left this morning for the Approuague, accomps. nied by M. Fayard, Director of the Interior, and by the Chief Engineer. He has gone to inspect personally the principal placers. It is a journey of twelve days; which, we hope, will secure to France the possession of a real California in this poor Cayenne, so roughly tried during two centuries."

We have received a letter from a man on whose word we can place reliance, that the swindler-scoundrel John Sadleir is alive ; lives on the banks of the Murrumbidgee, or somewhere else in Australia. We shall give our corre- spondent's letter, and offer a few comments on the matter, in our next issue. —Sydney Freeman's Journal.

Mr. R. H. Home, the author of "Orion," when the last mail left Mel- bourne was a candidate for a seat in the Legislative Chamber.

Senator Douglas, the "Little Giant," has been married to a Miss Cutts, at Washington. The Evening Post supplies an account of the affair in which "Jenkins" is outdone in the description of the lady, while the rest is worthy of the pen of a comic littemteur.

At the sale of the museum of the late Mr. Yemen, last week, an egg of the great auk was sold for 211.—the bird is included in the British fauna, but has been long extinct.

Sir Hugh Hoare, of Lillingstone Lovell, last week transmitted a check for 10001. to the treasurer of the Bucks Infirmary, at Aylesbury. The worthy baronet some time since also distributed to the medical charities in Wilts and Somersetshire 20001., and sent 100 guineas to the Medical Bene- volent College, which has been established for decayed medical men, their widows and orphans, and which is now in full operation at Epsom. The Honourable P. B. Pierrepont, of Evenly Hall, a few weeks ago sent 10001. to the Northampton Hospital, as a contribution on his birthday.—Oxford Journal, The America mail-steamer, one of the Cunard line, has been compelled to put back to Liverpool, in consequence of severe damage incurred during a hurricane off Cape Clear. Such a tremendous sea struck the ship on the starboard side, that the paddle-box was crushed to fragments, and the for- ward saloon (built on the deck) reduced to a mass of ruins ; two boats were carried away, and the bulwarks destroyed ; while a hundred tons of water poured into the ship, deluging all below, and half-filling the engine-room : another wave of like magnitude and momentum would probably have sent the vessel to the bottom. The saloons on deck were full of passengers; yet, wonderful to tell, no one was dangerously hurt. The ship was quickly put about for Liverpool. Mr. Lang the master, and his officers, engineers, and crew, behaved admirably.

By a collision between the steamer James Hartley and the brig Messen- ger, at night, off Sunderland, the brig foundered, and the master and five mariners perished ; the mate and one seaman got on board the James Hartley.

The steamer Marion which was sent from New York in search of the boats and raft of the 'Lyonnais, returned unsuccessful. The only hope of any of the people having been saved is that ships bound to Europe may have fallen in with them. The master of the Advocate, the .ship which struck the steamer, lays the blame of the collision on the management of the Lyonnais.

The fragments of the schooner Invoice, of Plymouth, have come ashore at Watchet in Somersetshire : it is not doubted that her crew of nine per- sons have all perished.

A remarkable case of " hocussing " on a railway has been published this week. It occurred a short time back, on the Great Western Railway; the gentleman who was the victim has since gone to India. He was one day about to proceed to Reading by the Great Western Railway ; in the wait- ing-room he happened to show notes and gold in his pocket-book, which he placed in the btraust-pocket of his coat. He got into an unoccupied com- partment of a first-class carriage ; a man of gentlemanly exterior followed; a pleasant conversation arose, especially on sporting matters. After a time, the stranger took from his pocket a small case containing a flask and a glass ; into the latter he poured some sherry, which he drank, and was about to return the flask to the case when he suddenly begged fais fellow passenger's pardon for not asking him to take a glass with him at first, and hoped he would allow him the pleasure, &c. The gentleman assented, and a glass was handed to him, the contents of which he drank. He directly fell asleep, and did not awake until the train arrived at Swindon, when he found himself alone : his pockets had been cut open, and he had been robbed of 69/. ; but, fortunately, a larger sum, which was concealed on his person, had not been found by the thief. It is supposed that the flask was duplex, one compartment containing pure sherry, the other a soporific drug mixed with wine.

The last American fire, at St. Louis, destroyed property valued at 400,000 dollars.

If we are to believe the Wheeling Times, an Americanjournal, a human skeleton ten feet nine inches in length, with jaws and teeth almost as large as those of a horse, was recently dug up by the Sheriff at East Wheeling.

The Lancaster Bank at Philadelphia has been compelled to stop payment, in consequence of a " run."

The fitting-out of slavers at New York was never prosecuted with greater energy than at the present time. The electric telegraph from Cape Race to St. John's, Newfoundland, is now completed. Nine Frenchmen, political prisoners escaped from Cayenne, have arrived in New York.

If sufficient snow should fall this winter, sleighing promises to be a fashionable amusement in Paris : the coachbuilders are busy construct- ing sledges.

The Hew Orleans Picayune relates the capture of a monster shark " out- side the Pass." It was eighteen feet long and nine feet in circumference. The liver filled a beef-barrel. In the paunch were found the remains of a mail. The jaw-bones were carried to the city—they were large -enough to take in a sugar-barrel ! The journalist vouches for the truth of the story, and certainly gives a number of minute particulars that look truthful. A very important ordonnance has been issued at Wurtzburg—dancing is prohibited at the weddings of widows and widowers ! At il;e end of the present month, Gretna Green and Border marriages will be illegal. By an act of last session, it is provided that, after the 31st De, cember 1856, no irregular marriage contracted in Scotland. by declaration, acknowledgment, or ceremony, shall be valid, unless one of theparties had, at the date thereof, his or her usual place of residence there, or had lived in Scotland for twenty-one days next preceding such marriage.