311isrelautous.

It is stated that Mr. James Wilde, Q.C., is to succeed to the vacant Judgeship.

At a General Court of East India Proprietoi's, held on Wednesday, Colonel Sykes, M.P., and Major-General George Moore, were reelected Directors of the East India Company ; and, on the following day, at a Court of Directors, Colonel Sykes was unanimously elected chairman.

Mr.Kinglake has given notice that on the day when Parliament re- assembled, he would ask Lord John Russell whether, consistently with a due regard to the public service, he would be able to afford the House any information as to the negotiations now on foot with reference to the territorial changes effected by the treaty of Turin. He also proposed, at the same time, to put a question arising out of the extraordinary despatch addressed by M. Thouvenel to Count Persigny on the 6th of March.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lindsay, commandant of the St. George's Rifles, has taken a wise step. He has attached his commissioned officers to the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards at the St. George's Barracks, Tra- falgar Square, where they undergo the same course of training as officers of the line. We agree with our contemporary, the Army and Navy Gazette, that "it would be well were commanding officers of other corps to adopt similar steps."

No rifle corps can become efficient unless it has well-trained as well as zealous company officers. The more we see of the drill and organization of the rifle companies the more we are convinced of this vital fact.

The Cotton Supply Association has presented a memorial to Sir Charles Wood, representing that every facility should be given to those who are willing to raise capital in England for the purpose of making roads and canals in India. They especially point out to the notice of the

Government the Madras Irrigation and Canal Company, and beg them to support and encourage the Company's proposal to construct extensive works of irrigation, drainage, and navigation in Orissa, and to connect that territory with the port of Calcutta, requiring from Government no other assistance than the mere supply of all land requisite for such works. They pray the Government to give liberal encouragement to all companies proposing similar objects.

The hard lot of the blind has attracted much attention of late, and several stout efforts have been made to alleviate their condition. Among the recently established institutions, is the Society for Improving the Social Position of the Blind, which has its head-quarters at Milton House, Walworth Road. Here take place vocal and instrumental per- formances by the blind, and here lectures are delivered on subjects of peculiar interest to the blind by the "sighted" brethren. At a late meeting of the friends of the society, Mr. Roupell in the chair, it was stated that the objects of the society are the mental, moral, and religious training of the bhnd and their domestic and social improvement. Esta- blished in 1859, the society has already assisted seventy or eighty per- sons of both sexes; but the funds required to sustain this excellent en- terprise in full vigour, fall short, and an appeal is made to the public for further aid. The treasurer of the society is Mr. Roupell ; the secretary, Mr. Alexander Mitchell, himself blind, but forward in exerting himself on behalf of his brothers and sisters is affliction.

" C." has culled from a Blue-book on Japan, and forwarded to the Times, the following choice documents, the work of Captain Howard Nryse;late of the Royal Horse Guards Blue, now Acting Consul at Kane-

gawa, Japan. The first is a notice he issued

• British Consulate, Kanagawa, Novembei 6, 1859.

" The undersigned, her Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul at Kanagawa, de- sires all British subjects will, for the future, go about always armed as much as possible, for their own personal safety, as regards a revolver, or any other deadly weapon they may be able to obtain ; and the undersigned gives free permission to, and hopes that all British subjects will give free use to the same, on any reasonable provocation, as regards the Japanese, whether official or non-official. F. HOWARD VIRE.'

"Mr. Alcock, to do him justice, appears to have been shocked by the language and conduct of his subordinate, and promptly forwarded a reply to him, directing him to recall at once the notification which he had issued, and pointing out to hint that the sufferer was clearly not a British subject, and that, if his assailant should be detected, it was directly contrary to the express provisions and the whole spirit of the treaty between Great Britain and Japan that he should be either claimed by or surrendered to the British Envoy. Upon this, Captain Howard Vyse issued a second notification, worded as follows :—

British Consulate, Kanagawa, November 7, 1839.

" The undersigned, her Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul at Kanagawa, begs to inform all British subjects at Yokshama, that he has this day received orders from her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General to rescind the last notification, No: 18, issued by the undersigned ; her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General in Japan deeming it unnecessary for British subjects to go about armed, excepting when it is. rhisk ; after having received such assurance frrin the Japanese authorities at Yoke- hams, of every possible means being now taken-to insure the capture of ' the perpe- trator of the late horrible assassination. .

" • The undersigned further begs to caution all British subjects as to how they make use of their arms ; having by this notification been idformed that they are not to carry arms except in the dusk of the evening, and even. then to be very cautious- as to what use they make of them. " • (Signed) F. HOWARD Visa, • Her Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul."' The system of kidnapping Coolies, carried on by the native Chinese is brought to light by the Overland China Chronicle, which publishes the letter of the allied Commanders-in-chief, addressed to the Consular body at Canton on the 12th of January. It appears from the depositions of 105 men, taken at the instigation, of the commanders from certain Coolie receiving ships at Whampoa, that they had been kidnapped, and a nomi- nal consent to become "free emigrants" and to serve eight years in Cuba, are wrung from them by torture. If the Coolies, when got on, board the vessel, discover the foul play to which they have been the victims, and refuse to agree to the proposals of the agents, their hands are tied together, and a wedge is hammered in between them. Their thumbs and great toes are tied together, their tails tied up, and, " they arc thus hoisted off the deck and suspended in the air, while a lighted joss-stick is applied to their ankles and they are ducked in the river."' They are tortured in various other ways and threatened with death until' they consent " to dip their finger in ink, and thus impress their mark upon the agreement." The four ships on which these cruelties were perpetrated, were, three of them American, the fourth an Oldenburg bark.

The Prince of Wales departed from Windsor Castle on Tuesday, and, crossed the sea to Belgium on a visit to King Leopold.

The Duke of Brabant arrived at Constantinople on the 9th of April, and. was received by the Sultan at the Tophana Palace. The next day, he called on Sir Henry Bulwer.

The Pope has made Mr. O'Shanassy, late Premier of Victoria, a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory,—a recognition of his services as a champion of Roman Catholicism in the colony. The insignia were carried to Melbourne by Dr. Goold.

Sir Charles Eastlake has submitted a scheme to the academicians for placing the Royal Academy on a similar footing to a University ; the aca- demicians to be the senate, and the whole body of competent artists the corporation.

Mr. Foley has completed his statue of Caractacus, which will immediately be placed at the Mansionhouse, London. This artist has also received the commission to execute a statue of Goldsmith, to be placed in Trinity Col- lege, Dublin.

The inauguration of the statue of Mendelasohn, and the great perform- ance of Elijah, at the Crystal Palace, will take place on Friday, the 4th of May, and not on Wednesday, the 2d of May, as at first announced.

A ukase of the Emperor of Russia, just promulgated, extends to Poland the principal enactments of the laws relative to the obtaining of hereditary and life nobility which are in force in the rest of the empire.

A letter from Moscow states that the " Society of. Amateurs of Russian Literature" in that city has just been informed.by the Central Censorship that it cannot be allowed to continue to exercise the privilege it has for many years enjoyed of publishing works without previously submitting them to examination. The society has addressed a petition to the Emperor, praying that its privileges may not be taken away ; and, as his Majesty has always

protected the press in its conflicts with the censorship, hopes are entertained that the prayer of the petition may be accorded.

The French concession for railways in Algeria is stated to embrace a capi- tal of 2,320,000/., with a 5 per cent guarantee for ninety-nine years. Sub- scription lists for a portion will probably be opened in London.

The French Government has given orders to have the works on the rail- way between Rennes and Brest urged on as rapidly as possible.

An important fact of very recent date has come to my knowledge. Count Ceroni, a wealthy man, who died last year, left his son, thirteen years old, under the guardianship of his wife. As ill-luck would have it, she placed him in the school of the Jesuits, where, however, he distinguished himself by his conduct and ability, when, one fine morning in March last, he was kidnapped from the school and mysteriously carried to the house of the Jesuit novices at St. Andrea on the Quirinal. The poor mother, after having vainly applied to the reverend fathers, went and threw herself at the feet of the Pope, whom she entreated, with tears in her eyes, to give her back her beloved son. His Holiness answered that he could not oppose the lad's vocation to become a Jesuit. Do you want to know the adfabulatio of this story ? Young Count Ceroni, now a novice among the Jesuits, is worth nearly 60,0001.—Daily News Correspondent.

The number of deaths last week was 1439, or 269 fewer than those of the preceding week. Nevertheless, the number exceeds the average by 151. The decrease is in the deaths from bronchitis and pneumonia.

An Indian journal says that of " the five ships—Accrington, Euxinei Statesman, Dudbrook, and Monica—which have entered port with soldiers families on board, upwards of 270 children, embracing all below two years of age, have perished. As yet no satisfactory investigation has been made, or at least made public. The fault lies, as usual, with the home authorities. Over packing, bad food, starvation, and imperfect medical attendance, have led to this frightful morality, and every succeeding arrival will probably add to the horrors. We trust they will rouse the attention of the House of Commons."