giortllatanuo.

The Queen has signified her intention to be present at the opening of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham ; which, according to existing arrange- -ments, will take place on the 24th May next.

The announcement of the departure of the Duke of Cambridge for the East, last week, was premature. The Duke dined at Buckingham Palace -on Saturday.

The Russian Ministers Brunnow and Kisseleff have recently had an in- terview at Brussels. M. Brunnow travelled from Darmstadt to Brussels for that purpose.

Lieutenant-General Hess left Vienna on Sunday, for Berlin, on a pri- vate mission from the Ernperor.

The Blake of Portland; William Henry Cavendish Scott Bentimck, died on Monday last, at Welbeck, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. As Marquis of Titelitheld, in. 1807, be was a Junior Lord of the Treasury ; under Mr. Canning, in 1827, beheld the Privy Seal from April to August ; and he was Lord President of the Council in the Goderich Ministry. The Duke married, in 1795, the eldest daughter of Major-General John Scott, .sister of Mr. Canning's wife. The Duchess of Portland died suddenly in 1844. The Marinas of Titchfield succeeds to the title,

Upwards rOf three hundred Roman Catholic gentlemen of Great Britain, including several Peers, have published a declaration addressed "to our Protestant Fellow Countrymen" on the subject of Mr. Chambers's mo- tion for inquiry. The signatories desire it to be known that they regard the eruceese of Mr. Chambers in the House of Commons "as a direct attack upon the Catholic:religion," an "insult" to those who profess it, and "an infraction of the toleration of which they are said to be assured by the constitution." They do not argue the point, but content themselves with declaring that the proposal of Mr. Chambers "is simply a proof of hatred and fear of the Catholic religion, and of an ardent desire to impede its le- gitimate influence by persecution." They assert that "the charges against convents of women have long been satisfactorily refuted" ; and if they were true, the signatories would be those most interested in procuring re- dress. The proposal to inquire into the condition of monasteries is de- scribed as illegal, "amounting as it does to the institution of a tribunal of inquiry with a Tien- to the criminal prosecution of individual English- men."

The Panama route to Australia, which was to have been opened by the steamers of the Australasian Pacific Steam Navigation Company, has been abandoned so far as that Company is concerned. The high price of coals, the enormous freights, a postage-tax levied by the Government of New Grenada, and the failure to obtain an adequate subsidy from Go- vernment for carrying the mails, have led to this result. Three screw- steamers built for the Company have been sold to a French company ; and two others—the Emeu and Kangaroo—have been chartered by our 'Government for six months for the transport-service. There will be great disappointment in Australia.

The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, taking into account the recent loss of emigrant-ships, have ordered that in future no ship shall be permitted to clear out without having an azimuth compass on board, and a crew of four men to every hundred tons burden old mea- sure. In the present scarcity of shipping, this order has given serious offence to the shipowners of Liverpool. They say that a vessel of 1600 tons formerly manned by forty-four men must now have sixty-six, and 'this will entail an additional charge of 2000/. a year ; entailing a rise of passage-freights, and therefore checking emigration. The order is at present suspended ; but the shipowners ask that it maybe rescinded.

Russian hemp has greatly risen in price lately : it is probable that this will lead to the employment of cotton in the manufacture of sailcloth. Cotton sails are generally used in America.

The rate of mortality in London last week was below the corrected average. No case of cholera had yet occurred in the metropolis. Mr. Augustus Petermann has published a letter describing the journey of Dr. Barth from. Kuka to the renowned city of Timbuctoo. Dr. Barth set out about the end of November 1852, and after a toilsome journey, during which two out of six camels died of fatigue, he entered Timbuctoo on the 7th September 1853. He had gained the friendship and protec- tion of the ruling chief, styled the Sheikh-el-Baray, and by his advice was announced as "a messenger from the Great Sultan of Stamboul." He was escorted into the town by a splendid procession, and saluted and welcomed "by the festive multitudes of the inhabitants." Nevertheless, he did not consider himself safe, as the inhabitants are composed of va- rious peoples, and one faction desired to kill him. At the date of his last letter, the 5th October 1853, he hoped to leave Timbuctoo, "within a month," and return to Sakatu, protected by the Sheikh-el-Baray. Dr. Barth had suffered considerably in health, from his long journey of 2000 miles ; nor had his stay at Timbuctoo refreshed him. The houses are densely packed, and he had been a victim of fever.

"The city of Timbuktu, which to reach has been the life's ambition of so many celebrated travellers, is placed by Dr. Barth in 18 deg. 3 min. 30 see. to 18 deg. 4 min. 5 sec. North latitude, and 1 deg. 45 min. West longitude from Greenwich. Its form is that of a triangle : it is closely built of houses mostly of clay and stone, many with handsome and tasteful fronts ; the ar- rangement of the interior being similar to that of Agadez, visited by Dr. Barth in 1850. The population is estimated at 20,000 souls. Dr. Barth found the market of Timbuktu, which is celebrated as the centre of the North African caravan trade, to be of less extent than that of Kano, but the mer- chandise of a superior quality and greater value. He has obtained a com- plete imana from the Sheikh for any English traders that may wish to visit Timbuktu. The country in which Timbuktu is situated borders on the Sa- hara, and is similar to that region ; being of a dry and barren description, except towards the Kowara, where it assumes a more fertile appearance. Sep- tember formed the height of the rainy season, and the rains, though not very heavy, then occur every second or third day."

The Countess of Clarendon held a reception, at the official residence of the Foreign Secretary in Downing Street, on Tuesday evening. The Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary honoured the Countess with their presence. The Corps Diplomatique and a very numerous general company were present.

The Countess Colloredo held a reception at the Austrian Embassy, Chandos House, on Thursday evening. Among the company were the Duke of Cam- bridge, the Princess Anna of Portugal, Namik Pasha, the Corps Diploma- tique, and a great number of the English aristocracy and gentry.

Lady Mary Wood had an assembly on Thursday evening.

There was a grand ball at the Tuileries on Thursday sennight : about two thousand persons shared the Imperial hospitality.

The seventeenth birthday of the Count of Flanders was celebrated on Friday sennight, by the whole of King Leopold's family dining together at the château of Laeken.

The Archduke William of Austria is dangerously ill of tsphus fever. Queen Christina of Spain is expected to visit Paris soon.

M. de Mamma, late Ambassador at Naples, has arrived in Paris.

The statue of William the Second was inaugurated at the Hague last week. Lord and Lady Falkland have made a trip to Upper Egypt, and will visit Jerusalem.

Benedetto Negri, the once celebrated professor of singing, died recently. At the early age of twenty-two he was appointed Professor of the Conserva- toire at Milan, on its foundation by Napoleon.

The son of Abbas Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt—a youth of sixteen—is to be married to one of the Sultan's daughters, six years of age. It is surmised that the Sultan, straitened by want of cash, has an eye to the rich presents which the Pasha must send on this occasion.

The Horticultural Society of Toulouse has sent a monster bouquet to the Empress of the French : it contains 10,000 violets and 300 camellias, most tastetully arranged.

The Emperor of the French has given a gold medal to Mr. Yeeles, master of the English brig Dantzie, for saving the crew of a French brig. He has also sent a silver medal to Boxwell, a sailor, and a sum of money to be divided among the rest of the crew of the Lyme Regis life-boat, for saving French mariners.

Mr. Hind announces the appearance of a brilliant comet, near the Western horizon, in the constellation Pisces. Its nucleus is of a fine gold colour, and nearly as bright as stars of the first magnitude. The tail is several degrees long, and runs off from the nucleus in a single stream.

A memorial is about to be erected to the late Bishop of Lincoln.

A newly-constructed chess-board has been invented by Mr. Jaques of Hatton Garden. By the pressure of two springs, the pieces, wherever placed, are at once rendered immoveable, and by a similar operation they are again released. A game may thus be interrupted at any period, without the slightest fear that the pieces will be disturbed in the absence of the players. Indeed, so firmly are the men fixed, that the board may be inverted, shut up, and carried about in any manner, without causing disarrangement.

It has been discovered that the duty on dice—a guinea per pair—has been largely evaded. The official marks on the dice have been imitated ; but as they have been sold privately there has been no necessity to forge wrappers.

The present high price of timber is inducing many of the landed proprietors of Lincolnshire to convert large quantities of their timber into money.

William Thompson, convicted of the murder of Lorenz Beha at the late Norfolk Assizes, has confessed his guilt.

The capital sentence on Abel Burrows, who was convicted of the murder of Charity Glenister, at Heath and Reach, has been commuted to penal ser- vitude for life, as he is supposed not to have been a responsible agent at the period of the murder.

At Norwich, the attention of a lady was lately attracted to a boy who stated that he had lost a penny. Sympathizing with the urchin in his pretended loss, she endeavoured to find the coin for him; and while she looked on the ground for it her own purse was taken front her pocket. This mode is adopted by a juvenile gang.

The trade of Holland is in a state of stagnation, in consequence of the warlike movements.

The great Ganges Canal, the most important public work yet executed in India, is to be opened on the 8th of this month. The Executive Government of New South Wales has advanced 30001. to defray the expense of sending specimens of Australian productions to the Paris Exhibition of 1855.

In 1853 the export of gold from Victoria was about 14,000,000L, and front New South Wales 6,000,0001. The works of the Sydney and Paramatta Railway are progressing rapidly. The workmen have been kept together by paying them much higher wages than had been contracted for.

Victoria, the port of Lyttelton in New Zealand, has launched the first ves- sel built there, of native timber—a little bark of 20 tons.

San Francisco spends 3700 dollars a month on public schools, which edu- cate 1400 children.

The city of San Francisco is now lighted with gas : three miles and a half of pipe have been laid in the streets.

Chinese immigration to California has recommenced. The last advises tell of the arrival of 800 Celestiale at San Francisco, by three vessels.

Several regimental bands at Paris are practising the air of "God save the Queen," to welcome the English cavalry when it arrives.

Three thousand American clergymen have sent in to Congress a protest against the Nebraska Bill two hundred feet long.

The Supreme Court at Boston has decided that the fourteenth section of the Massachusetts Liquor Law, which authorizes the seizure and destruction of liquor, is unconstitutional.

The famous clipper-ship Marco Polo has met with a disaster at Melbourne. She got ashore, and it is feared she cannot be got off. Her passengers, 661 in number, were safely landed.

A young man at Dosche, in the department of the Aube, has murdered two young women and destroyed himself, all by pistol-shots. The women lived in the same house with the murderer, and he hated them on account of the influence they exercised over his father.

The famous car of Juggernaut of Mithes, near Serampore, was totally destroyed by fire on the night of the 6th February. The "proprietors,' plunged in grief, look upon it as a sign of the fury of their god. Cause unknown.

A Parliamentary paper entitled "Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom" has been issued. It comprises a period of fourteen years, (1840 to 1853,) and it is to be continued annually. In several respects this paper calls for special notice. It is the first of a permanent series of details intended to exhibit the progress and state of the country ; its com- pression is remarkable ; its price (4d.) puts it within the reach of all persons who feel an interest in matters of national import ; and if the plan be extended to other departments of political and commercial inves- tigation, anch as the proceedings in Committee-rooms and the like, the efforts of the Select Committee appointed to draw up practical rules for the distribution of Parliamentary papers will be greatly aided. That Committee has not yet made its report ; and it is problematical how far any rules which can be suggested will meet with the approval of the House of Commons, so dithcult is it to devise means by which the chaff may be cleared away and selections made adapted to the requirements of particular localities. The Statistical Abstract under notice extends to twenty-seven pages ; and ranges its informa- tion under the heads of Revenue and Expenditure, Imports, Ex- ports, Transshipments, Shipping, Excise, Prices and Sales of Corn, Coinage, Savings Banks, Bank of England, Population. With much clearness these headings are subdivided : as for example—the Revenue and Expenditure exhibits the total revenue and expenditure, with surplus or deficiency of revenue, net amount of the several branches of the revenue, amount of the several branches of the expenditure, taxes revealed, reduced, or imposed, balances in the Exchequer at the end of each year, capital of the National Debt,—all for the fourteen years. Mr. Hansard, in his evidence before the Distribution Committee, mentioned that the cost of 250 extra copies of two-thirds of the documents printed by Parliament would be "only" 10001. It may be well for the Committee, with this Statistical Abstract in their hands, to consider how far this 10001., plus the incidental expenses unavoidable in any scheme of gratis distribution, would go in compiling and printing a really useful abstract of all papers and documents likely to interest any number of per- sons; not to be issued gratuitously, but to be charged at the low tariff now in force. Upon many points fuller information than that contained in the Abstract may occasionally be desired ; but if it point out where complete details may be found, one great advantage will be gained.