Mior tt laututu.

At the Council held on the 21st instant, the following order on the ad- mission of candidates for the Civil service was passed.

" Whereas it is expedient to make provision for testing, according to fixed rules, the qualifications of the young men who may from time to time be proposed to be appointed to the junior situations in any of her Majesty's civil establishments.

" Now, therefore, her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of her Privy Council, doth order, and it is hereby ordered, that the Right Honour- able Sir Edward Ryan, Assistant-Controller-General of the'Exchequer ; John George Shaw Lefevre, Esq., Companion of the Bath, Clerk-Assistant to the House of Lords ; and Edward Bomilly, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Au- dit ; or such other persons as her Majesty may from time to time approve in the stead of them or any of them, shall be Commissioners for conducting the examination of the young men so proposed to be appointed to any of the junior situations in the civil establishments as aforesaid, and shall hold their offices during the pleasure of her Majesty, and shall have power, subject to M

the approval of the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury, to appoint from time to time such assistant-examiners and others as may be required to assist them in the performance of the duties hereinafter assigned to them.

"And it is hereby ordered that the Commissioners of her Majesty's Trea- sury do prepare and submit to Parliament an estimate for the remuneration of a secretary to the said Commissioners, and of such examiners and others as may be required to assist in the performance of their duties. "And it is hereby ordered that all such young men as may be proposed to be appointed to any junior situation in any department of the civil service shall, before they are admitted to probation, be examined by, or under the directions of, the said Commissioners ; and shall receive from them a cer- tificate of qualification for such situation.

"And it shall be the duty of the Commissioners, in respect of every such candidate, before granting any such certificate as aforesaid- " 1. To ascertain that the candidate is within the limits of age prescribed in the department to which he desires to be admitted ;

" 2. To ascertain that the candidate is free from any physical defect or disease which would be likely to interfere with the proper discharge of his duties' " 3: To ascertain that the character of the candidate is such as to qualify him for public employment ; and

" 4. To ascertain that the candidate possesses the requisite knowledge and ability for the proper discharge of his official duties. " The rules applicable to each department under each of the above heads should be settled, with the assistance of the Commissioners, according to the

discretion of the chief authorities of the department ; but, except that can-

didates for admission to any of the junior situations in any branch of the civil service will be required to obtain certificates of qualification as afore- said, such examining Board shall not make any alteration in respect to the nomination or appointment of candidates by those who are or may be charged with the duty of nomination and appointment.

"After the candidate has passed his examination and received his certifi- cate of qualification from the Commissioners he shall enter on a period of

probation, during which his conduct and capacity in the transaction of busi- ness shall subjected to such tests as may be determined by the chief of the department for which he is intended ; and he shall not be finally appointed to the public service unless upon satisfactory .proofs of his fitness being fur- nished to the chief of the department, after six months' probation.

"And it is lastly hereby ordered, that in case the chief of any department considers it desirable to appoint to any situation for which there are no pre- scribed limits of age a person of mature age having acquired special qualifi- cations for the appointment in other pursuits, such person shall not in virtue of this order be required to obtain any certificate from the said Commission- ers in order to obtaining such appointment ; but the chief of the department shall cause the appointment of any person not previously examined to be formally recorded ai having been made on account of special qualifications."

A meeting of the supporters of the Ministry was held at Lord Pal- merston's house on Thursday. There were present two hundred and eight Members. The speakers included Mr. Lowe, Mr. Layard, Mr. Bright, Mr. Cobden, Lord Robert Grosvenor, Sir James Graham, Mr. Laing, and others. The details current in private conversation are very dramatic, but the newspapers have exercised a punctilious reserve.

Mr. Phinn, one of the Members for Bath, has been appointed to succeed Rear-Admiral W. A. B. Hamilton as Second Secretary to the Admiralty.

The text of the Capitulation Act; under which the Foreign Legion will be raised, has been published. Each recruit will be enlisted for the du- ration of the war and for one year after its termination. The officers and men will receive the same pay as the officers and men of the British Army ; and every one who is wounded or disabled in the discharge of military duty will receive an allowance for life. When disbanded, the men will receive one year's pay as a gratuity, and a free passage to their homes. The recruits will be taken from any nation not at war with Russia. The officers will be allowed three months' pay to provide equip- ments, and three months' pay to carry them home. Every officer who brings in 100 men will be allowed 9751., including the bounty-money. The head-quarters of the Legion will be at Heligoland, and Shorncliffe in Kent.

Recruiting on an extensive and successful scale has been carried on in Canada and the United States, whilst in Europe considerable activity has been displayed by the authorities to whom the formation of the Legion has been intrusted. In Heligoland will be concentrated the numerous recruits from the Northern countries who may be tempted by the ad- vantages offered by the British Government. Germany, Sweden, Den- mark, and the provinces of Schleswig-Holstein, will contribute many hundreds of excellent and seasoned soldiers, to whom the hardships of the bivouack and the vicissitudes of a campaign will not be unknown. The Piedmontese Cabinet has granted permission to the British Govern- ment to form a recruiting establishment on its territory, with the view of attracting the warlike population of Southern Switzerland to the British standard. The Grand Duke of Baden has likewise allowed the forma- tion of a similar establishment in the Grand Duchy, which will facilitate the operations of recruiting officers in the Northern Cantons of the Swiss Republic.

The Earl of Clarendon has forwarded to the newspapers a list of Eng- lish prisoners at Voronetz in Russia, which he had received from the Danish Minister at St. Petersburg. They are in all, twenty-three cavalry Baffle's, one artilleryman, one seaman, forty-two infantry soldier's- and thirty-two men of the Transport-service. The return also shows the quantity of clothing that had been distributed to them by "H. Christo- pherson, Esqre." on behalf of her Majesty's Government.

Captain Inglefleld, R.N., informs the notes, that it was Lord Clarence Paget, the captain of the Princess Royal, who projected and organized° the plan of running ships close into the Sebastopol forts at night and firing broadsides into them. Lord Clarence, it seems, himself sounded the approaches to the forts in his gig, and piloted the first ship, the Va- lorous, during a most tempestuous and foggy night. He has received the thanks of Sir Edmund Lyons, Lord Raglan, and General Canrobert.

The customary state dinners were given on Saturday, to celebrate the Queen's birthday. The hosts were Lord Palmerston, Lord Panmure, Lord John Russell, the Archbishop of York, Earl Spencer, (Lord Steward of the Household,) Marquis of Breadalbane, (Lord Chamberlain,) Sir George Grey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Charles Wood, and the Attorney-Gene- ral. Sir Alexander Cockburn was prevented by indisposition from presiding at the dinner given by him, and his place was filled by the Solicitor-Gene- ral. There were the usual illuminations in the evening.

Lord Aahburton, as President of the Royal Asiatic Society, had a con- versazione at Bath House on Tuesday evening. The Duc d'Aumale was present.

Earl De Grey, President of the Institute of British Architects, received the members of the various literary and scientific institutions of London at a conversazione last night.

Sir Roderick Murchison has been appointed Director of the Geological Survey—a post left vacant by the death of Sir Henry de be Beche. The salary is returned in the estimates as 800/. a year.

The Reverend John Grote, Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge was on Tuesday elected Professor of Moral Philosophy in that University, in the room of Dr. Whewell, resigned.

The reigning Duke of Saxe Coburg, after visiting the Emperor of the French and Queen Victoria, is now staying with King Leopold.

The Emperor of the French has conferred the grand cross of the Legion o Honour on General Canrobert.

Lord De Mauley, the youngest son of the third Earl of Bessborough, for many years a Member of the House of Commons, where he sat as Mr. Pon- sonby, and subsequently in the House of Peers, as Baron de Mauley, died last week, after a brief illness. He is succeeded by his son, Charles Pon- sonby, born in 1816.

Mr. Wildman, an able and zealous servant of the Crown, employed in the Secretary's office of the Customs, died recently, at a comparatively early age ; and is much regretted. He was the author of "The General Orders and Minutes of the Board of Customs Consolidated."

An old soldier, Lieutenant-General Sir George Charles d'Aguilar, died on Monday, at his house in Brook Street. He was the Colonel of the Twenty- third Regiment, now in the Crimea, and had been fifty-six years in the array.

Lord Spencer Compton, brother of the Marquis of Northampton, and a Captain of the Fifteenth Hussars died at Exeter on Monday, in his thirty- fourth year. He bad returned with his regiment from the East Indies only a year ago.

Result of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last.

Ten Weeks of 1845-'54. Week of 1853.

Lymotie Diseases 305.9 ....

220

Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat . 43.6 .... 51 Tubercular Diseases 195.9 ....

230

Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 117.2 ....

137

Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 36.7 .... 17 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 152.4

Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 63.8

Diseases of the Kidneys, Sc. 11.4

Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, Ac 7.3

B.henmatiam, diseases of the Bones, Joints,Ac. 8.1

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, etc. 1.3

Malformations 8,4

Premature Birth 24.5 .... 3u Atrophy 23.1

Age 44.1

Sudden 9.6

Tiolence,Privation, Cold, and Intemperance 95.7

Total (including unspecified causes) 983.2 1,143

Some time since a gentleman related in the Times the horrors he had en- dured at a levee at St. James's Palace ; this week a lady depicts her suffer- ings at the Queen's drawingroom last Saturday. "Verbena" came from her place in the country with exalted notions of the glories of the Court ce- remonial. When she left her carriage, she was admitted by a " back-door" into a narrow passage full of people; the mass was jammed together, hot, and apprehensive ; three-quarters of an hour were consumed in a struggle to the end of that passage ; then came a sharp corner and a staircase, with more struggling ; some ladies gave up the contest, and slipped out of the ranks. After this, ladies and gentlemen were admitted, a score pr two at a time, through doors barred with halberts—like sheep transferred from pen to pen. At last Verbena got to the real " pen" ; but all parties came out of the struggle with torn or ruffled dresses and trampled feet. When at length she gained the Royal presence, it was not to be impressed by the grandeur of the ceremony of reception, the spacious saloon, the admirable arrangements) the courtly ease and absence of hurry : no—before she could reply to greetings by royal and noble friends, a low but imperative order came from some official, "Pass on, Madame, pass on !" and she was driven forward. She had to hurry through a number of rooms till she came to that detestable narrow passage again ; where now a retiring stream had to fight with an advancing one to get outside the Palace. Verbena felt shame and humiliation that sheihould-thus-hare spent four hours, and she was quite "disabused of all the ideas she had formed of the beauty, dignity, and cour- tesy of a court."

A return of the number of officers serving on the Staff in the Crimea has been obtained by Mr. Otway. There are 137 officers : of these, only nine have obtained certificates at the senior department of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Those nine officers are, Major-General Eyre, date of certificate 1829 ; Colonel Cameron, of the 42d Foot, date of certificate 1831; Lieutenant-Colonel Sterling, unattached, Assistant-Adjutant-General, date of certificate 1832; Major-General Airey, Quartermaster-General, date of certificate 1826; Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. A. Hardinge, of the Coldstream Guards, Deputy Assistant-Adjutant, data of certificate 1850; Brevet-Major Sankey, 47th Foot, Quartermaster-General, date of certificate 1852; Brevet- Major Hackett, 77th Foot, Quartermaster-General, data of certificate 1851; Brevet-Major Wetherell, Scots Fusilier Guards, Quartermaster-General, date of certificate 1849; and Captain Barnstou, 90th Foot, Quartermaster-Gene-

ral, date of certificate 1853. Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, five Lieutenant- Generals, and nine out of ten Major-Generals, are without certificates.

Prince Albert, it is said, will open the New Metropolitan Cattle Market ; and to suit his convenience, the opening day has been deferred from the 1st. June une to an "early day."

Mr. W. G. Armstrong has invented a cannon, made of steel, which hits objects with the precision of a rifle. Last week a trial was made at Whit- ley, and a target only five feet in diameter was repeatedly hit at a distance of 2200 yards.

The Russian Government has concluded a telegraph treaty with the Prus- sian Government, in the name of the Austro-German Telegraph Union, which has just come into force. Stations have been opened at St. Peters- burg, Moscow, Warsaw, Kieft; Cronstadt, Gatschina, and a number of places of less import. The second enactment in the statutes provides that no pri- vate despatches containing political subjects shall in any case be received. Thus, while information can be instantaneously conveyed to St. Petersburg and Cronstadt by the Russian scouts in Brussels and Elsinore, no political news of what is going on in St. Petersburg can reach us by the telegraph any more than by the post. —Times Berlin Correspondent. [On Monday, an advertisement appeared in the limes announcing that messages will be re- ceived by a Mr. Reuter, in London, to be forwarded to St. Petersburg, Riga, Moscow, and Warsaw. Who would think we are at war with Russia ?] Another considerable failure has occurred in the Staffordshire iron trade— that of Messrs. Foy and Son, of the Soho Works : liabilities, 60,000/. Seve- ral minor concerns have also stopped.

great and skilful robbery has been committed while treasure was on its way from London to Paris—it is supposed at Folkstone. Three boxes filled with gold in bars and in American coin were despatched from London on the 15th, by the South-Eastern Railway, the Boulogne packet, and the Northern Railway of France, to Paris : 200 pounds' weight of gold was abstracted, and about an equal quantity of small-shot in bags substituted. A large amount of gold was left in one box, probably from the robbers not having sufficient shot to put in its place. The boxes were hooped and sealed in London : they arrived in Paris hooped and sealed, but new hoops and seals had been attached. A reward of 3001. is offered for the apprehension of the robbers and the recovery of the gold.

The library of the late Mr. "0." Smith—whose real name was Richard John Smith—the well-known delineator of villains and daimons at the Adel- phi Theatre, has been sold by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson. The collection was creditable to the good taste and discrimination of Mr. Smith ; to many of the works there were notes in Mr. Smith's handwriting, or illustrative drawings. The library was strong in theatrical collections. These were three of the lots. A collection of materials towards a history of the English stage, by the late Mr. Richard John Smith, 25 volumes, sold for 311. Manu- script and printed collections relative to the English stage, compiled by the late Mr. Joseph Ilaslewood, 9 volumes, sold for 25/, Garnekiana, a collection of engravings to illustrate the life and theatrical career of David Garrick and his contemporaries, in two atlas folio volumes, sold for 951.

As it is feared that there will be a deficiency of water at Liverpool this year, it has been resolved to water the streets with sea-water.

A painful imposture has been detected in Taunton Hospital. A girl was admitted for the treatment of a painful skin-disease ; a surgeon perceived a bit of blistering-fly on the eruption ; and this led to the discovery that the girl had produced the painful disease in order to escape the trouble of learning the dressmaking business.

A monument to the Genoese who fell in the war of independence of 1848-'9 has been inaugurated in the Municipal Palace of Genoa.

The eruption of Vesuvius continues, spite of religious processions, the ex- hibition of holy relics, and the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januaritis. There is a wide destruction of property.

Pirates have lately seized some merchant-vessels on the coast of Morocco.

The Russian Government has become very polite in asking money aid from its subjects : it " suggests" subscriptions towards the expenses of the war- " no compulsion, only you must."

The Legislature of Victoria have voted 20,0001. as a contribution to the Patriotic Fund.

Increased attention is devoted to agriculture in Victoria, with a view to feeding the population from the produce of the colony. This has opened a source of employment for the many persons who have failed to get work in other occupations.

The Government at Melbourne have exempted editors and sub-editors of daily newspapers from serving on juries, and have remitted fines incurred for non-attendance.

The imports of Victoria in 1853 were valued at 15,842,6371.; even this enormous total was still further swelled last year to 17,720,3071. In 1854, " cotton, linen, silk, and woollen goods," figure to the amount of 3,592,0981. The exports were of the value of 11,775,2041.; of which gold constituted 8,255,5501., specie 825,1631., and wool 1,618,1141. Even in the first six weeks of this year the imports at Melbourne were no less than 1,377,5991.

Mr. G. V. Brooke has met with great success in the Melbourne Theatre.

The well-known Dr. Lang has been tried at Melbourne for a libel on Chief Justice A'Beckett. Dr. Lang's son was convicted of embezzling the moneys of the New South Wales Bank at Ballarat ; Dr. Lang wrote a letter to the Argus imputing unfairness to the Chief Justice, before whom his son was tried, arising from political hostility. The Attorney-General prosecuted him for this letter. Dr. Lang defended himself with great ability, and the Jury acquitted him.

Public executions have been abolished in New South Wales by an act of the Legislature. The first capital punishment under the new law took place within the walls of Darlinghurst (lard, in the presence of six officials and six citizens, who signed a certificate of the death of the convict, which was published in the Government Gazette.

The Canadian Legislature have authorized an advance of 900,0001. for the completion of the Grand Trunk Railway.

The prohibitory liquor law has been thrown out by the Canadian Legisla- ture, on a question of procedure.

An attempt to ascertain the depth of the Niagara-river, above the Falls, has failed. A mass of metal weighing forty pounds, attached to a line, was dropped from the high railway bridge ; it sank for a few moments, but was quickly borne forward by the impetuous current, and was seen some distance down the river on the surface—the rush of water prevented it from sinking.

Halifax papers state that the most frightful distress exists along the coasts of Nova Scotia, between Miramichi and Shippagan. The Acadian French were suffering dreadful privations, and had no seed whatever to plant or sow this season.

. From the Western States of the American Union oemes the same good

news for English bread-eaters as from Canada—the wheat crop never pro- mised better.

Monsieur Godard left New Orleans in a balloon, with a number of com- panions; he travelled 310 miles in six hours, "landed his passengers " at Port Gibson, Mississippi, and " resumed his voyage" to some unknown point.

Great nunfiers of Americana have left the Atlantic ports this season on visits to the Old World.

A notable of Wolverhampton has just departed—" old Tom Brindlay, the postman," who dia in his ninety-second year. After acting as postman for fifty years, he was "discharged" in his eighty-second year—we suppose superannuated.

Some forty years ago Owen Williams, of Bodedern, Anglesey, became per- fectly blind. He was then a man of middle age, and under this terrible deprivation he continued year after year, until at length his blindness was regarded as confirmed. One day during last Easter, while sitting by the fireside, his sight returned to him. The touching scene and the feelings it produced can be more easily conceived than described. Owen Williams was in his ninety-second year when this remarkable restoration took place after a total blindness of forty:pers.—Chester Courant.

According to the Sentinelk of Namur, a very curious affair is about to oc- cupy public attention in Belgium. In the siege of Bouvignes, in 1466, the _Duke de Brabant made prisoner a nobleman named Legrain ; but instead of taking his life, as he was entitled to do, the Duke consented to spare it on condition of receiving all his estates and property. Legrain made over all he possessed, but stipulated that at the end of four centuries it should return to his family. The Duke made no objection. The four centuries expire in July next, and already a great many persons, representing themselves to be descendants of Legrain, are preparing to claim the property. It is foreseen that the claims will give rise to numerous lawsuits.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—Return of admissions for six days ending Friday May 25th, including season-ticket-holders, 31,779.