SCOTLAND.
The Assemblies of the Established and Free Churches of Scotland com- menced their sittings on Thursday week. Lord Belhaven, the Lord High Commissioner, held a levee in Holyrood Palace, and at noon went in state to divine service in the High Church. At two o'clock be arrived at the Assembly Hall, Castlehill, and ascended the throne. Dr. Buist was elected to succeed Dr. Paul as Moderator. The Lord High Commissioner an- nounced a gift from the Sovereign of 3,0001.; expressing a recommenda- tion that a fit portion of the sum should go towards supporting young Gaelic preachers in the poorest Highland districts. On Monday, the As- sembly resolved, by a majority of 112 to 5, to petition the House of Lords against the removal of Jewish disabilities.
The Reverend Dr. Clason was elected Moderator of the Free Church Assembly, in succession to Dr. Sieveright. On Saturday, Dr. Caudlish's resignation of the Professorship of Divinity was announced. The income of the Free Church for the past year was 47,4241., and its expenditure 43,3471.
The Scottish Central Railway was opened from Perth to Stirling on Monday.
A commission under the Great Seal has been issued to the Lords Commission- ers of Justiciary, constituting them Justices, and directing them to inquire by the oath of a Grand Jury of the counties of Kincardine, Forfar, and Aberdeen, into all felonious forgeries and utterings of bills of exchange and promissory notes committed by John Viscount Arbuthnot within the said counties. This coin- mission was opened at Forfar on Tuesday sennight. About forty Justices of the Peace attended: twenty-three Grand jurors were sworn; Colonel Kinloch of Kilne foreman. The Lord Justice-General charged the Grand Jury; and, after two hours' deliberation, they found two true bills for forgery against Lord Ar- buthnot. The Commission was then adjourned to the 20th June; but it is es- pected that the matter will be removed to the House of Lords by writ of certio- rari.
The Commission was opened at Stonehaven on the Wednesday, and at Aber- deen on Thursday.
Three persons were killed on the Caledonian Railway on Tuesday eeeeirg. The train which should leave Carlisle for Edinburgh at 6.20 pm. was delayed on its way from London, and started from Carlisle only at 7.3p.m. Going at extra speed to recover lost time, when on Covenshaw Bog, twenty-six miles from Edinburgh, the chain coupling the engine with the train gave way, the engine shot ahead, ran off the line, and became buried sixteen feet deep in the moss. The driver and stoker were buried with the engine, and killed on the spot: the guard, ridingin the first carriage, sustained a fracture of the leg by the shock and died in a few hours.
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