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The Queen held a Privy Council at two o'clock on Saturday after- noon, at Windsor Castle. It was attended by Prince Albert, the Lord President, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the First Lord of the Treasury, the Secretaries of State for the Home, Foreign, and Colo- nial Departments, the Master of the Horse, and the Lord Chamberlain. Some Colonial and some Church business was submitted to her Majesty in Council, for the Royal approval. The Speech on opening the session of Parliament was arranged. Mr. Robert Vernon Smith was sworn of the Privy Council, and took his seat at the Board. A grand dinner was given by Lord Melbourne, on Monday, at his official residence in Downing Street, to several Ministerial Peers ; the company all appearing in Court costume. A similar entertainment was given by Lord John Russell, at the Foreign Office, on the same day, to Ministerial Members of the Lower House. At each of these dinners the Royal Speech was read by the host. The Duke of Wellington gave a splendid banquet to a numerous circle of his political friends, on Monday, at Apsley House. A numerous meeting of Ministerial Members of the House of Com- mons was held on Monday, at the Foreign Office ; with whom Lord John Russell conferred on the course to be adopted in respect to the Address.

A meeting of the principal leaders of the Conservative party was held on Sunday ; at which the course to be pursued on the opening of the new Parliament and the communication on the part of the Crown was discussed and settled.

Thetee Was a meeting of Conservative Members of the House of Com

mons at Sir Robert Peel's, on Monday morning : nearly all the Con- servative Members were present.

Several lists of the expected Ministerial appointments have been put forth, some of them obviously intended to create a prejudice against the new Ministry. The Globe gives the following, which seems a toler- ably probable guess, as derived from a correspondent on whose means of information it can rely—

First Lord of the Treasury and Chan- } cellor of the Exchequer Sir R. Peel. Secretary of State. Foreign Office Lord Aberdeen. Ditto, Colonial Office Lord Stanley.

c Mr. Goulburn, or Lord Wharncliffe.

First Lord of the Admiralty Sir J. Graham. Lord Chancellor Lord Lyndhurst. President of Council Duke of Wellington. Privy Seal Lord Ripon. India Board Lord Ellenborough. President of the Board of Trade Lord Fitzgerald. Secretary at War Sir H. Hardinge. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Mr. C. Wynn. Master of the Mint Woods and Forests Lord G. Somerset. Lord Lowther.

Paymaster- General Sir E. Knatchbull. Secretary for Ireland Lord Eliot. Vice-President Board of Trade Lord Sandon.

Postmaster-General Lord Wilton.

Master-General of Ordnance Sir G. Murray. Judge-Advocate Mr. D. Maclean Attorney-General Sir W. Follett. Solicitor- General Sir F. Pollock.

Attorney-General for Ireland Sergeant Jackson. Lord Chamberlain Marquis of Exeter. Lord Steward Lord Liverpool.

Master of the Horse 4 Lord Jersey.

Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland Earl of Haddington.

The following diplomatic appointments are also named with confidence—

Lord Londonderry Ambassador to Paris. Sir Charles Bigot Aanbassador to St Petersburg. Sir Stratford Canning Ambassador to Vienna.

The Globe would seem to be the " organ " of the new Ministry ; for it not only announces its composition, but has also an elaborate pro- gramme of the manner of its induction to office. Most part of this ar- rangement is matter of course. The Queen will send direct for Sir Ro- bert Peel ; and the Globe suggests that, in order to save her Majesty the pain of a second interview, Sir Robert should at once submit the list of the proposed Cabinet " ready-cut-and-dried" for the Royal approval.

Tuesday's Gazette contained another long list of honours and ap- pointments conferred.

The Queen has granted the dignity of a Baronet of the United King- dom to the following gentlemen, and the heirs-male of their bodies law- fully begotten-- Henry Dymoke, of Scrivelsby Court, in the county of Lincoln. Thomas Joseph Trafford, of Trafford Park, in the county palatine of Lan- caster.

William Lawson, of Brough Hall, in the county of York. Charles Tempest, of Broughton Hall, in the county of York.

Andrew Armstrong, of Gallen Priory, in King's County.

William Clay, of Falwell Lodge, in the county of Middlesex. John M'Taggart, of Ardwell, in the county of Wigtown. Henry Winston Barron, of Bellevue, in the county of Kilkenny.

George Gerard de Hochepied Larpent, of Roehampton, in the county of Surrey.

Denis Le Merchant, of Chobham Place, in the county of Surrey.

Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, of St. John's Lodge, Regent's Park, in the county of Middlesex, and of the Wick, Brighthelinstone, in the county of Sussex.

John Easthope, of Fir Grove, in the county of Surrey.

John Power, of Roebuck House, in the county of Dublin, and Sampton, in the county of Wexford. Dr. George Le Fevre, Physician to her Majesty's Embassy at the Court of St. Petersburg, has been created a Knight of the United King- dom, by letters-patent.

Rear-Admiral Francis Mason, Companion of the Order of the Bath, is made a Knight Commander of he Order. The Queen has appointed the Right Honourable Sir Charles Edward Grey, Knight, to be Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the islands of Barbados, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, and St. Lucia, and their dependencies ; Lieutenant-Colonel Hamelin Trelawny to be Governor of the island of St. Helena ; Mr. Somerville William Harcourt Rams- bottom to be Secretary and Clerk of the Council and Remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer in the island of Barbados ; Mr. Benjamin Chilley Campbell Pine to be Queen's Advocate in the colony of Sierra Leone ; Mr. Francis William Price to be Secretary and Clerk of the Crown in the Virgin Islands. The Honourable Charles Spencer Cowper, Secretary of Legation at Florence, is to be Secretary of Legation at Stockholm; Mr. Andrew Buchanan, First Attaché to the Embassy at St. Petersburg, is to be Secretary of Legation at Florence; Mr. Charles Walsingham Turner to be Consul at Mobile.

Lord Beresford was attacked with spasms on Monday last, and has been dangerously ill during the week.

Theodore Hook is dead. He died of bilious cholera on Tuesday, at his cottage in Fulham, in his fifty-sixth or fifty-seventh year. He had been for years, if not from its commencement, editor of the John Bull. He is well known as the author of several entertaining novels. Among a large circle of friends his powers of amusement will be much missed.

A statue of the late William Van Mildert, Bishop of Durham, has reached that city from Rome, and will shortly be placed in the Ca- thedral of Durham.

The inhabitants of Cults, in Fifeshire, the native place of Sir David Wilkie, have forwarded an address of condolence to the surviving brother and sister of that artist, and instituted a subscription for a monument to his memory, to be erected in the parish. The Secretary of State for the Home Department has refused to comply with Captain Duff's petition to the Queen, praying for remission of the sentence which he is now undergoing for an assault on a police- Ditto, Home Office man, on the ground that it has been proved since sentence was pro- nounced that the assault was committed by other persons. Mr. Feargns O'Connor has obtained his liberation, on medical certi- icate, from York Castle, where he was under sentence of imprisonment for eighteen months, for a seditious libel. His term would have ex- pired in November next. He refuses to leave his "coffin," as be terms the prison, till the 30th ; when, we presume, he may expect a Monday muster of his followers to receive him with all the honours.

The accounts of the harvest do not differ materially from those of last week : hopeful anticipations again preponderate ; but the uncer- tainty of the weather still causes apprehension. It is in Ireland that there now appears to be the greatest complaint of rain.

Paris papers of Wednesday have been received. One of the most remarkable events which have occurred in France for some time is a public dinner given to M. Guizot, on Sunday last, at Lisieux, for which place he is Deputy. Of 800 National Guards, 600 assembled to meet him on his arrival ; which was announced by a salute of artillery. He was escorted to the banquet-hall by a multitude of persons. The Mayor presided at the board, and 316 guests sat down to it. In proposing M. Guizot's health, the Chairman said that the same men who prepared a banquet to the leader of the Opposition on the eve of the Revolution of 1830, had a right now to prepare a banquet to the King's Minister : they had reason to be proud of having given to France such a statesman, whom they had returned a dozen times in less than twelve years. M. Guizot reminded his hosts, that ten years ago he had explained to them his political sentiments. At that time such a public discussion surprised many : at present it ap- peered simple and natural—only a strong proof of the power and pro- gress of their institutions. Before 1830, those institutions had availed in the defence of their liberties ; since that epoch, they had sufficed to preserve the country from anarchy

Call to mind the situation of our thrilltn affairs last year ; France uneasy and excited ; Europe uneasy and excited. On both sides much mistrust and much irritation. All the appearance of a revolutionary war in perspective. Nevertheless, there existed no 1, gitimate motive for war ; no great national interest required it, or even rendered it advisable. There existed only a foreign policy more or less skilful, more or lees fortunate ; mistakes and checks ; but nothing from whence war ought reasonably to arise. Neither did the true wishes any more than the true interests of the country require war. France did not desire war, nor did Europe desire it. And, nevertheless, war appeared to be imminent. How did we escape from so critical a position ? The King, availing himself firmly of his prerogative, changed his Ministry. And at the same time faithfully fulfilling the spirit of the Charter, he brought this im- portant question before the Chambers—this momentous question of peace or war—which, for his part, he had resolved according to his opinion, and accord- ing to the limits of his prerogative. The new Ministry, in its turn, invited the most complete and public discussion in the Chambers—a discussion so pub- lic that many men of sound understanding considered it excessive, and con- trary to the good customs of government. But under the excitement which existed, the most complete publicity was indispensable to enlighten the country, and to enable it to judge the momentous question submitted to it with all the facts before it. And, gentlemen, did that course of pro- ceeding produce one of those violent and thoughtless reactions which carries, the ideas or conduct of governments or rations from one extreme to the other ? Ia or.ler to preserve one great national interest, has any other interest been sacrificed ? In repelling the doctrine of war at any price, did the Ministers adopt that of peace on any terms, as their adversaries so frequently endea- voured to persuade the country ? Not in the least : all the interests of the country were consulted ana respected—its dignity as well as its prosperity, its strength as well as its repose. France, be said, had been able to isolate herself—to withdraw from a policy of which she did not approve—without inconvenience to Europe ; while within the country itself, a term was put to a very critical posi- tion of affairs by a scrupulous adherence to their institutions. The events of last year, however, had imposed heavy charges upon the people—" upon you," M. Guizot said, always speaking as if he were addressing the entire people : some of those charges were temporary, and would cease a ith the occasion ; others were permanent, because they arose from the necessity af strengthening their military establish- ments, too long neglected- " Obliged to provide for those charges, the Administration felt at the same time the necessity of causing the budget to be restored to its normal condition ; that is to say, to reestablish the balance between the expenditure and public receipts. Credit is a powerful but delicate means, which must be resorted to carefully. No loan ought to he raised but under extraordinary and pressing circumstances. Her ordinary expenditure, the permanent receipts, ought to suffice. These are new elementary maxims, which ought to serve as a rule for thie conduct of every thinking Government. In this situation, u-hat has the Minister of Finance done ? Ile has ordered the measures already announced and prescribed by the Peers; of which the only objects are—first, to insure among tax-payers the equal proportion of the taxation already established ; and secondly, to place the Chambers in their future sessions in a condition to act with a full acquaintance of the future, for the fair distribution and division of tie public burdens."

Nothing could be more legitimate : but strange delusions had been propagated among populations whose intelligence was not sufficiently advanced in the knowledge of public affairs ; faction had been at work ; the measures were resisted: and from resistance the next step was to insurrection. How had these disorders been met? by the simple exe- cution of the law, and by the most persevering discussion : precisely at that moment, France was covered with electoral bodies, who examined, discussed, and approved or blamed the measures of Government. In the midst of that universal examination, Government appealed to law and reason. In the course of some further remarks on constitutional theories, M. Guizot combated the mistake which construed the maxim "the King can do no wrong" to mean "the King can do nothing." And he reminded his friends that a representative government was not treated for the repose of Ministers or the inactivity of good citizens ; it was not a mere tent for any one to sleep under. Those who wished for order should exert themselves to guard the rights of all branches of the constitution.

The enumeration of the towns which have opposed the survey of taxes is not so lengthy this week. Serious disturbances had taken place at Lille, bat had been suppressed ; and at Niort and Rheims the fiscal officers had been obstructed. At Limoges, the survey had been com- pleted without hindrance. The Temps asserted that the Ministry intended to suspend the survey. Th e Moniteur contradicts the assertion ; which the Temps then limits, by saying that the survey would be continued as far as regards the registry of doors and windows and of houses built since the last valua- tion. The offices of the Temps and the papers that copied its assertion bad been visited by the police, and the papers seized ; but no legal pro- ceedings, it was said, would ensue.