We have learned from a source of the very best

authority, that the Queen and her illustrious consort have determined upon visiting Ireland early next summer.— Dublin Mercantile Advertiser.

Tuesday's Gazette announced the appointment of the Honourable Sidney Her- bert to be Secretary at War.

A delay has occurred in moving the writ for East Cornwall, in consequence of some informality in the baptismal certificate of the present Earl of St. Germain; which has hitherto prevented the issue of the writ of summons calling him to the House of Peers.—Tunes.

Sir Edward Knatchbuffs intention of withdrawing from the Ministry having been inferred because he was absent from several Cabinet Councils lately, the

Standard says—" There is no truth in the statements of some of our contem- poraries that the Paymaster of the Forces is about to retire from the Cabinet. It is true that the right honourable Baronet has not of late regularly attended the Ca binet Councils; but the cause has been the illness of his daughter, and some slight personal indisposition, and not a misunderstanding between him and his colleagues. We regret to add, that Sir Edward's daughter, who was in her twenty-first year, died on Sunday last."

The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel entertained full-dress dinner-par- ties of their principal supporters in their respective Houses of Parliament, on Monday; and the Queen's Speech was read. Lord Stanley was prevented from being of the Duke's party, by an attack of gout.

Lord John Russell in like manner entertained several leading members of the Opposition, at his house in Chesham Place; while Lord Melbourne and other Op- position Peers dined together at Brook.s's Club.

Four "Presidents" have been appointed in the Money-order Office by the Post- master-General, in order to increase the efficiency of that branch.

It is stated that the Board for the opening and examination of letters in the Foreign Letter department of the General Post-office was broken up last week, in consequence of a communication from the Home Office.

Tuesday's Gazette contained an announcement from the Railway Department of the Board of Trade, dated on the 4th instant, that the Board baying had under consideration the following schemes for extending railway communication in the Worcester and Wolverhampton district, and in the district intermediate between the London and Birmingham and Great Western Railways, have decided on reporting to Parliament in favour of the Birmingham and Gloucester (devia tion line), London, Worcester, Rugby, and Oxford Railway, with an extension from Worcester to Dudley (narrow gauge); and against the Birmingham and Gloucester (Wolverhampton line), Oxford and Rugby (wide gauge), Oxford, Wor- cester, and Wolverhampton (wide gauge)."

On Wednesday week, 1,250 barrels of Venezuela sugar, the first ever offered for public sale in this country, imported per the Wenman, were brought to the hammer in Liverpool. One half was strong low yellow; the other half strong rich straw- colour. The first realized from 60s. to 64s., the other from 698. to 708. The whole was taken in bond for the consumption of the Isle of Man, where it will be admitted at ls. per hundredweight—Liverpool Courier.

We regret to hear that the Bishop of Ely is seriously indisposed, at the Palace at Ely.—Cambridge Advertiser. The Reverend Sydney Smith is again reported to be dangerously ill.

The obituary of the week announces the death of a gentleman whose name has become familiar to the country—Mr. Sturges Bourne; who died at Testwood House, near Southampton, on Saturday last, after an illness of several weeks' duration. William Sturges Bourne was son of the Reverend John Sturges, Chancellor of Winchester. He was born in 1769; and in 1808 married Miss Bowles, daughter of Mr. Oldfield Bowles, of North Ashton, in Oxfordshire. On the death of his maternal uncle, he assumed the name of "Bourne" in addition to his patronymic. He was educated at Winchester College, and then graduated at Christchurch, Oxford. He was brought up to the bar; but retired from the profession on the death of his uncle. In 1798, he was elected Member for Hastings. He was Joint Secretary to the Treasury from 1804 to 1806, under Mr. Pitt; but on Lord Grenville's coming to office he retired. From 1807 to 1809 he was a Lord of the Treasury, in the Duke of Portland's Administration. In August 1814, he was appointed one of the Commissioners for the Aft'airs of India, and was made a Privy Councillor. He continued at the Board till 1821. In 1827, he was for a short time Secretary of State for the Home Department; and in July? when Mr. Canning resigned, he succeeded the Earl of Carlisle as Lord Com- missioner of Woods and Forests; which office he continued to bold until January 1828. He sat for a period of thirty years in the House of Commons, having represented Hastings, Christchurch, Bandon, Ashburton and blilbourne Port. On the passing of the Reform Bill, he retired altogether Ashburton, political affairs. A well-known.bill for the reg-ulating of parish-vestries is called after him " Sturges Bourne's Act." He was Lord Warden of. the New Forest; a sort of honorary situation, which he had held ever since 1827. lie was esteemed in the immediate neighbourhood of his seat for his benevolence to the poor.

Much censure having been cast on the Reverend Theobald Mathew for incur- ring liabilities which he was not able to discharge, Mr. Joseph Sturge has written to the papers to explain that Mr. Mathew had been promised by a nth relation a large sum of money, but that relation suddenly died intestate before the amount was paid.

The Chartley Castle arrived in Cork harbour on Tuesday, direct from Valpa- raiso, having on board, as passengers, Mr. and Mrs. Howe, Mr. and Mrs. Jesson, their three children, and Mrs. bliKean, the widow of the late Reverend J. S. >Mean, who was shot while standing in his own verandah, at Point Venus, during the battle fought between the French and the Natives immediately before their departure. They left the islands, last August, in a state of entire disorganization; almost the entire population were in the mountains in a position of self-defence. The Queen Pomare, with her family and attendants, were in the fastnewes.ef Relates, resolved either to be restored to full possession or to die. T4mqseDNS- eionaries whose Eitatips are not wholly broken up by the war _remain. Tlww&s sionaries who have arrived at Cove in the Chartley Castle are intrusted with letters from Queen Pomare to the Queen of Great Britain, also to the Directors of the London Missionary Society, and an address to the Christian churches through- out the kingdom.—Cork Constitution.

The Journal des Mats reports a successful attempt made by M. Joyland, of the Pont s et-Chaussees, and M. Matayras, an architect, to explore a submarine passage long believed to exist between the ancient Abbey of St. Victoire and Fort St. Nicholas, near Marseilles, and passing under an arm of the sea covered with ships. "Accompanied by some friends and a number of labourers, they went, a few days ago, to the Abbey, and descended the numerous steps that led to the entrance of the passage. Here they were the first day stopped by heaps of the ruins of the Abbey. Two days afterwards, however, they were able to clear their way to the other end; and came out at Port St. Nicholas, after working two hours and twenty minutes. The structure, which is considered to be Roman, is in such excellent condition, that in order to put it into complete repair a cost of no more than 500,000 francs will be required; but a much larger outlay will be wanted to render it serviceable for modem purposes. This tunnel is deemed much finer than that of London; being formed of one single vault of sixty feet span, and one- fourth longer."

The Terrible, the largest war-Steamer in the world, 226 feet in length and 46 feet 6 inches in breadth, was launched at Deptford on Thursday, in the presence of a great concourse, with the usual ceremonies and hilarities.

The compensation paid by the Midland Counties Railway Company to Mr Roberts, the commercial traveller who was so seriously injured by the collision. between two trains last November, was 1,100/.

In an action for libel submitted to arbiters, and reported by the Aberdeen Herald, the oversman has decreed that the Reverend James Cordiner, minister of Forgue, shall pay Si. damages and 1201. expenses for certain libellous expressions against Mr. Robert Simpson, uttered in the pulpit The oversman stated that the damages were limited to so small a sum because a character so well established as Mr. Simpson's could not be seriously affected by the injurious remarks.

The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian mentions one of the most authentic-look- ing cases of animals discovered in solid stone. A few days ago, when a piece of shale was split in the Penydarran mine-works, a frog leaped out of the cleft thus made. "When first observed, it appeared very weak, and, though a large-sized frog, could crawl only with great difficulty. On closer examination, several peculiarities were observed. Its eyes were full-sized, though it could not see, and does not now see, as upon touching the eye it evinces no feeling. There is a line indicati.ing where the mouth would have been had it not been confined; but the mouth had never been opened. Several deformities were also observable; and the spine, which has been forced to develop itself in an angular form, is a suf- ficient proof of its having grown in a very confined space, even if the hollow in the piece of shale, by corresponding to the shape of the back, did not place the matter beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a very handsome frog, and con- tinues to increase in size and weight, though no food can be given to it; and its vitality is preserved only by breathing through the skin covering the lower jaw,

i which s very thin."

Some days ago, the Morning Chronicle announced that an expository statement of the operation of the Tariff of 1842 had been prepared for the information of Ministers. The Blue Book has now been issued, and we borrow our contemporary's account of the document and some of the most striking results, with an important addition.

-" The original document is one of the most complete things of the kind that we remember to have seen. It consists of a series of tables, which fill nearly two hundred folio pages, and exhibit in detail the effect of every change made in the Customs-duties by the Tariff of 1842, and also the operation of the duties which Were left unaltered. For this purpose, the articles in the tariff, being in number 813, are divided into seven schedules, according to the amount of revenue which they:yield; and each schedule is subdivided into five classes. In this order is shown the quantity of each article imported, and the amount of duty received upon it, in each of the years ending 5th January 1839 and 5th January 1841, which were before the new tariff; and in each of the years ending 5th July 1843 and 5th July 1844, during which that act was in operation. The tables show also, in the same line, the former and present rate of duty chargeable on each ar- ticle, and the average prices of the articles, exclusive of duty, in 1840 and 1844, where they have been ascertained. The following statement will make the na- ture of the classification adopted appear more clearly—

Number of

Mean Annual Produce 171 Two Tears preceding

Mean Annual Produce in Two Years following

Schedule Articles producing

Articles. the Tariff. the Tariff.

I. Less than 1001. 448 £19,037 £8,040 II. 1001. to 5001. 137 71,972 34,461 III. 5001. to 1,0001. 50 69,032 36,258 IV. 1,0001. to 10,0001. 109 570,718 317,492 V. 10,000/. to -50,0001..... 25 706,991 511,570 VI. 50,000/. to 100,0001. .... 5 389,006 395,603 VII. 100,000/. & upwards ....

17

20,810,542 21,417,462 Articles now exempted ...

196

Total 813 £22,637,494 £22,720,886

It is evident that the last of these schedules, No. VII, is by far the most im- portant; containing as it does seventeen articles which yield twenty times as much revenue as the other 796 put together. Each schedule is, as we have said, divided into five classes; Class A, containing articles in a raw state, to be used in manu- factures; class B, articles partially manufactured; class C, articles wholly manu- factured; class 0, articlesof food; and class E, articles not properly, belonging to any of the foregoing heads. To exemplify this cross division, we take schedule AM', of which the seventeen articles produce 21,417,4621.; and we find it made up is follows--

°Liss A.—ItAw 3IATE5IALs.

Timber, tallow, and wool £1,043,466 CLASS B.—PARTIAL MANUFACTURES.

Timber or wood, sawn or split £513,769 CLASS C.—COMPLETE MANUFACTURE.

Risk £246,111

CLASS D.—FOOD AND STIMULANTS. Butter, coffee, corn, currants, raisins, sugar, spirits, tea,

tobacco, and wine £19,614,116

MISS it appears that a dozen Iirticles of food, including such stimulants as spi- ills and tobacco, prodace six-sevenths, or nearly the whole of our Customs to-c- line. Many of the tliange,s made in 1842 have been, in a commercial point of view, 17'• beneficial. Some reductions of duty then made have either increased tor caused betlittle loss to the revenue; and in most cases where the loss has teen greater, the increased consumption caused by the lower duty is more than .a counterbalance for :the financial injury. The duty on copper ore was virtually prohibitory: the now tariff reduced it rodees than half; and the result was the im- tation in the last year of a quantity of ore, containing about 12,000 tons of metal, and ,paying a revenue of nearly 7010001. Upon the article of tim- ber, comparing -the years 1841 and 1844, we appear to have sacrificed a re- venue of about720,000/. for the benefit of one particular Colonial interest. We shall not dwell on this monstrous piece of folly at present; but 'merely notice, that from a comparison of the years 1843 and 1844, the import of Foreign timber ap- pears totinozease,aind that of Colonial timhersto decline, notwithstanding the de- ferential duty of 24.e. per load which is still maintained. [In readire2' these re- marks about timber, it should be remembered that the Budget of di.; expiring Whig Ministry went upon a different policy in the details. The tone of party- spirit will also be perceived in other passages.] The reduction of the cutree-duties has caused a financial loss of about 230,0001., comparing the years 1811 and 1844; but the import has increased, and the revenue will no doubt recover itself. Tho mean annual produce of the duties on corn, under Sir Robert Peel's bill, has been upwards of a million sterling; and there is every reason to believe that long as the act continues, soinething like this amount of revenue will be obtailled, in the worst and most wasteful manner, from the first necessary of life. Amengst the smaller articles in the fifth schedule, we find that the reduction of the duty on foreign bark, from 8d. to 3d. per hundredweight, has increased the importation from 569,000 hundredweight to 862,000 hundredweight. The reduction of duty on mahogany has not been so successful. The reduction on train-oil and spermaceti- oil of foreign fishing, has raised the import of both together, from 573 t tins to 3,863 tuns, and the revenue from 15,700/. to 50,900/. The reduction of the duties on olive-oil and palm-oil has likewise led to increased importation, hut ma to a suffi- cient extent to bring up the revenue to the former point. The inqs,rtation of unwrought iron in bars has also increased under a lower duty. There is a re- markable increase in the importation of chicory, an article on which the duty was not lowered. In the years 1838 and 1840, the quantity admitted was less than 4,000 hundredweight; in the two years ending last July, the tillantil■ exceeded 52,000 hundredweight, and the duty paid was more than 54,000/. This shows the enormous extent to which the adulteration of coffee takes place. The re- duction of duty on clover-seeds has not been successful; the importation having been in 1840, 140,000 hundredweight, and in the last year of the aceounts, only 84,000 hundredweight. The loss to the revenue has been nearly 100,00(1/."