Arts at the London University took place on the 5th.
Sir J. Graham presided. The three Andrew scholarships
were gained by Mr. John Power Hicks (£100 a year),
Mr. William Lewis, and Mr. James Savage (£50 a year
each).

The general results of the Census in Ireland are of a
painful character. It appears that the present population
is a little more than 6,500,000. The returns of the
three preceding censuses were:— in 1841, 8,175,124;
in 1831, 7,767,401; and in 1821, 6,801,827. So that
the population of Ireland has diminished by a million
and a half during the last ten years, and is not greater
now than it was thirty years ago. It further appears
that there is a great diminution in the number of houses
as well as of inhabitants; that there is a decrease in the
population of every county except Dublin; and that
there is an increase in all the towns, amounting in
Belfast to 32 per cent, and in Galway to no less than 43
per cent. The emigration from Great Britain and
Ireland during the last ten years amounted to 1,494,786
persons; of whom it is estimated that nearly nine-tenths
were Irish. And the population of England and Scotland
has been increased by emigration from Ireland.

The influx of visitors to the Great Exhibition
continues undiminished. On the 15th, a day when the
price of admittance was a shilling, the number rose
to the unprecedented amount of 74,122, and the sum of
£3509 8s. was taken at the doors. The total amount of
the money received, from the opening of the Exhibition,
to the 18th instant inclusive, is £305,119 12s.

The Peace Congress has had its meetings this year
at Exeter Hall, under the presidency of Sir David
Brewster. The most remarkable speakers were the
Chairman, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Vincent, M. Emile de
Girardin, Mr. Samuel Gurney, M. De Cormenin, and
Mr. Elihu Burritt. The proceedings, which occupied
two days, were in the same spirit as those of previous
years.

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the
present state and operations of the law relating to
Newspaper Stamps, have made their report. They
place in a strong light the evils and inconveniences of
the present system, and conclude with the following
summary of their views:—"Your committee consider it
their duty to direct attention to the objections and
abuses incident to the present system of newspaper
stamps, arising from the difficulty of defining and
determining the meaning of the term 'news;' to the
inequalities which exist in the application of the
Newspaper Stamp Act, and the anomalies and evasions that
it occasions in postal arrangements; to the unfair
competition to which stamped newspapers are exposed with
unstamped publications; to the limitation imposed by
the stamp upon the circulation of the best newspapers,
and to the impediments which it throws in the way of
the diffusion of useful knowledge regarding current
and recent events among the poorer classes, which
species of knowledge, relating to subjects which most
obviously interest them, call out the intelligence by
awakening the curiosity of those classes. How far it
may be expedient that this tax should be maintained as
a source of revenue, either in its present or in any
modified form, your committee do not feel themselves
called upon to state; other considerations, not within
their province, would enter into that question. But,
apart from fiscal considerations, they do not consider
that news is of itself a desirable subject of taxation."

On Sunday, the 27th, two more of the prelates
nominated by the Pope to dioceses in England, were
consecrated at St. George's Cathedral, Southwark.
The ceremonial was, in all respects, a repetition of that
performed at Birmingham on the previous day.
Amongst those who took part in the proceedings were
Cardinal Wiseman, Dr. Morris, Dr. Ullathorne, Dr.
Briggs, Dr. Brown, Dr. Waring, the Bishop of Texas,
the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Talbot, Dr. Doyle, the Rev.
Mr. Cotter, and other ecclesiastics. The two bishops
elect (Dr. Burgess, nominated to the so-called bishopric
of Clifton, vice Dr. Hendren, translated, and Dr.
Brown, nominated to the bishopric of Shrewsbury),
were then presented to Dr. Wiseman, who, after the
usual preliminary ceremony, admitted them by imposition
of hands to the episcopal office. High mass was
celebrated, and after the service the company sat down
to a repast, Cardinal Wiseman taking the head of the
table.

The Metropolitan Commissioners of Police have
suspended the Licenses of Eight Hundred Cab-Drivers.
The commissioners having ascertained that numbers of
the licensed drivers were brothel-keepers and otherwise
improper persons to be entrusted with the public
service, on the last annual licensing day, in 1850, gave
individual notice that strict inquiries would be made
on the next occasion, and all who were found as
above-mentioned or notorious drunkards would be deemed
unfit persons, and their licenses refused. The above
has been the result. These vigorous measures of the
commissioners have astonished the whole fraternity,
and several meetings have been held to consider the
position of the body.

A very serious Riot took place at Liverpool on the
15th, when the various Orange clubs in that town and
its vicinity, resolving to celebrate the Battle of the
Boyne, assembled in great force to walk in procession,
to the number probably of 3000 persons. The Irish
Catholic inhabitants of Liverpool determined not to
suffer the procession to pass off quietly, and a dreadful
disturbance was the consequence, in the course of
which a policeman and an Irishman were dangerously
wounded, and numbers severely hurt. One of the
rioters has since died.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

The Queen visited in state the two Italian theatres;
Her Majesty's Theatre on the 5th, and the Royal Italian
Opera on the 10th. Both houses were crowded to
over-flowing; and at both Her Majesty's reception was most
enthusiastic.

Her Majesty, accompanied by Prince Albert, on the
9th, honoured with her presence, an entertainment
given by the corporation of London in the Guildhall, in
honour of the Great Exhibition. The state procession
left Buckingham Palace at nine; passed through Pall
Mall, up the Strand, and through the City streets, in
the midst of an immense crowd of spectators. The
concourse was beyond all precedent: the number of country
faces and foreigners was of course great, in some places
they seemed preponderant; indeed the crush was
unsafe for any person not very vigorous. The old ceremony
of receiving the keys of the City at Temple Bar was
dispensed with, at the request of her Majesty. Every
window and roof was crowded; the collateral streets had
stands of benches receding upwards to a great height;
the churchyards in the Strand, and St. Paul's churchyard,
were similarly fitted; and in one church the
windows themselves were densely occupied by the
curious parishioners. Several streets were brilliantly
illuminated. On her Majesty's arrival at Guildhall she
was received by the Lord Mayor and his lady. The
Queen repaired to her retiring-rooms, but shortly
reappeared, and occupied the throne. There was a little
dancing in the confined space before the throne, after
which the Queen was conducted to supper. The tables
were laid out in a splendid manner, and among the
wines brought from the civic depositories was sherry a
hundred and five years old, which had been bottled for
the Emperor Napoleon. Supper being over, the Queen
retired, amidst marks of enthusiasm even greater than
those displayed on her coming. Shortly before one
o'clock the trumpets sounded a royal flourish at the
gates of Guildhall; and, through a dense mass of people
cheering incessantly, her Majesty returned to Buckingham
Palace. The Lord Mayor subsequently received
a communication from Lord John Russell, expressing
the Queen's approval of the arrangements, and announcing
that her Majesty had conferred on him the dignity
of a baronet.

The Queen and Prince Albert, with all the royal
family, left London for Osborne on the 18th.

The Earl of Mulgrave has been appointed Comptroller
of the Household, in the room of the late Mr. Sebright
Lascelles.

The Earl of Sefton is appointed Lord-Lieutenant of