MRS. XAVERIA WISEMAN, mother of Cardinal Wiseman, died
on the 7th inst., at the house of her daughter, the Countess of
Gabrielli, at Fano, in Italy, after a short illness.

NICHOLAS VANSITTART, BARON BEXLEY, died on the 8th, at
his seat in Kent, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. He was
son of Henry Vansittart, Governor of Bengal; he graduated at
Christchurch College, Oxford, and adopted the bar as his
profession. In 1801 he went as Minister Plenipotentiary to
Denmark. Entering the Irish and Home departments of public
service, he was for several years Chancellor of the Exchequer;
and in 1823 he gained his Peerage. He married, but has died
childless, and the title is extinct.

FLORINDA, DOWAGER VISCOUNTESS CASTLEMAINE, died on the
9th, at Moydrum Castle, near Athlone, at the age of eighty-
eight. She was sister to the late and aunt to the present Earl
of Clancarty.

LIEUT.-COL. W. H. DAVIES died on the 11th inst, aged
seventy-five years. He entered the army in 1799. In 1806 he
served with the 47th Regiment in South America. Afterwards
he served in the Peninsula, and was present at the sieges of
Cadiz, Tarragona, and Tarifa.

COLONEL COCK, C.B., died on the 17th inst. He belonged to
the East India Company's service, Bengal Presidency, and for
his services in the East was in 1838 nominated a Companion of
the Bath.

MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES POWER, Commandant of the 2nd
Battalion of the Royal Artillery, died at Dover on the 17th inst.

MR. GEORGE THOMSON, of Edinburgh, died on the 18th inst.,
at his residence in Leith Links, at the age of ninety-two. Mr.
Thomson's early connection with Burns is universally known,
and his collection of Scottish Songs, for which many of Burns'
finest pieces were originally written, has been before the public
for more than half a century. His kindness of heart and other
excellent qualities will long be remembered.

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.

SIR CHARLES NAPIER is at last on his way home from India, and has left, for a parting gift to the army
he lately commanded, a severe lecture against a large class of its officers for habitual and even criminal
laxity in regard to pecuniary obligations. The discipline and efficiency of the forces generally he states to
have been seriously impaired by these moral delinquencies in their chiefs who should have set them a
better example. Such a public reproach, well founded, and addressed to men who live by the reputation
of honour, cannot be heard with indifference, or without a beneficial result; nor could a great soldier,
himself of the highest character and courage, have left behind him in India a proof of either that will more
surely redound to his ultimate good name, however much he may suffer for it in immediate popularity.

The long-agitated question of the Clergy Reserves in Canada has at last been settled by Lord Grey's prudent
and sensible resignation of them to the uncontrolled disposition of the local legislature. The principle
on which he has acted in doing this is frankly stated in his despatch, and will be met by the best order of
colonists with eager and grateful recognition. The question, Lord Grey remarks, is one "so exclusively
affecting" the people of Canada, that its decision ought not to be withdrawn from the Provincial Legislature.

The Overland Mail from Bombay brings accounts
from thence to the 17th, from Calcutta of the 8th
January, and Hong Kong of the 30th December. Sir
C. Napier had arrived at Bombay, and was to leave in
the packet of the 3rd. Sir Charles Napier, before
retiring from the command of the Indian army, issued
a farewell address, dated from his head-quarters at
Ferozepore on the 15th of December—a very remarkable
document, which has attracted great attention both in
India and at home. It denounces with great severity
the habits of extravagance which have taken root
among the officers, and especially their ruinous vice of
getting deeply into debt. The following are some of
its features:—Premising that he is not now speaking as
a rich man to the poor, for he has "known poverty,"
and has "lived for years on less than half what every
ensign in this army receives," Sir Charles proceeds to
state, that he has not sought for the information on
which he speaks, but has had it forced upon him by
men of high rank in both the Queen's and the
Company's services, who are labouring for the honour of the
service. One Brigadier writes to him—"At a Court of
Requests, held on the 6th inst., there were fifty-three
cases, and (with the exception of four of trifling
amount) all against subalterns—amount to 4875 rupees."
Again, the same officer writes—"Decrees of Execution
General are not unfrequent, and the efficiency of the
officers seriously affected by their pecuniary embarrassments."
Among the causes of this demoralisation, one
is, "that some young men get commissions without
having had much education, or perhaps a vulgar one,
which is worse."

"These officers are not aware that honesty is inseparable from
the character of a thoroughbred gentleman. A vulgar man, who
'enjoys a champagne tiffin and swindles his servants,' (as a
Brigadier writes to me, when speaking of these matters, and
referring to an officer under his immediate command,) may be a
pleasant companion to those who do not hold him in contempt as
a vulgar knave, but he is not a gentleman."

Then, some young men just escaped from school
think it is manly to be dishonourable.

"They meet champagne-drinking swindlers who sponge on
them and lead them into expense. Thus comes debt—then
bankers are at hand to advance money. Thus they become
involved past redemption; and soon the habit of being constantly
in debt makes them grow callous to the proper feelings of a
gentleman."

The expenses caused by the constant marching of
regiments are great burdens on the officer; and Sir
Charles hopes that now, in time of peace, the marching
of regiments will be avoided. The extravagance of
messes can and ought to be controlled by the
commanding officers of regiments.

"The pay of an ensign is sufficient for his just expenditure;
and the commanding-officer is, and can alone be, responsible
that this rule of rigid and just economy is never infringed.
What officer will go to a mess committee and tell his private
misfortune, or his difficulties? Yet this is what those people
(who say that the commanders of regiments ought not to interfere
with the mess) want. They are over-bearing tyrants, who
want to set aside the private affairs of officers, and to make those
officers who cannot afford such extravagance pay for these
persons' selfish enjoyments, which they want to indulge in at
other men's expense. That is the real object of those who wish
to prevent the interference of commanding-officers. But the
rules of both Queen's and Company's services give commanding-
officers the right to interfere, and the Commander-in-chief will
take care to hold him responsible that the ensign has his
rights."

Sir Charles concludes with these valedictory words—

"To-day I am Commander-in-chief; a week hence I shall be
no more to the Armies of India than a private gentleman. But
the Armies of India must ever be much and dear to me. For
nine years my whole energies, such as they are, have been
devoted to the honour and glory of the Company's troops.
I may say that I have become as much identified with the
Armies of the three Presidencies as if I had risen from their
ranks. I have jealously guarded their honour, and I have fought
at their head. I now leave them for ever. But in the retirement
of private life, although no longer able to serve them, the
destinies of the Indian Armies will ever occupy my thoughts.
I here take leave of them, hoping that this order will be of use,
as the last which I can issue to the Armies of India."

The latest advices from Ceylon are to January 15th.
Sir George Anderson had adjourned the Legislative
Council, on the 20th December, after voting the
necessary supplies: the financial statement, presented by the
Colonial Secretary, showed the revenue for the first
three quarters of 1850 to amount to £311,479 10s. 9d.,
against £307,170 2s. 9d. for the like period of 1849;
whilst the expenditure had been £291,793 3s. 5d.,