PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

The Queen and Prince Albert, with the guests at
Windsor Castle, witnessed a dramatic performance,
under the direction of Mr. Charles Kean, in the Rubens
room, on the evening of the 1st. The piece was Julius
Cæsar, and the leading parts were taken by Mr. Kean
and Mr. Macready—the first time on which those
performers have ever appeared on the same stage together.

Thomas Maitland, Esq., her Majesty's Solicitor-
General for Scotland, has been appointed to the place
of one of the Lords of Session, in the room of Francis
Jeffrey, Esq., deceased; and James Moncreiff, Esq.,
Advocate, has been appointed to the vacant place of
Solicitor-General for Scotland.

Mr. Justice Talfourd has received from her Majesty
the honour of knighthood.

The Lords of the Admiralty, on obtaining the
sanction of the House of Commons to another expedition in
search of Sir John Franklin, have lost no time in
deciding on the plan to be adopted for proceeding in the
direction of Davis's Straits, Lancaster Sound, and
onwards to Melville Island; and orders have been sent to
Woolwich to get two steam vessels and two dockyard
lighters ready for sea at the shortest notice. Captain
Austin has been daily at the Admiralty making the
arrangements for the expedition which he is to
command. Some thirty captains, including among them
Captain William Peel, a son of Sir Robert Peel, and
Captain Caffin, formerly of the Scourge, have
volunteered their services, and earnestly pressed for commands
in the expedition. Mr. Penny, whom Lady Franklin
has engaged to conduct an independent expedition, has
also been at the Admiralty, and has received encouragement
and assurances of co-operation.

OBITUARY OF NOTABLE PERSONS.

LORD JEFFREY died at his residence in Moray-place,
Edinburgh, on the 26th ult., in the 77th year of his age. He was
admitted an advocate of the Scottish bar in the year 1794, and
for forty years pursued that profession, filling the office of Lord
Advocate, and attaining the dignity of the bench. He was
married twice: first, in the year 1802 to Catharine, daughter of
the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of St. Andrew's; and secondly, in the year
1813, to Charlotte, daughter of Mr. C. Wilkes, of New York,
and grandniece of the well-known Alderman Wilkes, of London.

Sir FELIX BOOTH, BART., died at Brighton on the 18th ult.
He was a wealthy distiller, and served the office of sheriff of
London in 1828-9; he was also distinguished for his munificence,
having presented Sir John Ross with £20,000 to enable him to
fit out his polar expedition.

LIEUT.-GENERAL ROBERT CRAWFORD, of the late Royal Irish
Artillery, died on the 14th inst. He served in Holland in 1794
and 1795, and in 1798 he was actively employed in Ireland
during the rebellion. He commanded the Irish Artillery when
that force was consolidated with the British.

LORD GODOLPHIN died, on the 15th inst., at Gogmagog Hills,
in Cambridgeshire, aged 73.

GENERAL LORD AYLMER, G.C.B., died on the 23rd, in his
75th year.

SIR WILLIAM ALLAN, R.A. and President of the Royal
Scottish Academy, died on the 23rd, in his 68th year.

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.
IN the absence of any news of special mark from the colonies, news has gone out to them from us that will
be more welcome than any transmitted during the present century. They will learn from it that the
English prime minister has delivered views of colonial policy in parliament, which the most vehement
advocates of their claims, and exponents of their wrongs, had hailed with satisfaction and delight. These views
may indeed most worthily date a new era in colonial government. They were announced by Lord John
Russell in proposing the measure for giving new constitutions to the colonies of Australia, and the principle
which governs them may be briefly described. It is that wherever the British flag has been planted abroad,
and a society of Englishmen has been brought together, the English institutions which secure English
freedom shall hereafter have place among them, and development according to the growth of the colony.
Thus, in the present instance of Australia, ample powers of local self-government are given, with only such
reservation of imperial power as may be used with advantage to the colonists themselves. Nor was the
satisfaction felt and expressed at the speech derived more from the premier's tone in regard to the future, than
from the spirit in which he reviewed the past. The courage of entering a new path is not always attended by
the courage of confessing an old error, but there was no flinching in the speech of Lord John. He did not
say that having governed their colonies with consummate wisdom for a hundred years, it was now
incumbent on English statesmen to govern them in a quite different way; but he frankly implied sufficient of
past miscarriage, to guarantee strongly what he said for amendment in the future. It is a pity that something
of the same spirit, bold yet prudent, does not govern and control the great soldier and reformer now in
India. Sir Charles Napier is doing good in the most offensive way conceivable. His last general order is
a denunciation of the Bengal army for gross military ignorance and want of discipline, in terms which
will intercept half the benefit intended. Nevertheless the other half will be no inconsiderable boon.

The Overland Mail has brought advices from Bombay
to the 17th of January. There is little intelligence of
importance. A great sensation had been excited by a
General Order issued by Sir Charles Napier, in which
he censures most severely the state of discipline in the
Bengal army encamped at Lahore. The following are
some passages from this characteristic document, which
is dated from Head Quarters at Lahore, on the 15th of
December:—

"At the late review of the troops on the plain of
Mecan Meer, the following egregious deficiencies were
evident to all—

"1st. That some commanders of regiments were
unable to bring their regiments properly into the
general line.

"2nd. One commanding-officer of a regiment
attempted to wheel his whole regiment as he would a
company.

"3rd. Several officers commanding companies were
seen disordering their companies by attempting to dress
them from the wrong flank.

"4th. When the line was ordered to be formed on
the left column, some commanders deployed too soon,
and ordered their lines (thus improperly formed) to
'double quick,' in order to regain their position. This
was all bad; but it was worse to see the regiments, on
receiving the word to 'double quick,' at once charge
with loud shouts,—no such order to charge having been
given by any one, nor the words 'prepare to charge':
nor did anything occur to give a pretext for such a
disgraceful scene, exhibiting both want of drill and
want of discipline.

"5th. Bad as this was, it was not the worst. When
these regiments chose to 'charge,' the Commander-in-
chief, to his astonishment, beheld the men discharging
their firelocks straight up in the air, and he saw some
men of the rear-rank actually firing off their muskets to
the rear over their shoulders as their bearers (he will