PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

The Queen held an Investiture of the Order of the
Bath on the 7th inst, when a large number of
distinguished officers were decorated. Among the principal
were Vice-Admiral Deans Dundas, Lieutenant-General
the Duke of Cambridge and Lieutenant-General Sir
De Lacy Evans, who were Knighted, and invested with
the Grand Cross of the Military Division; and Sir
Charles Augustus Fitzroy, Colonel Cautley, and
Colonel Justin Shiel, who were made Knights
Commanders of the Civil Division.

Her Majesty inspected one hundred wounded Guards
at Buckingham Palace on the 9th inst. She subsequently
gave audience to Prince Gholam Mahomed, and Prince
Feroze Shah, the son and grandson of Tippoo Saib; who
took leave of her Majesty on their return to India.

The Queen left town on the 10th inst for Osborne,
accompanied by the King of the Belgians, visiting the
camp at Aldershott by the way.

Mr. Justice Maule has retired from the bench of the
Common Pleas, after sixteen years of service. The Lord
Chancellor has supplied his place by Mr. J. S. Willes,
of the Home Circuit.

The Directors of the East India Company have
appointed Lord Canning Governor-General of India, and
her Majesty has approved of the selection of the Court.

The Duke of Northumberland has contributed the
site for a church at Isleworth, and £2000 towards the
erection of the building: the Duchess Dowager has
added £500 to this sum.

The Queen has granted apartments in Hampton Court
Palace to the widows of General Strangways and
Admiral Boxer.

Miss Nightingale is at Therapia, and does not intend
to return to England unless obliged by the state of her
health.

The Duke of Newcastle has gone to the Crimea: his
arrival at Vienna was noted at the end of last week.

Her Majesty has appointed Miss Fanny Cathcart,
second surviving daughter of the late Sir George
Cathcart, to be one of her Maids of Honour.

Sir Charles Napier lately received a summons to
attend at Court for the purpose of being installed. He,
however, declined the proffered boon. The reason
assigned by the gallant Admiral, says the United
Service Gazette if not officially given, is well known to
his friends. "I have been," he says, "censured and
degraded, and have been denied the opportunity of
clearing my reputation. Yet am I now offered a
G. C. B."—

Professor Allman, of Trinity College, Dublin, has
been appointed to the chair of Natural History in the
University of Edinburgh.

The widow of Count Batthyany, after ceding all her
fortune to her heirs, and distributing 20,000 florins to
her domestics, has entered the Convent of the Sisters of
Mercy, founded by her at Pinkafeld, upon the frontiers
of Hungary. She assumes the name of "Sister Fanny."

In a work called "The Island Empire," lately
published, there appeared an account of an octogenarian
gardener of the late Emperor Napoleon, still living on
the island of Elba. One of the first acts of Count
Walewski has been to inform the author of the work
that the French Consul at Porto Ferrajo had been
directed to supply the wants of the old man, and to
make his last days easy by pecuniary aid.

OBITUARY OF NOTABLE PERSONS

The EARL OF CALEDON died on the 30th of June, at his
house in Carleton-house-terrace, in his 43rd year.

JOHN BLACK, Esq., late editor of the Morning Chronicle, the
oldest and one of the most respected members of the London
press, died on the 24th of June, in his 72nd year.

Madame EMILE DE GIARDIN (formerly Mademoiselle
Delphine Gay) died on the  1st inst. at Paris.

Sir MICHAEL DILLON BELLEW, BART., of Mount Bellew, in
the county of Galway, died on the 3rd inst. at Rathmines, in
his 58th year. A few days since he received the intelligence
of the death of his fourth son, Lieut. W. Bellew, from the
effects of wounds received at the taking of the Quarries before
Sebastopol.

ADMIRAL SIR CHARLES EKINS, G.C.B., died on the 2nd inst.,
at the age of 87 years.

THE HON. CRAVEN FITZHARDINGE BERKELEY, M.P. for
Cheltenham, died on the 1st inst., at Frankfort, in his 50th
year.

ADMIRAL THE MARQUIS OF THOMOND, G.C.H., died at Bath
on the 3rd inst.

Mr. JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM, the well-known lecturer and
writer, died on the 30th ult., in his 69th year, at Stanhope
Lodge, Upper Avenue-road, after a severe and protracted
illness.

SIR WILLIAM EDWARD PARRY, the distinguished leader of
four expeditions to the Arctic regions, died at Ems, in
Germany, on the 8th inst.

ADMIRAL SIR JOHN OMMANNEY, K.C.B., died at Warblington,
Hants, on the 8th inst., aged 82.

PHILIP PUSEY, Esq., of Pusey Park, Farringdon, Berks,
and late M.P. for that county, died on the 9th inst., at the
residence of his brother, the Rev. Dr. Pusey, Christchurch
College, Oxford, in the 57th year of his age.

SIR ROBERT ABERCROMBY, BART., the chief of the clan of
Abercromby, died on the 6th inst., at Forglen House, the
family seat in Banffshire.

The EARL OF ANTRIM died at Glenarm Castle on the 18th
inst., aged 43.

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.

The intelligence by the last Overland Mail is not
important. In Burmah, Captain Madigan, of the
Eighty-fourth regiment, employed in erecting telegraph
posts between Donabew and Henzadah, was, on the
23rd April, tied to a tree and speared to death, in
revenge for the execution of a son of one of the chiefs.
It is thought, as his property was untouched, that he
was mistaken for a political agent. The murderers of
Captain Latter, who was assassinated in camp during
the war, have all been discovered. On the 30th April,
2000 hillmen, robbers of the Terar tribe, attacked the
British post at Dersamund, fifty-five miles West of
Kohat. It was defended by Major Coke, who had
under his command a troop of the Fourth Punjaub
Cavalry and a company of the First Punjaub Infantry.
The robbers were first driven back by a cavalry charge,
and finally routed by the infantry.

From China the news is that the Tartar Emperor is
dead; that the rebellion makes little progress; but that
the people were suffering severely from famine, caused
mainly by the devastations of the rebels and the
instability of order. Sir John Bowring had expeditiously
negotiated an important treaty with Siam. He landed
on the 3rd April, began active deliberations with the
Siamese commissioners on the 9th; and on the 18th the
treaty was signed. Among its more important
provisions, are the right of having a consul in Siam; the
right to build ships in the Menane; and the right
to rent or purchase lands within a twenty-four hours'
journey of Bangkok.

The dates from the West Indies are to the end of
June. The accounts speak very favourably of the
crops.

Advices from Melbourne come down to the middle of
April. The commercial and industrial prospects of
Victoria were decidedly mending. More attention was
bestowed upon the land: gold-production bid fair to
increase; building had recommenced, and rent was
much less than formerly. The imports on the quarter
were £3,117,854. It was expected that this rate would
not be kept up. The imports last year were £17,000,000.
The commissioners appointed to inquire into the
administration of the gold-fields have made their report to
the executive, and it has been presented to the council
by command of the lieutenant-governor. The principal