The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

Mr. B. BROWN proposed the health of the members
for the city of Oxford and the borough at Banbury.
Mr. LANOSTON, M.P., responded, and said that,
being a sincere Reformer, he was extremely happy to
hear that a Conservative Government were really
disposed to try their hands in giving the country a
better Reform Bill than that which had been passed
under the auspices of the Whigs ; and he now hoped
to see ail parties united in carrying a really good
measure, such as would prove ultimately beneficial
to the whole country.
Several other toasts having b3en given and re-
sponded to, the meeting separated.

THE COUNCIL OF INDIA assembled at the India.
house on Wednesday for the transaction of business,
and remained in deliberation until shortly after three
o'clock. At the meeting L•ird Stanley is understood
to have brought under the notice of the Council the
scheme for the revision and arrangement of the two
establishments of officers and servants at Leadenhall.
street and the Board of Control. This document is
understood to indicate the manner in which the per
manent establishment of the Secretary of State in
Council is to be constituted for the future, and the
manner in which the present retiring officers are to
be pensioned, and his lordship, exercising the powers
conferred upon him by the statute, is believed to have
made such reductions in the existing establishments
as seem to him consistent with the proper and eff►-
cient discharge of the public business. The ratifica-
tion of the scheme new rests with her Majesty. Both
Sir George Clerk and Mr. Baillie, M.P., the late
Secretaries to the Board, have removed their official
quarters to the India-house, and there, on one spot,
the whole Home Government of India is now con
ducted upon a scale of simplicity never known under
the system which has just begin abolished. The
energy and self-devotion evinced by Lord Stanley in
the discharge of his high functions is already a
common subject of remark among the officers of
the establishment, and his unassuming demeanour
and urbanity not less so. It is not an uncommon
circumstance for the Secretary of State to present
himself at the India-house so early as ten o'clock in
the morning, and on more occasions than one he has
remained at his post there until seven in the evening.
It may be added that his lordship is assisted, ir. the
capacity of private secretary, by the Hon. Gerald
Clietwynd Talbot, formerly in the civil service of
Ceylon, and appointed private secretary to the
Govenior-General of India in 1852. The principal
offices in the new establishment of the Secretary of
State for India, as proposed to be constituted by
Lord Stanley, and the names of the several gentle-
men in charge, as secretaries, of the various depart-
ments, are as iollows

Revenue—Mr. Prides=
Judicial—Mr. Hawkins.
Political—Mr. Kaye.
Railway and Telegraph—Mr. Danvers.
Public Works—Mr. Thornton.
Public is General —Mr. Bourdillon.
MILITARY DEPARTMENT.
Secretary—Not yet known.
Assistant-Secretory—Mr. Fade.
MARINE AND TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT.
Superintendent—Mr. Plowtlen.
Accountant-General—Mr. Friend.
Auditor—Mr. Sandoz.
Cashier—Mr. l)unamure.
lnspector•General of Stores—General Bonner.
Agent to Administrator-General—Mr. Clarke.
Statistical Department and Keeper of Records—Mr.

ornidge.
Chief Clerk—Mr. Onslow.
OFFICERS OF COMMITTEES.

Secretary to Finance, Ilome, and Public Works Com-
mittee—Mr. Danvers.
Secretary to Rerenue and Judicial—Mr. Prideaux.
Secre'ary to Political and Military—Mr. Eade.
The gent:men named as secretaries above have, we
believe, all been in charge of the duties which they
have now to perform under a different denomination.
It will he observed that two distinguished men—
namely, Mr. John Stuart Mill and Mr. Philip Melvin
—both retire from the public service, with which they
have been long and honourably identified, the former
as the head of the Examiner's Department, and the
latter as the Military Secretary.

THE SELF-DEFENCE OF BRITISH COLONIES is thus
alluded to in the following despatch from the Right
Hon. Sic E. B. Lytton to the Governor-General of
the Leeward Islands :
Downing-street, July 31.
Sir,-1 have replied generally in another despatch to
the explanations with which you have favoured me on the
Antigua riots; but am anxious to direct your attention to
one consideration in particular arising out of these distur-
bances. I desire to impress upon you, and through you
upon the colony which you govern, the extreme importance
of raising and maintaining from local resources, and by
local efforts, such a military force as will by its presence
guarantee the safety, dignity, and internal
peace of the
country. On a reference to the records of past years, I
have observed that in many of the West Indian colonies
local corps were established, and, as [ believe, efficiently
kept up. It is with a feeling of mortification that I per.