year the Board had sanctioned the opening of 869 miles of new railway—630 in England, 108 in Scotland, and 131 in Ireland—making the total extent of railway communication at the end of the year, 5996 miles, of which 4656 are in England, 846 in Scotland, and 494 in Ireland.—The Queen left on the 22d for a short visit to the King of the Belgians at Ostend. She was received with great enthusiasm, and returned the next day—Prince Albert completed his thirty-first year on the 26th of August. The Queen left town on the 27th for Scotland.—Sir George Anderson has been appointed Governor of Ceylon, in place of Lord Torrington, who has been recalled.—The American steamer _Pacific_ arrived at New York at half-past six P.M., on Saturday, the 21st ult., having left Liverpool at two P.M. on the 11th. She thus made the passage in _ten days, four and a half hours:_ this is by several hours the quickest voyage ever made between the two ports. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ From FRANCE the only news of general interest relates to the tour of the President through the provinces. The Assembly had previously broken up, there not being a quorum present on the 9th. It was to re-assemble on the 11th of November. A Committee of _Surveillance_ was to sit during the recess. On the 12th, the President started on his tour. He had given several military banquets, which, from their imperial aspect, and the political spirit manifested by the guests, created a great sensation. On one of these occasions, a dinner was given to the officers of a portion of the garrison of Paris; it is told, that after the company left the table, they adjourned into the garden to smoke their cigars; and there Louis Napoleon seeing a musket, took it up, and went through the manual exercise with great dexterity, to the great delight of the sergeants and corporals, who shouted “Vive le petit Corporal!” (the Emperor’s pet-name among the soldiers) with great enthusiasm. During his tour, which was unattended by any very noticeable incident, he made very liberal distribution of crosses of honor, sometimes accompanied by gratuities to old officers and soldiers of the imperial army. He had a most brilliant reception at Lyons, where he spent a day, and was entertained at a grand dinner by the Chamber of Commerce. At Besançon he had a less gracious reception: at a ball given to him in the evening a mob broke into the room, shouting “Vive la Republique,” and creating great confusion. The President left the room, which was cleared by General Castellane at the point of the bayonet. At several other places demonstrations were made of a similar character, but much less violent.