THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE (Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham Clinton) died Jan. 12, at the age of 66. He was one of the most consistent and unbending of the Tory conservative nobility of England, and a most strenuous opponent of every measure of reform. He said of himself that "on looking back to the past, I can honestly assert that I repent of nothing that I have done. _Vestigia nulla retrorsum._ Such has been the cradle of my opinions: time may have matured them, and given them something like authority; at all events, the sentiments that might have been doubtful, are now rootedly confirmed." Thus incapable of learning by experience, of becoming wiser as a man than he was when a boy, his political career was thoroughly consistent. He was alike opposed to Catholic emancipation, the repeal of the Test Act, and any modification of the Corn Laws. When Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, he refused, in spite of the positive demand of Government, to insert in the commission of the peace the names of two gentlemen who were not members of the Established Church. When the Reform Bill was in agitation, he stood up manfully for the rotten boroughs which enabled him to return six members to the House of Commons, the disfranchisement of which cost him a large sum which he had invested in property of which the franchise constituted the main value. His hereditary possessions were very large, and by his wife he obtained estates to the value of £12,000 per annum, besides personal property to the amount of £200,000; yet, owing to extensive purchases of unproductive estates, he was embarrassed in pecuniary matters. Apart from his narrow and bigoted politics, his character was marked by many noble and excellent traits. FREDERICK BASTIAT, the leader of the free-trade party in France, died at Rome, on the 24th of December. He was a member of the National Assembly; and his death was hastened by his severe and protracted labors during the last session. His essays, bearing the general title of _Sophismes Economiques_, originally published in a periodical, the _Journal des Economistes_, of which he was editor, have been made known to the American public through the columns of the _Evening Post_, which is a sufficient guarantee of their authority with the upholders of that policy. W.H. MAXWELL, the Irish novelist, died at Musselburg, near Edinburgh, December 29. In early life he was a captain in the British army, and noted for his social qualities. He subsequently entered the Church, and obtained the benefice of prebendary of Balla, a wild district in Connaught, with an income, but no congregation or official duties. Among his works we recollect "Hector O'Halloran," "Story of My Life," "Wild Sports of the West," and many humorous sketches in the periodical literature of the day.