_December 29th._--The long-pending dispute about the Crown jewels claimed by the King of Hanover was settled the other day. The history of it is this. The late King of Hanover on the death of William IV. claimed these jewels upon the ground that they were partly belonging to the Crown of Hanover and partly had been bequeathed to him by Queen Charlotte. Our Government, on behalf of the Queen, naturally resisted the claim. After a good deal of wrangling they were at last prevailed on to name a commission to investigate the question, and Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Langdale, and Chief Justice Tindal were appointed accordingly. After a considerable delay and a troublesome enquiry, they arrived at a conclusion, but when they were just about to give their award Chief Justice Tindal died. Lyndhurst and Langdale were divided in opinion, so no award could be given. The Chancellor, Lord Cottenham, refused to renew the Commission, and the matter has stood over ever since. In the present year, however, the Government thought the matter ought to be decided one way or another, and they issued a fresh Commission, consisting of Lord Wensleydale, Vice-Chancellor Page Wood, and Sir Lawrence Peel (ex-Indian judge), and they have given judgement unanimously in favour of the King of Hanover, i.e., with regard to the bulk of the jewels, some few seem to have been allotted to the Queen. Lord Wensleydale came into my room at the Council Office just after they had finished their award, and told me about it. I asked him if they had decided it on _evidence_ or only by a sort of rough estimate, but he said they had ample evidence, and they were all quite satisfied upon the point. Last night I asked Lord Lyndhurst about his share in the question, when he told me their difficulty had been to make out whether the jewels which Queen Charlotte had disposed of by her will had really been hers to leave, or whether she had only had the use of them, but that this had been decided by the discovery of George III.'s will, in which he expressly left them to her. Tindal entirely agreed with Lyndhurst, and if he had lived a little longer, judgement would have been given then in favour of Hanover. Lyndhurst said the Court was very anxious about it, for Prince Albert had told him the pearls were the finest in Europe. The value of them has been enormously exaggerated, but is still considerable. Lord Lyndhurst said they were worth about 150,000_l._, and Kielmansegge told me the same thing. By the Indian papers just arrived it appears that the relief of the Residency of Lucknow and the deliverance of all who were confined in it was complete, but there was no great battle (which everybody expected), though much severe fighting, and Lucknow itself was still untaken. The mutineers, though always worsted, seem to fight better than they were thought capable of doing, and everything tends to show that the suppression of the Mutiny is still far from being accomplished.