eft the capital for
the United States, on leave of absence. Senor Lacunza, the Ex-Minister
of Foreign Affairs, has been appointed Minister to England, and Senor
Valdiviesco Minister to France. The Mexican Government has ceded in
perpetuity to Don Gayetano Rubio, Don Eustace Barron, Senor Garay, and
the firm of Yecker, Torre & Co., the whole of the public lands in the
State of Sonora, including the mines, between lat. 30 deg. N. and the Gila
River. This grant embraces several millions of acres, and the richest
mineral land of the Republic. It is said to have been intended to smooth
the passage of a bill abolishing all tariff prohibitions, which have
hitherto operated greatly to the advantage of the parties named.

Maj. Barnard's Company for surveying the Isthmus of Tehuantepec reached
the town of Minatitlan, on the Coatzocoalcos River, in the steamer
Alabama, on the 25th of December. At the last accounts, one party had
penetrated a distance of sixty miles into the country, a second was
engaged in an examination of the river, and a third had set out for
Tehuantepec, on the Pacific Coast.

BRITISH AMERICA.

The lawyers in Lower Canada have been making strikes and holding
meetings to protest against the imposition of the new tariff regulating
their fees. The Bar of Quebec and of Trois Rivieres have struck,
declining to serve their clients until the legality of the tariff shall
be decided by the Court of Appeals. It has been decided to admit
American reprints of English copyright works into Canada, on paying 20
per cent. duty, which is to be paid over by the Custom House to the
English authors or proprietors of copyright, who are required to furnish
a list of their works. Under this law, American reprints will still be
much cheaper than English editions, and popular English authors may
therefore look forward to some increase of their revenue. The Imperial
Cabinet has also assented to the Post-Office Law, enacted at the last
Session of the Canadian Legislature, and establishing a uniform rate of
three pence for single letters throughout the British Provinces.

Meetings have been held in Toronto, protesting against the intended
removal of the Seat of Government from that city, while, on the other
hand, the French members have resolved not to vote the supplies unless
it is removed to Quebec in the spring. Lord Elgin, however, has stated
that the Seat of Government will be transferred to Quebec at the
completion of its two