ENGLISH NEWS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 114, 11 May 1863, Page 3

ENGLISH NEWS.

TO MARCH 5. The December mails arrived in London on the 12th and IBth February. Her Majesty continues in the enjoyment of good health. The marriage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alexandra is appointed to take place on the 10th March, in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. The Queen intends being present privately. The magnificence of the preparations is unparalleled, being most costly all along the route which the procession is to take, and similar costly preparations for celebrating the event are being made in all parts of the kingdom. The day of landing of the Princess and the day of marriage have been gazetted as general holidays. The Corporation of London voted £IO,OOO as a wedding gift to the Princess. The House of Commons has voted £40,000 a year to the Prince of Wales, and his total income will bo £IOO,OOO per annum. The Princess is to receive £IO,OOO a year, and £30,000 a year if she survives the Prince. The Prince of Wales has taken his seat in the House of Lords as a Peer of the Eealm. Parliament was opened by Commission on the sth February. The Queen’s speech principally dwelt on the marriage of the Prince of Wales, and the surrender of the lonian Isles to Greece on certain conditions. It lamented the disastrous continuance of the war in America, hut at the same time deprecated any attempt at interference. The severe distress in the manufacturing districts, and the noble and heroic fortitude displayed by the distressed operatives, were also alluded to, and gratification expressed at the sympathy aud munificent liberality which it had evoked from her Majesty’s colonial subjects, and concluded by stating that the trade of tho country was in a very satisfactory condition, and that the Estimates for the ensuing year, in course of preparation, would provide for a reduction in the national expenditure. Prince Alfred is seriously ill, and is at present in the Naval Hospital at Malta. He is, however, slowly recovering. The Navy Estimate for the year is £10,736,000 sterling, being a decrease on last year of £1,000,000 ; the vote was to be taken for 78,000 seamen. The Army Estimates also show a decrease of £1,000,000. Sir W. Armstrong, Ordnance Engineer to the War Department, has resigned. Sir Roderick Murchison is appointed a K.G.B. The two Houses of Convocation have appointed a joint-committtee to examine Bishop Colenso’s work on the Pentateuch, aud to report whether or not it contains heresy. Professor Jowctt, an essayist, ami occupying the Greek chair at Oxford, is cited before the vice-chancellor’s court by Dr. Pusey aud others, upon a charge of heresy. Another Australian bishopric is endowed, the seat to he at Goulburn. The distress is still prevailing in Lancashire and the cotton districts generally ; hut subscriptions flow in freely from all quarters. At a meeting of the Central Relief Committee, the alleged misappropriation of the New South Wales subscriptions was discussed. A report was adopted in reply to he forwarded to the colony. At Exeter Hall, the Emancipation Society have held a large meeting in favour of the Federal cause. The Western Australians in England have memorialised the Colonial Office to increase the supply of convicts to the swan river settlement. The Home Government do not favour the establishment of postal communication to Australia via Panama. Richard Green is to row either Everson or Chambers within a fortnight after the race for the championship of the Thames. OextuaTvY. —Earl Cottenham, Sir J. Cotton, Sir H. Lushington, Archdeacon Drury, the Bishops of Gibralter and Quebec, Chief Justice of Demerara, Admirals Temple and Wyvill, Captain Gladstone, M.P., and Mrs. Whittle Harvey. LATEST TELEGRAM. VIA SUEZ. London, March 5, 4 - 45 p.m. The proffered mediation of France in American affairs has been positively rejected by the Federals, hut cordially acquiesced in

by tlxe Confederates. , The Federal army is very active. The attack on Charleston has been abandoned, and Savannah threatened. There is a Ministerial crisis. President Lincoln has adopted a Conservative policy, Seward still remains in office, and M'Clellan has resumed the command of the army.. The Federal Conscription Bill has passed, and the Government have authorised the--issue of letters of marque. Gold has risen to 63. The Polish insurgents are gaining ground,, and they have the sympathies of Europewith them. The Prussian Chambers deprecate Russian convention. 'I he wool sales continue. Sydney is fully Id. per lb. lower ; Melbourne, l^d. The Bishop of Tasmania has resigned. REUTER’S TELEGRAMS. The differences between the English and Brazilian Governments are on the eve of satisfactory settlement. Lord Palmerston stated, in Parliament, that the English Government have expressed their opinion to the French on the subject of the sale of the negro regiment to the French Emperor for service in Mexico. The British Government propose a reduction on the duties of negrohead and cavendish tobacco. Bishop Colenso has been formally repudiated by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The Lord Mayor of London has entertained Mr. Mason, the Commissioner from the Confederate States, publicly at the Mansion House. Mason was loudly cheered. A meeting has been held in London, at which many influential persons were present in favor of the renewal of transportation to Western Australia, It has been announced that four ship-loads are to -be removed from Bermuda to Western Australia. The Lyceum Theatre has been christened The Prince of Wales, by the permission of his Royal Highness. New works are announced on the New Zealand War by Sir James Alexander and Lieutenant Colonel Carey. The Ministers announced that the Post-raaster-General of New Zealand was now in England endeavoring to promote the Panama route ; but that the Legislature of Victoria had declined being a party to it. They also state 1 that there was no truth of the reported resignation of Sir George Grey ; and that he had not applied for more troops. AMERICA. The blockade of Charleston isre-established The Confederates are preparing for a desperate resistance. The dismembarment of the Federal army of the Potomac has commenced. A large portion of the Confederate army of Virginia have also left for Vicksburg to aid in the defence of Charleston. Sumner introduced a bill to enrol 300,000 negro soldiers. The New Jersey Legislature are about to write to the Confederates to join in a National convention. The North-Western States waver in their allcgionce to the Union. The Confederates made a dashing exploit at Charleston with two iron-clad vossels, and three war steamers. They attacked the blockading squadron. The Federals were completely taken by surprise. Two of their gunboats were at once destroyed, five others set on fire, and the remainder pursued until out of sight. The interest of the campaign now centres in the Mississippi valley. The Confederates are said to have about one hundred and fifty thousand respectable soldiers at Vicksburgh, forming the disunion between the republicans and the democrats. A third of the Federal army closes its term of the sendee at the end of May. General Porter has been dismissed from the Federals. The People of Savannah, anticipating a general engagement, have taken possession of all the churches and hotels, for hospital purposes. Mr. G. M. Train has been ordered by the authorities to leave St. Louis, Missouri; or go to gaol; he has chosen the former alternative. The Federal accounts of the alleged raising of the blockade on the 31st ultimo deny that the blockade was really raised and say that the object of the Confederates’ 'attack was to rescue the British steamer Princess Rcyul, which had been seized to ran the blockade. Galveston, the strongest fortified place in Texas, was taken by the Confederates by a coup de main. President Davis says that the south is desirous of peace, but it will not submit to the demands of the north. President Lincoln has signed a bill authorising the immediate issue of twenty million pounds sterling, in green backs.