EUROPEAN NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 84, 14 August 1852, Page 5

EUROPEAN NEWS.

The " Tory" has brought Melbourne dates to the 21st July. We have not received our expected files of papers, nor have indeed for some months past. We suppose the gold excitement has obliterated New Zealand from the thoughts of our contemporaries, and hence our existence is ignored. To the courtesy of others, however, we are indebted for a few papers, from which we glean a few extracts of European news. By way of the Cape, English dates have been received to the 15th April; the news is not of any importance. Public interest is centred in two leading topics—the Derby Ministry, and the President of France. The former, however, is the more attractive, and every periodical from the Thunderer down to Punch, gives prominence to the doings, the sayings, and the movements of the leading men of the new Cabinet. Parliament had adjourned for the Easter holidays, and were to meet again on the 19th of April. Several .subjects had been under discussion, but with the exception of the Militia Bill, no measure of importance had been introduced by the new Government. This bill proposes to raise a force of 80,000 men by voluntary enlistment, with bounty, as in the army, if possible, or by ballot. The measure is not regarded favourably by the British public.

There had been a long and interesting discussion on the Kaffir war, on taking the vote of £460,000 for its expenses.

Everywhere the note of preparation is being sounded for the approaching general election. The Carlton Club is said to have subscribed £ 150,000 for the purpose of aiding in the election of Conservative members. The Anti-corn-Law League are not less active, and large sums of money have been put down by the Manchester men, so that a very sharp contest may be looked for indeed. The struggle is expected to be more severe than any since the passing of the Reform Bill.

In striking contrast with the struggles, and the excitement of parties political, who amongst them endeavour to govern England, the Prince President of France is showing the world how easily all this may be managed by one man having the nerves necessary—how much trouble, time, and wordy warfare may be saved by ruling a country after his Napoleonic fashion— governing it by edicts. What in England resquires many nights of anxious debates and numerous divisions, is accomplished in France by a stroke of Louis Napoleon's pen He wills it, and it is decreed. His budget is not discussed—that would be far too troublesome and tedious—he simply decrees it. He has not only reshaped the French Constitution by decree, but he has remodelled the army, the bench, and the universities by decree. More recently he has by a simple decree converted the five per cent rents into four and a half stock, by which means the State gains annually, at the expense of the stockholders, about eighteen millions and a half of francs. The restrictions on the press are now most complete; not only are the whole of the journals under the most stringent censorship, but every private printing oflice is narrowly watched as well as licensed. Every writer has now to consider whether his effusions will stand the searching criticism of Mons. Persigny. The wittiest sallies of the Charivari, and the gravest disquisitions of philosophy, have alike to pass the ordeal of the imperious republican dictator.

The new Napoleonic Chambers have been opened by the President, who, in a clever speech, full of nice subtleties and high-souuding phrases, has contrived to tell the French that they have existed in the midst of a series of national mistakes, and they are extremely fortunate in finding one so willing- and capable of setting them right as himself. The two importsmt features in his address, were his declaration in favour of pacific measures and against the resumption by him of the imperial purple, at any rate, unless he he provoked to it by the plotting of bis adversaries.

Prince Schwarzenbergh, the Prime Minister of Austria, died suddenly on the 12th of April. He was at the head of the reactionary and absolutist party on the Continent. His successor was not known in England at the latest dates.

Lieut.-Gen. Sir John Harvey, X.C.8., Lieut.Governoiv of Nova Scotia, died recently at that place. L.; e was Colonel of the 59th Regiment. Major-General Grant, a distinguished Waterloo officer, had 1 also died recently. He held the

sinecure appointment of Governor of Scarborough Castle.

The French are to have a Crystal Palace of their own! in the Champ Elysee; it is even said that the Government are in treaty with Messrs. Fox and Henderson for the purchase of the frame building in Hyde Park ; on the other hand, great efforts are being made in England to retain the Exhibition building in its present condition. Public meetings have been held and resolutions passed, calling upon those wishing to join in the proposal to come forward with subscriptions towards the purchase of the edifice. The contractors have endeavoured to enlist the public still further in the course by giving "promenades" with military music within the building. On the 2nd April, seven regimental bands were in the palace which, with Nellie's great organ, sent their strains through the beautiful glass structure, to the delight of about 80,000 visitors. The Times publishes the following interesting statement with respect to the building : —

" This building, the fate of which has been the subject of so much speculation, has, after a long interregnum, been partially made accessible to the public in rather a singular way. It will be remembered that a large portion of the interior fittings was supplied by Messrs. Fox and Henderson, the contractors. These fittings are now on sale by public auction, and, as it is necessary to admit purchasers, the price of a catalogue, which is 6d., secures the entree. Where curiosity is excited people are not slow to avail themselves of an opportunity, and the sale of 'catalogues, which on the first day amounted to 200, now, after the interval of a week, reaches 1,500. Business men attend in sufficient number, and the details of the aution-mart are animated to a degree ; so much so, indeed, that the first lot brought a price about twice its original value, and throughout the purchases effected have been more or less affected by the associations of the spot. But it is almost unnecessary to say that a very small proportion of the catalogues are disposed of to persons anxious to avail themselves of them, and that the majority buy as a pretext to see the interior of the building. Nurserymaids with their infant charges are, as soon as they approach the south entrance of the transept, seized with an irresistible impulse to participate in the transactions in lumber going on within, and even ladies' board-ing-schools own the same influences. Not less than from 3,000 to 4,000 people were there yesterday, and wandered over the spacious interior with feelings of gratification and delight not difficult to decipher in their faces." It is the commencement of a new era in the history of this wonderful building, which in itself contains features calculated to make it permanently attractive, and, if the contractors only play their cards well, they may render it so desirable and popular a place of resort that its removal will become an impossibility. At the same time, it must be remembered that in strict terms this wonderful structure lies under sentence of death. Parliament has suspended the execution of the extreme sentence of the law until its pleasure be taken on the subject, and possibly it may preserve or dismember, or destroy. It may see fit to vote the amount requisite to render the Crystal Palace permanent, or it may sanction its distribution, giving a limb to Battersea, another to Kew, and another to Victoria Park, in the approved style of dealing with the carcases of traitors. It may also reject, as the Royal Commission has already done, the shell within which the honours and triumphs of that body were accumulated.

"No one can confidently predict what the result will be, but in the meantime, and while the wisdom of Parliament is still in reserve, and while the public have not yet had an opportunity of finally making up their minds upon the subject by the aid of a personal inspection, it may be worth while to state what Was the substance of a report made to the late Government by a Committee appointed by the Lords of the Treasury to consider the question of the building. That committee consisted of three members—Sir W. Cubitt, Dr. Lindley, and Lord Seymour. They examined witnesses, and reported, we believe, in substance as follows:—1. That the Crystal Palace, if retained, would cost _3'200,0G0 to make it permanent, and adapt it for a winter garden or repository of the arts and manufactures and other objects contemplated. 2. That if a portion of it were removed to Kew, it would entail an outlay of _?SO,OOO. 3. That a transposition to Battersea was not worthy of serious consideration ; and, lastly, that a structure better adapted for the purposes to which it was contemplated that the Crystal Palace should be applied might be constructed at a smaller charge than the estimate of £200,000 specified, The committee give no positive opinion as to the retention or removal of thebuilding, and their report will go before Parliament and have its due weight along with the effect which may be produced upon the public mind by a free and unembarrassed inspection of the interior before the question comes on for discussion. As far as the Royal Commission are concerned, they have

abandoned all idea of holding out a hand ;to help' the inhabitants of the metropolis who are irrteretted ■ in this matter. Not only is the building absolutely in the hands of the contractors, but the commi*sioners have issued orders to withdray everything belonging to them. Their collection, which i» to form the groundwork of a trades' museum, is,' ii_ compliance with a decision come to on Monday, to be transferred to Kensington Palace, and in a few day* every vestige of their connexion with the Crystal Palace will have terminated; the building will then, have to rely for its preservation entirely on public feeling, and it remains to be seen whether-the power which created it and gave it a world-wide celebrity has also the will to render it permanent,' for the enjoyment and advantage of the metropolis and the country at large." j \\ ■. A " Great Exhibition" of Indian produce and - manufactures was to be undertaken in 1853. by „ the East India Company. i The quarterly returns of income and expendi* ture had been published. The income -of the last quarter had increased more than £100,000 beyond the income of the same quarter! of last year. The exports of British and Irish produce in the month ending March sth, 1852, were £5,353.532, against £4,740,278 in the same month of 1851. i■ • The intelligence of the loss of the '^Birkenhead had created a great sensation in England. By a singular coincidence, that vessel and the equally ill-fated lf Amazon both left port on the same day—the 2nd January. Strange things happen daily, hut our readers - are hardly prepared, perhaps, to hear of a coup' d' etat in Spitzbergen or a revolutionary movement in Iceland. Iceland has its geysers however, and why not its revolutions too ? [ The influence of the great convulsions of 1848 took nearly two years to reach those northern lati- '"~? tudes ; but when it got there it drew forth a jet of political excitement as ebullient and as boiling hotfas under the more genial suns of Europe. The Danish Governor, having the advantage of some European experience, pursued \ the approved plan ; he temporised with the movement at first—then prorogued the local legislature,and, when it re-assembled, forced it to dissolve by turning upon its place of meeting the guns of a man-of-war. The islanders, however, still remonstrate ; and have presented at Copenhagen - a series of demands which reminds .us, ns_ a ' little of the terms originally offered-hy* t_V'<^ Sicilian insurgents in 1848 to the Court of Naples. A fresh difficulty for the embarrassed ■ Government of Denmark, and a new [proof of the virulence of the contagion which could thus affect a little society almost as remote; from the political excitement of Europe as if it inhabited a separate planet. As our communications with, the Arctic regions become move regular, we may - hear by and bye of a provisional Government of • walrusses sitting at the Pole. • . -' Colonial Churches—" In the Housje of Commons, Mr. Gladstone rose to move a preliminary resolution, in order to enable him to hiy on the"";" table a bill, to the principles of which lie did not \. apprehend any objections. Under the present : circumstances he would not persevere even in taking this preliminary step, if he thought the bill was likely to give rise to any objection.'He did not see his honourable friend the Under Secretary for the Colonies in the house, but he had been careful to communicate with him, and ; the bill had obtained his approbation. The ~ object of the bill was simply to relieve;members,*; of the Church in communion with the Church/" of England in the colonies from certain sup-r~v posed legal disabilities, which prevented them' from taking- those measures for the {local ma-j nagement of their own affairs that [other' re'- '•'■ ligious bodies in the colonies were in theY, habit of exercising. He did not'mean t6:{f give them any legislative power: he did" not'f\ propose in any way to interfere with 1 the colo-4:-------nial legislatures doing whatever they thought' * fit; he only proposed'to relieve them I from'that/ , which all must admit was most desirable that. *"' was to relieve them from certain difficulties'' "' which arose frdm the state of the law in Eug-l"1' land, concerning which, doubts existed whe- •' ther it extended to the colonies, and out of/, which doubts, had arisen great practical "confu-:. ■■ sion and inconvenience. ■' ./ "Mr. Hume looked upon all these matters ,r with great jealousy, for he was agaiijst interfe---/ rence with religious matters in the colonies at'v' all ; but if die understood the explanations .of/" the right honourable gentleman, it .would' not ';?j preclude the colonies from re_ulatin»j their own' S affairs. With that understanding he had nd;\ difficulty in agreeing to the motion. :' > v .■>? " Mr. Gladstone said that the lion. gWulennih'/f

was strictly correct, or rather, he might have gone further, for the object of the hill was to enable the colonies to settle their own affairs — that the ecclesiastical affairs of the colony should be locally managed in the same way as the civil affairs were locally managed." The resolution was then agreed to. [We hope to be able to publish Mr. Gladstone's bill in our next.] Lord Granville's circular note respecting the Foreign refugees in England, which we published in our number of the 10th of July, has elicited from one of the Governments to which it was addressed—the Austrian—a rejoinder not creditable to Prince Schwarzenberg's taste or temper. The note did not contain any satisfactory assurance that the shelter afforded to foreign refugees should not be abused by them, expressing only a proper anxiety on the part of Government to keep them in check by legal means.. Prince Schwarzenberg points out this (as he .had a right to do), and rejoins that the Austrian police will henceforth be instructed not to relax their rules, as they have hitherto done, 'in favour of persons travelling under British passports, concluding his despatch with a vague threat of doing something worse by -and by. ■As a measure of precaution, this pro - ceeding is not pretended to be necessary ; as a measure of retaliation, it is, like all retaliatory acts, irritating and offensive, not justified by the circumstances, still less by the courteous and somewhat apologetic tone of Lord Granville's despatch. The change of Ministry in England, however, and the death of the Prince, will probably induce a better feeling on the part of the Austrian Government. _ Steam to Australia anx> New Zealand via Panama.—We alluded in our last to the proposed line of steamers from Panama via New New Zealand to Sydney, in connection with the West India Steam Mail Company. The Australian and New Zealand Gazette gives the following particulars:—"We understand that it is in contemplation immediately to extend the line of steam navigation now in operation to the Isthmus of Panama thence to Sydney, and thus the great Central American route to Australia will at length be perfected. The scheme is promoted by Captain C. E. Mangles, a managing «;..__r»ct„r,bf.the West India Mail Company ; and we are Informed that, although the enterprise -will not be started by the Royal Mail Company, yet that many of the directors are individually interested, and that it w.ill be carried out in conceit with the Pacific Steam Navigation Company of Liverpool. It is proposed to organize a company by a Royal charter of incorporation, under the title of the " Australasian Pacific Mail Packet," and to conduct its operations by means of five iron screw steamships of 1000 tons burden and 200-horse power, running once a-month from Panama to Sidney _(touching at the Friendly Islands and New ■, Zealand), in connection with the vessels of the , West India Mail Company running to Panama. . The object is to convey passengers, mails (irrespective of any Government grant or assistance), gold-dust, and valuable merchandize by this, the shortest and most direct route, between England j and Australasia. Passengers from England will reach Chagres by the West India Mail steamers in eighteen or nineteen days; and by the time the operations of this company are matured, the railway across the Isthmus, now in course of construction, will be so tar .--completed as to admit of the transit from ocean to ocean being made without risk or fatigue in a few hours. It is proposed that the steamers to be'employed should make an average speed of eight knots an hour, which would enable the voyage from Panama to Sydney to be performed in something under forty days, thus making the total time between Southampton and Sydney only fifty-nine days." Califohxian Gold.—Four men, apparently voyagers from a far country, found their way mto the great area of the Bank of England • where they seemed to be a little out of their reckoning. Their helpless state being ob- ■ served by one of the Bank porters, he went over ' and asked their business, when the spokesman of the party inquired, » if they wanted to buy a little gold-dust ?" The porter, seeing no parcel with them, wondered where the dust might be and took .them to the assay office of the Bank' ' when, on-being asked to produce it, they instantly commenced ripping up their coats, waistcoats, linings, and flaps, lappels and cuffs, and so disgorged their hidden treasures. Lump after lump of the glorious store tumbled forth, and

when the operation was concluded, the whole was taken away and melted into a solid ingot, which, on being placed in the balances, was found to weigh 36 lb. some odd ounces, and its value amounted to something over £1,700. They were paid a part at once, and called for the remainder the following day. They were Cornish men, fresh from the Diggings. Fukther Discovery of Gold. —By letters received from Port Victoria, Vancouver's Island, dated the 10th of January, it appears that gold in considerable quantities and of great purity has been discovered at Queen Charlotte's Island. One correspondent writes :—" Several vesselshave recently returned from Queen Charlotte's Island, the severity of the winter not permitting mining operations. Gold has been discovered there in great abundance. Several fine specimens have been traded from the natives by the Hudson's Bay Company, and it is expected that in the course of the spring the mines will prove richer than California, as the gold is supposed to be of a finer quality, and the veins in the quartz rock superior to any that have been discovered on the coast of the Pacific."— Times. With reference to this the Times, in its City Article of April 2, says :—" The discovery of gold in Queen Charlotte's Island, one of the British possessions north of Vancouver's Island, has been satisfactorily established. A report to that effect was mentioned in the last American papers, and its accuracy is confirmed by advices received in London. It appears that the Hudson's Bay company having been informed of the probable existence of deposits in that quarter, despatched a brigantine called the " Una," with a small crew to Englefield Bay, on the west side of the Island (the spot indicated), and that after a short search, an extremely rich vein of quartz was laid open. The vein was about seven inches in width at the surface, and its course was from the shore to the interior. The party had no means of obtaining any specimens except by gunpowder, but they succeded in extracting some considerable pieces, which are now on their way to England, which are alleged to contain, as well as could be estimated, 1 lb. of pure gold to every 7 lbs. of ore. In the course of their operations they penetrated to a depth of about two feet, and'found the vein more valuable as they descended. The Island is inhabited solely by Indians, who are both numerous and formidable ; and although they are generally friendly to the Hudson's Bay people, it was not considered safe for a small number of persons to attempt any lengthened operations. A knowledge of the value of the gold seems to have been acquired by them, and they watched the process of blasting, rushing forward in a crowd after each explosion to scramble for the fragments, until the officer in charge of the expedition deemed it advisable to withdraw to avoid the chances of a collision. The weather at the time was also unfavourable to a lengthened stay, and on her return to Fort Victoria, Vancouver's Island, the vessel was driven ashore at Neah Bay, in the stiaits of Juan de Fuca. Another, and stronger party have, however, been despatched, and in a short time a report of further explorations may be anticipated. Queen Charlotte's Island and Vancouver' Island are both mountaneous, and from the similarity of their formation it would seem probabie that if one is found to be rich, the other may possess a similar character.