The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 281, 11 July 1855, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Wednesday , July 11. The Provincial Council was prorogued yesterday by His Honor the Superintendent, the particulars of which we will give on Saturday.

The news from the seat of war, brought by the ''New Era," will be found in another column. The domestic intelligence from England, contained in the few English papers that have reached us, is not of much importance. The frost, which for six weeks had paralyzed all mercantile operations, had broken up, and released the vessels from their imprisonment in •.he English Channel. During the first week in March 206 vessels were reported inward in the port of London, and 60 outwards, four of which were for New Zealand. Mr. Roebuck's Committee for enquiring into the state of the army before Sebastopol was sitting. The Duke of Cambridge and several officers and non-com-missioned officers had been examined. From the evidence, many of the statements made by the "Times" correspondent from Gallipoli and the Crimea were full proved. Every branch of the service appears to have been miserably worked by the officers in charge of the several departments. The "Times" commences a leader writtrn evidently to justify the charges of their correspondent, with the following remarks: —- -'Where shall we begin? On what principle shall we 'select,'when every day spreads before us a profusion of follies, blunders,'obstinacies, and crimes enough to supply a dozen farces or as many tragedies? No Arabian Nights, no stories of Wise Men of .Gotham, ever matched the stupidities, the perversities, the downright malignities of office. Were not the results " horrible and heartrending," equalling, indeed, in their misery and magnitude the fell swoop of an 'earthquake or other visitation of nature,, we might almost be amused at the absurdity of the disclosures before the Committee of Inquiry." Mr. Hey wood had introduced a bill into the House of Commons to amend the law as to marriage with a deceased wife's sister or a deceased wife's niece, which passed a first reading by a majority of 87 io 53. In Paris, on the 13th of March, the general impression was that peace would be shortly restored, even without the destruction of Sebastopol. The Emperor of Austria, since the death of Nicholas, appears desirous to step the progress of the war, expressing his opinion that the opening of the Danube, the freedom of the navigation of the Black Sea, and the surrender on the part of Russia of the exclusive protection of the Daiiubian Provinces, with liberty to the maritime powers to erect fortresses or military posts to secure the fidelity of Sebastopol would be sufficient concesion ; and lie had written to the Emperor of the French again urging him to abandon his projected yi«it to the Crimea. At the same time, Louis' Napoleon is represented as even more eager for the conquest of Sebastopol, and has written to Canrobert urging him to press the siege. A report prevailed also that the Captain of the 4% Prhuoguet," then

in the harbour at Toulon, had received orders to accompany the imperial yacht " Reine Hoiteuse"to Marseilles, to receive the Emperor and a portion, of the Imperial Guard by the 20th of March. These reports, al. though contradictory, were generally considered favourable to an early conclusion of warlike operations. ,