English and Foreign.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 464, 15 April 1857, Page 5

English and Foreign.

EUROPEAN NEWS TO JAN. 12

ARRIVAL OF THE R.M. SS. COLUMBIA

By the arrival of the schooner Highlander in our port last night, we are placed in possession of copies of the Melbourne ' Herald' to the 21sfc March. The Royal Mail Steamship Columbia, from Southampton 12th January, with the English mail of that date, arrived in Hobson's Bay on the 19th March. There had been a political crisis and a change of ministry in Victoria. The following are the new appointments:—John. O'Shanassy, Esq.,',. Colonial Secretary or Chief Secretary; Henry' Samuel Chapman, Esq., Attorney - General; John Vesey Fitzgerald Foster, Esq., Colonial Treasurer or Treasurer; Charles Gavan Duffy, Esq., Commissioner of Public Works; Augustus Frederick Adolphus Greeves, Esq., Collector of Customs or Commissioner of Trade and" Customs ; George Samuel Wegge Home, Esq., Surveyor-General or Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey; John Denistoun Wood, Esq., Solicitor-General. The late hour at which we received the Melbourne papers precludes us from giving more than a brief epitome of their contents. Subjoined are extracts from the European intelligence :-rLONDON. (From the Correspondent of the ' Melbourne Herald.') January 11th, 1857. To-morrow, at midday, the Columbia will be despatched from Southampton with the Australian mails, by which opportunity you* will, however, only receive one week's later news, bur letters haying been posted on : Monday last, per Indomitable, via Plymouth. Next week will actually commence our overland communication with you : the Australian contract mails will be made up and despatched from; Southampton on the 24th J and the overland mail via Marseilles on the 28th of February to meet the Otieida at Suez. ! •Thence. forward it is to be hoped onr intelligence will be as regular as from India. After the February mail, the Australian service is to be fixed on the 12th and 16th of each month respectively from Southampton arid; Marseilles. * ': • The alteration "in postage consequent thereon is announced to be 6d. under half ounce ; above half an ounce, and under one and a quarter ounces Is.; one and a quarter ounces, and under two ounces, 25.; by way of Southampton j by way of Marseilles 9d.'under quarter ounce; quarter ounce and under .half oz., Is.'; half oz , and under three qr. oz., Is. 9d j'three qr. oz., and under 1 oz., 2.5.; and newspapers Id. and 3d. respectively ; but it must be observed that these rates, and indeed all letters in future, must be prepaid. . ■■_•,■••. „.■ '/After my letter was posted per.,lndomitable, a -telegraphic message from Wateriord announced the arrival off that port of the Montmoreney, with the Australian mails of October 14th; bringing later dates (and -complete files of papers) than by the overland mail from Ceylon. My remarks with reference to that mode.of conveyance are still.applicable, ai.d it will always be desirable to have a Jate •paper by such oppoi tunity.- • . •■' • The Paris Conference.has been closed, and the terms I had named to you were nearly correct. On the 6th instant a protocol was signed, which puts an end to the'difficulties encountered in the execution ot the treaty of the 30th of March. As you are aware, the nature of the locality did not allow the Commissioners appointed to carry out the boundary line to define the exact frontier line, neither was the fate of the Isle of Serpents determined ; and, lastly, by

annexing the delta of [the Danube to Moldavia territory belonging to the Porte was taken away from Turkey-.' To meet these difficulties it has been determined that "the frontier line shall folio wthe vale of Trajan as far as the river Yalpuck, leaving Bolgrad and Tabak to Moldavia,'and that Russia shall retain on the right bank of that stream the town of Romrat, with a territory of .about 300 square versts." The Isle of Serpents has been considered'as belonging to the mouths of the Danube, and it hasbeen agreed that it goes with their destination. The ' Moniteur' says:—" The Conference has recognised that it was the intention of the Congress to re-etablish the territories situated west of the new , boundary, and to confine itself to the provisions of - the negotiators of the peace it has decided that those territories shall be annexed to Moldavia, with the exception of the delta of the Danube, which returns ; directly to Turkey. It has been decided, moreover, that on the 30th of next-March, at latest, the fixing of the boundary shall be effected, and tha,t at the same date the Austrian troops and the British squadron shall have evacuated the Daii'ubian, Principalities and the internal waters of Turkey." The Neufchatel'question is now formally stated to be all but settled without wounding the pride of either party. I was substantially correct in my last letter, but the following is the most trustworthy solution of the " difficulty " which has arisen upon the " point of honour." The Emperor Napoleon has made die following proposition :—

" The Federal Council is requested to release the prisoners solely out of regard for the friendly "sentiments of the Emperor. The Emperor in return engages to endeavour to obtain from the King of Prussia the. complete renunciation of Neufchatel. Should the King of Prussia refuse to negotiate on

this base, the Emperor will oppose any aggression on the part of, Prussia against Switzerland, and will defend the independence of Neufchatel." .

, A .despatch from Berne, dated Thursday last, says : —" Switzerland accepts the new French proposals, and the Assembly has been convoked for the 14th instant. It is understood that England supports these propositions.'1 These conditions, you will perceive, are very similar to what I told you Switzerland proposed, although in a somewhat different form. Meantime, however, the Federal Council has issued a proclamation, encouraging the Swiss to make an energetic defence, and'renewing the assurance that it will always be ready to conolude an honourable peace. Baron Bentivenga, leader of the late Sicilian revolt, has been shot near Palermo, on the 20th ult. The King of Naples has pardoned fifty political offenders, but notwithstanding the Lite attack upon his life, the King will, it is asserted, make no change in the conciliatory measures he had begun. . In my letter of Monday I gave you the. telegraphic despatch announcing the assassination of the Archbishop of Paris. It appears that the Archbishop had attended the Church of St. Etienne dv Mont, and after vespers and a : sermon, a procession was formed, and proceeded round the church in the customary way, the Archbishop walking in his robes, when having returned to the left side of the church, a man suddenly seized fhe Archbishop forcibly with the right hind, made him turn round, and then plunged a knife into his heart. The prelate staggered some steps backwards, exclaiming "Le malheureux ma tv! " and then sank to the ground. The assassin is a priest named Verges, who had been suspended by the prelate for misconduct. M. Sihour, the Archbishop, although a high churchman, of the ultra-montane party,,was arepublican in politics, and was a man universally esteemed, and much loved by the poor of the capital. There is very little news this week, London being still " out of towF." Parliament will assemble for business on the 3rd of February.- The, address to the Queen in. reply to the Royal Speech will, it is rumoured, be moved in the Lords by the Marquis of Townsend, and seconded by the Earl of Cork. In the Commons, the same duties will be assigned to Sir W. Williams, of Kars, as mover, and the Marquis <>f Stafford as ssconder. It is confidently reported in the clubs that the next, general election will certainly take place, in June or July next. The obituary of the week gives the following:— The Right Rev. Dr. Wilson^Lord Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, died on the sth instant, in his 76th year. The deceased prelate was a man of liberal and enlightened, views, never exhibited any sectarian prejudices, and was a staunch supporter of the national system of education. Dr. Andrew Ure, of Glasgow : His most recent work is well, known, the ' Dicjionary of Arts, Manufactures and Minds,' a work of immense labour and, research. Distinguished as a sound chemical philosopher, lie was no less remarkable ibr chemical analysis. J t has been asserted, indeed, by competent authority that none of his results have ever been upset. > Mr. Brotherton, M.P. for Salford, died very suddenly on Wednesday last. Mr., Brotherton was principally known in Parliament from his constant endeavours to shorten the hours of night sittings. The official return of emigration has not yet been made up. Returns from Liverpool and Southampton have been made public, and from these the cmi-

gration of the past year appears to have exceeded the amount in 1855. The trade circulars, usually published at the commencement of the new year, have appeared, and as regards the wool trade they are satisfactory in the opinion that the general state of trade has greatly improved since the restoration of peace. The demand continues in excess of the supply, and the prices which may be quoted 25 to 30 per cent higher than this time last year, have every appearance of being maintained for some time to come, if, indeed, no further advance takes place. The only sales this week in which you are particularly interested have been 400 casks Australian tallow, on Friday, which brought 535. 6d. to 575., all beef. Town tallow has advanced to 61s. Some South American made, on the same day, 58s. 3d, to 60s. per cwt.

The following paragraphs we also extract from the Melbourne ' Herald' of the 20th ult.

As the merchant or trader at' the close of-the year balances his books, and sums up .hislosses and his gains, so the statesman or politician is apt, to con over the events of the last twelve months and extract from them causes of rejoicings or of lamentation. Upon the whole are we advancing "as a.nation? Are we. more or less respected abroad? At home are we prosperous and happy? Is our social condition a more enviable one? To these questions it cannot be expected that unequivocal answers should be given, either on one side or another j but we fear that the general tone of any replies which may' be hazarded, must be one of dissatisfaction. First of all, we are not more respected abroad. The incompetence of our generals, the rottenness of our military system, our absurd and exclusive system of selection for high military appointments, found us at the close of the war with a warlike reputation sadly damaged in the eyes of Europe. It was acknowledged that our soldiers were brave, that the national resources were immense, that the public spirit was only stimulated by reverses to greater effort; and after all this, it was undoubted that our perfoimances both in the Baltic and in the Crimean campaigns had fallen far short of what they ought, might, and were expected to have been.

Hostilities between the armies in the Crimea were suspended, and an armistice agreed to on the 15th of March, and on the 30th the treaty of peace between Russia and the Allies was signed at Paris. Since then we may be said to have been at peace, and our commerce accordingly has made rapid strides. During eleven months of the year just ended our exports of home manufactures exceed those of the whole year 1855. Never before has our trade readied such a development. Never was the nation better able to bear its enormous loads of taxation,, and to make the great sacrifices which the short, but expensive Russian war entailed. Yet in the midst of this apparent prosperity our commercial credit ani character ior uprightness and honesty has sustained a severe shock. The past }'ear will be memorable for some of the most gigantic swindles ever perpetrated. More or less connected with 1856 have been the cases of Paul and Strahan ; the Itoyal British and'Tipperary Banks; John Sadleir; Robson ; Redpath; Joseph ; Cole. Davidson, and Gordon ; the great gold dust robberies; the City of London Union frauds ;and many other minor offence?, in which reckless speculation and extravagant personal expenditure were followed in the usual course by robbery, the dock, the prison. People, even now, have not recovered from the blow to confidence which these disclosures have given. They ask who will be the next " respectable" offender whose' turn will come next to be found i/ut? Such a state of things is certainly not a subject for' congratulation ; but it cannot be passed over in any retrospect of the past year.

■ 1856 will be always memorable for the peace, but besides this it is not wanting in = other noticeable events. During it, war was proclaimed (in an underhand way at Calcutta) with Persia, and an expedition sent to the Persian Gulf; -but the new year has to -prove the importance or otherwise of this "little affair," which is at present in the earliest stage. Then, just at Christmas time,-we woke up one fine morning arid found that we ■were at war with China,; that the Bogue forts had been taken (not for the first time)'; that the city had been bombarded; that our troops had entered the breach made in the walls, and penetrated into the heartcf the town; that a large number of war junks had bsen destroyed; in fact that we were completely by the- ears with the celestial nation. Considering that Canton is one of the most clos-ilyibuilt cities in the world, and contains a million and half of people, it may be imagined that a bombardment muse have entailed immense loss of life and- destruction of~property ; but that is Mr. Commissioner Yeh's affair. He is said to have outraged the British flag by seizing twelve Chinamen, "who were under our protection, but whose heads he chopped off, obstinately refnsing Tedress. So 1856 will in all probability, have inaugurated another Chinese war. In it also the United States dismissed pur minister—an indignity to which we submitted

with great complacency, and we ourselves recalled another minister from the Absolutist court ot Naples, threatening to, send' a fleet there but prudently refraining. Alexander 11.. Emperor of all the Russias, has been crowned, with a pomp duly chronicled by " our own correspondent," whose face Moscow certainly saw for >the first time. The Emperor of France has rejoiced in the- birth of a son and heir; the United States have-elected a President, who is suspected of a desire to extend siavery; and to annex' new territory !5y not the most lawful of means; but of whom it is hoped that responsibility will teach him pruience. Mr., Smith O'Brien has launched out anew into the sea of politics and begins with the old whine again, trying to create a distinction between England and Ireland, and excite dislike in the minds of he Irish against Saxon institutions aud government. We have touched upon forgery, embezzlement, and their kindred offences.- These have had their counterpart during the year in remarkable crimes. Poisonings, murders, garrotte robberies, and burglaries have yielded a plentiful crop, and the names of Palmer,. Dove, Marley, Redanie's, Hannah, and many other's, make the criminal annals of 3856 only too fearful. Awed by the frequency with which outrages of all kinds have lately been committed — seeing, moreover, that in a considerable number of cases justice is not brought home to the offenders —remembering the yet undiscovered murderers of Mr. Little, of Mrs. McKnight, at Ilkley, and of Mr. and Mrs. White—the public is discussing with nd'little agitation at this moment the ticket-of-leave question; and Parliament next February will be expected to come to an early decision as to -what must be done with our-criminals. Of notable deaths at. home and abroad, the obituary includes such names as Hardinge, lately commander-in-chief; two Russian's of celebrity, Prince AVoronzoff and General Paskiewitch ; Sir Henry Pottinger, known in connection with Chinese diplomacy; Sir W. Temple, brother to Lord Palmerston, and late minister at Naples; Sir John Ross the Arctic voyager; Sir J Jervis, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; Sir R. Westrnacott, sculptor ; Paul Delaroche, painter; Yarrel, the naturalist; Dr. Buckland, Dean of Westminster, ; and bearing a name honoured in science; Guthrie and Paris, eminent in medicine ; Sir W. Hamilton,,the Irish astronomer royal,'and connected witli literature and the drama, —A'Beckett, Reach, Hugh Miller, Braham, Madame Vestris, and Charles Young. Two Theatres have been bnrnt down in London; namely, the Pavilion and Covent Garden—the last under circumstances, familiar to iall.

A telegraphic despatch of yesterday's date from' Trieste announces from Constantinople, under date of the 26th Dec, that some ships of the English squadron were on the point of sailing for the Circassian coast, in order to demand of the Russian authorities the restitution of the cargoes of those boats which were lateljr captured by the Knssian General who took possession of the fort of Soujouk Kaleh.

Much sympathy has been excited in the public mind by the announcement of the death of Hugh Miller, editor of the /Edinburgh Witness,' and author of several popular works on geology. It appears that from ovea-- work his brain had been for some time affected ; one prevailing notion was that his house would he attacked by ticket-of-leaye men. and for the purpose of defence he purchased a revolver. The servants on entering the sitting-room early in the morning found his lifeless body on the floor of the room. It was at first thought that the occurrence was accidental. "A letter written to..his wife however, shuts out the possibility of any such supposition ; the unhappy man died from his own hands. To add to the tragedy, an unfortunate gunsmith, examining the revolver, was accidentally killed by the sudden discharge .of another chamber