ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH MAILS OF NOVEMBER & DECEMBER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 657, 23 February 1859, Page 4

ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH MAILS OF NOVEMBER & DECEMBER.

EUROPEAN NEWS TO DEC. 17. * The White Swan arrived yesterday evening' at six o'clock, bringing 1: the looked for November mail and the unexpected December ,mail. The news by the latter is given as follows in the Melbourne of Feb., Bth:— ' ' By the-arrival of the Emeu we have dates from Europe to the 17th December,, from India to the 30th, -and from China to the 10th of the same month. The European' intelligence is'by no means of an important or stirring character. Colonel Sykes has "been elected chairman of the East India Company. Montalembert's appeal will be 'heard on the 21st December. Great preparations are ; being-made at the Palais de Justice, Paris. The interior arrangements of the building have been -altered. A private entry is especially reserved for magistrates. ,j The rumours of a war arising out of the affairs of Italy gain currency. There appears to be an imminent prospect of a rupture between France and Austria; - and the general relations of the European powers fail to give any renewed promise of continued peace. . Extraordinary activity has been displayed on the subject of Reform. Messrs. Gibson and Bright have addressed a great meeting at Manchester! There is a report of the resignation of Sir John Young. Several important diplomatic changes have taken place. The arrest of a number of persons suppose. I to belong to illegal secret societies has caused great excitement in Ireland. Some revelations concerning- Col. Waugh's life in Spain have come before one of the law courts. The case of the Atlantic :telegraph seems • hopeless. It is found to be injured at both ends, nnd no remedy appears but to raise it -or under-run it. The enterprise is, nevertheless, to be persevered in. The following are the heads of commercial intelligence:— Consols for account, 97. Indian Government Exchange on Calcutta and Madras, 2s. 2d.; on Bombay, 2s. 2|d. - Bank rate, 2g per cent. Markets generally quiet, but steady. ; The pacification of India is progressing', •and the last great combination of the rebels against the British authority is rapidly breaking up. The ex-King of Delhi has been forwarded to the Cape of Good Hope. Nana Sahib is a fugitive. Several engagements have.-taken place between the natives and the European ■troops, in which the latter have been invari•ablv victorious. INDIA. The following was bunded to our reporter :b'y Mr. J."T. Smith".:— "Per Ganges, from Bombay, arrived at Suez this morning. " The Thanes are flying from the standard •of revolt. The Nawab of Banda has separated from the a-ebels and is going to General 3litcheirs!camp, en route to Indore ; he states lie comes ainder the Queen's proclamation. !Frotn Sawnnt Wan-en, 03rd November. The i'euuiiriing;rebel leaders have given themselves up to the Goa Government. The amnestyappears to be taking good effect in Oude, the chiefs sending .in their arms, &c.

December 11

Lord Derl)y in reply to an influential deputation representing' the views of the mercantile -communities of London, Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow, which waited upon him a few days ago, has distinctly refused to accede to Sir James Brook's wishes without reference to Sarawak, and also to reimburse him for the money expended upon the settlement. The policy of the course adopted by the Government has been strongly animadverted on, and the step has been tauntingly ascribed to'the influence of Bright on Ministerial counsels. •

The lion. Fred. Bruce, brother of Lord Elgin and who ncted as secretary to him during' his late embassy, has' been appointed the first Ambassador to Pekin. Lord Napier, it is said, is to be transferred from Washington to Berlin, and is to be succeeded by Mr. ■I^'ons, now at the Tuscan Court. Mr. Gladstone has arrived in the lonian Islands, which, it seems, are not to be abandoned.

Two despatches from Sir John Young were stolen from the foreign office and published in the l Daily News,' creating' much excitement. The robber, Mr. Guernsey, was apprehended. - December'l7.

, "The alarming' spread of secret societies in Ireland has attracted the attention of Government, and the Lord Lieutenant has issued a proclamation, warningl the people against the illegality of those confederacies, and offering* rewards for the detection of persons connected with them. This extraordinary step has been succeeded by measures still more startling. The manifesto has not been allowed to remain a dead letter, or an unmeaning menace; deeds have followed words with a terrific swiftness. In my letter of the jllth, :I briefly mentioned that 15 political arrests had been made in Skibbereen and Bantry Subsequent information states that the captured were nearly all young men of a respectable position in society—shopkeepers clerks, and a National School-teacher. They were surprised in their beds, and conveyed to Cork Gaol. They are charged with being members of the Phoenix Society.,* and the ■object of the conspirators is alleged to have been to promote the invasion of Ireland, by American filibusters. Evidence will be forthcoming to convict the prisoners of illegal drilling with ■firearms, pikes,-and other -weapons. .The informer is a man named Sullivan. There 'have *been -within the last few days three great meetings, at which Parliamentary Reform was " the grand topic of discussion. First in order of time was Mr. Lowe's address to his constituents at Kidderminster, which: has attracted ia -great'deal of • attention, from its being looked upon as a declaration of the Palmerstonian policy. If Mr. Lowe may be -,-. taken as the expounder of the ex-Premier's views on Reform, then it is clear that he contemplates a mere adjustment, rather than an extension of the franchise.. -Mr. Bright's subsequent demonstrations at Manchester and Edinburgh were, in point of attendance and enthusiasm, immensely successful, but their' impression on the mind and impulses of the country at large is not very appreciable. Household suffrage and the ballot are foreshadowed as the leading features of the Bill which the member for Birmingham is concocting. It is a noticeable .fact, as an illustration of the marvellous rapidity and perfection of telegraphic communication, that the report of the Manchester speeches, occupying six columns of' The Times,' was transmitted by the electric wires, by the agency of girls, in 2| hours, and the whole was in type before three o'clock on the morning* following the meeting*. ;,i Mr. W. H. Guernsey, the purloiner of the lonian despatches, who was indicted for i stealing ten pieces of paper, valued at 6d., . j the property of the Queen, hasfteen acquitted j by the jury at the Central Criminal Court. The motives of the jury in returning such a verdict are given up by the daily journals as inscrutable.

The particulars of the trial, condemnation, appeal, and imperiarpardon of M. de Montalernbert will be found in my general foreign" summary. The only significant change, witlnn the last few days, in relation to this remarkable case, consists in the desertion of the great panegyrist of England by the { Times'. After vindicating- his cause nobly and unflinchingly, and giving utterance to sentiments which must have been gall and wormwood to the imperial palate, this journal suddenly publishes an article—in the general opinion, ,as base as it is brilliant—in which the victim of despotism is rebuked for a presumed desire to invest himself with the" tclat of political martyrdom. He is warned against giving way to the insolent joy of victory—of becoming a prosecutor of the emperor by rejecting his. gracious pardon,—and of thereby alienating from himself the sympathy and moral aid of free England. This abandonment of its client, without any apparent cause, has excited profound astonishment and ■regret among all classes of Englishmen. I will not trouble you with any hypothesis on the subject; my duty is merely to record the fact. \r> ■ ■■

OPhe continued absence of the Portuguese Ambassador from his post in Paris having given rise to unpleasant surmises as to the relations of the two Governments, it has been explained that the Viscount da Paiva has been staying in London, severely indisposed, and waiting the result of impending debates on the' Charles et Georges affair in the Portuguese Parliament. The French Legislative Chambers are to be opened on the sth of February, and some change is to be made in the salary paid to members of that body.Tfie allowance is henceforth to be 10,000 francs per annum, irrespective of the duration of the session.

The French Budget has just been issued by M. Mngne. Like several of its predecessors, it is an extremely pleasant document. It demonstrates the wisdom of the Emperor, and the financial stability of the Empire. It speaks of an immense surplus, and takes credit for not increasing the floating debt of the country ; but, strangely enough, comfortably ignores the fact that the permanent

national debt has been swelling- for the lust ten years at the moderate rate of about £19,(300,000 per annum. Apart, howevor, from this ugly feature of the case, the revenue would seem to be tolerably prosperous. The monthly account of the ■ Bank of Franco is generally regarded as unfavourable; the large increase'in the bullion, to the extent of 28,000,000 francs, and the diminution of discounts, indicating the absence of a healthy demand for money for commercial purposes. The establishment of a great Discounting Bank, with branches in the departments, is on the tapis. The proposed, capital is to be 60,000,000 francs. The plan is so far advanced that the statutes have been laid before the Council of State.

Another French immigrant vessel on the coast of Africa has, it is said, been overhauled by English, cruisers; A statement-which appeared in the papers, to the effect that the King of Naples was anxious to re-establish diplomatic relations with England, and that our Government consented only on .condition of a satisfactory regulation of amnesty, has been officially denied. The marriage of the hereditary Prince will come off in a few days, amidst extraordinary festivities. A levy of 18,000 men is being made, 6000 for the navy and 12,000 for the army. The church robbers of Naples remain undetected, and are likely to continue so, since , they are sheltered by the officials, who profit by their sacrilegious crimes. , 'In the Spanish Cortes the Government have had a stormy reception, being charged with gross election irregularities. -The Belgian Chamber of Representatives have now under consideration a measure for increasing the punishment' against writers in the public Press who shall be found guilty of attacks against the laws or against the constitutional authority of the King. From Berlin we learn that the costly silver epergne of exquisite workmanship, presented by the city of Cologne to Prince, and Princess Frederick William, has been mysteriously stolen. It was abstracted from the ancient Throne-room of the Royal Schloss. The intelligence has been telegraphed from the lonian Islands that Sir John Young, the High Commissioner, has resigned his office. The declaration of Mr. Gladstone, that it is uot the intention of. the British Government to abandon the Protectorate, has produced quite a commotion among* the national party ; such a determination is a blight on all their newly budding hopes. The ferment has spread among all the Greek population, far and near.

The -Constantinople loan Commission has commenced its labours, and had on the 4th instant already destroyed one-ninth of the paper-money intended to be reedemed. Nankin Pasha,; late Governor of Jeddah, is reported to be seriously compromised in the massacre, and has been arrested by order of the English and French Commissioners, and conducted on board the Caradoc, to await instructions from the Sultan. .

The last letters and telegrams from India, reporting the cordial reception everywhere given to the Queen's -proclamation, the submission of numerous talookdars and insurgent chiefs, and the spirited opening of the concluding campaign are regarded as eminently satisfactory. Advices from China are equally cheering. The renewed activity of the rebel force had rendered the Emperor unusually compliant towards the foreigners. Lord Elgin's negotiations at Shanghae had prospered. The Emperor of Japan is reported to have died of cholera, the introduction of which was ascribedjto the visits of the foreigners. Singa is being fortified. . Intelligence from America comes down to the 4th of December, but it comprises nothing fresh or striking. The Session of Congress was to commence on the 6th, and.accordingly the President's message may be expected here on the 20th. The document is looked for with more than ordinary interest, owing to the gravity of the questions pending with regard to Mexico and Nicaragua. Some bands.of filibusters, masked as emigrants, have been refused clearing-tickets, ;but it is believed they will proceed without them, many it is thought have already got away. A revision of the tariff, so as to augment its-proceeds, is anticipated. A gentleman named Edward J. Dickens, formerly, an attache" of the London press, and according to his own statement, once co-editor of the Melbourne l Argus' and 'Herald,' has-poisoned himself at an hotel in New York.