NEW SOUTH WALES. THE KIDNAPPED WHITE WOMAN.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 97, 10 April 1847, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES. THE KIDNAPPED WHITE WOMAN.

[From the Australian, Feb. 20.] Two expeditions at length started from Melbourne, Port Phillip, in search of the wife of a colonist, who, after two years' rumours and allegations as to the fact, it had been ascertained, was a slave among the blacks in Gipps Land, situate between Sydney and Melbourne. Despatches have been received from both expeditions announcing their progress ; but not holding out very sanguine hopes of their success. An affecting proof of the identity of the unhappy woman, is mentioned in one of the despatches. A friendly native, met with on their journey to the quarter where " the white woman" is reported to be held in captivity, sang to them (the exploring party) the tune of the the Hundredth Psalm, and stated that he learnt it from the captive. Unhappy captive! We find from this, that amid the moral degradation and brutal slavery which encompass you as you wend your weary way alongside your captor and violator, you are permitted by him to console your mind, by singing one of the Psalms of David, hoping, by the exercise of pious re • signation, to be delivered in time from a fate than which, as an English matron, we can scarcely conceive any thing so awfully distressing. But the Government to which you and your ancestors paid heavy taxes for your protection, never expended a penny for your relief until shamed into it, by your equally taxed countrymen first raising a fund for that purpose ! We subjoin extracts from the despatches of tho leaders of the two exploring parties now out, after two years' delay, in search of the captive. Gipps Land Expedition.— A letter from Mr, Dc Villiers, the conductor of the Gipps land expedition, appears in the Port Phillip Herald, which states that on the 13th Dec, he obtained positive information of the white woman being on the Jruowy River. It then proceeds — " One oi the old men, when brought to Mr. Tyers, gave us the following account :— That the parlies I had sent with a letter to the white woman, had sue* ceeded in giving it to her — that she cried bitterly wheu she got it, and was in the act of writing an answer upon the same piece of paper with the pencil which wan sent for the purpose, when Bungeleene snatched it out of her hand?, and said she win ted to • yabber to whito fellow ;' they also further informed us, that she wag very sick. IJungalcene had been beating her about the head with a wacfdy ; which statement exactly corroborated with what the Worrigals (we had sent to get her) told us ; but the old man said it was because she would not fetch s>ome water. Being afterwards tied by the leg, it is more than probable she was endeavouring to escape with ' Carrotbid,' alias Mr. De Villiers, one of the party 1 sent to rescue her. She is also marked nnd scarred like a black lubra." Mr. De Villiers then made overtures of cooperation, to Mr. Dana, of the Native Police, sent by the Government on the same search ; but they were refused, or evaded. The party then proceeded to the Snowy River, but they were preceded thither by Mr. Dana* Of the result of that gentleman's proceedings Mr. De Villiers gives the following account:—" On the 2lst in the afternoon lanived at Mr. Danas camp ; nn hour previous to that, firing was heard again, la a conversation I had with that gentle-

man he informed me, that he had just arrived from the islands situate on the Snowy River, and had surrounded or rushed several canipj of natives, and could discover no white woman, trotn appearances, 1 thought all was not ri<?ht. Mr. Dana had with him an ofdmau and woman, and three children— the man and woman were secured together by the legs with handcuffs, and one of the children was lied ana strapped to the leg of the mother. 1 requested Mr. Dana to allow my Worrigals to put some questions to the man and woman* through the interpreter, 'laid Warriu. On their return to our camp, they appeared to be very mournful, and gave my blacks to understand, that black fellow and white fellow belonging to Narmn, (the native name for the police station), had been shooting the Snowy Rivet blacks. 1 did not mention to Mr. D. what 1 had heard on the subject. On the 22nd 1 went to his camp in the morning, and found the whole p.irty asleep, and their prisoners gone. After a little while, 1 asked Taki Warrin were they were? 1 was told that they had managed to get away during the night in a cauoe. Mr» Dana was now preparing for his return to Mr. Tyers* station. I asked the sergeant of the native police, to let me have the key of the handcuffs, that in the event of my falling in witli Ins prisoners I might liberate them ; this was refused, and 1 was told, it was of little consequence whether they were set at liberty or not ! Mr. Warman having no»v arrived with his boat, JMr. Dana appeared very anxious to give me directions about goiug up the Snowy Kiver, and said, I must not take the right hand branch, as it was only navigable a very short distance. About two hours after Mr. Dana leaving, two canoes were observed coming up the Snowy River. Through the assistance of our blacks and the Worrigals, we soon gained their confidence ; one in particular, who spoke a few words of bnglish, and was acquainted with the people at Twofold iJay, especially (Vir. Boyds name. In the afternoon 1 proceeded up the river, taking the same direction Mr. Dana endeavoured to persuade me not. After going about one mile I observed on the bank th.it the reeds had been greatly trampled down ; the VVorrigals pointed me to that spot. 1 directed Mr. Warmau to land; 1 1 found the body of a line strapping aboriginal, about 25 to 30 years old ; the head was cut in two places, and the skull split as if by some sharp instrument j ihere was a mark on the chest and one on tli3 leg ; both appeared like gun shot wounds. I was informed, after examining the body, that four more men had been shot, and that it had been done by Narran (Police) black and white fellow. Taki VVairen said that the Worngals did not otter to ship or throw spears. On the 23rd I proceeded higher up the river about lour miles ; observing a canoe in the reeds, I landed, and proceeded in search of the owners. 1 had not looked long when one of our party fell in with them, but could learn no tidings of the children. They were much frightened at first ; we then endeavoured to set them at liberty, but it was a most difficult task, as wr handcuff keys would not (it without filing : after an hour's labour, we succeeded in freeing them ; the man's leg was much lacerated and swollen." In consequense of this treatment, the natives had deserted the Snowy River ; and although Mr. De Villiers had little doubt of the truth of all the information afforded him as to the whereabouts of the woman and her black tyrant, the distrust excited was so great, that he could not fall in with her. H« bad (reported the conduct of Mr. Dana to Mr. Commissioner Tyers, and the affair will doubtless be investigated.

PnoaiiEss op Catholicism. —Tt deserves to bo stated, as one Of the signs of the times, not without importance, that at no period have the Catholic clergy, and sincere Catholics generally, manifested such anxious desire, or employed such active exertions, to convert Protestants to their faith, as at preient Not only do they print books and sermons without number in the provinces as well as in Paris, for the purpose of showing what they conceive to be the error ofProtestantism, but they employ personal visit and exhortation as often as opportunity offers; and sometimes, indeed, they push their zeal rather further than is altogether justifiable. On their part, the Protestants, as mentioned in a preceding letter, are making vigorous atfaoks against Catholicism. These strifes between rival creeds are not pleasant to behold ; but, at all events, they have the advantage of showing that a contemptuous indifference to religion has not, as many writers have frequently asserted, taken hold of the hearts of all tht people. Thus far It appears that all, or nearly all, the advantages of the struggle have been iv favor of the Catholics ; the conversions they effect being, if their literary organs speak the truth, as one to ten, or even one to twenty of those accomplished by the Protestants. The Catholics, too, watch with an intense interest whatf is passjng in England under the teaching of the Pugeyite priests ; and they rejoice exceedingly at the extraordinary number of accessions to what they call the " true faith." Not a few of them openly exptest the belief that in fifty years, perhaps in less, England will again become Catholic, and the vaulted roofs of Westminister's noble pile again resound to the chaunting of high mass. — Paris Correspondent of the Edinburgh Weekly Register* The Remains or Columbus.— The Sardinian Government has, it is said, entered into a negotiation with Spain for the restitution of the ashes of Christopher Columbus. The mortal remains of this great man, after having been first deposited at Seville, were removed to St. Domingo, where they remained till 1795, when they were taken to the cathedral church of the Havannah, where they now are. As the King of Sardinia has no Ambassador at Madrid, it is through the representative cf the Two Sicilies that the application was made to the Spanish Government. Tapping an Aoueduct. —A noble cause of fraud has lately been discovered near Boston, in America. An aqueduct company which supplies the city of Salem with soft water, were at a loss to account for a failure of the supply for some time past, and went to great expense of examination of logs and pipes to discover the supposed leak. A labourer in a tannery revealed the secret, — that his master, a proprietor of a very large establishment, had secretly tapped one of the logs, and had been for a considerable time drawing from it with a pipe whose capacity was ten gallons a minute. He had thus not only supplied his own tan-yard, but had let out a right to one of his neighbours, who was ignorant whence the water came. He was arrested and held to large bail. Lightning and tub Electric Telegraph. — A very extraordinary phenomenon was observed on the line of the electric telegraph between New York and Baltimore, on Thursday afternoon, the like of which was never before known to man. Three thunder storms, each some thirty or sixty lniles from the other were all coming east on the telegraph route about the same time, and every discharge of electricity from either was- fully recorded by the lightning itself in the telegraph office at Jersey city, Philadelphia, Wilmington, or Baltimore. The wire became altogether unmanagable, and the operators being obliged to withdraw the batteries used for writing, the vi&itor from the clouds had the field to itself. The letters of Morse's telegraphic alphabet which this natural lightning scemeS to be most partial to were L and'T, but occasionally it went at the numerals and dashed off I 's, 50's, 55*8, 500's, and 5000's in its own rapid style. We learn that when two or more thunder clouds Ret in the same vicinity, and discharge their electricity at each oilier, or receive the fluid from the earth and return it again, or when ground lightning prevails, the effect on the telegraph wires is to produce a strange and original language, which may yet be made intelligible. In fact, each kind of lightning speaks for itself, and writes what it SAys.—Neto York Sun, June 9.