The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 273, 10 January 1849, Page 2

The New Zealander.

Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thoii aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 184 9

The United States ship " Robert Pulsford," arrived from Port Jackson, on Saturday, bringing Sydney letters and papers to the 19th ultimo. Neither the August nor the Sep • tember packets had made their appearance j but we have European news to the Ist of September by the " Waterloo," and to the 9th of that month by the " Lady Kennaway," arrived at Port Phillip, after a splendid passage of eighty five days. Her Majesty, as will be seen by her speech in another page, prorogued Parliament, in person, after a weary session of much cry, but little wool, on the sth ; and almost immediately afterwards, set out — on what we presume, we may now term, her usual summer excursion, — for the Highlands of Scotland. Whilst Her Majesty was thus recreating in the North, her Prime Minister and his fair lady, had gone to spend their vacation in the " land of the West." They arrived in Dublin on the 31st of August, greeted with a marvellously small amount even of " mouth honour breath.'' As we remarked some time since, the Chartist Snake is but " scotched not killed." The reptile has yet sufficient venom to be mischievous ; and has been coiling and collecting its powers for a spring. All its wrigglings, however, have been observed, and at the very moment it was preparing to sting, it was seized and crushed. We refer to the details which we give elsewhere. From these it will be perceived that fourteen ruffians were taken, with arms in their possession, at the Angel Tavern, Webber-street, New Cut, Lambeth. Eighteen others, similarly provided, at the Orange Tree public house, Red Lion Square. Fourteen more at Manchester. Whilst, at Ashton-under-Lyne, without even the excitement of a previous tumult, one of these cowardly scoundrels inhumanly shot a policeman in cold blood. The surface of Irish rebellion — whatever the frothings of the under current — looks still and seemingly stagnant. Bravado is, for the moment, at a discount; and all parties appear to be anxious to explain how it happened, after such fierce indulgence of the Ercles vein, that their valour oozed away at the very juncture for which the Vitriolic heroes had so loudly and so vauntingly prayed. Increpations and incriminations were being actively bandied — and a most edifying illustration of rebellious fidelity had been exhibited at Dublin Castle, where the Treasurer and the Secretary of a treasonous club crossed each other, to their mutual amazement, each intent to dole out their respective quotas of information / OBrien was to take his trial for treason at a Special Commission, to be opened at Clonmel on the 1 9th September. Before this Court, Meagher, Leyne, O'Donoghue, and others, against whom minor proceedings had been abandoned, would be placed. Martin of the Irish Felon, a secondrate successor of Mitchel, has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to ten years transportation. He uttered a vast deal, " full of sound and fury," in the dock, but which will signify less than " nothing " elsewhere. " Meagher is dangerously ill from a fit of typhus fever ; and apprehensions are entertained of Mr. Smith O'Brien's sanity, — in his cell he is at times reserved and silent, at other times he is in the best of spirits, but complains much of not being permitted to read the public journals. Mrs. OBrien is permitted to visit him at all hours, and occupies a villa in the

vicinity of Kilmainham. Mr. T. W. Gabbet, his brother-in-law, lately arrived from America, had been arrested upon a charge of ' treasonable practices.' " Mill-street convent in Cork, was closely searched for suspected rebels a few days since." Lord Hardinge, having provided for possible contingencies, had returned to England :—: — and the " flying column," under General M'Donald, had received orders to disperse, and retire to winter quarters. We copy the following amusing piece of intelligence. It is taken from one of the New Yoik papers ; and professes to be an account of the never-to-be-forgotten " Battle of Boulagh," where Trant and his fifty policemen " flogged" OBrien ad his thousands. " Dublin, August 3rd. — No newspaper here dare tell the truth concerning the battle of Slievenamon, but from all we can learn the people have had a great victory. General Macdonald, the commander of the British forces, is killed, and six thousand troops are killed 'and wounded. The road for three miles is covered with dead. We have also the inspiring intelligence that Kilkenny and Limerick have been taken by the people. The people of Dublin have gone in thousands to assist in the country. Mr. J. B. Dillon was wounded in both legs ; Mr. Meagher Avas also wounded in both arms. It is generally expected that Dublin will rise and attack the gaols on Sunday night, the 6th instant." Excellent ! This despatch writer is a wag of the first water. He throws honest Jack Falstaff and his buckram band into merciless obscurity. Mark you, too, how ingeniously the knave cripples the legs and arms of rebellion. It required but that ; its heart having been broken at the outset, through, excessive palpitation. Can it be owing to this " inspiring intelligence" that a troop of American sympathizers, from a disbanded Mexican corps, had ventured to embark, from a port of the United States, with their field equipage and artillery ? We are happy to learn that Sir Charles Napier had been instructed to keep a bright look out for these gentry ; and, should he effect a capture, to deal with the pirates summarily. We trust Sir Charles has been peimitted to put his own construction on the term summarily. If so, short shrifts and stout yard ropes will, we doubt not, be in active requisition. Mr. John O'Connell had addressed a long and woe-begone appeal to the once numerous votaries of Conciliation Hall, intimating that if they did not come down with the dust its furniture and effects would be sold within the month. The affairs of France; — indeed, those of the Continent in general, continue to be in a state of incertitude. General Cavaignac is pronounced to be fully equal to the conduct of the times upon which he has fallen. Nevertheless, strife and contention appear ready to break forth in every quarter and upon the most tm lal occasion. Louis Blanc had fled from France ; England vouchsafing an equal asylum to him, and to the sovereign he had been instrumental in dethroning. An awful conflagration, of a magnificent emigrant sbip, the " Ocean Monarch," of 1300 tons, took place on the Cheshire coast, on the 24th of August. The ill-fated vessel had sailed from Liverpool, with 360 passengers, that very day. Suddenly, about two o'clock, she was discovered to be in flames, A yacht, the " Queen of the Ocean," returning from Bangor Regatta, and the Brazilian steam frigate " Affonso," out on a trial cruise, sped to the rescue ; and by the prompt and indefatigable exertions of both, in conjunction with a Welsh steamer, the largest part of the crew and passengers were saved. The Prince de Joinville, at the time a visiter on board the " Affonso," rendered himself most conspicuous in the cause of humanity. Upwards of forty fishing boats, and above a hundred men, perished in a terrific hurricane off the Murray Firth on the 20th of August. We have Hobart Town papers to the Bth, and from Port Phillip to the 7th ultimo. They are however, barren of interest to our readers. We have, likewise, been favoured with copies of the Colombo Observer, from the 13th September to the 2nd of October : — and rarely have we fallen upon less interesting journals, their pages being occupied with details of personal squabbles with contemporaries, and extracts from the Indian papers commenting thereon. The contest possibly, may be amusing to those interested : but to us, at a distance, it extends too much over time and space to fatigue ourselves with. We learn this much however, that the Ceylonese revolt is all but " squelched." Our old friends of the 96th Regiment have received their augmentation and the route for India, whither they will shortly proceed from Van Diemen's Land. We have been favoured with the following extract from the London Gazette, from which it will be seen that the promotions have been given to many of our younger friends of the gallant 58th. We wish them health and strength to wear their new honours, and to acquire more. War Office, August 18th, 1848. 55th Regt. — William Macdonnel, gent, to be Ensign without purchase; vice Wynyard.

58th Regt. — Ensign Gladwin John Henry Wynyard, from 55th Regt., vice Middleton, promoted in the 96th Regiment. " Alfred John Ford, gent, vice Barker, promoted in the 96th Regiment. " Sedborough Mayne, gent, vice Garstin, promoted in the 96th Regiment. 96th Regt.— (To be Lieutenants) same dale. Bth, Lieut, first appointed is, Ensign Middleton, from sSth Regt.;— 9th, Ensign Barker, from ditto ; — 10th, Eniign Garstin, from do.

We have no desire to harp upon Governor Eyre and his misstatements, in reference to the earthquake at Wellington ; — but the censure we felt bound, on public grounds, to offer, having elicited anonymous inculpation from a correspondent of the "New Zealand Spectator;" and our contemporary, the " Cross," being of opinion, that the animadversions indulged in, both here and at Wellington, were unwarranted; we are placed, as it were, upon our defence, to justify that we acted as honest Journalists and not as mean and malignant slanderers. In the first place, then, we reiterate that our censure was never directed, personally, against Governor Eyre for the very natural alarm into which he, in common with others, appears to have been thrown. We blamed, and we still blame him, that, at a moment when his mind was weakened with apprehensions and presentiments, he should have put to paper a statement of his own feelings, rather than confined himself to a brief narration of facts. It was because we saw the mischief such statements going to the world, from the presumed best authority, would occasion, that we stigmatized their exaggerations and their deductions as they deserved. It required no great foresight to perceive the handle that would be made of Governor Eyre's tale of ruin, especially when enforced by such an elaborate running commentary of prospective evil : — and we honestly conceive that they who, like us, did perceive the mischief to which New Zealand would be thereby exposed, would have been wanting in duty had they failed, fully and fearlessly, to piobe the question. We, at once, denounced Governor Eyre's account as an erroneous one. Were we wrong? Quite the reverse. His statements have been proved to be most incotrect. Governor Eyre proclaimed that he feared all would leave the settlement who could. We denied the accuracy of his assertion — insisting, from our own personal knowledge of the people, that there was too much courage in Wellington lo dream of despair : — on the contrary, that there was energy and enterprise, and stuff enough theie to retiieve such disasters. Who were right, Governor Eyre or we 1 The local Journals tell us that in a few weeks, scarcely a trace of the tecent calamity will be visible. It is easy to create a panic, — but,to quell it is a matter of much time and trouble, and only accomplished after much loss. If those to whom the well being of the Community is confided, are the first to forget themselves, they must expect to be taught the duty they neglect. Let any unprejudiced person peruse the following first fruits of Governor Eyre's piescntimenls — taken from the "Sydney Morning Herald" of the 15th December — and say whether we travelled out of our way through mere indulgence of unworthy spleen. If a neighbouring Journalist can thus construe his Excellency's ridiculous details, what may we not expect from those more remote ? The mischief will not be a mere local one. It will act to the injury of every settlement of New Zealand — depreciating Auckland as well as Wellington. Persons at a distance do not give themselves time to consider. Local distances are overlooked ; for there are still many in England that imagine a Mail coach is driven between Hobart Town and Sydney ! " An earthquake, most violent in its character, and remarkable in its duration, Las visited the »etilement, and as might be supposed hat spread frar and consternation through the colony. The town of Wellington, which had struggled through unparalleled difficulties, is leriously injured, and its .substantial buildings destroyed ; whilst many who consideied they had made the best investments in buildings of brick and stone, have become the heavirst sufteiers, and sustained the heaviest losses. The effect upon the colony will soon be felt. The climax of its misfortunes mil not compensate for the richness of its land, and the inexham. tible nature of its soil. Those who are not wedded to the colony will leave ; in short many have already done so, emigration will in all probabiiity be diverted to another quarter, und not until the recollection of the recent earthquake is effaced can Wellington expect to rise ino an important settlement. As regards ourselves, wt offer to our fellow colonists, at Wellington, our deepest sympathy in their mjgfortunes; and in giving utterance to this expression, of our feelings, we are but reiterating; the commiseration which ii universally expressed throughout the territory of New South Wales. Is not this a reproduction, and a most injurious reproduction, of what we must call Governor Eyre's mischievous imbecilities ? Shall we, or our Wellington contemporaries be credited, when in defiance, and in the most positive contradiction of such an authority, we maintain that that Settlement has even already recovered its wonted unanimity 1 ? We fear not !

Programme. —On Thursday, lhh -January, ths Band of the 58th Regiment will perform the following pieces of music, within the enclosure of the govern-

inent grounds, from half-past three to half-past five o'clock :— OTerture — Op. .. " Eliza c Claudio".. .. Mereadante Waltz "The Millefleur" Lanner Song "Kathleen" Crouch Duetto—Op "Norm*" Billini Polka " The Bohemian" Jullien Song "The Dream" Knight Galop "Les Heguenots" Mayerber Quadrille "The La Pen" Burgmuller Tyroeles Racatata