The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 400, 13 February 1850, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

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

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1850. The intelligence which has come to hand since our last, although not very voluminous, is of more than ordinary impoitance and interest, as will he seen by the summaries and extracts which we proceed to give. English news comes down to the 1 3th of October. Our attention is first engaged by the announcement that the British Government had determined to support the Sublime Porte in its refusal to surrender the Hungarian refugees to the Russian despot, and that Lord Palmerston had accordingly sent proper instructions to Sir Stratford Canning, placing at his disposal the Mediterranean fleet, which was immediately to sail for the Dardanelles, j _liis «t»tod thaL the jiote addressed by the Eng- j lish Government to its> Ambassador at ©t. Petersburgh (copies of which had been communicated to the representatives of Great Britain in Vienna, Constantinople, and Paris) was couched in firm, though moderate terms, announcing a resolution to support the Porte against all exigencies that would compromise the dignity of an independent Sovereign. France, it was understood, would adopt a similar course, General Aupick having fully concurred with Sir S. Canning (when the Porte officially consulted the Ambassadors on the question) in declaring that the treaties gave Russia no right to demand the ex-tradi-tion of the refugees, and that humanity itself required that they should not be given up. Earnestly as we would deprecate any war, especially such a war as this might prove, we cannot but feel gratified at the prompt and honorable steps taken by our Government in this matter. The public feeling and judgment of England would cordially approve the act ; indeed, the sympathy of the British nation with the deeply wronged Hungarians was so strong and general that the only regret would he that we did not interfere while our interposition might have averted the fatal blow by which the rights of Hungarian freedom have been tyrannically beaten down. It was hoped, however, that the energetic action thus adopted would deter the Emperor from pressing his demand. From Constantinople itself, the dates were to the 25th of September. Nothing had occurred since the 19th of August to modify the state of affairs. The reply of the Emperor of Russia, which was looked for with intense anxiety, was expected about the 10th or 12th of October. The Shiek^al-Jalem, head of the corps ecclesiastique, with a number of Mohammedan clergy, and public functionaries of all classes, had wailed on the British and French to thank them for the resolute support which they had offered to the Turkish Government. It was stated that the Turkish provinces of the Danube, especially Servia, were infested J>y Russian agents, including a large number of priests, who weie making every exertion to foment a rebellion of the Christian tribes against the Porte. The health of London continued to improve. The number of deaths from all causes registered in the week ending October 6, was 1290 — not much beyond the average mortality at that season of the year, and a most gratify' ing contrast to the number in the first week of September, which reached 3,183. Only 288 deaths from cholera were registered. Diarrhwa and dysentery were also decreasing, although more slowly. The Revenue tables showed an increase of £235,000 for the quarter ending October 5,

A terrible fire had taken place in the Metropolis. It broke out on the premises of Messrs. Gooch and Cousens, wool merchants, in London Wall, and destroyed property valued at nearly £100,000. It was understood that the Government was about to aid railways by lending the Companies money at four per cent. The Government being able to raise it at three, would thus not only confer a great boon on the Companies, but have at its disposal a profit of one per cent in reduction of taxation. Mr. George E. Anson had died almost suddenly on the Bth of October. He had attended the Queen and Prince Albert to Ireland and subsequntly to Balmoral, and on their return from Scotland had left the Royal part/ at Derby, to proceed to Needwood, in Staffordshire, to join Mrs. Anson. There he was seized with a fit, from which he never recovered consciousness. The event excited general regret. We notice the publication of a volume entitled " Service in New Zealand," by Lieut. H. F. McKillop, R.N., of HM.S. Calliope—an officer well known in this colony. The Sun reviews the work in terms of high commenda tion.

We grieve to be obliged to infer from the Irish intelligence which has now reached us, that the dream of a tranquilization of Ireland, in which many have lately indulged, is for the present not very likely to be realized ; but that, on the contrary, the most recent accounts afford but too much reason to apprehend that the winter now drawing to its close may have been marked by social disorder, and even more than ordinarily fierce politico -religious animosity and stiife. Our readers will remember the unfortunate affair at Dolly's Brae in the North of Ireland, on the 1 2th of July last, when an Orange procession was attacked by a body of Ribbonmen, and a collision ensued, the result of which was the loss of several lives, the burning of some houses, and the commission of various other deplorable acts. Both in and out of Parliament, the matter naturally excited deep attention, and the Government sent down Mr. Berwick, Q.C., as a Commissioner to investigate it. We have not seen any account of the report which we suppose was made by this gentleman, but we find that he was present at a meeting of the Castlewellan Bench of Magistrates on the llth of September, when informations were applied for against a number of Orangemen charged with having taken part in the pioceedings of the 12th ot July, and that he concurred in the application, and declared his opinion that the Orange procession upon that day was an illegal assemblage. Tlie magistrates (of whom Lord Roden was chairman) by a majority of one refused the informations. On this the Roman Catholics in Ulster memorialized the Lord Lieutenant, accusing the Bench, and Lord Roden particularly, of paitialily and prejudice in their decision ; and, on behalf of " the whole Roman Catholic people of Ulster," urging on Government the " propriety of at once removing the Magistrates aforesaid from the commission of the peace, and substituting for them men in whose hands the office would not be abused or tuined to party account." The appeal was attended with a success probably more full and immediate than the memorialists had themselves anticipated. The Lgrd Chancellor, in compliance with the memorial, or acting on Mr. Berwick's report, or influenced J by both conjointly, removed the Earl of j Roden, and two of the other magistrates from ! the commission of the peace. We have not I yet any statement of the effects produced by this procedure, but all who know the position | occupied by the Lord Roden in the North of Ireland will believe with the writer of the latest accounts before us that it " could scarcely fail to rouse the dormant energies of party, and to evoke a storm of indignation at one side, and a shout of triumph at the other, the only lasting effect of which will be the permanent revival of the bitter sectarian feuds which a long course of discouragement by the last and the present Ministry had done much to soften down, if not well nigh to obliterate." Simultaneously — (it would seem on the same day) — with the announcement of this step on the part of the British Government, the revived Repeal Association held a meeting at Conciliation Hall, which was declared to be the first of a series intended to be held "in perpetuity until a domestic Parliament shall assemble in College Green." Mr. John O'Oonnell figured as he could in the leader's place, once filLd by his father. The attendance was numerous, but included few or none of those whose presence in former days gave some importance to the agitation. " Rent " amounting to £25 was reported. Another "sign of the times" is the submission of Mr. Duffy and his revived Nation to the supremacy of the Roman Catholic priests. The Times' Dublin correspondent, under date Sept. 22,' thns states the fact : — " The triumph of O'Connellism and Conciliation Hall fraud is this day completed by the abject submission of the Nation to the power of the Roman Catholic priesthood, before whose feet Mr. Duffy kneels, and in pathetic accents, implores forgiveness for the past, and promises to put in substantial bail for the future good behaviour. Henceforward the repentant Nation ceases to be the organ of

Young Irelandism, and must now take its place side by side with the old utensils which did the work of the late ' Liberator,' when that hard task- master was in the full zenith of his supremacy." Various extracts in support of this allegation are made from an article in that day's Nation, headed " What will the Priests do? I '— all leading to Mr. Duffy's conclusion that " the priests were the real sinews of O'Connell's fifty years war ;"— -that the attempt of the Young Irelanders to " raise the countiy without their (the priests') help was a great error — one to be avoided again ;" — and that, in fine, "any future movement must be based more largely on the religion, the sympathies, the old traditions of Ireland, for if our country is to have a new birth to liberty, she must this time be baptized in the old Holy Well." When we add to all these elements of excitement, that the spread of Secret Societies, amongst the peasantry in the south of Iteland, was a well known fact ; — that the practice of carrying off the crops to neighbouring farms in order to avoid their being seized for rent was becoming prevalent and systcmnf/sed ; —that laudioida -wcic sinking deeper in helpless inability to meet the demands upon them, — and, that some of these landlords were, on their part, heartlessly evicting tenants, many of whom were guiltless of any crime, save poverty— we shall have before us more than enough to warrant our fear that the history of the winter of 1849-50, will not be found to present any bright contrast to the dark records of so many previous seasons of agitation and suffering, in Irish annals. We shall be only too happy if the facts should contradict our forebodings.

An unexpected and threatening addition to the " rumours of war," had arisen in a difference between the United States and France, which had already led to a suspension of diplomatic intercourse. It originated in an old quarrel between the Captain of a French barque which had struck upon a reef, and the Commander of an American sloop of war, who having rescued the barque, detained her for a short time on a claim of salvage. The French Minister, Major Foussin complained that an insult was offered to the French flag by this detention, and demanded the punishment of Commander Carpenter. This led to investigation, and a statement of facts placing the commander in an honourable light was sent to the French Minister ; but he, instead of submitting the case to his own Government, wrote an insulting letter to the American Secretary of State, in which he characterized in highly offensive terms the whole Navy Department of America. The correspondence was then submitted to the French Government, by Mr. Rush, the American Minister at Paris, but M. de Tocqueville, the French Minister for Foreign affaiis, stated that he saw no reason for interfering. On receiving this despatch, President Taylor immediately ordered that no further communication should be held with the French Minister, and that his passports should at once be placed at his disposal. So the matter stood at the date of our latest information.

Stirring intelligence respecting the continued and apparently indomitable resistance of the colonists of the Cape to the admission of con- [ victs on any terms, had reached Hohart Town by the Marine Plant, and is copiously transferred into the columns of the Colonial Times of the 4th ult., now before us. On the 3rd of November (the latest date from the Cape) the Neptune still remained at anchor, an d the bulk of the people kept their shops and stores closed, and steadfastly refused all supplies to the authorities. Lord Grey's conciliatory offer to send out free emigrants in proportion to the number of convicts sent was regarded as an insulting bribe, and indignantly rejected. Violence of conduct had, however, been avoided, and, with the exception of one or two street rows, and a murderous attack on Mr. Fairbaiun, editor of the Commercial Advertiser, and a leader of "the pledged," nothing had occurred. But the colonists had still more firmly united themselves in thenpassive resistance. On the 16th of October, the Governor issued a proclamation "peremptorily prohibiting" meetings in the streets, which he called " mobs and crowds ;" and, about the same date, his Excellency issued a General Order to the soldiers, which we cannot but regard as intemperate and injudicious, and respecting which the Eastern Province He' raid remarked, " a vast majority will join with us in tracing its origin to a disturbed state of mind under which his Excellency must be suffering to a degree which his most bitter opponents will deeply deplore." In that Order, Sir Harry Smith, while he congratulates the military on their temper and forbearance, eulogises the services they had rendered the colony in the Kaffir war, and then tells them " your reward has been an endeavour to starve yourselves, your wives, and your children, and to withhold every necessary and" comfort from your sick in hospital. This act has been attempted by men indebted to you for these eminent services — an act which must arouse even in our gracious Sovereign's heart a feeling which I would fain have spared our Queen." then pronounces a high eulogy on the Navy, and proceeds—" Not only has this diaJbolica.l act teen, attempted upon you~

an act which Satan alone could have dictated — but on the sister service. * * * What will our country say when it hears that this, our irresistible Navy has been insulted by those very men whose commerce it protects !" Some of the military would no doubt be excited by this manifesto to feelings very different from the " tranquillity whichjhis Excellency advises, — more resembling the "infuriated" state to which, ns the Order suggests, such " wicked, insulting, and unjust aggression" might drive " hungry sailors and soldiers," — hut generally they sympathised with the people, and were convinced that towards them only kindly dispositions were entertained. Many of them declared to the colonists that they "gloried in their cause." A private letter from Lord Grey (which has already appeared in our columns), to the effect that no more convicts would be sent out, but that his Lordship hoped that therefore no further objection would be made to the landing of those by the Neptune, — had done no more than detach a very few from the sternness of their previous purpose. Mr. Ebden, chairman of the Anti-Convict Association, has resigned his office, and fifteen others, out of 180,000 people, had broken faith and were supplying the Government with provisions ; but no one would sell to them, and their stores would very soon be exhausted. On a canvass previously made by the Municipal Boards throughout the wards, 2,074 householders had declared in writing against the Government, and only eight in its favour. It having been supposed that the Governor would come to occupy the " Ph«nix Hotel" at Port Elizabetb, the " Committee of Vigilance" determined that the pledge should be strictly applied in his case, and warned the proprietor of the hotel, and the butchers and bakers in the neighbourhood accordingly. The Boating Companies would refuse to land him. It is sufficiently otvious that this was such a disorganized state of society as could not long continue. The issue must be matter of much solicitude. It is probable that a very short time after the date of our accounts, the determination of the Home Government on the occasion arrived at the Colony, and we shall soon hear further tidings.

Intelligence from Calcutta to the Bth, and Madras to the 13th of August had been received by the overland mail, but it was almost devoid of interest. The Punjaub continued quiet, but the troops were ready to act instantly, if occasion should arise. One writer says, " The Sikhs are numerous enough and willing enough to fight ; but they have no heads, no guns, and no money." The Punjaub division of the army, under Sir W. Gilbert, ■was said to contain 54,000 ( rank and file. . . Sickness prevailed amongst the troops at Lahore, owing principally to the insalubrious situation and crowded state of the barracksI' The Governor-General, the CoxMmander-xn-Chief ; and Lord Gough continued at Simla. Moolraj had not been executed. It was believed that a commutation of his sentence ivould be immediately made public. A second and final distribution of Scinde prize-money had been ordered. The entire amount of Sir Charles Napier's share of the spoils is said to be nearly £70,000. The commercial advices weie favorable, except as regarded the Chinese markets. At Canton there was much dulness, and at Shanghae great distress had resulted from heavy floods which had almost wholly destroyed the cotton crops. The silk crop had also been materially injured.