The New=Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 449, 3 August 1850, Page 2

The New=Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let all the ends tliou ahns't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Tiuth's.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1850.

The arrival of the Kiwi from San Francisco and Honolulu, (from which latter port she sailed on the 10th of June), has placed us in possession of California news to the middle of May. Knowing how immediately the affairs of that country " come home to the business and the bosoms" of many of our readers, we, in this as in former instances, appropriate a considerable portion of our space to copious and unabridged extracts from the papers which have leached us, instead of condensing their contents into a comparatively brief summary, as we are frequently compelled to do with regard to news from various other quarters. The whole of the intelligence which we have re-, ceived by this brig, so far as it has any public interest, will accordingly be found in our other columns. We are truly happy to find that its bearing upon the commercial enterprise and agricultural prospects of our own colony is, in some points of view, more favourable than that which it has recently been our duty from time to time to report. As for timber, indeed, there is still little or no ground of hope that it will prove remunerative ; for although the fire at San Francisco had given some slight impulse to the market, the quantities continually pouring in were so overwhelming as to keep the price far below the payiug point. The speculation in potatoes, however, gave every promise of amply remunerating the exporters. It is stated that some potatoes sold at eight-pence per pound, and that even a higher rate was an-

ticipaled. This would of couisc be only for such as had not suffered deterioration on the voyage ; and here again there is reason for encouragement as we aie informed that on the arrival of the Johnstonc at Honolulu the potatoes on boaul were found in excellent condition, and theiefore likely to command a ready and profitable sale. As to the general state of the San Francisco market, we enable our readeis to judge for themselves by transferring to our columns the entire of the Price Current, dated the 1 1 Ih of May, which had been prepared especially for the Polynesian, and to which the Editor of that Journal gives the satisfactory endorsement of his own voucher for the accuracy and tiustworthiness of the compiler, Mr. W. H. Padmcr. Even where they do not directly bear upon our own exports, such Returns are interesting, as throwing light not only on the commercial condition, but, to a certain extent, on the social state of the extraordinary place to which they refer. It will be seen from our extracts that on the 3rd of April a fire had broken out at Sacramento City and destroyed propeity to a large amount. As an illustration of the '• go-a-head " rapidity of movements in California, it is observable that " before the ashes were cold," a building was commenced, and completed and opened for business on the same day. The precious melal continued to be found in sufficient abundance to requite amply the labours of such of the gold-hunteis as weie fortunate enough to get it, and then prudent enough to keep it ; — the latter condition, we apprehend, being fully as essential as the former, for the attentive observer must have been struck by the singularly small proportion the number of permanently enriched men of whom we have heard, bears to the all but incredible amount of richqs which we are told the mines have already yielded. There seemed to be no ebb to the tide ef immigration. The Journal of Commerce of the 4th of May assures us, on the authority of " facts obtained from various reliable sources " that " within the next twelve calendar months the population of the State will be doubled." The tickets of steamers plying between New York and Chagres were exhausted up to July, and had been so for six weeks before that date ; and large numbers of new vessels, designed especially for San Francisco were in course of construction in the Atlantic cities. It is added that the intending emigrants were toa great extent composed of families, and included many men of capital. We may here note also that our recent files from home indicate an increase in England of the spirit of Californian adventure. The barque John Calvin, 510 tons, had sailed from Plymouth on the 23rd of January, " crammed full with an assorted cargo of general merchandize and British manufactured goods, including several iron houses, canvass tents, &c." About 104 passengers went out in her, amongst whom was Sir Henry Hxjntley, formerly Governor of Prince Edward's Island, with twenty or thirty miners, forming an expedition for the purpose of working mines in Upper California. And we see advertised as preparing to sail about the beginning of March, the Diana, 800 tons (to follow the John Calvin), the John Brewer, 800 tons, the Jane Tudor, 750 tons, the Fame, 500 tons, the Paragon, 435 tons, the Vixen, 500 tons, and the Enterprise, 427 tons. Most of these vessels were advertised as belonging to regular " Lines of Packet Ships " from London or Liverpool to California.

The intelligence from the United States which has reached us partly via Sydney, and partly via Honolulu, comes down to the latter part of March, and is of considerable importance. California seems destined to -work effects out of the ordinary course wherever any relations with it are lormed or contemplated ; and at our latest dates its concerns had induced a collision between the Northern and Southern States •which threatened to eventuate in no less grave a result than the disruption of the Union. Our readers will remember, to the honour of the Convention by which the outline of a Constitution for California was sketched, that Slavery was not to be tolerated within that State. The American President addressed a Message to Congress recommending the adoption of this Constitution. He did not, indeed, declare his explicit concurrence in the Resolution known as the " Wilmot proviso," the principle of •which is that slavery shall be excluded from all new territories ;-— he took the lower ground that every new State should have aright to decide for itself whether or not slavery shall be amongst its institutions ; — but on this ground he advised Congress to sanction the Constitution which California had proposed for itself. - Then came the tug of war. The Southern (slave-holding) States rose in fierce opposition against a restriction which would prevent the par excellence lovers of liberty ! from taking their slaves to work for them in the diggings ; the Northern States steadfastly maintained their resistance to this extension of the accursed thing. Both parties evidenced so much determination and were supported so earnestly by their respective sympathisers out of doors, that there was reason to apprehend that no satisfactory adjustment of the difference could be brought about, and that should California be admitted (as seemed probable) on its ownrterms,

the Southern States would secede — in other words, the Union would be dissolved. The eyes of the civilized woild will be anxiously fixed on the issue of this great struggle. Slavery has long been the plague-spot on the banner of the United Slates, exciting alternately contempt for the political hypocrisy and indignation at the raoial delinquency of a nation so boastful of its own fiecdom, while it legalizes the atrocious usurpation of a right of property in human flesh and blood, and, by an inevitable consequence, upholds cruelties and multiform abominations at which the heart sickens and shudders. It would be no more than simple retributive justice if the cherished evil were to be made the instrumant of its own punishment. Meanwhile, the Californians seem determined that they will come into the Union on their own terms in this particular, — or not at all. Their tone on this subject may be inferred from the following language of the Pacific News :—: — " Is California to form an additional star in the flag of that Union which we all love, and of which we are proud, or is she to shine alone, " a bright particular star" of the Pacific ? This question is forcing itself upon the minds of all thinking men of this State. Its resolution rests solely with the Congress now in session at Washington. * * * " The people are the true source of power. For them government is instituted. — What suits them best they know best, andjwhen they declare their wishes such declaration is bound to be respected. California has thus acted — and if, under this state of things, Congress feels bound to oppose our admission into the Union as a free and sovereign State, we shall feel called upon to declare ourselves a free and sovereign. State independent of Congress, and look to our own interests as a separate government. " The citizens of this State have no desire that this alternative should be forced upon them : they deprecate all action tending thitherward. But once presented, duty, as well as interest, is plain — we stand alone." The Prfsident had recommended to Congress the appropriation of a sum for the purpose of fitting out an expedition to go in search of Sir John Franklin ; and the Government had communicated to the Navy Yard at Brooklyn, its intention to furnish three vessels with officers and men for this service. Lady Franklin's appeal had called forth a general and ai dent response, and an eminent merchant Mr. Henry Grinnel had himself contributed fifteen thousand dollars towards sending out a private expedition for the desired object. Extensive conflagrations had occurred in seveial cities of the United States. One at Buffalo destroyed property to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars ; in another, at New Orleans, buildings and other property valued at a million of dollars had been consumed. — A dreadful accident occurred in New Yoik on the 4th of February. By the bursting of a steam-boiler in an extensive hatting establishment a large number of persons had been killed or seriously injured. At the date of the account before us, thirty-three dead bodies had already been rescued from the rubbish ; fifty-six were asceitained to be wounded, and fifty-eight were still missing. Piofessor Webster — convicted, after a tiial which lasted for eleven days, of the murder of Dr, Parkman — had been sentenced to be banged. He fiimly persisted in the most solemn declarations of his innocence. The subject excited intense interest ; we have not, however, yet received any more than a piecemeal and unsatisfactory report of the trial in a case which is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable in the annals of crime.

The Honolulu Journals (which come down to the Ist of June,) contain further evidence of that quiet but steady prosperity in the interesting little Hawaiian kingdom, which we noticed with gratification, when the papers brought by the Shamrock reached us. The Committee to take steps for the promotion of agricultural operations, appointed at the public meeting of which some account appeared in the New Zealander of the 29th of June, was actively performing its duties. An address had been issued inviting general co operation in the object, and specifying the plans in contemplation, In addition to the importation and circulation of standard works on the subject, the establishment of a local periodical devoted to agricultural operations, and the introduction of new fruits, vegetables, &c, (to which we before adverted) , it was proposed to adopt means for improving the breed of cattle, sheep, poultry, &c, and it was intended to open a warehouse for the collection and sale of such agricultural implements and machinery as are best adapted to the country — the warehouse to serve also for the sale of the products of plantations and farms the owners of which have not agents at Honolulu. The introduction of Coolie labourers from China, to supply the place of the rapidly decreasing native population, was also under consideration. It had been resolved to hold a meeting at Honolulu for the purpose of formally organizing the society, on the 12th of this month, (August), at which planters from the other islands were expected to attend. Specimens of the various pioducts of the islands, such as sugar, coflee, potatoes, indigo, arrowroot, &c, and animals of superior breed were to be sent there for exhibition, and, if the owners should wish it, for public sale. The Hon, Judge Lee had engaged to deliver an

address on the occasion. The project seemed to be generally taken up with spirit, and at Lahaina an agricultural meeting had been held, at which resolutions in support of it were cordially adopted, and delegates to the meeting were appointed. The town of Honolulu exhibited various tokens of prosperity. Building was going forward rapidly in all quaiters, and many of the natives were substituting wood houses for their small and leaky thatched huts. This they wet c stimulated to do not only by the additional comfort they might thus secure, but also by the cheapness of timber, and the increasing expensiveness of the native material and of the labour of thatching. The harbour was unprecedentedly full of vessels, and those, not as in former years, principally whalers, but " almost entirely merchantmen, coming from all parts of the woild, and entering with spirit into competition for the Islands' market." The Polynesian leasonably argues that these are the vessels from which most advantage to the agricultural interest may be anticipated, as while whaling ships only required articles for actual consumption on board, merchant-ships were taking them in increased quantities as exports. Our contemporaiy takes the occasion to suggest, that it is time to withdraw from whalers the privileges which they now enjoy, (such as exemption from pilotage and harbour dues, and permission to land goods up to a certain value free of duty,) and to place them on the same footing with other ships. It also urges — as imperatively called for by the increase of commerce,—>the immediate construction of new and adequate wharves. The Government was engaged in the undertaking of bringing pure water from " The King's Spring " into Honolulu, — a benefit not only to the residents, but to the vessels calling at the Port, which cannot be overestimated. As there is no Insurance office in the town, it was suggested that something of the kind might be connected with the management of this plan. The hint was taken from a proposal made in the New York Council to confer the power of effecting insurances on the Croton Aqueduct Company, — a scheme which it was expected would, if it were worked successfully, carry the Croton water free to every inhabitant of the city. Loud complaints were made of the vexation and trouble caused by the circulation of coin at more than its real value, — five franc pieces passing for dollars, and English shillings and other " short coins," for full quarters. The only way in which the Polynesian thinks that the government could regulate the matter would be to establish a mint, and buy up all such coin at its actual valuej^by weight, and then coin it over again.

The Missionary Brig "John Wesley." — We have intelligence of this vessel by the Kiwi. She had been at Vavau (Friendly Islands), and had sailed thence two days before the anival of the Kiwi (which was on the 7th of July). Her immediate destination was Tongataboo, where she was to take up the Rev. Walter La wry. She would then proceed to the Fejecs, and it was expected, would return here in about two months.

Resident Magistrate's Court, Oneiiunga. —Brfore Major Kenny. —ln a case —J. Farmer v. John Jermyn Symonds —brought before this Court on the 15th of July, the plaintiff claimed «£9 damages for injury done to a fine daiiy cow his piopcity, by her udder being totn by a dog which the defendant had set to drive the cow out of his (defendant's) orchard. On Wednesday last the Magistrate gave judgment, awarding to the plaintiff the full amount claimed.