The New=Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 624, 7 April 1852, Page 2

The New=Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let all tne end* thou ainib't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1852.

The arrival of tlie barque John Phillips, after a fine passage of 101 days from the Downs, has placed us in possession of European intelligence to the 22nd of December. We say European, because in this instance the engrossing subject of interest in the papers is another — yet another — Revolution in France. The importance of this event warrants our devoting to it not only primary attention, but the large portion of our space which it this clay occupies. We lay before our readers a succinct chronological narrative of the occurrences during what may especially be called the revolutionary week, copied from the Watchman ; a most interesting narrative of some of the principal transactions, supplied to the Mail by a Member of the National Assembly ; and one or two of the leading articles on the subject with which the journals before us teem, and from which we shall select additional and copious extracts for our publication of Saturday. The event came like a thunder-clap on Paris. On the night of the Ist of December Louis Napoleon held a brilliant reception, at which he seemed all tranquillity and smiles In a few hours after (early on the morning of the 2nd), it may be "said that the Revolution was accomplished. By a daring coup d'etat, the President had dissolved the Assembly and the Council of State, re-established universal suffrage, abrogated the law of the 31st of May. A number of the foremost men in France — Changarnicr, Cavaignae, Lamoriciere, Perrot, licdeau, Thiers, and others were arrested ; Paris was declared in a state of siege, and was possessed by the troops, and artillery. The blow was struck suddenly, effectively, overwhelmingly; and it was followed up with unrelenting determination. The press, except the papers wholly devoted to the Usurper's cause, was gagged and stifled. Upwards of two hundred Members of the National Assembly, who had met to denounce the usurpation, were marched to prison . Orders of merciless severity against all who showed even the semblance of resistance were issued, and ruthlessly carried into effect. On Thursday, the 4th, the streets flowed with blood, and probably not much less than 1000 lives were sacrificed, including numbers who took no part in the erection of barricades or any other evidences of hostility, but who were shot at their own doors, or in their balconies. Op- ! position was put down with an iron hand, and then it was proclaimed that order and tranquillity were restored, — language, the true meaning of which was, that the people and the press, every act and every word, were prostrated before military despotism, and the will of the Dictator executed by permanent courts martial was supreme and j absolute, i Louis Napoleon demanded his re-e'ec-tion for ten years. The votes of the army and navy were taken, with the following results : — Army, for, 243,852 ; against, 16,384 ; abstaining 845 :—Navy, for 14,675 against, 4830 ; abstaining, 417. The votes of the nation at large were to be taken on Saturday and Sunday, the 20th and 21st of December. There seemed no doubt that the Dictator's demand would be acquiesced in by a vast majority. For, account for the fact as we may, (and the journalists, as we shall show in our next, take very diverse views on the subject,) there wero multitudes in France disposed to re-elect Louis Napoleon, notwithstanding the events of the 2nd and 4th of December ; and not a few of the most thoughtful and judicious, while they denounced the illegality and tyranny of his acts, saw in submission to his authority the only means of escape from greater and more widely spread horrors than had yet been enacted. At the latest dates, despatches were daily published, declaring everything to be calm throughout the country; but much doubt rests on statements which came only through the Government organs, no independent journalist daring to speak ; and it was certain that several of the departments were still in a state of siege, and that a large portion of the population was under the regime of the sword. Most of the Representatives under arrest had been set at liberty ; but Changarnier, Lamoriciere, Charms, and a few others were still kept in custody. General Cavaignac was offered liberty, but it is stated that he refused to accept it unless his companions in captivity were also set free. Thiers was believed, to have gone to Brussels. The Spectator, of Dec. 20, thus states and comments on the views taken of the movement by other powers, — a subject,

we need not &ay, of the deepest interest in its bearing on the peace of Europe :—: — Louis Napoleon has been promptly and cordially recosrnized by the Despotic Powers. The Emperor ot % Russia, who has never yielded to or for a moment parleyed with Constitutionalism — the Emperor of Austria, who has destroyed the last shreds of Constitutional Government in his own States — the King of Prussia, who hesitates between masked and unmasked despotism, " letting ' I dare not' wait upon ' I would, 1 like the poor cat in the adage" — have not lost a moment in transmitting their congratulations to Paris. Knowing the pending " election" to be a farce, they have not waited to learn its results. In this they have only acted as all their predecessors since the first French Revolution did before them. The Northern Powers have ever been ready to extend the hand of amity to any and every despotism erected on the ruins of French liberty. They negotiated with the Comite deSalut; they coquetted with the Directory ; they performed the ko too before the Emperor Napoleon. Too shortsighted to discern that the power which upheld such despotisms was the same headlong unreasoning spirit of violence that overthrew the old institutions of the | country —an all-devouring and nnintermitting j spirit of aggression — they vainly imagined that they could make terms and truce with it ; and in every instance they have been compelled to fight it. They flatter themselves now that Louis Napoleon will avert from their own dominions the Republican propagaiidism of France, and that the aggressive instincts of his military supporters will find ample scope in the petty states of Belgium, Switzerland, and Piedmont, already threatened byhiin,or in keeping down the Liberals of the states of the Church. These small morsels will be soon swallowed, if the military sway of the French Usurper be perpetuated; and its unappeased hunger will lead to quarrels with the very powers who are now congratulating themselves on his success. The recent events in France arc as threatening to the tranquillity of Europe at large as to that of the country in which they have occurred. Turning to the English news, we sum up I a few of the particulars which have most colonial interest ; reserving for another day some items of general news which have no pressing importance, and which we shall be able to deal with more satisfactorily when the Gwalior (which sailed ten days before the John Phillips) shall have supplied the present hiatus in our iiles. Notwithstanding all the censure pronounced on the paltriness of the Government scheme for Steam Communication with Australia, it had been persevered in, as appears from the following paragraph in the Uity Article of the limes of Dec. 12. It was understood this afternoon that the Government have accepted the tender of Mr. Walton for a mail to Australia every alternate month, vvi the Cape of Good Hope, at an annual payment of .£26,000. The ports to be visited are the Cape, King George's Sound, Adelaide, Port Phillip and Sydney. The vessels, it is presumed, have yet to be built. Another paper states that the steamers would commence plying this month (April) ; but the scheme is so utterly unsuited to the necessities of the case that private British — or it may be American — enterprise will doubtless soon provide something better for Sydney than this. We observe that Captain Erskine had published a pamphlet on the Australian Gold Fields. Its title (which is all we have seen respectingit) is " A Short Account of the late Discoveries of Gold in Australia : with Notes of a Visit to the Gold District. By J. Elphinstone Erskine. Captain, K.N"

We have unexpectedly received a SydneyMail by the Glencoe, which arrived in our harbour yesterday. There is, however, little intelligence of importance,— none of sufficient importance to displace the matter already marked for insertion in our present issue. The dates are to the 23rd of March. The Sir George Seymour had arrived in Sydney, from England, after a rapid passage of eighty-seven days, but brought no later news than we were in possession of by the John Phillip's mail. The accounts from the Australian Gold Fields present no new aspect. In Mr. Lloyd's latest Gold Circular (March 20), he says, " the intelligence from our mines this week is not of sufficient importance to require a detailed account." The quantity of gold brought into Sydney that week was in all 2,502 ounces, worth about £8,300. But the quantity coming into town was no criterion as to the quantity raised, for the bulk of the diggers were determined not to sell at the low price of 61s. or 625. per ounce. The high rate charged by Government for bringing it to town was exciting much complaint. The total value of gold shipped to March 20, was £1,125,317. In the Sydney Commercial Report of the same date (Herald 20th ult.) it isolated, '• Our markets are still hampered with vast quantities of unsaleable stock, which_would scarcely realize half of original cost." Flour remained firm at £13 per ton for fine, £11 for seconds. The Bishop of Sydney had invited a general meeting of his clergy, to be held on the 14th of this month, for the purpose of considering the propriety of petitioning the Queen for power to establish a form of Church Government suited to the circumstances of the colony. His Loidship suggested that, before the meeting, the subject should be brought under the considerai tion of the seat and pew-holders of the ; different Churches/at preliminary meetings summoned by the Churchwardens. The Legislative Council of Victoria stood prorogued to the 27th of this month. We do not observe any news of particular interest respecting the Victoria Gold Fields. There were glowing reports of a Gold Discovery in van Diemen's Land near Avoca, and in one or two other localities ; and. if we can trust the reports, some small portions of the precious metal had actually been found. It remained to be proved whether it existed in any quantity worth working for.

The Band of the 58th Regiment, by permission of His Excellency Lieutenant-Colonel Wynyard, C.8., will' perform the following selection of music, in the Grounds of the Old Government House, to-morrow (Thursday), between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m.

PROGRAMME. Grand Overture— Op (< Norma" ...... RaperSelection — 0p.. ." Luoia di Lnmmennoor.". .Donizetti Duetto — 0p. .."Nel Egilda di Provenz;i."j.\Jerca(lnnte i Melanga— Op "I Due Fosean," Veidi. Waltz « D'Amour." Koenig. Quadrille « The Royal Irish." Jullien. Song «<]Viy Nannie 0." Grand March (dedicated to the officers of the 58th Regiment.) Davis.

The Common Council held another of its quasi public meetings on Saturday. No intimation of the time had been given to the Burgesses, and on this occasion there was more doubt than usual on the matter, as it could not be generally known whether the committee which had been resolved upon at the meeting of the previous Saturday would commence its proceedings, as committees had hitherto done, on some intervening day and in another part of the town, or whether its sittings would be held at the hour and place which experience — not any proper notification — had led the Burgesses to suppose usual for the ordinary meetings of the Council. Our former brief but sufficiently intelligible reference to the virtual privacy of the meetings having been ineffectual, we feel bound to call the attention of the Burgesses more explicitly to the fact that hitherto there has been an uniform disregard of the obvious spirit of that clause of the Charter which provides that all the meetings of the Council shall be open to the public. It would be a most disingenuous evasion of the meaning of this clause to maintain that the meetings were " open," because there was no janitor stationed to prevent the entrance of persons who, having happened to hear that a meeting was to be held, presented them- j selves for admission. The obvious intention of the provision is that every mem- | ber of the community— no matter whether he has or has not private means of information, — should have the opportunity of knowing when and where the meetings of the Corporation are to take place, in order that, should he think fit, he may exercise his privilege of being present. A very little reflection will show that this is not so trifling a point as some, at a hasty ; glance, may be inclined to consider it. We are not of those who think the proceedings of this, the first Common Council ; of Auckland, unimportant. We deliberately adhere to the opinion which we expressed on the promulgation of the Charter, that the state of many of the interests of the Borough, and especially of the vital Question of local self-government, will, at the end of the Corporate year, be either much better or much worse than before. It is impossible that the whole should end in the mere " bottle of smoke" which some, more significantly than respectfully, anticipate. Even should the existence of the Council of 1851-2 terminate without any practical result — (except so far as the term may be applied to words spoken and written, resolutions proposed, and respectively carried, withdrawn, or reversed, and Petitions amusingly, if not fatally, maimed by the deficiency of a Corporate Seal) — that in itself will be a result of considerable magnitude. It will lead thoughtful men to a searching inquiry, — Why has the experiment thus totally or partially failed % JDoes the blame attach exclusively to the authors of the Charter, or to its administrators, or does it attach in any ascertainable proportions to both ? The issue cannot be a matter of entire indifference ; and if there were only one individual Burgess who desired to mark for himself the steps which conducted to it, that individual has a right to be furnished with such facilities for arriving at his conclusions as a regular announcement of the intended meetings of the Council would afford. Moreover, we apply to ourselves the principle which we formerly endeavoured to enforce, that this Corporate year will establish precedents for years to come ; and it needs but little acquaintance with the history of Corporations at home to justify an apprehension that, under some future circumstances, a Common Council may be found to require very close supervision. Now, we are not willing to lay ourselves open to the imputation of want of vigilance which might be charged upon the Press, if the custom of holding Council Meetings of which the public may he wholly unepgnizant, were permitted to grow up without any protest on its part. It does not j affect the substance of this question whether j the attendance would be much or at all increased by previous official notifications ; the question is one of principle, and it is of the nature of such questions to grow even from microsopic minuteness in their elementary state to great magnitude in their ultimate developments. Though Saturday was expected to be in military phrase " a great field day," yet, in military phrase also, "As you were !" was in effect the word of command at the close of the proceedings, no real advance whatever having been made. The business marked out for the day — (the consideration j in Committee of the whole Council of the reports on roads and public works) — was scarcely entered upon, nearly the entire of an unusually long sitting having been occupied in preliminaries, — not unmingled, we regr. t to add, with personalities. A motion by a suburban member ! that the suburban roads should first be taken into consideration fell to the ground for want of a seconder, A similar untimely doom befel a motion by a town member that the town roads should have precedence. Then came a motion by Mr. Abraham that a sum of nearly £19,000 was immediately necessary for the roads and public works. This was based upon the calculations in the reports of the several j sub-committees previously presented to and I adopted by the Council, and so far was consistent with what had gone before. But where was the £19,000 to come from? \¥as there any use in fixing on an amount which confessedly could not by any possibility be obtained ? So worthy Councillors thought, and Alderman Powditch moved an amendment to the effect that the Council should select the undertakings which seemed most generally for the good of the colony, and direct attention first to them. This was carried. Incidental to the discussion, however, some collateral matters turned up. The Mayor and others thought it very desirable that the minutes of the " secret" meetings should be read, in order to show the public that the proceedings had not been characterized by the " irregularity" which had been charged upon them, — the primary irregularity and illegality of holding the meetings privately being of course conceded as a point which admitted of no dispute. The proposition was a reasonable one, and should, we think, have been at once agreed to, as although these minutes bear no legal weight or force, yet they no doubt contain information which it may be as well that the public

should know, and which may be a guide in the prosecution of the work undertaken by the Committee. Over and above this, however, it was not difficult to perceive that it was also intended to show by the minutes that the worthy and learned Councillor who on the previous Saturday censured the proceedings of the Committee as " irregular," had himself taken part in them at the commencement, and trmt his objection was "an after thought." That gentleman's comments on the more than insinuations thrown out to this effect lifted a little more of the veil which had covered the discussions in the Committee, so as to bring into view the existence of discords and collisions such as we before hinted at, but which — even had we the particulars more fully before us— we should prefer passing over as lightly as we could. Such is the sum of the business transacted by the Committee on Saturday. In the Council (as distinguished from the Committee) there was a prologue and an epilogue to this performance. The prologue had two parts. The first was a discussion on a question raised by the Town Clerk whether members of the Council should be required to pay the shilling" fee which, according to the Charter, may be exacted from Burgesses for the privilege of inspecting the minutes at the Town plerk's Office. This knotty problem was solved by a decision that they might see their own minutes without liquidating bright shillings as the "ransom" for leave. The second part was a discussion whether or not Mr. Abraham had been " impounded," on the previous Saturday, when — (another bit of irregularity by-the-by)-after the public had gone away in the belief that the Council had adjourned, he was called back and told that it had not adjourned. The Mayor explained that nothing took place at this subsequent conference beyond a conversation as to the mode in which the Committee of the whole Council should be convened ; and after an assertion and admission of the right of any member to " take up his hat" and (as a San Francisco Common Councillor would express it) " vamose" at his pleasure, the matter dropped. The epilogue was the reading by Mr. Abraham of an awfully long series of resolutions, apparantly designed to be the finis coronat opus of the Town Council's labours, but which, it was eventually determined, should not be laid upon the table, until a future day. The epilogue over, the curtain fell " until further notice."