The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JAN. 22, 1853.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 707, 22 January 1853, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JAN. 22, 1853.

Be just ftnd fear not: _ _ Let all the ends thou aim'st at, ire thy Country », 1 hj God's, and Truth's.

The Raven arrived in our Port on Thursday, bringing a.number of passengers, amongst whom we are happy to recognise several more of our old fellow-citizens, who, after; haviug made trial of what Australia is and. can offer, have deliberately chosen to return to the Auckland district as their home. By this vessel we have a vast heap of papers from all quarters of the world, which had accumulated during the long interval in which we had no direct arrivals from the principal centres of information. The English news is to the beginning of October; £be Sydney to the 4lh of this month; our other colonial and foreign dales range almost every point between these periods. One melancholy theme engrosses a large portion of the Home and Colonial journals, and has a claim upon our own space to which we readily for this day subordinate other matters. We refer to the death of the Duke of Wellington—" the Duke" as by common consent he has long been designated—indisputably one of the greatest indeed, in some important respects, the v.ry greatest amongst the illustrious men of our age. The event took place at Walmer Castle on the 14th of September, and may be called sudden, as on the preceding night his-Grace had retired to bed in his usual healthy and even on the morning of the fatal day, he seemed only slightly indisposed. But a recurrence and a rapid repetition of attacks re* ported as " epileptic fits," to which the Duke bad formerly cmTiifesEed a liability, sj destroyed th*».Vef remaining energies of the iron constiiudorp lliat had so long appeared almost to defy the influences before which common men are soon prostrated ; and about three o'clock in the afternoon, the fliustri|ous hero of a hundred battles, and scai cely less illustrious sage in the Councils of statesmen, breathed his last, —so quietly, however, that for a little it was matter of doubt whether life was really extinct. **Afiei life's fitful fever he sleeps well," leaving behind a fame which will be embalmed imperishably in the memory of the civilized world, and of "which it may, if not absolutely — yet with a wider universality of application than often falls to the lot of the mighty of the earth—be said, in tbe glowing words which his countryman Thomas Moore ha? made the personified "Genius of Erin' utter, " Oh thfre is not One dishonouring spot On the wreath that encircles ray Wellington's name ! Despatches were immediately forwarded to the Queen, and to the Earl of Derby who was in attendance on Her Majesty at Balmoral. The following interesting communication to the Secretary for the Home Department contains a tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead in which Her Majesty undoubtedly sympathised very sincerely with the feelings of Her subjects, and also the Queen's directions as to the funeral honours tosbe rendered to the Duke's remains. To the Bight Hon. Spencer H. Walpole Secretary of the Home Department. Balmoral, September 20, 1852. Sir,—Her Majesty received with the deepest 'grief on Thursday last the afflicting intelligence of the sudden death of his Grace the late Duke of Wellington. Although the Queen could not for a moment doubt that the voice of the country would be unanimous upon the subject of the honours to |lmj paid to the memory of the greatest man ol the age, her Majesty considered it due to the feelings of his Grace's surviving relations that no step should be taken, even in his honour, without their previous concurrence; and accordingly, on the same eveniug, in obedience ,10 her Majesty's commands, I wrote to Lord Charles Wellesley, (Ihe present Duke having not then returned to England), to ascertain whether the late Duke had left anydirections, !or whether his family desired to express any wish upon the subject; and suggesting the coursel which appeared to her Majesty best calculated! to give expression to those feelings, in which! [the nation, as one man, will sympathise with |her Majesty. Having this day received letters from the present Duke and his brother, to the effect that the [late Duke has left no directions on the subject, jand placing themselves wholly in her Majesty's [hands, I hasten to relieve the public anxiety by [signifying to you, for general information, the .commands which I have received from her MaIjesly. I The great space which the name of the Duke ,of Wellington has filled in the history of the ilast 50 years—his brilliant achievements in the field—his high mental qualities—his long and faithful services to the Crown—his untiring desvotion to the interests of his country—constitute [claims upon the gratitude of the nation which a [public funeral, though it cannot satisfy, at least imay serve to recognise. I Her Majesty is well aware that, as in the case [of Lord Nelson, she might of her own authority have given immediate orders for this public mark of veneration for the memory of the illustrious I Duke, and has no doubt but that Parliament and j the country would cordially have approved the [step. But her Majesty,anxious that Ms tribute of gratitude and of sorrow should be deprived !of nothing which could invest it witha thoroughly I national character—anxious that the greatest | possible number of her subjects should have an'

opportunity of joining in it, is anxious above all that such honours should not appear to emanate, from the Crown alone, and that the two Houses »f Parliament should have an opportunity by their previous sanction of stamping the ceremony with increased solemnity, and of association themselves with her Majesty in paying honour to the memory of one whom no Englishman can name without pride and sorrow. The body of the Duke of Wellington will therefore remain, with the concurrence of the family, under proper guardianship until the Oucen shall have received the formal approval of Parliament of the course which it will be the luiy of he-Majesty's servants to submit to both Houses upon their re-assembling As soon as possible after that approvalshal have been obtained, it is her Majesty's wish, should no unforsecn impediment arise, that the mortal remains of the late illustrious and venerated Commander-in-Chief should, at the public expense, and with i\ the solemnity due to the greatness of the occasion,- be deposited in the Cathedral Church of St Paul's there to rest by the side of Nelson—the greatest military by the side of the greatest naval chief who ever reflected lustre upon the annals of England. 1 have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, Derby. It is needless to say that throughout the United Kingdom all classes of society manifested a depth of sorrow which was little mitigated even by the remembrance that the death of a man in his eighty-fourth year might have been daily looked for in the course of nature. The journals were all but entirely occupied for some days by the subject. On the day ifter the occurrence, the Times not merely made it the topic of its only leading article, but devoted twentv-one columns to a biography of the Duke which it required eleven columns more on the next day to complete. The memoir in the Daily News filled nearly twelve columnsin small type; and in various degrees the other papers according to their circumstances gave paramouut attention to the theme of every lip and every pen. We willingly follow the example as we can, by levoting a considerable space in our present issue to extracts on the subject, and we shall n future numbers follow them up with further selections from the articles on "The Duke" with which our files teem. Most of the officers vacant by ITis Grace's lealh had been filled up. Lord Hardinge .vas appointed Commander-in-Chief. The 'labiliud cavillers at Royally have been acuistomed to predict that Prince Albert A-ould endeavour to seize on this responsible post for himself; but His Royal Highness iias, with his usual good sense, falsified these )redictions, the only appointment amongst those held by the Duke which we find dldtted to him being the Colonelcy of he Grenadier Guards. Lord Fitzroy Somerset was to be Master-General of the Ordnance, with a peerage .-—Colonel Wood : Military' Secretary;— Earl Derby, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports;— Lord Comoermere, Constable of the Tower; —and the t )uke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Fusilier iuards. The election to the Chancellorship >f the University of Oxford was expected to all on ttie Earl of Derby, although a disposition had appeared in some quarters to bring forward the Duke of Newcastle in op)osition to the Premier. Her Majesty and the Royal Family left Osborne on the 29th of August for Balmoral. It had been determined to build a lew Palace at the Queen's "Highland home." The estimated cost was from iO,OOJ. to 100,000*. It was expected that Parliament would ueet for the intended short Session, on the 1 i ih of November. Although the grain harvest had in some places suffered greatly from the rains, yet, according to the Mark Lane Express, there ,vas, on the whole, little to complain of with respect to quantity. Emigration engaged as much attention as »ver. "Multitudes were departing week after ,veek for Australia, and multitudes were preparing to follow. Mrs. Chisholm was in Dublin, urging forward her class-emigration ;)lan. "Railway calamities," says the Home Yews of September 24, " have increased to jo fearful an extent of late as to spread considerable consternation through the country." Cholera had broken out with great malignity in Russia and Poland, and was pursuing its fatal march in two directions, viz., north and west, with a steadiness and destructiveness which exrited alarm in France and England. There seemed no doubt that Louis Napoleon would not much longer delay his purpose of grasping the Imperial sceptre. It was -expected that he would be proclaimed Emperor po the 2nd December last, when festivities were to be held in celebration of the coup Vetat of December 2, i 851. The latest intelligence from the Cape of Good Hope was far from satisfactory. Captain Ilearne, of the 12th Regiment, with two soldiers, and the Chief Constable, had been murdered by the rebel Hottentots it Fort Paddic.

The Legislative Council of New Souili Wales was, on the 28th ult.. prorogued to the Bth of February, with an intimation from the Governor-General that, in compliance with; an Address from the House, it would in future be convened early in May for the despatch of business. The following were the principal points in His Excellency's Speech on the occasion :—He had forwarded to the Secretary of State the Council's reply to the despatch from Earl Grey on the subject of the Declaration and Remonstrance of the late Legislative Council;—the Government had anticipated the call for the establishment of a Mint in Sydney by forwarding to England i 0,000/. from the Gold Revenue for the purchase of the necessary machinery and apparatus, with a request that the Secretary of Stale would take the proper steps for the attainment of the object;—the sum of 100,000/. had been raised on the security of the Territorial Revenue for the purposes of Emigration, making in all 200,000/. devoted to those purposes;—the Sydney Railway Company would get further pecuniary assistance;—he had without delay forwarded to the Secretary of State the recommendation of the Council that 6,000/. per annum should be paid for three vears to the first Company

! 'which shall establish a line of steamers com-1 pleting the course of post between Loudon] and Sydney within J2O days, and, addedj His Excellency, "the necessary provision, [has been made for the ensuing year;"— and,] [finally, the Governor congratulated thCj Council on the productiveness of the Revenue; under thenew Tariff, and made the follow-! ing reference to the state and prospects of the Gold Field,— "I have much pleasure in observing that the sanle good order and willing obedience to the laws and the regulations of the Government, Which have so creditably characterised the conduct of the population at the Gold Fields since their first occupation are still maintained. If the produce has been less than was anticipated, that may be readily shown to have arisen from temporary causes, and not from any failure in their productiveness or extent. The unusual fall of rain has prevented the bed claims of the rivers from being worked during the greaterpart of the season ; and many persons, attracted by the richness of the gold fields of Victoria, have temporarily proceeded thither. The tide of immigration is now, however, steadily setting back to this colony ; and as the population engaged in gold digging increases, there can be no doubt that the produce will show a corresponding augmentation." The Sydney folk were not indifferent to the reports of the discovery of Gold in New Zealand. In addition to copious quotations from our Columns on the subject, me Empire of the 4th instant makes the following reference to it:— New Zealand Gold.—We have been favoured with an inspection of a sample of gold brought from Auckland, which is certainly of a singular description, and entirely different from any gold which we have seen obtained in this colony. Some of the gold is in the form of thin leaf, very light and ductile, and much of it is associated with quartz pebbles, being thickly distributed throughout the substance of the stone. This sample is certainly very curious, and well worth seeing. &Mr. J. G. Cohen thus speaks of it in his Gold Circular of the 24th of December : " I have had handed to me by R. Dacre, Fsq. the firsl sample of gold from Coromandel (New Zealand) ; it has the appearance of recent disintercation from the matrix, and seems almost wholly free from the effects of aqueous action. Bullionists estimate its value at standard price." Further publicity was given to the discovervby the following note appended to the ordinary advertisement, of the sailing of the Raven : " N B. —Passengers per Raven intending to visi! the Coromandel Gold Fields can examine the specimens of gold just to hand by the Raven, and also learn the Government regulations, and see the map of the Diggings, by calling at Mr. Wright's office." On the 13th ult., agreeably to a Proclamation of the Governor-General, the flags were hoisted half-mast at Government House and the Forts of Port Jackson, and sixtyfive guns were fired from Fort Phillip being tokens of public respect to the memory of the illustrious Duke of Wellington, similar to those which are this day to take place in Auckland. The heat of the weather at Sydney was verv intense. On the 51st ult. the thermometer rose to the extraordinary height of 107°. The Sydney Corporation with all its imperfections on its head is to last for another year. A Bill for its abolition, and the substitution in its place of Commissioners, was before the Legislative Council, but at the end of the Session was postponed. The Mayor of the past year, Mr. Thurlow, had resigned, avowedly for the purpose of placing himself in a position in which he might be re-elected for the ensuing year,—the Mayor being the Returning Officer, and the Supreme Court having decided that the Returning Officer cannot return himself. The scheme did not succeed, however, as when the day of election arrived, (the doth ult.), Alderman Egan was chosen by a majority of 122 over Mr. Thurlow. The Commercial Reports were favourable, showing large demands with adequate sup-J plies of most articles. Flour had fallen to 21/. per ton for first, and 18J. for seconds : Bread Gd. the 21b. loaf.