ENGLISH INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 53, 31 January 1843, Page 2

ENGLISH INTELLIGENCE.

Piesident Tyler, it was reported, intended to resign the Presidentship of the United states, in consequence of his being thwarted in all his measures. At a meeting of the friends of the late Dr. Birckbeck, ■ on Monday, at Freemason’s Hall, Lord Brougham in the chair, it was agreed that the best testimonial of public gratitude to the four der of Mechanics’ Institutes, would be to endow a Professorship of Mechanics and Manufactures in the University College, London. The aspect of Eclesiastical affairs in Scotland is extremely perplexing. The Evangelical party have a majority of upwards of one hundred in the assembly. Sir Charles Bell, the eminent practitioner, expired suddenly on Thursday, April 28th, at Hatton' Park, near Worcester, where he was staying on a visit. A most important and beneficial regulation, relating to chaplains in her Majesty’s navy, is about to take place. When those gentlemen qualify and perform the duty of naval instructor and schoolmaster in ships, they are to have, in addition to the pay of chaplain, three-fourths of that granted to naval instructors, and after a certain period, a similar portion of half pay. Thus, a clergyman of a man-of-war, combining the duties of chaplain and naval instructor, will have sea pay, amounting to near 2QOI. a year, in addition to 51. a year from each of the youug gentlemen he educates ; the latter will, however, most probably be discontinued. It was stated that a messenger had been sent to the British cabinet, and subsequently to Vienna and Berlin, to notify a resolution on the part of France, that the Queen of Spain shall marry a Bourbon, accompanied by a direct menace that she will consider the contradiction of any other power as a causus belli . And the Frankfort journal states, that Prince Luitpold of Bavaria is destined as the future husband of Queen Isabella of Spain. Lord Stanley has expressed his determination to put down the Port Natalists, so that their doom is fixed. Between the 10th March and the 30th April, eighteen vessels, with 3690 passengers, emigrants to America, left the port of Cork. The Semaphore de Marseilles mentions the fitting out of a French naval squadron/ to proceed forthwith to Tangiers. Orders had likewise been received at Toulon to fit out in. ail haste a corvette of war, to proceed direct to

( .New Zealand. The Sapine corvette, now under repair, was also to sail for the South Sea 'i Islands. ' j Some tons of valuable Exchequer documents on parchment are reported to have been sold, and ednyerted into .isinglass. Several families have been thrown into great affliction by the discovery of letters of an improper nature, found in the bureax of Mrs. F. . a ieader of the fashionable circles in London, which induced her husband to send Mr. >H—for an explanation to Lord —. During the embassy another bureau was opened, and letters of a similar tendency were found froffl Mr. H. the particular friend of Mr. F. Of coutse tlje negociation with the Peer was ended, and the brail wretch is thrown upon the world, "the x , Irish Peer is married to the most charffling^as. well as the most interesting and beings. His lordship’s condudt has Consigned him to a banishment' from Windsor-, AhereDom the change of Ministry, he would be placed in. r a most prominent position. There is no excuse' for this laison — Limerick Chronicle. [Lord PoWeiscort is the Irish Peer f alluded to.] > . Misplaced Confidence. —Simeon, who recently opened one of the Hon.. Mr. Murray’s splendid shops in Collins-street, had not .long entered his new premises, when he called a meeting of his creditors; the shelves of his shop appeared to be well stocked with goods, so that the creditors at the first blush of the affair thought they would get something like a decent dividend. On examining, however,- the stock-in-trade, it was discovered that a variety of packages marked “ gentlemen's hose/’—r “ ladies’ hose, —“ white kid gloves,” &c.., contained nought but a brick which had. been neatly tied up in brown paper for the purpose of- de- ' ception. A whole string :of 'hat boxes, \yere found to he empty, and other frauds of -a'like > nature were discovered ;, the creditors, we be- ’ lieve, intend to make am example of him. i Since the above was 1 in* type, we understand the fellow has bolted /to/* Van Diemen’s Land.—. \ Port Phillip Herald. Duke of Orleans. —As a proof of th£ rapidity with which intelligence, is conveyed from one part of the world to another, it may be mentioned that the news of .the death of the Duke of Orleans was published nearly as early in London as in Paris—tlie sad occurrence appearing simultaneously in the Thursday’s papers of both capitals. The different ranks and orders of-mankind may be compared to so many streams, and rivers of funning water. All proceed from an original and small obscure source some spread wider, travel over more countries, and make more noise in their passage than others ;: but all tend a like to an ocean where distinction ceases, and where the largest and most celebrated rivers are equally lost and absorbed with the smallest and most unknown streams. Woolwich, July 21. —An Immense Gun. —Yesterday a barge arrived at the wharf ,of the Royal Arsenal, having on board the largest gun ever made in this country! A powerful shears was put up expressly for landing this ponderous piece of ordnance, weighing very nearly eighteen tons, none of the cranes on the wharf being equal to the task. The arrange-. . ments for landing this great gun were excellently made, and carried info effect without the ' slightest accident; and the labourof conveying it to the butt, which has been carried on to 7 day, shows great ingenuity, being effected by a coil of strong rope' around it, moving the immense mass in a rolling manner' along four large' logs of wood, changed alternately as the gun progresses. This gun is made on the howitzer principle, and is about 12 feet long, with an"’ immense quantity of metal at the breech; The diameter of the bore is within about one-tenth of 16 inches. The weight of' solid, shot with which it will be fired is 455ft>s., and shells of 330ibs., and it is expected' two solid 1 shot •of that weight and four shells in the same proportion will be used when it is proved at the butt. The howitzer was cast and bored by Messrs. Walker & Co., for Mehemet Ali; Pacha, of ''•J Egypt: and two other large gunS, 130 poun- / ders, were landed at the'same time, to be proved ? for service in Egypt. A Bankrupt Law.— The Emperor of Russia threatens all bankrupts in his dominions with knout and exile in Siberia, who do not pay over .40 per cent, on their liabilities. , Marble is now used in place of Ivory for min- - ature painting ; it is said to take and retain the colour in a very superior manner, and .to be free from the influence .of damp and heat. At a meeting of the rate-payers of Cork, if was unanimously resolved to raise the sum of 2000/. to aid in promoting emigration to British colonies. For this purpose a rate of 2|-d. in the pound was agreed upon. Mr. M'Cullqch, in his‘Commercial Dictionary,. computes the gold coin of the country at 30,000,000/. ■ ' / -v

Melbourne. —We extract the following Port Phillip news from the lately received Portland Bay papers r—A destructive fire at ? Melbourne, on the night of the i6th ( ,Optpbey. We are not in possession of the. but w.e believe the fire originatqd m a soda water manufactory at the corrier bf Cdlfins and

Queen streets, whence it extended to two shops recently erected by Mr. T. C. Riddle; and to the d.apery shop of Mr. A. H. Hart, the wine and spirit stores of Messrs. Cropper & C 0.., the Insurance and Savings’ Bank offices, the stores and office of Messrs. •Turnbull, Orr, & Co. ; destroying' the whole, and only ceasing on the destruction of the premises of Messrs. Annand, Smith, & Co. All these buildings were, we believe, insured in a portion of their value. At one time of the fire, it was feared that the conflagration would have extended to the Bank of Australasia, and to the Wesleyan Chapel, situated at the opposite side of the street, but happily the fear was groundless. — Portland Mercury.

Savage Customs of the Aborigines of Australia Felix. —Mr. Wright has recently returned from a nine days’ tour in the interior, bringing with him to town four runaways whom he picked up at some of the stations he visited. Mr. Wright brings intelligence respecting the revoltingly barbarous customs of • 'the aborigines, which we hope every philanthropist and friend of humanity will consider it his duty to lend a willing hand to abolish. His * tour to the westward was limited to Mr. Allen’s station on the Pyrenees, where a short time after his arrival a female aborigine died, leaving behind her a child a few weeks old. Many aborigines had assembled on the occasion, and testified in acts of rude kindness their sorrow for the fate of their departed friend. Life had not been long extinct when they stretched the dead body upon a piece of bark, and placing over it a pile of wood, set fire to the same, which in three quarters of an hour reduced the body to a heap of ashes. Mrs. Allen, touched with a feeliug of commisseration for the sufferings of the bereaved child, endeavoured to administer to it some cow’s milk, which was snatched .from her hand and swallowed by a man, who appeared from the interest he took in the child, to be its• father whereupon Mrs. Allen retreated to the house, and it was doubtful to say what was the . fate of the poor child, as in a short time afterwards the whole tribe had disappeared. Mr. Allen also communicated to Mr. Wright that a short time previously a native boy died on his station, whose legs and arms immediately after were cut off for the purpose of being eaten. Mr. Allen gave them a sheep in order to prevent this horrible act of cannibalism, which notwithstanding was committed ; another custom generally observed by them is, that when one of their males dieo, .i. natural death or otherwise, the body is immediately disembowelled, and the intestines placed in a wicker basket, which is fixed into the fork of a tree, the body being placed in another at a short, distance, around which the survivors seat themselves, and for , many hours watch for the falling of the worm, and whatever part of the tree it falls from they immediately commence a journey in that direction, which is often continued many days, till they fall in with a hostile tribe, one of whom is instantly sacrificed.and devoured, under the impression that the death of the deceased was occasioned by his means. Native Genius of the Hindoos. —A native of Calcutta, by hereditary profession a - blacksmith, who was .employed for many years in cutting punches, having now little occupation, has adopted the following ingenious mode of obtaining a livelihood. He libs manufactured an iron press upon the model of one of those in use here, and set up a. printing .office, at which he has printing for the country at large. Last year he printed a native almanack of a superior character, which had a remarkable run. Soon after this, lie began to engrave on lead, pictures of the gods and goddesses of the Hindoo pantheon, of which huudreds of thousands were struck off on inferior paper, and obtained a ready sale. He determined to print English hooks for the numerous youths of the poorer classes, who are now endeavouring to obtain a smattering, of our tongue, and for whom-, even the. low-priced, elementary works of the: Calcutta School Book Society are too high. But the individual w r e allude to, finding English type, at second liand, too dear for his purpose, has cut a set of punches for himself, and cast the types, which he .employs for this work. They are entirely wanting in that beauty and exquisite accuracy which characterise our English types, but to an inexperienced eye, the difference between them and letters cast in Europe or America, would scarcely be apparent ; and to a native, the inferiority would be altogether imperceptible.. Thus furnished by his own ingenuity with the whole apparatus of a typographical establishment, he is enabled to produce works at so cheap a rate as completely to undersell the presses in Calcutta. The nar tive booksellers in that city, a rising race, though at present of little note, are happy to avail themselves of his labours, and purchase edition after edition of his cheap books. — Indian Paper. o

(From the Portland Guardian.) We are indebted to our Van Diemen’s Land contemporaries for the following late Indian news, received byway of the Mauritius : Th q Delhi Gazette of the' 25th May (quoted by the Madras Spectator of the 11th. June),

announces that the return of Captain Colin Mackenzie to the fort of Tazeen, whence he had been dispatched on parole on mission to Jellalabad, had so much surprised, and been appreciated by Akbar Khan, who did not expect such faith from an infidel, that he w f as induced to restore that gallant officer at once to liberty. The release of the other prisoners in the fortress at Tazeen, was considered as still remote, the terms demanded being eight lakhs of rupees, and the restoration of Dost Mahommed to the throne of Cabool. Letters from Jellalabad and Futtyabad confirm the account of General Pollack’s departure from the former place on the 20th, and his arrival at Futtyabad on the 21st August.' They also mention that another officer, Captain E. Saunders, Engrs., has fallen into the hands of the enemy. Captain Saunders had hitherto escaped detection under the disguise of a butcher, but was at last denounced to Akhbar Khan and immediatelv seized.

(From the Geelong Advertiser.) Chinese Trophies.— Our readers will not have forgotten the circumstances of the wreck .of the Kite East Indiaman, on the Chinese coast, and the fate of the crew, and the revolting cruelty practised by the natives on Mrs. Noble, the wife of the captain of the Kite, who was confined in a cage and carried about for six weeks. Among the numerous curiosities brought home by the Wellesley, and landed at our dockyard, is one which has excited no little interest, on account of its being the identical cage in which Mrs. Noble was imprisoned. To give some idea of the state of torture to which the English are subjected by the august relatives of the sun and moon, we give ihc description of this instrument. It is made of rough fir slabs, and measures oiily two feet eight inches in length, one foot six inches in breadth, and two feet four inches in depth, with a hole on the top for the unfortunate lady’s head to come through; so that when the head protruded the inmate cculd neither sit nor stand upright. It is to be sent to the British Museum. A very curious anchor, such as is used in China, has also been landed at this dock-yard from the Wellesley. It is very roughly made, the palms badly welded, and an iron hoop over the crown to support them. The shank is of great length, and the stock, which is also very long, is passed through the shank between the palms, about 18 inches from the crown. A great number of persons have seen the anchor, and expressed much surprise at its rude construction. A great many of th© orew of tU© have brought home, some trophies of their services in China; but wc regret to state, that some have been deprived of their lawful spoils of war by the officers of the customs, as being chargeable for duty. These articles are of little intrinsic value, hut of infinite worth to poor Jack, as the history and reward of his successful personal daring. The Albert steam vessel, was at Ascension on the 28th May, daily expecting’orders to proceed to England. The WUberforce' and Soudan steamers, were at Fernado-Po, about to proceed up the River Niger. They had not crossed the bar of this river for want of water, but as the rainy season had terminated, the river was expected to rise rapidly. It was not intended by Captain Allen to proceed higher up than the model farm, unless the state of the cre\V and other circumstances promised a good result from further investigation. The crews having been partly inured to the climate, are now far better prepared for the intended ends of the expedition.

Hunting in South Australia.— No people in the world enter into the spirit of hunting' with so much ardour as Englishmen : to them, the “ pleasure of the chase” exceed all other enjoyments. How many happy faces and joyous hearts meet at the cover side; and what can create so much excitement as the view halloo, or what music go thrilling as the full notes/of the hounds, when opening at a crash at /he burst, and whr:t sight so cheering as hounds!and field getting away. Our great, great grai>afa-> there, for centuries before us, followed hounds, and found, as we do at the present time, that* hunting leads to health and good Englishmen, with the full knowledge of its delights, have established this national sport in all parts of the world where they have formed a permanent residence ; in the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, pac% of hounds have been established on the old. English system, and have throughout been kept up with the spirit the cause deserves.; the* native dog and kangaroo affording as good funning as the fox and stag. Almost every person, on leaving England, adds to his personal luggage a guncase complete—’twill be as well, in future, to make the, addition of leathers, tops, and scarlet, a good. Millroy, and—no, not Prince Albert’s patent safety stirrups—but a good snaffle bit, for hel may make up his mind that, go to what colony he may, he will find a pack of hounds in full work. In South Australia, a pack has beeij established by subscription, and although it ifc as yet in its infancy, there is every prospect ofthe hunt thriving. At present there- aro eleven and a half couple of hunting hounds, six couple and a half of very promising.puppies, as v?£ll is

expectations of others; and, in spite of bad times —the want of that vile gold which vulgar prejudice has made So necessary —in spite of debt and taxes, the hounds have been out g*ene- . rally once and sometimes twice a week ; they have had some brilliant runs, and if it please the goddess of the chase, will have some more beI fore the end of September, when the season closes. The method of hunting in South Australia differs in a slight degree from that pursued in England, from the difference existing between a thickly populated country, and one in nearly the opposite extreme. The kangaroos and native dogs have no particular covers, but inhabit a country side ; it is consequently necessary to quarter the ground with hounds almost as closely as would be done with pointers, and this requires good hunting hounds—fine noses, deep mouths, and plenty of dash in them ; they ought to hunt with a wide front, hark quickly to any hound opening, and be very obedient to the huntsman’s voice ; all mute hounds and babblers are worse than useless: for killing, they require good courage ; for the native dog, unlike the fox, has a very tough skin, and dies hard; and the kangaroo, when easily run into, defends itself with its hind feet, and is quite as ugly a customer as a deer with his antlers. No particular rules can be given as to the running of either native dog or kangaroo : perhaps the former takes (if he can) a straight line, with a side wind, but the latter rings like a hare, when found in its lying ground ; but if found at pasture, takes direct for its lying ground, without reference to the direction of the wind. It is difficult to give any directions with re - gard to making a cast when hounds are at fault. If a kangaroo is a-foot, it would perhaps be as w r ell to try back, if a native dog lift the hounds; but in all cases this must he left to the judgment of the person hunting the hounds; the country hunted over, the sort of scenting day, besides many other circumstances, make it impossible to lay down any rules on this point. With reference to hounds feeding, kennelling, &c., the kennel should be large and airy, the yards paved with brick or stone, and kept perfectly clean ; the food given regularly once a~day, consisting of meat boiled, and the soup mixed with pollard or oatmeal, and be it observed, every night before the hunting day, raw meat should be substituted for the regular mess. The hounds ought to be exercised every day, either out with the whip, or some person who knows them, or let out to run about for, a few hours; these may appear home truths to many, but they are rules to adhere to; and if they •, effect a good change in any hounds, the writer’s "object will be accomplished. , |j Americanism. —“ My dear Murphy,” said an Irishman to his friend, “ why did you betray the secret I told you ? ”Is it betraying you call it? Sure, when I found I wasn’t able to keep it myself, din’t I do well to tell somebody who could ?”