ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 56, 10 February 1843, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

(From, the Colonial Observer.) THE QUEEN’S VISIT TO SCOTLAND. From the last English papers we received, wc extracted a notice that her Majesty had left London at the latter end of August, on a visit to Scotland. The Sydney papers, which bring English news to the 13th of September, enables us to furnish such of our readers as feel an interest in this royal peregrination, with some particulars of the trip. Her Majesty and suite landed at Granton pier on the Ist of September, while the Lord Provost, Bailies, and Councillors of her ancient city of Edinburgh were fast asleep, and immediately proceeded to Dalkeith Palace, the residence of the Duke of Buccleuch. On the day following, her Majesty made her public entry into the city, and long and detailed accounts are given of the warm reception she received. The Lord Provost presented her Majesty with the keys of the city, and delivered a suitable address. The Queen, of course, returned them, with an intimation that she had no desire to be troubled with them. Before doin«; so, however, Prince Albert “ examined them, but without taking them in hand.” Our Scotch brethren of the press, not having a Queen to gaze on every day, have made the most of the matter, and among other extraordinary events, record the following : —On the royal cortege passing the Assembly Hall, that building was pointed out to her Majesty. “ She communicated the information to Prince Albert. Both of them looked at it for a moment, and then, turning their faces towards each other, they mutually smiled. This circumstance was distinctly observed by many of the spectators.” The dress of the royal personage is not forgotten.—The Queen “ was dressed in a French white casebonnet, with a small ostrich feather, a blue shawl of Paisley manufacture, and a silk dress of Stuart tartan. Her Majesty looked extremely well, and bowed repeatedly to the people by whom she was welcomed on leaving the Palace. Prince Albert was seated on her left, and was dressed in a black hat, dark coat, light trousers, of a greyish or pepper-and-salt colour, a light vest, and a green ribbon over his shoulder, from which was suspended the insignia of one of the orders with which his Royal Highness has been invested, but which of them we could not ascertain. In his hand he carried a small but elegant walking cane.” The visit of her Majesty to the Metropolis of Scotland did not pass over without one of those accidents which too frequently attend such festivities. “ A large range of scaffolding had been erected in Prince’s Street, extending from the foot of the Mound a good way up the gardens. The seats rose above each other from the front railing to a considerable height above the ground. The scaffolding had been erected in the beginning of the week, to command a view of her Majesty on her arrival. Admission was obtained by tickets. On Saturday it was densely crowded, especially part of it adjoining the foot of the Mound, close by which the royal carriage was to pass. Immediately after the carriage had passed, and when it was not yet a hundred yards into Prince’s it is said there was such a rush from the crowd beneath to obtain a station,’the gate-keepers were overborne, and great numbers pressed in ; but whatever truth there may be in this report, no sooner had'the rdyal carriage passed, than this part of the scaffolding was seen to give way in fragments, precipitating the whole mass of human beings, perhaps about a thousand persons, into the gardens, and about the railings beneath. No sound like a crash was heard at the distance of the breadth of the street. The warnings were the screams of ladies, the horrified expression of the countenances of spectators, the strong and sudden ejaculation and outburst of feeling, and the turning of every eye from the Royal cavalcade to the fatal spot. There was little stir or rushing to see. People stood fearstruck and stock-still. As soon as the accident happened, a company of the Enniskillen Dragoons, who were following the royal carriage, instantly struck off from the procession, and breaking access to the place, formed a complete line round it. Their conduct and the conduct of their officers cannot be praised enough. A good many physicians and surgeons came speedily to the spot. Persons who had sustained severe injuries were lviug on the ground

in all directions, some covered with blood, and many insensible.” The Queen afterwards visited Dalmeny Park, the seat of the Earl of Roseberry, and then returned to Dalkeith Palace, where she received a number of deputations. On the following Tuesday, she proceeded to Perth, and next morning left Scone Castle forTaymouth Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Breadalbane. New from England, by the Hamlet, extend to the 13th September. The tumults in the manufacturing districts are now generally quelled. It is computed that there are nearly 2,000 persons now in gaol throughout the country, for being concerned in the late disturbances. Almost all the gaols are choke full. Some of ’’ them can hold no more. * , The Dublin Evening Mail announces that Archbeacon Pakenham is to be the new Bishop of Meath, and Mr. T. B. C. Smith SolicitorGeneral. The wool trade seems to be in a stationary state, and there is nothing to report as to prices. The subject of a modification of the American tariff, so as to admit American grown produce at a cheap rate, occupies the attention of the latest London and New York journals. Lord Hill, on his retirement from the Horse Guards, had been raised to the rank of a Viscount of the United Kingdom. Dispatches had been received from Dusseldorf, dated Wednesday, the 7th September, announcing the severe illness of his Majesty the King of Hanover, and his subsequent favourable progress towards recovery. Mr. John Marshall, of London, the great emigration speculator, is appointed chief commissioner of the Income Tax, with a salary of 1,500/. a year. —The Rothschilds, of London, have offered to compound for the income tax for the three years at 24,000/. Government have conferred pensions of 80/. * a year each on the four daughters of the late Colonel Dennie, of the 13th foot, who was killed at Jellalabad, where he commanded a sortie. In a general order, dated August 26th> the Duke of Wellington has appointed to be his aides-de-camp, Colonel the Hon. George Anson, Lieutenant-Colonel the Marquis of Douro, Cornet the Earl of March, and Cornet the Marquis of Worcester. Major-General Sir Arthur Clifton is spoken of as successor to the late Lord Vivian, in the Ist Royal Dragoons. Lord Greenock is to - take the colonelcy of‘ the 11th; or ; ' Albert’s Hussars. The London Gazette of the 6th September announces honours conferred on the 13th Regiment of Light Infantry. It is licensed to assume the title of the 13th, or Prince Albert’s Regiment; to bear on its colours and appointments a mural crown superscribed “Jellalabad, as a memorial of the fortitude, perseverance, and enterprise, evinced by that regirrifeht, and the several corps which served during tlfe blockade of Jellalabadancl is permitted to wear a medal distributed by the GovernorGeneral of India to every officer, non-com-missioned officer, and private, belonging to the garrison of Jellalabad. The unprecedented abundance of money’iff’' the City is the subject of surprise among all mercantile men. They cannot comprehend how such immense sums should have been so suddenly disengaged from business. Nor are they less astonished that the holders of it do not find out some satisfactory modes of investment. Some months ago, not less than five per cent, was regularly given for short loans of large sums, and now any amount may be had at one per cent. The result, it is said, must be a material reduction in the dividends of the Bank of England, and all the joint stock batik S throughout the kingdom. The coalition between Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell is now the subject of belief and discussion in almost every journal throughout the country. : The ship Sir George Rooke arrived safe off the Tower, 9th August last, at ten minutes after two o’clock. She was saluted "by her Her Majesty’s ship Waterwitch, just arrived from the coast. This ship is the loftiest out of water of any in Her Majesty’s dominions, and has had the longest voyage on record, having been in commission thirty-five 'years' : past, surveying every point of the compass.' The greatest anxiety was exhibited for her safe arrival, and she was welcomed with the loudest acclamations by an immense concourse of people.— Times. Another Earthquake in Scotland; —A pretty smart shock of an earthquake was felt last Sunday, about mid-day, by the congregation assembled in the cathedral church of Dunblane, which is about eighteen miles from Comrie. The shock occurred just before the dismissal of the congregation in the forenoon. Volcanic agency has for some time been suspected to be at work in this locality; and the instruments indicated the direction to have been in a line from north-west to south-east, or the direction will, perhaps, he better understood by drawing a line upon the map from

Dunblane to the parliament house of Edinburgh. This accounts for certain noises in the church, which have been heard almost weekly for some months past, attributed by the superstitious to the rattling of the bones of the old Romish clergy buried underneath the cathedral, in resentment of attacks made upon their orthodoxy, there being no living Homan Catholic in the parish to vindicate their tenets. The idea of the bones being commoved, however, had occurred also to scientific men, who, more philosophically, though as it turns out quite as erroneously, ascribed it to some electrical influence on the old prebend stalls proceeding from galvanic substances, in or near the modern pulpit. Those more accustomed to consider causes and consequences, were a good deal alarmed at the signs of subterranean energy under the old building, which the shock above referred to indicated, but the less initiated describe the sensation as rather pleasant than otherwise. —Glasgow Reformers’ Gazette.

Affecting Incident. Previous to the Afghanistan warfare Miss Walker, a highly accomplished Scotch lady, possessing great personal attractions, was engaged in marriage to Munro, surgeon of a regiment serving in India, which, on the first outbreak, was ordered to proceed to Cabul. Before the order was issued young Munro arranged that his intended bride should leave her home for the Indies, in order that their future destinies might be linked together in wedlock. Before her departure from Scotland, Miss Walker apprised Mr. Munro of it by letter, which reached him on his route to Cabul, when his Colonel gave him leave of absence, that he might be enabled to meet her on her arrival. He had scarcely obtained that leave when necesssty compelled the commanding officer to recall it, and order him to join his regiment, which had such an effect upon him that he shot-.himself through the head. Miss Walker has arrived, and is at present residing with Mrs. Ramsay, completely ignorant of the fate of her intended. Speech, —There is no greater miracle than the power of speech. What more wondrous than the evolving of thought in the chamber of the mind, and its winged course to the tongue ? What matchless machinery, by which thought becomes embodied, as it were, and in one moment transmitted to thousands of fellow minds ! Lusus • -Naturje. —A female child, about three months old, is now exhibiting in Chappiestreet, New-road. She has two heads, the body and all the limbs being in every other respect perfect. The child is named Elizabeth Eeelbury, and-waS: born atWandswor-th, in Surrey, on the 17th of April List. Her father is a costermonger. The Income Tax. —Officers’ widows residing in Dublin have been surprised by the receipt of circulars from the office of the Post-master-General of the Forces, containing three forms of certificates for their immediate signature, with reference to the amount of their incomes... It. appears that the residence of this class of persons in Ireland will not exempt them from the- payment of their proportion of the Income Tax, in cases where the yearly income of the party amounts to the fatal 150/. per annum. If they have any other source of revenue which with the pension will raise the income to 150/., the party will also be liable. Similar documents have been served on all lialfpay and other officers receiving pensions out of the Consolidated Fund. The Blowing up of the Vesta Wreck. — During the past week much interest has been manifested in the operations being pursued under the superintendence of Captain Fisher, chief harbour-master of the port of London, in order to entirely destroy and remove the wreck of the barque Vesta, of 400 tons, which has for the last two years so materially impeded the navigation of the Thames off Gravesend, and which wap finally completed on Tuesday. From the statement of Captain Fisher, which is most interesting, it appears that the owners, crew, and those engaged in endeavouring, to raise the Vesta, having entirely abandoned her, he received instructions from the Corporation of London to use some means for clearing away the wreck. Believing the only effectual means of doing so was to blow her up with gunpowder, he caused two lighters to be moored near the place, and having obtained the valuable assistance of Mr. W. Downes, the celebrated diver, he succeeded in ascertaining the exact position of the wreck, which was found to lie with her head towards the shore, fixed on a very hard bed of chalk, on which she had ran. His first attempt was with a tin canister containing 401 b. of guupowder, with a fusee attached, and which was placed by Downes immediately underneath the main hatchway. On being fired, its effect was such that it not only blew the deck completely out, but also removed the vessel bodily from the spot where it'had previously lain. He repeated this experiment with eight other canisters, containing the same weight of powder, in all 3601 b., but discharged them by means of galvanic batteries, which he found more efficacious than the fusee. The effects of the discharges were not so great as might have been expected from the havoc committed by the first; and he (Capt. Fisher) was fepful of increasing them, lest injury should lesylt Ip the houses on shore. The firing took

place from the lighters, which were moored 250 feet from the spot where the wreck lay, in seven fathoms water at low-water mark. Finding the small charges were insufficient to blow the hull to pieces, Captain Fisher directed two canisters, containing each 1 161 b. of gunpowder, and another containing 1651 b., to be placed inside the vessel. It was found that the former were effective in loosening the timbers, and the cylinder having been placed in the body of the wreck, it was fired. In an instant a loud rumbling noise was heard, accompanied by a violent commotion of the water, and immediately after the air became blackened by immense masses of the wreck shooting ab»ve its surface, surrounded by a dense volume of smoke, to the extent of twenty feet. The larger portions were secured and dragged ashore, but a great mass was floated away down the river. On examination the whole of the Vesta’s larboard quarter was found to be carried away from her keel to her bulwarks, as were also her bows. The starboard quarter and stern were much shattered. On Downes again descending, he found that all which remained of the vessel was the bottom, which was shivered to pieces, and may be easily„ 4 got up. In consequence of the success of the experiment it is expected that the Corporation will direct the steamer Apollo run down off Northfleet some years since, also to be blown up. Experiments at Woolwich Dockyard.— On Thursday Captain Smith, R. N., inventor of the paddle-box boats, exhibited an invention of his for extinguishing fires, at the same time answering the purpose of affording facilities for the descent of persons from a height up to about 65 feet when in danger from fire. This invention consists of a carriage upon four wheels, similar in dimension to those used for the common fire-engine. The carriage is about 12 feet long by 6 broad, in the centre of which is raised a hollow mast about 25 feet high, on the outside of which pieces of wood are attached to form a ladder, which may be ascended with the greatest ease even by persons not much experienced in climbing. From the centre of the mast another is raised of smaller dimensions, extending the height to about 50 feet. A cross beam about 20 feet in length, similar to the cross-yards of a square rigged vessel, having a leathern nose with the conducting pipe attached to one end, was raised in less than two minutes by five hien by the simple aid of a rope and pulley to the height of the mast-head, and the whole direction of the apparatus was effected by the strength of four men, proving when the force of two fire-engines, worked by 96 men, were applied, that an immense volume of water could be discharged in a body at any height up to 90 feet, and with such precision as to insure that it would soon extinguish any fire, and almost under any circumstances that could occur when that devouring element gained the ascendancy. The experiments with this important invention were repeated several times, and another engine was worked in the usual manner, to show that the volume of water thrown up by it lost in a manner its effect at a height of about 30 feet, the water spreading into the form of a heavy shower of rain at a higher elevation. By Captain Smith’s plan, the conducting pipe, with the water emanating in a body, could be conveyed through a window into the interior of a burning building. When not in use the mast is lowered to a horizontal position in the same manner as the funnels of steam-boats when passing under any of the low-arched bridges, and it rests on an iron support when conveyed from its station to the spot where its services may be required. Mr Braidwood, of the fire-engine department, was present during the whole time, and appeared to approve of the invention.