ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 208, 28 July 1847, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Notwithstanding the great efforts so humanely made by the Government to alleviate the sufferings of Ireland and Scotland, yet, in (he former country, destitution was increasing — there being no less, it is stated, than 1,400 human beings dying weekly of starvation. The Court of Munich. — We regret to say that the intelligence we receive from Bavaria is such as to cause us very great concern. The proverbial propriety of Munich is sadly outraged, and the domestic politics of Southern Germany bid fairly to be speedily revolutionized, by the unexpected ascendancy of a stranger. Lola Montes — the famous Spanish danseuse, who visited the London stage some three or four years back, and in the course of her subsequent tiips paid a visit to Warsaw, where she excited suspicion by the patriotic pus seal, and tore out the eyes of the officer sent to apprehend her — has at le»gih made a bargain- of her boleros, and bounded per saltum from the precarious shelter of a provincial patronage into a Royal palace and a King's favour. In the twentythird year oi his Royal experience, his Majesty Louis- Charles has been carried by storm, and his energetic conqueror shows no symptoms of resigning her pride. She reigns supreme at Munich, dispenses all dignities, and bestows all favours ; taking toll, of course, of the bounties of which she is the distributor. She has just bespoken a countess's litle and a fine domain, and is clearly not at all inclined to apprt-ciate or reward herself illiberally. Unhappily for the tranquillity of the kingdom, the good Bavarians, however they might tolerate the estrangement of the King's love, are sorely wounded at the alienation of his money, and the Ministry demurred at a generosity which showered bouquets of Crown lands and coronets upon astage dancer where less costly acknowledgements had been thankfully received. The Cabinet, however, were uo more a match for Lola than the Russian General had been ; and though rumour does not mention that on this occasion she flew in their iaces otherwise than metaphorically, yet a dissolution did speedily follow, as a Ministry which had directed the Bavarian councils for ten years has been shattered to pieces by the destruclive effects of this new Spanish match. Our last despatches mentioned that Prince d'Oettigen Wellerstein had been summoned from his post at Paris to assume the presidency of the new Council, and to steer it clear of the rock on which his predecessors had split. The fallen functionaries have the entire sympathy of the nation. The conceit as well as the economy of the honest Germans is scandalized I y the transaction, and the unpopularity of the importation is materi illy aggravated by the contempt with which the home produce has been supeiseded in its favour. Other things beside charity might begin at home. Our George 1. had more reason in his excursiveness. A King who could speak no English might not unfairly be pardoned for importing his own society, and yet the country was dreadfully exasperated by the malicious observations of the Jacobites, that the Duchess of Kendal, in addition to being over 12 stone weight, was not an Englishwoman born. King Louis has no such excuse for his bitter reflections upon Munich, and the indignation of his people is proportionately great at the way in which the money is let out of the family. Three or four riots have already occurred, and our reports state that Bavaria has been in no such ferment since those ominous convulsions which succeeded a rise in the price of beer.

The Royal Marines are to be recruited to the extent of 1500. Lord Torrington had been appointed Governor of Ceylon.

PENSIONERS FOR NEW ZEALAND.-

The Right Hon. Earl Grey to Lieut.Governor Grey. Downing-street, 24th Nov., 1846.

Sir, — In my despatch, No. 4, of this date, I have apprised you that her Majesty's Government have determined on raising for service in New Zealand a corps, which will receive the designation oFthe Royal New Zealand Fencibles. I will now proceed to state, for your information, what are the views which have led to this determination, and what steps are to be taken to carry it into effect. It is intended that this force should be composed of men discharged from the army, either with or without pensions, and who therefore are already trained in militarydiscipline and duties. Men of good character, and still of vigorous constitution will alone be permitted to enter this force ; and I find that, from enquiries recently instituted by her Majesty's Government, there is little room to doubt that a sufficient number jof discharged soldiers, answering this description, may readily be procured for the purpose. You are probably aware that under an Act of Parliament passed three or four years ago, the pensioners of the British army, residing in this country, have been organized for service, when required, under the command of Colonel Tulloch. I enclose a paper showing thp terms upon which they serve. 13,000 of these men have been thus organized, and it is found that ten or twelve days' exercise in the year are quite sufficient to enable these old soldiers to manoeuvre with sufficient precision for most military purposes. I likewise enclose another paper showing under what modifications of the above conditions the New Zealand Fencibles will be engaged. As in New Zealand what you require is rather to be enabled to command, at short notice, au overwhelming force to put down any resistance which may be attempted to the authority of the Government than the constant service of a large body of troops, it is the opinion of her Majesty's Government that men thus engaged for service, when wanted, will hardly be less valuable, for at least some military purposes, than regiments permanently embo* died ; while, at the same time, they will afford a highly valuable increase of the supply of labour in the colony. lam aware that hitherto discharged soldiers have not proved good settlers, but I conceive that this has arisen from the circumstance that men accustomed during the greater part of their lives to be constantly under die care of their officers, and to be left very little dependent upon their forethought and providence, have been sent into our colonies under no superintendence whatever, and left to shift for themselves under circumstances altogether novel to them, and under difficulties with which they were little fitted to contend. It is, therefore, intended that the men to be embodied for service in New Zealand, though they will not be constantly employed in military duty, should be under the constant care and superintendence of officers in permanent pay. Six companies, of about five hundred men, will be in the first instance enrolled, and will be sent out to New Zealand with the least practicable delay. I prcpose that these men should be established in two or three villages, to be prepared for their reception, in the northern part of the island, and probably in the vicinity of Auckland. The men of the proposed corps will in general be accompanied by their wives and families ; each man is therefore to have a cottage or hut prepared for him, with one acre of land, of which one quarter must be cleared. In order to enable the men to maintain their wives and families, they will have (besides the small quantity of land to be assigned to them) an assurance of regular employment at fair wages.. This assurance there can, of course, be no difficulty in giving in a new colony where labour is so greatly in demand, and in which, for some years to come, the construction of roads, which you have justly pointed out to be no less necessary for military than for civil purposes, will alone furnish the means of advantageously employing a considerable number of men. It is not intended that the men composing this force receive grants of land beyond the small quantity I have mentioned, which will be rather calculated to answer the purpose of gardens than to provide for their support. 1 conceive, that until by their own industry they can save the means of purchasing enough land for their entire maintenance, it is much better lhat they should continue in the same condition of life as that in which they are at horne — that namely, of labourers for wages. I have said that they will be under the care of officers in permanent pay; in each of the proposed villages for these military settlers, there must therefore be erected two or ' three log-houses, such as are occupied by the better class of settlers. To each of these

houses ten acres cleared and forty of uncleared land should be attached ; and it is proposed that the officers should occupy them rent free, and shall, at the end of ten years, become entitled to po>sess them as freeholds. I consider it as an essential part of the plan that the men composing this force should be in this manner settled in villages ; this will,in the first place, contribute greatly to their security, and render them far more available than they would otherwise be for military duty when called upon at the shortest notice ; but further, I consider it a great defect in the state of society in most of Oiir recently established rolonies, that the population is so much less collected together in villages than it is in this country, and than it was in the first British settlements effected on the American continent. The keeping together villages of the first settlers in what are now the New England states of the American Union, which was rendered necessary by the danger of attacks from the Indians, greatly contributed, as I believe, to the success of those settlements, and especially to their maintaining their place in the scale of civilization. It is obvious, that both education for the young and religious instruction for all ages can be far more cheaply, and far more effectively provided far a population thus collected in village?, than for one scattered in isolated habitations over the whole extent of the country. To realize this advantage, with respect to the proposed military settlers, it is intended that each village prepared lor their reception should contain a school house, which may also for a time serve the purposes of a chapel. Such is the plan which her Majesty's government have determined on adopting, and of which I trust that the explanation I have now given will be sufficient to enable you, without delay, to adopt those measures which are necessary in order to prepare for its being carried into execution. The measures to which I advert are the laying out and building the villages in whch the military settlers are to be received bn°their arrival. I have therefore to instruct you immediately to determine upon the site and plan of these villages. In choosing the sites, the first consideration must, of course, be where the services of a military force of this particular description, are calculated to be most useful. I do not anticipate that these men, though all possible care will be taken to select those who are strong and healthy, will be available as youngpr soldiers for military operations requiring long marches and fatiguing exertions; but for the garrisons of any posts which require to be defended, it may, I think, be calculated that they will be not less useful than any other tioops which can be employed, and that they will thus render disposable an equal number of men of the regular force. This will render it, of course, advisable that they should be established where their services in the garrison will be most valuable, which would probably be in the immediate vicinity of Auckland. Whatever military operations may be in progress elsewhere, the capital and seat of government «tnust always be left in security, by having a sufficient force maintained for its protection. Without, therefore, fettering your discretion by any positive instructions, I have to suggest that the greater part at least of the Fencibles should, in my opinion, be established as near to Auckland as may be practicable. But it is also important that the sites of these military villages should be so placed that the greater part of the adjoining lands, of which the value will of course be very greatly increased by the formation of these settlements should be still in the possession of the Crown, since it is calculated that, by the sale of these lands, a considerable part of the expense incurred may be hereafter recovered. With respect to the kind of houses and cottages to be erected, I have only to observe, j that they should afford good and comfortable accommodation, but that all unnecessary expense must be most carefully avoided. In these villages, I trust that it may be in your power to avail yourself, to a considerable extent, of the labour of the troops already in the island, and that their cost may thus be kept within very moderate bounds. I hope that no very long time will elapse before the first of the men who are to compose this fcrce may be sent ; and if it should be found that there is really the facility I expect in enrolling and sending to New Zealand military settlers on the plan I have described, the measure may hereafter be extended, and military settlements will probably be formed not only in the northern part of New Zealand, but also, in concert with the New Zealand Company, in the neighbourhood of Cook's Strait. — I am, &c, (Signed) Grey.