LATEST ENGLISH NEWS

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 219, 4 September 1847, Page 3

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS

• [From the Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 4.] The Es^eranza brings us English news to the 13th April. We select the following from the South Australian, of the 20th July :—: — By the British Sovereign, just arrived with emigrants, we have received papers to the 10th April, from which we cull the following intelligence :—: — By a report dated 12th April, sent to one of our merchants, and by Hardy's List of the bame date, we find that the following vessels were to sail from London as under :—: — John Bartlett, 13th April. Rachael, 333 tons, 25th April. Cressy, 710 ton^, with, emigrants, April 27. Rajah, 350 tons, 3rd May. Dutchtss of Northumberland, 600 tons, with emigiants, 18th May. In addition to the above, we copy from the South Australian Ne\'s, the following respecting Dr. A. C. Kelly's proceedings :—: — " We learu that he is endeavouriug to collect a sufficient number of emigrants for two vessels, which the Commissioners have, in that case; promised to put on at Greenock. He has already secured about 150 or 160 agriculturists iv his own country, the Lothians, and is now busy in Ayrshire, on the same purpose. We wish the Doctor success in his operations."

Money Markets. — City, 12 o'Clock. — The revenue returns "have given free occasion ,for comment and congratulation this •morning, and are, upon the whole far more satisfactory than the state of affairs in Ireland, &c, might have led us to expect. The results for the quarter are most looked at here, because they affprd a more appropriate* estimate of the national resources, the full bearing of the food scarcity being supposed to be felt since the commencement of the present year. The increase upon customs for the quarter, approaching so nearly to half a million sterling proves the vitality of our commerce, and must arise, not alone from imports of actual oecessarieSj which now pay little or no duty, but upon staples counted among, the comforts of the industrious classes — the growth of our colonies as well as of foreign parts — and upon articles employed in our manufactures, every quarter during the year, comprised in this return, exhibits an increase. We, have a clear gain on the year of more than two millions applicable to ways and means. The , addition to the Post Office revenue is considered particularly gratifying here. As to the charge of Consolidated Fund, this already exhibits the marked effect of Itish^distress, nearly three millions sterling having been expended in' the quarter? ended Iht sth Aj>ril ?|> while Jn mp^tof'tbV.d'ther

items, including the interest of the debt, there is a saving. City people look, however, upon this Irish golf, and evidently doubt as lo the probable period of its closing, although the hope is expressed that the last loan may prove sufficient, by the perseverance of Government in husbanding the Relief Fund to meet the drain. Of the £960,000 received as the first instalment of the loan, about £830,000 were required to liquidate the excess of expendituie (including Ireland) over income ; and the rest constitutes the surplus of £628,781, which will, no doubt, be steadily drawn upon, for the same object as that to which the £3,000,000. has beeu applied. These are the points which most attract attention in the city. The highly satisfactory state of the revenue had the effect this morning of slightly improving the funds, but the advance had not been sustained. Consols for money and the Accounts opened at 88^ to SB-f, but the bear party having again appeared as sellers, the price soon dropped to 88 to 88j. Bank stock has been done at 200| and 199^ ex. div. ; three per cents reduced, 87f to 87£ ex div. ; 3| per cents 88| to 88^ ex div. ; long annuities 9 to 9 1-16 ex div. ; Exchequer Bills 3 l-4prera.; India stock 246^ to 247.— G10be, April 6. Consols had fallen within the last week#of our advices from 88^ to 86f . Exchequer bills, keep about par, their range being from 2 dis. to 2 pm. The Turkish Ambassador has presented his wife to the Queen at a drawing-room. She wore the ordinary court costume of an English lady, and her face was wholly unconcealed. His Excellency was in the dress of his country aud office. Fortifications are erecting on a large scale at Gosport, and the coast defences of Scotland are likely to be increased. The Bank of England on the Bth of April issued a notice, advancing its minimum rate of discount to five per cent. The agitation on the government plan of education, proceeds in England, but not with much success. The measure is considered likely to pass. It is. said that Sir Robert Peel is likely to stand for Birmingham. Eton Montern is finally abandoned ; a new Fives Court is approved of by the mascers, probably as a peace-offering. The expense will be borne by old Etonians. The Times or the 10th April says: — " The education scheme (ot Ministers) is received with positive satisfaction m many quaiters from which opposition had been confidently and rashly anticipated. The Wesleyans, we see by one of their organs, are not hostile to the measure ; other Dissenting bodies have determined to withdraw the opposition into which they had been misleJ by a too ready concurrence in the misrepresentations and vaticinations of Baines & Co. Ministers ters may now proceed to realise the object of the Minutes wiih the certainty, not only of a majority in Parliament, but of cordial congra-r tulation out of doors." In the Times of the 10th April, we have a partial account of a most dreadful shipwreck, which happened on the shoal of the Alacranes, on the 1 2ih February. The Royal mail steam ship Tweed struck and was almost instantly in ■pieces, leaving a portion of the passengers in a con .ition apparently hopeless, the rocks being rugged, and never less than two feet under water, the tide rising sometimes six feet over them. So total was the wreck, that beyond a little provision and clothing, the shipwrecked persons were unable to recover anything but a small boat nearly hroken to pieces, which, however, they contrived to patch together, and a party oi nin" went, on a forlorn hope, with the intent of making Yvcatan, seventy miles to the southward. It is difficult ;o say which is the_inost surprising — 'that they should have succeeded, or that the miserable wretches in the water should have survived for four days, when they were taken on board by the Spanish brig Emilia % and 79 saved — one-half of the persons who were on board at the time of the. wreck. The behaviour af all concerned was equally creditable — of those in the boat for their courageous daring — of those on the rock for their discipline and endurance — of the Spanish captain for his ready succour — , and of his owners for their generous refusal to accept the slightest compensation for the use of their vessel. i The spread of pestilence in Ireland is rapid, and its effects most dreadful. Burials are incredibly numerous — to that extent that churchyards are filling up, and applications making to proprietors for fields to supply their places. In one day, we read of nine funerals, the deceased being all tenants of the same person. j The distress is increased by the reduction of the persons employed by twenty per cent., and 'notice is' given of another reduction to the same extent.' A 'soup kitchen has been opened in Dublin,' on M. Soyer's new plan, at which alone, it is said, 5000 persons can be fed daily. A letter from the Isle of Skye; dated March 31, represents the condition of the poor as

! being extremely bad. The writer complains of the great efforts made for Ireland, while nothing is being done for the starving Scotsmen. The Duchess de Montpensier is likely to go to Madrid for her accouchement, by the express wish of th- King of the French, who wishes that event to take place in the capital of the kingdom of which she is the heir presumptive. On Monday, March 29, Marshal Soult entered his eighty- third year. He was made a Marshal of France in 1804, and consequently has held that high rank forty-three years. A hell has been lecently cast by Messrs. Mears of Whitechapel, for Montreal Cathedral, which is the largest bell in the British Empire ; the diameter at the mouth is 8 f. 7 in., ttie height to the shoulder is 5 ft. 11 in., and the weight 3| tons. " The Mighty Tom" of Oxford, one of the largest bells in England, is only 7 ft. 2 in. diameter, and weighs 8 tons. Messrs Mears were also the founders of the great bells of Lincoln and York.

Connubial Compromise. — The King and Queen of the French always occupy the same bed, which is almost as broad as it is long, but those two halves are very differently composed. On one side is a plain horse-hair mattress ; on the other an excellent feather bed. The latter is for the Queen. The Princes and Princesses are accustomed, like the King, to sleep on a single mattress.

The Blind Fiddler and the Footman. — A little incident once came under our cognizance in Bond-street, which those who are curiousiin their observation of character will perhaps not think unworthy of mention. We stopped one night to hear a blind man who was playing the violin in a style very auperior to that of most stieet music ans. He was a stout fellow, with a face strongly pitted with the small-pox ; was decently, though plainly dressed ; and seemed to appeal much more to the sense ami tasje of his audience than to their pity. There was an air about him of expecting their halfpence as a matter of course. Whether it was this, or what it was, that got him into some dispute with a bystau ler, we cannot recollect. Probably it was hit- being a little tipsy. But when he spoke, he rolled his words out to as much purpose as he had been rolling hi* blind eyeballs ; and his anger rendered his speech, we thought, the more touching for his blindness. It sepmed hard that people could not let alone a man that bore, his misfortunes so stoutly. " Do you insult me," cried he, at the close of his harangue, "on account of my blindness? Was not Handel blind ? Was not Stanley blind? Was not the great Painter blind?" (Painter was the name of a blind organist at the Foundling.) A man in the crowd finding him make a pause at the close ot these words, said in a very formal and final lone of voice, "Go home ; you are drunk." Fixing his blind eyes in the direction of this man, the musician made a somewhat prefatory pause ; and then said, with a truth that looked like instinct, "You're a footman." Such was the case. The man had a laced hat. Footmen are not popular, owing to an impression that they do nothing but eat and drink, and wait behind cainages and ladies, in great well-fed calves and white stockings. The observation turned the tide in the minstrel's favour ; and* the footman was glad to basteu away from the dispersing multitude. We conversed with the blind man ou his way to his lodgings, which were in a court in the street ; and on our asking what class of people he found the most liberal in their disbursements for Lis music, he said (in so many words), " the Bondstreet loungers." — Leigh Hunt t in the Atlas. Fortunate Loss. — Many years ago, a lady sent her servant, a young man about twenty years of age, aud a native of that part of the country where his mistress resided, to a neighbouring town, with a ring which required some alteration, to be delivered into the hands of a jeweller. The young man took the shortest way across the fields, and coming to a little wooden bridge that crossed a small stream, he leaned against the rail, and took the ring out of its case to look at it. While doing so, it slipped out of his hand into the water. In vain he searched for it, even till it grew dark. He thought it fell into the hollow of a stump of a tree under water, but he could not find it. The time taken in the search was so long, that he feared to return to tell his story, thinking it incredible, and that he should often be suspected of, having gone into evil company, and gamed it away or sold it. In this fear he determined never to return — left wages aud clothes, and fairly ran away. This seemingly great misfortune was the making of him. His- intermediate history I know not ; but this, that after many years' absence, either in the East or West- Indies, he returned with a very considerable fortune. - He now wished to clear himself with his old mistress, ascertained that she was living ; purchased a diamond ring of considerable value, which he determined to present in person, and clear his character by

telling his tale, which the credit of his present condition might testify. He took the coach to the town of - , and then set out to walk the distance of a few miles. He found, I should tell you, on alighting, a gentleman who resided in the neighbourhood, and who was bound for the adjacent village. — They walked together, and in conversation this former servant, now a gentle-man, with graceful manners and agreeable address, communicated the circumstance that made him leave the country abruptly many years before. As he was telling this, they came to the very wooden bridge, " There," said he, "it was just here that I dropped the ring ; and there is the very bit of old tree into the hole of which it fell — just there." At the same time he put down the point of his umbrella into the hole of a knot in the tree, and, drawing it up, to the astonishment of both, found the very ring on the ferule of the umbrella. , I need not tell the rest, but make this reflection — WhySyas it that he did not as easily find it immediately after it had fallen in ? It was an incident, like one of those, in Parnell's Hermit, which though/ a seeming chance, was of purpose, and most important. — Blackwood's Magazine.

Napoleon's Tomb at St. Helena. — Mr. Browne, the author of " Etchings of a' Whaling Cruise," &c, on his way back {from America, lands on the Island of St. Helena,, and, of course, visits the place where the immortal hero's bones once rested. He gives us the following story :—": — " In the course of the afternoon, I was favoured with numerous anecdotes of what had occurred at the tomb of Napoleon within Mr. Carroll's recollection. I was particularly amused at an account of an irascible Frenchman, who conceived himself insulted by a Yaukee. Though such an anecdote must lose in the repetition, I shall give it as nearly as possible in the language of the narrator. An Englishman some years, since visited the tomb, and indited in the re--gisfer a verse on the Ex-emperor to thi»' effect: — ,"," • Boney was a great man, A soldier brave and true ; But Wellington did lick him at The field of Waterloo. « This was not in very good taste, not exactly such an allusion as an Englishman should be guilty of at the tomb of a conquered foe. Nevertheless, it contained indisputable truths. A Yankee visited the place soon after. Determined to punish the braggart for so illiberal and unmanly attack on the dead, ha wrote immediately under it, But greater still, and braver far, And tuffer than shoe-leather, Was Washington, a man what could Have licked 'em both together. The next visitor was a Frenchman, who, like all his countrymen, was deeply attached to the memory of Napoleon. When he had read the first lines, he exclaimed, with looks of horror and disgust, ' Mon Dieuf Quel sacrilege ! Sans doute, les Anglais sont grands cochons/' The Yankee skipper's addition next attracted his eye. He started as he read ; gasped, grinned, read the lines again ; then, dashing his hair, danced about the room in a paroxysm of indignation, screaming, ' Sacre diable ! Monsieur Bull is one grand brute ; but le frere Jonathan is one savage horrible ! Sacre ! sacre! I challenge him ! I shall cut him up in vera small pieces !' He called for his horse, rode post-haste to town, and sought , the Yankee everywhere. Alas, the bird had flown ! The ship had just sailed ; the skipper was gone ! Unappeased in his wrath, the Frenchman called upon the consul for redress, but was told redress could not be had there. Straightway went the enraged man with his complaint to the governor. His Excellency reasoned with him, moralised, philosophised, but to no purpose. Nothing would satisfy the irascible Frenchman but the erasure of the offensive lines, which, by order of the governor, were stricken from the register."'