LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 250, 22 December 1847, Page 2

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

[From , the Port Phillip Her. fc Sydney papen] , The arrival of the Thomas Hughes and Vixen has furnished as with news from Britain some days later than we have had, mud Captain Lowe of the latter barque has kindly supplied us with a copy of the Times of the 24th July, being the latest home journal in the province. Parliament \ias prorogued on the 23rd July, upon which memorable occasion the' Queen, Lords, and Commons of England, assembled for the first time in the magnificent hall of the new palace at Westminster. The attendance was extremely brilliant and

numerous, and her Majesty in person delivered the following 'SPEECH FROM THE THRONE: — My. Lords and Gentlemen, I, have much satisfaction in being able to release you from the duties of a laborious and anxious session. , I cannot take leave of you without expressing my grateful sense of the asuduity and zeal with which you have applied yourselves to the consideration of the public interests. Your attention has been principally directed to the measures of immediate relief, which a great and unprecedented calamity rendered necessary. I have given my cheerful assent to those laws which, by allowing the free admission of grain, and by affording facilities for the use of sugar in breweries and distilleries, tend to increase the quantity of human food, and to promote commercialdntercourse. I rejoice to find that you have in no instance proposed new restrictions, or interfered with the liberty of foreign or internal trade as a mode of relieving distress.. L feel assured that such measures are generally ineffectual, and in some casci aggravate the evils for the -alleviation of which they arcadopjed. .„ I cordially approve of the acts of large and liberal bounty by which you have assuaged the sufferings of my Irish subjects. I have also readily given my sanction to a law to make better provision for the permanent relief of the destitute in Ireland. I have likewise given my assent to various bills calculated to promote the agriculture and develope the industry of that portion of the United Kingdom. My attention shall be directed to such further measures as may be conducive to those salutary purposes. My relations with foreign Powers continue to inspire me with confidence in the maintenance of peace. It has afforded me great satisfaction to find that the measures which, in concert with the King of the French, the Queen of Spain, and the Queen of Portugal, I have taken for the pacification of Portugal, have been attended with success, and that civil war, which for many months had afflicted that country, has at last been brought to a bloodless termination. I indulge the hope that future differences between. political parties in that country may be settled without an appeal to arms. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, - I thank you for your willingness in granting me the necessary supplies ; they shall be applied with due care and economy to the public service. I am happy to inform you, that notwithstanding the high price of food, the revenue has, up to the present time, been more productive than I had reason to anticipate. The increased U9e of articles of general consumption has chiefly contributed to this resulr. The revenue derived from sugar, especially, has been greatly augmented by the removal of the prohibitory duties on foreign sugar. The various grants which you have made for education in the United Kingdom will, I trust, be conducive to the religious and moral improvement of my people. My Lords and Gentlemen, I think proper to inform you that it is my intention immediately to dissolve the present Parliament. I rely with confidence on the loyalty to the Throne and attachment to the free institutions of this country which animate the great body of my people. I join with them in supplication to Almighty God, that the dearth by which we have been afflicted may, by the Divine blessing, be converted into cheapness and plenty. The Lord Chancellor then declared Parliament to he prorogued till Tuesday, the 21st September. A Privy Council was held at half-past three o'clock the same day, at which a proclamation was ordered to be issued for the dissolution of Parliament. On the same evening a supplement to the Governmint Gazette was published, dissolving Parliament, commanding the necessary writs for a general election to be made out ; such writs to be returnable ou Tuesday, the 21st September. A proclamation also appeared, directing the due election of sixteen representative peers of Scotland, which was to take place at Holy rood House, Edinburgh, on Wednesday, Bth September. Under such circumstances it might be well supposed that every other political consideration was made to yield to the merits, demerits, successes, and discomfitures of the respective candidates who were contending for a participation in the "collective wisdom" of the new Parliament. Qd the 22nd July the Queen in Council was .pleased to appoint the Right Hon. W. S. Lascelles, and the Right Hon. Sir William Sommerville, members of her Majesty's Privy Council. With regard to the Money Market, the Times reports that on the evening of the 23rd of July, the English funds continued heavy. A variety of causes, amongst which might be mentioned the expectation of £450,000 stock being shortly sent upon the market, in consequence of the liberation of railway deposits at the end of the session — the increased demand for money which had that day been particularly evident—- and the renewal of the circumstances which recently threatened a rapture between Turkey and Greece, having further contributed to this tendency. Consols opened at 88f to \ for money, and went down to 88£, from which they scarcely recovered, the closing price being 88§. The foreign stock market was not much affected by the business transacted, and prices, on the whole, were steadily, maintained. The Continental news is of no great import.' King Leopold of Belgium was^it was

thought, on the point of abdicating. Cardinal Ferreti had accepted the office of Secretary of State, at Rome, and Prince Rospigliosi, Commander in Chief of the Roman National Guard. In Spain matters were still in a precarious position — connubial quarrels between their majesties, and intrigues and speculations through the ministers and generals. Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Albert were to proceed on their visit to Scotland about the third week in August. The war in the Caucasus was still raging, and a letter from Petersburgh announced " that immediate preparations were being made in the Caucasian provinces for the approaching campaign against the mountaineers. The army which was to act against them was to be 150,000 men, and the writer felt assured that when the Emperor of Russia was perfectly recovered he would place i himself at its head. Fever of a most ,malignant nature was prevalent in the large towns of England and Scotland. The squadron of the Prince de Joinville had sailed from Cagliari, and would remain for some time on the coast of Italy. Considerable sensation was created in Paris by the trial and conviction of four persons of rank, two of them ministers of ths Crown for corrupt practices. The following notice of the trial is from the Morning -Chronicle, of the 20th July: — The Court of Peers assembled at twelve on Saturday, with closed doors, as on the three preceding days, and again remained all day in deliberation. As the hours passed on, the crowd in the court of the Luxembourg increased considerably ; so that towards five o'clock it was impossible to get through the mass of persons wedged together, except by the single avenue kept clear by the police agents. At three o'clock a notice had been sent to the counsel of the prisoners that the judgment would be probably delivered about five o'clock, and that they should hold themselves in readiness to attend. Tbe gentlemen of tbe public press, also, received similar notice, and a room to wait in was placed at their disposal. It is the custom to admit the public without tickets when the Court of Peers gives a judgment, and at five o'clock when the doots were opened, the rush was tremendous, an.l in two minutes every place was occupied. The Chancellor then intimated that the public sitting had commenced. The accused were not present, the judgment being always intimated to them after the proceedings, by the registrar of the court. M. Delangle, the Procu-reur-General, and M. Glandaz, the Advocate General, occupied the places appropriated to them during the trial. Mr. Paillet, M. Teste's counsel, and M. Baroche, General Cubiere's counsel were present. The gentleman who had defended M. Parmentier was present. The Chancellor having intimated that he was about to read the judgment of the Court, the legal defenders rose up, and remained standing to the end. Tbe judgment, after recapitulating the charges with all the repetitions incidental to legal documents, and quoting at length the articles of tbe penal code which relate to the case, declares all the prisoners guilty, and then passes the following sentence, which we gave in brief yesterday :—: — "The Court declares confiscated to the profit of the hospitals of Paris the sum of 94,000f. given to Jean-Baptiste Teste to consummate corruption. " Condemns Jeau-Baptiste Teste to civil degradation, to a fine of 10,000f., and to three years' imprisonment. " Condemns Amedee-Louis Despans Cubieres to civil degradation, and to a fine of 10,000f. "Condemns Marie- Nicholas Parmentier to civil degradation, and to a fine of 10,000f. " Orders that each of the persons so condemned be held personally, and without any joint action, responsible for the pecuniary penalties mentioned above. - " Condemns Jean-Baptiste Teste, Amedee Louis Despans Cubieres, and Marie-Nicho-las Parmentier, to be conjointly responsible for the costs of tbe suit, of which costs the payment shall be effected conformably to law, both for the portion to be supported by the persons condemned, and for that to be borne by the state. " Fixes at five years the duration of imprisonment that may be exercised towards the condemned in case the pecuniary penalties abovementioned are not duly paid. " Orders for the execution of the present judgment shall be diligently looked to by -the Procureur-General, who shall see that it be printed, published, and placarded wherever he may deem fit, and who shall 'have the same duly read and notified to the persons condemned. " Deliberated on and passed at Paris on this 17th day of July, 1847, in our council chamber at -the Luxembourg." [Here follow the signatures of Duke Pasquier and of 187 other Peers.] . . .

The court then rose at about twenty minutes past five, and the public at once dispersed. Immediately after, M. Cauchy, the Registrar of the Court, proceeded to the prison of •the Luxembourg (prison only in name, as the rooms are fitted up with every elegance and convenience that can be imagined), and there read to MM. Teste, Cubieres, and Parmentier, the above decision. The same journal has the following passage from a private letter, with reference to the Governorship of Algeria, &c. : — I have just learned, with certainty, that the Duke D'Aumale has been appointed Gover-nor-General of Algeria, and that he will have under his command, for the three provinces the Generals Chargarnier, Bedeau, and Lain or ciere. Yesterday, when the sentence of the Court of Peers was announced to M. Teste, that portion of it which condemned him to imprisonment, threw&him into a violent state of frenzy, which \produced congestion^oj? the^ 1 brain, and his wound threatened a dangerous abscess. To day his state is such as to threaten serious consequences. As soon as the judgment was intimated to General Cubieres, he paid the various sums in which be was mulcted, amounting in the whole to 12,000 francs, and he was forthwith liberated. M. Parmentier will not be discharged until he has in a similar manner, paid the fine and his share of the costs. •% i A Court of Directors was held at the East India House, on the 4th August, when the Earl of Dalhousie was appointed GovernorGeneral of India, and Major- General the Right Hon. Sir Henry Pottinger, Bart., G.C.8., Governor of Madras. A number of appointments had taken place : Sir Byam Martin to be the Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom, vice Sir George Martin, who only lived a fortnight in the enjoyment of that dignity. Sir George Martin also enjoyed the title of Admiral of the Fleet, a vacancy which need not necessarily be filled up. Mr. W. M. Bellew, to be a Lord of the Treasury, in place of the O'Connor Don, deceased. Iv. was reported that Sir Harry Smith would be apj ointed Governor ot' the Cape of Good Hope, in succession to Sir Henry Pottinger. Sir Harry Smith was Adjutant-Gen-eral at the Cape of Good Hope during the Kafir War of 1838, and commanded the forces in the field. He was exceedingly popular with the colonists, ami the appointment will, we are sure, be joyfully hailed by them. Among the persons lately deceased we observe the names of J. Walter, Esq., principal proprietor of the Times; R. Fountayne Wilson, Esq., of Melton, one of the richest Commoners in England; Dr. Griffiths, VicarApostolic of the London district ; Dr. Mostyn, Roman Catholic Bishop of Durham ; the O'Connor Don ; Dr. Andrew Combe, of Edinburgh ; and Captain Maclean, remembered as the husband of L. E, L. the popular poetess. The interment of O'Connell took place on Thursday, the sth August, in the cemetery at Glasnevin. The potato Crop, we are sorry to learn, was a partial failure. The Medway was to sail on the 15th August, with the new bishops for the Australian colonies ; the Walmer Castle was to leave on the 10th September, with the newly appointed Commander of the Forces. The annual conference of the Wesleyan Methodists commenced its sittings in Liverpool on Wednesday, July 28, when the Rev. Samuel Jackson was elected president ; and Dr. Newton again chosen secretary. Several successful experiments have been' made in France on the etherisation of bees, so as to be able to take their honey whilst they are in a state of inaction, without the necessity of destroying their lives.