ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 275, 18 March 1848, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Her Majesty, Prince Albert, and the Royal Family, were at Windsor, „ The, -Prince of Wales and the Prince»s Alice were riding on their Shetland ponies one morning, when they started off at full speed. The Prince kept his seat, and the Princess Alice was thrown on the turf, but without injury. Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, and their serene Highnesses the Duchess Ida and Prince and Princesses of Saxe Weimar, and their respective suites, embarked on board the Hojve, 120, on the 10th October, for Lisbon, where her Majesty will make a short stay, and then reembark for Madeira. The Queen Dowager gave a concert at Marlborough House, to a' party of her most intimate friends, at which Jenny Lind suag her Swedish "melodies. It is said 'that Mr. Herries would take the place of Lord George Bentinck as the leader of the opposition. Queen Isabella, »f Spain, completed her seventeenth year on the 17th of October, and the first year of her marriage. There is but little intelligence of interest from the West Indies. Some shocks of earthquake had been experienced at St. Lucia and Trinidad, and there is a confirmation of

the reports as to the disorganization of society at Port-au-Prince, and the continuance of the feud between the black and coloured population, ft would appear that each party is only waiting for a suitable occasion to enter upon a scene of bloodshed. The blacks are now in possession of the forts above the cit^, and also the palace ; the extermination of thewhite and coloured inhabitants is threatened. Several brass Chinese gingalls, of very curious make, and several pieces of iron ordnance, captured by the 28th regimeut at the taking of Chusan, have been presented by the officers of that regiment to the United Service A correspondent of the Augsburg Gazette writes from Berlin, September 27th, that Sir Robert Inglis, who staid there a few ilnys, flatly contradicted the report of the approaching marriage of the Duke of Wellington with Miss Burdett Coutts. The whole rumour, said he, originated in a mere joke. Miss Burdett having called upon the Duke, with d large sum of money for the erection of churches in the colonies, the Duke praised her generous liberality, adding playfully, you deserve to be a Duchess ; to which the Marquis of Douro, wlio was present, remarked, "You see, Miss Burdett, my father makes you an offer." The Commerce publishes a letter from Southern Russia, which states that the cholera has made frightful ravages in that country. The entire population has beeu swept off in some districts, a fact unprecedented even in the years 1831 and 1832. Six physicians have been sent from Warsaw to the scene of these "calamities, with a mission to study the disease profoundly, and to ascertain the difference between the present malady and that which ravaged Europe fifteen years since. The Augsburg Gazette announces that the disease is approaching Moscow with rapid strides. It was even said that some cases had appeared in that city. A family belonging to the higher classes, which was proceeding from Saratoffto Moscow, lost two servants during the journey, and on their arrival at Moscow, a chiU am! its nurse died. Colonel Stalupin, an aide-de-camp of the Kmperor, who was at his estate near Saratoff, had fallen a victim to the scourge. The choleia iiad likewise appeared at Odessa. His Highness the Viceroy of Egypt has determined on having two steamers running regularly for thefuture up to the cataracts of the Nile. In consequence of the involved state of the Duke of Buckingham's affairs, his Grace's library at Stowe, amongst other of his goods, chattels, and properly, was about to be brought .Jo the hammer. The great value of the library consists in precious MSS. of various kinds relating to Ireland. The Vixen, steam-sloop, Commander Ryder, was ordered to fit out immediately at Portsmouth for the embarkation of Mr. Percy Doyle, the newly-appointed British representative to the Republic of Mexico. Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, son of Lord William Fitzgerald, and nfphew to the Duke of Leinster, is the Secretary to Mr. Moore O'Ferrall, the new Governor of Malta. The Land Improvement Act was in active operation in Ireland. According to the Dublin Evening Mail, " loans to the amount of many thousands weekly have been made under the Act." A correspondent of the Home News says, it has been arranged, as soon as that the new B'shop of Manchester is consecrated, (which ceremony was to take place in October) three new Episcopal Sees will be formed, — namely, the Bishoprick of Southwell, comprising part of the present See of Lincoln ; the Bishoprick of Bodmin, comprising the whole of Cornwall, now under the episcopal jurisdicton of the Bishop of Exeter ; and the Bishoprick of St. Albans, comprising the whole of Hertfordshire included at present in the See of Rochester. The Viceroy of Egypt had embarked to make the tour of the island of Cyprus and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. It is expected that Lieutenant Munros commuted punishment of twelve months' incarceration will be further mitigated to half that period ; and there existed little doubt in military circles that he would again enjoy a commission in the army. The receipts of the British and Foreign Bible Society for the year 1846 amounted to £117,000 — being the largest amount entrusted to its management since its establishment. Henry Howard, Esq., R. A., Secretary and Professor of Painting to the Royal Academy, died at Oxford in the 78th year of his age, on the sth October last. ( The Augsburg Gazette states that the Pope had written autograph letters to the Emperor and Empress cf Austria, in order to induce a friendly termination of existing differences. The Weiser Zeitung states that a rich collection ot Hebrew books, consisting of 5,000 printed volumes, and 800 manuscripts, forming the library of M. Michel, of Hamburgh, has been purchased by the' British Government.

The Swedish Nightingale had migrated. She left ths Custom-house Quay in company with her aunt and servant, on the sth October, in the John Bull steamer, for Hamburgh, en route for Sweden. The Rev. Messrs. M'Dougall, of Magdalen Hall, and Wright, of Queen's College, were about to proceed on a mission to Sarawak, in Borneo.

New Bishopric in Australia. — It is intended, so soon as the necessary arrangements can be made, to create a new bishopric for' Western Australia, the chief tov/n of which is distant 1,200 miles by sea from South Australia. From accounts just received, it appears that the Church is advancing steadily in those parts, and growing in the affections of the people ; but yet the districts are so widely separated, and the missionary labours so few, that Albany, King George's Sound, has not been visited for two years, being distant 300 miles inland. A Bill for the establishment of a railway from Valparaiso to Santiago de Chile is at present under discussion. The Constitutionnel states that the Austrian government, menaced in Italy, is at present most gracious to Hungarians from whence it is probably about to demand a new levy of men and new taxes. Transylvania has consented to furnish 11,000 recruits, and the passage of Austrian troops through Pesth, for the frontiers of Switzerland and Italy, is incessant.

Great Revolution in Steam Propulsion. — A discovery has been perfected by Mr. S. R. Parkhurs>t, which must supersede the existing mode of steam propulsion, and revolutionise the traffic by sea. This invention is secured by patent in Great Britain and all her colonies, the United States, France and all other parts of the world. The advantages are threefold : a greatly increased rate of speed, a vastly increased power of stowage, by the reduction of the present cumbrous machinery in the holds of steamers, and reduced expenditure in the cost of the engin? power. But we may state briefly, that a number of submerged vertical propellers are to be fixed on each side of the vessel ; these revolve in unison, and by the force with which they take "hold of the water, and the power which this combined action gives them, must send forward the ship at a speed aliogether unattainable^ the present or auy knowu system. It is asserted by practical meti that a vessel so -peopelled- would cross the Atlantic in nearly half the time of the best steamers now employed in ocean navigation. This invention has undergone the scrutiny of eminent and practical men in England, by whom the most favourable opinions have been expressed of its favourable character. During the past week, experiments have been tried by the application of steam power to these propellers, one of which, 6 feet high, 30 inches diameter, was driven by a six-horse power engine 294 revolutions per minute. This test has removed all doubts on the minds of those who were previously the most scei ti a 1 . — Times.

A Hint to the Owners of Hot-houses — " Give me air, or I shall die," is an exclamation most people have heard occasionally, but which a gardener might listen to every hour of his existence, had he the skill to interpret the language of plants. " Give me air, 6r I shall die," is incessantly repeated by every leaf in ninety-nine hothouses, green houses, conservatories, hibernatories, and pits, in a hundred, all over Europe. But the Voice is unheard ; the pale looks, the feeble frames of the sufferers are disregarded ; heat is offered as a substitute for air, and the duties of Horticulture are thought to be fulfilled when a blanket is wrapped round a patient perishing of suffocation. — Gardeners' Chronicle.

A Matrimonial Advertiser.— A story was told me, with an assurance that it was literally true, of a gentleman who, being in want of a wife advertised for one, and at the place and time appointed, was met by a lady. Their stations in life entitled them to be so called, and the gentlemen, as well as the lady, was in earnest. He, however, uuluckily seemed to be of the same opinion as King Pedro was with regard to his wife, Queen Mary of Arragon, that she was not so handsome as she might be good, so the meeting ended in their mutual disappointment. Coelebs advertised a second time, appointing a different square for the place of meeting, and varying the words of the advertisement. He met the same lady — they recognised each other — could not choose but smile at the recognition, and perhaps neither of them could c'oose but sigh. You will anticipate the event. The persevering bachelor tried his lot a third time in the newspapers, and at the third place of appointment he met the equally persevering spinster. At this meeting neither could help laughing. They began to converse in good humour and the conversation became so agreeable on both sides, and the circnmstance appeared so remarkable, that this third interview led to a marriage, and the marriage proved a happy one ._2%tf Doctor, by Southey,

The Dead Season. — It is curious to observe how the importance of things varies with the season of the year. During the session of Parliament importance has a fall. A steam boat may blow up, and kill a score of people, and it is hardly worth notice. A revolution will pack in a couple of lines. The King of the French may steal a march without raising a hue and cry, and painless operations under ether are not deserving of mention. But now every thing guicquid agunt homines is of consequence, and happily the season when the impoitance of things advances is also the season when all sorts of marvels occur. Now it is that vegetables of enormous size stop a gap in the press ; now it is that dogs display the greatest wonders of sagacity ; now it is that horses run races with railway trains ; now it is that hail-stones fall as big as billiard-balls ; now it is that romantic adventures come to light ; now it is that triple-bob majors are rung round in so many minutes ; now it is that the holes in the bottom of the Great Britain are measured to an inch ; now it is that fishermen are choked with live flounders; now it is that Lola Montes and her bull dog are never out of a riot ; now it is that a thousand and one things happen, the like of which is not remembered by the oldest inhabitant ; and now it is that every one should be aware of any slip ; now it is that leading articles let nothing oscape, and comment without stint or mercy on every transg ession. There is a season for all things, and persons who have a mind to do wrong should choose the spring and summer for their misbehaviour. We have seen an offence escape in a paragraph in six lines in June, which, in September, would have drawn forth columns of comment to be measured by the mile. Judges and magistrates, railroad directors, and railioad servants, should bear this fact in mind, and exercise caution, or permit themselves license, according to the season. From the prorogation of Parliament to the Autumn assizes is the hunting season of the press, and woe betide the quarry afoot in that keen period. — j xaminer.

The Propaganda. — The College of the Propagation of the Faith is on an exteusive scale. Its front extends towards the Piazza di Spagna. In the construction, accommodation has been consulted rather than ornament. Here there are professors ol al.nost all languages, hi which young men are instructed Jor the ministry, and sent upon foreign missions,.^ The wealth of this college is unbounded ; and it is all expended for the purpose of increasing the confines of the Church. A Cardinal resides in the house, and is "prelect" or president, with a long string of officers und.r him. The scholars vary from two to three hundred, and are of all ua'ions. I have seen Jews of Asm Minor, Africans, and even a Chinese, in the academical dress — a long gown with a red border. I attended a rehearsal, which takes place upon every Epiphany, in the theatre. The youths had each a written subject, which they in their turn read aloud to the audience, The number of languages, to which some dialects were, however, added, was forty-nine. Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Hebrew, Irish, are among the number. They acquitted themselves well, and showed how perfect is that system of education which is pursued in the establishment. When they are complete masters of the language, and have received orders, they proceed upon their mission; and, as they are generally accomplished men, they are no doubt successful. This College has ever been the favourite of the Popes, and the great engine of conversion. It was established for the very purpose of supplying a superior class of ministers, not so much to combat the positions of the Reformers, as to counterbalance the inroads they have made upon the Church, by fresh accessions in other lands. Hence, India and the Pacific are supplied from this source ; and, from their knowledge of the tongues of the people to whom they are sent, joined also to an acquaintance with their character, we cannot be surprised if they aie favourably received, and that the cause they have in hand progresses. I am surprised that we have not taken a leaf from their book, and established a similar institution, and for a shnilai purpose. The idea is an admirable one : to have ministers, as it were, of all nations, ready to take whatever post the exigency of the times or peculiar circumstances demand. The Jews gave greater heed to Paul when he spoke in Hebrew ; and so will every new people listen with attention to the te»cher conversant with their native language. The missionary often goes abroad and defers learning the language of the country until he arrives within its limits ; a method by which time is lost and trouhle increased. The true plan is that of the Propaganda. The abilities of the pupil are consulted, and from an early age he is required to give his sole attention to one of the Eastern languages, so that he is able at length to express himself as fluently in that as in his mother tongue. They go upon their missions with ardour, and fearlessly make

their way among savage and uncivilized people ; as the past ami present history of this institution amply tests. — Notes of a Resi* dence in Rome.