ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 378, 17 March 1849, Page 4

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

•Lieut.-General Sir G. H. Williams is to succeed the late Sir Maurice O'Connell in the colonelcy of the 80th foot ; and LieutGeneral Sir Guy Campbell the late Sir Charles Maxwell* in' the colonelcy of the 3rd West India Regiment. An official notification has been sent to William Smith OBrien, J. F. Meagher, T. B. M'Manus, and' Patrick O'Douohue, that the extreme sentence passed upon them at the late commission, will be mitigated to transportation for life. The first railway in Spain, from Barcelona to Mattaro, has just been opened. It is five leagues long. The organization of the 300 battalions of the National Guard Mobile was being actu- J ally proceeded with at the Ministry of War. Almost all the persons who formed part of | the first category had already received a letter inviting them to appear at their respective mairies, should they have any complaint to make. It was said that three hun Ired battalions were to be simultaneously formed before the end of the year, and that a ceitain part of the officers were to be chosen from amongst the non-commissioned officers belonging to the six companies of veterans in barracks at Paris. The Jesuits driven from Europe are flocking to the United States. It is stated that no less than five hundred of them are now on their way from the Atlantic coast to the west, and that their purpose is to found a community beyond the Rocky Mountains. During a recent sitting of the National Assembly of France, M. Mazuline, the black representative for the colony of Martinique, whose features are of the darkest hue, and of the true negro type, drew all eyes upon him on his entering for the first time to take his seat, by walking up through the Assembly to the extreme end of the Chamber, where, seated under the clock, he coolly drew out an eye glass, and proceeded leisurely to examine th c different parts of the Assembly. It was some moments before the President could procure sufficient attention to allow the discussion on the Constitution to proceed. Loss of an Emigrant Ship. — The desertion of an emigrant ship, while in a sinking condition, with no less than one hundred and fifteen passengers on board, was reponed at Lloyd's, October 25. The vessel in question was the schooner Ann, 200 tons burthen, Archibald M'Fie, master, belonging to Limerick, bound to Quebec with 124 emigrant-, men, women, and children. She arrived in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the 26th September, and was beating up, the wind blowing very heavy, when she came in collision with another vessel. She was rendered a perfect wreck, her masts and riggiug being carried away, and her bows stove in. All the passengers at the time were below asleep; but the violent concussion threw them out of their berths, and a scene of the utmost dismay prevailed. The crew, by the direction the master, immediately fastened down the hatches, so as to prevent the poor terrified creatures escaping on to the deck ; and then, with the captain, jumped on board the vessel with which they came in contact. The vessel was then being got clear of the Ann, which, incredible as it may appear, had been abandoned with her living freight below decks. Nine of the passengers, however, just before the vessels parted, managed, by breaking through tha portion between the steerage and forecastle to gain the deck, and followed the captain and crew on to the other vessel. This turned out to be the Hampton, of Grangemouth, a coaster. She had sustained considerable damage to her rigging, her bowsprit having been carried away. Apparently no injury had been caused to her hull, yet not the least effort was made to rescue the unfortunate emigrants. The Hampton, it is reported, left the wreck of the Ann, and was soon lost sight of. The terrified emigrants eventually burst open the hatches, and on getting on deck discovered the deplorable condition they were in. The, boats were destroyed, and every sea made a breach over her. After some difficulty, they contrived to hoist a light on the stump end of the mast as a signal of distress, which, in the course of the following morning, was seen by the Princess Royal of Liverpool. The master, Mr. Druguid, took all the emigrants off with the assistance of the brig Hibernia, of Workington, which brought off about 25 but of 102, her boats being very small for the sea that was running. If it had not been for the assistance of the brig, some of the men would have been left behind. The passengers saved nothing but what they had on their backs. Subsequent accounts mention the arrival, at duebee, of the nine passengers who got on deck and escaped on board the Hampton, that vessel having shipped them bVboard the William Stewart, of Portsmouth, but, strange to say, of the master and crew of the Ann no tidings'have been heard. ' ' • Colonial Baronets. I—lt1 — It is proposed by a correspondent to make the creation of Colo-

nial Baronets a means of securing efficient systematic colonization, and be remarks that ".there is nothing new in the idea,, as it has be,en acted upon before in the case, of Nova Scotia, where the order of baronets of the tawny ribbon first sprung into existence, and was brought into play ip the case of the Ulster Baronets of Ireland." He says :—": — " I would suggest that the prerogative of the Crown could be made a powerful engine of inducement by creating a limited number of Baronets, under certain, conditions and restrictions, such as may be'thus briefly sketched ou t : , — That every gentleman and merchant willing to embark capital in any of the British dependencies to the extent of £15,000 or ' £20,000, or such sum as should be deemed fit and proper, subject to the rules and regulations laid down in the colonial code, should have the dignity of a baronet conferred upon him. It may be open to consideration whether this dignity should be confined for a certain period, say ten years, to the dependency or not. Ido not venture to pronounce any opinion on this point ; but lam certain that a title of this kind, with some distinctive badges for Australia, for New Zealand, for South Africa, and permission to assume certain heraldic devices of mottos and supporters, would be no trifling inducement to many educated men of fortune in this country to go out and found a family in the British dependencies, and that it would be at once a rallying point for engaging the light sort of men, forming a nucleus of loyal and able Englishmen, who would be at all times anxioas to maintain the connexion with the mother country. This, then, is a second inducement, which comes under the head of privileges ; and I need hardly allude to the various auxiliary means of pressing educated men into the field by conferring appropriate official" titles in the several departments of law, physic, and divinity — on the men whose services would necessarily be required in any dependency where capital to any extent was once embarked. The Bishop and his clergy — the Chief Justice and his puisne judges, and a bar with its offices and accessories — stipendiary magistrates and police, district surveyors and surveyors general, &c. All this follows as a matter of course, when you adopt a system of colonisation, which, from its comprehensive character, makes the dependency to jump at civilisation, instead of creeping on by slow and almost insensible gradation." — Morning Herald. Irish Encumbered Estates Bill. — The first great example of the working of the Irish Encumbered Estates Bill is to be found in the following significant paragraph :— " A Galway paper states that the ' most extensive estate in Ireland is about to change hands.' This can only refer to the estate of Mr. Martin, of Galway, which in surface extent may be considered a principality, though otherwise of sufficiently limited value. The encumbrances thereon are said to be enormous, and the statement made is that the owner is to have £50,000 for his interest, the purchaser assuming all liabilities." This enormous estate, which is larger than some English counties, belonged to the late eccentric but humane Mr. Martin, M.P., who was the author of the act against Cruelty to Animals. At his death, a few years since, the estate descended to his only daughter, who, about two years ago, married her cousin, a young gentleman of the name of Bell. The estate was mortgaged to the extent "of £360,000 ; and last year, some of the proprietor's sheep and cattle were distrained for poor-rates. The entrance-gate and lodge are about twenty, miles from the mansion-house. " Editorial Pleasures. — A gentleman called Doolittle, educated at Harvard University, and a native of Connecticut, was transplanted south to edit a violent party paper in a locality where " revolvers" adinfinitum and a whole armoury of bowie-knives had a strong influence io preventing the freedom of speech. He held his situation six months ; was stabbed twice, shot three times, once well cudgelled, and once thrown into a horse pond ; but he congratulated himself upon never having been kicked.' He retaliated upon his tormentors by shooting two of them as dead as door-posts, and then he departed for more peaceful latitudes. A New York paper says, " This is a fact."