ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 379, 21 March 1849, Page 4

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Queen has been pleased to grant to the Rev. Samuel Hinds, Doctor in Divinity, the dignity of Dean of the Cathedral Church of Carlisle, void by the death of the Rev. Doctor John Anthony Cramer, late Dean thereof.

Home Affairs. —The only remaining point of interest connected with the late absurd movement in Ireland is now disposed of. No one acquainted with the English character supposed that the sentence of the Court on Smith OBrien and his associates would be carried into effect by the infliction of the extreme penalty. So long, however, as the ac- j tual determination of the Government remain- j ed a mysteiy, some slight misgivings of course existed. The decision of the Cabinet was made known early in the week, that the lives of the convicted persons should be spared. Their ultimate fate is still unknown, and indeed now scarcely excites any interest. Irej land continues as tranquil as during the mii surrection. The inventors of outrages, at- ! tacks upon landlords, and road-side assassinations, have latterly found more sounding themes for their ingenuity. They probably await the nearer approach of winter to recommence their contemptible, but injurious occupation. Meanwhile, poverty and destitution exist to an alarming extent. The ordinary horrors of an Irish winter, if suffered by Englishmen, would soon compel the adoption of practical remedies. When to this normal condition is added any additional privation, language fails in power to express what the people suffer. It is too much, perhaps, to expect John Bull again to impoverish his own hard-working children to succour the Irish; but then his benevolence is proverbially inexhaustible, and we know not what the end may be. The operation of the poor law in Ireland has done some good; but the tax upon the land, already heavily burdened, by private and public mortgages, is so great, as almost to make the landlords, as a class, bankrupt. Whatever is done for Ireland must be done quickly; and we have no doubt that Lord Clarendon's mind is fully occupied with the necessities of the case. A new difficulty in the Irish question has developed itself. It was supposed that the negotiation with the Pope would have smoothed down his objection to the Irish Colleges, The Government showed a laubable anxiety so to frame the statutes of the colleges as to conciliate the religious scruples of the Roman Catholics;

but M'Hale, having been in person at Rome, seems to have been too strong for the good intentions of the English Cabinet. The Pope has issued a rescript, amounting to a virtual rejection of the scheme of education. It is only just to him to add that he ' recommends the establishment of an Irish university on the voluntary principle. He little knows Ireland, however, if he supposes that any scheme of that nature will be carried out with any vigour, if only the voluntary principle be appealed to. — Atlas, Oct. 28.

The late Fanny Kemble. — The application for a divorce in the Philadelphia Courts by Mr. Pierce Butler, against his wife, Fanny Kemble Butler, is on the ground that she ha* deserted him for two years, having been abroad for that time in Europe. Mrs. Butler resists the application, and as a large fortune is depending on the question whether the wife shall have her legal portion or be cut off by a divorce, the case will be one of interest. Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler is among the visitors at the Revere House, Boston. She will soon re-appear, it is said, on the -boards at the Park Theatre, New York. — Montreal Pilot.

Emigrants fob Otago. — Among the emigrants for Otago, by the ship Ajax> there were, we believe, several from the north. To their friends, the following extract from a letter by a gentleman in London to a friend in Edinburgh, may be interesting : — " The ship dropped down the river to Gravesend on Tuesday. The emigrants had joined her on the previous day. As it is intended she should weigh anchor this morning at an early hour, I did myself the pleasure of visiting her yesterday as she lay at her mooring off Gravesend. I was much gratified with the cheerfulness of the free emigrants, who seemed, with scarcely an exception, to be in high spirits. I observed the agent of the Bible Society busy among them in his efforts to dispose of his precious wares ; but Ido not regret the cause which made them almost fruitless. The Bible was offered for 6d., and the New Testament for 2d., but only one of each was sold. One of them remarked to me— ' It is a kind of affront to a Scotchman to ask him if he has a Bible.' Each head of a family was furnished with a copy of the Confession of Faith, while other books were not wanting. Slates, copy-books, &c, were also put on board by the London committee, for the use of the children." — Inverness Courier,

Traffic across the Isthmus of Panama. — The royal mail steamer Toy left Southampton on the 17th October, with the West India mails- She carries out a very large cargo, some portion of which is intended for the western coast of America, and will be i landed at Chagres, and sent across the Isthmus of Panama. The length of time in getting from the Atlantic to the Pacific is about two days. Ibe Panama roads are now very much improved. A number of tracks and wheels for carriages for travelling on them have gone out in the Tay. The goods for the western coast of America sent out in the West India steamer were principally Manchester and JFrench. A very considerable trade between this country and Chili and Peru is confidently anticipated through the opening of the Panama route for goods traffic. — Examiner, October 20.

The New French Constitution. — A new caricature has appeared in Paris, representing Armand Marrast in the year 1848. The venerable president, his eyes protected by a green shade, and holding a bell with a feeble hand, is addressing the following words to an assembly of old men -fast asleep, " The sitting of to-morrow will again be devoted to the discussion on the constitution. Come, gentlemen, we must at length have done with it." — Times,

Republican Magnanimity. — A fine instance of magnimity has recently been given by the French republican government. From the statue of Joan of Arc in the palace of Versailles the name of the sculptor has been erased, because the artist happened to be Marie, a princess of the fallen house of Orleans. We had flattered ourselves that there was already a republic of art as well as of letters, and that the late Princess Marie, as a member of the former republic, would have had her genius recognized and her memory respected by the present fraternal rulers of her country. If no other restoration should take place in France, we do at least hope to See' the restoration of the name of the royal artist to her work, as well as a restoration of their original beauty to , the public places in Paris, now so grievously disfigured by the lanky skeletons of dead trees of liberty; — Punch*