ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 420, 11 August 1849, Page 2

ENGLISH NEWS.

At a special Court of Directors held at the India House, on the I7ih instant, Sir C. J. Napier, G.C.8., was sworn in Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces, and an ex- ! traordinary member of the Council of India. Sir Charles was entertained in the evening of the same day, by the Court of Directors, at the London Tavern. Sir Charles Napier was also entertained by her Majesty at Osborne House on the 15th inst. We understand that it is in contemplation to add a sixth captain to every cavalry regiment in India. The 15th, 26tb, 30th, 41st, 47th, 49th, and 69th regiments hi_d received orders to complete their numbers to 1,000 each, and hold themselves in readiness to embark for foreign service. A fiat of bankruptcy has been issued against Lord Suffield in which he is described as Edward Vertion Harbord, commonly known as Baron Suffield, of Clarges-streer, Piccadilly, horse-dealer. In addition to annuities to Eton College and to King's College, Cambridge, the late George Richards, Esq., a native of Cardiff, who died lately at Cheltenham, has bequeathed legacies to various charities amounting to £10,000. Lady Charles Wellesley gave birth to a son on the 15th March. The Marquis of Douro having no children, the newly born aristocrat is heir presumptive to the title i and estates of his grandfather, the Duke of Wellington. A cobalt mine has been discovtrd in Cumberland, which bids fair to rival in value — nay, to surpass in permanency — even the sanguine expectations entertained of California. Mr. W. Downing, of the Hon. East India Company's Botanical Office, has presented to the Queen one ram and three ewes of the pure Thibetian breed, brought over by the Dalhousie, from Calcutta, being the gift of the East India Company. Reductions in the Army. — A correspondent of the Times says :—": — " I do not remember any other instance of our having intrenched ourselves in the face of any enemy in India. But the Sikhs are not a people to play at blindman's buff with. To deal with them you must keep your eyes open, and all your wits about you. You owe the reception j they have given you partly to their energy as a northern people, and partly to the discipline which has been imparted to them by European instruction ; and to their advantage in this respect I am afraid that we have ourselves unwarily contributed. The sepoys that we have been discharging, after having taught them the use of arms, have been added, as we ought to have known they would be, to the Sikh army ; and, costly as the conflict in

the Punjaub might, undor any circumstances, have proved, we have paid more for it, both in blood and in money, than we need have done if we had not weakened our own ranks, and strengthened the ranks of our enemy, by transferring to them those very men whom we had already been at the charge of training for ourselves." The last divisions of the 83rd regt., have just sailed from Cork for Calcutta, in the transports Marion, Zions Hope, and Ursula. The officers are Lieut.-Col. Law, Major Swinburne, Captain Kelsal (grenadiers) ; Lieutenants Anderson, Pigott, Baumgartner, and Metze ; Ensign Hall, Paymaster Swinburne, Quartermaster Colliorn. The following are the transports and their dates of sailing which are to embark the reinforcements for India:—l2th April, the Persia, and 13th April, the JSorthumberland, with the Company's recruits. To leave Gravesend on the 20th April, the Sultu.no, Essex, Plantagenet, Dalhousie, and Lady Macdonald, with the 87th Regiment. To sail from Cork between the 25th April and the sth May, the Queen of England, the Maty, the Nile, the Madagascar, the Duke of Jlrgyle, and the Baron of Renfrew, with the 75th regiment. The National, Paris paper, says, "An envoy extraordinary from England passed through Paris on his way to Marseilles, where he will, it is said, embark for Egypt, with an application to the Viceroy for his permission of a passage through his territories for the reinforcements which Sir Charles Napier is to take with him to India."

The Franklin Expedition.—Sir F. Baring, in reply to Sir T. Ackland, said, that after much consideration, her Majesty's Government had offered a reward of £2,000 to the crew of any vessel who might give efficient assistance to Sir John Franklin. — (Cheers.) That reward has already been put in print, and would be communicated without delay to the various consuls abroad, and collectors of customs, for publication.—(Cheers.) The correspondent of the Post at Paris says : " Alexis, the mesmerist, who is here, has prophesied that a great battle was fought in India on the 3rd instant, in which our troops were victorious. He also foretells that a conspiracy will be formed against Sir Chas. Napier, but does not predict the result." On Wednesday,Huring the progress of excavation in Smithfield Market, opposite the entrance to the church of St. Bartholomew the Great, for the formation of a sewer, when | about three feet below the surface, the workmen came upon a heap ,of unhewn stones, blackened as if by fire, and covered with ash- | es and human bones, charred and partially consumed. The remains thus discovered are supposed to be those of martyrs burnt at the stake. Many bones were carried away as reliCvS.

Cholera.—The cholera in Glasgow has, it appears, destroyed 1900 persons since the 1 lth of November, out of a total of about 5000 cases. The Imperial Austrian Government have presented to the United Service Institution in London a selection of their military maps, exhibiting nearly the whole of that great empire, in thirty sheets. The execution of 'hese maps is of the highest order, and to a soldier they exhibit the.whole varied face of the country with unusual perspicuity; and although crowded with names of towns and villages, all are most distinct and visible. The maps were presented through Baron Koller, Austrian Charge d'Affaires.—Times. William the 111, King of Holland, reached his capital of the Hague on the Ist, where he was received with acclamation.

Death of the Dowager Queen op Sardinia.—The ex-royal family of France, resident at Claremont, have just received intelligence from Italy of the death of the Dowager Queen of Sardinia, only surviving sister of the amiable and pious consort of Louis Philippe. The French journals state that the fort of Moultan was defended by a Frenchman named D'Ouhrenais, general of artillery in the Sikh service ; At the storming of the breach he was killed by our troops, and the Moolraj, finding himself deprived of the services of an officer on whom he mainly relied, surrendered to General Whish. Under date the 3rd March from Toulon, it is written—" The desertion of a part of the crew of the French Admiral's frigate Poursuivante in the South seas, for the purpose of gold searching in California, is no longer matter of doubt. It now appears that the number of persons who have left is nearly sixty. Another French vessel of war is also believed to have lost a part of her men, who have gone on a similar expedition." The French naval station in Africa is reduced to nine ships, on each of which the right of visitation of English ships is granted.

Paris.—A report was circulated and much credited at the Bourse to-day, that news had arrived of an engagement between the Austrians and Piedmoutese, in which the latter \ were defeated. It has caused a rise at tht

Bourse of 1*55 on the Fives, and of I*ls on the Threes. A despatch is reported to have been received to-day by the government, with the news that a strong division of the Russian army had entered the Danubian provinces, where they were to garrison the Austrian forts, so as to enable the government of Vienna to send the Austrian troops which hitherto kept the forts to reinforce the armies in Hungary and Italy. — Daily News, March 28. The fabrication of ball cartridges and other ammunition was never more active at Vincennes than at present. The termination of the armistice between Sardinia and Austria was officially announced on the 16th instant to take place on the 21st. Another effort has been made by France to arrange the quarrel and avert hostilities. M. Letheruir is sent as ambassador to Charles Albert for that purpose. In the mean while Marshal Bugeaud is directed to concentrate the Army of the Alps upon the frontier. The naval expedition in the interest of the Pope is to sail for the coast of Genoa with 20,000 men. A jealousy of Austria affects the French Cabinet, and the friendship towards England increases in proportion. Aid to the Pope. — Letters from Marseilles of the 17th instant state that orders have been received there, and at Toulon, to have the troops in readiness for embarkation. The composition of the corps destined for some point in Italy was as follows : — A brigade formed of the 20th and 30th regiments of the Line, under the command of General Mollier ; a brigade formed of the 36th and 66th regiments of the Line, under General Levaillant. A mounted battery of eight guns and a company of engineers are attached to each of the brigades. A company of engineers had arrived at Sisteron, and a battery of artillery, stationed at Aix, was about to march to Marseilles. It was said that General Arbouville would take the command of the division, which would amount to 12,000 men at the least. There was much mystery as to its destination. A war in the north can scarcely be considered imminent, but if Frankfort persists in having a purely German Emperor, and the King of Prussia has ambition enough to accept the offered diadem, Cossack lances and Calmuck sabres may glitter in Vienna before the year be out, and it will be well indeed if ihey advance no further. In Russia no petitions asking pecuniary aid are to be forwarded this year, as the country requires extraordinary resources for the consolidation of the war. The war in Hungary proceeds. Prince Windischgratz has ceased to command in person, and remains at Buda. Jellachich and Schlick are in the field, the former at Kesckeund and the latter at Erlau.. The Hungarians retire on all occasions, and carry on a guerilla warfare. — Comorn was to be bombarded on the 20th. Berlin prepared an immense force to preserve the peace on the anniversary of the revolution of last year. The scene of battle was visited by threatening parties on the 17th preparatory to a demonstration on the 18th. Welden was making immense exertions to secure the peace. It was secured, but all the efforts of a sovereign supported by the moral effect of a concentration of every kind of force on a grand scale, were scarcely able to effect the task. The probability of war with Denmark has induced Prussia to move forward 20,000 men on the demand of the Central Government of Germany.