LATE ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Home News, January 24.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 505, 5 June 1850, Page 2

LATE ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Home News, January 24.]

The Royal family are at Windsor, where they have enjoyed the cold weather and its skating and shooting amusements. The Queen though in an interesting situation, takes regular out-of-door exercise, and sees a r good deal of company. Prince Albert presided at the first meeting of (he Royal Commission for promoting the Exhibition of Industry. The Queen has given £1000, and, thg Prince £500, towards the funds for that object. The rapidly approaching opening of Parliament occupies all minds; a very interesting session is anticipated. 'On this day week the house will meet, but her Majesty will not open Parliament in person. Her Majesty is looking forward to a still more interesting event about the beginning of April. The next session, it is to be hoped, will be more prolific of good measures than the last. The session of 1848, memorable in history for its three budgets and six editions of one misbegotten bill, proved altogether infructuous. In 1849, Mr. Gladstone's assistance enabled Mr. Labouchere to carry through the repeal of the Navigation Laws, and Sir Robert Peel suggested an Act for facilitating the sale of encumbered estates in Ireland. The rest of the time and toil of the Legislature was. wasted in discussing the propriety of introducing bills which bad no real existence, and forwarding through their preliminary stage measures which were never intended to reach maturity. Mr. Cornewall Lewis's two faint attempts to reform the management of our public roads were a perfect specimen, in their way, of the legislative activity of an administration of which he is certainly not the least efficient servant. Mr. Cobden announced a meeting last week, and himself as chief speaker, on the subject o.f the Russian 10an. ., The Times threw out a formal challenge on Friday, the day before the meeting, and called on Mr. Cobden to reconcile his opposition with the foundation principle of free-trade "to buy at the cheapest and sell at the dearest market." On the 19th Mr. Cobden took his place on the platform at the London Tavern, with Mr. Gilpin in the chair, as the representative of the peace principle. The room was crowded, even to fighting for places, and rather more crushing and noise than could be advantageous to free discussion. Mr. Cobden moved the following resolution : " That the government of Russia having proposed to raise in this country a war loan of £5,500,000 sterling, professedly for the purpose of computing a railroad from St. Petersburgh to Moscow, but really to replenish the Imperial Exchequer, exhausted by the expenses of the war 'with Hungary, this meeting is of opinion that to lend money to the Emperor of Russia* for such an object would virtually be to sanction the deeds of violence and blood committed by him in Hungary, and to furnish him with the temptation and the means for carrying on future schemes ot aggression and conquest,"

- On this theme he dwelt with hit usual »bi- j lity, and with more than hit usual effect. I '* Now, sir, I have been subjected to the reiterated charge that I am not consistent with my principles of free trade, that I came here to denounce this loan. (Hear, hear.) People have asked — " Why won't ht let us lend our money in the dearest market and borrow it in the cheapest ? Why should not we have free trada in money ?" — (Hear.) Well I have no objection to their wasting tbeir money if they like ; but I claim the right as s free trader in a free country, to meet in public assembly like this, and try to warn the unwary from being deluded by agents in this city who will try to palm off this bad security on them if they can. — (Hear.) If they .can succeed, in spite of our warning, I am not going to coerce or attempt to dictate to people. We have done our duty, and probably, by-and-bye, those who do not follow our advice now will wish they had done so. — (Hear, hear.) That is their business and not mine. — (Hear.) It has been asked me this morning, by a leading journal, whether I oppose this loan on the ground ofjUs immorality or. on the ground of its being unsafe ? Why, I answer, on both grounds. (Cheers.) In my opinion, whatever is immoral is unsafe." A deputation has waited on the Prime Minister on the subject of the tea duties, in which interview Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Broderip, Mr. Law, Mr. Kinnear, Mr. Rawson, and Mr. Rathbone urged tbeir reduction. Lord John Russell having attentively listened to the representations of the various members of the deputation, said that gentlemen must be perfectly well aware that at the present moment government could not be expected to give a definite answer on a question involving so many points of importance. He assured them that the subject should receive the best consideration of himself and of bis right hon. colleague the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and so he bowed them out. The members of the Cabinet have held two meetings during the week, at which all the ministers were present, with the exception of Lord Minto, Sir John Hobhouse, and Mr. Fox Maule. A petition is about to be presented to the House of Commons by some of the York and Berwick shareholders, to expel Mr. Hudson from the house,- as the author and cause of the preat declension in railway property. Mr.. Hudson has endeavoured to justify himself in a long letter to the shareholders of the York Berwick Railway, .but the document is held to be self-condemnatory rather than exculpatory. The interest in ,the female emigration scheme increases as it becomes more defined. The great contest of the day — Protection versus Free Trade — has given rise to some most curious incidents. At Aylesbury, Mr. Cobden was to have met Mr. Disraeli, but the latter gentleman at a previous meeting declined the invitation. The progress of protection principle is considerable ; in almost every town in England and Ireland a meeting has been held, perhaps without much effect, but certainly with considerable force, and at one or -two of the meetings, especially that at Stafford, the free traders pushed their opposition as far as actual blows ; a regular battle of bricks and bludgeons took place ; windows were smashed, and the protectionists were severely beaten and pelted with brick bats and other such weapons. The Irish movement has closed with grand effect, with an almost unanimous agreement in support of the resolutions, and the adoption af a petition to her Majesty. The Times records some signs of prosperity on the west coast of Ireland, where the deep sea fisheries, the agriculture and other local , employments, are steadily progressing. The manufacture of kelp at Donegal employs many hands, and is 'profitable. It is stated that Mr. James L. O'Farrall, brother of tbi Governor of Malta, has been appointed the second salaried Commissioner of the National Board of Education. The salary for each of the resident commissioners is £1,000 per annum. The weather, after violent frost, turned to thaw last Saturday, but, before Sunday at noon, the frost returned with great severity, and has continued till yesterday (Wednesday) morning, when we had slight snow and rain. All over Europe the weather is unusually severe. Letters from the frontier of Italy state that the Convent of St. Barnard is en- , tirely blocked up with snow. The monks hav.e been obliged to cut a subterranean passage in order to extricate themselves. The Agapemone ctße was again brought before a court of law in the Exchequer on Saturday, when judgment was suspended in the action of Miss Nottridge against Mr., Ripley for damages for removing her from the care of Mrs. Prince, and separating her, from the Home of Love. The damages were laid at £271, and it is supposed that judgment will be given for the plaintiff. < We hear, at the last hour, from Constantinople, that Austria had demanded that the

Hungarian refugees should be confiued to a town id the interior of the Ottoman empire. To this the Minister a of the Porte consented, and Kntiab, in Asia Minor, was agreed upon as a safe and proper place for their residence. Thus all difficulties seemed to be done away with, and when M. de Titoff announced that he intended to re-establish relations with the Porte, few doubted but Count Stunner would follow his example. The Austrian Government, however, though they consented that the Hungarian refugees should be confined to the town of Kutiah, made known to the Sultan's Ministers, through their envoy at Constantinople, that they would not renew friendly relations unless it was left in their bands to determine the length of time during which Kossuth and his friends should be detained as prisoners in the Ottoman empire. Tht Porte animated by a spirit of justice and humanity, as well as from a sense of its own dignity, refused to give such a power to Austria ; for if, in the first instance, it objected to be assistant executioner to the government of Vienna, it is quite as little disposed, in the present instance, to act the 'part of gaoler. The Ottoman Ministry made known to Count Sturraer that they were willing to confine the Hungarian refugees in the town of Kutiah till order should be established in Hungary, and that country once in repose, they would then reserve entirely to themselves the right to determine the period at which these refugees should be bet at liberty. The latest news from the United States is perhaps not the least interesting. The first business that came before Congress, after the President's speech, and the messages or reports of the secretaries, was the presentation of petitions on the slave trade. Mr. Benton threw down the gauntlet to the Senate on the 6th, and the bitterest feeling on the subject is said to have been manifested in both houses. The southern members declare their intention of vacating their seats if the Wilmot proviso should be passed into a law. The state of Alabama has instiucteil her representatives to carry this threat into force, to leave the house and return home, after which a general convention of the slave-holding states is to be called to deliberate on their secession from the Un : on. There is no fear entertained of the realization of this measure. Mr. Cass has made a b:illiant speech on his motion for suspending all diplomatic relations with Aus- i tria. Such a measure would be exceedingly popular in America ; but it is not likely that the Senate will agree to more than a general condemnation of the policy of Austria towards Hungary. Lady Franklin's correspondence { with the President on the subject of discovery ships had been laid before the Senate, and referred to the naval committee. A company of projectors is ready, as we are told, to lay down a line of telegraphic wires from New York to the Isle of Wight, and guarantee its perfect working for ten years. The line is to be laid in twenty months, for 3,000,000 dollars.

Proposed Reductions in the Army. — The proposed reduction in tht army has given rise to various on dits. In military circles it is confidently stated that the whole of the reserves in the Mediterranean are to be reduced ; and some go even so far as to say ! that the Duke will not remain Coramander-iu Chief if the whole of the reserves and 10,000 men are struck off. The army in Ireland is to be considerably reduced ; but the rank and file of the regiments abroad are to be kept up to the establishment. It is further said that the Lord Lieutenant and the castle establishment are to be abolished, and Ireland governed from the ministry direct, as in Scotland. There is also a rumour that a militia bill is to | be introduced this year. The following reductions are spoken of at likely to take place in the royal marines at the beginning of the military or financial year, Tiz.: — The lecond commandants to be placed on the full pay retired list, as also four lieutenant-colonels : fifteen companies to be disbanded, the captains of which are to be placed on the full-pay retired list. The first quartermasters and the second adjutants to be discontinued on the promotion of the officer* who at present fill those appointments. The gunnery captains to he abolished, and their duties discharged by officeis of the artillery companies of the corps ; and a complete re- organization of the financial system of the corps. It is also stated that two commandants will be retired in April — Colonels Powell and Ferguson — but their vacancies will be filled up in due course. — Naval and Military Gazette.

" Emigration.-'— Colonization Societx. From a report published by the committee of the " Society for the Promotion of Colonization," it appears that the total receipt! of the society daring the past year have been £5052, and that a balance of £133 remains in the hands of the treasurer. Among the expenses were — emigrants' passage money paid to commissioners, £3714, and cash paid to commissioners for emigrants, £229 15s. Reduction in the Army. — We are enabled to state 'that the proposed redaction in

the army has been decided upon, and that it will not be to the extent originally intended. It will be carried oat in the following manner, viz., — Three regiments in New Zealand and New South Wales, from 1000 to 750. ....... 750 The 6th regt. from 1200 to 750 450 The sth, 20th, 36th, 42nd, 44th, 45th 56th, 67th, 6&th, 76th, and 2nd bat. Rifle Brigade, from 1200 each to 1000 2200 The depots of fourteen regiments, from 230 to 210 each -- 280 3680 The surgeons and quartermasters of regiments having reserve battalions, included in the reductions will be placed on half- pay } but the lieuti -colonels, captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, are to be retained on second, and reemployed on full pay as vacancies may occur. The Colonial League.— "Hitherto, the new colonial League have done nothing whatever to justify the overpowering significance its organ claims for it. In fact it is yet virtually in embryo. There was a meeting of the committee the other evening, but nothing was done, except revising rales, &c, and giving a first reading toihe draft of the Australian Constitution Bill, about which there was so much talk ; but only the Australion section of the committee, whipped in by Adderiey, were present. Next week there is to be the first real business meeting when Molesworth is to be there ; and then we shall see what turn affairs are likely to take under the superintendence of himielf and Cobden, whose triumph ofl the Russian loan business neccessarily renders him the hero of all journalism of the present moment. — Liverpool Jllbiou,

Departure of the Arctic Discovery Ships. — At an early hoar on the 10th January all was bustle and anxiety on board the Arctic discovery ships. The previous week had been spent in preparations for the departure, stores of all descriptions, implements of every kind suitable to the latitude, casei of presents for the Esquimaux Indians, gunpowder, sugar, tea, rum, and all other essentials against the effects of intense cold and hunger, being poured in abundance on board the vessels. The day previous had been spent j in testing the properties of various small balloons, which their inventors wished to be ' taken with the expedition for the purpose of being committed to the winds of heaven, in the hope that some of them might be wafted to the spot where Sir John Franklin and his comrades are haply pent up. All things being in readiness, the Enterprise, Captain Collinson, C.8., and the Investigator, Commander M'Ciure, slipped from their moorings about nine o'clock, on Thursday. The scene was a most imposing one, and will long live in the remembrance of the thousands who witnessed it, many of whom were seen to shed tears. On the wharf were assembled Captain Horatio Austen, C.8., acting superintendent Woolwich dock-yard ; the principal officers of the yard, the band of the dock-yard batalion, and the whole of the artizans and labourers, both of the dock-yard and factory, amounting to about 1800 men. The Fisguard, flagship, manned her yards and hoisted her colours. The Monkey steam tug, took the Enterprise in tow, and the Investigator was taken in tow by the Lightning, steam yacht. As the vessels started the band of the battalion struck up the National Anthem, followed by other appropriate airs, and seconded as the ships dropped down the stream by unanimous cheers from the assembled multitude. The ships proceeded to Greenhithe to have their compasses adjusted, and will leave this (Saturday) morning for Devonport, where their final orders will await them. At twelve o'clock, the Lords of the Admiralty, Sir F. Baring, M.P., Bear Admiral Berkeley, M.P., C.8., Captain Lord John Hay, Sir Baldwin Walker, X.C.8., surveyor of the navy, and a party of ladies, arrived at the dock-yard, and proceeded to Greeuhithe, where they inspected the discovery ships, and remained some time on board. Among this distinguished party was Lady Franklin.

Jenny Lind. — A letter from Hamburg states that Jenny Lind has signed an agreement at Lubeck to go to America and the Havanna in August or September. Her stay will be about a year and a half there, to sing only in concerts and oratorios. £30,000 is to be placed in the hands of Baring, Brothers, before she starts from England; equipage, servants' expenses ol every kind, paid for her ; and after a certain number of nights she gets, besides, one-fifth of the profits, making fully £70,000 for the time. Besides this, she has reserved to herself the right of singing for charities as often as she chooses. Lola Monxez. — Mr. Heald has returned to England, having left his quondam spouse to the tender mercies of two French gentlemen at Cadiz, with whose mental and personal attractions she had become enamoured. Mr. Heald may .esteem himself particularly fortunate if he purchases future rest from the eccentric Lola at the expense of a liberal settlement, which, we understand, be is about to make on her.

Death of Lieut. Waghobn. — The sudden de«th of Lieut* Waghorn will be learned by roost Englishmen with regret. The daily papers publish the following notice : — " Mr. Waghorn had returned only on Christmas-day from Malta, where be bad been residing a short time for the benefit of his health, which had been considerably impaired by anxiety of mind, arising chiefly from pecuniary engagements, contracted in the prosecution of the Trieste experiment! in 1846, and which liabilities ihe devotion of all bis means and the sacrifice of his entire property were inadequate to liquidate. Independent of the main incidents of his history in connection with the Indian overland enterprise, which has immortalised bis name as one of the greatest practical benefactors of the age, his career had been a most extraordinary one* full of the strangest vicissitudes, and abounding in evidences of character in every way worthy of enduring commemoration. Of the pension lately awarded him by government, he lived to receive only one quarter's payment j but we make no doubt that tb« same considerate feelings which originally promoted that grant to so eminent a public servant will suggest the propriety of its continuance to his widow* whose now straitened circamstancet are principally attributable to her husband's high-minded endeavours to discharge, in his private capacity, obligations incurred on the faith of what he belieted to be a permanent retention of his services by the executive, and on behalf of the community. His death was occasioned not so much by any specific disorder as by the general break-up of the system, though the wreck of his iron constitution, and his irrepressible energy, offered so great a resistance to the inroads of debility, that it was thought to the last he would rally, and bis dissolution was attended with great pain and suffering/

Austria. — The Pettier Zeitung of the Ist January publishes a summons to fifty-three Hnngariani to appear and receire the sentence of the court-martial at Pesth and Arad. Among this number we find the names of M. Kostuth, and of MM. Messaros, Guyon, Perczel, Splenyi, Stein, Vetter, Beoutzky, Batthyani, Szemeri, and Vokowitz.— */fome News, Jan. 25.

Central Germany. — TheKdlnerZeitotig has letters from Frankfort to the 13th January, from which it appears that a compromise hat been effected between Prussia and Austria in a manner which is decidedly favourable to the formation of a Federal State. The only disturbing element, and the only obstacle to a perfect understanding, is asserted to be Bavaria, and Bavaria alone is preparing for an obstinate and violent opposition against any arrangement which would deprive the family of the Wittelsbachs oi the advantages of a league with the three smaller German kingdoms. — Home Nevs, January 25. Rome. — Letters from Rome of the sth January state that the French army of occupation is to be reduced to 18,000 men. The cold was intense, nnd the roads were covered with snow. Other letters of a private kind state that the Very Rev. Dr. Cullen, many years President of the Irish College at Rome, has been appointed by the Pope Primate of all Ireland . — Ibid, January 25.