ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 566, 4 January 1851, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Roval assent was given, by commis- T sion, to the Australian Colonies Bill on the ) sth August. Among Parliamentary papers issued on the g sth August, was one authorising the sale of land in connexion with/the Canterbury settle- ;; ment of New Zealand. The city of London was startled from its ) propriety by the arrival, on the 4th August, (Sunday,) of no less than 1400 Parisian ex- « cursionists. They were chiefly of the working class, and attracted much attention from their appearing en blouse, and “ bearded like 4 the pard.” K Mr. Williams had been returned member of Parliament for Lambeth, in opposition to; Sir Charles Napier and Mr. Palmer. Tbe g state of the poll at its close was, Williams A 3834, Napier 1182, and Palmer 585 ; majority for Williams 2652. , Prince Albert had been chosen to the vacancy in the High Stewardship of Windsor,g created by the death of the Duke of Cant- ty bridge. 1 Baron Rothschild’s case is postponed to ) the next session of Parliament. It is declar-tt ed that he cannot sit till he take the oath ofg abjuration in the form appointed by law, bßg that the House will take into considerationf the form of that oath with the view of relief j ing her Majesty’s subjects professing tbe | Jewish religion in that respect. No writf® r | any new election has been issued, and Baron g Rothschild consequently continues member, g although not tbe sitting member. . g Steam communication with Australia was j the subject of a conversation in the Lords on g the sth August, but with only the old result, | namely, that objections had been raised by tbe | East India Company to one of the propose J routes, and that Earl Grey was of opinio” | that the time was not far distant when .th° ss | objections would be removed. g It was not expected that would be prorogued until the 24th, so | time having been taken up by the discuss'O'g on foreign affairs, and tbe Parliament! | oaths. Lord John Russell had expressed bis i”T lenlion of declaring to the House on the el | August what the Government would ‘lp.i.’j reference to the claim for admission into I'*' 1 '*' House by the Baron de Rothschild. . -

that (lay the Attorney General gave notice for the ensuing Monday, of the two following re-

solutions : —- 1. That the Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild is hot entitled to vote in this House, nor to sit in this House during any debate, until he shall take the oath of Abjuration in the form appointed by Law. 2. That this House will, at the earliest opportunity in the next Session of Parliament, "take into its serious consideration the form of the Oath of Abjuration, with a view to relieve hnr Mnwctv’s snhiPets Wof A Bsin<* tllP Tpxw4c.K religion. The motions were brought on, on the day named, when Mr. Hume moved the following amendment on the first: — That the Clerk of the House, having proceeded as directed by the House to administer the oath to Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, one of the members for the City of London, upon the Old Testament, being the form which lie declares to be the most binding upon his conscience, and the Baron having so sworn to the Oath of Abjuration with the omission of the words “upon the true faith of a Christian,” and doubts having arisen as to the legal effect of his so taking the oath, it is expedient, at. the commencement of the next Session of Parliament, that a bill should be introduced to declare the Law With reference to the due adrnij nistration of that oath ; and further, that this I'House will then take into its serious considerJation the subject of the Oaths now administered to its members, with reference to the changes which have taken place since they were (first imposed bj r Law. f The amendment was negatived by a majority of 163 to 101; and the first resolution was carried by a majority of 166 to 92, |With respect to the secon I resolution, the Attorney General said, that he had used the Word “form” in the resolution, because it [was not the general character of the oath itself, but the form of words used in it, that had excluded the member from taking his seat, and he was anxious to alter this form of words, so as to remove the obstacle. The resolution was then carried by a majority of 142 to 106. The House of Lords agreed to the Commons' amendments to the Irish Franchise Bill, by a majority of 11. There were upwards of seventy thou- ! sand bales of wool awaiting the September 1 sales, but a reduction of prices was not exj peeled. The reports of the harvest varied, but on ; the whole we think they were favourable. The f potato crop in Ireland however, was consider- ; ed in great danger, symptoms of rot being j observable in many districts. ij, Sir George Anderson is appointed GoverI nor of Ceylon, and is to be succeeded in the f government of Mauritius by Mr. Higginson, now Governor-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands. Sir George Anderson, says the Times, has earned his promotion by the ability with s which he has conducted the government of where he had effected a considerable reduction in the expenditure, and introduced many useful practical reforms. Mr. •Higginson was introduced into the public service by Lord Metcalfe, and has proved himself worthy of his friendship and patronf|ge. The Bishop of London is reported to be suffering severely from erysipelas in his lower limbs, and to be about proceeding to the mineral waters of Germany. vtr tt:_c V.. J.. j.Doinli. O jLyr.A±M HAIUIAJIX’, mgu '..Sheriff Eveleth, accompanied by the Rev, Dr. Putnam, and the deputy-jailor Andrews, visited the ceil of John W. Webster, in the •jail in Leverett-street, and alter announcing to him the object of their visit, the Sheriff proceeded to read to him the warrant for his The prisoner listened attentively, Mnd at the conclusion of the reading said, God’s will be done ; I am prepared to meet ..my fate.” The Sheriff and jailor then retirsed. leaving Dr. Putnam with him in his iyccll. He was to be executed on the 13th 'August. Scandals of the Press. —“ I have a -chance letter from Stuart: he says Cobbett |has fallen one-third in sale, and all such pubElications are declining, but the anarchists are |as active as ever, and new opportunities will Joccur for bringing their venom into life, j ‘ These wretches,’ he continues, ‘ are effectping their purposes by libelling; they are driliving off the ground every num thnt can opI* pose them ; they are conquering by scandal, | and Ministers wish as much as others to | keep out of the way. Unless this spirit of gscandal is put down, unless the licentiousness |of the press be restrained, certainly it will g effect a revolution, —restrained, I mean, by gnew laws, and new regulations. It is altogegther, as at present practised, a new thing, not golder than the French Revolution. I can Sperceive every one shrinking from it, —you, .xme, Wordsworth, Coleridge, &c. Every one the press dreads Cobbctt’s scandal ; thus when a man throws off all consideration of character, he has all others in his Even the Ministry, too, and their | nends, 1 think, shrink from those who fight BL leir battles, when covered with filth in the ~ ra, r"l s Letters. f IVr' 0 F papers give full particulars r * '’ohn Wilkes’s plan for forming a line

of electric telegraph between North America and Europefor carrying oat which a company is stated to be forming in that city. He proposes to lay down at the bottom of the sea a wire of solid iron, well insulated, from the eastern coast of Ireland. On the good anchoring ground which lies five hundred miles distant from the first of these countries he will establish a repeating station, —by which the length of wire will be reduced to sixteen hundred English miles. However deep may be the Atlantic he proposes to conduct his wire along its bottom. According to all appearances, he says, the depth nowhere exceeds two miles —and he has reason to believe that it is little more than one. But even supposing there may be submarine valleys of ten or twenty miles in depth and fifty or sixty in width, he is of opinion that such hollows would present no great obstacle, as the wire might be made to pass over them by means of supports fixed [we are not told /tow] at intervals of two miles or less, so that the wire should be kept always two hundred fathoms below the surface of the sea. Every hundred miles he would anchor a small raft with mast and flag communicating with the wire, that the latter may be taken up when requiring to be repaired or renewed: —but his opinion is, that there is no possibility of a wire laid at such a depth being injured. To lay down this telegraphic line, two ships working by a very simple process of machinery, will, he says, suffice. The work will be done in two years, and will cost about 500,500 dollars.— Athenceum.

The following extraordinary storv is related by the Paris correspondent of the Times:—

4% o ♦ n TA H I t* A <3 zx«« 1 ik luuucty utt au uaic:ioi»u auu ecuted with unexampled audacity and skill, has just occurred in the Hotel Gaumont, the property of the Count de Caumont, situate in the Avenue des Champs Elysees. The hotel had not, it appears, been occupied for some months, the Count residing alternately in the country and in the Faubourg St. Germain, and the Countess at Brussels. The house, with the whole of its valuable furniture, pictures, plate, jewellery, &c., was intrusted to the keeping of the porter. It would appear that a friend of the Count de Caumont visited him a day or two ago in the Faubourg St. Germain, and in the course of conversation happened to remark as extraordinary that ou passing along the Champs Elysees he observed that the hotel was shut up. and otherwise had the appearance of being completely abandoned. The Count, who had not visited his hotel for some weeks, but who believed it to be_properiy taken care of, proceeded at once with his friend to the spot, and found it in the state represented. No answer was made to the repeated summons for admittance, and at length the doors had to be broken open. When last the Count visited his hotel it was filled with sumptuous furniture; on the present occasion it was not only abandoned, but was empty —in fact, thoroughly and completely gutted. Neither the porter nor any of his family were forthcoming. Application was instantly made to M. Carlier, Prefect of Police. Agents were sent out about the neighbourhood to make inquiries. It appears that duA— vwuowu u Jt V Cl y tuc ucigu*hours had observed seven or eight waggons, used for removing furniture, before the door of the hotel, and as each was filled it quitted the spot. It was stated, on application at the porter’s lodge, that the Count de Caumont had given orders for the sale of his furniture, as he was about to dispose of his hotel. The furniture was transferred to the Place de la Bourse—the most public and thronged part of Paris—and there sold by public auction. All this was done day after day, and the laden waggons passed through the most crowded thoroughfare of the capital—the Champs Elysees, the Boulevards, the Rue Vivienne, and, finally, the Place de la Bourse. Not only that, but the furniture was declared to be that of the Count, and sold at the mart as such. As a matter of course, great bargains were’ going, and I have heard of some articles that cost 25,000 f. sold at the auction for 5,000 f. The more valuable and portable articles, such as plate, jewellery, &c., were not exposed for sale at all. Information was given by the emballeur that these latter, filling not less than 14 chests, were sent off in a waggen on the road to Havre. The police set out in quest of the waggon, but with all their haste they arrived too late. The waggon had indeed arrived at Havre, but the chests containing the valuable articles had been embarked some days before on a vessel called Le Nicolas, which had sailed for America. It is necessary to observe that the purchasers, the auctioneers the packers, and every one else employed, all believed the affair to be a bond jidc transaction, and never for a moment had the slightest suspicion of anything wrong. How could they? All was transported front the Champs Elysees in the middle of the day, through crowded streets, and disposed of at a public auction in the most open and fairest manner. You will bo surprised to learn that the ,

contriver and executor of this daring robbery is a young lad not 18 years of age, the son of the porter in question. Some days since he returned home with a placard filled with the usual advertisements about the railroad pleasure trains, and by means of which the Paris cockneys are enabled to take a Sundav trip to Dunkirk, Havre, Dieppe, and catch a glimpse of the sea, all at an unusually low price. The father and mother of the lad had never seen the sea in their lives. He told them with much tenderness of manner that he had contrived to effect some savings out of his weekly wages, small as they were, and he was determined to devote them to the amusement of his beloved parents. He kissed his mother fervently, -and put from 40f. to 50f. in her hand, and entreated her not to neglect profiting by those cheap and delightful excursions. The poor woman, rendered happy in the belief of the i fondness of her child, ran to her husband, and with tears in her eyes informed him of what had occurred. In a word, the honest couple agreed to profit by their child’s.goodness, and on the following day (Sunday) set out with hundreds of others for Dunkirk, where they were until a few days ago still in the happy unconsciousness of what had occurred. The young man, who, no doubt, must have been in league with others, set to work at once, disposed of the furniture as above mentioned, left for Havre as soon as it was all sold, except the most valuable articles, and, finally embarked with a young woman on board the Nicolas, bidding, no doubt, an eternal farewell to La Belle France. To make the affair more piquant it appears that the youthful hero of the adventure actually had the audacity to present himself at , the Count’s residence in the Faubourg St. Germain, and present him with a huge bouquet of flowers, the produce of the garden of the hotel in the Champs Elysees, and, as he expressed it, ‘ a small but innocent emblem of his affection for his good and confiding patron.” Aeronautical Adventures in France and England. —During the week several aetonautical exploits have been recorded. On Wednesday Lieut. Gale set forth from the Cremorne-gardens, was driven out to sea and across the channel during the night, in a storm, and was arrested on the French coast, near Dieppe, as a conspirator. From Paris an aeronaut named Poitevin ascended on horseback, the horse being slung by bands to the car. After a long journey, during which blood gushed from the horse’s mouth, owing to the rarity of the atmosphere, man and horse descended safely near the forest of LaLe’chelle. As the horse landed it grazed upon the tops of the oak trees. Subsequently, the aeronaut, mounted upon his horse, was exhibited at a bail at Grisy. One hundred and fifty thousand people witnessed the ascent from Paris. From Paris, also, two scientific amateurs ascended, MM. Bixio and Barrail, on a scientific mission. Misfortunes attended the venture, and they descended with fearful velocity after voyaging some distance. Fortunately the shock did not disable them, and, as the grapnel failed to hold, M. Bixio hung over the side of the car whilst his comrade held his legs, and grasped the trees in their path, until a safe descent could be made. M. Bixio and his comrade, undaunted, meditate a second trip. — Liverpool Albion. The Nepaulese Princes. —Lately the Nepaulese Princes visited Mr. Angelo’s fen-cing-rooms, in St. James’s-street, London. A number of officers in the army and navy were present, and these distinguished visitors took great interest in the exhibition. Mr. Angelo gave the word of command, and the new mode of attack and defence with the muskets from front to rear, by alternate was displayed with great effect. The mode of defence by sword against attacks of the musket and bayonet was also gone through, and Mr. Henry Angelo and Mr. M'lan fenced before them. One of the ambassador’s brothers entered so much into the spirit of the exhibition of wrestling, that he took off part of his dress snd showed some gymnastic movements that would astonish the general performers of that exercise. The exhibition was exceedingly interesting, and the visitors expressed themselves highly gratified, and warmly thanked those who took part in it for the skill they had exhibited in their performances.—European Times.

Singular Attempt at Indirect Murder. —The official Milan Gazette relates the following :—“ One Philip Agrati had, since 1848, had criminal intercourse with Felicita Picozzi, the wife of Constantino Lombardi; Agrati being a widower, Lombardi alone was in the way of his union with Felicita. With her connivance he took advantage of the severe laws on the concealment of arms, to introduce a pair of pistols and ammunition into Lombardi’s house, and then informed the militaryauthorities of the fact by an anonymous letter. Lombardi was brought in consequence before a council of war and. was in danger of being.shot; but fortunately an inquiry was set on foot and the conspiracy discovered.

Agrati has been condemned to hard labour for eightyears, and his accomplice to the same period of imprisonment.”— lbid.