ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 567, 8 January 1851, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

In the House of Lords an interesting discussion had taken place on the presentation oy Talbot of a petition from commercial men in Glasgow for steam communication with Australia, Earl Grey threw the blame on the East India Company. The route by Singapore seemed most available, but if the East India Company would not give way, some other must be adopted, and he hoped that almost immediately a line would be established by way of the Cape of Good Hope. Indeed he was in hopes that both lines would eventually be opened. After a few words from Lord Monteagle, deprecating the interference of the East India Company with such a matter as steam communication with Australia, the Earl of Ellenborough suggested that by the Act of Parliament the Commissioners of the Board of Control had the power to compel the East India Company to do what was required. Lord Monteagle then moved an address to her Majesty for copies of all correspondence between the East India Company and the Treasury, or any other department of the Government, relating to the question of steam navigation by way of Singapore to the Australian colonies. Motion agreed to. In many districts of England the wheat crop had been injured by blight and mildew, and it was believed that it would scarcely be an avTX7L__ 4 /»_ j » w ueai. waa iiiiujdiju CV6H auVdiiCiijg. Serious reports had also been received from Ireland respecting the potato crop. The disease in the potatoes was very prevalent in Mayo, and was rapidly spreading in the southern, eastern, and western provinces. Ulster was comparatively free. Wheat averaged 43s the quarter; barley, 225.; and oats, 18s. B|d. Trade was very good, and was likely to continue so, especially as the Danish question wasjabout to be settled by the intervention of the European powers. The accounts of the wool markets are very cheering. Another most cheering fact was a very considerable decrease in the number of poor. In •>uiy, 1849, the number of poor receiving relief was 885,737 In July, 1850 829,708 Decrease 56,029 In thirty-eight counties there was a decrease and a trifling increase in twelve. The number of marriages bad also greatly increased, and the decrease in deaths showed a very marked improvement of public health throughout the whole country. A young man named William James was arrested on the Ist August, on suspicion of being concerned in a conspiracy to assassinate Lord John Russell, He is represented as having put in the hands of the police the following letter, of which he is believed to be the author“ The King’s Arms, July 31,1850. Dear Roundell—You told us in your letter, dated the 28th, that if it had fallen to your lot to commit this bloody act of murder on Lord John Russell, you would wait our directions as to the manner in which it should be carried out, or if we had made any new arrangements. There is nothing more excepting this, what we agreed to the other night, that if anything happens io frustrate our design at the House of Commons, on Friday night, we have already secured a place for him—late on Saturday night, at his private residence, No. 32, Chesham-place, where those swells will oe within a short distance to hand us over the tin, if we do the job well. £125 each for the tour of us, and we have planned it so as to make our escape secure, having already made arrangements to leave England. You will meet us at the house on Friday night; you need not be afraid, as the gun is a silent one, and will make no report; take sure aim then we shall be all right; if you do it clean we will think of you. Thorn and me saw one of the swells the other day at the Reform Club. We went in utsguisc as two friends, where we had a long talk about Polly Birch, to write this. We shall say no more at present, as we snail see you to-morrow. We remain, your co-partners, Thorn, Spencer, Duckworth. Thorn carries this to you himself. The prisoner made a long rambling defence, and was remanded for a week. I’UNERAL OF THE DuKE OF CAMBRIDGE. --The interment of the late Duke of Cambridge took place on Tuesday at Kew Chutch. At half-past five in the morning two battalions of the Duke’s regiment, the Coldstream Guards, passed up Piccadilly on their way to Kew ; one hundred of these men filed off at Cambridge-house, and entered the courtyard of the mansion to form a body-guard ; and a squadron of the Second Life Guards joined this detachment. At six o’clock the

hearse left the door. The Duchess of Can - , bridge, with her daughters, the Grand Duches of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and the Princess Mary of Cambridge, arrived at Hanover Lodge, a residence situated between the Royal Cottage and the Church, at 9 o’clock ; and they were joined there by Prince George, now Duke of Cambridge, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and Prince Albert. The Duke ofWellington arrived at 9 o’clock, in an open phaeton. There were also present, Lord John Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount Palmerston, the Earl of Jersey, the Earl of Minto, Viscount Jocelyn, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Lord Forester, and Lord Frederick Fitzclarence. The mourners entered the Church, and the coffin was borne from the Royal Cottage into the Church on the shoulders cf non-commission-ed officers of the Coldstream Guards—- “ twelve remarkably fine men, whose united strength was scarcely sufficient for their massive burden.” While the service was performed, Prince George stood at the head of the coffin, the chamberlains at the foot. At the proper time, the coffin was carried down the north aisle to the entrance of the vault — a hole pierced in the crown of the arch—and was rested on an inclined plane. This movement was accompanied by the chief mourners; the organ pouring forth the solemn music of the Dead March in “Saul.” Prince Albert walked a few paces apart from the other mourners, as if deferring to their aceter sorrows. At the reading of the Lord’s Prayer, the Duchess of Cambridge left the arm of her son, knelt down at the entrance of the vault, and remained in an attitude of supplication for some moments. As the coffin was lowered into the vault, Baron Knesebeck placed upon it the ducal coronet of the deceased. The service being finished, the organ pealed Martin Luther’s hymn as the mourners retired. At dusk in the evening, the Duchess and her children returned to the Church to take a farewell view ; and then the Princesses were observed to strew flowers over the vault. On their last retirement, the workmen were immediately summoned to close up the tomb.— Spectator', July 20. Steam Communication with the Cape of Good Hope. —We announced in our last that the Lords Commissioners of tbe Admiralty had issued a notification inviting tenders for the conveyance of her Majesty’s mails to and from the Cape of Good Hope. Tbe contract is to be for seven years, and may be terminated then, or at any subsequent period, by a notice of twelve months from either party. The contractors are to engage to carry her Majesty’s mails and despatches between England and the Cape of Good Hope monthly, each way, at a speed which, on an average of the annual voyages, shall not be less than eight knots an hour. For this purpose there are to be provided a sufficient number of efficient steam vessels, propelled on tbe screw principle, and supplied with engines of not less than two hundred horsepower, with competent officers and engineers, and a sufficient crew of able seamen, to be in all respects as to ships, machinery, equipment, and crew, subject to the approval of the Admiralty. We understand that the West Indian Mail Steam-ship Company are about to tender for the service as a branch of their line of screw mail steamers to Brio de Janiero ; the Company proposing to establish an additional force of steamers to carry the mails from Rio to the Cape on the arrival of the outward mails from Southampton on the coast of Brazil. It would appear that no effort is being made in Liverpool to secure any of the contracts. — Liverpool Albion, July 29. Union Bank of Australia. —On Monday the directors and shareholders of this banking Company held their annual meeting Ot t R »• zx <■» rx n O O T) —* — J 1a _ T uv uiuvco, do, jS (uau-sireeij vliy. -J. J. Cummins, Esq., took the chair. The report stated “ that the accounts which it is now the duty of the directors to present for the year ending in the colonies the 31st December, 1849, and in London, at the close of June, 1850, offer satisfactory evidence of the continued prosperity of this bank. The aspect of commercial affairs in the Australian colonies is very satisfactory. New and important channels of trade are opening, and the enterprise of the merchants seem to be generally regulated by a wise abstinence from that speculative excitement which too frequently follows upon a period of prosperity. The provision heretofore made to cover all bad and doubtful debts has as yet proved more than sufficient for that purpose.” The directors proposed to submit the statement of accounts, the result of which enables them to declare a dividend at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum on the entire paid-up capital of the bank, together with a bonus of 7s. 9. per share on the 32,000 paid-up shares, and a like proportion of bonus on the £2 10s. per share paid up on the 8,000 shares of tbe third series. .The reserve fund altogether amounted to £72,588 6s. sd. The report was unanimously agreed to.-— Bell's Messenger, July 29.

New Zealand Company. —A meeting of the proprietors of this company took place on Tuesday morning at the offices, Broad-street buildings—Mr. Aglionby, M.P. in the chair. Several of the proprietors present put several questions to the chairman, with the view of ascertaining the precise position of the affairs of the company as it now stood. In replying to these questions, the chairman stated that the committee appointed at the last general meeting had addressed a long letter to Earl Grey on the subject of the surrender of the charter, and, calling bis attention in strong but respectful terms to the rights of the shareholders. To that communication no reply had been received. The company still existed as a corporate body, as the proprietors had as yet only expressed their readiness to surrender their charter, and the surrender had not actually been accepted. It was possible that some terms might be offered to them by the Colonial Office. The company had ceased its colonising functions and its power for the sale of lands : but they would still, he imagined, derive an interest in the sale of lands in New Zealand until the sum of £268,000 was paid them. The company had at first been informed that tbe crown lands would be placed in their possession for the exercise of their colonising functions ; but it wac found that they had to purchase the crown domain lands before they could do anything with them. The surrender of the charter would not very materially affect the Canterbury Settlement Association, as they would have to purchase land from the government instead of the New Zealand Company, as heretofore It did not appear to him (Mr. Aglionby) necessary that the Canterbury Association should have, any new act; and yet he knew that one was in course of preparation, if net actually completed. No expenses would now be allowed except those necessary for tbe winding up the affairs of tbe company. New Zealand House would be closed. All things would be contingent on the nature of the answer from the Colonial Office. After some further discussion, the meeting was adjourned for a fortnight.—Scotsman, July “?(),

The dormitory at Parkhurst Prison has been reduced to ashes. It was ascertained to nave been tbe work of some of its irreclaimable prison inmates, none of whom, however, either effected their escape or perished in the flames, having been placed for security in the chapel, or in the square attached, under a strong military guard. The diabolical plot was a considerab 1 time maturing, and as many as four or five are considered as principals, and many implicated. Thirty were put in custody immediately after the fire, and it is understood that tbe prison authorities are in possession of all the particulars. Death of Mr. Robert Stevenson.— It is with extreme regret we have to announce the death of Mr. Stevenson, the civil engineer, an event which took place on Friday. Mr. Stevenson had reached the advanced age of 78. The contemporary of Telford, Rennie, and Stephenson (of England), needs no biography beyond an enumeration of his works. Mr. Stevenson, it will be remembered, was the sole designer and executor of the celebrated Bell Rock Lighthouse, which is in itself a monument of ingenuity and industry. Mr. Stevenson first brought into notice the superiority of malleable iron rods for rtiiiways over the old cast iron, a fact which has been fully acknowledged. He also surveyed the line hptVTPPW _ J _ uuu vTicxoguvr, ill Jll though his plan was not adopted, it was much sdmiredi TRs const of Scotland however is the place where tbe labours of Mr. Stevenson are principally to be seen. Not a harbour, rock, nor island, but bears evidence of his indefatigable industry, and it is incalculable to think of the amount of life and property which by his exertions have been saved. In matters relating to the construction of harbours, docks, or breakwaters, he was generally consulted as an authority, and received as a mark of respect and admiration, a gold medal from the late King of tbe Netherlands. In private life nothing could exceed the amiability and good heartedness of Mr. Stevenson. — Edinburg Evening Post. Wile of the Late Duke of Cambridge.—lt is understood that the will of the late Duke of Cambridge was opened and read on Wednesday last. The propertv is stated to be divided into three portions among his three children, viz., the present duke and his two sisters. In addition to other property, the sum of £5OOO goes to the duchess. The executors are the Duke of Sutherland, Sir James Reynett, and Sir Henry Wheatley. The guardians of the Princess Mary, are the duchess, the present duke, and the executors already named. The Princess Mary is but sixteen. By the grant of Parliament she will have £3OOO per annum, as well as one-third of the personal property. — Globe.

Goodwood Races. —The Goodwood Cup had been won by Lord Stanley’s Canezou, beating seven others. The Goodwood Stakes were won by Windischgratz.

Naval.—lt was strongly rumoured that Rear-Admiral Superintendent Prescott, C.B. of Portsmouth dock-yard, would succeed Rear-Admiral Hornby. C. 8., as Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific station. —Master H. A. Moriarty (1844) to the Dragon, 6 guns, steam frigate, at Portsmouth.—Surgeon T. (1841) Superintendent of the Hyderabad convict ship.

The Expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin.—Lieutenant Power, of the Emma Eugenia, transport, arrived at the Admiralty yesterday, with despatches from Capt. Austen. Captain Austen left Whale Fish Islands on the 23rd June, all hands being well, and the ships perfect in every equipment; the steamers had six weeks’ coal on on board. The day after Captain Austen sailed the American expedition, consisting of two schooners, arrived at the Whale Fish Islands, and sailed to the northward on the 29th ail well. Captain Penny passed Disco on the 4th May, all well.— Atlas, Aug. 3.

Termination o,f the Greek Dispute. —The Greek dispute is officially terminated. The convention was signed on the 18th, in the presence of the French Minister, by the Minister of Great Britain and King Otho’s Minister for Foreign affairs. It now turns out that the whole loss incurred by the Greek shipping during the war is only valued at £5OOO.

Fire at Cracow. —Cracow,, the heart of Poland, was in ashes. The fife was caused by incendiaries.

The New West India Steam Fleet. —The directors of the Royal Mail Steampacket Company have accepted tenders for the immediate construction of five magnificent Atlantic steam-ships for performing the through voyages from Southampton to the Isthmus of Panama. .One of these vessels is to be built in Southampton by Mr. Wigram, of London, but her machinery is to be put on board in the Clyde. The following is a list of the ships, their names, tonnage, and power, with the names of the builders, namely : —The Orinoco, 2,250 tons, 750 horsepower, is to be built by Pitcher, at Northfleet, the engines by Messrs. Maudsley, Sons, and Field, of London. The Magdalena, 2,250 tons, 750 horse-power, to be built by Pitcher, of Nortbfleet, the engines by Messrs. Napier. The Demerara, 2,250 tons. 750 horse-power, to be built by Messrs. Patterson, of Bristol, the engines by Messrs. Caird & Co., of Greenock. The Amazon. 2,250 tons, 750 horse-power, to be built by Messrs. Green of Blackwall, the engines by Messrs. Seaward & Co., of London. The Parana, 2,256 tons, 750 horse power, to be built at Southampton by Messrs. Wigram, the engines by Messrs. Caird & Co., of Greenock. Thus the builders most celebrated in naval architecture, and firms the most remarkable for the construction of marine steam engines, are to be employed in producing these ships, which, it may confidently be expected, will embrace every improvement of merit that has yet been introduced, and which will doubtless, by their speed and general efficiency for transatlantic voyaging, be-unsurpassed by auy of the magnificent ships now engaged in regularly crossing the ocean. The whole of the vessels are to be built of wood, and will be ready for sea in a year, or, perhaps, less. They will be propelled on the paddle wheel principle, and are to be pressed forward with the greatest possible despatch.— Times.

The Bulgarian Insurrection.—Letters have been received in Vienna, from Semlin, to the sth instant. Omer Pascha bad not marched into Bosnia with the Turkish army under his command, but with one division had marched towards Nissa, with the two commissioners from Constantinople, to inquire into the cause of the Bulgarian insurrection. It was believed that the insurrection originated really in the tyranny and oppression of the Turkish officials ; but that when it had broken out, Russian emissaries had done all in their power to foment and increase the feeling against the government. The fact of Widdin being surrounded by the insurgents was confirmed. The insurgents were reported to have increased in number. Thirty-five thousand ,men were reported under arms. The chief points at which they were collected weie at Nissa, Sofia, and Filipopel, Communications are interrupted in all directions.— Atlas, July 20.

United States. —The only additional information of moment that we have received from Cuba since the Pacific sailed, states that the American Consul at Havannah had been threatened with assassination, and that the popular feeling against the Americans was very violent. On the 4th instant a serious riot occurred near Baltimore, in which several persons were shot, and one has since died. Lopez, the “ Cuban Liberator,” was received as a hero a few days since at Gainesville, Mississippi. What strange ideas some people have of national faith and honesty! A very destructive storm visited Albany and Northern New York on Friday, in which several lives were lost, crops, mills, and houses,

were blown down or washed away. The cholera is very fatal at Cincinnati, Nashville, and other western cities. Yesterday the magnetic telegraph informed us that there were 93 deaths by cholera at Cincinnati in 24 hours. Many have died at Louisville and on the river boats. In New England bridges and mills have been washed away, while the floods of the Mississippi and its tributaries have inflicted unprecedented damage. In some places the inundations of the Lower Mississippi and its tributaries extended from 100 to 200 miles in breadth. — Bell's Messenger, July 22.

Arctic Expeditions.—Costly Charges.—From a return made to the House of Commons it appears that the charges incurred on account of Captain Austin’s Arctic Expedition amount to £114,513 17s. 6d., and on account of Captain Penny’s to £15,170 Os. Bd. ; making a total of £129,713 18s. 2d. — Liverpool Albion.

Advances of Public Money for Drainage, &c.—The new act to authorise further advances of money for drainage and the improvement of landed property in the United Kingdom, and to amend the acts relating to such advances, has been printed. By this act, which contains 14 sections, the treasury is empowered to advance two millions for the improvement of landed property in Great Britain, and £200,000 for Ireland. A further sum of £BOO,OOOO for drainage and works of public utility in Ireland may be advanced. It is provided that loans to the same owner of property shall be restricted to £5OOO. The act took effect from Monday, when it received the royal assent. — Bell's Messenger, July 22.

Life and Death : a Ball and a Grave. —The following anecdote has painful interest. The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk had issued invitations at a distant date for a state dinner party, on July 8, to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Amongst the guests who had accepted were Sir Robert Peel and Viscount Cantilupe. At twenty minutes to ten on that evening the Duke of Cambridge breathed his last, and Sir Robert Peel and Viscount Cantilupe had been already numbereu among the dead.— Medical Times, It maybe noted that Viscount Cantilupe was engaged to one of Sir R, Peel’s daughters ; and on the day of his funeral Sir Robert met with his fatal mischance.

The Fall of Table Rock.—The Buffalo Courier, of the Ist July, describes with more circumstance the fall of the Table Rock into Niagara Falls, lately mentioned. —“The falling of Table Rock, at Niagara Falls, on Saturday last, was an event which has been prognosticated from time immemorial, though the precise period at which the affair would ‘come off’ was not designated. The portion that fell was from 150 to 200 feet long, and from 30 to 70 feet broad ; making an irregular semicircle, the general conformation of which is probably well remembered by those who have been on the spot. It was the favourite point for observation. The noise occasioned by the crash was heard at the distance of three miles, though many in the village on the American side heard nothing of it. It is a very fortunate circumstance that the event took place at dinner time, when most of the visitors were at the hotels. No lives were lost. A carriage, from which the horses had been detached, stood upon the rock, and a boy was seated inside. He felt the rock giving way, and had barely time to get out and rush to the edge that did not fall, before the whole immense mass was precipitated into the chasm below. Awkward Remedy for a Notoriety Maniac. —The young man Walker, who avowed his determination to assassinate the President of the French Republic, and who is now in the hospital of the Bicetre. is subject to the discipline exercised in similar cases of derangement. A large quantity of cold water is every morning let fall, by way of douche, on his head. The volume of water weighs very heavily. This is a treatment Walker had by no means calculated upon, and it is of all others that which is most disagreeable to him. He expresses the utmost repugnance to the douche, which, perhaps, before long, will completely wash away the monomania that affects him,— Atlas. Jul« 20. A Venerable Tortoise.—The Geyser has brought home from the Cape of Good Hope, as a present to the Queen, a tortoise of venerable experience. “ The tortoise is in remarkably good health, and takes its regular promenades upon deck, and makes no apparent difference in its walks although a fullgrown person sits on its back. Its age has been handed down in the families in whose possession it remained until sent to this country as a present to her Majesty, and it is known to be a hundred andseventy-nine years old. It subsisted during the voyage to this country on pumpkins, taken on board to supply it with food.”— Spectator, July 20. Punning.—A pun, to be "perfect in its kind, should contain two distinct meanings ; the one common and obvious; the other,

more remote : and in the notice which the mind takes of the relation between these two sets of words, and in the surprise which that relation excites, the pleasure of a pun consists. Miss Hamilton, in her book on Education, mentions the instance of a boy so very neglectful, that he could never be brought to read the word patriarchs; but whenever he met with it he always pronounced it partridges. A friend of the writer observed to her, that it could hardly be considered as a mere piece of negligence, for it appeared to him that the boy, in calling them partridges, was making game of the patriarchs. — Sydney Sullth*

Talking of barking, two gentlemen the other day, at a public table, got into a vehement dispute upon a subject, on which it was quite evident that both were profoundly ignorant. A big bulldog, which had been quietly sleeping on the hearth, became roused by their violence, and began barking furiously. An old gentleman, who had been quietly sipping his wine, while the disputants were talking, gave , the dog a kick, and exclaimed, “hold your tongue, you brute, you know no more about it than they do.” The laugh of the whole table was turned upon the brawlers. The following nautical method of dancing was found among the papers of the late Admiral Sir Joseph Yorke, of facetious memory : —“ Third Figure—Heave a-head, and pass your adversary yard-arm and yard-arm —regain your birth on the other tack in the same order—take your station with your partner in line—back and fill —fall on your heel, and bring up with your partner. She then manoeuvres a-head—heaves all back —shoots ahead again, and pays off alongside you. Then make sail in company with her nearly astern of the other line —make a stern board —and cast her off to shift for herself —regain your place by rhe best means in your power, and let go your anchor. An Opinion of the Fashions, —“ My son,” said an old turbaned Turk, one day, taking his child by the hand, in the streets of Cairo., and pointing out to him on the opposite side a Frenchman just imported, in all the elegance of Parisian costume —“ My son, look there ! If u oi- ever forget God and the Prophet, you may come to look like that!”

Things for a German to Calculate. —We always thought that an American was the best person to calculate ; but it seems that there is in London an extraordinary “ Calculating German.” We have not yet had the pleasure of hearing this wonderful Deutscher, who, we are told, throws sums and figures about, and catches them as skilfully as Raino Samee did cannon-balls, but we take the liberty of proposing to him the following simple calculations, to which we shall be happy to receive the proper answers. Will he be kind enough to tell us—When the Great German Empire is likely to be founded, and what city is likely to be the capital of it ? When those facts are ascertained beyond the fraction of a doubt, if he would endeavour to calculate the longest period the said German Empire is likely to last; and, supposing it lasts six months, how far distant that great fact will be from the Millennium of the world ? How often has Austria committed bankruptcy, and what is the sum total of its several bankruptcies, and whether it is capable of paying a kreutzer in the pound ? What is the number of political prisoners in Austria, Prussia, and the little despotic principalities of Germany ? Calculate what good the long-denounced, longdelayed constitution has done Prussia, and whether it was worth while waiting so very long for so very little ? Calculate the revenue Nassau and Baden-Baden derived from their own resources, and tell us how many times greater or lesser they are than the revenues they draw from those “Sinks of iniquity,” the gaming-tables ? Ascertain, if you can, and tell us the name of the German who does not smoke? Also ascertain, and pray tell us once for all, “ Was ist das Vaterland ?— for we have heard of it many hundred times, but we never could make it out. — Punch.