ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 569, 15 January 1851, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Her Majesty prorogued the Parliament in person, on Thursday, August tbe 15 th, and the following is the speech delivered by ber Majesty on tbe occasion :— “ My Lords and Gentlemen, “ I have the satisfaction of being able to release you from tbe duties of a laborious session. The assiduity aud care with which you havp applied yourselves to the business which required your attention, merit my cordial appiobat.ion. “ The Act for the better government of my Australian Colonies will, I trust, improve tbe the condition of those rising communities. It wifi always be gratifying to me to be able to extend the advantages of renresentative institutions, which form the glory and happiness of my people, to colonies inhabited by men who are capable of exercising, with benefit to themselves, the privileges of freedom. “It has afforded me great satisfaction to i give my assent to the Act which you have ; passed for the improvement of the Merchant ' Naval service of this country. It is, I trust, 1 calculated to promote the welfare of every j class connected with this essential branch of : the national interest. I “ Tbe Act for the gradual Discontinuance • of Interments within the limits of the Metro--1 polis, is in conformity with those enlightened I views which have for their object tbe improve- ■ meat of the public health. 1 shall watch with . interest the progress of measures relating to I this important subject. j “ I have given my cordial assent to the Act 1 for the Extension of the Elective Franchise iin Ireland. I look to the most beneficial I consequences from a measure which has been I framed with a view to give to my people in ■ Ireland a participation iu the benefits of our representative system. “I have observed with the greatest interest and satisfaction the measures which have been adopted with a view to tbe improvement of the Administration of Justice in various departments, and I confidently anticipate they will be productive of much public convenience and advantage.

“ Gentlemen of the House of Commons, — “ The improvement of the revenue, and the large reductions which have been made in various branches of expenditure, have tended to give to our financial condition stability and security. lam happy to find that you have been enabled to relieve my subjects from some of tbe burthens of taxation, without impairing the sufficiency of our resources to meet the charges imposed upon them. “My Lords and Gentlemen—

“ I am encouraged to hope that the treaty between Germany and Denmark, which has been concluded at Berlin under my mediation, may lead at no distant period to the restoration of peace in the north of Europe. No endeavour shall be wanting on my part to secure the attainment of this great blessing. I continue to maintain the most friendly relations with foreign powers, and I trust that nothing may occur to disturb the general peace.

“ I have every reason to be thankful for the loyalty and attachment of my people, and while I am studious to preserve and to improve our institutions, I rely on the goodness of Almighty God to favour my efforts, and to guide the destinies of this nation.” Her Majesty was in good health at Osborne House, with the rest of the royal family. I he Duchess of Kent was staying with the Duke and Duchess of Athol, until the Queen’s arrival, at the end of the month. Her royal highness was then to proceed to Abergeldy, of which she had taken a lease, and which is only a mile or two distant from Balmoral, the Highland abode of her Majesty.

The Scotsman announces that the Queen would not accompany Prince Albert at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the National Gallery on the mound, Edinburgh, on the 30th August. Her Majesty, on her arrival on Thursday afternoon, would drive direct to the Palace.

The Edinburgh News states that the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Scotland has come to the resolution that the different lodges cannot walk io procession at the laying of the foundation stone on the Mound, on the 30th, “ Prince Albert not being one of the craft, and having -scruples about being initiated*” The lodges in England consented to appear at the laying of the foundation stones of the Corn Exchange and the Masonic Almshouses in London. “ but their sturdier brethren of the north have unanimously left the Lord Provost and the other functionaries to manage the business themselves.”

The health of London was not quite so excellent ; but still the deaths did not quite come up to the ten years’ average. Cholera had manifested itself, but there was nothing to indicate its presence as an epidemic. Sir Robert Peel’s will has been proved, and the property sworn under £500,000. The late Sir Robert Peel has, according to the Daily News, (t left full and specific'directions in his will for the early publication of his political memoirs ;” and has ordered that the.profits arising from the publication shall be given to some public institution for the education of the working classes. He has confided the task to Lord Mahon and Mr. Cardwell. Their duty will, however, “be comparatively light, though delicate, from the admirable and orderly state in which Sir Robert has left all his papers.” The Roman Catholic Laity of London, have presented an address of congratulation to their late Archbishop, on his intended elevation to the rank of Cardinal. A subscription is also being raised to defray the expenditure which this elevation will cause. The Earl of Arundel and Surrey, and Mr. Shiel, M.P., appear to take a prominent part in the movement. It is said in the address by which “ his Lordship was deeply affected”—that “ the wonderful progress and development of our holy religion in these kingdoms, which prove themselves to be the work of the right hand of tbe Most High, manifestly requires the guidance of the most perfect combination nF tnlonf onnrrw »r»fl nnklin nnnfinnnnn nrkink — «UU vUUHUVMVVj MUtVU the church can command. That we, your fellow-Catholics, should recognise this combination in your Lordship, proves only what is well known to all the Catholic world. But it is your Lordship’s peculiar happiness to have extorted by your writings, and preaching, and life, a similar tribute from the great mass of the Protestant world.”

At Leeds the subscription in aid of a monument for the late Sir Robert Peel exceeds £lOOOl at Salford, the total collection amounts to £BOO ; and that at Birmingham to nearly £5OO. The inhabitants of Dundee have decided on erecting a monument in that town, Lord Kinnaird being very active in forwarding the movement ; and a committee is in course of formation at Edinburgh, to carry out the same object in that city. Miss Eliza Peel, of Wallington Hall, Norfolk, daughter of William Yates, Esq., of Bury, and aunt of the late lamented Sir Robert Peel, appears in the obituary notices of the month of August. Sir Launcelot Shadwell, Vice Chancellor of England, and the right honorable Charles E. Law, Recorder of London, were also dead. Mr. Law’s death creates a vacancy in the representation of the University of Cambridge. .f ield-Marshal Prince Albert has been appointed to the Chief Colonelcy of the 60th Rifles, vice Field-Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge deceased. Gen. John, Earl of Strafford, from the 29ch Foot, has been appointed to the Colonelry of the Coldstreams, also vacant by the decease of the Royal Duke. Lieut.-Geu, Ulysses, Lord Downes, from the 54th Foot has been appointed Colonel of the 29th, vice the Earl of Strafford. Major Gen. Gordon to be Col. of the 54th, vice lord Downes.

The Canterbury Settlement Lands Bill received the Royal Assent by Commission on the 14th August. It was announced that Lord John Russell was about to be elevated to the House of Peers.

Our readers will learn with surprise, says the London Daily News, but not without a certain flutter of expectation and excitement, that tbe Corporation of London intends to promote to the office of Recorder, now vacant, Lord Brougham. In tbe case of any other than the noble and learned lord, the announcement might be received with incredulity ; but on his part, the filling of two such seemingly irreconcilable characters at once, as a peer of the realm, and an officer of tbe London municipality, is not a wbit more startling than his grave proposal to become a Frenchman, and continue to be an Englishman nevertheless. Excitement in France is a chronic disorder ; an event is always desired, and a change of any kind preferred. Feverish expectation is part of every one’s existence ; consequently every one helps on some kind of movement either by word or deed. Some change in the form of Government is anticipated, probably desired by all ; and the Prince President is rehearsing the Imperial drama by making royal progresses. The cry of‘ , awa > Tuileries" has been faintly heard, but there are other bands of claqueurs, besides those engaged in the theatres, whilst he is on a tour of the provinces. General Cavaignac has returned to Paris.

Austria is still distressed by her financial affairs, and matters seem to be in anything but a tranquil state at Vienna. The extreme eastern portion of Europe is said to be restored to order, the Pasha sent against Albania, Bulgaria, and Bosnia, having overcome “the foreign movement” there. In Piedmont there has been a popular demonstration against the extreme bigotry of the Jesuit Clergy, the Archbishop having refused to administer the extreme sacrament to one of the ministers who had been prominent in abolishing the Ecclesiastical Court. Everything was quiet at Rome.

The Queen had conferred the honor of knighthood on Mr. Cockburn, Solicitor GenP.fl nn IV®"*’ Pnkart QinnfowJ f-Arvi uuiuij auu vu Li-ii. xvwuuib kJ tain vi u, UULU vuc Cape of Good Hope. The latter received the honor on account of having supplied the troops m ith provisions during the late passive rebellion.

France.—President Louis Napoleon set out on his second tour in pursuit of popularity on Monday morning. The accounts of his progress are at present but meagre ; it may be added, they are as contradictory in tone as are the various feelings of their writers. It seems beyond doubt, however, that both at Tonnerre and Dijon his reception has not been one of unmixed homage. At the first place there were such marked demonstrations among the artisan crowd, of attachment to the Republic and distrust towards its head, that several arrests were made by the police. At Dijon, twelve out of the twenty-five members of the municipality refused to join their colleagues in giving the President a public reception ; and the cries of “ Vive la Republique 1” were bellowed forth, as at Tonnere, ™:.k .!■. ..:_i i • _ _r . L . . t> _ WILLI LUC VIUIUUL CXJJ JUIICLOAO UL LUlCdld. AVUVJLKW&j ecstatic acknowledgments of every imperial memento, with perpetual largesses to imperial soldiers and suffering civilians, form the staple of the President’s performances; the official enthusiasm of the provincial functionaries seconds the ardour of the President’s real friends in the organisation of fetes, and .eclatant receptions at railway stations and Hotels de Ville. — Spectator..

English Tourists in Ireland. —The number of English tourists in Ireland is far greater than in any previous season. English pleasure hunters are to be seen in all directions, greatly to the benefit of railway companies, hotel keepers, &c. Killarney has seldom had so full and profitable a season ; Glengariffe has its fair share; the romantic scenery of Wicklow is attracting considerable numbers ; and many are proceeding to Connemara and other western wilds. Kingstown, near Dublin, which has become a fashionable watering place, is now quite crowded, and most of the sojourners at the hotels are English.—Atlas.

Departure of the Nepaulese Embassy.—Yesterday the first portion of the suit, carrying upwards of £lO.OOO worth of English goods, purchased by the ambassador, took their departure from Whitehall. His Highness General Jung Bahador Koonwur Ranajee and his brothers, Colonel Dhurr and Shumshore Jung, take their final departure on Tuesday, via Belgium and France.— Weekly Chronicle. Dr. Wiseman.—The chief Roman Catholic nobility and gentry in London and St. George’s, Westminster, were present on Sunday to hear Dr. Wiseman’s farewell address before leaving for Rome to receive the dignity of cardinal. It is stated that Dr. Doyle, senior priest at St. George’s, or Dr. Newman, will be his successor as Bishop of London.— Atlas. Extensive Fire at Gravesend.—After a comparative immunity from fires for nearly a century, Gravesend has within the last few

vears been greatly ravaged by conflagrations ; and last Sunday morning the town suffered from the most extensive calamity of that nature which has yet befallen it; no fewer than twenty-nine houses having been destroyed, and eleven others more or less serious y damaged, in a part of the town where valuable property was accumulated. The first alarm was raised at half-past two o clock, when smoke and flames were observed issuing from the premises of Mr. Adlington, a grocer living at No. 68 in the High-street; though it does not appear quite certain that the fire originated there. The High-street is a narrow and inconvenient thoroughfare ; but in it are the shops of the principal tradesmen, with the town-hall and market place. The houses were mainly constructed of timber, and the flames rapidly travelled from house to house, proceeding down the street towards the pier, so that some of the inhabitants had difficulty in escaping with their lives. Before the town engines could be got to work, some time having elapsed before water was obtained, a dozen houses on one side of the High-street were blazing, while tbe flames spread across the road to the opposite buildings; houses in Church alley and in lanes in the rear of High street also caught fire. The'scene was fearfully grand ; the town, river, and shipping, being brightly illuminated. The reflection of the flames were seen in London, and some engines hastened to Wapping and Greenwich as the sites of the fire. Engines were obtained from Rochester, Chatham, Dartford, and Tilbury Fort; and at a later period two engines arrived by rail from London, with a detachment of the Fire Brigade. The contents of a tallow chandler’s shop and two spirit shops helped to feed the fire and spread it. At one time both the parish church and the town hall seemed to be in danger; but they escaped. The fire was got under or had burnt itself out by seven o’clock, so that -there was no danger of its further-spread-;. at that time a wide extent of ruin presented itself. The latest information justifies the estini&tv that ths damage will amount to £lOO, 000 ; and this does not seem an exaggeration, f* ♦mar»♦ty _ A vo ? n rll vi/1 n ole trrliz* kava ctiFßororl lUL UUV lIU’V were insured for £75,800. Half-a-dozen in-surance-offices will be losers ; one will have to pay £28,000, and two others £lB,OOO and £12,000 respectively. The premises of the London and County Bank were consumed ; but the papers, books, and cash of the concern were saved. It is reported there was a difficulty in getting people to work the engines, the authorities not having paid those who thus laboured on a former occasion ; in London the Brigade officers see to the payment of all persons who pump and they never lack assistance. — Spectator, Aug. 17. The Cholera in Cuba.—By the latest accounts from this island it appears that much anxiety is felt, and a great degree of uncertainly exists, in regard to the progress of the cholera in the interior of the island, and as to its probable effect upon the next and subsequentcrops. The disease continues to spread in various uirections, and its ravages in iuuoy places have been appalling. On several estates the destruction of life among the negroes is said to amount to from 25 to 30 per cent., and in some cases even 40 and 50 per cent, of the whole number, and the most useful are | generally the victims. Should the disease ■ spread throughout the island, the loss of life among the slave operatives would in this ratio probably not be short of 100,000 to 125,000. Even at the present average rate of mortality on the estates the estimates as to the ultimate destruction of life among the negroes, in the event of the epidemic becoming general throughout the interior, are not less than 70,000 or 80,000. The period of the year is unfavourable for checking the malady.- Bell's Messenger, Wires for an electric telegraph are now being laid down between St. Petersburgh and Vienna. When completed, and the submarine telegraph established between Dover and Calais, news can be conveyed in a few minutes between London and the capital of Russia.

According to the Irish papers, every distinguished Frenchman is either of Irish descent. or has an Trick wifo << Cl"" i ' - " V.UUCIUI uc Lahitte, says the Limerick Chronicle, “ is married to the granddaughter of a Limerick lady, the beautiful Jane Harold.” The last lift of the last tube of the Britannia Bridge was completed, amid much acclamation, on the 16th August, and everything was progressing so satisfactorily as to lead to the conclusion that the entire structure would be opened a fortnight earlier than was expected. An inquest had been held upon the bodies of two men killed in a riot at Cork. Seven days were occupied in hearing the witnesses but the jury in either case was discharged’ They could not agree to a verdict. The charge of twopence per head for admission to St. Paul’s Cathedral, for the inspection of the national temple, has been al length discontinued. The cathedral was

crowded on the first dayby orderly and evidently gratified visitors. Models.—The model of part of Liver, pool, the docks, &c., now in progress for the 1851 exhibition, is to be on so large a scale as to show everything distinctly, and will cost about £750. A model of London has been made for tbe same purpose, on a scale of g inches to the mile, and containing in all 9(j square feet. We understand that it exhibits the exact situation of all the public buildings churches, bridges, railways, &c., with the Thames from Battersea to Rotherhithe, and shows the different elevations of the streets, Mr. Carrington’s large plan model (6 feet by 3 feet 11 inches) of 3,000 square miles of district in England, comprising the county lying in abroad belt between the Humber and

the Mersey, including a great part of Yorkshire, Nottingham, Derbyshire, and Cheshire described by us some time since, is likely be purchased for the new Museum at Me,-. Chester. A subscription is on foot to place Siborne’s model of the battle of Waterloo in the Museum of the United Service .Club. —Builder. Sir Thomas Wilde (Lord Truro),— Sir T. Wilde’s father, says the Daily Nevis, was an attorney in tbe City. The future Chancellor was placed in St. Paul’s School. He there formed an acquaintance, which

ripened into a lasting friendship, with Frede. rick Pollock, now Lord Chief Baron. From this school young Wilde was removed to his father’s office. His unwearied industry and quickness of perception was generally observed during his clerkship, and, upon his admission as an attorney, business rapidly flowed in upon him. In the course of a few years, with self-reliance almost unexampled, he relinquished a practice producing several thousands a-year, and was called to the bar, He chose the Western Circuit. His know, ledge of the law, his zeal, his industry, anda ready command of appropriate language, ver? shortly gave him distinction and eminence. His further history it is not necessary to trace ; but we may remark, that, in his practice at the bar, he invariably made himself master of his case 5 he honestly and honorsbly performed his duty to his client, utterly regardless of his own ease, and was far from countenancing by his example tbe too common fault of undertaking more business than it is possible to perform. He was unusually zealous in his client’s cause, but was a candid opponent. The unwearied industry which marked him when a boy is still in full exercise ; and he has before him the example of Lord Hardwicke, wbo, like himself, when made Chancellor, had principally practised io common law courts, and who, like himself, had sat at the attorney’s desk. He has, too, the rare qualification for a judge—a full and accurate general knowledge of the law, its progress, and its practice. The task before him appears difficult, but all is possible to the untiring industry of a man who gives io rest at the utmost about five hours out of the twenty-four. Our purpose is not, hoffever, to give an opinion of me appointment, or speculate as to its result; it is rather to point out a man who, by industriously exercising his talent, has, in this aristocratic country, raised himself to the highest office in tbe law and the state from a very humble position. The unconnected but industrious student may, from the elevation of Sir T. Wilde, derive pleasure and hope.

The Great Bull from Nineveh.—The lovers of art will be pleased to hear that the Great Bull and upwards of 100 tons of sculpture, excavatedby our enterprisingcountryman Dr. Layard, are now on their way to England and may be expected in the course of September. In addition to the Elgin, Phigalian, Lycian, and Boodroom marbles, our Museum will soon be enriched with a magnificent series of Assyrian sculptures.— Bell's Messenger. Veils: A word to the Fair.—-Acele-brated writer on the sight says that wearing veils permanently weakens many naturally good eyes, on account of the endeavours of the eye to adjust itself to the ceaseless vibration of that too common article of dress. Ladies, then, should beware of hiding their pretty eyes and faces with a veil.— Hull Advertiser. As the tellers on the vote of confidence divi’ sion advanced to declare the numbers, the speaker—with doubtless a prophetic sense of the majority of 46—said, with a benignant smile at ministers, —“ Gentlemen will pleased to keep their places.”— Punch,