LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 665, 17 December 1851, Page 4

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

[From (he Launceston Examiner, November 29 1 Admiral, arrived at Melbourne, bring ZL I4 * Au * ust - Parliament wS p orogued by the Queen in person on the Bth when she delivered the following speech ’ My Lords and Gentlemen, — lam glad to be able to release von f roir your attendance in Parliament, and’ I thank you for the diligence with which you have performed your laborious duties. I continue to maintain the most friendly relations with foreign powers. I am happy to be able to congratulate you on the very considerable diminution which has taken place in the African and Brazilian slave traue. The exertions of my squadrons the coast of Africa and Brazil, assisted by the vigilance of the cruisers of France and of iatioY nit r . ta n S ’ and aided b y theco-ope-main! ° tb ®L razilian Government, have mainly contributed to this result,

Gentlemen of the House of Commons,—— I thank you for the readiness with which you have granted the supplies necessary for the present year. My Lords and Gentlemen, — It is satisfactory to observe that, notwithstanding very large reductions of taxes, the revenue for the past year considerably exceeded the public expenditure for the same period. I am rejoiced to find that you have thereby been enabled to relieve my people from an impost which restricted the enjoyment of light and air in their dwellings. I trust that this enactment, with others to which your attention has been and will be directed, will contribute to the health and comfort of m w subjects. J

I thank you for the assiduity with which you have applied yourselves to the consideration of a measure framed for the purpose of checking the undue assumption of ecclesiastical titles conferred by a foreign power. It gives me the highest satisfaction to find that, while repelling unfounded claims, you have maintained inviolate the great principles of religious liberty so happily established among us. The attention you have bestowed on the administration of justice in the courts of law and equity will, I trust, prove beneficial, and lead to further improvements. I have willingly given my consent to a bill relating to the administration of the land revenues of the Crown, which will, I hope, conduce to the better management of that department, and at the same time tend to the promotion of works of public utility. It has been very gratifying to me, on an occasion which has brought many foreigners to this country, to observe the spirit of kindness and good-will which so generally pre-

it is my anxious desire to promote among nations the cultivation of all those arts which are fostered by peace, and which in their turn contribute to maintain the peace of the world. In closing the present session it is with feelings ot gratitude to Almighty God that 1 a , ckn ° wled g e the general spirit of loyalty and willing obedience to the law which animates my people. Such a spirit is the best security at once for the progress and the stability of our free and happy institutions. Parliament was then prorogued till the 4th September.

The Queen was to leave London on her annual Scottish tour on 29th of August. Business was flit. The Morning °Chronicle of 14th August says To-day there has been scarcely any business. Consols ail day were 96 8 to 3 ; buyers and sellers alternately leaving off 96J to f for money and account: reduced threes, 97| to 1; three and a quarter per cents, 98f to 9 ; bank stock, 215 t° J- V e , xche^uer bonds, 465. to 495. prem.; India bonds; 575. prem. The depression in the Home funds has been accompanied by a similar downward tendency in foreign securi-

The Earl of Mulgrave and the Right Hon Solli ™ ha<l been p-y

The Earl of Arundel and Surrey, son of the Duke of Norfolk, had been elected M.P. for the city of Limerick, vice Mr. John O’Connell resigned. ’

The Irish journals give favourable accounts of the harvest, but the potatoe disease has broken out in some pa,-J.-,f country. ” ’“**

M."""— TT ,_JT> , 1 . . / v “°“” llulu eaiiu xiOcuuek, noth of whom had been very seriously indisposed, had so much recovered as to be in their p aces in the House of Commons on the Pro-rogation-day. A great Roman Catholic meeting for the organization of a “Catholic Defend/ u°n, ■ was to be held in Dublin on the 19th August. Dr. Cullen, the Roman Catholic primate, was to preside. Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, was seriously indisposed. [F

rom the Maitland Mercury, November 28.1 In the House of Commons, at the morning John r’ nday ’ the 4th Au S ust i Lord John Russell brought up her Majesty’s reply to the address of that house, agreed to on the previous Tuesday—praying that the Crystal fae P re3erved until the Ist May to the effect that it would be necessary to Ro vale Care I,y the en g a g enQ ents of the Royal Commissioners, and her Majesty would which must *bp ry Int ° 138 matters ofdetail could h?’ ascertained before a decision cou ’ d be come to upon the subject. d “' e J' f 7 d J?T y ° r and Cor Poration of London, and the Delegates of the Great Exhibition, were o n a visit to France. On the 7th August they were entertained with the utmost magnificence at the Hotel de Ville by th e Civic dignitaries of Paris. Th* *■ -* fAe Seine proposed the Queen of England’s' health, and the compliment was returned by

Lord Granville’s proposing that of the French President. Captain Hindmarsh, Governor of Heligoland, bad an audience of her Majesty, and was knighted. The total eclipse of the. sun had produced a great sensation at home. Several astronomers of eminence had proceeded to different places to observe the phenomenon in all its phases. Dr. R. Robertson proceeded, with several distinguished astronomers, to the north for that purpose. Lord Northampton, President of the Ar-, chosological Society, had died, much regretted. London Gazette, Downing-street, July 29. The Queen has been pleased to appoint Henrv Snmnol i. • > • -j iu uc v>uiOuiai secretary of Van Diemen’s Land. Her Majesty has also been pleased to appoint Thomas Falconer, Esq., to be Colonial secretary of Western Australia. It will be remembered that these appointments were said to have taken place about a fortnight previous to the period at which they were really gazetted, from which it would appear that they have been determined on for some time. Mr. Chapman is a judge at New Zealand. Hobart Town Advertiser, Nov. 25.