ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Melbourne Argus, July 13.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 736, 21 August 1852, Page 4

ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Melbourne Argus, July 13.]

I Public interest continues centered in two leading topics. The position and doings of the Derby Ministry, and the acts and doings of the Prince President of France. - Thgfformer, however, is the more attractive, and 'every periodical from the Thunderer- down to Punch, gives prominence to the doings, the' sayings, arid the movements of the leading men o£ the new cabinet. Parliament had adjourned for the Easter holidays, and were to meet again on the 19th April. Several subjects had been under discussion^ but with the exception of the Militia Bill no measure of importance had been introduced by the new Government. This bill proposes to raise a force of 80,000 men by voluntary enlistment, with bounty, as y in the army, if possible, or by ballot. The measure is not regarded favorably by the British public. There had been a long and interesting discussion on the Kafir war, on taking the vote hi £460,000 for its expenses. Everywhere the note, of preparation is being sounded for the approaching general election. The Carlton Club is said lo have subscribed £150,000 for the purpose of aiding in the election of Conservative members. The Anti-corn law League are not less active, and large sums have been put down by the Manchester men, so that a very sharp contest may be looked for indeed. The struggle is > expected to be more severe than any since the passing of the Reform Bill. _ " In striking contrast with the- struggles, and

tjie excitement- of "parties political, who amongst ' them endeavour to govern this country, the Prince President of France is showing the world how easily all this may be managed by one man having the nerves necessary — how much trou-i ble, time, and wordy warfare may be saved, by ruling a country after his Napoleonic fashion-=-governing it by edicts. What in England requires many nights of anxious debates and numerous divisions) is accomplished in France by a stroke of Louis Napoleon's pen. He wills it and it is decreed. His budget is not discussed — that would be far too troublesome and tedious — he simply decrees it. . He has not only reshaped the-French constitution by decree, but he has remodelled the army, the bench, and the universities by decree. More recently he has by a simple decree converted the five per cent. rentes into four and a-half stock, by which^ means the State gains annually, at the expense of the stockholders, about eighteen millions and a half of francs. The restrictions on the press, are now most complete ; not only are the whole of the journals are under the most stringent censorship, but every private printing office is narrowly watched as well as licensed. Every writer has now to consider whether his effusions will stand the searching criticism of Moos. Persigny. The wittie§t sallies of the Charivari, and the gravest disquisition of philosophy, have alike to pass the ordeal of the imperious republican dictator. The new Napoleonic Chambers have been opened by the President, who, in a clever speech full of nice subtleties and high sounding phrases, has contrived to tell the French that they have existed in the midst of a series of national mistakes, and they are extremely fortunate in finding one so willing and capable of setting them right as himself. The two important features in his address were his declaration in favour of pacific measures and against the resumption by him of the imperial purple at any rate, unless he be provoked to it by the plotting of bis adversaries. Prince Schwarzenberg, the Prime Minister of Austria, died suddenly on the 12th April. He was at the head of the reactionary and absolutist party on the Continent. His successor was not known in England at the latest dates. Lieut.-Gen. Sir John Harvey, X.C.8., Lieut. Governor of Nova Scotia, died suddenly at that place. He was Colonel of the 59th Regiment. Major-Gen. Grant, a distinguished Waterloo officer,-had also died recently. He held the sinecure appointment of Governor of Scarborough Castle. The French are to have a crystal palace of their own in the Champ Elysees ; it is even said that the Government are in treaty with Messrs. Fox and Henderson for the purchase of the frame of the building in Hyde Park ; on the other hand, great efforts are being made on this side the water to retain the Exhibition building in its present condition. Public meetings have been held and resolutions passed, calling upon those wishing to join in the proposal to come forward with subscriptions towards the'purchase of the edifice. The contractors have endeavoured to enlist the public still further in the course by giving " promenades" with military music within the building. On the 2nd instant, seven regimental bands were in the palace, which with Nellio's great organ, sent their strains through the beautiful glass structure, to the delight of about 80,000 visitors. The quarterly returns of income and~expenditure had been published. The income of the last quarter had increased more than £100,000 beyond the increase of the same quarter of last year. The exports of British and Irish produce in the month ending March 5, 1852, were £5,353,532, against £4,740,278 in the same month of 1851. A " Great Exhibition" of Indian- produce and manufactures was to be undertaken in 1853 by the East India Company. The intelligence of the loss of the BirJcenhead had created a great sensation in England. By a singular coincidence, that vessel and the equally ill-fated Amazon both left port on the same day, the 2nd February. Further discovert of Gold. — By letters received from Port Victoria, Vancouver's Island, dated* the 10th of January, it appears that gold in considerable quantities and of great purity has been discovered at Queen Charlotte's Island. , One correspondent writes : '-' Several vessels have recently returned from Queen Charlotte's Island, the severity of the winter not permitting mining operations. ' Gold has been discovered there in great abundance. Several fine specimens have been traded from the natives by the Hudson's Bay Company, and it is expected that in the course of the spring the mines will prove richer than California, as the gold is supposed to be of a finer quality, and the veins in the quartz rock superior to any that have been discovered on the coast of the Pacific."^