LATEST ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Sydney Morning Herald, December 11.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 776, 8 January 1853, Page 3

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Sydney Morning Herald, December 11.]

We have, by the kindness of Mr. Hall, purser of the Chtuan, English papers to the 24th September. The news is summed up in one item — The Duke is Dead. The greatest man of the age, the greatest military commander of any age or nation, whose fame for half a century had filled the civilized world, was no more. Although in his eighty-fourth year his death was unexpected, and took the nation by surprise. On the 13th of September his Grace retired to bed in his usual health and spirits, and* the next morning was attacked by epileptic fits, from which he died about three o'clock in the afternoon. We do not believe that on any other occasion, or on the death of any other public man, the Press would be so unanimous in its laudations as on this occasion. The remains of the illustrious warrior were to be interred, with all possible honours, at the expense of the nation. We extract Lord Derby's letter, containing the Queen's directions to this effect : — To the Right Hon. Spencer H; Walpole, Secretary of the Home Department. Balmoral, September 20, 1852. Sir, — Her Majesty received with the deep.est grief on Thursday last the afflicting intelligence of the sudden death of his Grace the late Duke of Wellington. . Although the Queen could not for a moment doubt that the voice of the country would be unaninoui upon the subject of the honours tp be paid to the memory of the greatest man of the age, her Majesty considered it due to th| feelings of his Grace's surviving relations that no step should be taken, even in his honour, without their previous concurrence ; and accordingly, on the same evening, in obedience to her Majesty's commands, I wrote to Lord Charles Wellesley, (the present Duke having not then returned to England), to ascertain whether the late Duke had left any directions, or whether his family desired to express any wish upon the subject; and suggesting the course which appeared to Her Majesty best calculated to give expression to those feelings, in which tbe nation, as one man, will sympathise with her Majesty. Having this day received letters from the present Duke and his brother, to the effect that

the late Duke has left no directions on the subject, and placing themselves wholly in Her Majesty's hands, I hasten to relieve the public anxiety by signifying to you, for general information, the commands which I have received from her Majesty. The great space which the name of the Duke of Wellington has filled in the history of the last 50 years — his brilliant achievements in the field — his high mental qualities — his long and faithful services to the Crown — his untiring devotion to the interests of his country—constitute claims upon the gratitude of the nation which a public funeral, though it cannot satisfy, at least may serve to recognise. Her Majesty is well aware that, as in the case of Lord Nelson, she might of her own| authority have given immediate orders for thisj public mark of veneration for the memory of' the illustrious Duke, and has no doubt but that] Parliament and the country would cordially! have approved the step. But her Majesty ,| anxious that this tribute of gratitude and of sor-jj sow should be deprived of nothing which could' invest it with a thoroughly national character! — anxious that the greatest possible number ofher subjects should have an opportunity of join-! ing in it, is anxious above all that such honours j should not appear to emanate from the Crown alone, and that the two Houses of Parliament should have an opportunity by their previous sanction of stamping the proposed ceremony with increased , solemnity, and of associating themselves with her Majesty in paying honour to the memory of one whom, no Englishman can name without pride and sorrow. " The body of the Duke of Wellington will therefore remain, with the concurrence of the family, under proper guardianship until the Queen shall have received the formal approval of Parliament of the course which it will be the duty of her Majesty's servants to submit to both houses upon their re-assembling. As soon as possible after that approval shall have been obtained, it is her Majesty's wish, should no unforeseen impediment arise, that the mortal remains of the late illustrious and venerated Commander-in-Chief should, at the public expense, and with all the solemnity due to the greatness of the occasion, be deposited in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's, there to rest by the side of Nelson — the greatest military by the side of the greatest naval chief who ever reflected lustre upon the annals of England. " I have the honour to be, Sir, " Your most obedient Servant, • ' "DERBY." It is a singular circumstance, that for some years past, his Grace's solicitor, Mr. Parkington, would never leave town, fearful that the crisis might happen during his absence, but on the day before the Duke died he ventured to leave his home, intending to be absent for a few days. The following appointments, consequent on the death of the Duke of Wellington, are announced as having been made : — Commander-in-Chief, Lord Hardinge Master General of Ordnance (with a peerage,) Lord Fitzroy Somerset Military Secretary, Colonel Airey Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Earl of Derby Constable of the Tower, Lord Combermere Colonelcy, of the Grenadier Guards, Prince Albert Colonelcy of the Fusilier Guards, Prince George of Cambridge. Lord Derby, it was understood, would be put in nomination for the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford. The Queen was at Balmoral, and it was said that £80,000 was to be expended on a new palace Mr. Stuart was appointed Vice Chancellor. Among the deaths, we notice the name of Mr. Pugin, the architect. In the summary of English news in the Melbourne Argus, we observe the following paragraph. :—: — Government has commenced a new era for New South Wales by guaranteeing 5 per cent, interest to the projected railways, as soon as £400,000 shall have been subscribed. Emigration both to Port Phillip and Sydney continues, and large numbers of people may, it is said, be expected from the United States and the British Colonies. Louis Napoleon has no doubt been before this declared Emperor. He was making a tour through. France, and in all places was hailed by the Imperial title. At Lyons he delivered a speech upon the inauguration of a statue of the Emperor, in which he contended for the legitimacy of his rule ; recognised the cry of " Vive ! l'Empereur!" which had everywhere followed his progress ; and declared that not knowing under what name he can best serve his country, he would not exchange the " humble name" of President for that of Emperor, if he thought it would better facilitate the mission confided to him ! This speech was received with tumultuous applause. He left Lyons for Grenoble on the 21st September, and bis passage was a fresh triumph. The appearance of Lyons on this occasion was described to have exceeded that of all other towns in animation and brilliancy. On the Snd of December, the anniversary of the celebrated coup d' etat, it was expected he would formally assume the title. The news from America is alight, but not unimportant in it> bearings. The conspiracy of tbe Lone Star bat been traced by the Government of Cuba, and it it known that the Order is extending its armed legions in the United States. A ministerial paper informs us that Lord Malrnesbury is about to interpose, and that the British squadron in the West Indies is to be reinforced by two steam frigates. Bot we are more concerned in the new rage for emigration to Australia that i» beginning to develope itself. Seven nkips are in tbe Hudson ready to start, and even the gold diggers of California are abandoning their exhausted veins to seek more speedy fortunes in the new region. Tbe settlement of the fishery question has dissatisfied both parties. The British protest against the surrender of their established rights, and the Americans do not hesitate to denounce it as a discreditable compromise. The latter console themselves, however, by the conviction that the evil is only temporary, and that the time is rapidly approaching when they shall "annex" the whole of Canada, and when it will be at their own option to absorb Mexico tnd central America if they choose !

The returns of the cholera from Warsaw, Posen, aod other places on the Continent, represent the epidemic as increasing in virulence and extent. Of forty-three persons attacked in one day at Warsaw, thirty died. The proportion o' cases to the amount of population in til the towns to which the disease has reached advances rapidly. In a village of 400 inhabitants, 100 were carried off; and at the small hamlet of Dragbeim, there were 30 deaths. The little bathing place of Zaphot, the extreme point of the province of Posen, was deserted by its visitors upon the appearance of the disease. It has also broken out in the barracks and military hospitals, where in some instances it has proved fatal in a few hours. Subscriptions are orgauising in toe districts affected, aod hospitals are preparing for the reception of patieuts in the towns which have as yet escaped. These precautionary measures may have the effect of staying the ravages of the malady ; but the courage of the people, in most places, seems to be broken down ; and so great is the frar mixed up with their apathy, that they cannot be prevailed upon to assist in the melancholy office of burying the dead — a heavy duty which the military are consequently compelled to perform. With the exception of a miU form of cholera, which is not fatal, and which the last return of the Registrar General states (o be on the decline, we have been hitherto, under Providence, spared this terrible infliction in England. Railway calamities have increased to so fearful an extent of late, as to spread considerable consternation throughout the conntry. Our space will not permit us to chronicle all the accidents that accumulate from day to day, but the selection presented in our columns will sufficiently indicate their general character. On the Manchester line a train rushes on a curved embankment, dashing its engine down on one side, and its carriages on the other. At Creech a train sweeps under a canal bridge and up an inclined plane, burying the axle-tree of the engine in a soft bank, and killing the unfortunate driver. At Leighton the driver of an express drives headlong into an assistant engine, and is instantly hurried into eternity. Whether such accidents as these are attributable to the carelessness of the persons employed, or the want of precautionary regulations on the part of the controlling power, is a question which juries appear loath to investigate. None of the verdicts in the numerous cases that have been made the subject of inquiry are satisfactory. They evade the real point to which the anxiety of the public is directed ; and the utmost compensation that can be obtained is a deodand on an engine, the expression of a doubt about the vigilance of their management, or a vague recommendation to exercise more prudence in future. In the meanwhile, the travelling population is consigned to the tender mercies of a system in which there is a radical defect somewhere, which there seems to be no power resident anywhere to correct. It is a significant commentary on this state of things that the Railway Insurance Company is paying 4 per cent, on its dividends ! The American Lake papers give some particulars of the railway bridge which is to span the Niagara, and connect Csnadi with the United States. At first thought the idea of a railway train dashing high in air over that renowned water is rather impressive ; but when the actual details are mastered, the undertaking falls down into the second class of engineering enterprises. The bridge will be in a single span 800 feet long ; less than half the length of Telford's carriage road across the Straits,'* and 1069 feet shorter tb»n the Britannia tube. It will form a strait hollow beam, of 20 feet wide and 17 deep, composed of top, bottom, and sides. The upper floor, which supports the railroad, is 24 feet wide between the railings and suspended to two wire cables, assisted by stays. The anchorage will be formed by sinking eight shafts in the rock, 25 feet deep. The towers are to be 60 feet high, 15 feet square at the base, and eight at the top. The bridge itself will be raised 18 feet on the Canadian and 28 feet on the American side above the present banks ; and it will be an imposing object from lome poiuts, though it will nowhere strike with the same awe as the great work of Stephensou. The weight of the bridge will be 1,678, 6221b5. The Vienna papers contain a horrid story of banditti. A peasant of Gal'ician Podolia had sold a pair of oxen at a fair ; he drank freely on the occasion, and for the safety of bis money fastened it round the waist of his daughter in a girdle, On passing through a wood, three men foil upon the man, dragged him away, and murdered him, his daughter witnessing the dreadful scene from a distance. She fled and gained the shelter of a cottage ; she told a woman who was in the cottage what had occurred, and gave the money into her custody ; the woman placed her in a bedroom. Presently the girl beard the three mnrderers enter — one was the woman's husband. They related to her their disappointment at not finding the money upon the peasant ; she laughed, showed them the belt, and said the girl was in the house. The villains resolved to murder her too, by burning her to death in the oven ! The girl heard them light the fire. Despair gave her strength to break a hole through the clay wall of the hut, and she got out, met two gendarmes, and told her tale. The assassins and the woman were afterwards arrested. A Bohemian countess has been arrested at Paris on a charge of infanticide. Matters are kept very secret by the newspapers ; but her name is supposed to be Kinska, and she is reported as having of late been living with lovers of all classes, even down to town and commercial travellers. The funds are thus reported under date, Thursday evening, September 23:— "The English Funds have been steady during the morning and the price has been kept up by money purchasers to 100£ and lOof hut they arc rather weaker for time bargains. Mr. Cobden has made a declaration in favour of the ballot, which will be made a leading question in the next session. The preliminary proceedings for enrolling the Militia are not going on so well as the Ministry expected ; and it appears very probable that the ballot will have to be resorted to, at least in some districts of the country. It appears that at a meeting of the East Riding Lieutenancy, to receive the returns of the constables of the number of the volunteers who have offered to become Militiamen, tha 1 , although 800 are the number required, only twenty-seven have yet volunteered. Rumours of a similar kind have been received from other parts of the kingdom.

The cholera, which has broken out in the Baltic, occupying the whole .line of coast from Konigsberg to Dantzic, and which is rabidly pursuing its fatal march westward, has awakened the usual alarm ;n England. Australiastili engages universal attention. The coinage for the Colonies was under discussion. The Times concludes that it would be far more sensible to run the gold into ingots marked with their value per oz., than to coin it into sovereigns, which must nearly all come to this country instead of going direct, as the ingots would, to all parts of the world, and thus opening up a universal trade with all the worltl. The two last Westlndia Mail Steamers brought to England a large quauuty of copper oie from the mines recently discovered in Jamaica. There were very contradictory reports respecting the health of Mr. Macaulay. One journal announces th-u he will retire, and another that he will certainly attend in his place in November. There is no douht, however, that be is too ill to meet his constituents in Edinburgh. A Mr. Nield has left her Majesty £300,000 or more. He was a miser of the rncst decided character — oue who would walk about a railway station, shivering in the cold, rather than enter a tavern and incur any expense. Upon one »uch occasion the passengers sent the " poor devil " out a glass of grog, which he accepted wi'h many thinks.

Ireland. — Although, accounts continue to pour in from different parts of the country, there is no material change to report in the tenor of the intelligence, which is of the ordinary conflicting nature. From the west, however, where the peasantry aye least prepared to encounter the terror of another season of scarcity, the advices happily show signs of amendment. The Galway Packet states that while the disease ■has made great ravages in some parts of that couuty, in others its traces are barely visible, and adds that upon the whole the evil is not so so extensive as was supposed at the outset. Even in places where last week the loudest complaints were heard, farmers begin to say that an improvement has exhibited itself, and the root is not at all affected. From the neighbourhoods of Tuam, Ballinasloe, and other districts of the county, the accounts are less cheering, but still itjis admitted that there areas yet'no just i grounds for giving way to despondency, since no real estimate can be formed as to what extent the crop is likely to be affected.

Vienna. — People in office triumph in the success" of his Majesty's " original idea" of awing the disaffected by appearing among them with no other protection than that which the innate loyalty of the Hungarians affords. The idea has been well carried out, but it is certainly not new, for in 1504, when King Emerich, with a mere handful of troops found himself opposed to a more powerful army, led on by his rebellious brother, he laid aside his armour, sword, and lance, and totally unaccompanied, walked with a staff in his band into the] enemy's camp, when he addressed his disaffected, subjects in the following style : — "I see Hungarians, and they see their King. Which of; you dare to dip his hands in royal blood ?"j After this the dauntless monarch proceeded toi his brother's tent, and led him away prisoner,! through the midst of the "astonished, terrified,! and petrified" troops. I have never met with! an Hungarian whose cheeks did not glow withj an honest pride whenever this story was related] to foreigners, but still Kossuth and Szemerej attempted to persudethe world that their coun-j trymen cherished republican ideas. A friend informs me that the example of Emerich has just been imitated in Hermanstadt. On his arrival in that city, his Majesty found part of a gendarmerie regiment, which was to act as a body guard, drawn up to receive him. To the delight of the inhabitants, orders were issued that not a gendarme should remain in the city while the monarch remained there, as he needed no other guard than the faithful citizens. At a meeting of the Common Council/some ill-con-ditioned Transylvanian •• Blotton," proposed that the Emperor should be petitioned to grant an indemnification for the losses sustained in' the war; but the motion was unanimously rejected. Three modest requests were at length preferred by the fathers of the city, and the first was immediately granted ; the two 1 others, Francis Joseph, who will not purchase popularity, promised to take into considera-' tion. The firet demand was, that the Imperial visitor would lay the foundation stone of aj new hospital ; the second, that a ci-devant I Austrian officer, who is in prison for having* served under Bern, might be pardoned, " asi by withdrawing his troops from the city hej had saved it from being plundered;" the third,i which was of little importance, escaped myj memory. ' §