ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 25, 4 January 1864, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Colonel O'Brien, commanding the 4th battalion Military Train at Woolwich, has received instructions from the Horse Guards to hold himself in readiness lo proceed by the Overland route to New Zealand, in company of a veterinary sur geon of the hatsalion on their arrival. The battalion consists of Major Grey, Captains Green, Fletcher, and Wilson, Lieutenants Webb, S. Auhin. Sewell, Shaw, and Creagh, En>igns Davis and Leir, Adjutant Sohak leton, Quartermaster Lambert, Surgeon D'Arcey, M.D., Veterinary-Surgeon Appleton, and the full force of the battalion, namely, 287 non-commissioned officers and men, with full equipment of harness, &c They will be replaced at Woolwich most probably by a squadron of the 2nd battalion from Aldershott, which will be reinstated there by a further increase of the corps. Authority has been received at the camp at Colchester to permit men of the depot battalions, who have at least eighteen months of their limited service to complete and who may be willing to re-engage, to volunteer into the 55th and 76th Regiments, now under orders to proceed to New Zealand. A detachment of the Commissariat S;afF Corps, numbering 8 sergeants, 73 rank and file, under the command of Deputy - Assistant - Commissary - General Elkington, are under orders to proceed from Aldershott to New Zealand, and will shortly embark for iheir destination. Major-General Duncan Alexander Cameron, C 8.. now commanding the troop 3in New Zealand, has been gazetted to the colonelcy of the 42nd (the Royal Highland) Regiment, vice General the Marquis bf Tweeddale transferred to the 2nd Life Guards. It is stated in the Civil Service Gazette that*the Ist battalion 10th Regiment, the Ist oattalion 1 1th Foot, and the 2nd battalion 12th Regiment, will shortly be placed, under orders to embark for service in New iTea/iand. Letters from Odessa mention that the Empress of Russia, who is now staying at : Yalta, in the. Ciimea, for the purpose of sea-bathing, has renounced the project which she had formed of visiting Jerusalem. An ironclad frigate, built for the Italian Government, was launched a few days ago from the building yard at La Seyne, near Toulon. She is ; 0f74800 tons measurement, has engines of 700-horse power, and is to carry 96 guns. She takes the name of San Martino." Her bow below the water mark is formed so as to act as a steam ;ram. She is everywhere covered .with thick plates, but those toward the ;b6w,;which would be the most exposed to /the force of any shock, are much heavier than the others. A few weeks since a colonel was dismissed from the Federal service, by order of the President of the United States upon charges of disloyalty. The colonel, feeling/that...he had been grossly misrepresented by malicious enemies, secured papers from a number of generals and other influential men, refuting the charges and requesting his reinstatement; and repaired to Washington to submit liis case to tlie President. -The papers 1 were examined, an interview was appointed, and ih" 1 colonel ..found himself * cordially . sreeeived by the President, arid informed him that injustice had been done him, and that he should be reinstated. "The President , then: added, ''.' Now, /colonel; P knqw you. to be one of .my r .h'/ost.''bitte^/ppj'itical.- opponents, but I propose, to '.promote you to a brigadiergenera I provided you willallbw me to fully test j bur loyalty beyond what papers you have produced.. If "you are/a loyal man /and a/war democrat you can surely have no objection.": Thecolonel, ;: as a matter of course/felt highly elated at this unexpected favor, and earnestly stated that lie was /pre-/ pared to submit to any requirements calculated to test his loyalty, and expressed his delight in 'complying with the demand, since his Excellency had shown such /confidence in him. as to honor him with such an enviable position. /" Well, colonel," replied Old Abe, as a merry twinkle danced in his / ey/e, -' I promote you to the command of 7a negro ./brigade, and |I hope you- /will; prove yourse^l^^7ipyal'; as your are represented, and 4o!*o^ojr/ to the h i gh trust to which yottTacr^^igned;'' The delnboracy pi' the colonel was violently