ENGLAND.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 436, 27 December 1861, Page 3

ENGLAND.

City, Friday, October 25. The general discount market continues to exhibit a tendency towards easiness—transactions in the best qualities of short dated paper having taken place a fraction under three per cent. In most cases, however, 3£ per cent, is required, and quotation is sufficiently below the official minimum to divert business from the Bank of England. Much of the uneasiness lately engendered by the situation of affairs in France has been removed by the.improving tone of the letters now daily receiving from Paris, and the progressive recovery in the rentes. There is, at the present moment, an urisual accumulation of money at the Stock Exchange, and the demand for loans is exceedingly moderate, although they can be easily negotiated at ]| to 2 percent. The remarkable plethora in the money market contributes to strengthen public securities, which nevertheless exhibit a degree of dulness rarely observed when the rate of interest is at 3 per cent, or less. The war in America, and the financial anxieties in France, continue to check all tendency to buoyancy. An English impulse was given to English Railway Stocks by the publication of the weekly and traffic return of the London and North-Western Company.

A rise in the rupee loans and in American securities has lately formed a feature. The business in the latter department was upon an unusually active scale. Sellers of Victorian Government Debentures have predominated during th« last few days, and the price, as wel) as that of New South Wales bonds, has experienced a decline. The Daily News remarks'that there is a vague feeling of anxiety with regard to the progress of political affairs in VictO'ia, under the system of free suffrage. Parliament was prorogued °on the 22nd October.

A piece of intelligence, which may more properly be termed domestic than foreign, comes to us from Paris. The Patrie of that city announces the determination of the British Government to plate with iron the wooden ships already built and not yet launched.^ 'We suppose, should the experiment,' says the Patrie, * prove successful, England, would in one year have twenty iron-plated ships.' The Admiralty lias also, according to the same authority, determined to execute numerous defensive works in India, China, and the Red Sea, and Straits of Malacca. Besides this the Patrie announaes that large works of defence are about to be commenced on the island of Heligoland. Lord Brouaham is suffering from an attack of illness at his seat near Penrith.

During the last few weeks Mr. fl. Parkes, one of the Commissioners of the New South Wales ;oq.YernmenV for affording inJorrna-

tion about that colony has addressed hvaa audiencs in towns in different parts of England. One of the towns which he selected was Droitwitch, where the meeting, which assembled to hear him, was presided over by Sir John Pakington.

4We believe we may state,! says tue Post • that, subject to the terms of the convention between England, France, and Spain which is likely to be concluded in the course of a few days, the expedition which is about to be despatched to Mexico will consist of three squadrons, respectively furnished by the contracting parties. It, is understood that for the purpose of affording immediate and efficient protection to the lives and properties of foreigners resident in Mexico, her Catholic Majesty and the Emperor of the French have determined also to despatch a military force consisting of 6000 men, of which 5000 will be contributed by Spain, and 1000 by France.*

The Times has more than once within the last week or so drawn attention to the manner in which the Chinese have just been treated in New South Wales. It expresses its regret that the Colonial Office must remain a passive spectator of such a line of conduct as that referred to. The one remedy which the Colonial Office possesses is the power of the veto, and that seems to have fallen almost as much into disuse in the case of Co'onial as of Imperial Acts. A complete system of protection has, in defiance of the policy of the mo-her' country, been framed in several colours, and the Colonial Office has offered no resistance. .. . ,

The Red Sea Telegraph, is not wholly lost. . Sir M'Donald Stephen offers, if all concessions are made to a new company which he rep'esents, to repair the communication without a gurantee or subsidy. As Sir M'Donald is the man who carried the Indian Railway System through its most difficult stage, he is entitled at least to the hearing of men whose acts are (he proofs of their capacity and perseverance. A frightful accident happened at York, on the 27th of September. A lattice gider bridge, in process of construction across the Ous'e, fell in with a crash. At the time of its fall no less than fifty-two men were at work on it, but fortunately sufficient warning was given to enable the great majority of them to make their eecape: eight however of the workmen were unable to escape in time, and were carried down with the falling mass to the bottom of the river. Five of them were killed, and three severely injured. :

A short correspondence that passed some weeks since between Mr. Codden and Signor Minghetti, at that time Minister of the Interior of Victor Emmanuel, contributes another contradiction of the report, lately so emphatically endorsed by Mr. Roebuck, that a cession of the Island of Sardinia to France was contempl*ted. Signor Minghetti declares, both from his knowledge as a minister and from his intimacy with Count Oavour, that no agree-, ment for the cession referred to was ever jmade orintended, and that no negotiations on the subject had taken place,

A Corfu letter states that the health of rhe Empress of Austria continues improving, and that her Majesty's spirits are excellent.

A man named Dugdale, one of the most notorious of the Holy well-street gang, has been tried at the Middlesex session for publishing obscene works. The prisoner made a rambling defence. The judge sentenced him to two years' imprisonment with hard labor. Dngdale, it appears, has been engaged for about 40 years in this department of tr^de; and many of those years he has spent in prison. At various titties whole tons of books, pictures, and plates have been seized upon his premises.

We stated in cur last that the Great Eastern had been safely moored in Cork harbor. For a couple of days previously the people of Cork were in great suspense in consequet.ce of rumors to the effect that the captain, having previously commanGed, a Gal way ship, would probably take h»r to Galway. .However, the question was settled in favor of Cork, and the enthusiasai of the inhabitants of that city and its neighborhood has since been boundless. One half the population appear to be on board the great ship, or going round her in steamers, while the halt who remain at home occupy themselves in the composition of triumphant jubilations on the tardy recognition of the merits of their 'noble waters, so well worthy of the motto statio bene jida cannsts," ' &c. Prince Alfred visited QuHeristovvn in the Niagara, on his way out, to Canada, and while the ship was waiting for the special mail from Dublin, sailed about in the harbor in the yacht Argus, which was placed at his disposal by Admiral Talbot and Commander Yelverton, His rpyal highness, finding that a greaf number of the passengers detained on board! the Great Eastern, including a large proportion of ladies, were desirous of continuing their voyage in the Niagara, with great kindness offered to give up his large apartments for their accommodation, and rough it himself. It is stated, as a proof of the immense strength of the Great Eastern that after all the frightful tossings she has experienced, every door in the ship works as freely on its hinges as when she left Liverpool, thereby showing that her hull remains free from the slightest strain. The Great Eastern has been brought over to Milford Haven, where she will be placed on the gridiron for repair. The Prince of Wales is again at Cambridge as a student. He remained in the Highlands till about a fortnight ago. On his way to Cambridge he honoured the Duke of Newcastle with a visit of" a few days at Clumber, where great rejoicings celebrated the occasion.

We stated in our last that Prince Alfred had sailed on ase ond voyage to Canada. Prince Lebpo'd b,is been sent, on account of' delicate health, to Ganges, where he will prpbably stay during the winter. ■ The dispute between the roaster builders yijho iatfeA ujaon by the *■ hout ay«-

tern' an i fiie operatives it not yet settled. About 250.masons,; who. refuse t) woilc under that,*»ys?eni, are still,' on the strike'; ■ami■■the workmen of the, London trades have just resolved to pay to each of these 250 £1 a week. The largeness of the sums thrown away in strikes is something truly astonishing. No less than £22,000 was spent by the working-classes on the builders'of 1859-60.

Obituary. — Sharman Crawford. W. Farren, cotnic actor, aged 75. Rose Cheri, French actress, from diphtheria. Mr. Loftus Charles Otway, C.8., Consul- General Malta. Mr, Arthur Smith; brother of the late Albert Smith, aged 37. Earl of Eglinton, suddenly, aged 49. Mr. Vandenhoff, one of England's best actors, aged 72. Lord Ponsonby. Marchioness Dowager Conyngham, well known in the court of George the Fourth, aged 92. Lady Rose, mother of the gallant General Sir Hugh Rose, commander of the forces in India. Major Sibthoip, M.P. Sir W. Cubitt, C.E., well known in connection with the Gnat Exhibition. Sir James Graham," aged 70.