KELSON RACES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 6, Issue 277, 16 January 1862, Page 3

KELSON RACES.

The annual holiday of Kelson, the Races, came off on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last, the time of the meeting having been changed from March to Christmas week. Although the attendance was larger than it was on the two preceding years, it was not nearly what it was at some former meetings we can remember. If people kept away under the impression that the racing would not be sufficiently good to repay them for their attendance, they committed a very great mistake, for better sport, particularly on Saturday, was never seen on the Kelson course. The weather was fine throughout, and, although the wind was somewhat strong on Thursday, there was no dust.

Amongst noticeable occurrences of the meeting was the improvement in the running of Otto, who, the more he ran, the better he went, for his running on the first day gave no promise of what he did on Saturday ; the superiority of Ultima’s performances over anything that was ever expected of her, looking at her running at the two preceding meetings, took every one by surprise ; and, lastly, the excellent quality of Lady Bird, who stood an amount of work we never before saw given to a three-year-old, and yet went to her stable and ate her corn as heartily as if she had only had an exercise gallop. The following are the details of the running : THURSDAY, December 26. The Great Nelson Trial Stakes of 10 sovs. each, 5 ft. ; 50 sovs. added by tbe Turf Club provided eight horses start, and 30 sovs. if any less number ; for the produce of mares covered in New Zealand in the season 1857-8. Mr. Morse’s cli f Lady Bird, yb H. Barbiere, out of Moth, by Benelong (J. Redwood) 1 Mr. H. Stafford’s hr c St. Patrick, by St. Aubin, out of Symphony (Davis) 2 Mr. JVewcome’s br. c Uugly Buck* by Rid. dlesworth, out ef Vesta (Goodman) 3 Won easily by two lengths. The Turf Club Plate of 40 sovs., added to a sweepstakes of 4 sovs. each. Mr. Morse’B b m Revoke, 4 yrs by'SiivHer. exiles (J. Redwood). 1

Mr. T. Redwood’s b g Otto, 4 yrs ((G.Cutts) 2 Revoke winning a slow race with case.

The Handicap Sweepstakes of 10 so vs. each, hf. ft., with 40 sov. added by the Turf Club. One mile and a half. Mr. Morse’s, b.m, Revoke, 4 yrs, 9st 4 lbs (J. Redwood) 1 Mr. Stafford’s b m Ultima, by Sir Hercules, 6 yrs, 9st3lbs (G. Cutts) 2 Mr. T. Redwood’a b,f Shadow, 3 yrs, 7 st (Gay) 3 Won by a length. Time, 2m.26 s. The Ladies' of 30 so vs., added to a sweepstakes of 3 sovs. each : second horse to save his stake. Mr. Stafford’s b m Ultima, by Sir Hercules, 6 yrs , (E. Cutts) 1 1 Mr. H. Redwood’s ch f Lady Bird, 3 yrs 22 Mr. Hope’s b m Kate, aged (Owner) 5 3 M. T. Redwood’s b. g Otto., 4 yrs (G. Cutts) 3 dr Mr. Elliott’s b g Colonel, 5 yrs (Allen) 4 dr Ist heat. Ultima made the running from the start, winning only by a neck. 2nd heat. Ultima again led, and, after a severe struggle won by half a length. FRIDAY, December 27. The Pony Stakes of 12 sovs.,, entrance 10s each. Mr, Stafford’s br g-Tommy (Goodman) 1 1 Mr. Harkness’s eh c Nithsdale (Cundy) 22 Mr. Schroder’s ch f My Mary Ann ...( (Schroder) dis, Both..' won easily. In the first heat My Majfy Ann bolted and threw the boy, who, however, fortunately sustained no injury. The Hack Race for 10 sovs. for all hacks, entrance 10s each. Mr. Stafford’s.br g Tommy (Goodman) 1 1 Mr. Hope’s g m Grisly (J. Redwood) 22 Mr. Lync’s bin (Cay) 3 3 Three other horses started, but did not obtain places. Trotting Match , 20 sovs. ; even weights ; once round. Mr. W. Hargreave’s bk m, lGst lOlbs

(Owner) 1 Mr. Potter’s g m, lGst lOlbs (Owner) 2

Considerable interest was given to this race by the figure cut by the owner of the black mare, who had to carry about 8 st. of dead weight, and to achieve this was no easy task. In addition to weighted saddle cloths, a roll of horse clothing, in which stones were wrapped up, was strapped to the saddle ; and, to add to the picturesque, a coil of rope hung from the rider’s shoulder. The black mare took the lead at starting, never broke, and won easily. The Pony Scurry of 5 sovs. ; for ponies of thirteen hands and under. Catch weights. Entrance ss. Mr. J. Kerr’s bk m 1 Mr. Harkness’3 ch m 2 Won easily by the black pony. SATURDAY, December 28. The Maiden Plate of 25 sovs., added to a sweepstakes of 3 sovs. each. Once round and a distance. Mr. H. Redwood’s ch f Lady Bird, 3 yrs by II Barbiere; 41bs penalty (J. Redwood) .1 Mr. Stafford’s b c St. Patrick, 3 yrs (Davis) 2 "Mr. T.' Redwood’s b f Shadow, 3 yrs (Bolton) 3 Mr. Elliott’s b g Colonel, 5 yrs (G. Cutts) 0 Mr. Hope’s ch f Mayflower, 3 yrs 0 Mr. Harkness’s ch c Nithsdale, 2 yrs 0

At the distance Redwood called upon his filly, who came away, and ran in an easy winner.' Time, 2 m. 2s. Distance 1 mile 386 yards. The Town Plate of 50 so vs., added to a sweepstakes of 5 so vs. each. Three miles. Mr. Morse’s b m Revoke, 4 yrs, by Sir Hercules (J 1 Redwood) + Mr. Stafford’s b m Ultima, 6 yrs, by Sir Hercules (G. Cutts) + Mr. H. Redwood’s ch f Lady Bird, 3 yrs (Gay) 3 Mr. T, Redwood’s b g Otto, 4 yrs (E. Cutts) 0 Mr. Hope’s b m Kate; aged (Owue) 0 The race resulted in a dead heat between Ultima and Revoke, Lady Bird beaten by half a length, and Otto a good fourth. Time, 6 m. 7 s. Mr. Morse and Mr. Stafford agreed to divide the stakes. The Scurry Plate of 25 so vs., added to a handicap sweepstakes of 2 sovs. each, hf. ft. Heats. One mile. Mr. H. Redwood’s ch f Lady Bird'; 3 yrs, 7st 121bs, by II Barbiere (J. Redwood) 1 1 Mr. Stafford’s br g Ugly Buck, 3 yrs, Ist 121bs (Goodman) 2 3 Mr. T. Redwood's b f Shadow, 3 yrs, 7st 121bs * (Bolton) 2 3 Time, 1 m. 55 s. The Consolation Plate of 20 sovs., added to a handicap sweepstakes of 2 sovs. each, p.p. Mr. T, Redwood’s b g Otto,, by Sir Hercules, 4 yrs, 9st 41bs (G. Cutts) 1 Mr. H. Stafford’s b c St. Patrick, 3 yrs, Ist lOlbs (J. Redwood) 2 Mr. Hope’s ch f Mayflower,- 3 yrs, 7st (Gay) 0 Mr. Hope’s b m Kate, aged Bst lOlbs(Davis) 0 Mr. Harkness's ch' Nitsdale, 2 yrs feather 0 Time, 2 in. 25 s. Distance 1 m. 386 yards. The Forced Handicap of 10 per centum of the gross amount of public money won (exclusive of stakes or entrances). Mr. Staffosd’s b m Ultima, by Sir Hercules, 6 yrs, 9st 131bs (E. Cutts) 1 Mr. T. Redwood’s b g Otto, 4 yrs, Bst 121bs Bst 121bs (J. Redwood) 2 Mr. Morse’s b m Revoke, 4 yrs, 9st. 71bs (Or. Cutts) 3 This was one of the best contested rates of the meeting. Ultima got a slight lead at the start, which she never lost, though hard pushed throughout. Time, 2 m. 19 s. Distance, 1 in. 386 yds. Thus ended the Nelson races for the present year, and we may congratulate ourselves on the sport- they afforded, as well as on the prospect we have of not simply a of it, but of the increased interest our races will possess when we get out the fresh blood promised us by our fellow-settler, Mr. W. Robinson. Independently, however, of this, our field of three-year olds will be larger next year than we have had for several meetings past, and; as far as we can now speak of them, these young ones promise to be above the avei’age of those brought . out on any former occasion. We are glad, too, to see that many of the leading supporters of our turf doubled their subscriptions this year to assist in paying off

a debt due to the Treasurer of the Turf Club ; and, if the public would only subscribe in an equally liberal; manner, so that the value of the stakes might next year be we should insure for our Nelson races the. high, character they have hitherto held, both, in this colony and in Australia.

One of our pliotographip. artists succeeded in getting a good picture.of the course at the start for the Maiden Plate, on Saturday, and gives us, capital like-, nesses of many of our sporting and other, friends.

To show what the rule is regarding dead heats, we extract the following fromthe rules of the Australian Jockey Club, which have been adopted from, the rules of the English Turf Club : Dead Heats. —If. for any plate or swespstakes not to be run in heats, the first two or more horses shall come in so near together that the Judge shall:not be. able to decide which won, those houses, shall run for such prize over again afterthe last race on the same day ; the other horses that started are deemed losers, and are entitled to their respective places, as if the i;ace had been finally determined the first 'ti.me. —When horses run a. dead heat for a sweepstakes or plate, and the parties agree to divide the stakes, such horses shall be liable to' carry extra weight as winners of that race, and, if there is any money for the second horse they divide that also.—When horses run a dead heat, tor a plate or sweepstakes, and the owners agree to divide, all bets between such horses, or be tv.'ecu cither of them and the field, must be settled by the money betted being put together and divided between the parties in the same proportion as the stakes. If a bet be made on one of the horses that ran the dead heat against a beaten horse, he who backed.the horse that ran the dead heat wins half his bet, if his horse received half the prize ; if the dead heat be the first event of a double bet, the bet is void, unless one horse received above a moiety, which would constitute hiip. a winner in a double event. —Nelson Exnmiiter, Jan. Ist.

* TBOUBLES AT NATAL. Lieutenant-Governor Scott, as far as we can gather, has sided with the Cafir against the white inhabitants of Natal, when the latter have wished to disarm and dismount the former, to deprive them of their “locations,” to forbid them to celebrate their “dance of the first fruits,” to force them to become farm labourers. All this may have been very amiable, but the same cannot be said of the policy he has recently been pleased to adopt towards the Kafirs outside the colony. This seems to have been originated by a wish to run counter to Sir George Grey, a man certainly of far more fame than Mr. John Scott as an adroit dealer with aboriginals. Had the Lieutenant-Gov-ernor been forced by the public opinion of his own colony to thwart the purposes of the Governor of Cape Colony, his opposition would have been more intelligible. A fonner dependency of a colony, when it has started' as a colony on its own account, is apt to regard the original colony with no friendly eye. Such a rib, elevated into a separate entity, often cherishes no wifely affection for the country out of whose side it was taken, but jealousy resents any approach to interference in its affairs by its Adam. It does not seem, however, to have been this temper—sour and ungenerous as South African sherry —which, as the last African mail brings word, has so nearly involved us in another Kafir war. His own despatches being witnesses, there is too great a divergence between Mr. Scott’s opinions and those of the white inhabitants of Natal to render it likely that he was solely responsible for his fiat antagonism to Sir George Grey’s arrangements, an antagonism which, professedly designed, no doubt, to quiet the Zulus, in fact armed them for a foray. This month’s Macmillan gives, in a translation of a Kaffiir kraal-fire yarn, a vivid description of what a Zulu foray is. When the Zulus are “full of meat and angry with beer,” a chieftain arises and inflames their cupidity with pictures of their neighbours’ abundant cattle and satires on their neighbours’ exceeding cowardice. His words are “ like the firebrand applied to dry grass.in winter.” The Zulus clash their shields together, they brandish their assegais, and sally forth to harry, burn, and slay. Had it not been for the ' 5 prompt measures taken by the colonists and the aid they received from Cape Town, such a visitation, thanks to Lieutenant-Governor Scott’s interference with Sir George Grey’s plans, might have been inflicted on Natal.

The Zulus, who occupy the country to the north of the British colony, at present own as King one Panda. Panda is old and fat, antiquity and obesity have engendered laziness, and a “ Zulu question” is the consequence—who shall succeed the paunchy Panda when, at length, he gives over doing nothing 1 King Panda has had sundry sons by sundry wives ; one of these, Cctywavo, appears to be a regular “ broth of a boy.” He killed the heir to the Zulu “ throne,” and four more of his brethren then fled before him. Two took refuge in the Orange River State, but have recently been basely surrendered by the Boers,. Two others, one of whom, according to Zulu notions, is the rightful lieir, sought asylum in Natal, and have been educated under the supervision of Bishop Colenzo, whose mathematical 'authorship, somewhat exceptionally, does not seem to have made him worship rigid rule' with fanatical idolatry. He wishes to lure, not wrench, lii.s Kafir converts from poligamy—a rational concession to ingrained habit which, doubtless, has excited the

wrath of the Evangelicals as much as his quotations from Mr. Maurice for devotional purposes. After his fratracide and fratri-spersion, Prince Cetywayo strutted with the pride of an heir-pre-sumptive. His father did not desire him to be the successor to the whole of his “dominions,” the bulk of the Zulus did not wish him to succeed ; his “ accession” would, he a bane to the British settlements. Sir George Grey, therefore, with the consent of the faineant Panda, proposed a compromise. It was that, when the fat old-King waddled off into Hades, his territories should be divided amongst his sons. Lieutenant-Governor. Scott must choose to interpose. He despatched an, agent to- Panda to- urge lum to settle matters by declaring Cetywayo. unconditionally his heir. Panda remonstrated, but was too lazy to hold out long. Accordingly public meeting- of the Zulus was called, which Cetywayo, at the head of 5000 armed mem (the rest of the assembly of 15,000 being-unarmed) attended, and by this meeting he was declared successor to, his father and “com-mander-in-chief” of the Zulu army. His first step after his promotion was to requite Lieutenant-Governor Scott by demanding the surrender of his two. brothers,who had found shelter in Britishterritoiy. This demand nob having been complied with, he raised a formidable force for a foray in Natal. But the regulars in Natal were hurried to the frontier, the Naval Yolunteers turned out, more regulars were brought up from Cape town —the Cape Town .Volunteersdoing garrison >duty--during the soldiers’ absence, and Cetywayo accordingly thought it advisable to disperse his following, and to say, with saucy banter, that his men had only, collected for a . “hunting” expedition., Natal was formerly, nicknamed; “ the--Colony of Samples,” on. account of the-.-number of experiments, that were made to discover what it was best adapted to . produce. The first settlers ram hither and thither, like a pack of hounds, snuffing for the scent of wealth. They were ready to turn anything, so long as they could turn a penny. The capabilities of. the colony are now pretty well knpwn. It possesses coal, copper, and even gold; (we believe) ; but the quantity and quality of its minerals are not such as to pointto the probability of its becoming a great, mining-country. It has two climates, a, semi-tropical and a temperate. On the coast the frosty fingers of winter scarcely ever nip the foliage, hut inland there are well defined seasons,' and near the Drakensberg Mountains snow lies yearly. The droughts which are the curse of Cape Colony are unknown in Natal, and, again unlike the old colony, Natal is well watered by streams. The sugar-cane,' the coffee, plant, arrow root, and ginger grow freely in Natal. Indigo is one of its indigenous plants. Hern]) is another ; and both flax, and c-ottoli might he cultivated with ease. Three crops of oats from the same ground annually may be roadily obtained, and’other cereals flourish. The “ rust” with which wheat sometimes is troubled is attributed to the virgin nature of the soil. Horses and horned cattle find splendid pasture, and “ the rankness of the grass”—we quote, from a recent bluebook—“ which was considered as likely to prove an insuperable obstacle to this country becoming a wool-producing colony does not appear so detrimental as was anticipated ; and it is found by grazing that the grass changes, and becomes gradually more suited to sheep.” It is a pity that some of the persons interested in flocks and herds, the surly, sluggish, solitude-loving, disloyal giants called Duteh Boers, but whose ancestors, Mr. Merivale says, came.not from Holland but Westphalia, form so large a proportion of the Caucasian inhabitants of Natal ; still, despite these clogs, it was beginning to expect prosperity, when its LieutenantGovernor’s ill-advised meddling brought the British military and the extra-colo-nial Zulus almost vis a-vis. It is a very serious thing to damage the j resiige of a young colony in the eyes of intending emigrants by even a rumour of war in its hearts or on its borders — Scotsman , Oct. i.

EUROPEAN TROUBLES. In our European territories more or less of war at this moment prevails. The peace of Italy is troubled with Papal and Bourbon brigands, who have hitherto flourished under the apathetic protection of French arms. The Prince of Montenegro is to the Sultan -what the Highlanders were to our earlier Hanoverian Kings ; a race who are of opinion that they cannot live in their dark and barren mountains, unless they make frequent forays into the plain, lift cattle, and plunder villages and towns. The Emperor of Austria is engaged in working out a new chapter in the perennial struggle of his house with the dominant raco. in Hungary. The Emperor of Russia is in the midst of a far less peaceful conflict with the Poles. So that, independently of the sti'ife in the New World, the condition of these parts of the Old'World shows pretty conclusively that if the “ golden age is ever 'at cur dooi’s,” it is. as far as ever from having yet made up its mind to enter and establish itself comfortably within them. The Montenegrin question is one to. ■which we pay little attexition. It is. an almost hopeless case. What can be done with a people who cannot live, who will not starve in the Black Mountain, snd who can- fight, as the Tm-kskaow to theircost 1 Omer Pacha and his ofilcers may penetrate into this region of born catcrans, and he may dictate some sort of .peace, but there is no security that the strb * may not be renewed in a few years, jlg might answer to make roads into the fastnesses of the mountains, but where is ; lie labour, vrimve is the money to come

from 1 Then, the lowlauders -don’t like the Turks, and don’t hate the .Montenegrins ; but, at the same time, rapine and bloodshed are even more disagreeable: than Turkish rulers. In the meantime, though of little importance to Europe, the strife is costly and troublesome to the Turk. Moreover, he feels that he is not only fighting Montenegrins, but some Powers of Europe who are supposed, however erroneously, to sympathise with and aid the so-called Christians of the Black Mountain, just as he finds European fingers in the troubles springing out of his difficulties with the so-called Christians of the Lebanon. But if the surrounding country were under Chi'istian government to-morrow, the Christians of the lowlands would feel no security that the Christians of the highlands would not be down upon their flocks and herds. The Montenegrins trouble the repose .of the Sultan and And work for his soldiers, and the Poles and Hungarians trouble the peace of the two Kaisers. Franels-.Toseph and Alexander are really on a par. Poland and ITungaiy are held down by fore?.. The whole surface of these Eastern" regions is ruffled by the ebb and flow of political agitation. The armies of Russia and Austria occupy the two countries straining to be free and

independent. The Russian and his an- I castors have broken and violated the treaties of Vienna without.stint, and. u he Emperor of Austria has driven his armies through the Pragmatic Sanction whenever it suited him. There is not more resistance in Hungary than in Poland. There is not hardly more cause for- vesistance in one than in the other. But there is a difference. The Emperor oi Austria has allowed a constitutional assembly to rise again, and lie is trying to negotiate a settlement of imperious difficulties by peaceful means. The Emperor 'of Russia has never permitted Poland to have even a nominal voice. There is something like a free press in Hungary and Austria. It has no counterpart in Poland. Hungarian magnates and Hungarian plebeians dress themselves in the national costume. The Generals sent to rule in Poland prohibit the weaving of hats and coats, which are to the Poles a means of agitation, a political engine. Hungary is certainly not more amply garrisoned than Poland. It must be ccnafessecl that the Russian has- a better prospect of success in his policy than the Austrian. Ho has a firmer grip of the country. The foreign policy of the house of Romanoff has led them to garnish the kingdom of Poland with a formidable array of fortresses, and these in turn serve the purpose of keeping the people strictly under rule. Then the whole Russian nation would back the Czar in a contest with the Poles. 'Austria does not oecuoy anything like ’the same position on the Danube that Russia does on the Vistula ; and she could not command a popular support in a war with Hungary. It is a question of profound interest whether these two ancient kingdoms can reIn the whole or part of ‘thair ancient glory and independence. The severance of Hungary from Austria would be an European calamity, but the severance of Boland from Russia would be an European gain. Yet the sympathies of Europe fight more strongly on the side of .Hungary than on that of Poland. Italy presents itself under a different ■aspect. Here the sovereign is on the side, not of wrong, but of right. Here a nation has made itself, yet is deprived of its capital, not by the hostility of the people who. dwell therein, but of the parti prrtre of Europe, who,are there encamped. It would be as reasonable, though not so practicable, to send an expedition to protect the Polish patriots and the Hungarian Diet as it is to maintain an armed force to protect the Papal Court and the Bourbon in ter ostein Rome and Southern Italy When the fictitious disturbances in Italy are vehemently set forth as arguments against the new kingdom, we have a right to place in contrast with them the troubles and disturbances of the old conservative empires. The doctrine of non-intervention is proclaimed, yet it is to intervention we owe the strife now, let us hope, drawing to a close in the Neapolitan mountains. When that intervention ceases there will be political peace in Italy ; she will have her-capital, and the brigands will be deprived of their head-quarters"; but we doubt whether at that date, come when, it may, there will be peace between Pesth and Vienna, between _ Warsaw and St. Petersburg, between Montenegro and Constantinople. — Globe.

JAPAN. Though Japan is by all accounts a most delightful and paradisiacal country, yet there appear to be certain little drawbacks attendant upon a residence there. Its climate, its vegetation, and its mountains, are alike glorious. Those “ Summer isles of Eden, lying la dark purple spheres of sea,” delight the eye, and their smiling inhabitants never offend the car with angry or quarrelsome words. Japan has all the picturesqueness of a feudal country, which it really is, and affords many of the aspects which were presented by Europe during tlie Middle Ages. It is very interesting to live in such a countiy, and to be a consul in Kanagawa or a plenipo in Yeddo ; but those who enjoy the delights of feudalism are also exposed to some of its disadvantages. No one has given such a favourable and highly-coloured description of Japan as Mr. Lawrence Oliphant has done in his account of Lord Elgin’s mission ; and ‘it will be curious to know whether his opinions have been at all changed by the assault on the British Legation at Yeddo, in vvhich he was wounded so severely. A Japanese temple, such as that occupied by our Minister at Yeddo, is a picturesque residence, and so are mep in armour,

with long swords by their. sides. The sliding pannels which constitute the walls and partitions of Japanese houses are very convenient, inasmuch as they can be,taken out to admit the air whenever it is very warm, and the rooms can be made of the exact size which happens to be desired at the moment. But when these pannels slide aside in the middle of the night, and admit not the apparition but the reality of “a man in armour,” who forthwith proceeds to slash away at the lucky inmate, ,with one of those terrible, long, bright, curved swords, the picturesque and the painful become so intimately blended as to render it doubtful as to whether Japan really is preferable, as a place of residence, to more civilised countries. At all events, it must require a peculiar state of mental and bodily development thoroughly to enjoy being awakened out of bed to meet, ill-armed, a gang of murderous assassins clothed in armour, and to be slashed by them as Messrs. Oliphant and Morison appear to have been.

It is well to notice that this attempted assassination is not the first affair of the kind which has occurred in the paradise of the, east. Only a fe w months have elapsed since Mr. Heuskcn, the secretary, and interpreter of the American minister, '.,as cut down one night in the streets of Yeddo, and expired a few hours after from the wounds which he received. He had, however, been warned by the Government 7iat to expose himself in the night as he had been in the habit of doing ; anti in his zeal for the opening up of Japan, he had sometimes pressed matter's beyond what was judicious. About a year before that event, two Dutch captains were literally out to pieces in the streets of Yokohama; but in that case there was little doubt that one of them was mistaken for the captain of an American vessel, who had kicked a customhouse official out of bis cabin, and broken, his sword—an insult which almost no Japanese would survive. A 1 •"nssian officer was also assassinated at Yokohama some time before, and it was understood that lie bad insulted an official in Yeddo, who followed him for the private purpose of wiping out the stain with death. In this case the Russian authorities immediately took very decided steps for obtaining redress.; and, besides getting large compensation from the Japanese Government, they compelled it to erect a Greek chapel on the spot where the. murder v.'as committed, and to. engage to. keep the chapel “for ever in good repair.” This last stipulation rather appeared to tickle the fancy of the-Japanese, but there have been no. more R ussians murdered, since, though these people are so disliked in consequence by the Japanese that almost no. dealings are carried on between them.. There have been one or two other cases of assassination of Chinamen and Portuguese who had rendered themselves peculiarly obnoxious, but those just referred to, are the only ones worthy of special notice. These cases all seem to point to private animosity on the part of individuals and to carelessness on the part of the victims, rather than to. anydesire on the part of the Government to injure foreigners, or indifference to the protection of them. But when we look at the state of the country so. far as known, there is abundant evidence, that the Government must often have great difficulty in securing the protection of strangers. It is little more than a year ago since the Regent of the empire, the highest acting authority in the country, was himself assassinated in his chair in the streets of Yeddo, by a band of armed men, .who rushed in between. his guards and wounded him fatally before he could; receive assistance, though of course it was at the expen.ee of almost all their-own lives that they were enabled to. perpetrate the deed. This murder- was .effected in broad daylight in the open streets ; and when the very head of the Government could not preserve himself from such a fate, it is hardly to be expected that tile Government should be aide invariably to. protect foreigners from •danger. The state of society somewhat resembles that which existed in- England when A’Becket was slain, or that, oi Scotland when the Regent Murray was shot from a window when lie was passing through the streets of Linlithgow. On-, less we are to initiate at Yeddo the old policy which was followed by the East India Company at Canton, and by the Dutch at [Nagasaki, of allowing our representatives to be shut up within a few square feet of ground, and all but excluded fi’om tlio country, it will be necessary that those who become H.B.M.’s representatives in the islands of Japan should not “ contemplate any apprehensions” for their safety, and should accept the risks of the position. "When expedient, and ifthe Government are disposed to. allow the innovation, by all means let the Minister have a guard of men-of-war’s men, and let every case of outrage be pressed closely upon the authorities, but do not let us hear of every private assault —which may or may not have been provoked by carelessness or o-therwi.se—being treated as a grave cause for international action. Ambassadors have been plundered before now bv Italian banditti, and a French Minister was violently assaulted in the streets of Naples without the culprit ever being brought to justice, but these cases were uot made a ground for bombardment. Whatever difficulties may arise, too, iu Japan, it vull be borne in mind that the people of that country are not like the Chinese; that they are proud, brave, warlike, well-armed., and exceedingly fond of their country; that trade to any extent has yet to be developed , that they number about 20,000,000 jthat no supplies could be got from them in the case of a war ; and that their mountainous, well-wooded country woul afford excellent opportunities for ; interminable guerilla warfare.—Oct.. VI.