AMERICA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 352, 16 July 1863, Page 3

AMERICA.

News to the end of May has been received via California and Sydney, The /lnyh> Saxon a large emigrant ship was wrecked at noon on April 27th near Cape Race with loss of 287 lives. ; The Peterhoff case had been brought before Congress, and the correspondence respecting it laid on the table. The general feeling seemed to be one of approval of the seizure, and it was even maintained that it would be lawful to examine the mail, and that precedents for doing so could be fouiid. _

THE DANISH ROYAL FAMILY

(From the “ limes” March 26.)

Some fifty years ago, a }oung prince of a then obscuro German house was serving under the Emperor Alexander in the great War against Napoleon. He was brave, handsome, clever, and as events have proved, possessed of prudence beyond the ordinary lot of princes or private men. In 1814 he accompanied the Allied Sovereigns to England, and there his accomplishments attracted the attention and engaged the affections of the heiress to the English throne—the Princess Charlotte of Wales. They .were married, and though.an.untimely death was destined soon to sever their union, yet from that time the. star of the successful young officer and of the House of Coburg lias been in the ascendant.; From the vantage ground of a near connexion with the British Royal Family they have been able to adptnce to a position in Europe almost beyond the dreams of German ambition. The Coburgs have spread far and wide, and filled the lands with their race. They have created a new royal house in Eng land. The Queen is a daughter of Leopold’s sister, her children are the children of Leopold’s nephew. The Coburgs reign in Portugal ; they are connected with the royal though fallen House of Orleans, and more or less closely related to the principal families of their own country. Prince Leopold himself .has-for thirty years governed one of the most important of the minor States of Europe, and his eldest son is wedded to an Archduchess of the. Imperial House of Austria. Jealousy and detraction have followed these remarkable successes, but the Coburgs can afford to smile when their rivals sneer, for they have the solid rewards of skill, prudence, and that adaptability to all countries and positions which has. distinguished the more able members of their family. It may be added as the last memorable events in their annals, that-two of them have successively had the refusal of the Crown of Greece.

The talents of the Coburgs have been conspicuous. King- Leopold, the late PriucO Consort, and the present Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha have been men much above the ordinary standard. They hav e had great opportunities, and they have known how to use them. Neither the Prince Consort nor the Kingof Portugal could, without offence, have taken a share in the politics of England and Portugal, unless they had been gifted with much prudence and ciroumsjjection. No one who studies their history will believe that they and their kinsmen have merely had greatness thrust upon them. But, on the other hand, it cannot be doubted that they owe all to the excellent 1 start which Prinbe Leopold’s good fortune gave their House. Had it not been for the elevation of the young soldier to the highest station in England, the Coburgs, instead of planting dynasties everywhere, might have been no more than any other of the five-and-thirty German reigning families, or the multitude of Princely and Serene, but mediatized personages who are scattered through the land. But when? Leopold became an English Prince, and his sister -was the mother of the Heiress presumptive to the British Throne, the path to greatness was open to the enterprise of the family. How much one success leads to another in Princely life has been shown in their history, and we have adverted to it because, if report speaks true, another family, which, a few years since, was of hardly more account in Europe, is at this moment entering on a similar career. Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, whom poets are fabling to be a child of the Sea Kings, is the daughter of Prince Christian of the House of Schlesv ig - Holstein r Sonderburg - Glucksburg, who ws himself but a few years ago a long way from the succession to the Danish Crown. It was not until after' the battle of Istedt and the reference of the Danish question to the great Powers that the succession was settled on Prince Christian and his male heirs by the Treaty of May 8, 1852, and even after this there was so much dissatisfaction at the claim of Russia to succeed to a portion of the Monarchy that the law was not finally settled until the summer of 1853, when Prince Christian and his family received the title of Royal Highness. Thus, the Royalty of our Princess’s family is less than ten years old, and corresponds more to a span-new Peerage than anything that we are accustomed to associate with Continent;; 1 Monarch}’. But see how soon in these days a grand position may be achieved. We understand that the first result of the late auspicious marriage is that Prince William, brother to Her Royal Highness, will be recommended to the Greek nation for their King. The Prince is a little younger than Prince. Alfred, having been born on the 24th of December, 1845. He is also a sailor-, which will, no doubt, be a recommendation to him in the eyes of so maritime ■ a people. He is also a non Catholic, Tgjrich is essential to the success of a - ruler at Athens, and being so young and closely connected with a Constitutional Court, there is every reason to believe that he may become a prudent and serviceable King. It is to be hoped that the Greeks will close with this offer, which is the best they are ever likely to receive. The brother of a prospective King of Denmark and of a Queen of England is a personage more illustrious than is likely soon to be proposed to a country which has so little to offer in return. Of course, there is more than one personage to •consult. ■ So far as we can learn, the J rinee’s family and the British Government have consented to the recommendation, and we can hardly presume that the Kiug of Denmark will otter any objection, unless it be on the ground that 1 irnce William stands in the same relation to the Danish Monarchy as Prince Alfred to that of England-

that he is the brother of the heir to the Throne, and may, perhaps, himself be called upon to govern; But this contingency ought not to stand in the way of prince William’s fortunes, for in'the case of Prince Alfred it would certainly not have been so strongly urged had there not been other weighty reasons which do not exist in the case of a Danish Prince. Nor can the other Powers of Europe liaveaiiy fault to; find with the candidate whom the British Government will present for the choice of the Greek people. The Danish family is on the most friendly terms with the Czar with whom it is connected by relationship not vei*y remote; and France can have no' reason for object ng to a Prince whose parent State can never be powerful enough to exercise an inconvenient influence in-the East.

As to the Greeks themselves, they must be anxious to put an end to the present interregnum. The state of the country is at present one of anarchy—not anarchy in the Worst sense of the word, but of a kind sufficiently dangerous to make all prudent men desirous of Idling the throne as soon as possible. The finances of the kingdom are in confusion, and must remain so as long as there is only a Provisional Government, without the power to enforce taxation, or the replication which can Inspire confidence in the minds of foreign capitalises. Although the government has given very praiseworthy signs of a desire to economise, yet these savings can uffect little unless the permanent ruler of the country be at once installed, and its institutions take the form which Eui-opean governments believe to be necessary for national progress. In Prince William the Greeks will have a King almost as closely connected with English Royalty as Prince Alfred himself, and when they have elected him they will be - in a position to claim the fulfilment of England’s promise to cede to them the lonian Islands. It would be strange if, with all these advantages, they should hesitate to approve the candidate whom the English nation presents to them.

But there is another report, which, if true, completes the triumph of the Danish family. It is that the Princess Dagnrar, who is now in her sixteenth year, is to be affianced to the Cesarewitch Nicholas, who is about the same age. Supli a seines of events, which would place on thrones present or future four of the children of a Prince who, but a few years ago, was not even in the front rank of European: personages, would be cei’-tain-ly a singular instance of Fortune’s favors. But it is thus that the goddess acts, and we may be glad that in this case her blessings would be showered on a family which all allow to be eminently worthy of the highest stations to which they may be called.

“ King Hudson ” and his Sons.-: —We have often wondered wliat had become of this once famous potentate. The following, from the Belfast News Letter, throws some light on the subject : —“ Mr. Hudson, the ex-Rail way King, is now chairman of the smoking room at Meurice’s Hotel, at Paris, where he resides, and is known to all the English who frequent that famous hostelrie as a most agreeable companion and a genuine type of a ‘ John Bull,’ at least in the estimation of the French. His ex-Majesty speaks of his own affairs without reserve,-■ and states that he would have done very well in Spain, but that the Spaniards are so dreadfully slow. He says they will not travel more 'than fifteen miles an hour, aud_ even..at that' lively pace won’t ‘go half often enough.’ Mr. Hudson had a son killed in the Indian mutiny, while gallantly charging a battery of Sepoy guns j another son is a farmer at Canterbury, in New Zealand ; a third is at the English bar ; and his only daughter has entered a convent. The Canterbury settler is doing well, but Mr. Hudson declares that he will never become a rich man because be won’t speculate ! ”

The Vicissitudes of the Authoress of “Lady Audley’s Secret.” —lt appears that Miss Braddon, the authoress of “ Lady Audley’s Secret,” first took a liking for music, tried it, and was pronounced a failure ; then esssayed a small part on the stage, and ditto, ditto , and finally collapsed into pen and ink, and with great difficulty got a small sketch called the “ Artist’s Story,” passed for the Welcome Guest. Subsequently she undertook to divulge “ Lady Audley’s Seci’et,” and was so successful in attracting the public attention that she now takes her place beside George Eliot and the authoress of “ East Lynne.” Any publisher will'give her <£2ooo to write a book, and not to put two fine a point on it—her fortune’s made. From the time when Milton got five pounds for “Paradise lost,” down to success of “ Lady Audley’s Secret.” publishers have been wretchedly slow to detect genius. We knowhow “ Waverley ” was rejected, buried for years in a trunk, and eventually it hung fire ; how Byron was condemned by Brougham and Jeffries, and how Dickens had to implore old Black as a favour to admit his “ Sketches by Boz ” into the Evening Chronicle. We have read Currer Bell’s own tale about the rejection of “Jane Eyre ” by scores of wiseacres; and Mrs. Beecher Stowe has recorded the snubbings which “Uucle Tom’s Cabin ” had to undergo before any one could be got to print it. Thackeray once thought|of burning “ Vanity Fair and-now we have Miss Braddon, who was prononneed a failure by everybody, and in everything, V’ursting out upon the town like a meteor. —Court Journal. Horne Tooke returned his income at £6O a year ; the Commissioners said they were not satisfied. Horne Tooke, in reply, stated that he had much more reason to be dissatisfied with the smallness of his income than they had.

PAKEHA AND RANGATIRA. When I purchased my land the payment was made on the ground, and immediately divided and subdivided amongst the different sellers. Some of them, who;, according to their own representations formerly made to me, were the sole and only owners of the land, received for their share about the" Value of one shilling, and moreover, as I also observed, did not not appear at all disappointed. One old rangatira (a chief) before whom a considei-able portion of the payment had been laid as, his share of the spoil, gave it a slight, shove with his foot, expressive of refusal, and said, “ I will not any of the payment, I will have thepakeha (foreign trader).” I saw some of the magnates present seemed greatly disappointed at this, for I dare say they had expected -to have the pakeha as well as the payment. But the old gentleman had regularly checkmated them by refusing to accept any payment, and being also a person of great respectability, i.e., a good fighting man, with twenty more at his back, he was allowed.to have his way, thereby, in the opinion of all the natives present, making a far better tiling of the land sale than any of them, though he had received no part ot the payment. , I was therefore a part, and by no means an inconsiderable one, of the payment for my own land ; but though now part and parcel of the property of the old rangatira aforementioned, a good deal of liberty was allowed me. The fact of my having become his pakeha made our respective relations and duties to each other about as follows—-

Firstly.—At all times, places, and companies my owner had the right to call me “ his pakeha.” Secondly.—He had tlie general priviledge of “ pot-luck” whenever he chose to honour my establishment with a visit; said pot-luck to be tumbled out to him on the ground before the house, he being far too great a man to eat. out of plates and dishes, or any degenerate invention of that nature ; as, if he did, they would all become tapu and of no use to any one but himself, nor indeed to himself either, as he did not see the use of them.

Thirdly.—lt was well understood that to avoid the unpleasant appearance of paying “blackmail,” and to keep up general kindly relations, my owner should from time to time make me small presents, and that in return I should make him presents five or six times the value ; all this to be done as if arising from mutual love and kindness, and not the slightest allusiou to be ever made to the relative value of the- gifts on either side (an impoi'tant ai’ticle). Fourthly.—lt was to be a sine qua non that I must purchase everything the chief or his family had to sell, whether I wanted them or not, and give the highest market price, or rather more (another very important article). Fifthly.—The chief’s own particular pijie never to be allowed to become extinguished for want of the needful supply of tobacco.

Sixthly.—All desirable jobs of work, and all advantages of all kinds, to be offered first to the family of my rangatira before letting any one else have them ; payment for same to be about 25 per cent, more than to anyone else, exclusive of a douceur to the chief himself because he did not wovk. In return for these duties and customs, well and truly performed on my part, the chief was understood to—

First.—Stick up for me in a general way, and not let me bullied or imposed upon by anyone but himself, as far as he was able to prevent it. . Secondly.-—I case of being plundered or maltreated by any powerful marauder, it was the duty of my chief to come in hot haste with all his family, armed to the teeth, to my rescue, after all was over, and when it was too late to be of any service. He was also bound on such occasions to make a great noise, dance the war dance, and fire muskets (I finding the powder) and to declare loudly what he would have done had he only been in time. I, of course, on such occasions for my own dignity and m consideration of the spirited conduct of my friends, was bound to order two or three fat pigs to be killed and lots of potatoes to be served out to the “army” who were always expected to be starving as a general rule. A disti'ibution of tobacco, in the shape of largess, was also a necessity of the case.

Thirdly.—ln case of my losing anything of consequence by theft—a thing which, as a veraceous pakeha, I am bound to say, seldom happened : the natives in those days being, as I have already mentioned, a very law observing people, (the law of muni,) had, indeed, little occasion to steal, the above-named law answering their purposes in a general way much better, and helping them pretty certainly to any little matter they coveted j yet, as there are exceptions to all rules, theft would sometimes be committed ; and then, as I was saying, it became the bounden duty of my rangatira to get the stolen article back if he was able, and keep it for himself for his trouble, unless I gave him something of more value in lieu thereof. —Old Ntw Zealand.

Inno ent or Guilty ? (A Street Dialogue.'' —Brown—Ah, Jones,’how de do:> ? So Sir Ge >rge Grey wouldn’t hang that sveep, eh I Jones—No, certainly not. Sir George believed that he didn’t kill his v if\ Brown—But he has given him penal servitude for life. Jones — W ell, what then i Brown—-Why, if you put it in that way, to be sure I’m a a bachelor and don’t profess to be a judge of such matters, —but doesn’t it seem to be a good deal to give a fellow for not killing his wife .—Punch