English and Foreign.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 512, 30 September 1857, Page 5

English and Foreign.

The Austrian Government has guaranteed the Danubian Steam Navigation Company 8 per cent, on its capital as compensation for the loss of its exclusive privilege to navigate that portion of the Danube which runs through the Austrian dominions. [A very objectionable compromise.]

The Paris 'Moniteur de la Flotte' states that our East India Company have made a new acquisition—the island of Perim, at the entrance of the Red Sea, in the middle of the Strait of Babelmandeb. Perim is absolutely devoid of everything—there is not even a drop of water; nothing grows but a stunted and dusty briar; there are no inhabitants; everything for the use of man must be brought to the island; it does not appear a very inviting acquisition at first sight. But then Perim "is situated between Arabia and Africa, on the very point at which the Bed Sea commences, and it divides the strait into two channels. The passage to the East, on the side of Arabia, is only three miles wide; that to the West, on the African side, is about ten or twelve. On the South-west, towards the widest entrance of the Straits, the island forms one of the finest ports imaginable. It is a mile in length and half a mile in breadth, and the depth varies from 7to twenty-five fathoms. The anchorage is excellent, the entrance is perfectly sheltered, and it is no exaggeration to say that forty ships of the line may easily anchor there in smooth water a hundred yards from the shore. A few ships of war stationed there will be sufficient hermetically to close the entrance to the Red Sea."

You may flatter even an Emperor too much. When the Emperor of Austria visited Waitzen, M. yon Rethy, the burgomaster of the city, assured Mm " that a sea of delight had inundated the breasts of the inhabitants of the city when they received the news of _ the gracious intentions of his most exalted Majesty towards them." The Emperor is said to dislike servility and " humbug," and his answer to Yon Rethy was a very short one. The new-born child of the Emperor of Russia is his fifth son and sixth child. He has been' christened Sergius, and has been appointed to the command of two regiments and inscribed on the rolls of several others.

According to advices from Bagdad, Mr. Murray, who had been staying there, was to leave Bagdad on the 15th"of this month for Teheran, to resume his diplomatic functions.

The health of President Buchanan is reported to be " by no means good;" he still suffers from the effects of the "National Hotel disease ; and lie is much worried by the cares ot ■office and the importunities of office-seekers. Count d'Argout, who has been Governor of the bank of France for throe-and-twenty years, has resigned, at the moment when Government is proposing alterations in the constitution of the bank M. Magne, Minister of Finance, is spoken of as his successor. The post is a lucrative one, the various emoluments bein°estimated at 100,000 francs a-year. The latest accounts from Goree announce that the Commander-in-chief of the French settlement on the West Coast of Africa has occupied, in the name of the French Governmeut, the large tract of land called Dakkar, said to be one of the most important positions in Senegal.

An expedition, which has been long in preparation, has marched from Algeria, with the view of penetrating into the heart of Kabylifi. The Turkish war-ship Peiki Zafter, 104, has been lying at Plymouth for some months, fitting steam machinery. The completion of the Eamazan, or great Mahometan fast-month, was celebrated on board with much rejoicing, on Saturday. " A royal salute of twenty-one "guns announced, at five o'clock on Saturday afternoon, the approach of the new moon ; and at nine o'clock its appearance was greeted by the illumination of the ship, every port exhibiting a light,_ and fireworks of a varied character being displayed from her masts and rigging. The fast over and all restrictions removed, the crew were soon seated on the decks, devouring their pilau, with other condiments. Sunday morning was the commencement of the lesser Bairam, or feast-month, when full amends are made for the previous mortification. Royal salutes were given at six o'clock in the morniii"-, ar twelve, and at five in the afternoon; and the ship was gaily dressed in colours from yardarm to yardarm; the crescent and the star occupying the most honoured positions. Although eating and drinking appeared to be the^most important feature of the day's proceedings, sobriety and good fellowship were strictly maintained; and a swing by a single rope fixed to the foremast head seemed to afford the greatest amount, af happiness to " Bono Johnny," especially when he could induce one or two of his shipmates to join in the innocent amusement." The demeanour of the Turkish sailors when on shore during their stay at Plymouth has been very exemplaiy. Robert Burns, the eldest son of him who made that name immortal, died on the 14th instant, at Dumfries. He was born at Mauchline, in September 1786; so that he has nearly completed his 75th year. An obituary notice in the ' Dumfries Courier' says—'ln several respects, in point of intellect, the deceased was no ordinary man. He was an accomplished scholar. Endowed with a prodigious memory and great powers of application, he had amassed a vast quantity of knowledge on a great range of subjects. His enthusiasm in the acquisition of information continued to almost his last days, and for some years lie had been almost passionately attached to the study of the language of the Gael. In music he was a proficient student, possessing both a theoretical and practical know* ledge of the art. A portion of the father's poetic mantle had fallen upon the son, and in his earlier years he composed verses of considerable intrinsic merit.' His remains were to be laid beside those of his father, in the Mausoleum, St. Michael's Churchyard, the vault of which had not bt.-en opened for upwards of 20 years'

A Naval Court Martial was held at Portsmouth on the 21st May, to try Captain Eyres, the Commander, and Mr. Cavell, the Master, of the screw war steamer Exmouth, 91. The ship had been allowed to take the ground near the Lizard Point, on the 12th May. The Court adjudged Eyres to he admonished, because he placed implicit confidence in the pilotage of the Master, and did not use the deep-sea lead; and adjudgsd the Master, on account of his " long services and previous high character," to be only admonished anil reprimanded.

The Earl of Yarboroii»h, • the Honourable W. Monson, and Dr. Duigan, R. N., with the crew, have lieen in danger from the wreck of the Earl's yacht Zoe. They were crui-iny in the North Sea, when the wind fell light, and the tide drifted the yacht on to the Haisborough sandbank, fourteen miles off the coast of Norfolk. All hands had to escape in the boats; they got on shore in safety, but the yacht became a total wreck.

The sixty sixth anniversary of the Royal Literary Fund was celebrated by a dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern. In the absence of Earl Granville, ' elsewhere,"' Mr. William Cowper presided. A great number of distinguished men were among the guests, —Mr. Thackeray, Mr. Justice llnliburton, Mr. Arthur Helps, Colonel Svkes, Mr. Monckton Milnes, Mr. Macaulay, Dr. Livingstone, Colonel Hamley, Sir Roderick Murchison, the Rajah of Coorg. Mr. Monckton Milnes having proposed the " Literature of the Colonies and Mr. Justice Halibuiton," Mr. Haliburton contributed an amusing speech, intended to show that there is no literature in the Colonies! 'The-Coloniss, in fact, are too busy clearing the forest, and building cities, layingout roads, bridging rivers, and providing shelter for ticket-of-leave gentlemen. Literature requires the academic leisure of learned and well-endowed institutions, such as Oxford. The colonies are too young to afford the time, and if they had the time they could not afford it either. There is no literature in the colonies, because they have no poet, no infancy, no youth. They have grown up suddenly, have no settled orders, no nobility, no castles which had formerly been strongholds and told tales of rapine and.oppression ; their rivers have no names, their streams have no legends; the} r have no fairies, no superstitions, their people, are plain, hard, matter-of-fact men. As matter-of-fact men, poets are not valued among them, for there can be no poets where there are no memories. He hoped their literature would long continue to he as it is now—the literature of the empire, for the literature of the Mother-country is the strongest bond of union between it and the colonies.' The toast of the evening, ' Prosperity to the Royal Literary Fund,' was proposed by Mr. Thackeray. The subscription amounted to £1,200.

Lord Calthorpe has followed the example of Mr. Adderley, and given the people of Birmingham a second park. This " new lung," as it is called was publicly opened by the Duke of Cambridge on the first of June. Birmingham kept hoiidnv. r'J'|, e weather was real June weather. The Tai!w,-i vitiation was decked out in gay attire of leave's >a,d flowers. The houses in the main streets war.: covered with fi,i<rs, wreaths, trophies, garlands ; I he streets spanned by triumphal arches and huue banners. The crowd was a general sample of the peo pie, in its best clothes and best humour ; and it did not spare its lungs on the occasion. The Duke of Cambridge, wearing his full uniform, was received at the station by the civic authorities, and was driven in the Mayor's carriage to the Town Hail. Here many county notables had assembled ; and, after luncheon, a highly complimentary address was presented by the Mayor to the " Soldier's Friend." In reply, the Duke thanked them for their" compliments to him as a soldier : But, said he." I appear among you to-day more in my social'position in civil life, anxious by my presence to do honour to a great work." A second address was presented by Lord Hatherton, on behalf of the Midland Institute ; a third by Dr. Badham, from the masters of the Proprietary School ; and a fourth by Mr. P. Rollins, from the Society of Artists. From the Town-Hall the Duke went in procession to the Park, through streets wherein much bunting and many floral decorations abounded. Tin; Ca'thorpe Park is described as "a fine and level pieie of ground of about thirty acres in extent, with a neat, smooth turf, crossed here and there with "ravelwalks. One side of it is bounded by the river Rea, which here at least is a cleaT brisk stream, and as unlike its lower portion near Birmingham as the Thames is unlike pure water. As a whole, ihe ground is admirably adapted for a people's park, and above all, as a place for manly healthful recteatioti." The ceremony of opening the park consisted of tiie planting of three trees by the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Calthorpe, and the Mayor, respectively. Then the park was declared to be open "for the use of the public." Athletic games were to have followed, but the crowd was too great to admit of this display.

Troops for Red Hlver. and Hudson's Bay Territory.—We learn by the last advices tnat the sending of the troops round Hudson's Bay is not the act of the Colonial but of the Home Government. The route is 3000 miles longer, with more risk to the men than that by the Lakes; which could be accomplished in ten days, tuost of the way by rail and steam-boat. The matter g;ive rise to a lively debate in tho Canadian Parliament, and the attorney" General stated, " that before long the Red-tapists of the War Office would be convinced that there was a better route to the Red River than by Hudson's Bay." A correspondent suggests that the mistake may yet be mended, if the War Office will comiivria.ind its orders, and send the troops by the direct and proper route. Lord Panmnre's attention should be called to it. Lake Superior has been open since the sth of May, and does not close until December ; Hudson's Bay is open for only three months.

■In Hungary the nobles arp petitioning for a restoration of their language, institutions, and representation ; only two families, distinguished by diamonds and horse-racing, of a very cosmopolitan kind, withholding their signature to this new draft charter. The answer of the Austrian King John is not stated.

The Neuchatel question is at last really settled ; the King of Prussia surrendering his sovereignty, but retaining the litle of" Prince ;" for he declines, says report, a modicum of cash originally stipulated.

In Italy the Pope is making a progress under favour of Austrian congratulations ; preferring residence at Bologna in order to show that he does not need French protection. Atthe same time n-w disclosures establish a state of the prisons in Rome as hideous as in Naples. Piedmont has been receiving the Empress of Russia with a most sigui'fieant cordiality.

if international anger smoulders in Europe, the reports from the We.-.t are not all re-assuring. Nuw Granada is said to contemplate a concession to the United States; but in Washington there is some irritation at the absolute failure of the Dallas-Cla-rendon treaty ; while reports are put in circulation, that Great Britain intends to renew her position in Ruatan on a stronger footing.

The most incomprehensible report we find in the 'Morning Post'—that the British Colonial Govern- i ment has sent troops to support the Hudson's Bay ; Company in resisting an unexplained encroach- i ment. The writer rather anticipates a squabble, I placing the Canadians in opposition to the British ! Government; apolitical blunder that miahthiive \ lamentable consequences throughout the whole of the American continent. The Liverpool underwriters have presented 1000 guineas to Air. Porter, master of the .Meteor, for I navigating her home from' Mobile, though leaky, J instead of submitting to enormous charges for repairs at Key West. Mr. Porter sutveerk'd in bringing the ship home by providing himself with a powerful steam-pump. ] The officials in Hungary have been so urgent in : making people spend money in spontaneous rejoi- ; eings on the Emperor's visit, that it has been ; found necessary to hint a rebuke in the 'PesthBuda Gazette :'■ rlie Emperor does not require ! any further expenditure to convince him of the ! loyalty of his subjects,—he will be " hurt " and . " vexed "*at it. The pious and exemplary Court of Spain have ', been assisting at a grand ceremony—the depositing : "a nail of the cross" in a magnificent reliquary ' provided by the Queen. It seems that the nail : and the costly box containing it were stolen some ! time since; the nail has been recovered but not the box. In the Court for the Consideration of Crown Cases Reserved, judgment wasgiven in a novel "nuisance" case. Messrs. Lister and Co. had been convicted by a jury of areating a nuisance by keeping large quantities of naphtha in the City : the indictment did not allege that there was any noxious effluvium, but it was grounded on the danger to all around if the naphtha by any means became ignited. The question for the jury was, did the accumulation of such an inflammable liquid create danger to life and property? The Judge who tried the case reserved the ultimate decision for the present Court. The Court affirmed the conviction: the keeping of great quantities of naphtha in a crowded localitj , even with all internal precautions by the warehousemen, is, like an accumulation of gunpowder, dangerous to a neighbourhood—it is a " nuisance."

It appears from an analysis prepared by Mr. White, the honorary secretary of Lord John Russel's Committee, that Lord John had no fewer than 1906 "plumpers" at the City election: Baron Rothschild had 540, Sir James Duke 442, Mr. Crawford 64>, ami Mr. Currie 117. Tin- construction of an electric telegraph line from .Madras to Ceylon l, ;is been sanctioned hy the Supreme Gov.rnmc t of India. It will pass through the French territory on the coast, and there will "be a station at I'ondicbenv. Mr. Henry Salmon," agent at Fairfax for the commercial iSank of Scotland, has absconded after misappropriating some £.30,000 of the bank's money, spite of the searching inspection of accounts customary with Banks in Scotland. He managed his frauds by not entering deposits in the bank books : doubtless he kept a private register of ihem, so as to know what interest was due, and thus escaped detection for a lime by paying the depositors their interest. He had been connected with the bank for forty years. THE PEIKCB CONSOET. (From the London Gazette of Friday, June 26 ) At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 25th day of June, Present— The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council, Whereas there was this day read at the Board the draught of Letters Patent, conferring upon his Royal Highness Prince Albert the title and dignity of Prince Consort, Her Majesty, having taken the same into consideration, was pleased, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to approve thereof and to order, as it is hereby ordered, that the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of Stare, do cause a warrant to be prepared for Her Majesty's signature for passing Letters Patent conformable to the said draught under the Great Seal of Great Britain. * W. L. BATHURST. At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 25th day of June, 185 7. Present—The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council, Whereas by the Act of Uniformity, which estabhsheth the Liturgy, and enacts that no form or order of Common Prayer be openly used other than what is prescribed or appointed to be used in and by the said book, it is notwithstanding provided, that in all those prayers, litanies, and collects, which do anywise relate to tiie King, Queen, or Royal progeny, ihe names be altered and changed from -ime to time, and fitted to the presen* occasion, according to direction of lawful authority ; Her Majesty was pleased this day in Council to* declare her Koyal will and pleasure, that in all prayers, litanies, and collects for the Royal Family, the words "The Prince Consort" be inserted, instead of the words " Prince' Albert.'' And her Majesty doth strictly charge and command, that no edition of the Common Prayer be from henceforth printed but with this amendment; and that in the meantime, till copies of such edition may be had,, all parsons, vicars, and curates within this realm do (for the preventing of mistakes), with the pen, correct and amend all such prayers in their church books, according to the foregoing directions: and, for the- better notice hereof, that ibis order be forthwith printed and published, and sent to the several parishes; and that the right rev. the Bishop do take care that obedience be paid to the same accordingly. W. L. BATH'URST. At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 25th day of June, 1857. Present, —The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. In pursuance of an act, passed in the 10th yeir of Her Majesty Queen Anne, and of another act, passed in the 32nd year of His Majesty King George 111., where provision is made for praying for the Royal Family in that part of Great Britain called Scotland ; it is ordered by her Majesty in Council, that henceforth every minister and preacher in Scotland shall, in his respective church, congregation, or assembly, pray in express words for " The Prince Consort," instead of for " The Prince Albert;" of which all persons concerned are to take notice and govern themselves accordingly . \V. L. BATHURST. |