Miscellaneous Extracts.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 1, Issue 31, 15 April 1843, Page 1

Miscellaneous Extracts.

SANDWICH r*'LAND CIVILISATION. (From the Sheffield Iris.) The people of the Sandwich Archipelago have advanced still fat tiler in civilization. i’iie Bay of iSonornrn, in the Island of Woahoo, almost lesembles a European harbour. Fifty foreign vessels liave been seen in it at one time. In the latter part of the year 1833, it was resorted to by more tlnn 2G,0!)0 tons, of shipping, employing upwards ot 2300 seamen, and bearing the flags of Knglaud, I* ussia, Spain, America, and Otaheite. St is dele tided by a fortress mounting forty gnus, over which, and fiom the masts of the native ba ks, is suspended the national ensign, which has already been seen in the ports of China, the Philippines, Anie-

nca, Kamschatka, the New Hebrides, and Australia. 1 he town is regularly laid out in squares, the streets arWcsrefolly fenced, and nund)£xs of the hou>,p S are neatly built. . n “ 0, V P oSß<lS( 'f a regular police, conams two hotels, and the same number of b.iluml rooms, and nearly a dozen taverns, bearing such inscription ~s “An Ordinary at One o’clock, ’“"Britannie ’ and “The Jolly Tar.” It is thKresurbtmK of a British and American Consul, and of several respectable merchants of the Unites States. Education and a know ledge of i eligion are widely spread throughout the Island ; nine hundred seminaries, conducted by native teachers, are established, and fifty thousand children receive instruction in reading. With in a little distance of the very spot where Cook was killed, a school has been opened, and a building erected for the worship of the I rue God. The fortune of some others of the countries explored by him has hitherto been less auspicious; but in the most of them missions are already planted with every prospect of success, and we conlidently look forward to the day when the truth of Christianity srt.alf be established in all. It may be said, indeed, that in almost every quarter of Polynesia the seeds of civilisation are now sown, and it is a plant (as has been remarked) which seldom withers or decays, however slowly it may advance iu growth. The hopes, therefore, can hardly be considered vision • ary which have been expressed by a late distinguished voyage!, who, in sailing along the shores of Nsw Zealand, anticipated the period when that magnificent country shall become he Great Britain of the Southern Hemisplere, when its now solitary plains shall be covered with large and populous cities, and the bays which are at present frequented hut by the frail canoe of tha wandfcriaeyj«t?6^s r shall be thronged with the commercial na’tives of empires situated at the opposite ends of the earth. VI hen that dsty shall arrive, and the fertile islands of ilie Pacific become the seat of great and flourishing states, we may confidenty predict that Cook will be revered, no with the blind adoration offered to the fancied Rono, but with the rational respect and affection due by an enlightened peqde to him who was the harbinger of their civilization ; and that, among the great and good men commemorated in their aiuals as national benefactors, none will lie more highly extolled than the illustrious navigator who, surmounting the dangers and difficulties of unknown seas, laid open the path by which the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion were wafted to" tbeir distant shores. Strange but Authentic Anecdote of the late Duki of Orleans. —The following is an unquestionable fact: —During the last visit to this country of Ins late Royal Highness the* Duke of Oilcans, being in conversation with one of the members of our elective legislature, and who is well and houo rably known in the highest sportittg.circlet, and the sub ject conversed on being the accession of his Royal Highness to the throne o' trance, the latter said, that such an event would be, to him, a source of mote than <>+it> regret. Not the least would be, that it would force him to sever many ties of f.iendsiiip that bound him to several Englishmen, and suspend, for a time, his wishes for the welfare of England. His assumption of the title of King of the French would be hailed as the moment in which were to begin the triumphs of the movement and war party in France. Fie could never sit easy on his throne until he declared war against England, A tout prix, and the proclamation that promulgated it would be hailed m France with entlnmiii'tie Oeliglu. There would ho rejoicings of all kinds throughout the laud a general fete, war with England, and the suie conquest, of her by French arms, illuminating the whole. There would be a simultaneous “ marshalling in arms,” a ;e id v, jo. mis, and universal preparation for “ battle’s magnificently stern mray.” riie piide and peifiily of Albiun would be humdiated and punished, and Ihe Gallic cock would crow an 1 cow down the old lion of England. I bese walls ot oak which hitiiPito had rendered her the “inviolate island of the brave and free,” were »o be battered down, and for that purpose the finest, fleet the “ world e’er saw” sent forth from the arsenals of Toulon and Brest, would assemble at Boulogne, strik-

I ing terror into all those who sh mi - t from the chalky cliffs of Kent. , of all this, added his Royal ligh f. emphatically, would be a teirib . but e ■ ful lesson to the avidi return ji vara o P my country; that vain-gloriow#fl et w , be annihilated by the impregnt de f ing bulwarks of Britain ; a vess : or aJiereu and etappled, n.ight n.g the shores of Franee, to prove I the blue jackets of England wer ' 3 .-- ■ sons of the ocean, and had st r yore, the right to exclaim “Far as the breeze can bear, the bit j f Survey our empire and behold our Such certain victory would be o ’ . . est service to France ; it wouL sc an ocean of blood and mines of ; and teach her that her welfare and , - ness depended on the arts of peat than on vain attempts to conquer . e and free people.—Though this b: n* exact language of his late Roy A \ ness of Orleans, it paints prechd sentiments he uttered to the hoi o U 1, and gallant M. P. alluded to, pondent of the Morning Post. Fixings.—Boa gives us - and amusing specimens of 1 vocabulary uf America. “ V v 0 pretty tall time coming that las . u<;!e—that’s a fact,” “ Pretty low so :H of varnish, sir.” These are common copies ; but of all the genuine con" ib utons of the Americans to the verna alar otetionary, the word “ fix” is their own favourite. " ‘ Will yon try,” said my opposite neighbour, handing me t of potatoes, broken up in milk I bun r, “ will you try some of these L ing;; ; There are few words which pe> arm such various duties as this word ‘fxb It is the Caleb Quotem of the Amer, yin abtrlaiy. You Cevil- tepo-tt-rg-g,-c. r> l country town, and his help info, ms you that he is ‘ fixing himself just now, bet will be down directly : by which yrt, arc to understand that he is dressing You inquire on board a steam-boat, of a ”ow passenger, whether breakfast will b ady soon, and he tells you he shoulu think so, for when he was last below th ere ‘ fixing the tables ;’ in other words laying the cloth. Beg a porter to collect your luggage, and he entreats you not to be uneasy, for lie’ll ‘ fix it presently , and if you complain of indisposition, you are advised to have recourse to Doctor Stand so, who will * fix you in no bme,’ One night I ordered a bottle ? lied wine at an hotel where I was s waited a long time for it : at leng-.n ji was put upon the table, with an a; a y rom the landlord that be feared it warm - teed properly.’ And I recollect once, at a stage coach dinner, overbeari y a very stern gentleman demand of a i.te s who presented him with a plate of under-done roast beef, * whether he called th a f; ing God A’mighty’s vittles ?”