THE NEWS BY MAIL. LONDON.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1100, 12 November 1869, Page 2

THE NEWS BY MAIL. LONDON.

(From the correspondent of the 'Independent.') SeptembefciO, I<B#> The great international boat raoei>6tween Oxford and Harvard has been^he-mdsk exciting and absorbing,, if not the most important topic of the month. The challenge given by the New 1 World to the Old has been decided by pur modern ",,w#ger of battle," the"iists" that ex^'nd ''full many a rood " along the sedgy banks of Old Father Thames^frbm Putney to Mortlake— and the Old World has won. This, you will say, is as it ought to be : it is what we all expeote'd— : at leas^. those of us who know anything of rowing! v No idea whatever can. be. formed - b^parstons who were not in London, on the|^th of August of the intense • excite&ent Which seemed to pervade the atmosfihere" for miles around. ; Everybody '■, from the school-boy of 10 to the old man of. ,70 seemed to hare been smitten of a sudden, with a kind of rowing mania, which became exceedingly contagious, and any conversation beyond the chances of the match and the traditions of the river, was voted a bore for at least a week before the contest took place. The fact is we pride ourselves (and justly) beyond all other nations upon our skill in out-door games and athletic sports of all kinds. Cricket, rowing, football, fives, racquets, are now our great national pastimes, and within my own recollection of more than five and twenty years, these games, with an infinite number of others, have increased at least a thousand per cent, and this is a moderate estimate. A complete revolution has been achieved within a period of ten years in our athletic sports. Our volunteer movement has helped to accomplish this, but the' Saturday half holiday in the city— -in banks, public offices, and large trading houses at the West End — has contributed chiefly to the propagation of our modern creed of " muscular Christianity." The mails via Marseilles came to hand on Monday last, but the' heavy mail will not be delivered until Monday next, rather behind time. The usual summary of colonial intelligence, however, has reached us from Wellington, and we learn (what we were quite prepared for) that the Stafford Ministry has been "badly" beaten, and that Mr. Fox has formed a new cabinet, and has propounded a new policy, but upon the probable results of, this policy, at present in embryo, it would be premature to speculate. 1 The only question is, can the proposed policy be carried oiitP I see that the corner; stone of this policy consists in a considerable modification of the self-reliant system, the' retention' of the 18th Regiment, and the introduction, upon the old conditions of £40 per man, of two further regiments (if they can be procured) from Great Britain. This, v with a reorganisation of the colonial corps, the withdrawal of the troops from fruitless campaigns in the enemy s country, and the consequent retrenchment of thepreSeht ruinous expenditure, appear to be the ' essential features of the new policy of Mr. Fox — from whom great things are expected at home, for his character and abilities are better known and more generally acknowledged than those of any other statesmen in the colony. His long experience of colonial life, combined with the stores of knowledge which he must have acquired during his recent extensive travels in Europe and elsewhere, render him peculiarly fitted at a crisis like the present to take the' helm of state. This too is the opinion of the Times, at least by implication, for in a recent leader it expresses approval generally of the policy shadowed forth by your Prime Minister — at the same time that it expresses doubt as to the expediency of asking for two regiments to be sent out "on conditions greatly detracting from their usefulness." Meaning by this that " they would only be allowed to do garrison duty," and that it would be "quite impossible that two Queen's regiments could be handed over to fight under the orders of the Native Secretary." The Times howeyer thinks that " if such an application is made it will, no doubt, be granted." It may be that the leading journal speaks advisedly and with knowledge, and therefore I will say nothing to the contrary, but if this opinion had not been expressed I should have entertained a different view — at all events the very latest authoritative declarations, both in Parliament and out of it, lead to a totally different conclusion, and not a word that has hitherto escaped Earl Granville or any of his I subordinates warrants the expectation that assistance of any kind either in men, money, or guarantee, will be given to New ; that in fact the colony does not absolutely require aid, and is much better without. These are not merely the obiter dicta, but the express and formal declaration 5 of our cabinet Ministers. IN everthelessi there is no Minister so blind or so headstrong as not to be open to reason and accessible to the stern logic of facts. There is no Minister who can afford to shut his eyes and his ears and refuse to be instructed. By which, I mean, that Earl Granville at the eleventh hour may be convinced of the necessity of modifying his policy of "non-intervention;" and if the two commissioners whom it is proposed to send to England should come armed with all the weight and authority which your Govern? ment, backed by the Legislature, the mass of the colonists, and the Governor, can confer, and if these . commissioners oan make out a case satisfactory to Lord Granville, I believe it will receive the fullest consideration, and may prove successful. Only I must beg your readers not to be too sanguine in their expectations. The British Government are all but inexorable on the subject of colonial policy in general — which has undergone a complete and sioeeping revolution vrithin the last two or three years. This new policy applies to all colonies alike — at least such of them as enjoy (like your own) independent legislature and administrative institutions ; and the real author of this policy is not any actual or recent' Cabinet Minister; but the well known Professor of Political Economy -—Mr. Goldwiu Smith. Some years back (I remember calling your attention to the fact) he produced a book or pamphlet devoted to the consideration of what was called our " Colonial Empire," in which he undertook to demonstrate that the "colonial possessions " of Great Britain were for the most part (India and some other places excepted, if I remember right) a source of weakness rather than that of strength to the mother country ; that those possessions were self-governing and should be self-governing and self-support-ing in every sense of the term ; that they invariably showed symptoms ; of impatience of any virtual control exercised from home ; that they caused considerable expenditure without any^roturn in the way of taxes ; that we derived no special advantage from them,, as colonies, but such as would accrue in a ; like degree if each colony were to-morrow to proclaim itself — what it is already in reality — a free and independent sovereign state. And that accordingly the sooner the weak ties which still bind the colonies to the parent. country are severed the bet-, ter for all parties cdncerned. These, so far as my memory serves, are the mam

arguments in Goldwin Smith's pamphlet, mixed up it may be with other arguments of amore recent origin. The pamphlet is now forgotten, but oiroumstances have since arisen whioh, have caused the reasonings set forth in it to fructify in the minds of statesmen and public writers. Not > that Great Britain is anxious to shake off her colonial children as an incubus, merely because they happen to be a drain to some extent upon her financial Resources— by no means. Her statesmen are influenced by considerations of high and far-seeing polioy — which are, perhaps, not altogether obvious on the surface, and which may not be present to the minds of many of your readers. The politics of the whole world have been changed within the last two years, but more especially since the termination of the great civil war in America. England now feels instinctively that she occupies a different position from what she formerly did-— vis a vis of the great powers of Europe, and more especially of the United States. She therefore feels that it behoves her to collect all her forces and concentrate all her strength in one focus at home. Begirt by the sea and defended by her brave sons, she will be able to defy any possible invader who might visit her shore with hos-tile-intent. But so long as she maintains the semblance of a quasi-sovereignty (a .mere empty name) over distant possessions scattered thousands of miles apart, in every quarter of the globe, she is vulnerable; for if any of these remote settlements were assailed under any pretext, she would be bound in honour to defend them, at the expense of having the forces both in men and ships required for home Eroteotion, dissipated or weakened by eing dispersed all over the world. > : sides this, most of the British colonies are now strong enough to stand alone. They have received many years of tender and considerate nursing from their mother. She has endowed them with her own laws, liberties, and institutions, has taught them by degrees to govern themselves, and has sent them forth into the world with a hearty " God speed," to acquire wealth and to prosper by those arts which have contributed to her own success in life. She wishes her children well, and, like many a parent,, would part with them, not without a pang and a secret tear, with all kindness of feeling, maternal tenderness and sympathy — but as a separation that is inevitable, and that comes to all sooner or later. These, I .think, are the sentiments and motives by which the English nation is animated at the present moment. We know not what a day may bring forth. The powers of Europe are increasing in military strength in a much greater ratio than Great Britain. There might be a European war at any moment if the French Emperor, whose health has been for a long time in a very critical and failing condition, were to die. We might in such an emergency be drawn once more iato a European war, while the contingency of a war with the United States, though perhaps remote, has still to be provided for. All these considerations, with many more which I could enumerate, make British statesmen thoughtful, and compel them to look ahead, that she may frustrate the designs of her enemies. Some persons may argue — but what madness for her to think of allowing her colonies to set up for themselves — her colonies which supply her so lavishly with raw materials, and which takeinreturnsuch a quantity of her manufactures, &c. But in point of fact England has taken this course already. She took it when she gave Canada and the Cape, and Australian settlements independent legislatures — legislatures, be it observed, which only admit her manufactures duty free so far as it happens to suit their own internal arrangements and the -protective principles which they have established. Self-interest would be the ruling motive of every colony in dealing with this country, and if it suited their purpose to-morrow to make a law excluding emigrants and manufactures from their ports, and forbidding the exportation of furs, wool, or gold, this country could obtain no redress and would have no remedy Coercion could not and would not be attempted. Great Britain thinks that if the colonies were cut adrift to-morrow they would just be as glad as ever to continue their dealings with the parent country, would take all that they required in they way of goods, and no more, and would receive just as many emigrants (or men of capital) of a good class as we could spare. The United States do the same, but they take good care to exclude those who would be likely to be a burden upon the country — thei aged and infirm, the maimed, the halt, and the blind — all these Great Britain has to keep behind and support in her workhouses. Colonists therefore are sometimes inclined to _ overrate the supposed advantages derived by Great Britain from her colonial possessions — " as emigration fields for her surplus population." Her surplus population in reality are her paupers, who are a dead weight upon the country, while the very cream of our working population, the young, active, and enterprising, are those who emigrate to enrich themselves, and to develop the wealth of the country of their adoption. From all this, the natural conclusion is that our colonies are not (as had always been held) a source of wealth to Great Britain, but an occasion of weakness. And though there may be some apparent loss of prestige in relinquishing the nominal sovereignty (for it is nothing more) over such extensive tracts as those of Canada, British America, the Cape, and the Australian Colonies, yet the empire will gain in strength and security at home, while her hardy sons will still have the fields of the wlwle world as open to receive them as they are at present. These are views of the case which perhaps do not suggest themselves to the majority of colonists, but they are the views which have obtained for some time in England amongst the best informed men of the day. The Cape is grumbling bitterly at the resolution taken by the Colonial Office to withdraw all our troops from that colony and to disband the Cape Mounted Eifles. They, apprehend the worst results from such a policy, and declare that it will be impossible for the .settlers to defend them- ' selves with the aid of a few hundred police against the incursions and depreda- -»" ''ffins of 100,000 natives, along a frontier V^ w oJmore than 1000 miles. They seem to a repetition, of the "Indian massacres'' if left to their own resources, which they certainly will be. There is an important leader in the Times of this day which I had not read until the foregoing was written, and it bears out in a singular way my statements upon colonial policy. It is apropos of a recent communication from the Cape, setting forth the grievances of that settlement, and refers also to certain resolutions passed at a meeting of leading colonists last month. The occasion of the meeting was "the announcement of a policy by the Home Government towards tier colonies (applied to the particular case of New Zealand) which appeared to demand consideration from all persons interested in the welfare of the colonies, &c." The object of the meeting was to discuss this new policy in its bearings upon the several colonies, and to consider what steps, if any, should be taken in ihe matter, A committee was according appointed who have drawn up a circular addressed tQ the administration of the various colonial Governments, asking for their

advice and co-operation, and suggesting that a " conference of colonial representatives, duly authorised by the respective Governments of those colonies in which responsible government has been established, should be held in London" about February next. The circular is signed James A. Youl, Henry Sewell, and H. Blaiua, and appears'in the Times, of Aug. 26. The same issue contains an elaborate leader upon this circular, and recommends the writers above all " to beware of metaphors," and to use language in a precise sense. It then goes on to say that the terms "Mother Country and her colonies" are at the present day merely historical expressions, intended to convey nothing more than the bare faot, " that the citizens of Canada, New South Wales, and Victoria are mainly of English descent," just in the same way as the citizens of the United States only three generations back were Englishmen who had settled in the British plantations. This is the gist of the whole article, which is conceived in a tone of gentle expostulation and delicate banter at the grave apprehension expressed by a few " influential colonists " at the prospect of separation. The simple fact is that the Times and public opinion in general (by which I mean enlightened opinion) supportthe doctrine that the colonies, especially Canada, have outgrown the period of tutelage and leading strings, and that they are all strong enough to start as " powers" on their own hook. I have no doubt Canada will take the hint, and set up her own flag side by side with that of the Stars and Stripes, and I dare say Australia will follow in due course. Your own colony will probably be the last to go, as it does not appear to have as yet reached that stage of development in its growth when it. can walk alone like some of the older and more robust settlements ; and I therefore take it that a generation will pass away before the existing relationships are brought to a close. The foregoing statement of facts and sentiments connected with colonial policy will serve to show those persons, " who think in certain, emergencies to invoke the protection " of foreign powers, that such a "threat" if carried out, would be viewed by England with the utmost indifference. It is well that all these facts should be known in every corner of your colony, so that the settlers may learn betimes to fall back upon the " self-reliant" policy, which they will have to do in the long run, and that they may not expect too much of England, who if she should now come forward to help them once more and for the last time, will do so from feeling of tenderness and compassion, rather than from any motives of duty or obligation. Among other nol table converts to the new policy I might mention Sir F. B. Head, whose watchwork at one time to colonists was to " hold on" to the parent country, but whose pre- . sent mature council is to let go." These views are set forth in a characteristic letter to the Times about the end of August. j Before concluding this part of my letter I must observe that the two most painful items of information by the last mail, apart from massacres and the failures of expeditions, have been the intelligence that your troops have shown a spirit of insubordination, and have become in a great measure "demoralized." This is one of the results of dealing with very "raw material" of a very inferior description, not properly " worked up" — it is attempting the old task of making " a silk purse out of a sow's ear." The other item is the enormous figure which your floating debt has reached, considerably upwards of £400,000. This is serious, and expenditure must be curtailed. It is to bo hoped you will send able commissioners to England to represent your case, which must be put in the strongest" possible way. "Assistance, or national bankruptcy." By a telegram which came to hand yesterday we have had further news from your colony — rebellion extending—great alarm on the part of the inhabitants — 18th Regiment detained. This last item of news shews that the Governor had been persuaded to reconsider his for-, mer decision. No doubt the strongest pressure was put upon him by his "responsible adviser," Mr. Fox, and indeed a Governor who will not under any dircumstances risk the displeasure of his superiors at home is scarcely worthy of the name. But, after all, perhaps the chief responsibility of the step rested with Sir Trevor Chute. As to matters of general news I am enabled to mention that three out of the four Panama steamers have now arrived in England — the Mataura, Ruahine, and Kaikoura. The latter vessel arrived here on the 23rd of May with forty-six passen- [ gers, and made the passage (brig rigged) [in about 88 days. The liquidation of the I Panama Company . will not be completed for a while yet ; and unless some arrangement or compromise be effected in the mean time, I am told that certain revelations will be made in our law courts early next term respecting some pecuniary transactions which have taken place in your colony, of the nature of which I am ignorant, but which some of your readers may understand. The Wild Duck is laid on for Wellington. Complaints have been made of wool brought by her having been damaged during the last voyage. No doubt this favorite vessel will receive a complete overhauling. The wool sales are not expected to close until the 25th instant. As anticipated in my last, prices have been well maintained in ordinary descriptions of wool, and a slight advantage on clean and fine classes has been secured to the extent of about one penny. Badly and half-washed wools have to be washed over again, here, so that the imperfect labor bestowed is lost. Wash clean and sort well, should be your motto ; scouring takes too much labour. Half-bred and half-washed New Zealand wool has realised on an average only about ll|d. per lb. The better washed and sorted halfbreds, however, have brought as much as from Is. to Is. fd. Australian scoured fine wools have been sold at Is. 3d. to Is. sd. Wellington wools, from their faulty and unreliable condition, have again suffered in price. As regards the future of the wool market, it may be considered as hopeful. As intimated in a former letter, the most eminent wool-brokers believe that the lowest depth of lowest prices has been reached, and that any alteration in price will be of an upward tendency. But let it be borne in mind that there is no hope that the high and exceptional prices obtained in 1865 and 1866 will again be realised — unless under circumstances not likely to occur. There are various items of general news, with a few of which I can deal in a brief and cursory manner. France is passing i through a kind of constitutional crisis at the present moment. She is in a transitional state from Imperialism, pure and simple, to what has all the outward appearance, if it lacks some of the essential conditions, of a limited monarchy with . " Ministerial responsibility" in combination with other institutions favorable to popular liberty. This is all the work of the Emperor himself, but the amount of "responsibility" and to whom it is due, whether to the Legislative body or to the Emperor, is at present vague, undefined and unsatisfactory. But a step has been made in advance — a great stride in fact — though the Emperor's personal advisers seem to depreoate the • new

order of things, and to be disposed, so far as they can, to render the recent senatus consultwni a dead letter. As stated already, the Emperor has been ailing for a long time, unable to get about or attend to business, which causes the most uneasy feeling throughout Europe, and affects public securities ; for his death might be the signal for an outbreak of war— or even an attempt at revolution. Prussia and Russia and Austria are doing all in their power to increase the organisation and efficiency of their respective annies — now trained to the highest pitch. Eussia, it is said, has an army of nearly a million and a half of men that she could put into the field,_ if necessary. Spain is jogging along with her Regent Prim, who has been compelled to put down several attempts at Carlist insurrection (fostered by the clerical party) with a vigorous hand. They do not yet see their way in Spain to the choice of their future King— but of late a brother of the King of Portugal has been talked about. To come nearer home, the currency question has been a fruitful subject of discussion in the public journals during this dull season. The question at issue is — one thrown out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the end of the session — whether the purchasing power of the " sovereign " would in any degree be affected at home or abroad if the' weight of pure gold which it contains were to be reduced from 123|- grains to 122| grains — it being contemplated by the mint to keep back one grain by way of " mintage or seigniorage," to defray the cost of coinage, and to make up for the loss occasioned by wear. Our highest practical men condemn the proposal toto ceelo, and declare that it would be debasing the " pouhd sterling," and converting it into a mere token — in which view I quite agree, but the subject is too abstruse and too intricate to deal with it here. It is, however, a subject of great interest to those who have gold to sell or to be converted into coin — an operation now performed gratis by the mint. Another discussion of a somewhat unsavoury and delicate (or rather indelicate) nature has been going the round of the press for the last two or three weeks with respect to the moral character of the late Lord Byron in regard to his treatment of his wife, and the cause of the separation which took place between them in 1826 — within a twelvemonth of their unhappy union. About a twelvemonth ago a somewhat remarkable book was published by the ci-devant Countess Guiccioli — at one time the fascinating and seductive mistress of Lord Byron (though at the time a married woman — subsequently the wife of a French nobleman.) This book made the most injurious reflections upon the character of Lady Byron, who has been dead these thirteen years, and represented her as a heartless monster. The real cause of the separation between Lord and Lady Byron has never hitherto been revealed : it had remained a mystery to the public, who merely imagined that there was incompatibility of tastes and temper. Byron's ownjournalperhaps would have thrown some light upon the subject, but it was destroyed many years since by Tom Moore (to whom it nad been left for publication or otherwise at the urgent request and entreaty of Lady Byron, who objected to the disclosure of family secrets.) At all events, a revelation of the " real secret" between the ill-mated couple has recently been made by Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe in the pages of Macmillan's Magazine, which, if true, would " damn and blast" the reputation of Lord Byron to all posterity. The story Mrs. Beecher Stowe tells is this : — She says that she became intimately acquainted with Lady Byron about four years before her death, that Lady Byron confided to her the history of her married life, and among other matters mentioned the " terrible secret" which brought about the separation, and rendered any attempt at reconciliation impossible. From this revelation it appears that Lord Byron, from the first day of his marriage, treated his wife with the most cruel 1 heartlessness and indignity — more as if he were a fiend, or a demon, or a madman, than an ordinary human being — and that moreover he married her for her money, and to retrieve his. own shattered fortunes. That he ca,me home habitually reeking with drink " from the stews," and boasted to his wife of his lawless amours ; but that the depth of his depravity was never fathomed until it became known to her (through himself) that he was carrying on an adulterous and incestuous intrigue, in his own house, with his married half-sister Augusta, and that moreover he wished his wife to connive at this scandalous and infamous intercourse ; and that finally he turned her out of doors within five weeks of her confinement of their only daughter, and that after this nothing would induce her to come back to the house which he had thus polluted by his abandoned conduct. Wow this is a summary, briefly told, of the " secrets" which Mrs. Stowe says were confided to her for publication several years ago, and that she would have allowed them to die with her but for the aspersions cast upon. Lady Byron in the " Guiccioli book." Byron of course has scores of defenders, who allege that if ever the story was told by Lady B. at all, it was the figment of a disordered faney — a phantom of the brain — a mere hallucination, which had no foundation in reality. But my time and space are exhausted, and I cannot go into the pros and cons of the case. We have not yet apparently heard the last of it ; the subject has chiefly been discussed in the columns of the Times and Standard newspapers.