VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 120, 23 April 1853, Page 10

VICTORIA.

We have Melbourne papers to the 24th March. The cream of the news is contained in the following paragraph in the M.- M. Herald :— " If there be any truth in adages, this month should have been a happy one for U s,

since scarcely anything has occurred in it for the historian to record. The Legislative Council are resting from their labours ; the diggers are steadily pursuing theirs. If the law courts were not sitting there would be absolute stagnation in the news market. As it is, though " Doe on the demise," &c, has many friends here to sympathise with him in the tangled state of his affairs, the failures and successes of this litigious individual can be of little interest to the English reader. We can record the discovery of no more monster nuggets, although Ballarat has yielded two or three little thirty or forty-pound lumps that would once have excited a good deal of attention. Even the chapter of accidents and offences contains nothing

particularly striking. Bushranging appears to h{be less in vogue now than a few months since; 6treet robberies are also less common; and for a gold mining community we seem to be going on witlrremarkable steadiness." The following letter appears in the Herald respecting the defenceless state of Melbourne. We should look very queer here were a French frigate to poke her nose into our harbour. fi Sir,—The English newspapers intimate (at length), as almost inevitable, a war with France —and the return to the head of the Queen's Government of such a man as the Earl of Aberdeen justifies such convictions. "It is well known to those who have moved in or noticed the political events of the last half century that Lord Aberdeen was a protege of Pitt—-a leader in all the opposition movements of the British Government for many years, against the ambition and tyranny of the uncle of the present emperor of France —the intimate, confidential, political and social friend of the late illustrious Duke of Wellington, and, whether in or put of power, ever a faithful, uncompromising adviser of the Crown in all matters of vital importance. With respect to our own position in case France should declare war against .Britain; every ship, every regiment will be required for home defences.. .". The arrival and anchorage of a friendly ship of war in the midst of our merchantmen in Hobson's Bay, even before the authorities were aware, realises all that has been said or written upon the defenceless state of the Bay. The five companies of the 40th regiment, originally 400 strong, are broken up and spread over the country as horse and foot police, and just sufficient men left to do ordinary barack duties, should awaken us to a sense of our internal utterly defenceless.condition.

'• The French Governmenthas never abandoned its claim to this portion of New South Wales, from priority of discovery. The Emperor! has lately ordered a strong squadron into these seas in addition to the naval force at Tahiti on the pretence of protecting French interests. A visit from this squadron may be the first intimation to us that war exists between England and France. lam riot an alarmist, but one of those old fashioned Englishmen who still respect the opinions' of England's most experienced statesmen and naval and military authorities, and still hold to the opinion that (however, I -•may, and do, esteem individual Frenchmen in the domestic relations of life) France is not to be trusted, and that to maintain peace we should ever be prepared for war.

" That the blessings of peace may be under Providence preserved to the world is my prayer, but I cannot forget that the great man, who held even France in check—is removed from us.'

"W. H."