ENGLISH NEWS TO NOVEMBER 25th.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 656, 19 February 1859, Page 4

ENGLISH NEWS TO NOVEMBER 25th.

By the Oriental and Queen we are put in possession of detailed English news to the 25th of November, brought to Melbourne by the Oneida, of which we published a telegraphic summary last week. We have not received the English mail by this opportunity nor any paper from Melbourne by post, but by the kindness'of Captain Macey of the Oriental, we have the latest Otago papers, and from Captain Wilson, of the Queen, a nearly complete file of Melbourne journals, from which we compile the following summary, taking advantage, in the first place, of the abstract given by the correspondent of the/Colonist:'—

Melbourne, January 25,1859. The Oneida arrived in Hobson's Bay on the 19th of January, bringing the November mails, while her detention by accident on her way out led. to her being overtalo-n by the overland Indian mail, thus putting us in possession of dates from England so late as the 25th of that month. The European intellifence received by this arrival is singularly evoid of interest; and the following synopsis will be found to embody all the salient events recorded in the files of papers brought by Oneida^T-r-....>;.'?; :\:;'",/ ',;; >:''..:: , ": :; /•.. The, Imperial Pariiament had been further prorogued until the middle of January; and although an ingenious attempt was made by

the Lord Mayor of London, while entertaining the Premier at Guildhall, to elicit from him some intimation of his future policy, the attempt was unsuccessful, and all that could be extracted from the noble Lord was a vague and general assurance that he was actively engaged in the preparation of certain measures of "legal, social, financial, and political improvement," which would be submitted to the Legislature at. the commencement of the Session. In the meantime, the feeling out of doors in favour of the Parliamentary .Reform is t daily strengthening, and the Reform Conference have confided to Mr. John Bright the preparation of a measure embodying those principles upon which advanced Liberals are pretty well agreed, but which it is scarcely probable would be adopted as the basis of any measure introduced by a Tory Administration.

Much speculation and some astonishment have been excited in England by the appointr ment of Mr. Gladstone to the office of Lord High Commissioner Extraordinary of the lonian Islands. His function will be that of investigating and adjusting certain differences which have arisen between the Greek population and the resident Commissionerj and the light honourable gentleman's service will bepurely gratuitous. He is expected to return nome before the re-assembling of Parliament, and his acceptance of the mission is interpreted as an evidence ot his willingness to lend the weight of his name and the power of his eloquence to the Derby-Disraeli Government. . The Atlantic Telegraph remains obstinately dumb, but the partial success of the experiment, and the obvious value of such a communication between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, have influenced the British Government, it is said, in coming to a determination to lay a cable in the course of the present year between Ireland and Newfoundland j in the event, that is to say, of the total failure of the endeavours which are now being made to render the submarine telegraph articulate. When the present mail left Alexandria the establishment of telegraphic communication with Constantinople was daily expected to be completed, which will have the effect of bringing us, as far as intelligence is concerned, within thirty-five days of England. It is gratifying to add that the railroad has been formally opened by the Viceroy of Egypt, from Alexandria to Suez; thus virtually lessening the distance which separates us from the mother country, and enabling the travellers overland to escape the difficulties and delays hitherto inseparable from a Journey across the Dessert

The trial of the Count de Montalembert, on the charge of having published in a Parisian journal an article eulogistic of the free institutions of Great Britain, has ended in his conviction., followed by a sentence of six months' imprisonment and amercement,in a fine of 3,000 francs. The event is full of sinister omen; although the accusation brought against the Count was that of v exciting hatred" against the Emperor, and of /bringing the present form of Government in France into: contempt, no impartial tribunal would have pufc such a construction upon the offensive article, and the obvious inference is, that the administration of justice in France j has become thoroughly corrupted, and that the worst acts of tyranny will receive the i ready sanction of the law. When the Courts were opened a few days before the trial, the Procureur-General, addressing* the judicial functionaries, spoke of the Emperor in terms of servile adulation, and then went on to say that as they .rendered justice in his name, they should strive to be the representatives " not only of his public authority, but also of his private and personal sentiments." In other words, they were not so much administrators of the law as the instruments of his vengeance. This astounding speech does not appear to have called forth either remonstrance or remark; and the penalties visited upon the Count de Montalembert seem to justify the conclusion that the doctrine propounded by the Procureur-General has met .with acceptance and assent, that justice in France is dead as well as liberty, and that those who occupy the seat of judgment are the slaves and sycophants of their Sovereign. The hopes of those who are eager for the establishment of Italian liberties have been aroused by an address delivered to his army by the King of Sardinia, who told his troops that he should probably require their ser- | vices in the spring., As Austria is the only ; power with which Piedmont is likely to be at issue, and as a rupture with the Court of Vienna would be the immediate prelude of an insurrection in Lombardy, the words of the Sardinian Monarch have had an electric influence upon the sanguine minds of the Italian, population. The inflammable state of public feeling in that Peninsula has been aptly illustrated by the vehement demonstrations of popular applause which, both at Venice and at Parma, have been evoked by a hymn recited by Madame Ristori, in the tragedy of "Judith," in which occurs the sentiment, "war is holy against the foreigner!" ' Portugal has been compelled to swallow the affront put upon her by her powerful neighbour in compelling restitution of the French slaver. In opening the session of tHe Cortes, the King thus alluded to this painful subject:—

A serious misunderstanding arose between my Government and his Majesty the Emperor of the French, in consequence of the capture of the French ship Charles-et-Georges in the waters of Mozambique. This question being taken from the field of right, in which my Government sought to maintain it, my Government, having exhausted the resources in which the letter of treaties authorised it to hare confidence, was obliged to cede to the peremptory exaction of the delivery of that vessel and the liberation of the captain. All the documents relating to this deplorable conflict will shortly be laid before you, and upon their examination I hope you will approve the proceedings of my Government, and relieve it from the responsibility it was forced to incur."

President. Buchanan, it is said, is determined to adopt vigorous measures for the re-

prcssion of any filibustering expeditions directed against Central. America, although this intention by no means accords with the sentiments recently promulgated in the South by the Hon. A. G. Brown, who is described as one of the President's chief supporters in the senate, and who declared that he was " sustaining the well-settled views" of the Chief of the Republic. Mr. Brown was for " chawing up" Cuba, Central America, and various Mexican Stated, in order as he remarked, with an utter unconsciousness of the bitter irony of his words, "to "spread the blessings of slavery, like the religion of our Divine Master, to the uttermost ends of the earth." If the Free States were averse io this propagandism, he was willing to " break - up the Union." Surely Mr. Brown must be the offspring of that " good Mrs. Brown," whose kidnapping practices are recorded by the author of " Dombey and Son."

There is some prospect of a considerable emigration from Canada to New -Zealand j and the following resolution; is .reported as having been passed at a meeting of the New Zealand Emigration Society, held at Toronto on the sth of October:—- ;

" That a duly-qualified agent be appointed to go to New Zealand as soon as-sufficient funds can be raised for that purpose, and that Dr. Stratford be appointed the agent or" the said society at Auckland,, in the meantime, to arrange with the New Zealand Government and co-operate with them.; arid also to watch carefully the interests of; society there, and endeavour to make terms with them for the substitution of free passages from Canada to that colony (to all who may absolutely require it), in lieu 01 free grants of land as now offered, on the emigrant giving his note for the passage money, to be redeemed before a deed is granted." : ; \ ■ . : :-- \ The November wool sales were opened at an advance of twopence per: pound _on.the closing prices of the AugußJb_sales,and the advices reported a firm if not rising market; scoured wools were in active demand, and the general run of the colonial staple wsi suitable to the requirements of purchasers. ; Shipments to Australian ports Had declined, notwithstanding the abundance of money, and the consequent temptations to speculative consignments. Consols r had fclosed fit 98J, and colonial securities:maintained their value. Her Majesty has been /pleased to appoint the under-mentioned gentlemen to be members of the Legislative Council of the Colony of New Zealand, viz.:—^George Alfred Arney, Esq. (Chief Justice); Charles Roberfrßlakiston, Esq., Geo. Gutfield, Esq./ John Hyde-Harris, Esq., John Johnston, Esq., James Menzies, Esq., and Majors-General fiobert Henry Wynyard,C.B. : -"- The English Government has granted the sum of £1000 for the publication of an: Australian "Flora," and the work has been undertaken by Mr. Bentham, a distinguished Botanist.

It is stated that the applications for shares in the Scottish Australian Mining Company (limited) are considerably in "excess of the entire capital,, and „that the; allotment will, therefore, be proceeded with to-morrow (November 17).— Home fflem. ;