LATEST ENGLISH INTELLIGENCE.
[From the Hobart Town Advertiser, October 17.]
The health of the Queen Dowager was such as to cause uneasiness in the minds of her attendants.
On the 4th July a smart debate took place in the House of Lords on moving the committal of the Canada Corn Bill, during which Ministers were deserted by several of their most staunch adherents. Earl Stanhope, in proposing its committal " that day six months," described the measure as " only one of a series of steppingstones, at short distances asunder> intended to reach, as speedily as circumstances would permit, that ultimate object which Government did not attempt to conceal — the establishment of the principle of free trade. The Duke of Richmond heartily supported the amendment, and thanked Lord Stanhope for moving it. Earl Radnor opposed the bill, as did the Duke of Buckingham, and Lord Beaumont, who described it as one of those stealthy paces towards free trade, and those vacillations from a sliding scale to a fixed duty. The bill was supported by Lords Monteagle, Ashburton, and Wharncliffe, the latter of whom, a cabinet minister, said " the object of the bill was to do good to Canada, and not be particularly serviceable to the mothercountry.'' The Earl of Stanhope's amendment was lost by a majority of thirty-two. In committee on the Scotch Church Benefices Bill, the measure was opposed by Lords Campbell, Cottenham, Denman, and Brougham, the latter of whom denounced the bill, with more than his accustomed vehemence, as the most absurd, ridiculous, and stupid piece of legislation ever attempted by any body of men pretending to be rational beings. The bill was defended by Lords Aberdeen and Haddington and the Lord Chancellor. Lord Campbell's motion was lost by a majority of forty-two to twelve. On the 30th June a motion was introduced by Mr. Hume for discontinuing the allowance of £21,000 a-year to the King of Hanover, the motion containing the declaration that the payment of a pension to an independent foreign Sovereign from the taxes of Great Britain is a waste of public money, and unjust to the people of England. The motion was resisted by Sir Robert Peel, as involving a violation of public faith and a breach of national honour. Other members opposed it, while of opinion that the King ought in delicacy and honour to imitate the example of the King of the Belgians, by relinquishing his claim while reigning as a monarch ; and others, like Mr. C. Buller, supported the motion — the grounds of support being thus laid down by that honourable and learned member: Grants to the younger branches of the royal family were not given unconditionally; the Sovereign having surrendered the hereditary revenues of the crown, the nation felt it to be due to its own character and dignity that the younger branches of the royal family should be suitably provided for — it stood, in fact, to them, in loco parentis. The preamble of the grants by which these acts are sanctioned expressly states the reasons on which they are bestowed. But, in the case of the King of Hanover, a change had occurred not originally contemplated — he had become an independent Sovereign, and the arguments that would apply to his relatives does not apply to him. The resolution was rejected by a majority of 197 to 91. A lady of fortune, named Maynard, has been committed for trial at Brentwood, for stealing a piece of lace from a linen-draper's shop. When taken into custody, she had in her possession bank notes and bonds to the amount of £8,000. A meeting of the Conservative Peers and members of Parliament was held on the 17th June, at the Earl of Wicklow's, in Cavendish Square. They entered into resolutions, declaring that, in their opinion, the multitudinous assemblages in every part of Ireland were dangerous to the public peace, and calculated to create terror in the minds of the well-affected of all classes ; that ordinary occupations were suspended, and the public mind kept in a state of anxious disquiet; that, under such circumstances, it was their duty to declare their desire and determination to co-operate with the Government in enforcing the law and allaying the dangerous excitement which exists. The Marquis of Downshire was in the chair, and the resolutions were signed by 25 peers sitting in the House of Lords, and by 23 members of the Commons.
The resistance to the collection of poor rates in Ireland, not only continues, but is successful On the 23d of June a number of cattle were rescued from fifty police. At Kildorrery, near Cork, a large body of constabulary have been several days engaged in collecting ; they Have succeeded in seizing one goat. There must,
however, be some reason for this, as the parish is assessed in £450 per annum for the support of three paupers. The increased duty on Irish spirits is to be removed — the only effect was to increase illicit distillation. The decrease in the duty was £7,361 4s. The number of persons in confinement, for breach of the revenue laws, had increased from 84 to 368.
The disturbances in Wales are increasing in intensity, number, and boldness. A body of 800 to 1,000, half, at least, mounted, and very many of them respectable farmers, came into Carmarthen, on the 19th of June, paraded through the streets, insulted and threatened the magistrates, and, finally, broke open the workhouse and commenced throwing the furniture into the yard. A troop of the 4th Light Dragoons, who had been sent for in anticipation, arrived, and the Riot Act being read, charged the rioters, who fled in all directions, except 80, who were taken after considerable resistance in the workhouse and committed to gaol. Rebecca has, in Wales, assumed the province of Captain Rock in Ireland, and threatens similar penalties. A meeting of the Seceders from the National Scotch Church was held on the 29th of June, at Exeter Hall. The Marquis of Breadalbane presiding. 500 ministers, and nearly 1,000,000 people, were declared to have seceded. Resolutions, in support of the secession, were passed. By the Britannia steamer, from New York, accounts have been received at Lloyd's of the total loss of 36 vessels, several of which were fine packet-ships, laden with cargoes of merchandise and other valuable property, and many lives are supposed to have perished. The subjoined particulars are extracted from a letter received .by the underwriters from Liverpool : — " Among the most important is that of the loss of the Hercules, belonging to Liverpool, nearly 1,000 tons burden, commander, Captain Postil, valued, with her cargo, at £30,000. She was bound to Mobile, and was wrecked near the entrance of the harbour of that port, occasioned by a heavy gale driving the ship on a dangerous shoal, where she subsequently went to pieces. We are happy to say that the whole of the crew and passengers were saved by the boats. — The next recorded is that of another fine ship, belonging to the same port, the Conservative, 242 tons burden, Captain Lord. She sailed from Newhaven to the Cape of Good Hope, with a general cargo, and was lost in the Saldanha Bay previous to the 10th of March, part of her contents washed- ashore. Respecting the fate of her unfortunate crew there are little doubts but that they all perished. — About the same time another large vessel, named the Mary Ann, St. Mary's Bay, Yarmouth, for Grand Manan, was totally wrecked at Long Island Ray : seventeen of the crew perished with her. — The ship Sapphire, from Salem, foundered in the course of the same month, off the Bahama Bank, crew saved by the long-boats. — The Clyde, from Barbadoee, was lost in the early part of April, on the Islands of Canker. Another packet-ship, called the Great Britain, from Newport to New York, was lost in the same month, while on her passage to that port. The vessel foundered in lat. 48, long. 33. Fortunately, her crew and passengers were saved. — On or about the 3d of April, her Majesty's ship Spartan, on her passage from England to Vera Cruz, observed the hull of a large steamer floating bottom upwards, but no mark or letter could be seen so as to lead to her identity. On the Bth of April, the Carribbean, from the Clyde to St. John's, Newfoundland, was lost in the ice off Cape Bollard, crew, passengers, and part of cargo were saved. — At St. John's, Newfoundland, during the latter part of March and April, the destruction amongst the ships by the ice was immense. It was owing to the sudden setting in of the Weather, by urbioh all the calling vocsels were frozen in, and afterwards foundered. Among the principal vessels were the Ocean, of Bonavista, the Henry and Mary, the Industry, together with twenty-five others, belonging to the different outports. In one instance, the captain and crew, amounting to fourteen men, were drowned. In addition to the above awful catalogue of disasters, we regret to announce the loss of the barque Vere, belonging to Poole, Captain Badock, 460 tons burden ; she was on a voyage to New Brunswick, and her wreck occurred during a heavy snow storm on the 29th of March."
Spain. — We doubt, after all, whether Spain, and her Regent, can escape the meshes of Louis Philippe. The certainty that, with the aid of her mother, Queen Christina — a divided Cortes, —-and a bought press, — his enemies must triumph as soon as the Queen attains her majority, which she will do in fifteen months,— is undermining Espartero's power. Men will look ahead. They see that they have a party as vindictive as it is unscrupulous to deal with, backed by the secret influence of France, and they will not expose themselves to risks, which they would have braved, cheerfully, three years ago, and would brave again, if there were anything like a reasonable probability of the prolongation of the Regent's authority, to secure them against the consequences of their own efforts in its support. — Weekly Chronicle, June 18. We will back the Due d'Aumale against the field, as the future husband of the little Queen, — provided always that Lord Aberdeen continue where he is. Spain may be added to the list of things which Conservatism has unsettled, — perhaps unintentionally, — but quite as effectually as if its hostility had been of the bitterest kind. The moral support of England was all that Espartero required, to counteract the intrigues of France. Single-handed, be is no match for Monsieur Guizot and the tools that he is working with in Spain itself as well as upon the frontier, where there is a haven of refuge always open to the Spanish conspirators, and a mass of disaffection, ready to take advantage of every unfavourable turn in the conduct of affairs.