VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 407, 22 December 1849, Page 167

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

' [From the Wellington Independent.] On the 28th Nov. H.M. brig Swift, 6 guns, Captain Oldham, R. N., arrived at Hobart Town, having left Plymouth ou the 4th July, Kingston the 9tb, and the Cape of Good Hope the 12th September. She brought the Irish state prisoners, W. Smith. O'Brien, T. M. Meagher, P. M. Maims, and P. O. Donohue. Below we give from the Hobart Town Advertiser of the 30 th, account of their intended treatment in the island, from which it will be seen that all four were, by direction of the home Government, offered tickets- of-leave, on condition that they would not attempt to escape; that Meagher and O'Donohue accepted the offer, but O'Brien and M'Manus refused. The Launceston papers of the 31st, state that M'Manus subesquently accepted the offer also, but that O'Brien still refusing, the Executive Government, after long deliberation, had determined to tend him to Maria Island forthwith. The Irish State Prisoners.-— We have been informed that Messrs. Smith O'Brien, Meagher, M'Manus, afad O'Donohue, have been sent out with directions to the LieutenantGovernor to issue tickets-of-leave to .them, provided they conducted themselves properly during the voyage, and were willing to engage that they would not use the liberty granted to them in order to make their escape. We understand that Meagher and O'Donohue have agreed to these terms, and will accordingly be entitled to all the privileges of ticket-of-leave holders. Smith O'Brien and M'Manus have refused to enter into such an engagement, and will, therefore, he sent to some of the stations at Maria Island, or the Peninsula, and there ba subjected to such an amount of coercion as may be necessary to prevent their escape. We regret much that they should be bo -extremely ill-advised as to refuse the only alleviation of their Unfortunate condition which it is possible to grant, and one which would leave them so great an amount of comparative liberty. The Swift packet bad been specially allotted for the purpose of conveying them hither, and commissioned as a vessel of war. They were treated with the utmost kindness and consideration on the voyage by the captain and officers. Tbe other two state prisoners, Martin and Doberty, who had been sent to Sydney, are also to be transmitted to this Island, the Emma being engaged for the purpose, and her state cabins appropriated to them. The Swift called at the Cape, but was only allowed to remain tfrelve hours to take in a supply of water and fresh provisions. The Neptune prison-ship, with Mitchell on board, had not arrived, nor had any account of her been received. It was reported, but we cannot learn on -what authority, that she was lost off the d'Agulbas. — Hobart Town, Advertiser, Oct. 30. Messrs. Martin and Doherty arrived at Hobart Town on the 31st October. The following information is given respecting the present destination of the State prisoners:— M'Manus, New Norfolk ; Meagher, Campbell Town; Doherty, Oatlands; Martin, Bothwell; O'Donahue, who is a law writer, and without property, having reported to the Governor that be is without means, and only able to support himself by his own exertions, which can only be rendered available in a town, his Excellency, with that goodness of heart which has ever characterized him, departed so far from the letter of his instructions as to permit him to reside in Hobart Tow n. Smith O'Brien having refused the promise required by the Government, has been sent under surveillance to Maria Island. _

Poktrt or thi Sea. — Campbell was a great lover of submarine prospects. " Often in my boyhood says the poet, "when the day ,has been bright and the sea transparent, I have aat by the hour on a Highland rock admiring the golden sands, the. (emerald weeds, and the silver shells at the bottom of the bay beneath, till, dreaming about the grottos of the nereids, I would not have exchanged my pleasure for that of a connoisseur poring over a landscape by Claude or Poussuu Enchanting nature ! thy beauty is not only in heaven and earth, but in the waters under our feet. How magnificent of vision is the pellucid sea! Is it not Tike poetry, that embellishes every object we contemplate?" Old Wins ! — Mr. Clarke, late Chamberlain of the City of London, related of a celebrated tavern-keeper, that upon his once producing a bottle of port, which was vaunted as of great antiquity, and was said to be of the first quality, he drew the cork at the table with great " pomp and circumstance," when lo ! to the astonishment of the company, out bounced a fly 1 DivoKoa in Kbntucty. — The Kentucky Legislature during its recent session passed 671 actst 191 were acts of divorce \—Bcot*mm*, April 14. -,