ARRIVAL OF THE JEDDO

New Zealander, Volume XVII, Issue 1551, 27 February 1861, Page 3

ARRIVAL OF THE JEDDO

(from the “ Sydney Herald,” jEebruary lj.]

(FROM OUR ADELAIDE TELEGRAI’IIIC CORRESPONDENT.) • The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamship Jeddo, Captain Soames, arrived at Iving George’s Sound at 7 p.m. on Btli instant. Just when entering the Channel an accident happened to her machinery, and she narrowly escaped drifting on the rocks, hut her machinery was again in order before the Balclutha’s departure. She lot Gallo on the 23rd January, 6 p.m. Captain Ileid is the Admiralty agent. Passengers—For Melbourne: Mr. L. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Findlay, Messrs. Williams, T. E, Brown, Bethcrton, and Major Siennewick For Sydney: Sir A. Ste])hen, Messrs. Cooper, M'Dull’, Lee, Marvin, Capron, Napier, Allison, Nagill, Colonel Ware, Major and Mrs. Matthews, Mrs. Macphcrson, and Dr. Illingworth. HEADS OF INTELLIGENCE. The Australian October mails were delivered in London on 15th December via Marseilles, and on 20th via Southampton. The British Parliament opens on February sth. Politics are very dull. The marriage of the Princess Alice with Prince Louis, of Hesse-Darmstadt is arranged to take place early in 1862. An association for the repeal of the Union has been formed in Dublin, but it does not meet with popular support.

At Leeds a monster meeting of the working classes in favour of reform hud been held.

Mazzini has returned to London from Naples,

The winter has set in with extraordinary severity. There have been heavy snow storms in various parts of the country, and the cold has been much greater than has been experienced for many years. OBITUARY. Duke of Norfolk, Chevalier Bunsen, Earl of Aberdeen, Marquis Dalhousie, Professor Robinson, Lord Uossmorc, Sir George Carroll, Earl of Mexborough, and the Dowager Queen of Sweden, widow of Bernadette. Her Majesty’s steamers Harrill, Mirandah, and Jason, ordered for service in Australia. Mr. Edward Wilson brings with him on board the Jeddo, a valuable collection of animals and birds for Melbourne. AMERICA. The Cession movement in America has assumed a very serious character. There has been a severe financial panic. The banks of New York, by a combination, have passed through the crisis, but nearly all the Southern Banks have suspended. The Treasury at Washington was exhausted and suspended payment even of official salaries. Secretary Cobh has resigned. The Presidential Message has satisfied no one. The prospects of the Union are altogether very gloomy. The President’s Message was delivered at Washington on the 4th December. In it ho suggests that the North should make concessions to the South, so as to prevent a breaking up of the Union. Civil war has again broken out at Kansas. PRANCE. Since M. Persignoy’s accession to ofiiee, groat constitutional reforms are being effected in Prance—-

among these are freedom of election, liberty and publicity of debate in the corps Legislative. Freedom of men travelling in France. Arrangements are being made for the prolongation of French occupation in Syria. The Porte has yielded with great reluctance. The Empress returned to France on the 14th. During her stay in England she paid a Hying visit to the Queen, at Windsor. A detachment ot the French army works corps is under orders for China.

ITALY.

Francis the 11. still keeps the Piedmontese at bay at Gacta. Hitherto he hits been virtually protected by Napoleon’s determination not to allow r Gacta to be bombarded from the sea, the only vulnerable side, but the French squadron has received orders to retire, and leave the ex-King to his fate at Gaeta. The new Government under Former, is grappling with tremendous difficulties and discouragements, and reactionary risings in all parts of the Province. The elections for the new parliament will shortly take place. Victor Emmanuel, during his recent visit to Sicily, was received with immense enthusiasm. At Naples neither he nor his Ministers are popular, chiefly owing to their shameful treatment of Garibaldi and his volunteers.

The liberal army has almost ceased to exist. The British legion too is disbanded.

Garibaldi is still at Capria, whence he has issued a proclamation, reiterating his previous programme, and demanding that the Ist of March shall find Victor Emmanuel at the head of 500,000 men for the liberation of Venetia. To avert this impending struggle the European governments are using their good offices with Austria to induce her to cedcVcuetia. to Italy for a pecuniary compensation. An important pamphlet, advocating this course, and believed to foreshadow the Emperor Napoleon’s policy, has created a great sensation.

The semi-official press of Paris too, are using menacing language towards Austria. If Francis Joseph continues inflexible, a great war in the spring is inevitable. Hungary has been conciliated by the surrender of most of her alienated rights.

important Ministerial changes, favourable to reform, have taken place at Vienna. The Pope continues at Rome. Bills in favour of annexation to Sardinia have been posted up in the city, and occasioned great excitement.

A widely ramified reactionary conspiracy, concocted at Rome and Gaeta, has been discovered. The assassination of Victor Emmanuel was one of its objects. England, Russia, and Prussia are reported to have proposed at Constantinople the re-opening of the Conference with reference to the state of the Christians in Turkey.

THE BOMBARDMENT OF GAETA.

December 22nd, via Marseilles. The bombardment of the city continues with increased vigour. The Spanish Ambassador has left las palace on account of it being riddled with bullets, two officers being struck while attending near the King. New Sardinian battery can be soon evidently ready to take part in the bombardment. A deputation has arrived here from Calabria, and has promised to raise an insurrection in favour of the King of Naples. Deck-MUER 22x1). —The news that the French squadron is about to quit Gaeta has caused a rise in the Neapolitan funds. A decree dated 21st instant calls out the classed of the last four years. The classes arc to assemble at the end of February. Kojik, Dec km it Bit 22nd. —Considerable quantities of provisions are being despatched to Gaeta. Telegraphic communication is about to reach tin important development by the facilities afforded by the transmission of messages by the private telegraph company which is already established. The principal object of tliis company is to place telegraph wires and apparatus tit » lie disposal of mercantile firms, or of otliers who have different establishments in the same town for this purpose. The company extend a rope containing a great number of insulated wires over tlie streets, and any one of these wires maybe rented, in this manner till the stations of the City police and several commercial establishments in different parts of the city are already connected by telegraph, each firm having a separate wire exclusively at its own disposal.

The French Government have conceded to the sub marine telegraph the privilege of having telegrams from India, China, and Australia despatched immediately on tlie arrival of the steamer at Marseilles. Instead of passing through the Post-office, they must in future be addressed to the Director of the Telegraph, Marseilles. The receiver’s name and address to be the first words of the message, and tlie transmitters must furnish the names of their agents or correspondents at Marseilles, to whom application may be made for the cost of the telegram. The New Zealand colonists now in the United Kingdom are about to form themselves into a committee to collect subscriptions on behalf of the unfortunate settlers of Taranaki, who have recently lost their property. A resolution to this effect was carried at the last meeting of the colonists at the New Zealand colonists’ rooms, London.

CHINA.

CONDITIONS OF TJIIO TREATY OF PEACE,

Eati; or Tin: Exousn and Fkexcii Pui.sonkus

[From the " Times,” Dec. 25.]

Foukign Office, Monday, Dec. 24.— The following telegram was received at the Foreign-Office, via Trieste, sit 7.30 p.m. from Her Majesty’s Agent and ConsulGeneral tit Alexandria, dated Dec. 18:—

Mr. Loch has arrived with despatches from China, and leaves to-day for Malta. The ratification of the treaty of Tien-tsin was exchanged, and the convention olTckin signed, Oct. 24th The English and French Ambassadors lookup their residence in the capital, and would remain there till November 9th. The French army retired from Pekin on the Ist of November. The English would remain till the Ambassadors left. A large force to remain at Tien-tsin till the treaty and conditions he fulfilled. The following are the principal clauses:— Apology from the Emperor for the affair of I‘eihu last year. Ministers to reside at Pekin. Indemnity fixed to be doubled. Tien-tsin to he opened to trade immediately. Emigration allowed. Kowloon ceded to the British crown. The Treaty of Tein-tsin and the Convention of Pekin to he put in immediate operation, and to be published throughout the Empire. The palaces of Yucn-min-yucn have been entirely burnt to the ground by the British forces. The bodies of the prisoners who died in the hands of the Chinese have been brought in and buried with honours in the Russian Cemctcrv on Get. 17.

Captain Brabazon and Abbe Luc were beheaded on or about September 21, after the battle of Pah-li-chow. The bodies have not been recovered.

Indemnities arc expected from the Chinese for the families of deceased English and French. M inisters have left Shanghai for Tien-tsin. Major Anson has arrived charged with despatches from Sir Hope Grant tor the War-Office, and leaves this day. (Signed) 11. Havkn. Ticste, December 24th, 1800. L'kkin, Oct. 31. —The treaty of Tien-tsin was ratified and the convention signed here, on the 2-ltli October, by Lord Elgin and Prince Hung. The same formalities were gone through with Baron Gros on the following day. The indemnity to he paid by the Chinese has been fixed at eight million taels in all. The following is a summary of the convention:— In article 1 the Emperor regrets the misunderstanding at the Taku forts last year. Article 2 stipulates that a British Minister shall reside at Pekin.

Article 3 arranges the payment of the indemnity by instalments.

Article 4 opens the port ot Tien-tsin to trade. Article 5 removes the interdict on emigration. Article l> cedes Kowloon to the British Crown. Article 7 provides for the immediate operation of the Treaty of Tien-tsin.

Article 8 orders the promulgation of the treaty throughout China. Article 9 stipulates for the evacuation of Chusan by the British force. The Allied armies are to leave Pekin on the Bth. of November. It is reported that the Ist Royals, the 87th, the Queen’s, the Ball’s, and the Marines proceeded to England. Lord Elgin resides in Pekin. The Emperor is at Zhehol, in Tartary. Messrs. Bowlby, Dc Norman, and Anderson have been buried with great solemnity. Brabazon was beheaded about the 21st September. The Abbe dc Luc also met with the same fate. The sum of £IOO,OOO has been exacted for the tamilics of the British officers who have been murdered

The Summer Palace of the Emperor was burnt by tiic British on the 18th of October.

Shanghai, Nov. B.—The insurgents arc still levying tribute in various places, and arc menacing Ningpo.

GENERAL SUMMARY.

[From the “ Home News,” December 2(i.j

In European politics the prominent topic is the reform in the constitution, if it may be so called, of the French legislature and general government, which has just been initiated in an Imperial Decree. To judge of this measure by any standard drawn from our English institutions does not carry the same meaning in both countries The people are essentially different in their notions ot what constitutes liberty; and our form of limited monarchy, with its checks, balances, and safeguards, would be as ill-suited to the temperament of the French as their absolutism, witli its delusive show of universal suffrage, its ijloire, and its administrative mysteries would be ill-suited to us. We must not, therefore, look for the establishment of a thoroughly fre-e representative system in France ; and may acknowledge as a valuable concession to popular principles any alteration which diminishes, however slightly, the strain of the autocracy

under which the empire has sobered since she reposed the whole power of the State in the hands of Louis Napoleon. Although the reforms announced in the ‘ Moniteur ’ are by no means so liberal or so real as they

look, it is, nevertheless, certain tha f they constitute no inconsiderable step towards a higher stare of political

freedom than any person could have anticipated from the hands of the Emperor, and that, for whatever they arc worth, the very fact of their introduction, without

any pressure from without, ami, apparently, without consultation with, his usual advisers, is, in itself, an admission of the necessity of conciliating public opinion, the importance of whicl) cannot be overrated. Louis Napoleon has governed France for eight years hy the strong hand and by his own will alone. lie has consulted nobody, admitted nobody to his confidence, and ruled the country without the recognition of any further responsibility than that of an occasional caprice, when he has, its it were, alfected to go back to the people and to defer to their wishes —when they happened to fall in with his own. The new arrangements do not actually deprive him of a jot of this sovereign power. He will still retain the exclusive right of initiating laws ; his ministers are to be responsible to nim alone, as heretofore, and not to the country, that is to say the administration is to owe no allegiance to the Parliament or the people ; the preliminary sittings of the Legislative 15ody upon projects of law are to be held in secret; and the Full reports of the debates are to he inserted in the government organ only. On the other hand a door is opened for improvements which it will be for the representatives of the people to turn to account, Jsy this decree, the Senate and the Corps Legislatifacquire the right ofvoting an address in answer to the annual speech from the throne on opening the Chambers ; the right of public discussion is accorded to all members; and although the Chambers cannot themselves originate laws, they will have the power to amend laws initiated hy the government. These are great changes, and they are of a kind which must ultimately lead to further ameliorations, and which cannot be very easily repealed. Once the people have enjoyed the privilege of speaking frankly through their representatives, even if it lead to no immediate practical result at lirst, they cannot he restrained from further progress, except by another coup d'elal. No less important in other directions are the amnesty extended to the press, the freedom acejorded to discussion in the public journals and the abolition of passports as between Ungland and France. This last repeal of an odious obstruction to free intercourse is, no doubt, the necessary supplement to the Commercial Treaty ; but it is difiicult to suppose that the movement will stop here. Having once set the machinery of commercial interchanges in motion, Louis Napoleon will find it all but impossible to retreat, or stand still. On tiie contrary, it is much more likely that the whole passport system will he finally, and speedily, abolished, for others as well as for the English. No Jess significant changes tire about to be introduced by M. de I’ersigiiy in the departments of administration. Self-government is to be established as far as possible in the provinces ; tiie communes are to be reconstructed;

decentralisation is to be gradually carried out ; and Paris is no longer to be France absolute. These are momentous transformations in these Christmas limes, which the genius of Pantomime may “ toil after in vain.”

Our news from Italy represents a state of suspense rather than of action. Francis 11. still holds Gaeta. The delay in the reduction of the fortress arose in the first instance from the difficulty tlie Sardinians found in making the necessary approaches by land, prevented, as they are by tlie French, from strengthening their position by sea. The place has prodigious resources, in tlie way of defence, and, supported by constant supplies.

may successfully resist the assaultof the besieging force for many months yet to come. Massena was six months under the walls of Gaeta in ISOti before he was able to

make an impression ; and then it was only by increasing tlie number of his guns and his men that he compelled the garrison to capitulate at last. He had 134-guns, and something better than 12,000 men, when the place surrendered, the fortress commanding 178 guns, with a garrison litne more than (i(»00 strong. The disproportion is much greater in the present case, if the authority from which we ilraw these particulars may be relied upon. The Piedmontese hope to be able to open fire with 90 guns, when their batteries shall have been constructed and mounted ; and Gat ta is stated to be defended by more than 800 pieces of artillery, and by a garrison of 18,000 men. Nor do they rely upon these advantages alone. They harass the besiegers daily by flinging, shells in the direction where the works are carrying forward ; and one of the latest telegrams brings ns intelligence of a sortie, in which, however, they were repulsed, and suffered considerable loss. A variety of rumours are in circulation concerning the besieged. Sometimes we hear that Francis had lied, and sometimes that preparations are making to receive him in Rome. One day he has burst a blood-vessel, and another day bis soldiers have revolted, and fired upon him. None of these rumours are entitled to credit except the fact

of the illness of the invincible Bourbon. Medical aid was scut for to Naples, and a physician was shipped to attend upon his Majesty. The hopelessness of t lie siege led at last to the interposition of France, Russia, and England, and hostilities

ceased pending the issue. But Francis continued obstinate on one point—that a European Congress should be held, at which he should be represented. As lids demand could no! be granted without recognising a right which the issues of war have already overthrown, negotiations were broken oil", and hostilities resumed. Francis lias put out a manifesto in which he boldly appeals to the allegiance of hissubjects, and declares his determination to fight for their independence. It is a pity he did not show these magnanimous qualities a little sooner. Now they avail him nothing. The young Queen shut up in the beleaguered fortress has shown herself every inch a Queen. The enemy, with a courtesy worthy of the age of the Courts of Love, sent a request to rlie garrison that they would plant a vvhi'e flag over the tower iu which the Queen took up her residence, in order that it might he spared. The answer to that chivalrous message has not transpired ; but the next wo hear of the Queen is that her Majesty is seen in the thick of the bombardment flying from post to post to encourage the soldiers by her presence ! In Naples the popular excitement still continues. Victor Emmanuel has returned from Sicily, but his appearance does not appease the public clamour. The Garibaldiau hymn is sung everywhere through the streets, an organised opposition to Farini has taken shape, and the return of the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples has been the signal for a tumult which might have lead to serious consequences if his Eminence, alter obstinately resisting the demands of the people, had not ultimately, in the presence of the crowd, from the balcony of his palace, blessed the tricolor flag stripe by stripe, and ended by shouting “ Long live Garibaldi!” as lustily as the most stentorian voice of that vast multitude. Victor Emmanuel goes to Turin for his Christinas festivities, mid Ins absence from Naples in the great holiday season may, it is feared, be seized upon as a favourable opportunity for it popular demonstration. Mazzini has returned from Naples to London. We are enabled to state that the machinations attributed to him for the overthrow of the present government have no foundation in fact. lie looks confidently to the accomplishment within a year ot the unity of Italy, with Rome for its capital unity under Victor Emmanuel,

The recent changes in the Austrian ministry, and the liberal concessions likely to How from them, exhibit symptoms of progress which the most sanguine reformer could hardly have loked for in that quarter. The displacement of Count Goluchowski, whose plans, much as they were in advance of the previous policy of Austria, were found insufficient to satisfy the popular wants, and the appointment of M. de Schmerling in his place, was a guarantee of liberal measures which the programme of the new minister has more than fulfilled. The main point proposed by M. de Schmerling, and acceded to by the Emperor, is a revision of the Concordat, on the principle of giving complete equality to all religious sects throughout the length and breadth of the Austrian empire. This looks like a dream; but there is reason to believe it a reality. Rome is evidently going fiy the mast. The only Power that yet clings to her is Spain, where persecution of Protestants may he regarded as a public institution. But Spain has enough to do to maintain herself, and has nothing to spare even for the Pope. The Austrian envoy at Rome, M. de Bach, is so shocked and con-

founded by the annihilation of the Concordat, of which he was the proud artificer, and which Pio Nono is said to have regarded as- the master-stroke of Papacy in these degenerate days, is about to abandon his post at the Vatican. The last news is that the Pope has consented to a revision of the Concordat; which is very much like signing his abdication of the last remnant of sovereignty.

The next great question that relates to Austria is the disposal of Vcnetia. The tone of the French press plainly indicates that the Emperor is favourable to a project for purchasing Venetia; and it is currently reported in diplomatic circles that negotiations, with a view to get at some result before the approaching ominous New Year’s Day, have been already opened with Austria. The French journals in semi-official articles treat the subject with an air of warning which* leaves little doubt as to the policy by which they are inspired. Austria is frankly reminded that the coming spring is fraught with momentous events, and she is urged by every consideration of prudence and humanity to avert the horrors which an obstinate retention of Yenctia must entail. What course Austria will take under this pressure remains to be seen. The disposition to advance with the tide manifested by the young Emperor affords some hope that he may be induced to relinquish for an indemnity the possession of a province which he cannot keep with security or profit, and which, with a new Italian kingdom on its confines, must speedily become a source of weakness, not of strength. The agitation produced in the Southern States of America by the election to the office of President of Mr. Lincoln, the Republican, or Anti-Slavery Candidate, has been followed by an outbreak in Kansas which bids fair to rival in savagry and wholesale destruction of life and property the terrible incursions of the Border Ruffians, us they are appropriately called, to which the new disturbance may be regarded ns a retaliatory pendant. On this occasion it is the Free-Soil interest that has arisen against the Slavery party; and the circumstances under which the contest has been provoked arc of a nature to prolong it indefinitely, or, at all events, until the one side or other shall have brought the great question that divides them to a conclusive issue. The Southern States, especially South Carolina, arc intent upon secession. The election of Mr. Lincoln has thrown them into a fury of resentment against the Northern States; and they protest, in the face of bankruptcy, and with all the terrors of a black revolution before them, and the risk of a charge of high treason, that they will solemnly dissolve the Union, so far as they are concerned, and set up for themselves. They may think better of this. The moral of the bundle of sticks may weigh heavily on their minds, and make them subside into quiescence. But it would be a mistake to suppose that, after these declarations, and the effects they must produce all throughout the South, the secession can he very long averted. It is the doom that hangs over the great house at Washington, assure and inevitable as the Fate of the Greek tragedy. Mr. Buchanan’s message to Congress has, upon the whole, made a favourable impression. He deals out praise and blame with so equal a hand that everybody finds something to his mind; while the doctrine he lays down against the right of secession assumed by South Carolina is sure to he approved by the Northern States, and by all moderate men in the South. The opening of Congress was calm - the calm before the storm. The most inauspicious incident was that the senators from South Carolina declined to mix themselves up in the proceedings, as having no business in Congress, where the representatives of that State appeared merely as a matter of form. Should this struggle take an ulterior shape of force, the days of the Union are numbered. Except the flying visit of the Empress of the French, the stir of two or three elections, and some accidents of a more than ordinary lurid character, we have little domestic news of interest. Perhaps the most emphatic incident is the repeal association that a few misguided Irishmen have been endeavouring to lick into shape in Dublin. The actors in this melancholy farce are persons of no social position, or political influence. They are mere agitators of the lowest order, who, aided by a few priests, arc trying to work up a convulsion, in the hope of getting something in the scramble. Even Mr. Smith O’Brien declines to join this ragged rabble, and does not hesitate to declare, pointing to his own experience, that no trust is to he reposed in the men who hound on the poor Irish in these fervid bursts of national sentiment. The Government have very wisely allowed the agitators to have their full fling of speeches and resolutions. As soon as the}' have exhausted their metaphors, this trumpery revolution will die a natural death.

Mr. Disraeli’s recent speech on the subject of churchrates has produced a ferment in all political circles, including his own. His determination to make the maintenance of church-rates a party question, has drawn out the Liberation Society at Liverpool, who have taken up the gauntlet he has so unadvisedly thrown down, and are prepared to enter upon the religious war to which he has invited the country. At Accrington an attempt to levy the church-rates has led to a riot which very nearly ended seriously; and before the opening of Parliament we may expect that the agitation will spread to many other places. The Conservatives will be the chief sufferers from this mad crusade. They have long been divided on the subject, and any formal discussion of it as a party question will inevitably lead to the disruption of a political section, already considerably weakened by the serious illness of one chief, and the increasing unpopularity of another. While Mr. Disraeli has been sowing the seeds of discord touching church-rates, Mr, Bright has been getting up a counter-blast on Reform. These are the usual preparations for the Parliamentary campaign, magnified into undue importance by the ciicumstances of the times. Wars-and diplomatic complications are always favorable to domestic agitation, and whenever Ministers arc surrounded by more than ordinary difficulties, faction seizes its opportunity. There is a report that Ministers do not intend to bring forward Reform Bill; nor does there appear to be any higher motive for doing so than Cabinet expediency.

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND,

[From the “Times,” Dec. 20th.]

Recent events in two different quarters of the world suggest two very different estimates of British prowess. Tu China an army of 10,000 men, mostly English, have defied an empire the nominal military force of which exceeds that of any Western Power, fighting their way through si difficult country', carrying by assault strongholds fortified with all the resources©! Chinese ingenuity', scattering in wild confusion that Tartar cavalry which was once the terror of Eastern Europe, and finally' pitching their tents and dictating terms on the very walls ol a capital containing 2,000,000 of inhabitants. Contemporaneously with these events a drama of a totally opposite character has been proceeding in New Zealand. There a force of 3000 effective men, commanded by a veteran general, and with an unusually large number of colonels and other officers, amply equipped with artillery and all the munitions of war, drawing its supplies by sea, and backed by a British fleet of six ships of war, can hardly hold its own against a horde of naked savages, never exceeding 600, and now probably reduced to some 120, armed with wretched flint and steel muskets and tomahawks, unprovided with the scantiest apparatus of warfare, and almost destitute of subsistence. The last advices from the colony of New Plymouth passed for satisfactory, for we were assured that most of the natives had returned home to plant potatoes, and sanguine hopes were entertained that advantage might betaken of this inglorious respite to accomplish some decisive operation. But the mail which has just arrived damps all such expectations. It is true that the native force was reduced to much less than one-tenth of that at the disposal of General Pratt, but it is equally true that the three expeditions which had been made since the former accounts had proved futile, that the most brilliant exploit of our soldiers was the demolition of a few empty pahs, and that wherever resistance was offered, even on open ground, they fell back. It would be ludicrous, were it not so disgraceful and disastrous, to hear that a trumpery stockade interlaced and the strengthened with green flax, cannot he breached by a 68-pounder, or that an European force nearly as largo as that with which Clive won Plassey, and aided by artillery, must wait for mortars before it can advance against another similar position. Yet these are simple iucts, and give by no means an exaggerated idea of our discomfiture. The northern natives, whoso voluntary retirement lias alone relieved New Plymouth from a state of siege, have carried with them “horses, sheep, cattle, carts, and plunder of all sorts,” the property of our ruined settlers, whose wives and families have been deported for safety to Nelson, and who arc themselves huddled together in the little town, without being able to strike a blow in self-de-fence. Meanwhile the tribes about Wellington, as well as those which inhabit the Great Waikato valley and still profess friendly intentions, arc said to be deliberating—not how they shall make their peace with the Government—but whether, having already sent Wirimu Kingi large reinforcements, they shall extend the theatre of war by making an attack upon Auckland. Seven attempts seem to have been made in the course of the present year to dislodge thcMaories from their rude fortifications, and in every case we have sustained or simulated a reverse, though in one it was retrieved by the gallantry of Captain Cracroft. The first was on the 15th of March, when Colonel Gold had an unfortunate skirmish with the natives near Waitara. The second was Colonel Murray’s famous attack on the pah at Waireka, on the 28th of March, when, after the regular soldiers had been recalled, the pah was carried and the volunteers rescued from destruction by 50 blue-jackets. The third was Major Nelson’s less discreditable repulse at Waitara on the 27thjjof June. The fourth was on the 10th of Septem-

ber. Reinforcements had in the meantime been received' from Australia, and General Pratt took the field with 1500 men. No sooner did the natives open fire than a retreat was determined upon, though the volunteers were ready to advance into the bush, and we blush to add that one dead body and several military accoutrements fell into the hands of an enemy variously estimated at 100, 50, and “ less than 50,” strong. The fifth was on September 19, when Major Hutchins, with COO men, abandoned the attack of a large pah for want of mortars. We are unable to fix the date of the sixth but the force which retired, numbering 500 bayonets and three guns, was under Colonel Leslie, and was said to have had strict orders not to return the enemy’s fire, in case they should interfere with the filling up of certain trenches which served as a cover for naked marksmen. The last was on the 9th of October, under General Pratt, with about 1000 men and some heavy guns. This expedition bad not returned to camp when the mail left, but it had already declined the siege of a pah of somewhat more than average strength. As we read the catalogue of these disasters, bloodless enough, it is true, but infinitely damaging to our reputation in New Zealand, we arc driven to review all our notions respecting the military superiority of civilised over barbarous races—of disciplined over untrained troops. Either the Norman conquest of Ireland, the Spanish conquest of America, our own early campaigns in India, and the French victories in Algeria, must be mythical events, or the fortunes of the Maori insurrection must be regulated by some very exceptional causes. If a new “ Robinson Crusoe” should be written while this story is still remembered, the relative numbers of the savages and the Europeans must be reversed, and the latter must be made to retire “in good order” before a handful of natives, without even waiting to be shot down. No one of our many correspondents attempts any explanation of the matter, except the obvious presumption that the military authorities, to whom an absolute discretion has been given by the Governor, must be unequal to the responsibility. Can it be that the very insignificance, coupled with the boastful insolence*, of the enemy unsteadies our men and puzzles our commanders, just as at chess a bad and reckless player is sometimes a mote formidable antagonist than amaster of the game? The phenomenon would not be absolutely without parallel, for the famous British column of Fontenoy was made of the same stuff as those Dragoons who fled like sheep before the famished and half-armed Highlanders at Prestonpans. Undisciplined valour, though no match for superiority of organization alone, has sometimes proved more than a match for organization and numerical superiority together. It is very natural that the colonists should clamour for reinforcements from England, and much is expected from the arrival of the 14th regt. in December ; but the home Government may well feel that if numbers could insure success the troops now at Taranaki are more than enough to crush anything short of a general Maori rebellion, and of this the best accounts assure us that there is little prospect. What the true remedy may be it is for the Colonial-office to discover ; our duty is done when we have eliminated the salient facts, so as to exhibit the magnitude of the evil. It is not the most peculiar, but it is one of the most vexatious perplexities connected with this war, that the legality of those proceedings out of which it arose is openly challenged. Be this, however, as it may, we contend that the primary question is purely military. Whether Tom Taylor and William King (designated in native doggerel as “Te Teira” and “ Wiremu Kingi”) were in the “joint occupancy” of the disputed block, or whether the land substantially belonged to the former, subject to a trial veto on its alienation — whether the selfish desire of the New Plymouth settlers to secure a good sight for a new port and capital, represented by Mr. Richmond, influenced the Governor to violate a principle which he had already laid down —whether the subsequent investigation of title was ex parte or fairly conducted—whether this plot of land was appropriated as a “wedge to oust the residue” of the southern natives from the choicest districts of their own soil—are points that may properly be reserved for subsequent discussion, and ought not to be prejudiced by the issue of the present contest Order must precede liberty, and no government can listen to armed remonstrances, especially when they lake the form of outrage and rapine. Many of the natives now in open hostility to the Queen’s authority have not so much as the pretence of a, grievance, and are ravaging our homesteads, after the manner of border warfare, out of mere lawlessness and love of plunder. If we left the management of native affairs to our colonists we should not, strictly speaking, owe them any assistance in the present crisis. But from motives of justice and humanity we reserve the control of this department for the home Government, and such a reservation of power involves corresponding obligai ions. One of these is that of sacrificing all consideration for individual feelings and interests to the paramount necessity of re-establishing the Queen’s authority and protecting her subjects, however humiliating the confessions or engagements that justice may afterwards require to be made.

AGRICULTURE.

(From the •' Melbourne Argus.”)

There has been little change in the markets since last week. Owing to the shortness of stocks, the price of flour has been well maintained; but the demand for wheat is not so'good as it was, and the price of this grain has a tendency downwards. Barley need scarcely be mentioned now, nor until seeding time commences, or malt can be made ; and with regard to oats, the only alteration is a better feeling as to the future value of really sound undamaged parcels, either of colonial growth or imported. It will be with oats as with hay this year; the difference between the extreme prices will be great, and while damaged and inferior loads and samples are almost unsaleable at any price, either of good quality will be readily disposed of at high rates. The quantity of oats grown in Victoria this season must be large, but the difference will not go far towards supplying the place of what has been damaged in store, and importation will scarcely be renewed on a large scale for another year to come, at the least. The hay-market continues to be over-supplied with loads of inferior quality, the half of which remains undisposed of each day. The quantity of really good hay coming in is very small; and for the few loads that do otter, the best prices are readily obtained. The branch committees in connexion with the Port Philip Society are now preparing for their autumn shows of stock and produce. The prize-lists are published with the society’s Transactions for 1860 but the judges have to be appointed and other arrangements made. As we mentioned last week the show for the Mornington, Dandenong, and Mordialloc Districts is to be held at Cranbournc, on Wednesday, 20th February, and on the Wednesday following the Gisborne show is to be held. Then comes the Bacchus Marsh show on Wednesday, the 13th March, preparatory to the central society’s grain show early in April, the exact day not, of course, fixed yet. Although the farmers have had some trouble liitherto with their harvest, the late ripening grain ought to be generally good in quality, so that we need not despair of a sufficient number of first-rate samples to maintain the credit of the colony at the annual Melbourne Grain Show, and also at the Exhibition to he held here this year preparatory to the Great international Exhibition, to be held in England in 1862. This has been an unusually favourable season for wheat-growing in South Australia, so that if we do not take care and bring forward the very best samples we have, our neighbours may beat us here, and also get the credit again of producing the best wheat ever seen in the old world. The harvest here is progressing steadily all over the country, the only drawback the farmers have to contend with being the scarcity of men to follow the machines, and the high rate to be paid for hand reaping,—varying from 255. to 30s. per acre in some parts of the country. The destruction of Mr. Maltzahn’s herd of cattle at Campbellfiehl is to be commenced to-morrow, and concluded on Friday, if possible; but the whole of the work can scarcely be got through in two dajs as each beast —and there are 90 in all—is to be skinned, and the tallow saved. As there are animals in this herd in every stage of the disease, some of them very far gone indeed, persons who wish to become acquainted with the symptoms of pleuropneumonia, both before and after death, ought to attend on this occasion. The distance is not great —only 10 miles from town—and such a favorable occasion of witnessing so many cases of the disease in every stage may not occur again, not at least, we trust, for some time, as no fresh cases have been reported from other places of late. Two or three weeks since, there were apparently but few animals in the herd infected ; but when the inspector, Mr. Smith, tried last week to draft these off, he had to give up the attempt in despair, as there would scarcely have been a sound one left. And, iu this instance, there are no deleterious influences at work to account for the rapid spread of the disease, save contagion alone, for the herd consists of picked animals, most highly valued and carefully tended dairy cows, kept on a healthy range of good pasture land, with plenty of grass and water, and never housed in a foul shed or impure atmosphere. In the proclamation issued yesterday for the appointment of Commissioners to select and transmit such articles of the produce or manufacture of Victoria as may be deemed worthy of exposition at the Great International Exhibition of 1862, we find at the end of a rather long list the name of Mr. Robert M’Dougall, to represent, we presume, the agricultural interest, no other gentleman on the commission being practically engaged in that pursuit.