EXTRACTS FROM SYDNEY PAPERS.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 24, 21 October 1842, Page 2

EXTRACTS FROM SYDNEY PAPERS.

ATROCIOUS ATTEMPT UPON THE, LIFE OF THE QUEEN ON CONSTITUTIONHILL. (From the Sydney Morning Herald.)

The metropolis was startled on Monday evening, May 30, by a report that an attempt had been made on the life of her Majesty the Queen; and immediately the report was confirmed by the statement of Sir Robert Peel in the House of Commons, there followed an almost universal burst of commingled shame and indignation — of shame that there should be an Englishman so brutalized and degraded as to desire to terminate the existence of a sovereign who hears her great faculties so meekly, who sympathises so deeply for the sufferings of the humblest of her subjects, and the happy and graceful tenor of whose domestic life is equally instructive to the highest and lowest —of indignation that England should be a second time disgraced in the estimation of the world by so wicked and atrocious a treason.

We subjoin all the particulars that have come to our knowledge. At about a quarter past six o’clock on Monday evening, as her Majesty, accompanied by his Royal Highness Prince Albert, was returning' from enjoying their usual drive in Hyclepark. in ah open carriage, drawn by four horses, with postilions, preceded by out-riders, and was proceeding down. Constitution Hill, towards Buckingham Palace, Colonels Arbuthnot and Wylde doing* duty at equerries in waiting, and riding near to the hind wheels of the carriage, when within about three hundred yards of the garden entrance into the palace, and not far from the spot where the lunatic Oxford made his regicidal attempt, a young man, apparently about twenty-two years of age, advanced from the wall of the palace gardens towards the carriage road, and at the instant of the royal carriage passing the spot, drew a pistol from his breast, which he levelled and fired at her Majesty, the contents of which, however, most providentially missed both the Queen and her illustrious consort. The miscreant having been foiled, in his object, in his endeavour to escape detection, hurriedly replaced the pistol within his breast, but he was instantly seized by Police Constable Tounce, A 53, who was on duty near the spot, and had witnessed the transaction, who was assisted by a private soldier of the Scotch Fusilier Guards. The constable, it subsequently appeared, had, about: a quarter of an hour previous to the transaction, noticed the prisoner leaning against. the garden wall, and was induced by his somewhat strange behaviour, to watch him, it being his opinion that he intended to destroy himself. On the approach of the royal carriage, the constable observed him move from the spot where he had been standing, and as he did so fumble in his breast, when, having a presentiment that something was about to happen, he hastened towards him, and was within ten yards of him when he discharged the pistol. On the prisoner being secured, he was immediately surrounded by an immense assemblage of gentlemen, on horseback, and persons on foot, who had been waiting near the palace, to witness her Majesty’s return, and who evinced the most lively interest to learn if her Majesty had sustained any injury; hut Colonel Arbuthnot directed his instant removal to the lodge of the palace, where the prisoner was searched by inspector Russell, and all that was found on him was the pistol, and a quantity of loose powder and a bullet in one of his waistcoat pockets. The weapon is a common holster pistol, with a flint, lock, and on its being examined it was pronounced, by several competent judges, to have been recently discharged. A cab was then sent

for, in which he was removed, accompanied by the policeman Tounce and the soldier, inspector Russell sitting on the box, to the station-house of the A division, in Gardener’s-lane, King-street, Westminster. On his arrival at the station the prisoner, was closely questioned by Mr. Hughes, the inspector on duty, as to his name; residence, and occupation, in order that the charge might be entered in the usual manner, upon the charge sheet, but lie refused to make any statement, and maintained an extreme sullcnness of manner.

In the mean time, information of the regicidal attempt upon her Majesty’s life was forwarded from the palace to Sir James Graham, Bart., the Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department; to the Commissioners of Police ; and to her Majesty’s Ministers in both Houses of Parliament'; when orders were sent to the station-house for the instant removal of the prisoner to the Home Office, Whitehall, in order that he might be examined before the Privy Council that evening, which was immediately acted upon. It is scarcely necessary to state, that after the attempt, her Majesty shortly resumed her usual and wonted calmness and composure. Almost immediately after the perpetration of the crime, a woman of respectable demeanour, whose name was not mentioned, applied to one of the park-keepers, and requested to be directed to the police-station, as she was desirous of making an important statement respecting the attempt on the Queen’s life, being but a short distance from the prisoner when he fired the pistol, she stated that she resided iii Gray’s Inn-lane, and was walking up and down Constitution Hill, waiting to see her Majesty on her return to Buckingham Palace, when her notice was drawn to the prisoner and another man, who wore a flannel jacket. She then heard the prisoner say, “ D—n the Queen, why should she be such an expense to the nation ? It is to support her in such grand style that us poor persons have to work hard. The Queen lives on the vitals of the people. What good is she ?” and so on. At that moment her Majesty’s carriage came in sight, and on the Queen passing the prisoner, he took from under his coat a pistol,, which he instantly discharged. The woman added, that she distinctly saw the flash, but at the instant she became so confused and alarmed, that she did not hear the report. She was examined before the Privy Council on Tuesday.

The intelligence of the desperate attempt flew like wildfire through the metropolis, and in a very short time the various members of the Royal Family, as well as several of the foreign ambassadors, besides large numbers of the nobility, &c., hastened to the palace for the purpose of congratulating the Queen and Prince Albert on their Providential deliverance, and throughout the evening a dense concourse of persons of all classes, amongst whom were a number of elegantly dressed females, surrounded the gates of the palace.

THE ATTEMPT TO SHOOT THE QUEEN. A Privy Council was held at Buckingham Palace on Friday, at which her Majesty presided. The cabinet ministers, great officers of the household, and several other privy Councillors, were in attendance. At the Council, the Archbishop of Canterbury was requested to prepare a form of prayer to Almighty God for his providence in safely preserving her Majesty from the attempt of an assassin to take her. life. The following has since appeared: — “ THANKSGIVING MIAYER. “ A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for his late merciful preservation of the Queen from the atrocious and treasonable attempt against her sacred person, on Monday, the 30th May, 1842. To be used at morning and evening service, after the General Thanksgiving, in all churches and chapels throughout England and Wales, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on Sunday, the sth of this instant June, or so soon as the minitters thereof shall receive the same; and to be continued for thirty days afterwards.

“ Almighty and everlasting God, Creator and Governor of the world, who by thy : gracious providence has oftentimes preserved thy chosen servants, the sovereigns whom thou hast set over us, from the malice of wicked men; we offer unto thee our humble and hearty thanksgivings for thy great mercy now again vouchsafed to us, in frustrating the late traitorous attempt on the life of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria. “ Continue, we beseech thee, O merciful Lord, thy watchful care over her. Be thou her shield and defence against the devices of secret treason, and the assaults of open violence. Extend thy gracious protection to the Prince her Consort, the Prince of Wales, and the whole Royal Family. Direct and prosper her counsels, aiul so guide and support her by thy Holy Spirit, that evermore trusting in thee, she may faithfully govern thy people committed to her charge, to their good, and to the glory of thy holy name. “ And to us, and all her subjects, O Lord, impart such a measure of thy grace, that, under a deep and lasting sense of thy manifold mercy, we forth our thankfulness unto thee, by loyal attachment to ovu* Sovereign, and dutiful obedience to all thy eommandments.

“ Give eav, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, to these our supplications and prayers, which we humbly offer before thee, in the name, and through the mediation, of Jesus Christ, our only Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.”