AUCKLAND, MONDAY, OCTOBBR 24, 1864.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 296, 24 October 1864, Page 4

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, OCTOBBR 24, 1864.

'rut: Kncush news liy the present, mail :s by no means of an e.\eitin<; cliaraetcr. Parliament li;nl riopnnite<l; the Queen liad been I 1 Iter Highland .Home residence, her health apparently completely restored, and tho I'rinee atul Princess of AV'ale.s were to goon a

visit to IVnniarlv, and ;ts was supposed at one (:nu\ tlicy were lo be escorted by the Channel Fleet. This delorniinatiou seems to have heen changed, it is known the Prince is stronglv inclined lo the cause of .Denmark, and the l.'rineess lioyal. his sister, is a.s strongly in favor ol' the country ol'lier husband, and it is said has painted two pictures of the fall ol' Duppcl. \\ bile on this topic, it may be as well to notice tiia! Denmark has had to succumb to the over-

whelming numbers opposed to them, and in reality to accept the terms dictated by Austria and Prussia. The Ivitig and people of Denmark evidently very keenly feel their defeat, and the rending asunder ol'llieir Empire.

hv-hind has again given another illustration of the bitterness of tln* so called religious feeling between Protestant, and lonian Catholics. ]3eilast lias been the scene ot disgraceful ]*iots—no less than 5l)l!l) troops, the constabulary, and special constables being required to rp'iell the distiirbancc caused by various mobs, numbering upwards ot seventy thousand. Sixty persons \\ere killed. and two hundred received gunshot wounds. Ireland may well often have the adjective unhappy prefixed to its name, when, in this year ol grace. IStM. the factions belonging to two rival churches each of which professes to draw inspiration from the founderof Christianity, adopts t lie heathen practice of making war on one another iu the name of that religion, the teachings and dictates of which they so utterlv disivgard. The enlightenment of this age would seem to be no brighter iu many respects than was that ol the days ot mediicval gloom, when the rays ol the light of science and knowledge hail so faintly (alien upon the mind, as compared j with the boasted sunlight of intelligence with i which we arc favoured. 1

The O Council demonstration at Dublin, almost one end of the Island, is the match that kindles the blaze of ignorant and unchristian fainticisni and brutality among the people of IScil ist at tlie other end of the kingdom. The 'alter city, too. boasts of its advance in religious knowledge, and in the material progress it has made, but these disgraceful riots which are constantly occurring in the metropolis of the North of Ireland clearly shows the thin veil which clothes the smouldering passions handed down from lather to son for centuries.

Crossing the Atlantic we find the American war simply repeating itself. The Federals get, a feu- unimportant victories ; the Confederates all the important ones, but each battle-field, with its thousands of corpses strewn over it, and the thousand.'; more who have been maimed and

•wounde'd upon it, seems to add nothing to the real power and success of' either party. The Federals have lost some hundreds of thousands of mill, and have spent hundreds of thousands Of millions of dollars, and tbfcy are lit reality as far JVoiii having subdued the South as they were when the first shot was iired or the first life lost. Lee has completely repelled the assault of Grant. The latter fought with au iron determination, h.> counted the loss of human life nothing as compared with the conquest of the South, he ofl'ered up day by day a sacrifice of at least one thousand men, in hopes that by desperate and reckless ellbrts lie would succeed where others failed, but he has had to turn away from his task with the humiliating thought that he has signally failed just as other less bold and venturesome men did before. There is still a party crying out for peace. McClellan, the defeated General, is put up as a candidate for the Presidentship in opposition to Lincoln, the party cry being that he will beat the South- and restore the union. It is not quite clear on what antecedent probability the mob of the JN'orfli ground. their opinion. Gold is at ~2'25, or in other words, it requires nearly liull'-a-ei'own's worth of paper I money to buy one .shilling's worth of gold, and I persons with fixed wages or fixed incomes paid in greenbacks, naturally feel very keenly this immense depreciation of the Government issues oi' paper money. The sickly season, too, would be commencing in the Southern States, and the heat and malaria Would slay as many by their silent and powerful agency as would be lost in active operations against the enemy. Altogether the situation is a gloomy one for the North. Immense and continuous loss of life, large and constant additions to a very large debt, the interest of which even is not being paid ; greatly increased taxation to aid somewhat in meeting a portion of the present frightful expenditure ; industry thrown out of its accustomed channels ; an army of maimed and wounded scattered up and down the country ; internal dissension, and no prospect of reducing the enemy, are the only results io the .North, as yet, of this fratricidal war.