THE Otago Daily Times. "Invenciam viam aut faciam."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 489, 15 July 1863, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Invenciam viam aut faciam."

DgtTEDIN. WEDNESDAY. JULY 15,

We publish to-day a further instalment 6 ■ Ajnaerican news, which certainly does much to clear up the mystery and confusion resulting from the late telegraphic item 3of intelligence received by way; of California. Our dates trora the Atlantic States are now to the 3rd May, and up to that time the strongly fortified city of Charleston remained in the undisputed possession of the Confederate garrison, the unsuccessful attack of the Federal gunboats aot having been renewed. It was Vicksburg on the Mississippi, a position undoubtedly of great importance to the Southerners to retain, as commanding the rivertraiffic of the Western States, whose batteries eight Northern gunboats were reported to have successfully run; and all our latest telegrams, referring to a successful passage of the Charleston bat-t-jries, must have been distorted versions of the Srst attack which ended in admitted failure. The latest papers to hand speak of ths renewed attack upon Charleston as being fixed for some early date in May/ and indulge in conjectures and rumours as to the plan of operations to be pursued. It was said that the fleet for this second attempt would consist of as many as fifteen or sixteen iron-clads, together with a wooden fleet, numbering in all thirty ships, and that their fire would be in the iirst instance concentrated upon Fort Sumter, with a view to silencing its guns before the fire of any of the other shore batteries was responded to. A land force of 25,000 men, attended by a siege train heavier than any hitherto used by any army in the world, was to be in readiness to follow up the successful attack of the gunboats. This is the yet unfulfilled plot of the play. It was in a lesser drama acted on another stage, that a Federal force achieved the feat of running the batteries of the enemy.

! Thus much we learn from the fuller details of the. incidents of the War in the papers received from San Francisco by way of Honolulu, and quoted in'the'& M. Herald of the 28th ult. These accounts we reprint elsewhere. But a subsequent arrival from California, the Dashing .Wave, has brought still later and much more important information. We had heard before of of the advance of the army of the Potomac towards the Rappahannock, with the view of giving battle to the Confederate forces under General Lee. On the 30th April General Hooker issued a congratulatory order to his troops, announcing "withheartfelt satisfaction" that the movements of the last three days had determined that the enemy must either ''ingloriously fly " or accept battle " on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits Mm." The commander of the army of the Potomac may be a good general, but he is not an infallible prophet. The enemy did not ingloriously fly—neither did he meet with certa;n destruction. By the Dashing Wave we have at least the intelligence of the battle having been fought; of the field having been stoutly contested, as is evidenced by the frightful carnage on both sides and of the free unmenaced strategic movements of the Confederate army after victory had declared itself. This last fact alone is sufficient to decide the question with which side the victory rested—a question upon which the Northern papers appear to be, if not silent, at all events hot inclined to speak in the jubilant tone 3 that would be natural to them if they felt at liberty to accept the issue of this battle as a triumph. We are too familiar with the boastful and extravagant tone of the Federal press, not to attach its due weight to the circumstance that in this instance the battle of Predericksburg is not heralded forth as a " glorious victory,"

The bloody fight which resulted in the loss on both sides, by death anldisabling wounds, of thirty-three thousand men, extended over a period of three days, and ended in the retreat of the Northern army, which fell back towards .^the Rappahaauock. General Lee, however, seems to have withdrawn his forces from the field of.their triu npb, in the telief that his presence wa3 more required for the defence of Richmond, which he learnt was imminently threatened. Like an experienced and skilful General, as even the Northern critics of the

war admit him to be, he hastened from one battle-field where he had done his duty manfully, to another where he saw that the-came for which he was fighting demanded his presence. All this, coming through Northern channels, appears to us to be just tantamount to the news that the Confederate army under Lee, has giined a bloody but a decisive victory over Hooker ; and that the army of the Potomac, in reoccupying Fredricksburg, have only taken possession of a battle-field deserted by an enemy whom they could not conquer in fight. Of the fate of Richmond, to whose defence General Lee betook himself, we know nothing. Its capture was rumored, but even in the North the rumor was " generally unbelieved."

The statement said to be contained in a London paper of the Ist May, that Mr Adam?, the American minister, had offered explanations to the^ British Cabinet which had the effect of iacensing. the Emperor Louis aSTapoleon, ia not entitled to any importance, for the simple reason that no matter of any moment or credibility coiild have had place in a London paper of tha Ist, and fail to be noticed in the London telegram which overtook the mail, and vvhi;;h brought down the latest intelligence to the 6th May. Such an announcement made under such, circumstances, cannot be accepted a3 throwing any new light upon the dis'urbed relations existing between America, and Great Britain and France— which two powers have thus far acted in concert throughout the whole history of this civil war.

There has been some desperate fighting in Mexico, where the French have met with a stubborn resistance, and have sustained a notable defeat.

The item of jnost painful"" and tragic interest comes to us from Madagascar. A few months back, the most sanguine hopes were entertained of the firm establishment of intimate and cor lial relations with that interesting and richly endowed island. As complete a check, it may be feared, has now been <ziven to commercial enterprise in Madagascar as was years ago given to missionary labor, by a massacre similar in atrocity. The full narrative of the events of which we have brief intelligence, will b3 awaited with very anxious interest. The murder of the Christian converts was done at the instance of the heathen Queen. The new King was himself a Christian, and in-his tomb all the hopes of the friends of civilization and pure religion must, we fear, be held to be for the present buried.

The Lady Bird brings important news from r the North, full p uticulara of which are contained in the letters of our Wellington correspondent. Taranaki may be said to have been practically abandoned by the Government as the seat of hostilities; the Tataraiinaka block ha 9 been evacuated by the troops and reoccupied by the Natives. The half-caste captured a short time ago and committed for trial for being concerned in-the massacre on the 4th May, has been tried before the Chief Justice and sentenced to be hanged. Whatever reasons there may have been for the abandonment of Tataraimaka, and however sound they may be in a military point of view, the step will undoubtedly have a very undesirable effect on the Natives, and increase the contempt they weve not slow to express of our power. The relinquishment of Wakara and Tataraimaka will, in the mindsof the Maoris entirely subvert any good impression that, the capture of the Oakura pa may have created. It is satisfactory to find that all isi as yet, quiet in Wanganui ; and if we may judge from the successful purchase by the Superintendent of Wellington of a large block of land in that district, the natives have no immediate intention of taking up arms against the Government. The first instalment of the 18th Royal Irish from England have arrive! at Auckland, and further reinforcements from Australia are expected In the Auckland Province the Natives are still quiet, and nothing serious has resulted in the Waikat) from the arrest of the native, Aporo, in Auckland. TheWaikatosheld alarge meeting, when Win. Thompson declined to promise any aid to the revoltedtribes; andin reference to Aporo, it was said that he had brought his punishment voluntarily on himself, and no interference would be made on his behalf or of others who might be similarly placed. In spite of the apparent quiet, the Government have called out the whole of the North Island Militia. The occupation of the land referred to in the much talked of despatch to the Superintendent of Otago, is finally decided on, and the terms published in the Gazette. The General Assembly is prorogued to the 27th July, but the probabilities of a Session being then held are uncertain.

The usual quarterly nve'ing of the Dnncdin building and Land Society was held at the Masonic Hall, Princes street, on Monday evenIng. Tim quarter's cash was disposed of, as follows:— Amounts No. of shares. ■■* Sold. Premium. 1 ■ ] £25 £5 0 4 f 100 21 0 4 ' 10J 21 8 3 j> 75 16 7 2 r 50 10 16 ____ » > Total - 14 y £350 £74 11 At the suggestion of the cohimittee, the meeting resolved to have the Secretavv's books and accounts placed in the hands of Vessrs Gillies and Street, for the purpose of audit, a^tead of having it done as formerly, by two members of the Scciety chosen ior that purpose. ; A motion to have the cash of the Society transfer' el from the Bank of New South Wales to the BSnk of New Zealand was negatived. \ We are given to understand that the\ Government are anxiously seeking out a fit and proper person to fill the office of Warden on the Arrow. We have no doubt the bare notice will be sufficient to cause a rush of applicants to the Government Offices, but we should add that the post is .considered sufficiently onerous to make it a i condition, that the gentleman selected should possess special qualifications for it. Mr Warden Wood, has been, we understand, transferred from the Lake to the Nbkomai Diggings. His duties will embrace periodical visits to Switzer's diggings. A correspondent at the port of Molyneux furnishes uswithsome interesting particulars relative to the progress of that rising part. •• The township ,of Molyneux is becoming the emporium of the interior.; within the last fortnight, we have had five vessels from Dunedin, and one from Melbourne dischaiging here. To the latter plaoe, trade as yet is not fully established ; however, a store is . rected here by a Melbourne firm, so that we may shortly expect to see the trade in that quarter opened to a greater extent. The port of Molyneux will ultimately be the depot for all goods , required at the South Diggings ; as also, to the Old diggings, when the steamers open communications to theTuapeka. JFioui the Poma- ' . haka it is only 106 miles to the Lakes—that /...place may become -of .^-ortance when a road is - made to the south from thencey bat. as the , steamers would have to run the goods up there, it" is doubtful whether many would not prefer com- - ing lure. -The great drawback to opening the trade with the interior, is the non-arrival of the river sleamer to naugate upwards. Once she l ■ - commences to ply, direct steam communication with Melbourne will'follow, as also, passengers per steamers plying from Dunedin to Invercargill, ] could be landed in Wiltshire's Bay, without ■ .detaining thesieamers above an hour or two, and C thiswoulJ then be a shorter, and les3 expensive • route to the south diggings. . Report says, that 1 • a large importation of sheep is shortly to arrive from Melbourne ; and Wiltshire's Bay, has .been, it appears, not over wisely, selected as the place f - for landing them. There have been formerly a .'Simber landed there; one-thrd of which fell vie-

Tims to the poisonous tutu ; which proves fatal ...to quadrupeds, but with bipeds, only produces in .most cases, an aberration of intellect for the time being. The Custom House has at. at last, been removed from Kaitongata here ; as also, the Police • Station ; but although we have the feet, we want the head—There is no magistrate to sit here ; you must therefore go to Kaitangata, where the Resident Magistrate is placed, for summonses, and then to the Ferry on the day ho sits there, for adjudication in any case."

At a meeting of the Board of Educalion.held on the 9th instant, to which we alluded briefly in our issue of the following morning, the painful subject of the vacancy in the Principalship of the ! High School, occasioned by the death of Mr Campbell, , was brought under consideration. The Secretary formally reported to the Board the arrival of the masters selected, and the melancholy accident in the harbor, and the following resolution, was unanimously agreed to.—" That this Board place on record their expression of profound grief and sincere regret for the untimely fate Of the late Mr and Mrs Campbell and their youthfu] family, and of their very thorough appreciation of the incalculable loss which this Province has sustained by the removal of a gentleman so eminently fitted, as Mr Campbell appears to have" been, for the important work to which he had been appointed, and in wh eh he had already manifested so warm an interest; and that his Honor the Superintendent be respectfully requested to convey to the relatives of the late Mr and Mrs Campbell the heartfelt sympathy and condolence of the members of this Board under

he sore bereavement to which they have been subjected by the recent afflictive dispensation of JJivine Providence." The consideration of the measures to be taken to supply the vacancy was deferred to an adjourned meeting which was lield yesterday. Two applications for the vacant office Avere decided yesterday in the negative, and a resolution was adopted to the following effect : : r-" That his Honor the Superintendent be respectfully requested forthwith to take the necessary steps t? procure from the home country a Principal and Classical Master for the High School, in room of the late .Reverend Thomas Hewitt Campbell." It was also resolved—"Thathis Honor the Superintendent be respectfully requested to convey to the Provost of Eton, the Rector of the High School of Eiinburgh, and the Rector of the Edinburgh Academy, the cordial ■ thanks of tbis Board for their valuable' services in selecting as masters of the High School three gentlemen apparently so well qualified for the important work to which they were appointed." By a subsequent resolution, Mr Abrams was requested to undertake temporarily the duties of the . Head-Mastership of the High School, with an extra allowance of LIOO per annum until the new Principal should arrive from home. Some minor business was transacted, the rate of lees for attendance on the High School being reduced from twelve guineas to ten pounds per annum, &c, .. and the meeting of the Eoard was then adjourned till Monday next.

-We have two or three times mentioned the in tubordination shown by long sentence and hardlaborprisoners in our Gaol. We regret that we have to state that it still continues, although its extent has been reduced fey the plan of supplying those who will not Avork with only the smallest possible quantity of food. There are. at present lathe Gaol a number of the worst class of.crimi. nals—men who have gone the rounds of the prisons oi Victoria, and who, not content with refusing, to work, have been very free in their threats of what they will do to the warders and Other officers on the first opportunity. At a ■recent meeting of Visiting Justices of the Gaol, it was agreed that the state of things now existing jnust be terminated by some means; and it was resolved that with ' those whose gross misconduct warranted such a course, flogging should be resorted to. Yesterday forenoon, Mr Strode, R. M., Mr Cutten, J. P., Mr Willis, J. P., and Mr JBrauigan, »T, P., held, a Bitting to

hear evidence as against those who still persisted in their refusal to work. The result was that one Morris, who has throughout the present difficulty been the ringleader, was sentenced to receive 24 lashes, and several others were, ordered to be kept in solitary confinement for a week! The Magistrates met again in the afternoon ; and we believe that another prisoner was ordered to be flogged. We sincerely hope to be able soon to announce that the spirit of insubordinatioa has been quelled, and that the routine of prison lifehas been resumed.