ENGLISH AND FOREIGN EXTRACTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 83, 18 December 1852, Page 3

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN EXTRACTS.

SEA-BORNE MAILS. (From the London Daily News.)

When the new ocean mail contracts into which the Government has recently entered cottie into operation, the whole cost to the nation for conveying its sea-borne correspondence •will amount to nearly a million sterling per annum. The ocean mail packet lines served by this country will then be about 60,000 miles in length ; and the number of miles which the British mail packets will traverse annually will be nearly 2,500,000. The number of letters which these packets will carry in the course of a year, at the present postal packet rates, will be about 30 millions.

The relative importance of different parts of the world with this country may be estimated by the frequency of the mail packet communication with them. Thus, the communication ■with Fiance will be twice daily ; with Belgium once daily ; with Holland and Hamburg twice

weekly ; with America weekly ; with the East Indies and the Peninsula three times monthly ; with the Cape of Good Hope five times every two months; with the West Indies, China, the west coast of Africa, central America, Chili, Peru, and the Spanish Main, twice monthly ; and with Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Buenos Ayres, monthly.

The principal steam packet companies who have contracts with the government are the Pacific, the British and American, the West India, and the Peninsular and Oriental Companies. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company has hitherto confined its operations to the southwestern coast of America, between Panama and Valparaiso. It will most probably extend its enterprise to California, and materially assist in the navigation of the Pacific Ocean, and in establishing a western communication with Australia.

The British and American Steam Packet Company is distinguished for the success with which it has navigated the North Atlantic Ocean. It has been in advance of all the other steam packet companies, as far as the perfection of its vessels is concerned ; and in taking immediate advantage of every discovery in the improvement of steamers. Its ship-building career has been one continued triumph, each of its packets having surpassed its predecessor in magnitude and speed. The operations of this company have consisted almost exclusively in running packets between 'England and the United States, and British North America. When California was discovered, it was expected that the British and American Company would have extended its enterprise southward from New Y r ork, in order to share the immense traffic that would arise on that route. It has not, however, seen fit to do so, and has allowed the American people to monopolise the whole of the sea traffic between New York and San Francisco.

The Iloyal West India Mail Packet Company differs from all other companies in having commenced its existence as a great company, and in undertaking at the outset of its career a vast and magnificent ocean mail packet scheme It has been more unfortunate than all other companies put together, having lost, in the space of ten years, a splendid fleet of steamers, the destruction of which has caused some of the most terrible and heart-rending calamities recorded in the history of ocean navigation. It is singular that from the first mail packet scheme projected by this companj', there would seem to have been anticipated some great discovery in the Pacific in connexion with the United States, since it comprehended a communication between the Darien Gulf and New York. It is curious to observe also, the changes which this company's mail route scheme has undergone. In the first instance, of so little importance were the North and South American ports in the Pacific considered, that Chagres was never visited until the northern Antilles had been served, and then only by a branch steamer, once a month, from Jamaica. As for Grey Town, it was not even mentioned in their scheme. Now, however, there is a direct communication between England and Chagres and Grey Town once every fourteen days. The great policy of the Royal Company, at present, is to prevent the riches and traffic, originating on the eastern shores of the Pacific, from passing to this country by way of New York ; and to draw it to England, by a direct north-easter-ly course, from the Isthmus of Panama. To accomplish this, gigantic steamers are running between St. Thomas and their home station ; the number of intercolonial packets of the company is to be augmented, and its trade with Mexico to be partially sacrificed.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company was the most insignificant of all the packet companies, and has become the greatest of any. It first possessed, as a foreign packet company, two or three steamers only, which were employed in coasting in the Bay of Biscay, and it now possesses a fleet of which a nation might be proud. In a few months its fleet will consist of upwards of 30 steamers, which will cover a sea and ocean line 15,000 miles in length. The operations of this company have been spreading eastward with marvellous rapidity. The company has now secured the principal traffic of the eastern world ; which will scarcely be interfered with, even when a western communication with Australia is established. Trading with the richest and most populous countries on the globe, with no great ocean to cross, have made the Peninsular and Oriental Company the wealthiest and most fortunate steam packet company in the world.

1 The mail steam packet service of this coun- ! try is one. of its crowning achievements, and will leave more lasting and beneficial traces of its greatness than my monument existing of the most celebrated nations -of antiquity; for .by its agency the English, name and language will be extended over the civilized world ; and

the fame of England will rest on commerce and not on conquest.

There can be little doubt that if a uniform foreign postal rate, sufficiently low in amount, prepaid by stamps, were substituted for the present charges, the over-sea correspondence of this country would probably increase from 30 millions of letters a year to 300 millions, without any additional expense to the government. In consequence of the introduction of the penny postage the inland correspondence of this country increased from 90 millions of letters a year to 400 millions. If increased facilities for trade and commerce had not arisen in the country a -few years since, the penny postage could not have caused such an increase in the number of letters ; and even if it had, no means would have existed for its conveyance without the assistance of railroads. Thus the cause of increase afforded facilities for its' existence. In like manner the extension of railway and steam navigation all over the world increases foreign trade and international intercourse, and this extension would cause a vast addition of our foreign correspondence, and would afford the requisite facilities for its conveyance and existence.

It is the peculiar privilege of England to be the ocean mail carriers for almost the whole world. Her mail packet system extends, in Europe and Africa, from Hamburg to the Cape of Good Hope ; in America, from Halifax to the River Plate ; and from the Panama Gulf to the southernmost limit of Chili; and in it is comprehended the whole of the sea coast of Asia. The Dutch and the Spaniards are indebted to her for conveying their mails to and from Java and the Philippines ; and she carries the correspondence of every maritime power in Europe which has dependencies in the west. Her power to do good by means of cheap foreign postage is enormous. By it she could materially advance civilization, encourage international peace and amity, assist emigration, and augment the commerce of the world. By refusing to bestow the boon of cheap foreign postage, she will neglect her high mission, and incur an unenviable responsibility. No one who has ever seen a foreign mail airive or leave this countr) could fail to have be^n struck with the ludicrous disproportion existing between its bulk, the magnitude of the steamers appointed to carry it, and the enormous sums paid to the packet companies for its conveyance ; and yet this mail contains literally the sea-borne correspondence of one portion of ths world with the other.

' Great Britain, by acting generously, and reducing her high packet rates of postage, may claim the homage and the gratitude of all nations ; but by keeping up her impolitic charges, and contracting international correspondence within narrow limits, she will deservedly incur their censure.

Chf.^P Ocean Postagb. — The agitation of a cheap ocean postal rate (says the Washington Correspondent of the " Daily News") is going on at a brisk pace. The grounds taken you are already familiar with, — avoidance of clandestine or illicit conveyance, expansion to intercourse, advantages to commerce, promotion of social benefits, and, in general, the strengthening of the bonds of peace. As a letter can be sent three thousand miles on land for three cents, the thing seems possible. How great the advance this country has made since, in 1672, under Governor Lovelace, a post was established " to go monthly between New York city and Boston, and back !" Sixty-three ypars later, in 1790, the post roads in the United States did not exceed in length one thousand miles. They consisted of a long zigzag route from Wiscasset, in Maine, via the principal towns on the Atlantic seaboard, to Savannah, in Georgia, with a few connecting cross posts. The cost of the service was £4500 ; the number of post-offices was seventy-five, and the gross yield £7479 per annum. The length of routes now in operation is 193,751 miles, of which 40,776 miles consist of coach service, 9725 of steamboats, and 6886 of railroad. Remainder miscellaneous. For internal transportation there was paid in 1851 2,995,974 dollars, of which 793,002 dollars was paid for coach conveyances, 563,943 dollars for steamboats, 818,227 dollars for railway, and 813,760 dollars for miscellaneous modes. Increase in length of mail routes during the year was' 10,969 miles.

New Route to Australia. — We incidentally mentioned, in noticing the launch of the " Arabia," that Messrs. Burns & Co. were about to open up a westerly route to our Australian colonies, via New York and Panama. We believe that arrangements are already so far completed, that in about four months they expect to extend their steem fleet to the Pacific; hut the precise details will, of course lie subject to the orders of the Post-offioe and Admiralty authorities Now that the Panama railway is partially finished, so as to afford an easy transit across the Isthmus, the main objection is removed ; and Messrs. Burns have acted well in so promptly availing themselves of the facilities thus opened up for a speedy and regular communication with our Australian colonies, which have so suddenly sprung into an importance never before dreamt of, in consequence of the discovery of vast and inexhaustible fields of

gold. The Panama railway is to extend across . that narrow portion of the Isthmus situated between Chagres on the Atlantic, and Panama on the Pacific, The length of the line will be, when finished, 47 miles ; but in the meantime, it is only intended to execute 21 miles, extending from Panama to Gorgona, on the river Chagres, at the highest point of navigation, tip to which place passengers, &c, will be conveyed by river steamers from Chagres. The country is favourable for the formation of a railway, i as the summit level is only 260 feet above the | ocean on either side, with a gradual ascent from the coasts towards the culminating ridgo near the centre of the Isthmus. A few hours j will therefore suffice to convey passengers from j sea to sea. Chagres being situated at the mouth I of the river of that name, and consequently unhealthy at certain seasons, the Atlantic terminus of the railway is to he at Limon Bay, a good roadstead, about two and a half miles to the eastward, where the steamers can ride at anchor safely, and land their passengers at all times. The section of the railway from Panaj ma to Gorgona will be very soon completed, j and the traffic carried across the Isthmus with I a degree of celerity and safety far superior to | any other route hitherto adopted or suggested. I As far then as passengers are concerned, it may 1 be considered that, practically speaking, the navigation from this country to the antipodes is uninterrupted ; and a choice of two routes will then be offered to those desirous of visiting j our Australian colonies. The present and ordinary route of sailing vessels is by crossing the j Atlantic until the coast of South America is j neared, then changing the course so as to 1 double (he Cape of Good Hope, and thence j nearly due west to Port Phillip or Van Diei men's Land — New Zealand by this route lying ' about 1500 miles further off to the eastward be- { yond Australia. Steamers however take a shorter course, and after calling at Madeira and the \ Cape de Verde Islands, steam along the west i coast of Africa, south to the Cape. By the new j route about to be opened up by the Royal Amei rican Mail Steam Packet Company, the traffic will be carried westward half round the globe ' until the antipodes are reached. Pashengers < will be conveyed in the magnificent steamers of J Cunard's line to New York, there a second series of powerful steamers will be ready to convey them to Chagres. A few hours will suffice to j waft them from the Atlantic to the Pacific 1 across the Isthmus to Panama, where another i line of powerful steamers will receive them for j the last and longest stage of the journey. On I a large 30-inch globe we measured the distance ; roughly in nautical miles, and taking the courses 1 as being direct, we found the distance to be : — Miles. i From Liverpool to New York 3120 „ New York to Chagres 2100 „ Chagres to Panama 47 „ Panama to Tahiti 4500 „ Tahiti to New Zealand 2400 „ New Zealand to Port Phillip or Van Diemen's Land .... l"O0 13,667 1 The distance from Panama to Australia is too i great for an unbroken run, and the steamers on this branch of the service will call and coal at , Tahiti, one of the Society Islands, and the most | advanced in civilization. Thence the course , will be westerly to New Zealand, and still far1 ther west to Australia. As our antipodes have ' to be reached, it is obvious that they would be \ equally near this country, if a direct course j could be steered, whether that course was eastI ward or westward ; but as there is already a line \ of steamers between this and America, unequalled in the world for comfort, power, and regularity, it is clear that, if we can take advantage of them so far, it will be a great point gained. j We believe it is not yet decided at which, or [ how many of the ports in New Zealand, Van i Diemen's Land, and Australia, this new line ' of steamers will call, nor how frequent the cornj munications will be : hut a general outline of | the entire route is indicated above, from which ; its importance and convenience to the mother I country and its colonies may be appreciated. — I Nokth British Daily Mail.

The Submarine Telegraph.— The completion of thp submarine telegraph between Ilolyhead and Howth is the subject of an article in the " Nation," the nature of which may be judged by the following quotation :—": — " A telegraph will threaten as well as compliment, — will bear tidings of woe as well as messages of peace. And if a war in Europe gave Ireland an opportunity to revenge the hourly insults and tyrannies of England, — if the convulsion which the prognostications of English statesmen teach us to expect bursts upon us, — if, as we said last week, we be thrown upon our own resources, and have to choose our path in the struggle, — this new fetter would be torn to pieces in an hoar, or be the agent to announce to England that the subjects she has scourged for centuries had abjured her authority and defied her will."

" Busn" Missionaries. — A very interesting meeting was recently held in London, of the leading Dissenters, to consider upon the best method of providing for the religious wants of Australia. It was decided to send out as large a supply as possible of educated and energetic men, qualified to act as " bush missionaries.

Cariuage of Books to Australia. — We (the " Athenaeum") are given to understand that arrangements are in progress for extending the privilege of sending books, magazines, and pamphlets by post, at the low rales adopted for inland carriage of these articles, to thV'settlements of Australia. This would be a considerable boon, both to English authors and to their Colonial readers, and would tend to strengthen the intellectual ties which connect the fortunes of the mighty continent with those of the little island.

Militia Act.— The New Militia Act was printed on the 2nd July. It contains 83 clauses. The act proceeds to state that regulations may Be made by the Secretary of State as to the officers of the militia. The number of private militiamen is not to exceed 80,000, of which 50,000 may be raised in the present year, and 30,000 in 1853, by voluntary enlistment. The bounty money is not to exceed £6, and the periodical payment or allowance is not to exceed after the rate of 2s. 6d. per month during the term of service for which the volunteer is enrolled. Where men cannot be raised by voluntary enlistment, her Majesty in Council may order a ballot. Men are not liable to be balloted after 35 years of age. The militia may be called out for training more than once a year. In case of invasion or imminent danger, her Majesty may raise the militia to 120,000 men.

An instance of expeditious communication with the continent occurred a few mornings ago at the Stock Exchange, where a reply was received at twenty minutes before twelve, to an inquiry regarding prices which had been despatched to Antwerp at ten minutes to eleven o'clock.

Upwards of 22,000 people left Liverpool in the month of July for Australia.

Tiik Election ov Sir J. PaKlngton.— Sir John Pakington, on his re-election for Droitwich, which was without opposition, said — We have been accused of entering upon office under false pretences. This language has come, I am sorry to say, from so distinguished a man as Lord John Russell — a man whom, whatever our political differences, I sincerely respect, although I cannot say that I have ever .regarded, him as a great statesman ; but Sir James Graham has just declared before the electors at Carlisle that we climbed into office on protection, and that now we have kicked down the ladder by which we rose. Now, I say there never was a more unfounded charge brought ngainst public men. Upon that question we have never changed sides. We have told you from that clay to this, that justice ought to be done to the suffering classes ; but we have also told you from that day to this, that a policy once deliberately adopted by a British Parliament, and especially a policy which was so interesting to the people of this country, as one which relates to the duties on the great article of consumption, could not lightly or hastily be rcvprsed, unless by the strong concurrence of public opinion, that that policy had been carried too far. We did not come into office on any motive of our own ; we came into office because our predecessors went out of it. (Laughter.) That really was the true reason. We did not even assail the late government. They had been tottering and tottering for a longperiod before — they had been getting weaker and worker, and more subdivided amongst themselves, and having less and less confidence in their leaders, until they went out more as you see your bed-room candles go out at night, than any other simile that I know of. (Laughter.) They were truly burnt out, and that was the reason why they left office. We did not turn them out upon a protection motion ; and, more than that, m c never have made a protection motion. Ever siiice the year 1847, the party with which I have the honour to act have never yet made a motion for a return to protection. I am prepared, on the part of the Government, to maintain that it is a long time since any session has been more marked by useful and important legislation than the session which has just terminated. I think I may ask you to infer from our conduct, both in a-iid out of office, during the last five years, what will be the policy upon which, if the country so wills it, we shall continue to govern this great empire. (Hear, hear.) It is our anxious wish so to govern this country, as upon other subjects, as will reconcile all its conflicting classes. It is an idle mistake to pretend that we have come into power, or that we intend, if we can, to remain in power, solely for one isolated fiscal question, however important that may be. We stand upon broader grounds, we profess higher aims and objects. We come before you to support the monarch , to check the tide of undue democracy. We wish to reverence and respect the rights of the people, but to adopt a conservative policy which shall maintain not only the rights of the people at large, but the rights of the crown, the rights of property, and the rights of every class and section of the community. (Cheers.)

Bursting of a Waterspout. — A calamity, similar to that which spread ruin and death through the valley of the Holme, in England, has befallen the district of Mulhausen and Dingelstedt, department of the Rhine. The bursting of a waterspout caused such a sudden rise in the waters of the Unstrut and other streams, that not only has the whole harvest of the year been destroyed, but the fields are covered with stones and sand to such an extent, that it will be impossible to bring them into cultivation for years to come. In a quarter of an hour the Unstrut rose 18 feet above its usual level. The loss of life was not then known, but it was feared it would be considerable. The roads are everywhere destroyed ; whole herds of cattle and sheep have been lost, and buildings have been so completely swept away, that scarcely a stone of them remains.

Plot against Louis Napoleon. — Paris, July 2, 7 a.m. — The "Palrie" announces that a plot against the State had been discovered in Paris. Thirteen individuals had been arrested in a detached house in the Rue Reine Blanche. The conspirators, who are in correspondence with the London refugees, were busy making an infernal machine. Many arrests took place during the night. A later account says: — The report of the discovery of a conspiracy and an infernal machine in a house in the Batingnollcs

is confirmed. About 24 persons have already been arrested, but no particulars are known. The machine was composed of 14 barrels, capable of containing each about 20 bullets; and their firing in a wrong direction, it is said, would have been utterly impossible.

The accounts from the agricultural districts are almost exclusively taken up with the damage done by the wet and boisterous weather which has so long prevailed. The cultivated lands near the banks of Saone, the Rhone, the Loire, the Allier, and several other streams, are covered with water. In many districts the wheat is •' laid," and everywhere it has been more or less injured. — (June 28.) By later accounts from the agricultural districts, we learn that the great heat had produced the most favourable effect on the wheat crop ; and it is now confidently believed that the harvest will be everywhere magnificent.

The " Moniteur" publishes a return of the revenue for the first six months of the present year, which amounts to 359,497,000f. As compared with the same period of 1851, there is an increase of 25,837,000f., and of 39,030,000f. over that of 1850. ' The President of France has this week been opening the last section of the Paris and Strasburg railway — namely that between Nancy and Strasburg. The total length of the line is 311 English miles, and the cost of its construction will have been £10,320,000, of which £4,800,000 will hive been furnished by the State. On the route to Strasburg scarcely less than royal honours were paid to the President by his attendants ; and the authorities and population of the various places stopped at are said to have received him with enthusiastic acclamations. Strasburg, the city which, some 16 years ago, he visited in the vain hope that the troops would revolt in his favour, he now entered as the ruler of France ; and, having reviewed the troops there, he crossed the Rhine on a bridge constructed by his engineers, and there reviewed the Baden troops amidst the loudest acclamations. On re-crossing the Rhine into the French territory, the enthusiasm, it is said, rose into a frenzy. According to the telegraphic reports, the shouts of " Vive Napoleon," •' Vive l'Empereur," the flowers, the bouquets, all foimed an ' ensemble' impossible to describe. Some attention has been excited by the fact that a Prussian commissioner went to Strasburg to congratulate the President on his visit. There are many who attribute it to a wish on the part of his Prussian Majesty to stand well with the head of the French Government, in order to facilitate his views on Neufchatel. The Swiss authorities, also desirous to ingiatiatc themselves with the President, sent a congratulatory deputation to Strasburg. Tuesday night the Prince passed in Baden. The " Moniteur" of Wednesday states that the President, having been received so warmly by the people of Alsace, will remain two or three days longer in Strasburg, to testify his gratitude.

The President was to start on his imperial progress immediately after the fetes of the 15th of August. He intended to go first to Bordeaux, and afterwards to Toulouse, Marseilles, and Toulon. He has refused to attend any banquets which may be given to him during his progress in the provinces. Several of the members of the Cabinet are strongly opposed to the journey, on account of the danger to which Louis Napoleon is exposed.

Religious Persecution in Tuscany. — The following is m extract of a letter from Florence, dated 9th of June :—": — " Yesterday, at 3 o'clock, the decision in the case of poor Madiai and Pasquale Casacci was pronounced with closed doors. You will be soiry to learn that Madiai has been sentenced to (he galleys, with hard labour, for four years and a-half, and his wife to three years and ten months' imprisonment in the Ergastolo (the galley for females), with hard labour, besides having to bear the whole expense of their trial, and being subject to three years' surveillance on their liberation. Casacci, who turned 'lecusant,' has been discharged by the Court of Criminal Law, but is detained to answer two processes against him by the police, under the law of April, 1851. That history may pronounce upon the chief actors in this affair, I may state that Nervini was President of the Court, C'occhi was the examining Judge, Biechierai acted as Procurator-General. The trial lasted four days. Rosa (lime. Madiai) was pale and somewhat agitated upon her appearing in Court. Francois (Madiai) was delighted to see his wife, and shook her warmly by the hand. Everybody was astonished at their composure. Casacci was the very picture of misery, and from my heart I pitied him. At the commencement of the trial Francois was asked if he was born in the bosom of the Holy Mother Roman Catholic Church. ' Yes,' was his reply, 'but now I am a Christian according to the Gospel.' ' Who made you so, and have you taken an act of abjuration in the presence of those with whom you are now connected ?' 'My convictions are of many years standing, but they have acquired greater force by my study of God's Word ; but what has passed between God and rmself in secret I have publicly testified by my communion in the Swiss Church.' In reply to the questions put to her, Rosa answered that she had not lightly changed her opinion, and merely to please men ; that having been resident in England for sixteen years she had read much of God's Word, and compared it with the doctrines of the Romish Church ; that becoming convinced of the errors of that Church, she had left it, and had, at the Communion of the Loid's Supper, made a public confession of her abjuration at the time when the laws of the country allowed and protected full liberty of religion to the citizens. The audience were much struck -with the simplicity and sincerity of Madiai. During the

two following days witnesses were examined, and the Procurator-General concluded, demanding their conviction. On the fourth day the Court remained in deliberation for a considerable time, the opinions being divided — two were in favour of an acquittal and three for condemnation. Madiai and his wife heard the sentence with firmness and dignity. The voice of the President trembled as he read the sentence. The public were indignant at the sentence, and against the judges, full of sympathy and esteem for the Madiai, and contempt for Casacci. Madiai has been advised to appeal to the Court of Cassation, and perhaps the superior Court, more free to act. will reverse the sentence. Landucci, the Minister of the Interior, having been applied to, lias advised an application to be made for a commutation of their sentence into banishment."