LATEST EUROPEAN NEWS TO MAY 16.

Otago Witness, Issue 299, 22 August 1857, Page 6

LATEST EUROPEAN NEWS TO MAY 16.

1 * (From the- Lytteltoh Times, July -29.) . , *The arrival of the Wonga.Wonga steamer on Sunday puts; us ■ in : possession of the English mail which left London,, via Mar-; seilles, on the 16th of May," arrived In Mcli bourne by the Columbian on the: 6th July*and in Wellington, by the Marchioness, on the 19th July, the latest news* brought being then only 64 days old. We take the following from the Melbourne "Argus" of July 6:— LATEST INTELLIGENCE. The Columbian brings one of the largest mails ever brought to the colonies, consisting of 503 boxes, viz., for Melbourne 252 ;. Sydney 140 ; Adelaide 49 ; Tasmania 55 ; King George's Sound 7. The Columbian, on the return voyage, arrived at Aden on the 3rd of June. She was there detained 40 hours, taking in 980> tons of coal. At Galle she stayed 38 hours taking in coals, where she arrived on the l4th of June, one day behind her contract time. From there she had steamed direct to Melbourne. LATEST FROM THE EAST. From Ceylon she brings intelligence of the loss of the P. & O. Co.'s steamer Erin, which was run ashore on Sunday night, the 7th June, on her voyage from Bombay to China. All hands were saved, but the ship and cargo are a total loss. The intelligence from India is of an alarming character of the progress of the mutiny in the Bengal army. At the latest advices, about 12,000 of the mutineers, after killing their officers, had obtained possession of the city of Delhi. An overwhelming force of European troops was concentrating around that city, and next mail will, it is hoped, bring intelligence of the suppression of this fresh outbreak, and the chastisement of the leaders. From China there is nothing additional ; the fleet and troops still maintain their former positions, whilst waiting the expected reinforcements. The first portion of the flotilla, consisting of six gun-boats, had arrived out at Singapore, where it is intended that the whole of the fleet and transports shall rendezvous. The Raleigh, frigate, Captain Kiffal, was lost near Mocco. Pending the suppression of the revolt of the Sepoy troops in Bengal, steamers had been despatched by the Governor- General to the Mauritius and* the straits of to intercept the troop-ships destined for China, and to direct them upon Calcutta. Lord Elgin's departure from Calcutta for China was deferred until the settlement of the Sepoy outbreak. OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. The seventeenth Parliament of the United Kingdom, (the fifth summoned during the present reign), and the second session of 1857, was inaugurated on the 7th May with the following speech from the throne. Her Majesty was not present at the opening of Parliament : — My Lords and Gentlemen, — We are commanded to inform you that her Majesty has availed herself of the earliest opportunity of having recourse to your advice and assistance after the dissolution of the last Parliament ; and her Majesty trusts that there will be found sufficient time during the present session to enable you satisfactorily to deal with various important matters, some of which had occupied the attention of Parlianient in the beginning of this year. We are commanded by her Majesty to inform you that the general aspect of affairs in Europe affords a well grounded confidence in the continuance of peace. All the main stipulations of the Treaty of Paris have been carried into execution, and it is to be hoped that what remains to be done in regard to those matters will be speedily accomplished. The negotiations in which her Majesty has been engaged with the government of Honduras, in regard to the affairs of Central America, have not yet been brought to a close. , We are commanded by her Majesty to inform you that a treaty of peace between her Mafesty and the Shah of Persia was signed at Paris on the 4th of March, by her Majesty's ambassador at Paris, and by the ambassador of the Shah, and her Majesty will give directions that this treaty shall be laid before you as soon as the ratifications thereof shall have been duly exchanged. Her Majesty commands us to express to you her regret that, at the date of the latest arrivals from China, the differences which had arisen between the High Commissioner at Canton, and.her Majesty's civil and naval officers in China still remain unadjusted. But her Majesty has sent to China, a Plenipotentiary fully instructed to deal with all matters of difference, and that Plenipotentiary will be supported by an adequate naval and military force, in the event of such assistance- becoming necessary. , We are commanded to inform you that her Majesty, in conjunction with several other European Powers, has concluded a treaty with the King of - Denmark for the redemption of the/Sbutfd Dues. This treaty, together with 1 a 'separate convention between her Majtoty and the King of Denmark^ completing the. a»a~Wgement, < will be laid before ..you, and her- Majesty will cause. the measures necessary for fulfilling the engagements', thereby contracted to be submitted for your consideration,'

I . . Gentlemen of'the-llause^of. Conmoms,— i ,• , . Her Majesty^h^S) directed; tl^e, estimates fqr 'flies present year to belaid b.efore youl V r' \ j They -have been prepared with careful .attention, to economy, and with a due regard.tb.tnV efficiency" of the departments of 1 the public teerjice'to wnieh they severally 1 relate; ' '' • ' ' i• • '.:■'.. > 'My Xords'and Gehtleme'n,^—' '* V ''■ '!'"> Her Majesty conjmancU v'§ to 1 recommend to'yttur earnest consideration -measures whioh will be proposed to you for the consolidation and improvement of the law.. „- •».)'<• Bills will be submitted, to you for improving the , laws relating, to the testamentary and matrimonial'jurisdiction 'now exercised by the Ecclesiasti-. cal Courts, anti also for che'ckingfraudulent breaches of trust: ■ ■ ,< ' • : ' , Her Majesty \ commands us to express to.you, her heartfelt grafificatipn at, witnessing the continued well-being and contentment of her people, and the progressive development of' productive industry throughout her dominions. ' * > ' Her Majesty- confidently commits to your wisdom' and care the great interests of, her empire, and fervently prays that the blessing of Almighty God may be vouchsafed to your deliberations, and may lead you to conclusions conducive to the objects of her Majesty's constant solicitude, the welfare and happiness of her loyal and faithful people. The address in reply to Her Majesty's speech was moved in the House of Lords by Lord Townshend, seconded by the Earl of Portsmouth, and carried unanimously. In the HouSe of Commons, Mr. Dodson, the member for East Sussex moved, and Mr. Buchanan, the member for Glasgow, seconded the address, which was unanimously carried. The debate was remarkable only on account of that declaration which it drew from Lord Palmerston :—: — " I hope — indeed I am confident — that at the beginning of the next session we shall be able to propose to Parliament some measure which will be calculated to satisfy the just expectations of many parties, and to correct any defects which may exist in the Reform Act, as well as to admit to the franchise those classes of persons who are excluded from it. More than that, I trust the House will not expect me to say at present. If this House has confidence in the present Government, it ought to show it by exercising the forbearance, by not pressing this session for any declaration upon particular points in reference to representative reform. If this House has not sufficient confidence in us to wait until the next session for the production of measures upon a subject requiring the gravest consideration, then it had better say so, and at once place the administration of the affairs of the country in other hands," . . Mr. Evelyn Denison, member for North Nottinghamshire, was elected to the Speak - ership of the House of Commons without opposition. FROM THE ''HOME NEWS,' MAY 16. It will be seen from our Parliamentary report that Sir George Grey has again brought his Transportation and Penal Servitude Bill before the House of Commons, and the measure is in all respects the same as that initiated last February, but he was prevented from proceeding with it by the dissolution of Parliament. Its salient features may be b.riefly indicated. It is proposed by this bill to abolish transportation nominally, and to substitute for it a term of penal servitude of the same duration. Transportation, however, although thus theoretically repealed, will be practically carried into effect on a small scale ; for the bill provides that the Government may convey any person under penal servitude to any place beyond the seas appointed by her Majesty in Council. The object of this provision is to reserve the means of supplying convict labour wherever, or whenever, it may be required ; but Sir George Grey is of opinion that the number of instances will be few in which this power will be resorted to. Penal servitude within the four seas will be the rule, transportation the exception. The right of granting qualified freedom is still retained by the Home Office. There seems no longer to be any alarm on this subject. The tieket-of-leave is found to be innocent of a large proportion of, the crimes laid at its door, and the domestic serenity of the, last few months, in addition to the f evidence of statistical returns, has greatly tranquilized the public mind in .reference to the liberated convict. Mr. Keating, last night, moved an amendment for the repeal of the tieket-of-leave system, but the sense of the House was clearly against him, and. the amendment was rejected by a large majorThat the decision of the Government in abandoning transportation is opposed to the recorded opinions of many eminent men, and of committees. of both Houses of. Parliament, cannot be denied ; but its prudence, or necessity, is not the less obvious. The colonies, . with' the , exception of Western Australia, had protested against any more •drafts of convicts,, and the v _ difficulty was to find localities to supply their places". " Mtffct

,ttan.spprtatipnjt,o,.take ! e^e,c.tm'ce.rtaiii case,s \ve._ should.', haye rt the^;ci^er)arna of, , .haying. .p^sseii^a, l^w"-^^h\we could, not* >put into .opera tion^^^fhe.biir proposed T)y Sir.G. Crrey^^Voip ( ,^hig'iaßqHtialy.,;b'y jabolishing, transportation^ J^hile it repei;ves (( to ,her.,Mdjestyrin.,C^ip;ci4 ) the.'power of sen$ T ' ( ing c,on vie te, across ( jtke seas when circum- , stances trnay ; render it 'desirable./. „ . A petiMbjajfrpm Mr. ' , Martin,, was laid bef,9re t tl^e ilou.se of Commons; on last nigh^t, praying the.new Reform , Bill may be^o.framed^asto.malce, provision for; the, representation .bftne^ojibnies in r the Imperial Parliament. ,^He ? petition does not develop Mr. , Martin's ; views, in detail, but we believe thathis.scn'eme .contemplates 20 Colonial Representatives : five for Canada and its tributaries, fiye, for. New South Wales, three for ; the West Indies,- three for the Cape, and four for the Mediterranean and Channel Islands belonging to Great Britain. This proposal seems t t p us open to objection on the ground of the- relative, members being disproportionate ; but we apprehend, that there exist, other and graver objections to a project which appears on the face of it just and reasonable. The distance between the Colonies and the mother country would render parliamentary representation, subject as it would be to parliamentary influences and parliamentary vicissitudes, of extremely doubtful utility to the remote constituencies ; while the establishment of imperial representation would be to some extent inconsistent with the principle of self-government, towards the recognition of which all colonies aspire as they grow in wealth and power. The question, however, in all 'its bearings is well worthy of consideration, and should not be hastily decided either way. It is confidently reported in the clubs that the Lord Chancellor's retirement will very shortly take place. Sir Alexander Cockburn would, probably, aspire to the portfolio of Justice, when such a department comes to be created ; and the new Chancellor will, in all likelihood, be Sir Richard Bethell, the. present AttorneyGeneral. Sir W. Page Wood is spoken of, but the "Attorney- General's claim is considered stronger. ' Mr. Edwin James, Mr. Keating, and 'Mr. Collier, ' are suggested for the Solicitor-Generalship. One of those efforts of imagination which periodically appear in the form of rumours has recently been current, to the effect that the country was about to be deprived of the services of one of the most able and valued of her Majesty's Ministers. Lord Panmure,was said to be about to resign." Nor was there any hesitation in assigning causes for this act. We can state authoritatively that the rumour, in all its particulars, is entirely devoid of any foundation. Mr. Chichester Fortescue has succeeded' Mr. John Ball as Under-Secretary for the Colonies. The' recent departure of ' Baron' Gros for China, as Extraordinary French Commissioner, to co-operate with" Lord Elgin, is announced by the ' Moniteur.' .A mission of such importance could not have been placed in abler hands." Baron Gros has long been recognised as one of the most distinguished diplomatists of France. In 1847 he was sent' by Louis Philippe on a mission to the Argentine Republic ; in 1850 he acted as mediator 1 between Great Britain and Greece ; and he very recently concluded the treaty between .France" and' Spain which regulates the comnlori' frontier on the Pyrenees. "'','''" We extract froni the" "Spectator" of each week the current news' of thfe month elapsed since last mail. (week ending aprll 1&) ' s . The present Easter has witnessed the, cprh- ' pletion.pf'a general eJection-^-one.o'f the quietest, yet strangest, that the 'country has Under- 1 gone. L We have- seefi v 'the- bounties- '<' "rescued from Tory dotirinatioriV\as agents oh the other side; say. We hay©' seen; Ireland peculiarly (Conservative,, jj'et there too, we see'Gal,way,re.scued from the'nom^ationiOf.pr.M'H^le,; his nominee, Captain Bellew, being' defeated' by a Liberal Protestant, witn undoubted support from the Roman Catholic gentry, and 'even, it is said, from Roman Catholic priests;--- Such is the fusion of parties even ' in .the highest Papal quarter. '•'■■; ■ „ - . ,/„ *.r >*: • Yet Protestantism has had dts fchecks. In the Court of;- Appeal* lately, it f ,wasasitwerefa drawn-battle between. Lidde|i and/ Westerton ; ' and while, -as a consequence of, the judicial decision prono'uncjrig, thVJ'egality or .credencetables', altar-clotfe, and crosses, various 1 churches," "most especially"' All 1 Saints 'in -the -'district : of -St.. Marylebone, have blazed forth in a gorgeous' -display of ecclesiastical/decoration b.bthrjojf men and furniture, ,Si:. ( Pa;u;rs,-Km'ght4bridsge, has re-elected -Mr; .Wester ton An the face of Mr. Liddell. "" ' •'•',-"*• >■■• " ,--- ',

The tf&*s£ UMt .rM^Mgnr. r atfb' r kgyfrip tod Jfkht piild <^{fi#»e $ 'ctfttieihVu&ainT fcrl (fe h&*H ifi? ef*ksort4&tti&fcrdfidefcWofi'ihd ifibai *of H&ftii/ WaW ' certain dfsltettidnSU shdtfl g" tfctft! ih§'>flibm&i which haft' affected- \s&ltfe SeVettffore' •Utipmtift 0 is the "lung disease," alnadywell known ftp' this country, and "trot' verserioirs}' whereas the proclamation has -6'Ut B the import from the 1 very moment that? the m<ore~alai ( rning' disease of " steppe murrain" ad crossed' the' bt>r- ? der of Prussia or Austria', frggtwardrWe were therfcfGre\free'to eat' our; iplldgy.toeef tyitfrdut very, serious apprehension of the Tartar taint yet it. certainly has been an eventful Easter ' which/ thusnnteffe'rea wit-lithe 1 hope's 'rind fears of the dinner-table. --*•• - A diplomatic ferment; ii 'the .relations be-<) tw.e,en America and Euro i is. indicated, by!re>: .' dent occurrences, bqt witbutv'ahy. satisfactory^ explanation. A treaty coi eluded' between 'ihfo '. ' country and France has csised' great vexation" in British North Am eric i. Long isince, the French claimed the High f of fishery on the coast of Newfoundland- 5 - 1 right which they% had exercised when. Franc i, held possessions in North America. -The pr;c'tice.has; continued de facto; the colonists alrays 'objecting, and ' the English Government trimming between , the French claim and assertions of the colonial claim. But recently a treaty has been arranged ' between France and Engand, the claim of France. The cor sequence, is ah out- ' burst in Newfoundland, pith, a Sympathizing outburst in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and evea Canada, to the exten , it is said, of contemplating a federal prolsst. The treaty, in- ' deed, has been reserved fee the confirmation of the Legislature of New undland, — rather a curious provision in an Im erial treaty. Would it not have been a more direct course, more conformable to the interess of this country, if France had been induced ,o resign her pretensions upon actual compeniatioh to the interests specially engaged P The c is no doubt that salt fish could be furnishe to the Roniari Ca--thoiics of France quite as cheaply by an English as by a French fisheip. And if the pride of the French people had been concerned, concessions such as the >hts navigation of the Gambia, and other compensating compliments, might have been paid by :his country as a setoff. As it is, there is a chane either that the colonists will be irritated et some official " management" to fulfil the '-ishes of France, or France will be annoyed by the rejection of a treaty which we have.coreluded ; chances both of which would have tsen prevented by departing from the dognKtic secrecy of diplomacy and openly discuss og the question of its merits. (WEEK ENDING APRIL 25.)The grand Russian n llway scheme bas ar-. rived at that stage of unsuccessful endeavour... which is characterized bi r reckless mismanage-v ment. In the effort to push it, whether with; or .without, the requisite :ertificate of admission * upon the English Stock Exchange, expedients have been adopted whicn were perfectly certain' to provoke exposure. Some kind of "transaction" was effected on |londay, with a price nominally realizing a ptemium of " £ to 1 per cent." But how did thej scheme come there at' all ? Who introduced tae stranger ? It turns out that three applications had been made, each for the exact sum cf £20,000, "and in each case upon instruction fibm some foreign city, — Paris, Brussels, andj perhaps Amsterdam. The attempt, no doubt, ivas' intended to create, the appearance of <an English, demand for .the stock of these Russian jjailways ; but any con-. trivance more clumsy> or more easily seea through can hardly be conceived. - It. migh^ have been expected thaj the House of' Baring,' the representative of England in' the Russian Directorate,' would b'ai^e understood how tomanage matters better on Cornhill. As the comparatively small sun . expected from .this country, £2,000,000, ■night have beqn, .raised by private means, witiout an appeal to the public, the appeal argues a want of, confidence on the part of those vefy firms that are seeking to obtain other people'l money for the investment j while the urgeni exertion to collect even petty sums through cointry clergymen in Eng- „ land, as well as through private subscriptions in Russia, proves beyojd doubt that the scheme does not " take"' in any part of Europe. Undoubtedly, this correctjudgment has been' materially aided by the Viligence and unanimity with" which the Engliii press 1 has disclosed the true merits of the c'asl ' ' ; • ■ (WEEKOEN3ING MAY 2.)1 ; . . ', The new Parliament met on Thursday, .- : and many of the members saw each, other for .the first time.. They hsjre . before , them a clear stage s and no urifavotrabTe construction. Thd public, we believe, c.ojicu'rs ,with us in" dikijontinuing the fashion ©(classifying 'the'-memlferff, either new or even 619, according'to the 'parly ni'ck : names. The li^s. 'which we give in * our •supplement seek to.sipply such in formation, .as is really available, wlhout the delusion; involved in placing memters in categories to* which they may not realty - .belong. t They 'will be judged not by any stch verbal disti'nctidn, but by their acts. / • * The first businesafeefore the House was the election of Speakeij • All : doubts iwhioh have ■been expressed r upoa..theirsubjeict i were settled ,by the unanimous, deqtion.of Mn. John Evelyn, " Denison, the Memjer for 'North' Nottinghamshire. Not a shad wof resistance was offeree!, -not everia.'qiie'stib] .raiseiJ..' rlfr If anfy^misgivirigs existed is- to t of certain •(jyaKfications in a'p'ra'ctbal knowledge of Parliamentary business^it wis'in fctfeat part flispelled-by ,the assurances of Mr. Thbr,nely,"thatiMr*'DetriBOft had all the t quisite experience, tjanjiun.usual amount of )ra'ctice, 'and. steady ' Observation, to fit Mm e^ti for the most technical dv-

ties of the Speakership. " He ascended' the chair with the customary congratulation of the leader of the House of Commons, seconded by one of the gentlemen who has been named as his probable rival. Great "was the contrast, in that perfect unanimity, that unbroken peace, with the first scene in the Reformed Parliament, when the triumphant Ministers were to continue the Tory Manners Sutton in the chair, and Joseph Hume was bringing forward Mr. Edward Littleton with the support of Cobbett and O'Connell, the Radical and the Repealer. In those days the very name of Tory was enough to rouse the spirit of destruction on the Liberal side : at the present dayVthe difficulty is to draw a distinct line between the two sides, and the Speaker named by one is welcomed by the other. The Duchess of Gloucester has closed a long life, not uncheckered, not without its sorrows or its solaces. Her death removes the last of George the Third's children — the last royal link •with a past political regime. The Princess Mary was one of the best, certainly the most amiable of his immediate family. Fast in her affections, she was able to enjoy to the last the unremitting attention which she received- from her relatives — a testimony alike to her own character and to theirs. The Grand Duke Constantine has been making a reconnaisance at Toulon, after the fashion of Peter the Great, learning amid trophies of Russia's defeat how she may win next time ; and he has arrived in Paris, no doubt to see ■what he can pick up in the market of empires. France will try to get something out of the Russian traveller; the Russian traveller will seek to carry home more than an equivalent. Neuchatel Conference is reported to have been formally closed ; Switzerland having accepted the terms, which prove to be less unsatisfactory for the Republic than they looked in the earlier description. New lights are thrown upon the union of the Danubian principalities, in the interest of the Roumans, who desire it on a speculation that their own local energy will beat the designs of Russia as well as Turkey ; and the balance of council seems to incline to the union. Although the Government of the United States has thought it expedient to decline " cooperation" with France and England in China, it has taken steps to join in any action upon the spot which may be requisite for the protection of American interests, and which in fact may assist in protecting European interests generallj'. A person of trust, Mr. W. B. Reed, has been appointed Minister Extraordinary; and on his way from Washington to Canton or to Pekin, he will " communicate" with the Governments at London and Paris — of course in order to explain the character of his own mission, and to obtain information as to the future proceedings of France and England. The naval force at his disposal will be strengthened : a hint that the representatives of the United States in the waters of China will not act in antagonism to France and England, although abstaining from a formal co-operation. Some trouble appears to be prepared for the new American Government as it were behind its back. Judge Drummond, Chief of the Federal Court in the distant territory of Utah, has reported that the Mormons in their fanatacisra refuse to carry his decrees into execution : the authority of the Federal Government is mutinously defied by citizens who are principally emigrants from this country, and whose whole system of laws, religion, and morals, equally defy the constitution and opinion of the rest of the Union. It seems to be expected I that the Federal Government will once more try to put down the Mormons : will they dissolve, or will they make a stand-up fight, or •will they again emigrate to the North-west P And there is a still more troublous sign neai'er home. In the " empire stale" of New York, a joint committee of the Senate and representatives has reported resolutions which amount to a vehement censure of the " inhuman" decision of Chief Justice Taney in the Dred Scott case, and the initiation of a rebellion against the declared law that " State rights" do not extend to conferring rights of any kind on persons of African blood. New York is proposing to adopt a law very like that of England, by which the simple act of standing on its soil would give freedom. The bleakness of the the weather is ominous, and in Ireland it is causing serious alarm. The farmer cannot get at land; the sowing time for corn and potatoes are passing away ; and the possibility that a narrower breadth may be planted with human food has already contributed to the doubling of the price of potatoes. A change of weather seems to be the universal prayer ; and riots of the people in various parts of the kingdom to prevent the export of potatoes, show the fierceness of the anxiety. Probably the causes for solicitude are not so urgent in England ; yet " the -weather" is becoming more than a commonplace question. In France, .if the season is not quite so backward, the need for abundance is far more crying, and more dangerous. Another bad season would indeed be a calamity there. (WEEK ENDING MAY 9.) Manchester has been officially opened by Prince Albert as a great ex hi hi lion — the whole' ,/town being rendered for the occasion but a supplement to the collection of Art Treasures that has drawn immense multitudes to the manufacturing centre. Manchester for the moment takes the lead of London, and presents to the world an exhibition of a kind never yet seen, at a day when art exhibitions appear to supersede almost every other display in the country. This week we have the Royal Academy throwing wide Its doors ; the two Water-Colour exhibitions had just done so ; the Seddon Col-

lection is introduced to the public, with a lecture by Mr. Ruskin ; the French exhibition challenges comparison with English art : but Manchester puts together the art of all times, all countries, all styles ; and, at the suggestion of certain ingenious gentlemen, the manufacturing capital has assembled all nations to show them what the Goverment and " governing^ classes" will do for the working classes, their instruction and amusement ; and Prince Albert, who — notwithstanding the Court mourning — consented to act the first part on the occasion, has kept up the excellent series of his public addresses. But it was next day, at the uncovering of the statue to commemorate the Queen's visit to Salford, that the Prince uttered a sentence which will perhaps equally astonish both despots and democrats in coming from the mouth of a royal person. He trusted that the future inhabitants of Salford would find in the contemplation of that statue "an assurance that, where loyalty and attach-,, ment to the Sovereign, as the representative of the institutions of the country, are linked to an ardent love of progress, founded upon self-re-liance and self-improvement, a country cannot fail to prosper, under favour of the Almighty " There are few men who could put the pith of our constitution into a sentence so tersely and clearly as the first gentleman in our commonwealth. The Grand Duke Constantine has continued to enjoy the hospitable attentions of the French Emperor ; and he appears to have been brilliantly received by the Parisians, who never will lose the opportunity for display of their grandeur and of themselves, although it is said they do not in their hearts take to the putative heir of Russian ambition and energy. The gaiety of his reception has been slightly impaired by the formal sympathy which the French Court has shown for our Court mourning, and even by some attention of the same kind to the memory of Lady Ashburtpn, with whom Count Walewski is allied by marriage. There is a strange complication of ideas in these associations. Reviews have been got up for the entertainment of the illustrious stranger ; Imperial conversations have taken place; young Peter the Great has conversed with Pelissier, and explained to the lucky Duke of Malakofi' how the siege of Sebastopol might have been spared if Lord Raglan's council had been taken. Reports vary as to his having received an invitation to extend his tour of inspection to our arsenals and Malakoffs. General Outram has fulfilled a certain wicked wish entertained in this country, by another military achievement in Persia, just before the news of the concluded peace reached Bagdad. On the 26th of March, the British troops pushed through marshy ground above the bottom of the Persian Gulf, and captured Mohammorah, a town entirely of modern importance on the bank of a canal which unites the two rivers Euphrates and Kooran about forty miles above the mouth of both, as they run nearly parallel into the Gulf. Mohammorah is about thirty miles south of Bussorah, which it is superseding, as the accumulation of sand is gradually impeding the upward navigation of the Euphrates. The Persians were pursued in their retreat first to Shuster, rather an important town some fifty miles higher up the Kooran, and thence to Ahwaz, a fortified place north-west of Shuster. All this is done, it is said, with the loss of ten men ! It places the British commander in a healthy ground with ample supply of provisions; and it has shown the Persians that they are not safe in Central Asia from the advance of the British. (WEEK ENDING MAY 16.) Thus far the first session of the new Parliament gives us a history devoid of trouble. Both Houses have spontaneously fallen into the spirit of Mr. Thornely's caveat ; idle talk is curtailed in favour of business, and the business is left in the main to the direction of the leader of the House of Commons, — as if the House itself were a committee, and the leader its chairman, for one unanimous purpose. True, Lord Palmerston's Government has not been yet put to its crucial tests. The Lawreforms which were promised in the Royal Speech have only come before us again in .the shape of bills ; and we have yet to see whether the Premier can exercise such force of will over the official representative of law in the Upper House as to wring out of that functionary practical measures which the two Houses will adopt. The Estimates appear for the moment by common consent to be kept out of sight ; and the taxation for the closing six months of 1857-'B, the latter half of the Budget, has yet to be arranged; and it is probable that the Opposition will concentrate its force on these topics as the weaker points in the Ministerial policy, on which attack might be made to look most imposing. Down to this point, however, little hope has been afforded for any opponents of the Premier. The tranquil direction is left to him in every form of business. The secondary appointments give rise to no discussion whatever, — whether it is placing Mr. Fitzroy in the position of second Speaker as Chairman of Committees, or Mr.^ Chichester Fortescue in the Parliamentary Assistant-Secretaryship of the Colonial Ofiice, the fiat of the Premier is sufficient. The bills that are brought forward by the Government may raise a debate, but scarcely that. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved. his resolution preliminary to a bill for the re-or-ganization of Savings' Banks, members who are an authority in banking, or gentlemen representing the class of savings banks trustees, uttered their comments; but the shadow of resistance was evidently made rather for the satisfaction of the mind than fer any chance of succeeding. This senseof his strength in the House of Commons, with perhaps a desire to increase it,

has presented him in a new character- When a question was put about the dispute between the United States and New Granada, and the protection of British interests in that quarter, Lord Palmerslon took the opportunity of giving information which had not been extorted -from him, as if eager to counteract the idea of diplomatic reserve. With a manner of unusual frankness he contradicted suspicions that the United States aim at anything unfair in that quarter; and he undertook to say for the Government at Washington, that it had only done that which any Government ought to do in protecting its own citizens. This is an echo quite in the key of the speech with which Lord Napier has delighted the citizens of the Union, but it is a new key for the official performance of " Yankee Doodle." The " lorcha" affair is extending into a grand crusade of Christendom against the Celestial Empire. Various reports on the subject have intimated that other powers would intervene besides France and England. Although the United States do not join in an " entangling alliance," they send a commissary and a squadron. Sardinia is reported to be paying suit and service for her tenure in the councils of Europe by sending a naval contingent to the joint fleet. It must be on purely disinterested or political grounds, since Sardinia has no interest in the tea trade. Perhaps because Sardinia is expected in the waters of China, Austria also is to appear there ; and Spain, it is said, will again send an armada round the Cape of Storms to assist id this grand crusade. Are these reports correct, or are they only magnified by the Ministerial and Opposition journals? If they are true, what does this demonstration mean ? Are the diplomatic and military conflicts of Europe to be transferred to the far East? It is a ground where we are necessarily further removed from our resources, and more exposed in our Indian empire.