THE ENGLISH MAIL.

West Coast Times, Issue 138, 27 February 1866, Page 2

THE ENGLISH MAIL.

From t)ie " Home News."

This day last year the present writer was lamenting a paucity of subjects of domestic interest.- He had littlo to send to Australia beyond tho usual Christmas tbpics, and oven these were rather colourless. I think that wo are rather bettor off 1 this year, though the season is proverbially flat, oxcept for those who havo their owa special holiday enjoyments. Christmas in London is what most people who have choice endeavor to eschew. " Nobody now spends his Christmas in town," said a poet some years back, and the habit of escape has grown with the opportunities. Tho Queen sets us an example, and is at quiet Osborne for the festive season. Special correspondents, of courso, must bo where they date their letters from, and accept their fate without murmuring.

Having named our Sovereign, I should state that tho announcement that if her Majesty's health permits, she will open Parliament in person, has given much satisfaction, because tho intimation indicates a complete restoration of the Queen's strength of mind and body. Thcro has been, however, no duty of stato which the monarch has not performed during her seclusion, and tho people havo waited respectfully, without impatience, for the time when it might please her to tako part once more in moro ceremonials. Tho Court receptions havo been held, with much grace, by tho Heir Apparent and his admired brido, and it has been felt that there was no case for thoso whose superfluous exhortations to the Queen to como forth from her retirement havo been by no means considerate or courteous. There is one part of the intimation to which ( refer which has excited curious comment. It is said that tho Sovereign will not wear her Stato robes on the occasion spoken of, but that these will bo deposited on the throne, and her Majesty is supposed to be disinclined to conceal the ensigns of widowhood. Thore is time, however, to reconsidor this novel arrangement. Tho Speech is, wo aro told, to be delivered by the Chancellor, which is to be regretted, as tho Queen's enunciation of such addresses is vory admirable. Among the topics of tho Speech will be the announcement of the betrothal of Princess Helena to the brother of tho Duke of Augustenborg, and a request for a provision for the young couple. Tho matoh can in no worldly way be called a good one, for tho Princo has neither position nor money, but a daughter of England need not be nolieitous about

cither. It is said that the Queen is desirous that one of her children should, when married, remain with her ; and this object can certainly be' accomplished, in this case, without tho slightest inconvenience to any portion of the continent. I have also heard a rumor that Parliament will bo asked for some further aid to tho immense memorial to tho late Princo Cousort which is now slowly rising at South Kensington ; but I will venture to hopo that this report is baseless, as I do not think that suoh an application, after L 50,000 has beon added by tho Commons to tho large subscription, will be very favorably recoived, aud wo have no Lord Palmorston now to make tho vote seom like a personal gift to himself, wnom every ono liked to oblige.

Earl Russoll's Cabinet has not oven yet received the final touches. Ono appointment, however, has been- made, which is held to have a certain significance. Mr W. E. Forster, member for Bradford, succeeds Mr Chiohester Fortcscuo as Uudor-Sccretary for your own and tho other Colonies. This gentleman's opinions aro of an " advanced " kind, that is to say, ho is what used to bo called a Radical. It is supposed that Earl Russoll would not have offered — or at least that Mr Forster would not havo accepted office, if a decidedly Liberal policy, as it is termed, had not been resolved on by the Government. In other words, a Reform Bill is to be introduced, and the franchise to bo lowered. Mr Bright has been making speeches in which, after the wildest abuse of the Tories, whom he believes to exist in enormous force, in the same boliof as those of Lord Eldon, he has spoken warmly of Earl Russell, promised him support, and declared that it is intended to add a million of persons to the present Electoral body, that is, to double it. Moreover, the Homo Secretary is demanding various returns from officials, and the information is understood to be wanted in aid of arguments for a Reform scheme. Whether any committee or commission is to precede the bringing in a bill is doubtful, but there is a prevalent idea that something of the kind will be proposed. I need not anticipate the conflict of oratory which is certain to take place. A large number of persons believe that no change in the representation is yet required, and that the present Parliamentary system not only brings out all opinions which deserve attention, but also works practically and well for national prosperity. Another largo body make it a question of principle, and consider that taxpayers are aggrieved by being deprived of a direct vote. Some go further, and advocate manhood suffrage, but these are felt, by the moderate and thoughtful on both sides, to be madmen, and are advised to mix in any mob, or pass an hour at street corners, after dusk, and study the fitness of thoso around them for political power. I hazard no predictions, but I have an impression that tho Reform Bill will be a moderate one, will extend laterally as well as downwards, and will propose few changes in excess of those contained iv the bill which Lord John Russell, in natural agitation, had to withdraw on tho ove of tho Crimean war.

In my last letter I mentioned the news from Jamaica, tbe vising of the negroes, the hideous murders and other atrocities which they h«\d committed, and the chastisement which had been inflicted by Governor Eyre and tho military. The next mails showed how far short the first tidings had como as to the gravity of the crisis. Wo learned tnat the colonial authorities had discovered that there was a foul and widely spread plot to massacre tho white population, and the most tremendous measures of repression had been resorted to. Some two thousand blacks had been killed, and other punishments, especially flogging had been administered on a large scald Tho result has been, that while society here has Heard tho news with sorrow, it has felt that Governor Eyre and the colonial authorities (including both Houses of Parliament in Jamaica, which have formally thanked him for saving the colony,) must have acted on good grounds, and that the half reclaimed savage, called a negro, had terribly demonstrated the incompleteness of his civilasation. Those who were least assured of this resolved to wait for full information, which was at once promised by our Government. But not so tho extreme Radicals here, and their allies, tho Baptists, whose missionaries aro numerous among the blacks, and are thought by no means to have confined themselves to their legitimate business of substituting Calvinism for Fetishworship. These parties have blazed up into unexampled fury. Meetings havo been held, at which not a word was said about the massacre by the blacks, but the most violent denunciations have been uttered against the whites who defended themselves. Eyro has been called, in the plainest language, a murderer, who ought to share the fate of Governor Wall : tho poor dear blacks havo been desoribed as helpless martyrs, and the brown person, Gordon, who was hang )d by a court-inarlial, has been compared to Lord William Russell, and to a personage whoso name is too sacred to bo lightly written down. As for tho venom and malico of tho articles which have appeared, day after day, in tho organs of these parties, I can give no adequate idea of them, unless you can imagine the raving of a fanatic preaoher who had been educated in Billin gsgato. Such demonstrations havo been a diegrace to tho country. They havo, of courso, produced no result, except disgust. Earl Russoll sends out Sir Httuy Storks to tak,e Governor EyreV

am:

place while an investigation proceeds, and all those whose opinion alone a gentleman can possibly care about, hope and believe that the examination will prove that the colonial authorities did

only what was . just and necessary, in the presence of a strange and terrible crisis. Wo remember Bristol, ravaged and burned because the military were afraid to act ; wo remomber the Indian mutiny, which might have been checked by early and stern examples, and we know what would havo been said of Eyre, had the black Baptists and others been allowpd to get the upper hand, and the rebellion had spread. Colonists will appreciate the situation of a body of Englishmen, eight times outnumbered by angry savages, and the advantage of having as governor an officer aware of his responsibilities to the colony and to the Crown. Having allowed the head Fenian, Stephens, to es6apo, the Irish authorities have dealt more successfully with the rest of their captives. The trials in Dublin and Cork havo proceeded regularly, everybody tried has been convicted, except an Ainericau who was discharged on technical grounds, and •1 heavy sentences of penal servitude havo •f' been awarded, in 'one case for life (the fellow having been previously convicted), and in other cases for twenty years, and in others again for ten. There has not been the slightest disturbance or attempt at rescue, or even at a demonstration of sympathy. Aud I see that; the press of New York is actually urging the President to put down Fenianism there, and not to allow the Irishry to drag the States into trouble with Great Britain. Decidedly, as Mr Bernal Osborne neatly said, the fever heat of Fenianism is " Ninetyeight" — in tho shade. The venerable King of the Belgians has passed away. I have it from the best authority that he was not expected to survive the winter. Tho last operation resorted to in cases of dropsy, when all hope is over, and all that is sought is to give relief, had boon

resorted to, but the public was not

' . aware of this. The King died peaceJ^ fully, and resisted attempts made with tho best filial intentions, to induce him to embrace the Catholic faith in his last hours. He has received a magnificent funeral, at which the King of Portugal and the Prince of Wales attended. His son, Leopold II t , now reigns ; an amiable man, in weak health, and understood to be more in the hands of the priests than is desirable. But he is a conscientious man, and takes much pains to understand political economy, on which subject ho hi»s long carried on correspondence with some of its ablest English professors. The Americans are not going to war with us, at present. Mr Johnson's Message is pacific. They have, however, raised a new grievance in the case of the crew of the Shenandoah, the vessel that went about demolishing 1 tho poor whalers after the vrar was over, and then came here and surrendered. The captain declared that he did not know of the termination of hostilities. It is profanity to compare such a pirate to Nelson, but the excuse reminds us of Nelson's putting the telescope to his blind eye, when told that the signal for retreat was flying. However, as Lord Clarendon says, we cannot disprove his assertion, and we let him and his men go and handed over the ship to tho United State's Consul. Mr Adams declares that we ought to have given up the men also, but this would have been actually illegal, and we are rather particular about the sacred character of our

soil. Our views in that respect make enemies for us everywhere. The y French Emperor is just putting an end % to the extradition treaty, on the ground that it produces no good effects, that is, we do not give up tho refugees who come here. But the Amondans should not take such ground — they inherit and maintain the sanctuary doctrine in all its fulness. I have nothing to say about foreign news which does not affect us at home, but may just mention that the reconstruction business in the States promises to be as complicated a problem as was ever offered to a statesman. The " Radical " party in the North desire to keep down those whom they have had so much trouble to get

down, and appear to be unwisely disinclined to any of the compromises '■ without which there can be no truo amalgamation. Again I must mention tho Cattle Disease. It is not in the least checked, on the contrary it has increased frightfully, and is increasing, and the most vigorous measures are now called for by those who at first opposed all Government interference. Fairs and markets are being closed, and unless some great change occurs, I expect that all trans- \ mission of live stock will be stopped. Even hunting is being checked in some places, on the ground that the hounds carry contagion about. We shall all become vegetarians on compulsion. Believing, personally, that we all eat a, great deal too much, I do not feel personal alarm at this prospect, but folks who take meat three times a day are yielding to the wildest despair. We held our Cattle-show, with mutilated rites, and this was as well, by way of preventing an utter panic. A Highland beast was Senior Wrangler. I had almost resolved to omit all allu&ion to the subject of the disease, for the topic is tabooed as domestic talk, but I may be doing my country service by again reminding friends at a distance that if they can discover any way of remitting sgood meat to us, they may make any '' number of fortunes. The Master of the Rolls, Sir John Romilly, has been raised to the peerage as Lord Romilly, [and the name of a great and good man, hisfather,is thereby porpetunted, Auother peer has been

made. Sir Francis Bariug is Lord Northbrook. The veteran Whig has earned his honor by long service, if ho was not very brilliant. lie was Chancellor of tho Exchequer at the time when the the Post-office reform occasioned a temporary deficiency, and he did not know how to supply it. Sir Robert Peel, the elder, caused great divers ion in the Commons by describing Sir Francis as angling for a budget and eagerly waiting for a bite. Lord Northbrook was also Lord of tho Admiralty, and caused the Duke of Wellington, 130, to bo built— but this great monster is now voted to be almost useless, as an armour-clad ship would convert her into a blazing hull in a couple 'of hours, or less. Our obituary contains two names to which I will refer. One is that of Captain Gronow, the celebrated authority on duelling matters in tho days when men fought with pistols instead of abuse. His reminiscences were published lately, and some of them were very amusing. But he did not tell of one duel of which everyono but himself was once ready to talk. Shortly after 1814 there was a French officer notorious fot picking quarrels with Englishmen and geitiug them into duels which, as he was a dead shot, usually ended fatally for the islander. On one occasion ho wreaked his savage malice on a very youug man. The latter fired ineffectually, and the Frenchman walking up to him, as ho had a right to do, placed his pistol to the other's heart, and said, " Havo you a mother ?" " I have," said the youug man calmly. " I pity her," said the Frenchman, and drew the trigger. When this story came over, Gronow, a first-class dandy, was at tho opera. He said nothing but immediately left for Paris, sought out the cluellist,*and insulted him, Jdeliberately, and in so marked a manner (I am not sure that he did not stamp on his foot), that there could bo but one issue. Whether the Frenchman's courage failed in presence of a man known to be as deadly a marksman as himself, or whether chance was not his friend, I don't know, but ho missed Gronow and was not missed. The dandy re-appeared at the opera, and took an opportunity of saying, between the acts, in Fops' Alley, " 0, by the way I've killed that beggar you fellows were talking about on Saturday night." Gronow was, I believe, a very kind-hearted man, and was always eager to make up the differences between thoso who sought his advice, and as ha was an authority from whom there was no appeal, he was usually able to bring matters to a pacific termination.

The other death I should note is that of Captain Fowko, He will be best known to those for whom I write, as the designer of the last great exhibition building. He had great constructive skill, aud ho w v ns much in the confidence of the Prince Consort, whose efforts in favor of South Kensington Captain Fowko ably seconded. The professional architects of courso loved him not for achieving what they had been unable to do, and some of them are still snarling over his fame, which is gallantly defended by Mr. Henry Qole, C.B. I will add, of my own knowledge that Captain Fowko was a true gpntleman, and an amiable man, and his early death is deeply regretted by many friends. While on the subject I will also just note that tho museum at South Kensington 'has been greatly enlarged aud enriched, aud wheu the oxterior shall bo rendered less hideous, tho placo will bo very delightful. For the first time I may say that I havo seen the cartoons, which have been brought from tho dark den at Hampton-court, aud placed here in a fino aud well lighted room, whero their unequalled nobility can be appreciated, and the beauty of their coloring, which could never be seen at all, is now manifest in all its harmony. The loan collection at South Kensington contains: treasures which you cannot exhaust in a week, and fresh additions are being daily made. Ydt very few people seem to be there, whenever I have visited the place. The working-class go in the summer, but those who could really comprehend the artistic excellences of tho rarer part of the collection stay away persistently. I fancy , they do not thmk the place genteel, because it is free on certain days. A half-crown day would probably draw tho wiseacres of fashion.

Miss Bateman, tho American actress, who has made such a, brilliant success in London and the provinces, took solemn leave of us on Friday night. I never saw the Opera-house (tho scene of her farewell) so crammed. It was loaded from floor to roof, and tho vert orchestra was crowded. She played Juliet, and her littlo sisters appeared in a short comedy. Then Miss Batoman re-appeared in the quiet dress of private life, and said a few words of farewell. It was in excellent taste thai they were not rhymed, but were a simple ar.d earnest leave-taking. The large tears fell from her eyes before she had made much progress, and she fairly gave way once or twice. She thanked us all very heartily, hoped we should love America for her sake, as she should love England for ours, and ended with a very happy reference to her Leah, her greatest part, " she was going away to wander among her own people." Then she Vent off, crying, amid a storm of plaudits which raged again and again. She leaves England in a few days, and in the spring will be wedded to a young American gentleman, a distinguished musician, who is, I believe, every way worthy of his great good fortune.* We aro all wishing 0110 another the compliments of tho season. It would be a superfluous courtesy to add them to a letter that has to dance on the waters for w<?eks, but if such things can

bo regarded retrospectively, I beg to conclude a year's epistles with the sincerest good wishes to friends known and unknown.